Chapter 27: The Emperor’s New Clothes (2/2)

Lu Chenzhou glanced at it for a moment, seemingly uncaring. “Do as you like.”

……That was the most annoying answer to give when two people were trying to decide where to eat, because those who said they were fine with anything were usually the hardest to satisfy. Cheng Xi sighed, deciding that she needed another person to deal with Lu Chenzhou. She then said, “Let’s call Mr. Chen over as well.”

Mr. Chen was Lu Chenzhou’s chauffeur.

And Lu Chenzhou said, “No, he already has plans.”

So it’ll only be the two of them, and she would have to pamper him? Cheng Xi very much wanted to refuse, but after thinking about how he had come so far accompanying her, she relented. Fine, she would pamper him in order to understand him better as a patient.

Cheng Xi quickly dispelled her mental block, and the two drove over to that restaurant. Honestly, the scale of the place was larger than Cheng Xi expected, and the service they received was surprisingly good. Lu Chenzhou requested a new, never-before-used plate, which they procured rapidly.

It was just that the dishes themselves weren’t great. Lu Chenzhou clearly didn’t enjoy the food very much, and only ate a small portion of each dish. Cheng Xi was quite embarrassed, resolving once again to finish her investigations early so that they could return by nightfall.

After having dinner, they went back to the newly renovated plaza. Apparently, it was very crowded at night: parents brought their children out here to have fun, some people danced, and others played ball.

Cheng Xi didn’t know whether to call her luck good or bad, because even though the plaza wasn’t particularly big nor particularly small, she still managed to run into someone she recognized—Chen Jiaman’s middle school math teacher.

And the math teacher even recognized her first, running over to greet her. “Ah, Lawyer Cheng? You’re still here?”

Cheng Xi hesitated for a moment before recovering with a smile, and then pointed at Lu Chenzhou, who was by her side. “Yes, I saw that the environment here seemed pretty nice, so I’ve been staying in the area with my boyfriend.”

Lu Chenzhou looked at them coolly, without any intention of playing along. Cheng Xi started sweating.

Luckily, the math teacher seemed to believe her, and even started pointing out the scenic areas around to her.

As they were talking, a four or five year old girl ran over and hugged his leg. “Daddy! I want to play with that.” As she spoke, she pointed at a thing that was jumping into the sky like a falling star.

There were also toy stalls at the plaza, and Cheng Xi guessed that the little girl wanted to play with some kind of toy.

Following behind the little girl was a woman about the same age as Mr. Liu. Seeing the child behave the way she did, she stated somewhat angrily, “Ignore her. She wants everything that she sees. It won’t do for us to indulge her too much.”

Upon hearing this, the little girl began to cry and make a fuss, kicking and tearing at Mr. Liu’s feet.

Mr. Liu and his wife were unable to deal with their child’s fuss. Neither harsh words nor scolding seemed to be effective.

Cheng Xi couldn’t stand to watch any further, and helped them coax the little girl into calming down. “If you stop crying, this auntie will give you some candy, alright?” She retrieved a handful of sweets from her bag, holding it up in front of her.

The candies were wrapped beautifully in vibrant colors, and were quite eye-catching when she held them in her hand. The girl didn’t seem all that pacified, but she still quickly grabbed them from Cheng Xi’s palm.

Her small hands couldn’t grab all of them, and a few dropped onto the ground. Cheng Xi helped the girl pick them up and put them in her clothes’ pockets, and even placed one into her mouth.

This sort of candy was cloyingly sweet, but the child seemed to like it, finally quieting down as she patted her pocket.

Mr. and Mrs. Liu were grateful for her assistance, and Cheng Xi waved her hands in embarrassment. “It was nothing.”

The little girl’s mother saw that she was pretty young, and asked, “Is your child in middle school?”

She thought that Cheng Xi was the parent of some kid from her husband’s class.

Cheng Xi shook her head. “No.” She then repeated what she had said in the morning. “I’m the court-appointed lawyer for Chen Jiaman’s case. Originally, I came here to investigate a few matters pertaining to the case, but after seeing that this place was pretty nice, I stayed for a few extra days to look around.”

“Oh, Chen Jiaman’s lawyer…” The little girl’s mother glanced at her husband before asking, “Isn’t she crazy? Does a crazy murderer need a lawyer too?”

“Yes. The main purpose is to verify whether or not Chen Jiaman’s mental illness is real.”

“It should be real. She was always running up that hill for some unknown reason, hiding in the graveyard at night. If she were normal, why would she do something like that?”

“Really? Did you know her?” Cheng Xi felt invigorated by the promising information. “Then do you know when Chen Jiaman started exhibiting such behavior?”

“Probably a year or two ago.”

“And in these last two years, did she encounter anything unusual?”

“Something unusual… I’m not sure…”

“I know.” Before she could finish, the little girl eating candy by the side crisply replied, “She was bullied by her classmates, and then she went crazy.”

“What are you saying!” Both the Lius reprimanded her at the same time. Mr. Liu even forsook his kind demeanor, pulling at the little girl’s arm harshly.

The little girl, shocked and frightened, dropped all of her candy onto the ground and started to cry again.

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