“What about the roses?” The teenager on the opposite side of the table suddenly raised his head and asked.
It was probably because they had encountered too many cases recently that Wang Chao’s reasoning was increasing day by day. In other words, when encountering too many things, even the purest mind would gradually become sharper.
Lin Chen felt that the matcha ice cream in his mouth had a slightly bitter taste, and he thought that Xing Conglian probably felt the same way.
“Mr. Wang, you seem to be asking a lot of questions lately,” Xing Conglian said.
“Wait… Rose, warbler?”
It seemed like he finally connected the dots. After reading these two keywords, he grabbed the laptop and typed it.
Although the laptop wasn’t facing them, Lin Chen still guessed from the boy’s stiff face that he probably discovered the thing they wanted to hide from him.
“Why are you hiding it from me?!”
The teenager suddenly turned his laptop over, and photos of different sizes appeared on the screen.
In each photo, there were various birds.
Those birds had gray-brown feathers and equally gray-brown beaks. They were either flying in the sky or perching softly on branches, and one of them had been stabbed to death by rose stems.
There was even an English writer who wrote a very sad and beautiful fairytale about the bird that was stabbed to death by a rose.
Lin Chen moved his gaze to the search bar. Looking at the results that the teenager found, he couldn’t help but feel that if this continued, Wang Chao could probably take charge on his own.
There were only one word in the search bar, which was the name of a bird: [Nightingale*].
*Clarity: Liu Ying/Wandering warbler/prostitutes are also known as nightingales.
The nightingale generally wasn’t a beautiful bird, but it had a very wide range of sounds. Unlike other birds, the nightingale was a rare bird that sang at night. Therefore, this was the reason why it was called a nightingale.
In fact, if it were just a dead nightingale, it wouldn’t give Lin Chen such a chill.
He was shaken entirely because of a famous fairytale written by Oscar Wilde*, an English writer.
*An Irish poet and playwright. The fairytale they are referring to is The Nightingale and the Rose.
He hadn’t read that story for a long time. Specifically, he had only read it once when he was young, but to this day, he could still clearly remember every detail of it.
The story originated with a young student who wanted to invite his favorite girl to the dance.
The girl’s request was simple. She said that if he picked a red rose for her, she would agree to dance with him at the prince’s dinner until dawn.
But in the middle of winter, where could the young student find a red rose?
As a result, the young student cried in his garden. Like most of Wilde’s fairy tales, a little nightingale heard the object of his crying all night in the garden.
Seeing his originally beautiful face so sad, the little nightingale thought, ‘Your love is so deep, and you just want a rose. I’ll find a red rose for you.’
The bird encountered white roses that were as white as the foam of the sea and yellow roses that were as yellow as the blond hair of a mermaid, but there weren’t any red roses.
In the end, the little nightingale came to a withered red rose.
However, the red rose’s rhizome had been broken by the storm, and the vessels had been destroyed by the winter’s cold. The red rose wouldn’t be able to bloom unless something horrifying was done.
Lin Chen once again recalled the scene where Xing Conglian opened the bouquet of roses.
The sharp rhizome of the rose pierced the body of the nightingale, which was the only way to make the red rose bloom in the story.
Wilde was truly cruel yet tender.
The red rose told the little nightingale that its singing in the night could bring it into being, and unless it was soaked in blood, the rose wouldn’t turn red.
Life was precious, the nightingale thought, but how could its small heart compare to that of a human’s?
Therefore, the nightingale agreed to the rose’s request. When moonlight fell, it flew into the rose and pressed itself against the rose’s spikes. It opened its beak and began to sing all night. The thorn pierced deeper into its body as the blood continued to pass through. In the end, the pain penetrated deep into its bone and finally into its heart.
The little nightingale exchanged its life for a red rose for the one that it loved.
But this was not the end.
After all, the young student’s love hadn’t yet been explained.
Lin Chen recalled that at the end of the story, the unsuspecting young student took the rose and sent it to the girl he loved.
But the girl said, “Your one rose can’t compare to the many treasures I have received today.”
The young student became angry and threw the red rose to the ground. The wheels of a carriage happened to pass by and crushed it, concluding the story.
Lin Chen thought that this was an extremely beautiful story.
He rubbed his brows and raised his head only to see Wang Chao’s eyes moisten. The boy’s eyes widened greatly as he stared at the person opposite of him.
