CHAPTER 377: 350 SMALL WARMTH

It seemed that everything that needed to be arranged had been arranged.

Du Heng, however, unexpectedly received a call from Wu Shengnan.

In the Criminal Police Brigade’s First Brigade office, everyone who met Du Heng greeted him warmly. Some even stopped their work to chat with Du Heng for a moment or ask about his recovery.

Wu Shengnan, holding a few documents, sat down beside Du Heng with a smile. "Well, well, you’re even more popular in our unit than I am."

Du Heng glanced sideways at Wu Shengnan. "If you have something to say, hurry up. I’m busy."

Wu Shengnan choked. She really couldn’t understand why this man couldn’t treat her nicely.

Her smiling face instantly deflated, and with a THUD, she slapped the documents onto the table in front of Du Heng.

Du Heng looked at them, puzzled. "What are these?"

Wu Shengnan’s bad temper flared, and she said coldly, "Sign them."

"What is this you want me to sign? Tell me. If you don’t, I’m leaving." Du Heng made a move to get up.

Wu Shengnan grew anxious. "Can’t you read them yourself?"

"No," Du Heng’s reply was blunt.

Every time he met this woman, nothing good came of it. The first time, she treated me like a thief, leaving me with a bellyful of qi. The second time, we went drinking, and I utterly lost face in front of my buddies. The third time we met, I ended up as free labor for their Criminal Police Brigade for three days. And the fourth time? Even better—my girlfriend got stabbed.

Although blaming her for all that seemed a bit of a stretch, she was the one who’d burned her bridges first. So, yes, all these things were her fault.

She was a jinx, a massive jinx!

Wu Shengnan was provoked to qi, taking deep breaths and muttering, "No qi. No qi."

"Hurry up and tell me. I’m busy."

"Fine. This is the Body Claim Certificate. Sign it."

Du Heng practically exploded, staring at Wu Shengnan as if she were an idiot. "Wu Shengnan, are you insane? Claim a corpse? Claim my ass!"

Wu Shengnan couldn’t hold back and shouted, "If you don’t claim them, who will? Your girlfriend’s uncle and two cousins are at the funeral home right now! If you don’t sign to claim them, how can their cremat be carried out?"

"You must be seriously deranged. You left the bodies at the funeral home for a whole month?"

"You’re the one who’s deranged! You’re completely deranged! Your girlfriend is hospitalized, your mother-in-law was sent home in a daze, and your father-in-law flatly refuses to get involved! There’s only one living relative left, and she’s still in the hospital. Who else am I supposed to find to claim them?"

Wu Shengnan, also angered by Du Heng’s attitude, took another breath and continued, "And your girlfriend? She went straight to Africa right after being discharged from the hospital. Who else can I possibly find if not you?"

"Go find whoever you want." Du Heng didn’t want to argue with this woman any longer.

He thought this woman was truly unhinged. This had nothing to do with him, so why on earth would he sign anything?

With that said, he turned and walked away.

However, just as he reached the door, he abruptly turned back. He had been so qi’d that he forgot Zhao Xinfang was still inside.

"Which form is Zhao Xinfang’s?"

"If you’re going to sign, sign them both."

"Wu Shengnan, do you believe I’ll go report you to your captain right now?"

Du Heng’s attitude provoked Wu Shengnan’s qi to the point of tears.

She truly felt she had no other choice. The first case she had taken on was simple to solve; it barely required any investigation. But closing the case had become a major problem: no one claimed the corpses!

Of the immediate family, only one was deceased, and the one survivor, according to the doctors, would be disabled for life. Zhao Xinfang’s assist had been brutal; he’d stabbed the woman seven or eight times in the stomach, injuring her stomach and liver—both requiring partial removal—and one of her eyes had also been stabbed and damaged. She was still in the hospital battling infection; expecting her to come out and claim them would mean waiting until who knows when. When she called other relatives, as soon as they heard someone had died—and that it was Zhao Xinyuan’s family—they all claimed not to know them and promptly hung up on her. She finally waited for Wang Shuqiu to be discharged from the hospital, but before Wu Shengnan could even go find her, the woman had patted her butt and flown off to Africa.

Who else could she find now but Du Heng?

