When A Snail Falls in Love

Like other bigger families, there was a certain balance of personal interest, emotion, and power among the members of the Ye family. The balance was not be written in black and white, but after all these years, everyone had a certain role that they needed to play.

Ye Lanyuan was the one who set the rules of the balance.

Ye Ziqiang had always wanted to be the one to maintain the balance but lacked the ability to do so.

Ye Qiao seemed to be proud, but she actually followed the rules strictly.

And due to Ye Zixiao’s outspoken personality, he ignored the existence of the balance.

Whereas Ye Jin was the one who silently maintained the balance.

Thus, she advised Ye Lanyuan to not gobble up his brother’s shares ten years ago and also opposed Ye Zixi’s return to the Ye Group five years ago. Sadly, her father never took any of her advice and she ended up becoming Ye Lanyuan’s least favorite child instead. This was because she was the only one who pointed out the fact that the head of the Ye Group was once greedy and heartless and was similarly acutely aware of his weaknesses and guilt as he grew older.

Due to the small age gap and Ye Ziqiang’s male chauvinistic behavior, he had always cared for his reserved second sister who was not favored by their father. Ever since they were younger, he had been protective of his sister, even in public. However, after they became adults, Ye Jin was the one who protected Ye Ziqiang whenever he encountered difficulties. She was the one who bailed him out when he got into jail because of fighting and was also the one who gave him advice when his business was failing.

This time was no exception.

On the night of the incident, she heard her big brother painfully plead for help on the phone. Aside from shock, the first thing that Ye Jin thought of was since the mistake had already been done, what she needed to do was minimize the damage and influence it could have on the family.

At this time, Ji Bai interrupted her with a question. “Why did he argue with Ye Zixi?”

Ye Jin’s gaze became calm. “After Zixi returned to the company, father had only handed over the half-dead overseas investment department to her. Even so, she was so outstanding that she brought in huge profits every year. She might even be the most brilliant one out of all of us, so father started giving her more power.”

After a slight pause, she added, “But last year, one of the investments in her department suffered a great loss.”

Old Wu flipped through the information and asked, “You mean the case where she lost a hundred million yuan because her partner ran away with the money?”

Ye Jin remained silent for a moment before saying, “It was not a hundred million, it was two billion US dollars, or 14 billion yuan. Around half of the Ye Group disappeared into thin air.”

Everyone outside the interrogation room was dumbfounded. Ji Bai and Old Wu did not say anything, so Ye Jin continued, “Obviously, we tried to cover this up, otherwise the Ye Group’s stock price would collapse overnight. Big Brother had always suspected that Zixi was the one behind it. In truth, he had matured a lot compared to when he was younger. However, he had some drinks on that fateful night when he apparently overheard some rumors about the overseas investment department. Thus, he impulsively tailed Zixi with his car and went to Lin An Mountain.”

Just as Ji Bai had expected, while the two of them were having a dispute, Ye Ziqiang accidentally killed Ye Zixi. Since he was nervous and flustered, he thought about disguising the crime scene as a blade injury incident.

Right at that moment, Ye Jin called him because of work. She could tell that there was something off with his tone and she forced the truth out of him.

The second child was sharp and the first thing that Ye Jin told her big brother to do was to switch on the air conditioner to delay the time of death. By the time she arrived at the villa, she had the entire plan already mapped out in her head.

“You were the one who sent the text message?” Old Wu asked.

Ye Jin cast her gaze downward. “The contents were written by Ye Zixi when she was on the verge of dying, but she didn’t get to send it. Therefore, I set a time for it to be sent to Zixiao.”

“Why did you choose to send it to Ye Zixiao?” Old Wu asked.

Ye Jin looked at him and said, “Because Zixiao was in a very bad mood when he came home that day. I know about my brother’s character so I was sure that he would definitely spend the night out with his friends. Thus, even if he immediately went to the villa, he would have an alibi and would not get into trouble.”

Old Wu stared at her coldly. “You really calculated everything, didn’t you?”

Ye Jin remained silent.

Ji Bai, on the other hand, continued asking. “Do the two of you know about the deceased and Zhang Shiyong’s extramarital affair?”