Perhaps when Wang Chao was young, he sat on his mother’s lap as he heard this story, or perhaps on a rainy night after Xing Conglian adopted him, someone sat by his bedside and recited the fairytale to him.
But fairytales were still fairytales. Only a true psychopath would try to turn this fairytale into reality.
“I’m not hiding it from you.” Xing Conglian pushed away the ice cream bowl. He lit his cigarette with annoyance. “I just thought it would be annoying if you found out. Besides, I didn’t know much earlier than you did!”
“Captain, do you think this is protecting me?” The teenager noticed the key problem.
As if he had been poked in the heart, Xing Conglian slammed the table. “Why are you so bothersome?”
“We agreed to solve the case together, so how can you hide something from me!” Wang Chao shouted.
“You’re not paying me, so why should I tell you?” Xing Conglian said coldly.
“Why do you still treat me like a child?!”
“Ah, Mr. Xiao Wang, do you not feel your elder’s love?”
The two of them had a tendency to quarrel fiercely. Lin Chen continued scooping up the matcha ice cream spoonful after spoonful as he carefully looked at the content on the webpage and didn’t bother interrupting them.
In the end, the arguing finally stopped.
Lin Chen looked up and found that the two were looking at him with the same depressed eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked absentmindedly before returning his gaze to the laptop screen again.
“A’Chen, why aren’t you persuading us?” Wang Chao couldn’t help asking.
“No, I like to hear you quarrel. You guys can continue.”
With this encouragement, neither of them had the desire to keep fighting.
Xing Conglian’s voice sounded in his ears. “Consultant Lin…”
Hearing “Consultant Lin” sound more like a sigh made Lin Chen’s ears a little itchy.
“Hmm?” He responded.
“Are there any new discoveries?” Xing Conglian asked.
Lin Chen replied, “All fairytales are particularly symbolic. Since she deliberately left the nightingale and roses for us, of course it has a meaning she wants to express.”
Xing Conglian thought for a while and said, “If the nightingale symbolizes the wandering warbler, then the person who ran on stage to cut Li Jingtian’s throat can’t be her. What did she want to express? She was hurt by Li Jingtian and used this dead nightingale to show her unyielding will. She wanted to commit suicide in order to retaliate against Li Jingtian?”
Wang Chao shouted. “That’s so messed up. Captain, I’m getting goosebumps!”
As Wang Chao said, Xing Conglian’s idea was indeed messed up, but it wasn’t messed up enough.
At least it didn’t fit the psychology of a psychopath who could stab a nightingale to death.
Lin Chen shook his head.
Xing Conglian couldn’t see the scene because the camera was obscured, so he didn’t witness the part where the girl walked on stage holding the bouquet of green roses with his own eyes.
But Lin Chen was there, and he saw what happened.
Under the circumstances at the time, Li Jingtian had no power to resist. She handed him the bouquet so gently and hugged him. She obviously could’ve killed him, but she didn’t.
Could the girl who gave him the bouquet be the wandering warbler?
Lin Chen couldn’t determine it, but the only thing he could judge was that the series of actions of the girl from going on stage to leaving were completely inconsistent with the body language of a rape victim being in contact with their rapist.
He put down the silver spoon and began to refresh Weibo’s keyword search page.
The summary provided in this chapter is quite accurate. Though there is a sense of irony behind it. The nightingale loves the Student and sacrifices her life to give him a red rose for the sake of his “true love”. When the Student presented the rose to the girl, she rejected him, as she had been given jewels and other valuables that a single rose was incomparable to.
Ironically, the Student calls her ungrateful and tosses the red rose to the streets, where it gets crushed by a carriage (not knowing the sacrifice that the nightingale made to give him such a rose). He then rejects love and prefers to stick with logic, which has more practical use.
For a long time after that, the three of them didn’t speak. Lin Chen knew well that Wang Chao had nothing to say, while Xing Conglian’s ugly expression and silence revealed his dissatisfaction with the investigation procedures.
Naturally, he himself didn’t know what he could say.
Now that he thought about it, the reason Li Jingtian’s fans squeezed into Ansheng International Mall like crazy was simply because they wanted to support their wronged idol. The subsequent throat-slitting case was something no one expected. From this point of view, the stampede didn’t seem like an arrangement but more like an accident.
