Chapter 75 (1/2)

Scouting the Enemy’s Camp at Night

Ma Xiao-An was taken away in an ambulance but it was just procedure - he was never coming back.

The police and traffic police arrived. The slag truck driver was taken away by the traffic police in the end and not the police. The incident was being treated initially as a traffic accident and not a criminal case. The result made Xia Lei and the employees of Thunder Horse Workshop frustrated but the law was the law and it favoured neither side nor took emotions into consideration.

Xia Lei rode in the traffic police car to the hospital and looked at Ma Xiao-An in the morgue. He just stood there, quietly looking at Ma Xiao-An’s peaceful sheet-white face. He did not move for a long, long time...

Jiang Ru-Yi rushed over when she heard the news and cried for quite a while. Ma Xiao-An was her friend too but he was not as close to her as he had been with Xia Lei. She sent Xia Lei home afterwards.

Jiang Ru-Yi cooked two dishes for Xia Lei but he just looked at them, unmoving.

“Eat something,” Jiang Ru-Yi urged painfully, “How can you keep going on like this? Eat something, put something in your stomach at least.”

Xia Lei still sat, looking at the dishes but unmoving, his thoughts indecipherable.

Jiang Ru-Yi frowned, “Are you going to eat or not? If you aren’t, I’ll feed you.” So saying, she picked up a piece of fried tomato-egg and shoved it at Xia Lei’s mouth.

Xia Lei twisted his head away, “Ru-Yi, Ma Xiao-An was murdered. Do you believe me?”

“I believe you. Eat,” said Jiang Ru-Yi.

“Then go arrest that slag truck driver. Interrogate him. He will tell you that the mastermind behind this is He Lao-Qi. He Lao-Qi was aiming to kill me but Ma Xiao-An pushed me out of the way, and he…” Xia Lei could not go on; tears came dripping uncontrollably again.

Jiang Ru-Yi was at a loss. She put down the chopsticks and looked at Xia Lei quietly. She actually had no appetite either but she did not want Xia Lei to be so sad, so she had made some dishes to try and distract him but it looked like her efforts were in vain now.

“Go arrest that driver. Go, now!” Xia Lei seemed to have lost a little of his control.

Jiang Ru-Yi caught hold of his hand and said comfortingly, “Lei, Xiao-An is dead. I know you’re heartbroken but can you please calm down?”

“How can I calm down?” Xia Lei shouted at her.

“I made a call to the traffic police accident handling centre in the afternoon. That slag truck’s brakes were not functioning properly and its navigation system also had problems. That driver was not suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs either. You want me to arrest him but what will I base my arrest on? Even if I did arrest him, how many hours can I lock him away for?” said Jiang Ru-Yi.

The slag truck had malfunctioned, the driver was neither drunk nor drugged and did not know Ma Xiao-An either. Based on these, the driver could escape being punished by the law. The slag truck driver didn’t even need to give monetary compensation because the insurance company would take care of that. This was the real world and it was not fair.

The scene from earlier in the day played again in Xia Lei’s mind. He was driving the Polo with Ma Xiao-An, heading to Thunder Horse Workshop, laughing and chatting with him. Then he saw the slag truck charging forward in his rearview mirror and twisted the steering wheel quickly, avoiding slag truck. After it zoomed past, Ma Xiao-An stuck his head out the window and shouted a curse...

Xia Lei’s left eye twitched. A still of the scene was displayed in his head and in the still, the slag truck was in the rearview mirror of the Polo. He saw the driver clearly through the slag truck windshield. The driver had a faint, ruthless smile on his face and his tattoos and face were very clear.

The slag truck was the same as the one which had killed Ma Xiao-An and the driver was the same person too. This was not a coincidence - it was murder, only that the murderer had wanted to kill him but had killed Ma Xiao-An by mistake.

“What are you thinking about, Lei?” Jiang Ru-Yi’s eyes filled with tears, “Don’t be like that, please. Do you know how worried I am about you?”

Xia Lei said nothing more. He sat there like an empty carcass without a soul. He looked lifeless on the surface but his heart was aflame with anger. He thought, ‘That slag truck driver was just one of He Lao-Qi’s dogs. The real mastermind is He Lao-Qi or it was Gu Ke-Wen who had incited it. You wanted to kill me but Ma Xiao-An died for me instead. I will have my revenge on you!’

“Lei, say something. What’s wrong with you?” Jiang Ru-Yi’s face was full of worry.

Xia Lei suddenly raise his head and looked at her. “Let’s eat.”

Jiang Ru-Yi was momentarily stunned.

“Eat, eat. You will have strength to get things done when your stomach is full.” Xia Lei took huge mouthfuls of food as he spoke in a muffled voice, “Mm. Your dishes don’t taste half bad. Why haven’t you showed off this skill before?”

Jiang Ru-Yi spoke after a bit of a pause, “Lei, you… Are you okay?”

“How about you? Weren’t you urging me to eat? I’m eating now and you ask me if I’m okay. Do you want me to eat or not?” said Xia Lei.

“Um… Eat. Yes, eat.” Jiang Ru-Yi put food on her plate as well.

After they ate, Jiang Ru-Yi went to wash the dishes and Xia Lei went to sleep in the living room. When Jiang Ru-Yi walked over from the kitchen after washing the dishes, Xia Lei had already begun to snore.