How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 322 - 324: Farewell Party_1

Li Qiao put down the book, turned off the light, and rested.

The young man leaned in, and in the darkness, he said with an ambiguous tone, "Qiaoqiao, we....."

Li Qiao yawned, "I’m so sleepy! I have to go to work tomorrow."

Qin Jin, "..."

....

Early the next day, Li Qiao got ready to start her day’s work.

Li Jianguo arrived at the door with his luggage.

Li Qiao’s eyes fell on the bag he was carrying, "Going back to Beijing with Jin?"

"Mm."

Qin Jin came out from inside, "I was just about to tell you."

Li Qiao snorted coldly; this guy did it on purpose!

No wonder he insisted on clinging to her last night, he said, "I’ll come to pick you up when your school is about to start."

"No need." Li Qiao rode off on her bike.

Qin Jin immediately locked the front door and left with Li Jianguo.

As soon as she entered the office, Ma Ling told her that Niu Dazhi’s case had been cracked.

The murderer was indeed Wang De.

He hadn’t moved very far away.

He was still in the same county, only thirty miles from his original village.

Niu Dazhi had indeed brought disaster upon himself because he not only owed money but also beat up the debtor and humiliated the debtor’s wife in front of him.

Li Qiao was amazed at her teammates’ efficiency; at the same time, she felt complicated as she didn’t feel the joy of having solved a case.

She thought of Qin Jin.

If she were bullied, he would probably wield a knife and chop up the whole family, let alone a honest person.

She said, "Doesn’t this kind of crime usually count as a crime of passion? If he’s caught, won’t he receive a lighter sentence?"

"Who knows. Hu Cuicui said Wang De is mentally ill, and the higher-ups are looking for a psychiatrist to assess him. If it’s true, he might be released without charges," Ma Ling said, "You know what’s odd? The victim owed him, but why did he have to take revenge on the entire family, including the elderly and children?"

"He has a mental illness!"

"You can’t just chalk up a crime to mental illness."

Li Qiao didn’t comment because she feared her views might be deemed unethical.

She flipped through the materials of other cases; work must go on.

With Qin Jin not home, she didn’t want to return to an empty house. After work, she grabbed a simple meal at a restaurant outside, then returned to the office and voluntarily worked overtime.

She was the only person in the room.

A neighboring colleague passed by and walked in, teasingly saying, "Working overtime, huh? If you keep this up, Director Xun might be out of a job."

Li Qiao, "I don’t know how to perform autopsies, so I can’t take his place." Her psychological tolerance was also not up to par; she could still look at a typical corpse, but seeing one that had been dead too long might give her nightmares for days.

"With your abilities, you could learn that in no time if you wanted to," he opined.

Li Qiao smiled, "That’s flattering."

"When does school start?"

"In about ten more days," Li Qiao said, "Xu Feng and the others should be back by now, right?" Wasn’t it said to be a month? That time has already passed.

"I’m not very sure."

The two chatted casually for a bit, and after the colleague left, Li Qiao closed the materials, turned off the lights, and left work.

The room was unnaturally quiet for just one person.

Li Qiao tossed and turned, unable to sleep, well into the night.

She was awakened by a rumbling noise from outside before dawn; she thought it was raining and pulled back the curtain, but it was not the case. Only after careful listening did she realize it was noise from next door.

What were they doing?

At that moment, cursing could be heard outside; it was Yan Xiaoyu hammering on the large iron gate.

The neighborhood residents were criticizing her for making too much noise early in the morning.

"Of course I have to fix a broken door early," Yan Xiaoyu glanced in the direction of Li Qiao’s house; she had noticed Li Qiao’s lights on last night and guessed she only fell asleep at midnight. This was the best time for sleep, and disturbing her would leave her unenergetic for work during the day.

It’d be best if she got fired from the team.

Last time I caught her in the act, this time I shouldn’t have a reason to scold her, should I?

Li Qiao was indeed tired, but she didn’t lose her temper. It was noisy outside, so she couldn’t sleep and got up to get ready for work.

