Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 22

Xing Conglian felt that this matter was starting to get interesting.

He wanted to let Lin Chen stay for a while in order to punish him for silently and ruthlessly cheating death, but he didn’t expect that along the way, the person who experienced the torment became himself.

He had imagined several situations when he saw Lin Chen again, but when he waited downstairs, he heard Jiang Zhe’s words, and all the countermeasures that he thought of weren’t enough.

He held onto the stair handle as he walked up, feeling how fate was always so interesting.

The stairway on the second floor was occupied by the angry Huang Ze and Jiang Zhe, who seemed even angrier than the former.

Across from them, Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian at the same time Xing Conglian looked at him. When he saw Lin Chen, all the scripts that Xing Conglian prepared seemed to have lost their effectiveness in an instant. It was like as if water would always flow to the sea, and spring would always come after winter.

It seemed that reuniting was a very common thing, and since it was so common, there was no need to get too excited.

Lin Chen wiped the corner of his mouth, only to see Xing Conglian ignoring Huang Ze and Jiang Zhe. He passed by them as if they weren’t there and stood in front of Lin Chen.

“He hit you?” The captain of the police force was tall and wearing a police windbreaker. He had the cold air of the spring breeze on his body, mixed with the smell of mint tobacco. It tasted cold yet sweet.

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt?”

“It hurts.”

Lin Chen finished answering, but he didn’t hear a response. He raised his head and happened to look into Xing Conglian’s eyes. Those eyes were green with hints of blue that were as deep as the ocean.

Only then did Lin Chen realize that Xing Conglian had cut his hair to no longer than an inch, which only accentuated his mixed-race appearance, making him look extremely handsome.

He rarely paid attention to the appearance of others. He normally looked at things that had nothing to do with appearances, such as emotions or attitudes, but today, he was purely looking at the face of Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian probably didn’t even know that he was being admired for his appearance, because when he saw Lin Chen staring at him, he thought for a while and then said, “It’s okay.”

For more than half a years, 180 days, Lin Chen occasionally thought in his free time, if Xing Conglian knew he wasn’t dead, what would he say? Based on that person’s lineage, he expected Xing Conglian to utter something strange, but he didn’t expect that he would say something as light as this.

It’s okay…

No sentence was lighter than this. No sentence was heavier than this.

Lin Chen felt moved.

After Xing Conglian finished speaking, seeing that Lin Chen hadn’t moved, he felt he hadn’t done enough, so he took half a step forward and stretched out his hand and hugged him. Xing Conglian’s hug was very shallow, lasting no longer than at most three seconds.

Lin Chen seemed to smell the scent of incense on Xing Conglian’s body and let out an inaudible sigh.

From their conversation to the end of their hug, it took no more than a minute, but in the eyes of Huang Ze, it was blindingly excessive.

As Huang Ze watched Xing Conglian and Lin Chen hug, his gaze fell on Lin Chen’s cheek. It was badly bruised, and the corner of his mouth was cracked with blood oozing out. Huang Ze realized that he had been too rough. At that moment, he saw Xing Conglian turn his head and glare at him.

Xing Conglian’s eyes were cold, as if he was saying, “If you want to pick a fight, come at me. What qualifications do you have?”

The gaze was the kind of indifference mixed with contempt and ridicule.

Being despised by others was something Huang Ze had never experienced since he was a child. With only one look, Xing Conglian successfully ignited all his anger.

Huang Ze held back Jiang Zhe, who wanted to retaliate, and said coldly to Xing Conglian, “It’s been nearly two hours since the incident. It’s only now that Captain Xing arrived?” Before Xing Conglian could answer, he spoke again. “If it weren’t for knowing that Lin Chen is here, how much longer is Captain Xing going to make the passenger wait?”

As the Police Inspector*, Huang Ze’s words were relentless. He ignored the police who had arrived earlier at the scene to first appease the passengers.

*Note: Depending on which country, the “inspector” position varies. Since the setting of this novel is in China, the Police Inspector is basically the supervisor of the police department. An American equivalent would probably be like the superintendent or chief of police.

There was a slight commotion among the passengers, who seemed to be in agreement.

Xing Conglian had many reasons he could use to justify his tardiness; the emergence of new clues or the traffic jam, but if he said this at this time and place, it would sound inappropriate, as if he was shirking from his responsibilities.

In that case, not defending himself was the best defense.

He patted Lin Chen on the shoulder and then nodded to the passengers. “When the bus comes to the bus terminal, you can leave. Thank you everyone for your time and patience.”

“Captain Xing, you’re just going to let the passengers leave like this? Have you finished interviewing everyone? Can you afford to miss a major clue?” Huang Ze sneered.

“Are you in a hurry to go?” Xing Conglian asked Lin Chen.

“Nothing major right now.”

Xing Conglian nodded, then pointed to Lin Chen and said to Huang Ze, “The clue says he’s not leaving for now.”

Huang Ze was so angry that he was momentarily speechless.