In fact, when Li Jingtian’s throat was cut, Lin Chen thought it was a relatively straightforward murder case. With the appearance of what was hidden under the bouquet of roses, he would think that it was an emotionally cruel murder case. However, with the appearance of Li Jingtian’s manager in front of the emergency room and Li Jingtian subsequently walking out, the case had become more complicated and confusing. If a rape case was added to this wounding case, then it would gradually slip into a weird abyss.
Finally, it was the waitress at the bar who broke the tranquility of the store.
Lively dance music suddenly sounded. The waitress didn’t expect her phone to ring as she frantically connected the call, then suddenly squatted in the bar and tried her best to lower her voice. “Lingling, I’m doing a live broadcast for you. Why are you calling?”
At the same time, Xing Conglian’s phone rang.
Lin Chen looked up.
Xing Conglian showed him the word “Zhang Xiaolong” in the caller ID, then pressed the answer button.
The voice of the policewoman came out slowly.
“Captain Xing, I have already checked what you asked me to investigate. My classmate’s husband helped with the investigation. Li Jingtian was cut in the neck. While the wound looked very long, it was actually pretty shallow. It didn’t penetrate the artery. After a few dozen stitches, he’ll be fine.”
Sure enough, the cruel throat-slitting that caused the riots in the audience just now was nothing more than a stage effect.
“I see. Thank you very much,” Xing Conglian said. He was about to hang up when suddenly Zhang Xiaolong, like the waitress in the ice cream shop, lowered her voice and said cautiously, “Captain Xing, please don’t hang up. When I was squatting at the door to the emergency room just now, I heard fans say that Li Jingtian seemed to have posted a new Weibo post, and the fans had blown it up. Hurry and take a look at it.”
At this moment, the waitress behind the bar, who had been live broadcasting, suddenly shouted, “Is Li Jingtian an idiot? What is he doing posting that kind of Weibo?”
Before Xing Conglian could speak, Wang Chao had already sent him Li Jingtian’s Weibo post.
Li Jingtian had tens of millions of followers, but the number of posts wasn’t large. After sorting through chronological order, Li Jingtian’s last Weibo post showed: [My account was hacked just now. The post sent isn’t mine. Please be careful.]
Wang Chao patted his forehead remorsefully. “Ah, I forgot to monitor Li Jingtian’s Weibo!”
“Li Jingtian’s Weibo account was stolen?” Xing Conglian asked incredulously. “What stupid post did he post on Weibo?”
“It’s not easy to know what he just posted. Captain, let me show my power to climb backstage of Weibo and show you the records!” Wang Chao took a sip of cold water as he spoke and looked at Xing Conglian, like a pet waiting for a compliment with shining eyes.
Naturally, he was greeted with a “violent beating”. “Do you think I don’t know? What background records do you need to dig through Weibo? People have already taken screenshots.”
Wang Chao smiled. “Captain, don’t be angry. I didn’t think of it.”
He immediately started entering the keywords in the search box. After entering “Li Jingtian”, countless results poured in.
At this moment, the words Li Jingtian occupied the top position in the popular searches, and its popularity kept rising, which showed that at this moment, countless people were searching for news about him.
Soon, they saw the screenshot of the deleted post.
After clicking on the big picture, they discovered that the Weibo screenshot was actually pretty simple and bloody. It was a selfie of Li Jingtian after his wound was sutured in the emergency room.
In the photo, the singer raised his head slightly, like a mourning white swan. The stitches on his neck were thin, like a red centipede lying on his neck. There were blood marks everywhere, so it looked terrifying.
The matching words for the photo were simple: [Don’t resent.]
Although Li Jingtian’s selfie looked scary, overall, this was a pretty concise post.
After the star was injured, he informed the fans of his injuries and hoped they wouldn’t resent. Although this attitude seemed too soft and deceptive, if a star posted this kind of thing in order to maintain his personal image and during a PR crisis, it would look harmless.
The Weibo post itself wasn’t surprising. What was strange was that it was deleted by Li Jingtian, and he also made a special announcement claiming that the selfie just now was the result of his account being hacked.
Lin Chen couldn’t figure out why someone would post such a normal-looking post after hacking someone else’s Weibo account.
Not only that, but in the deleted post, there was a more important issue, which was discovered by “enthusiastic netizens”.
@MeatMeatMeatChowder: What bullshit! This is your own selfie in the emergency room. Who would hack an account and post this kind of thing!
