Chapter 272 - 267: No Such Obligation
Hearing this, Yu Zhen Guo quickly stood up. "Li, has something happened?"
The officials present all cast confused glances her way.
Jiang Li glanced at the people blocking her way. "Shao Zhenhua is my father. I have the right to take him back with me."
Yu Zhen Guo’s brow furrowed. ’Everything was fine just a moment ago,’ he thought. ’Something must have happened.’
"Wait there. Grandpa’s coming over right now."
"Hey, why are you running to tattle on us! Aren’t you just making a scene?"
Jiang Li watched them with a deadpan expression. She hadn’t wanted to cause trouble. Originally, she would have been fine as long as the two sets of remains were separated and sent for cremation. She wouldn’t have had any objections to what came after.
But now, she only wanted to handle it herself.
Watching Jiang Li being given a hard time, Kun Sha felt much better. ’Serves her right,’ he thought.
The officials who had rushed over to stop the situation hadn’t expected Jiang Li to call Yu Zhen Guo without a second thought. She clearly had no respect for them.
’It’s just cremating some remains, is it really necessary to make such a big deal out of it?’
Yu Zhen Guo arrived quickly. When he saw Jiang Li standing in the middle of a circle of people, clutching the box, his expression instantly soured.
"What’s going on?"
"I asked them to leave, but they refused. They said I was being difficult and making a scene. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go back and find a crematorium myself."
Jiang Li stated her request directly.
"No, she’s slandering us! How could we possibly say something like that?"
The men exchanged a look. "Right! She’s the one throwing her weight around. This is such a major affair, how could we dare to be careless..."
They tacitly shifted the blame onto Jiang Li.
Jiang Li pulled a recording pen from her pocket. As their voices began to play from the device, their words of blame came to an abrupt halt.
Yu Zhen Guo was incandescent with rage. He pointed directly at the nose of the person in charge. "Didn’t we already agree on this?
"That’s the girl’s father in there. What’s wrong with her wanting to see him off? You can’t even grant such a small request? Are you looking for trouble?"
"Old Commander, please calm down, please calm down. We’ll leave right away, right away..."
"I said I’m going home. Do you not understand?" Jiang Li glared at them, her expression dark. ’They completely disregard my needs, so why should they keep me here? It’s just wasting my time.’
The group of people fell silent instantly. The higher-ups had already given instructions. There was an awards ceremony tomorrow. If she left, how would they explain it?
"Fine, fine. We’ll go home." Feeling for her, Yu Zhen Guo shoved aside the person in his way. ’A bunch of bastards bullying a young girl.’
"Hey, Old Commander, aren’t you just acting on impulse? A major leader is coming tomorrow, the whole procedure has been arranged! And, Jiang Li, right? The leader wants to commend you tomorrow. Are you really willing to just leave like this?"
The official in charge was instantly frantic.
"I’ve never needed any commendations. I just want to do what I want to do. Your business has nothing to do with me."
Jiang Li followed Yu Zhen Guo and walked out.
"Hey, hey, hey, Miss Jiang! It was my people’s negligence. Can we apologize to you? Tomorrow is just around the corner, it’s not easy for anyone..."
Jiang Li paused. "You have no such obligation."
Yu Zhen Guo happily had someone make arrangements, and soon a plane was waiting on the tarmac.
"Li, quickly, quickly, get on." Yu Zhen Guo went forward and enthusiastically beckoned for Jiang Li to board.
Jiang Li saw how eager Yu Zhen Guo was to leave and walked up the stairs, carrying the box.
"Hey!"
The crowd of people watched the plane take off, completely stunned.
"What just happened?"
The other officials in charge rushed over in a panic. Why had Jiang Li left when everything was supposed to be fine?
How many cases had been solved this past year with Jiang Li’s help?
The major leader had heard about her long ago and had been planning to use this opportunity to meet her. How could she have left after just a short while?
