Chapter 19: You Reek of the Dead

Cui City is a place of eight mountains, one river, and one part farmland. The sprawling mountain ranges provide ample cover for criminals; many drug traffickers cultivate, process, and store drugs in the hidden nooks and crannies of the mountains. As they ship these goods out, Cui City and its surrounding areas are inevitably affected. Drug use has surged in recent years, and in the Chunjiang district alone, Lin Jingchun personally apprehended 17 drug users this year.

Previously, they suspected drug trafficking at the Black Horse Billiard Hall. After receiving a tip from an informant, he led a team to raid it, but they found nothing. Instead, Station Chief Zhou was reprimanded by his superiors and forced to write a formal apology. This time, however, they had caught the suspect red-handed. Yet, no matter how they interrogated A-Bao, he adamantly denied trafficking. When asked where the drugs came from, he claimed he had found them in the reed marshes by the river—a preposterous story no one believed.

Usually, when facing such stubborn suspects, the local police station would not hesitate to use a bit of "forced memory recovery," but unfortunately, someone in the higher ranks was pressuring Chief Zhou, forbidding any aggressive interrogation. This left Lin Jingchun in a bind. Knowing his dilemma, the Chief spoke with him last night while he was on duty, and this morning, he specifically held a brief meeting to instruct everyone in the station to stop investigating further. He even assigned Lin an old cold case as a smokescreen. Thus, Lin Jingchun planned to go to Longshan openly while secretly taking A-Ming to stake out the location provided by the informant.

Lin Jingyu finally arrived to set up his stall. Su Chen was flipping through a comic book when he caught sight of A-Biao quietly leaning in to whisper to Lin Jingyu. Without asking, it was clearly about Aunt Chun and her sister. Lin Jingyu grew furious as he listened: "The scum! How could he dare?"

A-Biao scoffed, "How could he not? It’s just like that old bastard in my family. At first, he’d only slap my mom, and since she didn’t make a sound, he grew bolder. Later, it turned into beatings."

"Well, it's good that Sister Qin got divorced. Her daughter is married anyway, no need to keep living with that human trash." A-Biao sighed. "Speaking of domestic violence, Uncle Ye’s wife was a tough one too. If she hadn't been, Brother A-Wang wouldn’t have chosen to go to Nanyang, and we still haven't heard a word from him..."

At the mention of this, Lin Jingyu sighed as well. "The wheel of karma turns, bringing an early end to the wicked. It’s just a pity for Uncle Ye, sitting there in his braised noodle shop all day, staring at the south whenever business is slow."

"Brother A-Wang probably isn't doing well in Nanyang, otherwise he would have returned home in glory by now."

"I suppose so." As Lin Jingyu spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Su Chen, looking tempted.

A-Biao understood. "You want Uncle Ye to have a brother calculate when A-Wang will return?"

"Yeah, it’s only 20 yuan. Buying some peace of mind is worth it, don't you think?"

"If you've got the money, suit yourself."

Just as they were chatting, a roar of rage erupted from ahead. "You old bastard, trying to poison your own nephew?"

Following this, there was a loud crash; a bowl and dish must have been shattered. A-Biao stood up to look and caught Lin Jingyu’s eye. "Seems like it's Uncle Ye's shop." Being warm-hearted people, they both immediately jogged over.

Arriving at the scene, they saw old Uncle Ye inside the small shop, trembling as he bent down to pick up the broken shards of porcelain.

"Uncle Ye, let me, let me. Be careful, don't step on them." Lin Jingyu hurried in to fetch a broom and dustpan. A-Biao, meanwhile, shoved the sneering young man outside.

"It’s you again. Haven't I told you before? You are not allowed to set foot on Chunming Street! Do you want me to break your legs again?"

"Brother Biao, stop wasting breath on him. Beat him up; I'll pay the medical bills."

"Alright!" A-Biao immediately rolled up his sleeves. Seeing this, the young man’s eyes filled with fear. He quickly ran out of the shop, but seeing several people nearby, he found the courage to shout threats: "Listen here, you old fool! A-Wang is long dead! He’s never coming back. If you want someone to bury you when you kick the bucket, hand the shop over to me now, or I'll make sure no one collects your corpse!"

"Talk your dogshit elsewhere! Are we not people?" A-Biao lunged out, and the young man took flight immediately. From a distance, he still shouted defiantly, "Just you wait! The old fool is in bad health anyway; once he dies, the shop will still be mine!"

"You want to keep yapping?" A-Biao made a move to chase him, and the young man vanished in a flash.

Inside the noodle shop, Lin Jingyu finished sweeping up the porcelain, only to catch a strange smell—a mix of floral toilet water and a foul stench he couldn't quite identify. The combination was unpleasant. A-Biao, entering the shop, smelled it too and asked about it out of curiosity.

Old Uncle Ye paused, then explained with a dry laugh, "Oh, I was sick and hospitalized a while back, so the shop was closed for days. Some rat poison I used earlier killed some rats, and they've been rotting in here for over ten days. That’s why it stinks."

"A-Yu, A-Biao, thank you both for today."

"Hey, don't mention it. We're old neighbors."

"Well, Uncle Ye, we'll head back to our stall then."

"Yes, yes, alright."

Once outside, the two were still fuming. "That grandson of a... tonight I'm taking some guys to corner him at his house. If I don't give him a beating, my name isn't Zhang."

Lin Jingyu agreed firmly. "I'm coming too."

When they reached Su Chen, he sniffed the air, his gaze quickly shifting from the comic book to the two of them. Lin Jingyu felt uneasy under his stare and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"

A-Biao, being thick-skinned, laughed. "What else could it be? He must think we're heroes for stepping up to help, right brother?"

Su Chen said calmly, "You two have the scent of a corpse on you."

"Dampness?" Lin Jingyu chuckled. "Of course, we're right by the sea in Cui City, how could there not be dampness? I've been feeling drowsy lately, must be the humidity. I'll have my mom stew something to get rid of it."

A-Biao nodded. "I'll come over for a bowl."

Su Chen took a deep breath. "I said the corpse of a dead body."

The two men froze instantly. "Wh... what?"

Su Chen beckoned them over. Seeing them approach, he sniffed again carefully. "That's right, it's the scent of a corpse."

"But it wasn't there just a moment ago." As he spoke, he looked toward Ye’s Noodle Shop.

Then, Lin Jingyu slapped his thigh suddenly. "Ah, the corpse scent makes sense! Uncle Ye said he was hospitalized, and some rats died in the shop and started rotting. That must be it."

A-Biao nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, that’s it."

Su Chen closed his comic book and stood up. "How much scent can a few dead rats have?"

"You two were only in there for a moment and came out with such a heavy stench of death. I'm afraid there’s a human body in that shop."

Lin Jingyu and A-Biao were both stunned, then shook their heads in unison.

"Impossible!"

"Exactly, Uncle Ye runs a business. How could he keep a dead body in his shop?"

They stopped, a horrifying suspicion lingering in their minds.

"Brother Biao, is it possible Uncle Ye really killed someone?"

A-Biao’s lips trembled. "Lately, lots of people have been saying Uncle Ye’s braised noodles are very salty. He always puts meat in them... could it be to cover up the taste of..."

The more they thought, the more they trembled.

Su Chen sighed helplessly. "Stop guessing. Let's go take a look."