@LittleTomatoSlicedNoodles: Fuck me, Li Jingtian. You really treat onlookers like they are mentally retarded, huh?
@LongLongDuck: As expected from a blooming white lotus*. The persona never collapses!
*Describes a person who is pure in appearance but is the exact opposite on the inside.
Lin Chen’s gaze swept over the retweets. Across from him, Wang Chao dragged the scroll bar irritably. He then heard the boy say something similar. “How fucking embarrassing. Does Li Jingtian have a problem with his brain? He posted a selfie of himself in the emergency room, then deleted it saying his account was hacked?”
Wang Chao smacked his lips as he scrolled through the retweets. He quickly found the name of Li Jingtian’s manager.
A minute ago, Liu Ying retweeted Li Jingtian’s post about “his account being hacked”.
@LiuYing: What exactly do you want to do to Jingtian? Jingtian has been injured like this. Don’t you think it’s enough?
Under Liu Ying’s Weibo, fans of Li Jingtian who didn’t know what happened were asking about it.
Wang Chao flipped through the comments over several pages as Lin Chen took a closer look. Except for people asking what happened, the rest of the replies or retweets were all along the lines of: “Believe in Jingtian” and “Fans unite”. There were some “Bow to Queen Liu” comments, but they were quickly brushed down by Li Jingtian’s fans.
Looking at the constantly refreshing comments on Weibo, Lin Chen could fully feel how excited Li Jingtian’s fans were.
They first experienced the incident of their idol’s throat being slit. At that time, they didn’t know what to do except pray, but news probably hadn’t had time to spread widely among the “Tian Fans”. The news that Li Jingtian had walked out of the emergency room quickly followed. It was supposed to be a moment where they could let out a breath of relief as they had enough ups and downs for the day, but at such a moment, Li Jingtian posted a selfie of himself in the emergency room. Seeing the terrible wound on the idol’s neck, they couldn’t help but comfort each other, but before some of them could write their words of hope and comfort, the post was deleted, and their idol said that he didn’t post the tweet just now and that his Weibo account was hacked…
No matter how simple-minded the fans were, after encountering these things, they would start to doubt.
Although it seemed that the things that happened to Li Jingtian, whether it was him getting his throat slit on stage or his Weibo account being stolen, weren’t really breaking news, how could a fan accept these kinds of things that kept happening to their idol?
What was more, all this looked as if there was some kind of huge conspiracy brewing behind it.
The fan base was truly a strange group. They lacked cooperation on a regular basis, but if they really met someone who wanted to hurt their idol, they could quickly organize their extraordinary fighting force. This was the case when they clarified the rape case against him last time, and it would be the same this time.
Lin Chen rubbed his forehead. In fact, when the matter came to this point, he couldn’t clearly see what it was about. Sure enough, the intrigue of the entertainment industry didn’t seem to be his strong point.
Fortunately, Xing Conglian seemed to have a natural, keen sense of these things.
After thinking for a while, he quickly grasped the most critical point of the matter and asked, “Is it possible that this situation can occur? Did someone really hack Li Jingtian’s phone photo and his Weibo account and post his selfie in the emergency room?”
Hearing this, Wang Chao replied, “Captain, you have to understand that this situation is certainly possible, but the premise is that the person has to be a master of current communication technologies, such as Bluetooth and password cracking technology. Although I’m not sure what system Li Jingtian’s phone uses, in order to steal a phone and send photos, they must also be masters of programming that phone system. People who know so many things are working for the computer industry giants. How could the streets be full of people like that? It’s hard to find that kind of talent, okay?” When Wang Chao said this, he seemed to have thought of something and patted his head. “Captain, I didn’t do this, okay?”
From the beginning, Xing Conglian was listening seriously until he heard the last sentence. He glared at Wang Chao as if he was going to get angry.
It seemed that the dog blood story just now gave the teenager some excitement, and he lost his fear. Lin Chen sighed helplessly.
As if hearing his sigh, Xing Conglian suddenly asked him, “You’ve said very little. Do you want to eat ice cream? I’ll buy you some?”
Lin Chen suddenly raised his head and was speechless for a while. He frowned, thinking that these two were far too out of the ordinary.
“I feel as if I can’t keep up with your rhythm,” he admitted frankly. “To be honest, this matter is getting weirder, but I can’t find any clues or foresee the direction of its development.”