Ye Jin replied, “I didn’t know about it before the incident, but I found out about it after I went to the villa that night. After Ye Zixiao turned over Zhang Shiyong’s clothes, the whole family learned about it too.”

Old Wu growled, “Ye Ziqiang killed someone. If you really wanted the best for him, then you should have convinced him to turn himself in. Nevertheless, you went against the law for the benefit of your family and became his accomplice instead. Why would you do that?”

Again, Ye Jin remained silent and did not answer him.

After hearing Ye Jin’s confession, Ye Qiao likewise burst into tears and finally said the truth.

A few days before the incident, she received reliable news from a private detective and so she drove to Lin An Mountain on the night of the incident. Upon arriving, she saw a car that looked like her big brother’s, but by the time she entered the villa, Ye Zixi was already dead.

She stayed in the villa for a while and saw her husband’s belongings there. Since she was angry and desperate, she picked up the deceased’s mobile phone in an attempt to put the blame on her husband.

Old Wu frowned when he heard this and asked, “Why did you want to take the blame for Ye Ziqiang?”

Ye Qiao answered, “Big brother was acting out of anger on behalf of the family. Either way, my life had already been ruined, so why not take the blame for him?”

Ji Bai said briefly, “A life is not destroyed so easily.”

After the truth came out, the entire criminal police unit was relieved. This case had been weighing down their hearts heavily, so everyone remained silent as they went to work collecting evidence to close the case.

When Ji Bai returned to his office, he saw Xu Xu sitting there lost in her own thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in a low voice.

Xu Xu answered, “I was just thinking about who Zixi originally intended to send the text message to before she passed away.”

Ji Bai reached out his hand to pat her short hair, then he threw a bunch of documents at her. “Hurry up and get to work.”

“Oh.” Xu Xu jumped up, but not before she once again noticed the subtle physical contact between the two of them. ‘Ignore him, ignore him’ she thought.

At this moment, Zhao Han poked his head through the door. “Captain, we brought Ye Ziqiang in.”

Ye Ziqiang went to a meeting somewhere in the province yesterday on behalf of the Ye Group whereby the criminal police officer who was responsible for keeping an eye on him had been tailing him without his knowledge the entire time. Just when his car entered the city this morning, he was stopped by the police.

Since they still needed to investigate the evidence further, the police told him that they needed him to assist in the investigation. Although Ye Ziqiang was somewhat uneasy, he did not think much of it, so he calmly stepped into the police station.

There was a narrow passage outside of the interrogation room and there was plenty of sunlight pouring in through the windows that ran alongside the passage. Ye Ziqiang walked behind the police officer and waited as the door of the interrogation room was opened. Ye Jin walked out of the room with her hands cuffed and two police leading her from behind.

Ye Jin raised her head and looked at Ye Ziqiang, before softly greeting him with a gentle and soothing look in her eyes. “Brother.”

Ye Ziqiang felt all the blood in his body rush to the top of his head as an extreme pressure pressed against his temples. What else did he not know of? He looked at his sister blankly while the veins on his head started to pop out from the intense blood flow.

At that time, Ji Bai and Xu Xu walked to the door. They saw Ye Ziqiang’s expression and Ji Bai frowned slightly.

Suddenly, Ye Ziqiang spun around and pushed the police who was standing behind him. He was physically tall and strong, so the others were caught off guard when he suddenly became violent. However, just as the officers were about to launch themselves at him, he took out a Swiss Army knife from his pocket and waved it menacingly in the air, forcing them to keep their distance.

“I’m the one who killed her, it has nothing to do with my sister.” Tears were streaming down his face as he spat out desperately. “Am I f*cking going to jail?”

“Brother!” Ye Jin exclaimed.

Suddenly, Ye Ziqiang raised the Swiss Army knife and stabbed it toward his chest. However, when the knife was half a foot away from him, his eyes widened in horror and his hand started trembling. He then leaned against the wall with an extremely pained expression on his face.

Ji Bai who was initially standing by the door had been waiting for the right time to rush forward and grab his wrist. Ye Ziqiang was so frightened, so he thrust his hand forward, and since he was enraged and fighting ferociously, he struggled with tremendous strength. However, Ji Bai’s hand was like a steel clamp and did not budge, but because the passage was too narrow and there were people behind him, his movement was restricted. Thus, he was cut on the lower arm as blood instantly started to seep out and stain his white shirt sleeve.

