In the late summer night, a gentle breeze from the mountaintop swept away the day's accumulated heat from the residential complex. Almost every household in the entire high-rise building had its windows open, and residents were taking advantage of the rare coolness to fall asleep comfortably. At this moment, the bright moonlight shone through an open window, gently spilling onto a snow-white bedsheet. On the bedsheet, a naked woman was forcefully twisting her fair body, her hands constantly stroking herself. With a jolt, as if electrified, the room finally fell silent.
"I saw it! Hey! Finally, I saw it!"
"Damn! I knew a woman like Huan An wouldn't be quiet at night!"
"Yeah, yeah, after waiting so many days, we finally get to see it again!"
"Worth it! I really want to do it again!"
...
From the balconies of several darkened rooms on the opposite building, sounds of walkie-talkie conversations could be heard intermittently.
"Ah, what a shame, only saw her body, her head was blocked by the curtains."
"You see her face every day, and you're still not satisfied after seeing her body now?"
"Hey, hey! Her body is moving again? You mean that energy hasn't run out yet?"
"Holy crap! Holy crap! Damn it, there's a rope around her neck! Shit! She's been strangled to death!"
...
The walkie-talkie channel, which had been filled with lewd laughter moments ago, suddenly plunged into deathly silence.
"Did you enjoy the show?"
...
After the silence, a strange voice suddenly came from the walkie-talkie.
"Who are you? Why are you on our channel?"
One of them couldn't hold back and asked, trembling.
...
The peeping continued. The voyeurs hidden in the darkness on the opposite building quietly brought out their binoculars again—this time, they saw a person wrapped entirely in a black raincoat standing in front of the balcony, holding a pair of binoculars—
"Oh, I caught one!"
"If you see what you shouldn't, you have to pay a price!"
"Why are you all silent?"
"Then I'll come find you!"
"Let me count—first floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor, seventh floor..."
The bright moonlight continued to caress the community, serene and peaceful.
Under the moonlight, a sin was unveiled.
...
Hechuan City Fourth Middle School, a key provincial high school and the central school of Hebian District in Hechuan City. Last winter, a beautiful female student transferred to Class 123 of the second year of junior high. With her cool demeanor, tall stature, and sweet appearance, she won the title of "campus belle" in less than a few months.
After an initial three-month period of unfamiliarity, on Valentine's Day of the new year, she received over 60 love letters at once. In the flower-like age, love letters are a symbol of romance, but for this obviously precocious girl, they became a bother. Especially after she burned all the love letters in the trash can in front of the entire class, not only did it not deter the intense pursuit of the hormone-driven boys, but it actually led to even more love letters...
On the first weekend of July, Su Tang, who had finally got her summer vacation, was worrying about breakfast for the family—a week ago, Mei Qian, who had finally squeezed out some time off, successfully bribed her master with a pack of foreign cigarettes to allow him to take his aunt on a seaside vacation. Three days ago, Aunt Lin Dang, the family's labor force, had to return to her hometown to study in seclusion with tears in her eyes, as she needed to prepare for the personnel examination for the Hechuan News Agency's editorial department at the end of September. Now, with her aunt and aunt leaving, only she and her lazy master were left at home.
Speaking of her master, Su Tang had a helpless expression! If she had known that her master was such a "giant baby" in terms of daily life, she would never have apprenticed under him—he never did housework, never cooked, never washed dishes, and never ironed clothes. It wouldn't have mattered if he was a bit messy, but he was also incredibly lazy; he would never walk if he could stand, never stand if he could sit, never sit if he could lean, and never lean if he could lie down...
With a "cursing" expression, Su Tang, woken by hunger, floated into the kitchen, her eyes casually glancing at the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink, then naturally opening the refrigerator—"Master! My yogurt! You drank my yogurt again! Mine! It's mine! My milk!"
The hysterical scream did not wake Ping An, who was sleeping like a dead pig. Ever since solving the serial case half a year ago, Ping An had been demoted to a subordinate of Fei Keqing, and under this female devil, he couldn't have it easy. Recently, a manuscript had worn him out until four in the morning, and when he was tired, hungry, and sleepy, he even harbored the thought of "it wouldn't be bad to starve to death in bed like this," let alone caring about a "growing" girl at home.
Entrusted by An Jing, Gao Da, who had to come over every three days, had saved the lives of this master and disciple.
A large bun filled with pork and chives, a plastic bag full, was already a bit cold. Without time to reheat it, Su Tang grabbed it and started eating. Following the aroma of the buns, Ping An, with half-closed eyes and disheveled hair, pounced on the buns with unerring accuracy.