“I can’t find any clues either,” Xing Conglian replied. “However, I believe in one thing.”
“What?”
“There’s strength in numbers.”
As Xing Conglian said this, he turned his head and looked at the waitress who had been eavesdropping behind the bar. “Do you have matcha-flavored ice cream?” After he asked, he turned his head back to Lin Chen. “What flavor do you like?”
Seeing Xing Conglian’s smiling expression, Lin Chen had no choice but to reluctantly reply, “Vanilla.”
“Vanilla isn’t delicious.” Xing Conglian turned his head and forcefully said to the waitress, “Another matcha.”
Lin Chen was speechless. He thought to himself, ‘If you’ve already decided, why even ask me?’
He couldn’t help turning his gaze, but he saw that Wang Chao had buried his face in the screen and was winking at him. While Xing Conglian went to pay, Wang Chao quickly raised his head and mouthed speechlessly to him.
Lin Chen thought about it for a moment and then realized Wang Chao seemed to be saying, “He, ge, mo, no, ism!”
‘Quite apt,’ Lin Chen thought and nodded to Wang Chao.
Xing Conglian quickly paid and came back.
He sat down again and said to Wang Chao, “Find the Weibo post that Li Jingtian posted about being hacked.”
Wang Chao let out an inexplicable “oh”, and quickly brought it up. The number of retweets and comments on the official post was growing exponentially.
“Click to the comments,” Xing Conglian continued.
Wang Chao did as he said.
The waitress quickly brought the matcha ice cream.
Xing Conglian didn’t read the Weibo comments but moved to the back of the booth and said to Wang Chao, “Get out.”
Lin Chen looked up inexplicably and saw Wang Chao walk out of the booth with a confused expression on his face.
Xing Conglian moved to the inside seat, patted the seat beside him, and said to Lin Chen, “Sit over here.”
Hearing him say that, Lin Chen found that the person who was truly lost had become himself.
At this moment, the expression on Wang Chao’s face changed from dumbfounded to ‘What the fuck?’.
When Xing Conglian moved over to the laptop and started to read the comments while eating his ice cream, Lin Chen realized that Xing Conglian wanted him to come over so they could read the comments together.
It was rare that he and Wang Chao would give each other a relieved look.
Lin Chen stood up and sat down beside Xing Conglian. Xing Conglian pushed over the other serving of matcha-flavored ice cream, so naturally he started to eat it.
Looking at the replies from fans on Li Jingtian’s Weibo, Lin Chen quickly understood what Xing Conglian meant by strength in numbers.
All the popular retweets or replies were roughly divided into two groups. One was from Li Jingtian’s fans, supporting their idol, and the other was scolding him. Compared with the blindly retweets by his fans, those who scolded Li Jingtian were more justified.
@GeniusBakedPotato: [I can’t stand Li fans’ IQ. No one can match his ability to speak a hundred words with an empty mouth. Dad can only give a good analysis of why this is a self-directed and self-acted whitewashing incident. (1) Suppose that the person who slit Li’s throat hates him. They had such a good opportunity to directly kill him, but instead they just gave him a minor scratch. Are you kidding me? (Let me tell you some news. I received a report from my friends at the scene. It’s said that the blood Li Jingtian shed wasn’t blood at all, but artificial blood.) So everyone, after making a small cut, he fell on stage as if he were about to die. Is he an actor? (2) It’s even more ridiculous to claim your account was hacked. You can refer to a certain Weibo post Li made two weeks ago in the exact same pathetic tone. Oh, after all, Li Jingtian is famous for pretending to be pitiful. The reason why he deleted the Weibo post just now is simply because it was sprayed badly as soon as he posted it. He realized the taste was too heavy, so he could only delete it. (I have screenshots to prove it). (3) In summary, Li Jingtian is deliberately creating the illusion that he’s being smeared. This is all an act he put on himself, pretending to be hurt so he could divert the attention away from his rape case!]
This Weibo comment was long. Lin Chen read it word by word and only felt that this analysis seemed reasonable and well-founded, but in fact there were still many problems.
He looked around, only to notice Xing Conglian’s reading speed seemed faster than his. After reading the full comment, Xing Conglian’s face turned ugly again. Thinking about it, Xing Conglian was probably displeased that the details of the case were leaked.
