Chapter 61: A White Lie (1/2)

I was still racking my brain about how to deal with Lao Yao this time, when Huang Xiaotao suddenly snatched the phone away from me.

“This is Song Yang’s partner, Officer Huang Xiaotao,” she spoke to the phone. “This is Lao Yao, correct? If you’re willing to help us with this case, all the bonus I get in my pocket will be yours.”

Lao Yao was overjoyed, “Officer Huang, how generous of you! Yes, I’ll get to work straight away!”

Then Huang Xiaotao hung up the phone and tossed it into my arms. I was shocked by her offer, “Do you think that was a good idea? All Lao Yao has to do is check for some information online for a bit—is that really worth giving him all your bonus?”

Huang Xiaotao winked and said, “You misheard me. I said I would give him all the bonus I get in my pocket. However much the higher-ups decide to give me in the bonus is up to them, but how much I get into my pocket is entirely up to me. Perhaps I might even decide not to take a dime at all! I’ve been a police officer for quite a while now. Do you think I wouldn’t know how to handle people like that?”

I had to give it to her—that was pretty clever.

“Judging by the tone of his voice, was that the gay guy you mentioned a while ago?” Huang Xiaotao inquired.

“He never explicitly admits it, but we all think he is,” I replied.

“Do you like men too?” Huang Xiaotao asked.

“What led you to that kind of misunderstanding?!”

“Oh, okay. Then I’m relieved.”

Relieved? I wondered. Why should she be relieved? What exactly is she talking about?

After returning to the police station, I told her, “It’s pretty late now, Officer Liao has probably gone back home. There seems to be a hospital nearby, so we should just send the little girl there for now.”

“Roger!”

Huang Xiaotao started the car and drove to the hospital. Then Wang Yuanchao took the little girl in his arms and carried her in.

The doctor gave her a checkup and found that there was nothing wrong with the little girl except shock and slight malnutrition. The doctor asked which of us was her guardian. Huang Xiaotao showed him her police badge, then the doctor stopped asking more questions and just gave the girl a nutrient injection, put her on a glucose drip, and had her rest on a hospital bed.

Wang Yuanchao went out to smoke. I sat down next to Huang Xiaotao on a hospital bench, but as soon as my butt touched the seat, she scooted over to move away from me.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” she answered tersely while looking up at the ceiling.

I guessed it must have something to do with me accidentally grabbing her chest in the alley earlier, but I was afraid I’d wind her up again if I mentioned it now. I thought long and hard of how to make it up to her.

“How about I take you out for a meal when we go back to Nanjiang?” I suggested. “I know a good pizza place.”

“No, thank you!” Huang Xiaotao replied coldly.

Suddenly, we heard a cry coming from the ward, so we rushed in and saw that the little girl had woken up and was crying and calling for her mommy and daddy. Huang Xiaotao reached up and tried to caress her head, but the little girl curled up into a ball. Her body trembled slightly; tears were still gushing out of her round eyes and there were beads of tears hanging on to her long eyelashes. She looked just like a frightened fawn.

“Don't be afraid, we’re the police...” Huang Xiaotao comforted her.

When the little girl heard the word ‘police’, she immediately burst into tears and demanded, “Officer, did something bad happen to my mommy and daddy?”