"Eat slowly, eat slowly, oh my, what's the rush, there are plenty of buns! Xiao Wu packed a lot!" Gao Da looked noticeably younger than half a year ago. His previously messy hair had been replaced by a neat buzz cut. His crisp white short-sleeved shirt was tucked into black trousers, making him look like a retired cadre no matter how you looked at him. His black leather shoes, polished to a shine, could be used as a mirror.
"You're living at Wu An's sister's place? You moved so fast?" Ping An asked in surprise upon hearing that the buns were made by Wu An's sister.
"Don't think so dirty-mindedly! I just recognized a god-sister. These past few days, her air conditioner broke down, An Jing isn't around, and my tutoring class is over, so I'm free and went to fix it!" Gao Da said.
"You've been fixing it for how many days?" Ping An suddenly asked.
"About seven or eight days!" Gao Da finished, his old face blushing, which was rare.
"You're a man with money now, why don't you buy her a new one?" Su Tang interjected.
"Isn't it because I want your Aunt Wu to see the vigorous energy radiating from your strong, mature body under the sweat and hormones, Uncle Gao!" Ping An teased.
"Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense, the buns aren't enough to shut you up!" Gao Da's face turned redder.
"Alright, we've seen enough, and with this bag of buns, we won't go hungry. You should hurry back and fix the air conditioner!" Ping An waved his hand.
"Uh, there's something, I need you to help me with!" Gao Da said awkwardly to Ping An, "My youngest son, he's a security supervisor at Fengdian Community, right? Recently, there have been many resident complaints about someone maliciously peeping. The property manager told my son to solve the case within a deadline, but, but, even the police can't find the peeper. What can my clumsy son do?"
"Hmm? Fengdian Community? That high-end residential complex developed by Dachuan Wind Power Group in the industrial road area of Hegou District?" Ping An asked after swallowing the bun in his mouth. "Go on, what happened?"
"Right now, the property manager has received new complaints and has given my son a strict deadline to find the peeping tom by the end of the month. If he finds him, there's a bonus and he'll be promoted to deputy property manager; if he doesn't, he'll be fired!" Gao Da said. "My youngest son just found a girlfriend and is planning to get married. At this crucial juncture, if he loses his job..."
"Got it, don't worry about it, I'll go this afternoon!" Old Gao's matters cannot be ignored. Ping An ate his buns, so he naturally had to take care of the matter!
"I'm going too! I'm going too!" Su Tang, who dreamed of going out, said.
"No, you have to go to your tutoring class this afternoon. Your aunt signed you up, and you'll be in the third year of junior high when school starts! You need to be more focused!" Ping An put on his master's airs. "You should have gotten up this morning to memorize English vocabulary. This was a strict task set by your aunt, and you've slept all morning! What more do you want?"
"I'm not going! My final exam score was first in the class. I can get into high school if I take the high school entrance exam now!" Su Tang mumbled with a pout. "Everyone in the tutoring class is an idiot, they just stare at my legs lecherously!"
"You still have the nerve to say that? Why don't you wear pants! Wearing shorts and showing your bare legs is obviously inviting people to look!" Ping An said angrily.
"Am I crazy? It's nearly forty degrees outside, and you want me to wear long pants?" Su Tang said. "Anyway, I'm not going, I'm not going, I'm not going!"
"If you don't go, I'll call your aunt!" Seeing that his threat was ineffective, Ping An brought up An Jing. Strangely, although An Jing was always gentle and considerate, to Su Tang, she was the most terrifying person in the family. Especially after witnessing An Jing throw Mei Qian down five times in a row, and then gently asking her if she was hungry, Su Tang almost peed herself in fright. Therefore, in this family, Su Tang dared not say no to An Jing.
"Hmph!" Su Tang frowned, a wronged expression on her face as she returned to her room.
"No shorts that don't cover your knees! Do you hear me!" Ping An shouted again afterward.
Alas, a maiden's troubles!
Su Tang, lying on the bed pretending to be dead, heard the front door slam shut and then rushed into the bathroom like a madwoman. After a thoroughly cold shower, she blew her hair dry while looking at herself in the mirror.
Who doesn't love beauty? No matter how troubled, one must still dress up, right?
She tied up her dark braids, applied some "Bear Baby" face cream, a bit of floral water and sunscreen on her arms and legs. No need for excessive adornment; natural beauty is precisely this.
Her master's words could naturally be treated as a fart. If she wasn't allowed to wear shorts that didn't cover her knees, then wearing a skirt should be fine, right? He didn't specify anything about skirts! She put on safety shorts, then a snow-white tennis skirt, a diagonally buttoned half-sleeve top that perfectly showcased the girl's figure, a pair of snow-white travel shoes, and a red backpack with a large doll hanging from it. The freshly baked beautiful girl was ready to go out!
