Chapter 211: The Idle Mr. Ma (1/2)

Bingxin slept soundly, curled up with her hands under the pillow. Her loose pajamas slipped down to reveal a pale collarbone, yet she lay asleep as unguarded as a child.

Had this been Xiaotao, I might’ve blushed. But I felt nothing for Bingxin. She was just like a sister to me.

I carefully slid out of bed and tucked her in. Then, I gathered a set of bedding and quietly sneaked to the other room to sleep.

The next morning, Bingxin woke up and asked, ”Song Yang-gege, how did I fall asleep in your bed last night? Did you do anything to me?”

”I swear to God I didn’t!”

“Ding, ding, ding…” Bingxin gesticulated with her hands.

Knowing that she was up to her tricks again, I played along. ”What does that mean?”

”That’s the sound of my rising goodwill towards you,” she laughed.

I quickly changed the subject. ”Go and wash up. We have to meet Officer Ma at the bus station.”

”I want you to braid my hair!” Bingxin willfully begged.

”Don’t you usually wear your hair up in a ponytail? What decade is this? Braided ponytails have long gone out of fashion!” I argued.

”No, I want you to braid my hair! Otherwise, I’m not going,” Bingxin refused to back down.

Once that stubborn temper of hers acted up, there was no way around it so I had to braid her hair. This being the first time I did anything of the sort, I felt that the finished hairstyle was hideous. However, Bingxin seemed rather satisfied when she inspected her reflection in the mirror.

As we arrived at the bus station, I couldn’t help but wonder what Officer Ma looked like. We sat there waiting anxiously for what seemed like forever. At around eight, an old man in outdated clothes asked me the way. He was wearing a khaki jacket, brown trousers, and a pair of muddy military rubber-soled boots. The man was carrying a crumpled plastic bag and looked as if he were visiting relatives in the county.

While I was still in the middle of a conversation with the old man, Bingxin suddenly covered her mouth and tried to stop her laughter from spilling out. She jumped out and cried, ”Hello Uncle Ma!”

The old man's eyes brightened. ”Sun Bingxin, why are you here?”

”Are you Officer Ma?” I asked in surprise.

The old man grinned, revealing with his teeth that still had a piece of garlic chives stuck between them. ”Right, you must be the Detective Song that Xiao Sun mentioned!”

I thought to myself, Is this man really an officer? Why does he look like a grandpa who works in a farmer’s market?

On our way to the police station, Bingxin explained that Officer Ma used to be Sun Tiger’s teacher. He worked as a civilian police for more than forty years and his lifelong wish was to be a police officer. Only on the eve of his retirement did he finally realize his dream which Sun Tiger had arranged. However, he retired after only a year and never took part in any cases.

This time, Officer Ma was so excited to be appointed as the head of the Special Investigation Team that he failed to get a good night’s sleep, going through criminal investigation books all night. I said, ”Officer Ma, just leave this case to us. All you need to do is give your command and oversee the case!”

“How can I take credit for the hard work of you young ones? Let's see, you can use me as an errand boy. Let me know if you need anything. By the way, have you had your breakfast? I bought some tea eggs and steamed buns. You can eat them if you like,” added Officer Ma.

We said we had our breakfast, to which Officer Ma replied, ”Xiao Sun has actually explained the situation, so I’m merely here in name. So I'll be under your orders and won’t interfere in your actions.”

I couldn’t help liking Officer Ma because he seemed like a kind old man. I asked if he was tired and whether he would like to go to my place to rest, but Officer Ma motioned with a wave of his hand, ”Solving the case is more important. Let’s head to the station first.”

When we arrived at the county police station, Officer Lu was already waiting for us outside. The city bureau had sent a notice last night informing the county police that a Special Investigation Team would be sent to take over the case. Assuming that a group of people would be sent, Officer Ma arrived at the station early in the morning to await their arrival, only to be greeted by an old man accompanying us.

Officer Lu blinked his small eyes in consternation and asked, ”Consultant Song, why is there only one person with you? Is this the city bureau's Special Investigation Team?”

”This is Officer Ma, the city bureau's oldest police officer, with a rich working experience. He will be in charge of this case,” I introduced.

Apart from that, I didn't know how else to introduce Officer Ma since I was terrible at lying.