“It has nothing to do with you. There are so many people talking at the scene that it’s hard to tell who was peeping and eavesdropping,” Lin Chen said.
“This isn’t a matter of peeping and eavesdropping. Someone within our ranks leaked out the information on the case.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Well, if you look at the comment, all the information this commenter received was live news revealed by onlookers, then why didn’t they mention the bouquet of roses at the scene? After all, that bouquet of roses was the most terrifying aspect of the scene. The owner of the comment has no reason to omit it. Think about it. The biggest possibility is that the person who leaked the news knows what to say and what not to say. Maybe he found some less important details and leaked them to make his little girlfriend happy.”
After listening to this, Lin Chen was once again speechless. It seemed that Xing Conglian could no longer be described as simple-minded.
Seeing that the teenager was about to reach the edge of shame and indignation, Lin Chen eased off and gave a soft cough. The captain of the police criminal division, who was originally resting on one hand, sat straight up in an instant and switched from teasing children to normal work mode.
“What does nightclub news have to do with Li Jingtian?” Xing Conglian asked.
Probably after watching so much dog-blooded gossip, Wang Chao’s tone became mysterious, as if he was about to reveal juicy details that would shock an entire town. “Don’t you remember what Li Jingtian said while on stage?”
Hearing this, Lin Cheng slightly recalled what Li Jingtian said on stage.
It was something like: “Something has happened recently. Thank you for your support…”
Then he said: “I just want to say you’re free to judge right or wrong.”
Anyone would know the underlying suggestions of these words. Behind such implications was an obviously more complicated story.
“Why did he say that?” Lin Chen asked.
“Because he’s involved in this!” Wang Chao whispered.
The teenager gave him a look saying “beg me to tell you” to Xing Conglian. The two had a staredown and both stopped talking at the same time.
In fact, Lin Chen had guessed that if Li Jingtian didn’t want to hype his popularity because of the downturn in his career, then he probably had encountered some incident in the entertainment circle, such as cheating or some kind of scandal, and urgently needed to create some accident to divert the public’s attention and garner sympathy.
As expected, seeing that neither of them was reacting, Wang Chao became depressed. “Don’t you want to ask me what kind of case it is?”
Lin Chen saw Xing Conglian wink at him as if he were saying, “Does this kid want me to beat him?”
He had to sigh and ask, “What kind of case is it?”
Before Lin Chen’s voice fell, Wang Chao suddenly shouted, “Li Jingitan is suspected of rape, shit!”
“Wait…” Xing Conglian interrupted. “Li Jingtian is suspected of rape?”
“Yes, yes, fuck Captain. This is so bloody. I have never seen such a dog-blooded story in my life!” As he said this, Wang Chao crossed his legs and showed a look of “beg me” again.
This was such obvious teasing that Xing Conglian couldn’t help but smack the boy as expected. “Don’t keep us in suspense!”
Because of the gossip, the boy’s eyes lit up, and he didn’t care that he had just been smacked by his boss. “Here’s the thing. Two weeks ago, on a dark and windy night, a ragged woman rushed to the police station. Her face was bruised, and she was naked. An experienced police officer could tell immediately what had happened! Soon, the girl was brought into the police station lounge while the policewoman brought her a cup of hot water and a blanket. The girl seemed to be in a post-traumatic state and couldn’t speak coherently. Under careful persuasion by the policewoman, the girl finally spoke!” The teenager paused at this point, then continued with cadence, “The girl said that she was raped by someone, and the person who raped her was Li Jingtian, a well-known singer who was holding a tour in the local area!”
When Wang Chao said this, he slapped the table lightly. His description was so lifelike that it was like they were watching a live broadcast.
Lin Chen didn’t know why this kid was so interested in telling this kind of story. He glanced at Xing Conglian, who could only pat his forehead as if signaling to him saying, “Don’t look at me. I have nothing to do with it”.
Lin Chen also felt helpless, but he didn’t interrupt him and instead asked cooperatively, “Then what?”
“Then, it’s the highlight of the main show!”
As he said this, Wang Chao snapped his finger, which was a usual gesture to ask for a drink in a bar. Lin Chen saw the blue veins on Xing Conglian’s temple about to pop out.
He then glanced at the waitress behind the bar. The girl with the ponytail was engrossed in listening to the story. At this moment, when she heard the finger snap, she shivered and then took out a glass knowingly. After a while, she poured lemonade for Mr. Xiao Wang, who was telling the story, and brought it over.
