CHAPTER 1269: CHAPTER 1196: EVERYTHING FLOURISHES

Morning.

Everything is awakening.

Wei Shikan felt a bit bewildered after being woken up by the alarm clock.

He hadn’t used such a thing in a while. Ever since the college entrance exam ended, he felt there wasn’t really anywhere he needed an alarm clock for. The teachers at the university were all cultured and friendly, even if you were late or missed a class, they often wouldn’t say anything. After joining the Criminal Police Brigade, his position didn’t even require regular hours. The leadership was even more laid back, although slightly less cultured, it still wasn’t at the level where an alarm clock was needed.

Wei Shikan pondered carefully for a long time before suddenly realizing that he was supposed to start a mathematics class today.

"Why are you up so early?" A soft, long leg wrapped around Wei Shikan’s waist, followed by a crisp laughter, "You didn’t set an alarm just to get an early start, did you?"

"I must have been kicked in the head by a donkey." Wei Shikan lay in the warm bed, his hand caressing the smooth, slender leg, immediately feeling regret.

The girl beside him laughed "ha," teasingly saying, "I thought you wanted to kick me."

"Ah..." Wei Shikan sighed deeply, pushing her away, "I have to go study mathematics."

"Why?"

"Because I need to learn image investigation, I guess." Wei Shikan sighed again.

"Image investigation?"

"Image investigation. It’s stuff the Criminal Science unit uses." Wei Shikan rose and dressed, revealing a fine chest and lean waist.

One doesn’t necessarily gain a fit body just by being in the criminal police. Usually, only fresh police academy graduates, and someone like Wei Shikan—who’s under no major stress, doesn’t have night duties, doesn’t have irregular meals due to surveillance, doesn’t compete in bladder endurance contests with suspects in the interrogation room, doesn’t have marathon tasks with special investigation teams forcing him to eat junk food, and doesn’t sit at the desk writing reports for five straight hours followed by three hours of compiling records—can maintain a good physique.

The girl lying in bed gazed adoringly at Wei Shikan’s abs, then watching him put on his full Zegna suit piece by piece, suddenly felt a bit reluctant, "Aren’t you supposed to study graph theory?"

"What?" Now it was Wei Shikan’s turn to be dumbfounded. He then asked in surprise, "You know math?"

"I graduated from the finance department." The girl leaned against the headboard, allowing the blanket to slide down gently, "When we were in school, the teachers emphasized the application of mathematics in finance, so we studied a lot, linear algebra, Laplace matrices, geometric group theory. Though later I couldn’t find a financial direction job, I should be able to be your study companion."

Wei Shikan felt a bit hesitant instinctively, worried about being tied down, so he said, "Let me meet the teacher first; if my math teacher is a long-legged beauty in black stockings, she might not be happy to see you."

"Why wouldn’t she be happy?"

"You’re a sexy long-leg, more captivating than those in uniform, they’d surely be unhappy." Wei Shikan smoothly soothed the girl with words and quickly got dressed and left.

At the classroom of the scheduled Changyang University, Wei Shikan only waited a few minutes before hearing the sound of the door opening.

Looking up, he saw a short chubby bald man stand at the podium.

"Are you Wei Shikan? My name is Li Erdun..." The math teacher on the podium looked over fifty years old, observing Wei Shikan with a serious expression.

"Hello, Mr. Li." Wei Shikan greeted him, eyes glazed, thinking to himself: What was I expecting anyway!

Li Erdun seemed satisfied with Wei Shikan’s attitude, nodded slightly, "I was a classmate of your mother’s, and I’m quite familiar with your father too. I didn’t expect a descendant would want to return to studying mathematics, really commendable. Hmm, here’s a set of test papers, complete them first, let’s see your level..."

...

Ningtai County.

Jiangcun Residential Area.

Early in the morning, the neighborhood was filled with the sounds of neighing and barking.

The neighing was real, someone actually riding a pony in the neighborhood and the barking came from a pack of dogs excitedly feasting.

Jiang Yuan also tried riding a pony, with his legs dangling down, his feet would touch the ground, if you didn’t look at the horse’s head, it was like riding on a dog.

Of course, it was meant for kids to ride, usually strolling with the dog-walkers in the area, except it made bigger piles while pooping, much like a larger golden retriever.

"Recently, young folks love to keep these. Some kids are only a few months old, and they say it’s for the kids to ride, meanwhile the two adults have a great time." Jiang Fuzhen accompanied his son to feed the dogs.

He liked feeding meat to friends and relatives regularly, while his son liked feeding the dogs rice, feeling a sense of continuity and seeing no issue with it.

Jiang Yuan’s cousin, Jiang Qiansi, conveniently took a video nearby.

The stray dogs attracted to the neighborhood by Jiang Yuan were basically all taken care of by Jiang Qiansi now. She converted a less rentable fourth-floor shop in their house into a doghouse, used a relatively small number of cats to attract customers, and with Jiang Village People’s personal shopping habits, barely managed to cover the rent. The labor costs were covered by making videos and selling pet items online.

In view of his cousin taking care of things, Jiang Yuan specially prepared an extra meal box and, after feeding all the dogs, gave it to Jiang Qiansi.

Jiang Qiansi exclaimed in surprise, "I have one too!"

Jiang Yuan patted her head with a smile, "Even the stray dogs got it, of course, you should have one."

"Great!" Jiang Qiansi immediately opened the meal box, scooped a big piece with a spoon, munching it as she held up her phone to capture this moment.

The dog meals Jiang Yuan made were already famous in Jiang Village, praised by those like Jiang Qiansi who had tasted it. Having tried it before, and watching the dogs eat, had already made her mouth water.

After several bites, Jiang Qiansi slowed down, watching Jiang Yuan with suspicion, "Bro, did you just say I’m like the dogs?"

"All eating from the same pot, don’t be so particular about it." Jiang Yuan handed her another meal box, "Heat it up later in an air fryer and it’ll taste eighty percent as good."

"No need, I can finish it myself." Jiang Qiansi lifted her chin proudly, thinking to herself, this dog meal was earned with my charm, I deserve to eat more.

Jiang Yuan casually asked about recent happenings in Jiang Village. Being young and fond of short videos, Jiang Qiansi’s ways of observing and understanding things were different from the older folks.

Jiang Qiansi "uhh-huh-ed" with her mouth, swallowed, then said, "Security’s been good lately, no thefts reported from the rentals."

"No deaths?" Jiang Yuan casually inquired.

"The village sees two or three deaths a year, I guess. Recently, none." Jiang Qiansi shivered slightly, whispered, "Could something be wrong with the ones who died before?"

"What nonsense." Jiang Yuan got up to play with the dogs.

Seeing she couldn’t help, Jiang Qiansi’s mind raced, quickly saying, "Our university had a death recently, does that help?"

She was studying at Shannan University and had previously introduced Jiang Yuan to an archaeology professor, getting him involved in identifying skeletal remains from an ancient tomb. A death at Shannan University was clearly worth noting.

Jiang Yuan turned and asked, "Did you report it? What did the police say?"

"It’s probably considered a natural death." Jiang Qiansi sheepishly whispered, "It was a literature department’s old professor, late-stage cancer."

Jiang Yuan’s anxiety dispelled: "Literature department, never mind. Old professors are generally safe."

He currently wasn’t lacking cases, mainly focused on the security of Ningtai County. Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team worked long-term outside; if their hometown got robbed, it wouldn’t just be funny but also tragic.