Don't Discriminate Against Species

Chapter 73 - Shoulder

“Captain Peng, about that case we took a few days ago – the chief labor contractor turned himself in.”

“What?” Peng Hang put down his personal old-fashioned teacup, thinking that he had heard wrongly. “Didn’t we just receive a report in the morning that the labor contractor surnamed Wang was at his hometown?”

He was at his hometown in the morning, but appeared at the entrance of their police station now. Did he take a plane just to turn himself in?

What laudable spirit.

He nearly burst into laughter upon seeing the chief labor contractor. Those slippers on his feet, and the way he was carrying beer and pork – was he here to drink and chat with them? He tilted his chin, telling labor contractor Wang, “Come in and give an account of your crimes.”

Labor contractor Wang looked at Peng Hang and the other people who had come out like they were malicious spirits, stepping back repeatedly.

“Ai, what are you running for? You’re already here, it doesn’t make sense not to take a seat here for a while,” Peng Han handcuffed labor contractor Wang. “Let’s go, you can have a nice and proper seat inside.”

Labor contractor Wang muttered, “Impossible. I must be having a nightmare.”

He had clearly been on the way home to eat, so how could he have appeared at the entrance of the capital’s police station? This wasn’t logical at all. Or... had he encountered the legendary aliens?

Peng Hang brought the labor contractor in and opened a recording book. “Your name, hometown, and age. Also, give an account of your crime.”

Unexpectedly, labor contractor Wang suddenly exclaimed, “I bumped into aliens!”

“Sit properly,” Peng Hang tapped the table several times with his pen. “May the suspect please not get too excited. Do not attempt to feign ignorance to escape lawful punishment.”

“Comrade police officer, I’m not lying,” Labor contractor Wang appeared to be in a manic state. “I just bought a few bottles of beer and a catty of stewed meat at the entrance of the village and everything was perfectly fine then, how could I have walked all the way to the capital? Do you think this was done by aliens?”

“You’re saying you ran into aliens?” Peng Hang was amused. Fortunately, he knew to maintain professionalism and control his emotions in front of a suspect.

“It’s the truth, I was still at my hometown in the morning. If you don’t believe me, you can investigate it,” Labor contractor Wang was no longer concerned that he had been caught by the police. He felt that he had experienced an elusive, major world event. Perhaps reporters, scientists, and television stations would interview him, turning him into someone who had appeared on television.

Peng Hang waved a hand at a colleague at the side. “Brother, let the local authorities check whether the suspect really made an appearance at his hometown.” Even if the other party’s words were beyond belief, Peng Hang still felt that he ought to get someone to investigate. He had to abide by his professional responsibilities.

With how developed the current network was, as long as someone was confirmed to have appeared at a certain location, they would only need to obtain local surveillance data and it wouldn’t be very difficult to find the individual’s traces.

Roughly one hour later, a reply came from labor contractor Wang’s hometown saying that the surveillance data couldn’t be obtained in a short period of time. However, his neighbors at his hometown all said that they hadn’t seen him.

“Impossible, I greeted so many neighbors today,” Labor contractor Wang said hysterically. “They even admired the big gold chain I bought!”

“We will continue investigating this matter, you’d better give us an account of your crime first,” Peng Hang removed the pen cap and glanced at his watch. “This whole situation has dragged on for nearly two hours. Even if you’re not tired, I want to sleep.”

“Are aliens not even as important as investigating the case?!” Labor contractor Wang was extremely excited. “If you investigate it properly, our country will be the first to discover actual living aliens. Imagine how much face others would have to give us!”

“I really couldn’t tell you were so patriotic. If you love the country so much, don’t cheat workers of their money. It isn’t easy for everyone to make money; if you act in this way, how are others going to live?” Peng Hang said. “Aliens invading earth is a concern for the astronomers, and you committing crimes is a concern for us police. We have clearly-defined roles, so there’s no need for you to worry.”

Labor contractor Wang looked at Peng Hang in disappointment, feeling that this brainless police officer had missed out on a gargantuan opportunity. He was a sinner who held the country back!

Peng Hang could care less about how bitter he felt and started investigating the details of the case.

At the management bureau, Zhuang Qing recalled his power and spoke to Fu Li, “You really are a rabbit with how anxious you are.”

Not only did he drag someone through space, he even wiped the memories of the people nearby. Spiritual energy wastage was no concern to him.

“I’m conserving the police’s resources. If I can help the country save a bit of money, then I will,” Fu Li stated. “All for the sake of serving the people.”

Zhuang Qing: ...

“This power the aquatic races have is quite interesting,” Fu Li said. “I read from a biology book that water makes up a very large proportion of human cells. With how familiar you aquatic races are with skills related to water, fights should be very much in your favor.”

Zhuang Qing instantly understood the meaning behind Fu Li’s words. He rapped a hand against Fu Li’s head. “The humans are best at drawing, but does that mean every human can draw?”

“Impudent,” Fu Li swatted Zhuang Qing’s hand. “I know you aquatic races have a huge group of yao holding you back, you don’t have to place such special emphasis on it.”

Laughing softly, Zhuang Qing picked up his coat from the stool. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Fu Li asked.

“My house, to rest. We’ll investigate the field dog’s case first thing in the morning,” Zhuang Qing smoothed the seam of his pants a few times and then stiffly placed his hand on Fu Li’s shoulder. “I want to eat hairy crab for supper, but there’s no point eating alone.”