Someone might ask, why bother dressing up so much for a tutoring class? Hmph! Who's really going to the tutoring class? Su Tang had her own important matters to attend to.
Meanwhile, Ping An drove Gao Da to Fengdian Community in Hegou District. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw a banner that almost made him cry—"Welcome Reporter Detective Comrade Ping An to Solve People's Worries!"
"Old Gao, what's going on?" Ping An couldn't believe his eyes.
"It's nothing, it's nothing, my son just did a little publicity, it's fine!" Gao Da smiled and pulled Ping An out of the car. A group of enthusiastic residents immediately surrounded them.
"You're a reporter? A detective? Oh, a reporter detective!"
"Great detective, he's a living one! Little Gao didn't lie, I've seen him on TV!"
"Great detective! Hurry up and solve the case! I was peeped at! It's really scary at night!"
"Detective! You must do something for the people!"
...
Surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic residents, Ping An almost vomited out the buns he had eaten at noon.
"Everyone, take it easy, speak one by one!" Gao Da couldn't stand it and quickly stopped the residents.
"I'll speak first!" A woman, estimated to weigh over 200 jin, used her weight advantage to get ahead.
"Please speak, please speak!" Ping An, who was already dizzy, patted his chest, catching his breath, and said.
"Recently, when I was bathing at home, I always saw a red dot. The red dot kept circling me. I thought it was a bug at first, but after touching it a few times, I realized it was infrared. Then I knew I was being peeped at!" The stout sister cried out in a loud voice, saying, "My body! My purity!"
"Ugh!" Hearing the stout sister's vivid description and accidentally glancing again at her equally thick waist, Ping An retched, perhaps due to the greasiness.
An aunt, who looked over sixty, quickly seized the second spot with agile speed.
"It's my turn, it's my turn!" She grabbed Ping An's hand and said excitedly, "Recently, when I sleep, I always feel like someone is watching me. I thought my house was haunted, so I invited a shaman. The shaman investigated all night and finally said the ghost was innocent, and the person was guilty. I didn't understand at first, but after hearing everyone say that someone was peeping from the high floors of the community, I realized I was being peeped at!"
A thin old man, using his slender build, managed to squeeze in for the third turn.
"The stray dogs in the community have been very active lately. They bark all night, and it's so noisy that no one can sleep!"
...
"Sun old man, don't talk yet, your matter isn't urgent, let's solve the peeping problem first!"
This was the angry voice of another aunt who couldn't squeeze in.
"Are the dogs' issues more important than people's issues? Isn't there a priority?"
This was Gao Da's angry voice defending his son's interests.
"Cool summer brings coolness! Brand air coolers only 199!"
Oh, this was a young man advertising.
"Everyone, be quiet! Listen to me!" Ping An finally found a stool and quickly stood on it, shouting loudly at the increasingly agitated residents.
"Everyone, please go back. You, you, and you, the three representatives, let's go to the property management office to talk, how about it?" Ping An shouted hoarsely.
The crowd dispersed as quickly as they had gathered. Perhaps there was no more excitement to see, and everyone went about their own business.
Leading the three resident representatives, Ping An followed Gao Da's directions to the property management company.
"Reporter Ping An!"
"Manager Han? It's you? Weren't you the manager at the Third Supermarket?"
As soon as he entered the office, he encountered an old acquaintance—Han Yong, the manager of Hechuan City's Third Supermarket. Half a year ago, the first crime scene of Niu Jian's murder was in that supermarket.
"Don't mention it. Do you think I could continue working after a murder occurred in the supermarket I was in charge of?" Han Yong expertly took out a cigarette and offered it to Ping An. "I was fired by the boss. At the beginning of this year, Fengdian Community was recruiting managers, so I took the exam and came here. The salary isn't low, and there's much less work than at the supermarket!"
"Then congratulations! Judging by your preparations, it seems like you knew I was coming?" Ping An asked curiously.
"Well, when I left, I took some employees with me, and they're still working for me. Sister Wu, who used to manage the deli, I have her managing the community's 'shared canteen' now. Sister Wu later recommended Little Gao to me as the security manager. They're all our own people, so it's easier to boss them around." Han Yong smiled at Gao Da behind Ping An. "So, I can hardly mobilize you! Master Gao, who is by Sister Wu's side, insists he's a revolutionary brother to you, and what's been happening in the community recently is indeed strange. For public and private reasons, we have to trouble you!"
