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"I'm glad you like it." Xu Dan, beaming with delight at the compliment, took the bowl and headed out.

Zhou Zhi hastily removed his tie from his shirt and turned to close the door, pretending to strike Zhou Fengxu. "You wicked boy, leaving me to endure your mother's cooking skills all by myself."

"Why do you keep praising Sister Dan every day? Wouldn't it be fine if you just didn't comment?" Zhou Fengxu evaded the gesture, settling into a leather chair. With a long stretch of his arm, he switched on a table lamp, illuminating the area with its soft glow.

The warm light fell upon the yellow talisman on the desk. He picked it up, flipped it over twice, then carefully unfolded it for examination.

"Mrs. Li is the real culprit. She has this 'Mrs. Li Teaches Cooking' show, and Dan Dan watches it daily to learn how to cook," Zhou Zhi lamented, sitting down on the mattress and continuing to undo his tie. "Well, when you think about it, it's not really your mom's fault. After all, she's still new to this."

"If you don't praise your own wife, who else will? Have you visited Erice at the Qiao residence yet?"

"I did manage to visit her at the hospital once, but she hasn't woken up yet," Zhou Fengxu replied after some thought. "I'll go again in a couple of days."

Zhou Zhi sighed. "The Qiao family truly has seen a change. When it was announced that Qiao Ziyuan might never wake up and would remain in a vegetative state, Uncle Qiao passed out right there and then."

Zhou Fengxu shared the same sense of bewilderment.

Qiao Ziyuan has always been in excellent health since he was young. His sudden unconsciousness doesn't seem like something that would happen to him.

"What could be the reason?"

"We've consulted every kind of doctor, but they can't find anything. In my opinion, there must be some supernatural reason," Zhou Zhi complained. "Your Uncle Qiao is too stubborn. When we suggested getting a feng shui master to take a look, he insisted on searching for doctors all over the world."

"You believe in mysticism too?" Zhou Fengxu was surprised. He had assumed that his family firmly believed in science and wouldn't resort to superstition.

"There are many things in this world that science can't explain! If not mysticism, then what should we believe in?"

Zhou Zhi narrated, his thoughts drifting back to those times. "When I took over the family business from your grandfather, I had to go through the formal ritual of stepping over the fire basin, burning incense, and paying respects to our ancestors."

Saying this, she clasped her hands together and gazed at the sky. "If it weren't for our ancestors' blessings, how could the Zhou family have stood firm for hundreds of years?"

Upon finishing the sentence.

Zhou Zhi suddenly noticed the charm placed on the table, and his eyes immediately lit up. He approached with his hands clasped behind his back, saying, "Now this is a fine piece. Where did you acquire it?"

Zhou Fengxu leaned against his leather jacket, his long fingers skillfully folding the charm back into a triangle. "How can we be sure it's a genuine treasure?"

The yellow talisman was already wrinkled, and even when folded into a triangle, the creases were still visible.

If it hadn't been inscribed with a charm, it would've been dismissed as a crumpled piece of artwork by children.

"From one glance, I can tell that Sister Dan and I often visit big temples. The more we see, the more we learn to distinguish good charms from bad ones," Zhou Zhi continued. "Although this talisman is creased, the cinnabar strokes are powerful and even have a subtle luster. Even the charms I get from masters don't achieve this."

Zhou Zhi then asked,

"How much does each one cost?"

"One thousand," Zhou Fengxu replied.

"One thousand?"

Zhou Zhi didn't seem to think it was too expensive; instead, he was astonished, his eyes widening as he immediately decided to take the talisman.

"I have to pay three thousand for much lower quality ones!"

"You're such a unlucky fellow, encountering such good luck and not even telling your dad?"

Zhou Fengxu rose to press the talisman down, then with a long reach, he grasped it and held it firmly in his palm.

"You said the person who wrote this talisman is trash?"

Zhou Zhi, seeing the talisman slip away, lost his temper. "I said you're the trash!"

"For now, I can't give it to you." Zhou Fengxu stretched out his hand to put on his leather jacket, then tucked the talisman into the breast pocket. He then grabbed the car keys from the table.

"I'll be staying at the police station tonight, for convenience tomorrow's work."

Zhou Zhi watched the Hummer descend the hill, shaking his head and sighing. "Stubborn kid, you don't even ask why Sister Dan and I like going to the big temple—it's all for you. You could have been a proper gentleman, but instead, you chose to be a cop, dealing with ruthless killers every day. I wake up each morning, fearing something might happen to you."

With that, Zhou Zhi turned back into the house, covering his thumping heart.

"Peculiar, my heart seems especially active today. Could something be wrong?"

Chapter 27

Early in the morning, the temperature dropped abruptly.

In the D Unit of the Nine Dragons Police Station, Zhou Fengxu pushed open the office door. A white, round object came flying at him, which he casually caught. Upon unfolding it, he found a steaming hot bun emitting warmth.

Shi Boren was still groggy, and no amount of hair gel could tame a wayward strand of his short hair. As he took a bite of the steamed pork bun, he tugged at the collar of his fleece jacket. "The weather has changed. It's really chilly out there. These are from the famous Zhongji Steamed Bun Shop in Causeway Bay; I woke up extra early just to get them for you, so give them a try."

Zhou Fengxu accepted the steamed bun with a word of thanks, placing it on the table before inquiring, "Any new developments on the human skin case?"

The victims of the human skin case, apart from the known female, have yet to be conclusively identified. The D Squad has been working tirelessly, pouring countless extra hours into the investigation.

Gan Yizu rose from his desk and picked up a document. "The Forensic Division has not only documented the skin flakes; they've recently discovered oil residue in the fingernails. After three rounds of analysis, it's been confirmed as pork fat."

A crucial lead!

After Gan Yizu's report, the temperature in the room seemed to rise.

Zhou Fengxu picked up a marker from his office desk and wrote "lard" on the whiteboard.

"Lard?" Shi Boren, biting into a steamed bun, looked at the board, "The pattern of cutting does resemble that of butchering pork bones. Could it be that the murderer is a butcher?"

"But lard is widely used, many citizens in Hong Kong prefer to add it when cooking," Zhou Fengxu pointed out.

The voice echoed from a corner. Luo Qizhong sat by the window, sipping his coffee and gently blowing on its warmth, his gaze fixed on the whiteboard.

"Uncle Zhong," Zhou Fengxu capped his marker, "the body was found at the Kowloon Street Market. You take a team to the market and inquire at the lard stalls for customer lists."