In Ling Shu's eyes, the serene and beautiful small western-style house had turned into the gaping maw of a monster, ready to swallow people whole at any moment.

Mrs. Sun might be one of its victims.

That plea for help on the note was not a fabrication.

In an instant, Ling Shu saw a household torn apart by internal strife, with servants banding together to plot murder for money.

Various suspicions flashed before his eyes.

Ling Shu even felt that Mrs. Sun was truly in danger.

If the maid and the cart driver had done something to her in the house and then covered it up with the excuse of a sudden illness, Shen Renjie, who was monitoring across the street, would not be able to do much. At best, he could only stop the killer from escaping, but he could not prevent Mrs. Sun from being killed.

It seemed that saving Mrs. Sun was imperative. Ling Shu didn't rush to Mrs. Sun's house, but went to find Shen Renjie first.

Shen Renjie was still wearing his Western suit while selling cakes. The Westerners knew he was a man, but found his strange accent and mannerisms amusing and were willing to buy from him. Shen Renjie used his limited English to communicate with the customers, and the cake shop owner was happy to see business booming and didn't bother him.

Just as he had sent off two customers, a man and a woman, Shen Renjie suddenly saw Ling Shu and didn't react at first.

He blurted out, "Hello?"

"Don't hello me, I have something to talk to you about!" Ling Shu was anxious and it was clear he had urgent business.

Shen Renjie didn't want to delay and quickly told the boss before pulling off his wig and Western suit behind the shop. He still had his heavy makeup on, which looked comical.

Ling Shu led him to a deserted corner and recounted everything he had just witnessed.

After hearing it, Shen Renjie chuckled, "This is easy. I'll go to the police station and call for backup. We'll follow you in and catch them in the act."

Ling Shu asked, "Do you have your police uniform with you?"

Shen Renjie replied, "Of course I do."

The owner of the Western-style bakery already knew his identity, so changing clothes wouldn't be a problem.

The problem was the heavy makeup on his face, which couldn't be washed off easily.

Changing clothes would only make him look more suspicious.

But Ling Shu didn't care about that. "Alright then, let's go in openly and use the opportunity to bring out Mrs. Sun and Lu Zude to ask them about the situation!"

Shen Renjie reluctantly got himself together and followed Ling Shu to knock on the door.

After knocking for a while, someone finally came to answer.

Behind the door was the maid named Sister Song.

As soon as she saw Ling Shu, she was stunned for a moment, then she saw Shen Renjie, dressed in a police officer's uniform, behind him, and a look of panic flashed across her face.

"Ling Shu, you, why are you here again?" she asked.

"The way you used the word 'again' is wonderful," Ling Shu clapped his hands twice. "So, why don't you invite me in?"

Sister Song forced a smile and said, "How can I? It's just that you came at an inconvenient time. Mrs. Sun took the children out and hasn't come back yet."

"Well, that's perfect. I'll come in and wait for her. The candied chestnuts you bought last time were good. I've been thinking about them, but I don't know where you bought them. Could you please go buy them again?"

With that, he gently pushed aside the maid and walked in as if he owned the place.

Shen Renjie followed behind.

How could there be such shameless people in the world?

The maid stared with wide eyes, but didn't dare to stop them. Ignoring Ling Shu for now, just looking at Shen Renjie's clothes was enough to make her feel uneasy.

"This is the chief of the police, surnamed Shen. You can call him Chief Shen. Chief Shen is a rising star, highly valued by his superiors. He will soon be promoted and will be in charge of your area. "

The following sentences are said completely free of charge.

His words rolled off the tongue so smoothly that Shen Renjie almost believed they were true.

Shen Renjie was very interested in the furnishings in the room and looked around.

"This is a cloisonné longevity plate with one hundred longevity characters of different sizes. Although it is a recent imitation, it is still quite valuable. That is a vase with a combination of Chinese and Western styles, with Western and Chinese women on it. It is quite rare on the market. I asked around, and if you were to pawn it, it would be worth at least several tens of dollars."

Ling Shu was in high spirits as he proudly showed Shen Renjie around the house, as if he were the owner himself. There was no sense of discord whatsoever.

Shen Renjie casually picked up a vase and twirled it in his hand, while the maid trembled and dared not speak.

Ling Shu took the initiative to ask her, "Is your mistress feeling better now?"

The maid replied, "Yes, she's almost completely recovered. That's why the young master insisted on going out to play today, and his mother took him out to see a play. I don't know when they'll be back."

Ling Shu said, "What play are they seeing?"

The maid replied, "I don't know."

Ling Shu said, "No matter, since I have nothing to do today, I'll wait here for her to come back. I'm sure she'll be pleased to see such distinguished guests as myself and Chief Shen."

The maid remained silent.

Ignoring whatever she was thinking, Ling Shu gave orders, "What are you standing there for? Go out and buy two servings of candied chestnuts for me! Otherwise, when your mistress comes back and finds out you neglected the guest, she won't be pleased!"

The maid whispered, "There's no one at home. I'll wait for my mistress to come back before going out. It's not that I don't trust you two, but my mistress instructed me to watch the house. I can't leave without permission, or she'll blame me when she comes back. Please don't make things difficult for me, sirs!"

Under normal circumstances, when there are guests, the host's servants cannot leave.

However, Ling Shu was in a hurry to find someone and was skeptical of everything she said.