Hey! Now Ping An finally understood. Half a year ago, Gao Da's youngest son was a storekeeper at a construction site. Half a year later, he proudly became a "supervisor"? It was unbelievable that there wasn't some trickery involved! It turned out that Gao Da had hitched a ride with Wu An's sister and had become a guest of Manager Han Yong. Not only was his son's job secured, but his later life was also very happy!
Old Gao, that scoundrel!
"Manager Han, while that's true, I need to make it clear that my current identity is that of a reporter, and this time, I will be following up on this matter using investigative journalism." Ping An said. "In fact, peeping is common in every community, and there's no good solution. We can only ask residents to be more careful. By the way, have you reported this incident to the police?"
"Reported? Do you think the police will investigate for a pet dog?"
The scene shifted to a high-end pet club in the city.
Su Tang, with tissue stuffed in her nostrils, frowned, waving a handkerchief, and carefully stared at a pet dog held in someone's arms, less than half a meter away from her. The person holding the dog was a girl of similar age to Su Tang.
"Jiaozi, listen to me, this really isn't a big deal, it's just a dog..." Su Tang said with some difficulty.
It turned out that after Su Tang transferred schools, she became reasonably good friends with her deskmate Yang Jiao. At least, in the eyes of the outgoing Yang Jiao, Su Tang was already her bosom friend with whom she could talk about anything. Su Tang, on the other hand, considered that she needed a companion at school, so she went along with Yang Jiao and became close. Speaking of Yang Jiao, she was one of the "wealthiest students" in the school. Her father was the chief engineer of Dachuan Wind Power Group.
Since Su Tang apprenticed under Ping An, she naturally didn't learn her master's skills as a reporter, but vowed to become a detective. However, as a junior high school student of only 15 years old, what cases could she solve? And who would entrust her with real cases? But Su Tang didn't think so. In the previous major case, she had helped her master, and was considered a member of the investigation team. Moreover, she had become deeply fascinated with the feeling of being a detective. If it was just a dream before, now she couldn't wait to find a mystery to solve!
On the second day after the summer vacation began, Su Tang received a call from Yang Jiao. In the phone call, Yang Jiao formally asked Su Tang to help her solve a "huge" mystery. As soon as she heard about a case to solve, Su Tang's eyes lit up! Thus, the two young sisters arranged to meet at this pet club.
She came with full confidence but was greatly disappointed upon meeting! It turned out that the victim, whom Yang Jiao described as unbearable to look at, was actually a small dog. "Dogs are naturally curious, so perhaps its fur was scraped off because it got into electrical appliances like a fan!" Su Tang said, looking at the dog whose fur had been completely cut off. "Fortunately, the dog's body is not injured, right?"
"Yes! Its spirit is injured! It won't eat, it only drinks a little milk, and its stomach is also injured. Feel it, it's been swollen for days!" Yang Jiao said, trying to put the dog on Su Tang, which scared Su Tang into waving her hands.
"Did you check the surveillance footage?" Su Tang quickly changed the subject.
"The shabby community where I live is a new one, and many surveillance cameras haven't been installed yet. Moreover, I live in a duplex on the top floor. Without someone to bring it, how could the dog go downstairs by itself? It can't even push open the fire door in the stairwell!" Yang Jiao became more distressed.
Yang Jiao's request was actually very simple. A week ago, she woke up in the morning and found her beloved dog missing. After searching all over the house without success, she went downstairs to the community courtyard to look for it. Finally, she found it on a rockery in the courtyard. However, after being found, the dog was completely covered in mangled fur. Almost all the fur on its back and left side had been harvested by a lawnmower. Besides that, after being found, the dog seemed to have lost its soul, not eating or drinking, its ears drooping, neither playing nor moving. After consulting a veterinarian, they learned that the dog had been frightened. Its fur could grow back, but its fear would take a long time to heal.
Yang Jiao's residence was a duplex on the top floor of a tall building in the community, a "palace room" with a separate elevator that went directly from the lower floor to the upper floor. Regarding the "night of the crime," Yang Jiao adamantly stated that her beloved dog would absolutely not have gone out. She had slept holding the dog. And that night, Yang Jiao was home alone. If no one opened the door, how could the dog get out? If no one operated the elevator, how could the dog get down? Climb the stairs? Don't be ridiculous. A 22-story building, let alone how to open the fire door that was always kept closed, Yang Jiao's dog was a famously small Bichon Frise with not that much exercise capacity...
"Jiaozi, can I not take this case?" Although she felt that this case... thing was indeed a bit strange, but to solve a case for a dog, what was that about? The maiden's troubles welled up in her heart again, and Su Tang ungracefully banged her head against the coffee table in front of her.
And at the same time, in another scene, Su Tang's master also banged his head hard against the coffee table in front of him, because he really couldn't stand it anymore...