Yet, she hadn’t expected Du Heng to be so utterly uncooperative.

But her seeking out Du Heng was unreasonable in the first place. Now that Du Heng was threatening to report her, she felt so wronged she was on the verge of tears. If he reported her, her past three months of work would be for nothing, and she’d have to go back to internal work.

Wiping her tears, she pulled out a document from the pile.

Du Heng examined it carefully. It was indeed the claim form for Zhao Xinfang. He signed his name.

"Can I go to the funeral home now?"

"Yes, you can." Wu Shengnan, tears still streaming, handed Du Heng a slip of paper from the documents. "Take this, pay the fee, and you can collect the ashes."

Du Heng snatched the document and immediately turned to leave, not wanting to exchange another word with Wu Shengnan.

At the funeral home, he learned for the first time that one had to pay, and pay a lot. Otherwise, even for your own relatives, you couldn’t take away the body or the ashes.

This is truly freaking Benz!!!

After collecting the delivered ashes, Du Heng went straight to the hospital.

Clutching the urn, he stood outside the woman’s hospital room for half an hour. If a doctor hadn’t found it unbearable and shooed him away, he might have stood there all day.

Leaving the hospital, Du Heng sat quietly in his car for an hour.

Afterward, he drove to Wang Shuqiu’s family home to return Zhao Xinfang’s ashes.

After delivering the ashes to their home, seeing Wang Shuqiu’s father, who had aged considerably, and her mother, who was raving incoherently, Du Heng didn’t know what to say. He was even starting to resent Wang Shuqiu, a bit of qi towards her arising; how could she have been so heartless as to leave them and go so far away?

Subsequently, Du Heng returned to Jinzhou overnight.

He couldn’t describe his mood; it wasn’t joy or sorrow, just a profound dullness.

For the first time, he felt the urge to drink.

He took out his mobile phone, intending to call Wei Kaida, but then he saw several missed calls from Liao Quansheng that he hadn’t answered because he’d been driving.

"Liao, what’s up?"

"Come to my place. Something’s come up."

After that brief exchange, Liao Quansheng hung up.

With no other choice, Du Heng had to drive to Liao Quansheng’s home again.

By then, it was already 11:30 in the evening.

"Du, I heard you went to get Xiao Fang’s ashes today?"

"Yes, I sent them back to their hometown."

Liao Quansheng took a deep breath and said slowly, "Du, do you know why my younger sister took a liking to Xiao Fang, and why our family didn’t try to stop her?"

Du Heng shook his head.

"My sister has been spoiled since she was little. A few years ago, we were all engrossed in our careers and neglected the girl, letting her drift aimlessly in society for a while. Then, something happened."

Liao Quansheng’s voice dropped. "Later, the doctor told us my sister could never have children."

Du Heng’s eyes narrowed. "And then?"

Liao Quansheng suddenly turned to look at Du Heng. "My sister is pregnant."

Du Heng shot to his feet. "Xiao Fang’s?"

"Yes."

Silence. A long silence.

Du Heng desperately wanted to ask Lord in Heaven what in the hell was going on. Was fate just toying with people?

After a long while, Du Heng asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Liao Quansheng countered, "What are your thoughts?"

Du Heng fell silent again. He had broken up with Wang Shuqiu and didn’t know in what capacity he should answer.

"I’m not in a position to offer my opinion. Just tell me what your family has decided."

"My sister wants to have the child."

Du Heng’s heart leaped. "And your family’s opinion?"

"We respect my sister’s wishes. Besides, her situation is so unique; there’s no guarantee she could ever get pregnant again. So, we all agree."

"Alright. When the child is born, I’ll be his godfather."

Liao Quansheng smiled for the first time that evening, and Du Heng, too, showed his first smile in a long time.

He suddenly found a reason to drink.

「Three minutes later.」

Liao Quansheng stared at Du Heng, who had already passed out on the table, and cursed.

He’d actually thought this punk was proactively looking for a drink because his tolerance had improved. Turns out, he was still the same lightweight as before.

What a waste of his good wine! And now he even had to get this punk settled into bed.

But the frustrated Liao Quansheng didn’t notice that Du Heng, though drunk, had fallen asleep with a smile on his face.

That yet unborn little life made his heart grow warm.