Liu Qingji's pendant was made of soft white jade. The exquisite carving of the crane looked as if it had come to life in just a blink of an eye. It gently flapped its wings, and the entire pendant glowed with a beautiful light.
Although it was the result of the Dao energy I had poured into the pendant, I was still mesmerized by it. Liu Qingji and Wang Yongjun were even more mesmerized. Liu Qingji wore an infatuated face, and he was so excited that his face was flushed. Wang Yongjun, on the other hand, opened his eyes and stared at the pendant without blinking.
After the crane retracted its wings for a long time, Liu Qingji used both hands to carefully pick up the pendant and put it on his neck. Then, he laughed cheerfully.
After laughing, he looked at me with a blushing face. His voice didn't sound suspicious anymore. Instead, it sounded careful and respectful. "Master Zhang, you're worthy of being a descendant of an aristocratic family. At such a young age, you have a high cultivation base. You're not inferior to Daoist Zhao from the Baiyun Temple. You're really admirable."
His compliment was a little excessive. The Baiyun Temple was one of the three great ancestral halls of the Quanzhen branch. The headquarters of the Taoist Association was also located there. Daoist Zhao was the Vice President of the Taoist Association and the leader of the Quanzhen branch. Even if his cultivation base wasn't at the Heavenly Master Realm, it shouldn't be much lower. He wasn't someone I could compare to.
I smiled and replied politely. Then, the topic shifted back to the matter I was here for. This time, Liu Qingji didn't say anything perfunctory. He patted his chest and told me that he needed a Metaphysics expert to help him. He was worried about where to find such a person, and I came at the right time.
I couldn't help but laugh. Just now, he had doubted me, and now, he said, "I know everything about me."
Then, I asked him when he would be able to join the case. Liu Qingji told me that the capital would send a team of experts tomorrow. He asked me to come with him. We would receive this team of experts and work together with them on this case.
I frowned. Last time, he told me that the capital had sent a special task force. This time, it was a team of experts, and they wanted me to study the case with them. Did this team of experts consist of people from the Metaphysics world?
I didn't think too much about it. In any case, my current identity and appearance were quite different from before. Even if I met someone I knew, they wouldn't be able to find any clues.
After confirming this matter, I didn't pester him anymore. I chatted with Liu Qingji about other things. Of course, I couldn't stop talking about Liu Qingji's future. He kept asking me about his future. He even hinted that I should perform divination for him. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. It took me a while to explain to him that not all geomancy masters studied divination. I didn't know much about it.
Although Liu Qingji was disappointed, he didn't say anything. He smiled and changed the topic. I, on the other hand, didn't have the patience to stay here any longer. I stood up and tactfully said goodbye.
After leaving the police station, Wang Yongjun asked me while driving. "Um … Master Zhang, there's something I don't know if I should ask."
"Oh?"
Wang Yongjun's polite tone surprised me at first. Then, I realized that I was Zhang Wenli, not Zhou Yi. Wang Yongjun wasn't familiar with me, so it was normal for me to be polite.
I smiled and said, "Brother Wang, if you have something to say, just say it. In addition, Zhou Yi and I are life and death friends. Brother Wang, you don't have to be so polite. Just call me Brother Zhang."
Wang Yongjun nodded and called me Brother Zhang. Then, with some worry, he continued, "Liu Qingji pushed the matter to tomorrow. Obviously, he still has some doubts about Brother Zhang's identity. I guess he will do some investigation later. He is a member of the public security system. It's easy for him to check a person's identity … So, I want to ask, Brother Zhang, are you really Zhang Yi's descendant, the Phantom Valley's successor?"
I spread my hands. "How is that possible?
I was just making up an identity in order to calm him down. "
Wang Yongjun wasn't surprised by my answer. Obviously, he didn't believe me.
He was different from Liu Qingji. He wasn't blinded by the prospect of an official career. He knew a lot about Metaphysics. Naturally, he wouldn't believe my nonsense.
After getting a definite answer, Wang Yongjun said, "Brother Zhang, what do you plan to do now?
Liu Qingji will definitely check it out. In such a short time, I'm afraid it's a little difficult to make a fake identity … How about this? I still have some friends in Macau. I can ask them to make a fake identity for you. Liu Qingji won't be able to find it there. That's good. "
Wang Yongjun's words were affectionate. He had thought of the problem that I hadn't thought of, and he had even given me a solution.
Whether it was for Zhang Wenli's sake or for Zhou Yi's sake, I was very grateful.
I hurriedly thanked him, but he didn't seem to care. He waved his hand and said, "Brother Zhang, you're welcome. You're Zhou Yi's best friend, so you're also my best friend. It's not a big deal to help me … As for making a fake identity in Macau, it's not difficult. However, everything there is tightly controlled. I'm afraid it will take some time. You have to delay it for a few days."
I hesitated, then shook my head and said, "There's no need to go through so much trouble. It doesn't matter if I have this identity or not. Anyway, I said that my family has fallen, and I've lived in seclusion since childhood. Where can Liu Qingji find it?"
Wang Yongjun obviously disagreed with my statement. He said that Liu Qingji could easily find my information by using the public security system. However, under my insistence, he could only sigh and no longer insist. However, his face was full of worry. Obviously, he didn't think much of what I was doing.
Zhang Wenli was an alias, and even my current appearance was fake. It was impossible for Liu Qingji to find any information. Even if he was suspicious, he would think of my identity as a descendant of a secluded family, so he probably wouldn't think much of it.
People were creatures of profit. Liu Qingji had tasted the sweetness of the Fallen Crane. If I could use it once, he would definitely want to use it a second time. Based on this point alone, he wouldn't make things difficult for me.
On the other hand, if I really made a fake identity, there would be flaws. It would be the same even if I went to Macau like Wang Yongjun said.
However, it wasn't appropriate for me to tell him this, so I had to pretend to be unreasonable. I'll explain it to him when I have the chance in the future.
After returning to the shop, that night, I deliberately called Wang Yongjun again and thanked him with my identity as Zhou Yi.
Wang Yongjun smiled and said that it was nothing. It was what he should do, and he didn't mention anything else.
The night passed uneventfully. The next morning, Wang Yongjun came to pick me up again. This time, he only sent me to the Municipal Public Security Bureau and then left. However, before he left, he told me that if Liu Qingji found anything, I could contact him if I needed his help.
After Wang Yongjun left, I went to Liu Qingji's office alone.
Liu Qingji had obviously told them about me, so no one stopped me along the way.
When I saw Liu Qingji, he was sitting behind his desk dealing with some documents. When he saw me come in, he put down what he was doing, smiled, and asked me to sit down and rest. Then, he asked Secretary Wang to make me some tea and asked me to wait for a while. After he finished his work, he would take me to meet the expert team from Beijing.
At this moment, I heaved a sigh of relief. When I told Wang Yongjun yesterday, although I was confident, I was still a little worried. Now, it seemed that Liu Qingji was right. He didn't find anything.
After about an hour, Liu Qingji finally finished his work. After he stopped, he looked at the time and said that the expert team was about to arrive. Then, he took me to the big office building outside. After meeting the other leaders of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, we waited there for a while. Then, two black commercial vehicles drove in from the entrance and stopped in front of the office building.
In the first car, a thin old man with a slightly stooped body got out, followed by a young man and a young woman. They both carried a big backpack on their backs and held a few thick books in their hands.
Secretary Wang, who was standing next to me, whispered to me, "They are Professor Liang and his two students from the expert team.
After they got out of the car, the door of the second car also opened. Three people got out of the car. When I saw the three of them, my eyes instantly widened.
Because out of the three of them, I know two of them!