“The clue? Is Captain Xing referring to the criminal suspect of a major homicide?”

It seemed that Jiang Zhe couldn’t help speaking up, trying to curry favor when he saw Huang Ze gradually becoming disadvantaged.

“Consultant Jiang.” Xing Conglian stopped him sharply.

Jiang Zhe was taken aback.

Xing Conglian smiled slightly and said, “We’re a country under the rule of law. We should pay attention to the evidence before we act and speak.”

“What do you want to know? I can tell you.”

“Jiang Zhe!”

Huang Ze suddenly spoke up and interrupted Jiang Zhe. “With the rank of Captain Xing, it’s unsuitable for him to access this top-secret information.”

After hearing this, Jiang Zhe stared coldly at Lin Chen and stopped talking.

“Is Captain Xing not going to follow regulations?” Huang Ze’s words turned his words around and his tone became austere.

The attitude of these two people was so boring. Xing Conglian replied, “Certainly not. I’m going to the crime scene to inspect it right now. Does Inspector Huang want to join?”

“In that case, Captain Xing can have a good time catching up with Mr. Lin. This case is now in the hands of the City’s Provincial Police. Captain Xing can have a good rest.” Huang Ze took a few steps forward and patted him lightly on the shoulder.

It had been more than a month since Xing Conglian started investigating the series of highway carjacking, yet Huang Ze had now kicked him off the case with just a word, without even giving a reason.

Anyone who heard this would be angry or make noise, but Xing Conglian didn’t react. After all, he really scorned Huang Ze.

“Fine. You’re the highest rank here, so you’re in charge.” He nodded to Lin Chen, put his hands in his pockets, turned around, and walked away.

Lin Chen naturally followed him. As they walked, they talked in low voices.

“How did you find me?”

“Before that kid made his move, you glanced at him.”

Inspector Huang, who was standing aside, heard the scattered questions and answers floating in the air and became even more angry.

——

When Lin Chen reached the side of Xing Conglian’s jeep, he realized there was a person sitting in the front passenger seat.

“Yang Dianfeng, the manager of the transportation company where the incident occurred,” Xing Conglian said, pretending to be causal about it.

Lin Chen nodded and sat in the backseat.

“Well?”

Seeing Xing Conglian getting into the car, Yang Dianfeng asked him with concern.

“It’s fine. My superior won’t let me investigate.”

“How could this be?!”

Xing Conglian didn’t care. He closed the car door and looked at the backseat. “It has nothing to do with you. Huang Ze is just targeting me…”

“I know, but in accordance with the regulations on Inter-Provincial Collaborative Case Handling, Chapter III, Article 4, in the event of a major case, in order to ensure the reasonable allocation of police resources, the local criminal police should obey the unified deployment of their superiors, but under the premise of not affecting the investigation, the local criminal police of the case also has the right to independently investigate.”

“It’s really familiar having you back.” Xing Conglian lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Like a long-awaited plan, he quickly started the jeep. “Investigate together?”

“Nn.”

Hearing his answer, a smile rippled across Xing Conglian’s face.

Ten minutes later, they came to the real crime scene.

There was a bright yellow cordon outside the bus, and two Belgian Shepherds with bright coats happened to be returning. One of them had a bright yellow sneaker in its mouth and refused to let go.

“What’s the matter?” Xing Conglian asked as he got out of the jeep.

“They said after tracking for more than ten kilometers, only one shoe was found.” Wang Chao, who came to the scene ahead of time, crouched down and petted the search dog.

The trainer was trying to wrangle the shoe out of the search dog’s mouth as Lin Chen silently came to Xing Conglian’s side. When Wang Chao looked up and saw Lin Chen’s face, he couldn’t help but punch Xing Conglian’s back. “Captain, how can you be so heavy-handed? My A’Chen is a scholar!”

When he was attacked, Xing Conglian was wearing gloves and was examining the sneaker. He staggered, almost slamming his face into the sneaker. He was just about to shout his grievances when he noticed something strange.

Following Xing Conglian’s movement, Lin Chen also sniffed. In addition to the soft smell of vegetation like green bamboo shoots, there was a faint aroma in the air.

“This smells like perfume?” Yang Dianfeng suddenly appeared and squatted beside Xing Conglian, also sniffing.

“Hmm?”

“It smells very much like LANCOME MIRACLE, but I can’t be sure.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a women’s perfume. Many girls like it.” Yang Dianfeng was familiar with it. “However, according to the degree of fragrance retention, it’s very likely that he sprinkled the perfume on his shoes purposefully?”

“In order to disturb the line of sight,” Xing Conglian said.

“Is that so?” Yang Dianfeng looked at Xing Conglian and smiled, his gaze full of respect. “Fortunately, you are willing to continue investigating this case.”

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Kinky Thoughts:

Based on this, it seems like Huang Ze is probably Lin Chen’s ex, because homeboy is so jelly that I need some peanut butter and toast to go with it.

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