"Li, you’re up so early. If everyone had your spirit, our team would definitely become a pioneer team in the entire north," said the gatekeeper as he opened the door.

Li Qiao yawned, "You’re making me blush. The only reason I’m early today is that there’s noise near my home that disturbed my sleep. This place is quiet, so it’s good for catching up on some rest."

Amidst the gatekeeper’s laughter, Li Qiao stepped into the courtyard and pushed open the office door, then dropped onto the desk to sleep.

Ma Ling thought she had stayed at the office overnight: "You’re really pushing yourself!"

Li Qiao, groggy-eyed: "I haven’t been here long." She told Ma Ling about the neighbor’s situation.

"Seems the lesson last time wasn’t enough," Ma Ling said.

Li Qiao: "Ah, don’t mention her." They were all just things that remembered food but forgot beatings. She flipped through the files and began her day’s work.

Day by day, the 26th came in a blink of an eye.

Xu Feng and a group of teammates returned from their studies.

The team organized a welcome party for them and at the same time, a farewell party for Li Qiao.

Director Tong made a few understated remarks about the learning teammates, then switched the topic entirely to Li Qiao.

For example, she had once solved two cases at a time.

The unrealistic ideas she proposed were eventually proven right.

She could handle cases from years ago with ease.

"Such a comrade is worth learning from for all of us," Director Tong requested Li Qiao to say a few words on stage.

Li Qiao, overpraised, felt ill at ease. She was particularly nervous; as an amateur, how could she serve as an example for the professionals?

After some thought, she spoke eloquently on stage, "All the materials were organized by everyone, I just identified the suspicious points from them. Without everyone’s groundwork as a foundation, an individual couldn’t achieve this. Moreover, in our department, we discuss all issues together. I am even more grateful to the team for providing a platform and opportunity for me to utilize my skills and grow. If I have the chance in the future, let’s cooperate again. Let’s learn and progress together."

She bowed and stepped down from the stage.

The crowd gave a round of applause.

Ma Ling: "Well said. You’re quite the speaker, smoothly spoken without a script. If it were me, I would have stuttered." Top Scholar is indeed different, and certainly not a bookworm.

Thinking ability, the capacity to adapt on the spot—far exceeding that of an ordinary person.

"...."

.....

Before leaving work, Li Qiao settled her salary and received an extra ten pounds of universal grain tickets and five pounds of non-staple food tickets.

She kept the grain tickets.

The non-staple food tickets, for vermicelli, she planned to exchange the next day and split evenly between her eldest sister and second sister.

Since she was leaving the unit, she couldn’t use the bike and had to take a ride.

After getting off the bus, she walked a long distance before reaching her eldest sister’s house.

Li Jiaoyang and Mrs. Song were not knitting as usual.

Instead, they were sitting in the hallway enjoying the cool air.

The three kids, unafraid of the sun, were running around playing with the stone mill in front of the door with the neighbor’s kids.

"Dani."

Although the eldest son had changed her name, the family still used her original nickname.

"Third Aunt, are you here to take me to the city to play?"

Li Qiao nodded slightly.

"Oh oh oh! That’s great."

Li Jiaoyang and Mrs. Song, hearing the news, came out of the door.

"Why do you have time to come today?"

Li Qiao: "School is about to start, so I’m done working. This is the vermicelli distributed by my unit; I’ve brought some for you guys."

"Wow, you can’t even buy this on the street anymore." Mrs. Song was delighted to receive something nice: "And you’ve brought two bundles."

Li Jiaoyang quickly realized one bundle was for the second sister; she took one bundle from Mrs. Song and asked Song Lin to deliver it to Li Jiaojiao’s house in the next village. Then she said to Li Qiao, "Why don’t you keep it for yourself?"

"You can buy it in Beijing." Resources in a small place were not as plentiful as in the city.

Qin Jin said that many daily necessities in the city could now be purchased without tickets.

The county town of her hometown still had many restrictions.