"Th-this isn’t our fault. She was the one who wanted to leave."
The other officials were furious. "We didn’t ask you to worship her, but how did you manage to tick her off and make her leave? The major leader repeatedly stressed that he absolutely had to see Jiang Li tomorrow.
"And now look! You’ve angered her into leaving. I’d like to see how you’re going to explain this!"
The faces of the men from before turned ghostly pale in an instant. Only now did they realize the severity of the problem, but it was too late.
Jiang Li had already left with the Old Commander.
For a moment, it was so quiet you could only hear the sound of breathing.
"S-so what do we do? Should we try to intercept..."
"That’s Yu Zhen Guo!" one of them couldn’t help but roar.
"Let me ask one more time. Why did Jiang Li leave?" The official who had approved Jiang Li’s cremation request looked at the men, his expression grim.
"She asked us to leave, but we thought it was unnecessary..."
"She asked you to leave, not to go and die! You guys have really screwed us over!"
When Yu Hongqian learned that Yu Zhen Guo had left with Jiang Li, he was dumbfounded. He hadn’t received any notice at all.
After Ji Qinghe got the news, she immediately canceled her trip to City A and took people from the police department to meet her.
「Three hours later, the plane landed in the evening.」
The moment Jiang Li disembarked, she saw familiar faces, and a sense of relief washed over her.
"Jiang Li, welcome home!" Ji Qinghe stepped forward with a bouquet of flowers and gave her a big hug.
Yu Huannian took the box from her hands.
Jiang Li returned the hug. "Thank you."
Yu Zhen Guo disembarked happily, his eyes on Yu Huannian standing beside Jiang Li. The more he looked, the more pleased he was.
’Worthy of my Yu Family, indeed,’ he thought. ’He turned out so well!’
"Grandpa," Yu Huannian said, seeing Yu Zhen Guo come down.
"Yes!" Yu Zhen Guo responded cheerfully. ’It wasn’t easy getting to come here,’ he thought. ’This time, I’ll stay for a while. I might as well stay until the New Year!’
Back at the police department, Jiang Li went to the break room they had reserved for her.
She opened the box. The contents were wrapped well. Opening the plastic bag, she was hit by a distinct smell. She picked up the tools beside her and began to clean the remains carefully.
Of course, Kun Sha didn’t get off easy during the cleaning process.
Jiang Li separated the two skeletons. It was actually easy to tell them apart—one frame was large, the other small. After separating them, she sent them for cremation and stayed by their side the entire time.
After she was done with everything, the phone on the table had already been blown up with calls.
Jiang Li glanced at it; they were all from unknown numbers.
A cup of hot milk tea was offered to her. Lu Xingye sat down beside her. "Try this. My sister made it herself."
Jiang Li took a sip. It was packed with ingredients. With one mouthful, the entire day’s exhaustion seemed to melt away.
"It’s delicious. I’ll go see Sister Xingchen tomorrow."
"Don’t worry about it. You’ve been exhausted for so many days, you should get some rest first." A smile played on Lu Xingye’s lips. "After Kun Sha died, my sister’s condition improved a lot. Now she spends all her time at home experimenting with food.
"Come over for dinner at my place when you have time."
"Okay."
Yu Zhen Guo followed Yu Huannian home. "Woah, this big house is really nice!"
Yu Zhen Guo took a tour of the house, growing more and more satisfied with what he saw.
"Grandpa, it’s getting late. You should rest first. We can go get supplies tomorrow."
"Alright." Yu Zhen Guo suddenly noticed a photograph on a cabinet. It showed Jiang Li, Yu Huannian, and the others, with an elderly and frail Yu Shuzhen sitting in a wheelchair in the middle, her body somewhat misshapen.
’She looks even more... than me.’
’How much she must have suffered!’
Yu Zhen Guo’s eyes instantly reddened, and he reached out a trembling hand to touch the photo. "Shuzhen, Daddy is so sorry."