After pouring the drink, the waitress returned to the position where she had just stood and propped her chin up. She took out some potato chips as if she were looking forward to the continuation.
Presumably this was information that could be found casually online and didn’t involve any secrets, so Lin Chen and Xing Conglian didn’t stop Wang Chao from continuing his story.
Accompanied by the sound of crackling potato chips, Wang Chao took a sip of his drink. Xing Conglian couldn’t stand it any longer and smacked him on the back of his head again.
The teenager who was just violently smacked almost choked on his drink and coughed. “Comrade Lao Xing, judging by your attitude, do you not want to hear the rest of the story, huh?”
Truly, there were those who just had a death wish.
Xing Conglian didn’t even move his hands. He just turned his face and gently pressed out the cigarette butt.
Wang Chao quickly shut up, and his expression turned cold. He quickly continued. “When the local police heard this, it became a big case—perhaps even huge. According to the process, they checked on the girl with a rape test kit, and the result came back quickly. The girl did undergo violent intercourse and had signs of tearing, but… In the rape test, the presence of semen wasn’t detected on the girl’s body, so the suspect most likely used a condom.”
Hearing this, Lin Chen frowned. This was a tragic story about a poor girl who was bullied by a big star, yet the teenager had a sense of interest on his face when he was telling the gossip. He thought, considering Wang Chao’s conscience, to treat a rape case with such an attitude, there had to be a reversal to this story.
Sure enough, Wang Chao snapped his finger and continued, “The victim was so pitiful, and it was confirmed she had undergone violent intercourse. Even if the police wanted to suppress this matter, they couldn’t, so they could only quickly set up a task force to solve the rape case. They immediately sealed off the crime scene where the girl said the events took place…”
“And the crime scene?”
“Is the hotel that Li Jingtian was staying in!”
Hearing this, Xing Conglian said, “That’s not good.”
“How is that not good?” Wang Chao asked rhetorically.
Lin Chen thought for a bit and answered, “The hotel will have surveillance records. If Li Jingtian wanted to do something to someone, he wouldn’t choose a place where it’s easy to leave evidence.”
“A’Chen, you’re so smart!” Wang Chao clapped his hands lightly, like a suckup but giving sincere praise. “But it’s still true. The victim also said that she was raped in the presidential suite where Li Jingtian was staying in!”
“So did the local police go?”
“Yes!” Wang Chao nodded. “And there was no need to apply for a private search warrant for hotel rooms, so a group of heavily armed police rushed into Li Jingtian’s suite carelessly. It was said that when they rushed in, Li Jingtian was taking a shower, and his manager was also in the room. Apparently, when she saw the police, the manager’s face turned green!” Wang Chao quickly digressed. “By the way, did you know that Li Jingtian’s agent is a very beautiful woman?”
“Why do we need to know about this kind of shit?” Xing Conglian said impatiently.
“Hey, Captain, you don’t understand,” Wang Chao said as he shook his head. “I’ll show you the picture of that girl and Li Jingtian’s manager. You’ll understand…” As he said this, he really started looking for photos while he kept talking. “Anyway, it’s said that when Li Jingtian was taken to the police station, he was still wearing a bathrobe!”
Wang Chao tapped on the touchpad and placed the laptop across the table. On the screen were two women; one was pictured on the right and the other one the left.
The one on the left side was the victim who accused Li Jingtian of rape, while the one on the right was a photo of Li Jingtian’s beautiful manager.
Although the description may not be appropriate, compared with the dignified and beautiful lady on the right, the victim on the left seemed…
Lin Chen searched for the appropriate words in his heart. It was like the gap between the brilliance of the sun and the moon and the light of fireflies.
In fact, the victim wasn’t ugly, but her skin was dark, and she looked dry and thin. Her hair was of poor-quality blonde and was curly. She had painted her eyes with heavy eyeliner that looked particularly enchanting. Just from the face alone, Lin Chen could sense a strong smell of wind and dust*.
*Term used to generally describe women who look promiscuous (like a prostitute/whore/slut).
“Get it now?” Wang Chao said with emotion. “Facing such a beautiful manager every day, compared to that, is she really that great in bed? Li Jingtian must have a really special taste. Otherwise, how could he?”
“Continue and don’t comment,” Lin Chen reminded.
