The Scheming Ex-Husband's Courtship-Chapter 594 - 518: The Thief

Chapter 594: Chapter 518: The Thief
In fact, Jian Si really disliked his arrogant attitude of having everything under control, but she couldn’t help admiring his extensive knowledge and reasoning abilities.
Some minor flaws could be easily overlooked in the presence of one’s major strengths.
Nan Zhan drove her home and took the documents and portraits with him to deliver to the police station.
Besides the case, Jian Si had nothing else to talk about with him, and his expression remained indifferent as if he had no intention of engaging in conversation with her.
Throughout the journey, both were relatively silent.
It wasn’t until she got out of the car at the entrance of her residential complex that Jian Si said out of courtesy: "Goodbye, Mr. Nan."
Nan Zhan simply glanced at her, then drove off without saying a word.
Watching the black sedan merge into the traffic, Jian Si let out a long sigh of relief.
This man was really strange. The passion and interest he showed when discussing the case made the cold-faced man just a moment ago seem like two entirely different beings.
She even felt somewhat dazed, wondering if they had really spoken that much today.
Just as Jian Si opened the door, she received a call from Nan Yu.
"How did it go? Any leads?"
Jian Si placed her keys in the vestibule and bent down to take off her shoes: "Your brother took the stuff to the police station."
Jian Si briefly recounted the day’s events, and after she finished, she heard Nan Yu’s light laughter on the other end of the call: "It’s rare for my big brother to lend a hand, I think the case won’t be far from being solved."
"I want to ask you a personal question." Jian Si took her water cup to pour some water, "Is he your biological brother?"
"Yes," Nan Yu replied very straightforwardly but then added: "Same father, different mothers."
Having known Nan Yu for so long, this was the first time he had mentioned anything related to his own background; previously at most, he would just mention "my brother" and how he was.
So they were half-brothers with the same father.
"Why do you ask?" Nan Yu asked with some curiosity.
"It’s nothing, just that his personality seems quite different from yours, not much like real brothers." Jian Si thought about Nan Zhan’s penetrating gaze when analyzing the case and then his cold and silent demeanor when interacting with people. Neither aspect seemed to fit with the enthusiastic and positive Nan Yu.
"Although he appears cold on the surface, he has a strong sense of justice. You’ll gradually realize it the more you interact with him."
Interact more?
Jian Si quickly shook her head—if possible, she absolutely did not want to have any more interactions with him.
However, the opposite turned out to be true. The people you least want to see always manage to appear before you when you least expect it.
Jian Si met Nan Zhan again two days later because she had been called to the police station by a phone call from Nan Yu.
The officer who greeted her was the captain of the Criminal Investigation Division, Captain Chen, who was slightly surprised when he saw her, "Are you Jian Si?"
"Yes, that’s me." Jian Si nodded politely.
"I thought someone with such exquisite drawing skills must be at least in their forties. Miss Jian, you’re so young, I wouldn’t have known," the captain said as he gestured to a chair nearby, "Please, have a seat."
After sitting down, Jian Si quickly surveyed the room; on the walls were several blackboards, each one plastered with photographs and covered in writing, some of the crime scene photos were particularly gruesome and might keep the faint-hearted up all night. There were also photos and sketches of suspects, haphazardly attached.
"Miss Jian, has Nan Yu told you about the arson case?" Captain Chen opened the file in front of him and asked with a smile.
"No." Nan Yu had urgent business to attend to; he only asked her to come over by phone and didn’t elaborate on anything else.
Chen explained, "This time we have to thank Miss Jian and Nan Lv; without you, the case wouldn’t have been solved so quickly. I asked Miss Jian to come here to express our gratitude. Without your sketch, we wouldn’t have been able to find the suspect so quickly."
"Is the suspect caught?" Jian Si asked excitedly, her two black eyes gleaming with excitement.
"When we found him, he was plotting a new series of criminal plans. Fortunately, we discovered it in time and avoided unnecessary casualties," Chen remarked. "Following Nan Lv’s analysis, we investigated recent traffic accidents over the past six months and identified three hit-and-run cases. The suspects were apprehended in two of them, but one was still at large. In that accident, a ten-year-old child was killed by a car, and the arsonist turned out to be the child’s father."
"This is the suspect." Captain Chen passed her a photograph while admiringly adding, "Miss Jian, you are amazing. His resemblance to your sketch was 90 percent accurate, and it was with the help of your sketch that we found him."
Jian Si took the photo and was still taken aback when she saw the person in it; his eyes were indeed very small, not clearly distinguished between the whites and pupils, looking timid and scared. His height was indeed only 161cm, exactly as Nan Zhan had described down to the last detail.
As Jian Si was looking at the photo, she suddenly heard Captain Chen speak loudly, "Nan Lv is here."