"Alright, we'll wait here. Please bring us some tea," he said.

Since she couldn't drive them away, the maid had no choice but to swallow her pride and do as she was told. After a while, tea was brought over and Ling Shu had a new request.

"I'm a little hungry. Can't you go out and buy some chestnuts? There must be something to eat, right?"

The maid replied, "How about I make you some noodles?"

Ling Shu said, "I'm not that hungry. Don't you have any Western-style pastries? Forget it, since you don't understand these things, just make two bowls of noodles with vegetables and eggs."

The maid couldn't help but curse in her heart as she went to prepare the food. Ling Shu watched her leave and signaled to Shen Renjie to keep an eye on her while he went upstairs.

He suspected that Mrs. Sun had not actually left the house, but was being held captive. On the second floor, there were four rooms, one of which was the master bedroom where Mrs. Sun lived. Ling Shu had already recognized the way when he came last time, so he directly grabbed the door handle when he saw the door was closed.

The door was not locked and opened with a twist.

The curtains were still tightly closed, but there was nothing on the bed.

The quilt was messy and not folded, perhaps the owner got up in a hurry, but the maid should have tidied up.

Ling Shu went inside and looked around.

He opened the wardrobe one by one, then walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain.

From here, he could see the street view downstairs, as well as the clothing store and bakery across the street.

There were also several pots of bellflowers on the windowsill, shining brightly in the sunset.

But he didn't come to admire the view or the flowers, so he closed the curtains and began to search under the bed.

Ling Shu bent down and lifted the bed sheet!

There was nothing to be found under the empty bed.

He felt a little disappointed, but then he exclaimed. As he leaned closer, he saw a small strand of hair near the pillow. The hair was soft and thin, and it could only belong to Mrs. Sun.

The uneven ends suggested that it was accidentally pulled out in a hurry, perhaps even against her will.

So, was Mrs. Sun still in this house and had not gone out?

Ling Shu dared not jump to conclusions. He left the master bedroom and searched the other bedrooms, but found nothing. The last room was actually a closet that had been converted into a bedroom. Inside, there were cabinets on both sides, and a full-length mirror stood next to the cabinet behind the door.

Ling Shu frowned as he looked at the clothes inside. There were all kinds of clothes, from winter coats to summer qipaos, thick woolen skirts to the students' attire of a top and skirt. Let's not even talk about why a widow like Mrs. Sun would suddenly want to wear student skirts, and why are the sizes of these clothes all different?

Could it be that Mrs. Sun had a dream of going to school a few years ago? That's ridiculous.

Ling Shu reached out and felt the clothes. He realized that they were not all new.

Some had been washed, and some had obviously been worn for a long time, with colors that had faded significantly.

Knock, knock!

Ling Shu's hand trembled.

The room was not lit, only the remaining glow of the setting sun outside.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sound came from the last wardrobe.

Ling Shu looked over suddenly.

"Mr. Ling, you can't do this. How could you break into someone's home like this?" The voice of the maid, Sister Song, echoed through the stairwell.

She must have noticed Ling Shu searching upstairs. Shen Renjie was arguing with her, and they were pushing and shoving each other.

Suddenly, there was more commotion and the sound of footsteps became chaotic.

Through the door, Ling Shu heard Shen Renjie shouting and it seemed like he couldn't stop someone. It sounded like several people were running towards their direction. The leader was exceptionally fierce and ordered his men to stop Shen Renjie and search every room on the second floor.

In no time, they reached the last room and without hesitation, the leader kicked the door open!

At the same time, Ling Shu opened the last wardrobe, the one that had made the knocking sound earlier. But there was nothing inside, only clothes.

Ling Shu started to search through them.

But it was just an ordinary wardrobe, filled with clothes. There wasn't even a single mouse, let alone a person. The knocking sound from earlier seemed like a hallucination caused by Ling Shu's desperate search for answers.

Before he could make sense of it, the intruders rushed in and immediately tried to arrest him.

Ling Shu's mind was still racing, but his reflexes were quick as he effortlessly pushed back the first two patrolling officers who approached him.

However, he was caught off guard when a gun was pointed at his forehead. Ling Shu slowly lifted his head, looking innocent.

"Can't we talk this out? Why resort to violence? Which police station are you from?"

The leader of the group, replied coldly, "I'm Zhang Jian from the Hongkou station."

Ling Shu smiled and said, "Then that's not right, you saw Shen Renjie, the patrol officer downstairs from the Laozha station. As for me, I'm half-counted as one of you, from the City Bureau. We're all colleagues here, so let's talk it out instead of using guns."

Zhang Jian's expression remained unchanged. He knew Shen Renjie's background as soon as he saw him.

He still chose to use force, indicating that he didn't need to give Shen Renjie face and that he had a bigger backer.

The Shanghai underworld was a complex web of relationships. Ordinary people could easily offend others without even realizing it.

"We, the Hongkou police station, have nothing to do with the Laozha station, and we have no connection with your city bureau. You have crossed the line."

Ling Shu said, "I came to find a friend. The owner of this house is my friend. I can't find her, and now I suspect her servant killed her. Can you help me file a case, Brother Zhang?"

Zhang Jian replied coldly, "What a coincidence. The owner of this house is reporting a case right now, saying that you broke into her residence with ill intentions."