“Sure sure,” Fu Li was most fond of eating seafood. It was just that he had recently been supporting the Kunpeng and Gong Fu, these two great yao who had very large appetites. He was worried that the few million he had on hand wasn’t sufficient, which was why he couldn’t bear to eat expensive things like hairy crab. Now that Zhuang Qing offered to treat him of his own accord, he immediately launched into a discussion with Zhuang Qing on which restaurant had the best tasting food, radiant with delight.

These were all things he had heard from his colleagues at the management bureau.

“Since you like it so much, why didn’t you go out and eat it the past few days?” Zhuang Qing gazed at Fu Li’s side-profile. His heart itched, as if it was being scratched by a rabbit’s short tail.

This was how men interacted, right? Arm over shoulder and whatnot?

“Money has to be saved before it can be spent,” However, Fu Li wasn’t thinking of anything else. He said, “I’m afraid I’ll run out of money to spend if a few more seniors come.”

“Still not admitting you’re silly? The money they spend can be added to our public expenses,” Zhuang Qing stated. “You contributed the most by helping everyone to placate them, how can we allow you to pay out of pocket to support them? What job takes your money instead of paying you?”

“But Xu Yuan said that not everything can be reimbursed...”

“Does she have more authority or do I have more authority?” Zhuang Qing’s brows furrowed slightly.

“You,” Fu Li made his decision without even thinking.

“The higher-ups have already approved special funds. When that time comes, I’ll arrange for finance to give you allowance.” Zhuang Qing paused for a moment before adding, “Eat whatever you want, don’t wrong your stomach.”

“Let’s go,” He walked out of the office with one hand stiffly placed on Fu Li’s shoulder.

“Boss, I...” Chu Yu walked to the door and directly ran into Zhuang Qing. Seeing the hand resting on Fu Li’s shoulder, Chu Yu’s mouth dropped open. He was silent for two to three seconds before saying, “I went the wrong way.”

Wedging the file under his pits, Chu Yu turned and ran in the direction of the common working area.

“One thousand years old, but still so frivolous,” Zhuang Qing’s tone was calm. “Ignore him.”

Crabs in autumn were both fat and tender. Fu Li happily dug into his crab meat, a large pile of crab shells beside him. Zhuang Qing looked at the mountain of shells and got the waiter to add another ten for Fu Li.

He felt that there was something wrong with him. He clearly couldn’t bear to spend money, yet when he saw how happily Fu Li ate, he actually felt that there was some meaning in spending money.

Could he have been influenced by Fu Li and caught his bad habit of throwing money away by the handful?

After eating all the crab meat, Fu Li asked, “Will we be on holiday during National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival?”

“Those are public holidays, of course we’ll be on holiday,” Zhuang Qing replied. “Why?”

“I thought of a good way to earn money,” Fu Li said. “We can make a bit of money from selling fish we caught.”

Zhuang Qing wanted to say that he didn’t want to embarrass his yao...

“In the many years I’ve lived, I’ve never set up a stall to sell something. It’ll definitely be very interesting.”

“Okay,” Against his intentions, this word slipped out of his mouth. Zhuang Qing felt that his mouth was a bit despicable.

“Which area of the sea has more fish now?” Invigorated, Fu Li spiritedly discussed with Zhuang Qing about how they would fish, whether they would fish at the sea or the river, and how much they would sell the fish for.

After chattering the entire way to Zhuang Qing’s villa, Fu Li had already started to plan how they would spend the money earned. This was despite the fact that there was still a few days remaining before the Mid-Autumn Festival; the fish in his mind had yet to even be caught.

Zhuang Qing didn’t burst his bubble either. He took out a bunch of grapes from the fridge, washed them clean, and placed them in front of Fu Li for him to eat while talking.

“Did you set up a stall in the past?” Fu Li asked Zhuang Qing.

Zhuang Qing stared blankly for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “No.”

“No problem, you’ll have experience when I accompany you,” Fu Li was extremely excited, hating that he couldn’t lug a bucket of fish off to sell right this instant.

“Okay,” From the way Fu Li intended to do whatever he said, Zhuang Qing knew that Fu Li definitely hadn’t suffered any grievances in the past. He hadn’t experienced rejection, which was why he did as he pleased and thought beautifully of everything.

Although this rabbit constantly proclaimed that he was four thousand years old, Zhuang Qing viewed Fu Li as a pure but not annoying yao who had been overly pampered by other yaoguai.

The next morning, Fu Li was still asleep when Zhuang Qing finished making breakfast. After Fu Li sat at the table, Zhuang Qing placed his breakfast in front of him. “I think you’re indeed not a simple rabbit.”

“Ah?” Fu Li looked at Zhuang Qing with a fried egg in his mouth.

“You might have the blood of a sloth in you,” Zhuang Qing downed the milk at one go. “Remember to wash the dishes after you’re done eating.”

Fu Li: ...

This person said he deserved to be called a rabbit one moment but said he wasn’t a rabbit the next, could he be a bit more consistent?

Fu Li felt that he was increasingly losing the dignity of an elder.

After washing the dishes, Fu Li and Zhuang Qing went to the work shed the field dog lived in. Fortunately, animals easily shed fur during autumn, so they managed to pick up the field dog’s fur from the ground.

The owl stared at the strands of dog fur in Zhuang Qing’s hands. What use did this fur have?

“Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang. Listen to my orders,” Zhuang Qing tossed the strands of dog fur into the air. The dog fur moved automatically even without wind, suddenly morphing into golden light and flying off.

Zhuang Qing and Fu Li exchanged a glance and then flew after it.

The owl stared blankly at the vacant door, feeling that his wings were just for show. There was no one whom he could catch up to.

He had brought down the bird world’s standard of speed.