Jian Si looked up and saw the tall figure entering from the door, clad in a simple grey V-neck short-sleeve shirt and long pants. Even the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose couldn’t hide his sharp gaze. When those eyes focused on you, even if you had done nothing wrong, you couldn’t help but introspect.
Jian Si could only think of one phrase: Enemies often cross each other’s paths.
Out of politeness, she still courteously greeted him: "Mr. Nan."
Nan Zhan glanced at her indifferently, the arc of his nod almost negligible, as if that were enough for a greeting.
"Nan Lv, I’m very grateful for the valuable advice you provided for this arson case, you see,
"Sorry, Captain Chen, I’m not interested." Jian Si felt that this man was naturally arrogant and aloof. She thought he was only cold and icy towards her, but she didn’t expect him to show the same disdainful expression to Captain Chen.
"I’m only here to retrieve my belongings."
It seemed as though Captain Chen was already accustomed to his attitude and showed no sign of feeling slighted. He quickly opened a drawer and took out a plastic bag: "Is this the Rubik’s Cube you mentioned, Nan Lv? I saw it inside the file folder you brought."
"Yes, thank you." Nan Zhan took the bag, glanced inside to confirm his Rubik’s Cube was intact, and then bid farewell.
As he approached the door, he suddenly turned sideways, his piercing gaze sweeping towards Jian Si who was sitting there. Jian Si felt extremely uncomfortable under his scrutiny, her muscles tensing up involuntarily.
However, he only gave her one look, then, as if he didn’t recognize her, he quickly disappeared.
"Ah, with Nan Lv’s talent, if he helped out at our police station..." Captain Chen said, shaking his head, knowing even he himself that the likelihood was almost zero.
Exiting the police station, Jian Si immediately spotted the black sedan parked at the entrance, with its window half-open and smoke drifting out.
Recognizing whose car it was, she instinctively wanted to walk around it.
But no sooner had she taken a step than the car suddenly started, blocking her path with a solid presence.
She hesitated for a moment, then backed up a few steps to leave from the other side, but the car moved forward again, once more blocking her way.
Jian Si couldn’t help feeling irritated. Looking down, she addressed the person in the car: "Mr. Nan, you’re being childish."
Nan Zhan was smoking, and on hearing this, he gave her a meaningful glance: "I just wanted to invite Miss Jian to get in the car. My mouth was occupied with the cigarette, so I had to use the accelerator instead."
Jian Si: "..."
"Such talent as Miss Jian’s is a pity to be teaching children, don’t you agree?" In the car, Nan Zhan suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
Jian Si was puzzled, her first thought being that Nan Yu told him about her plan to go teach art at the day-care center. But then she reconsidered; Nan Yu was so busy, he wouldn’t idle away his time chatting about such trivial matters with his brother.
"How did you know?" Jian Si looked at him with bewilderment.
He drove on without answering her, clearly seeing the question as foolish.
"Mr. Nan, please stop the car here." Jian Si pointed to the bus stop by the roadside.
"It seems we’re still some distance from Miss Jian’s home."
"Yes, I’m going to pick up my... brother." Jian Si glanced at Nan Zhan as she spoke these words, and he too caught her gaze in the rearview mirror. Meeting his eyes, Jian Si quickly averted her gaze in a guilty reflex, "Stop the car."
At the end of the last class, the students and the teacher had not left, and the atmosphere in the classroom was somewhat tense, as if a dark cloud loomed overhead.
"I hope the person responsible would come forward and admit it." The teacher looked around at the dozen or so children sitting, "It’s commendable to correct your mistakes, but covering them up will only make things worse."
The classroom was silent, everyone holding their breath. Nobody was speaking, and no one stood up.
"Li Yunfei."
The child addressed as Li Yunfei stood up, his voice filled with grievance: "I didn’t steal Tong Da’s snacks."
Tong Da responded anxiously and indignantly pointing at him: "Teacher, Li Yunfei has confessed without a beating, it was him who stole my snacks. The snacks my mom packed for me have been disappearing at the end of school every day for a week. Someone saw him sneaking back into the classroom during recess, his mouth still chewing."
"It wasn’t me, really. I would never steal someone else’s snacks," Li Yunfei cried out, tears streaming down his face.
"It was you, it really was you!" Tong Da was equally unyielding, "Compensate for my snacks, you thief."
The teacher was about to mediate when she suddenly saw a small figure stand up from the back row. The voice was soft, yet there was an underlying firmness and authority that was beyond his years.
"Teacher, the snacks weren’t eaten by Li Yunfei, I know where the ’real culprit’ of the stolen snacks is," Zhengzheng looked at the teacher’s surprised face with a slight puff of his chest.
That knowledge and confidence, everything seemingly within grasp, radiated an aura that didn’t match his age, dazzling even the teacher.