Everyone was shocked. Xu Xu looked at Ji Bai’s calm face and the blood-red stain on his shirt and her mind went blank out of fear.

In a flash, Ji Bai had already grabbed both of Ye Ziqiang’s hands and restrained them behind his back. He struggled like a bull with his tall body, but he was forcibly pressed against the wall by Ji Bai. Seconds later, the other criminal police officer swarmed forward and subdued him.

Soon, they received news from their colleagues responsible for the investigation of the evidence collected. They retrieved traces of Ye Zixi’s blood from Ye Ziqiang’s car and were in the progress of searching for other weapons. Meanwhile, Ye Ziqiang was detained, and after he had calmed down he confessed to all his crimes.

It was soon time for their lunch break and Ji Bai told everyone to have their lunch first. He then sat in his office and threw the ball of cotton he used to stop the bleeding into the trash. Although the bloodstain looked hideous, the wound was not that deep, so he did not worry too much about it.

Old Wu was sitting across the table and said whilst smiling, “It’s finally over. We can relax for a few days.”

Ji Bai smiled back. “Since we’ve closed the case, the station chief has given us three days off. You can accompany your wife to visit your son.” Old Wu’s son was studying in a university from another state.

Old Wu nodded. “That would be great. She’s always nagging me about it.”

As he said this, Zhao Han walked into the office with a first aid kit, “Captain, I’m here to treat your wounds.”

Since the case was closed, Ji Bai was in a good mood. He glanced at Xu Xu who had yet to leave for lunch since she was still busy doing work, then he slyly said to Zhao Han, “You have an urgent report you need to complete, ask someone else to treat my wound.”

Zhao Han nodded. “Oh, I’ll let Yao Meng do it.”

Ji Bai was stunned for a split second, but Old Wu butt in and said, “Yao Meng’s also busy, let Xu Xu do it.”

Ji Bai looked Old Wu, and Old Wu looked back at him at the same time.

Ji Bai smiled lightly and did not say anything.

Both Old Wu and Zhao Han walked out of the room and soon, Xu Xu walked in. Her gaze immediately fell on Ji Bai’s hand, “Teacher, is your hand alright?”

Ji Bai leaned against the back of his chair comfortably and stretched out his arms towards her, “What do you think?”

Xu Xu grabbed his hand carefully, then took a cotton ball soaked in alcohol and gently wiped off the blood around the wound. “It’s not too bad, but it would be the best to take a tetanus shot later.”

“Okay.”

Xu Xu was focused on treating the wound, so she naturally noticed that Ji Bai’s hand was different from the other men that she had seen. (Not that she normally paid that much attention to a man’s hand, unless it was for a case.)

His arm was no doubt much bigger than hers, but it did not look overly muscular. It looked very lean and slender, which made it seem very powerful. Additionally, the skin on the back of the hand and his arms were slightly darker, but the skin on his palm was very fair. This indicated that his original skin color was much fairer than his current skin tone. This was probably because ever since he became a criminal police, he was constantly exposed to the sun, so his skin color tanned to a light brown color. In addition to the newly added wound, he had an old scar on both the back of his hand and on his forearm. Not to mention, the calluses around his palm and fingertips were relatively thick due to the fact that he needed to hold onto a gun all year round. This made his hand look very rough, which matched well with his ruggedly good looks.

‘What a nice hand,’ Xu Xu thought internally.

While Xu Xu was lost in her thoughts, Ji Bai could hardly restrain himself.

Beams of light cut through the gaps in the window blinds to light up the warm and silent room. Ji Bai stretched his body comfortably while Xu Xu stood by his side quietly. The more he looked at her, the more delicate and pretty her features looked, not to mention, her skin was as thin as jade which allowed a subtle blush to seep through her cheeks. Her slender fingers continuously pressed against his wrist, such that at that moment, even his slightly painful and numb wound felt oddly soothed.

Ji Bai took out his phone and started taking pictures.

Xu Xu noticed it and asked, “What’re you doing?”

Ji Bai looked at her frowning eyebrows through the camera frame and replied briefly, “I’m reading the news. International news.”