Wang Chao was obedient this time. He didn’t continue the topic of “taste” and got back to the story. “Since the victim said Li Jingtian’s hotel room was the crime scene, of course the police started searching, but…” Wang Chao spread his hands. “There was no evidence. There was no hair, body fluids, or other evidence of the victim. In short, there was nothing.”
“Has the room been cleaned?” Xing Conglian asked.
“No. The hotel had no cleaning records, and the cleaners said they hadn’t cleaned it.”
“What about the surveillance?” Xing Conglian asked again.
“The surveillance video…” Wang Chao sighed. “The surveillance video within 24 hours shows that the victim has never been to Li Jingtian’s hotel room at all. He is also staying in the presidential suite, so all entryways to the floor have to be swiped to enter. It’s not like anyone can just show up there.”
Hearing this, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian both remained silent.
“It’s fucking weird, right?” Wang Chao sighed with emotion and started going off again. “Speaking of this, Li Jingitan is pretty pitiful. Just when he was taken to the police station to assist in the investigation, someone leaked the news. A large group of reporters squatted at the door of the police station waiting for him and took a lot of embarrassing photos of him in a bathrobe.”
The teenager had long been dissatisfied with telling stories, so he conveniently pulled up all the photos taken by the reporter at the time.
In the photo, the originally light and elegant singer was handcuffed with both hands and brought to the police station. His hair was still wet, and he was wearing just a pair of simple slippers. He lowered his head desperately and tried to close his eyes. Even so, he couldn’t avoid the flashing lights from the cameras of the reporters.
Wang Chao flipped through the photos. One by one, they appeared before Lin Chen’s eyes. The singer in the photos looked embarrassed, miserable, and even ashamed. All his privacy was forced to be disclosed to the public. At that moment, he had lost all human dignity.
Lin Chen thought that if Li Jingtian’s fans saw these photos, he didn’t know how heartbroken they would be. He then understood why there would be so many fans who would frantically support their idol in the mall today.
“It’s miserable, right?” Wang Chao sighed. “Not only this, but did you know that just when Li Jingtian was taken to the police station in a bathrobe, a bed photo of Li Jingtian and the girl also circulated on the internet at the same time. Think about it. What kind of setup is this?”
“Was it planted?” Lin Chen paused. He felt something indescribable as he asked, “Was the bed photo fake?”
“Well, it is a dog-blooded story. I just analyzed the bed photo and confirmed it. It is indeed fake. There are obvious signs of photoshop!”
Xing Conglian suddenly raised his head. “So, is it true that someone has designs to frame Li Jingtian?”
“I don’t know if it’s framed or not, but it’s true that Li Jingtian is pretty miserable.”
“Just keep talking, and don’t make too much emotional evaluation. That’s meaningless. What we want are facts and evidence,” Xing Conglian reminded.
“The truth is, there is no evidence…” Wang Chao took a sip of his drink again. He looked back at the young waitress standing behind the bar and said to them, “You guys, there are so many capable people on the internet that can easily tell this photo is photoshopped. Of course it was quickly analyzed and determined to be fake. Li Jingtian’s fans were originally confused, but now that the fake photo incident came out, they blew up! Then, they began to target the girl who accused Li Jingtian of rape.”
“Wait!” Xing Conglian interrupted. “Shouldn’t the victim’s information be kept secret?”
“It stands to reason that it should, but I don’t know who leaked it. It’s very likely that the doctor or nurse who did the rape kit test did it. Anyway, the result and the girl’s personal information were put online.” As Wang Chao spoke, he started getting excited again. “The power of netizens is truly great. Among Li Jingtian’s millions of ‘Tian Fans’ all over the world, they can easily suss the girl out within minutes. Guess what that girl does?”
“Wandering warbler*?” Xing Conglian asked.
*[Liu ying] (流莺) Term used to refer to sex workers/prostitutes.
The so-called “wandering warbler” was an alias for prostitutes and referred to those who had no fixed place of residence. They would run around or stand in the street to solicit customers. Some would look for work in hotels.
“Damn, Captain. Why do you know everything?” Wang Chao was taken aback. “You seem quite experienced.”
Wang Chao didn’t realize what he had just said until he finished speaking. Before Xing Conglian could smack him again, he hugged Xing Conglian’s thigh and said, “Captain, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I withdraw that sentence. Although you’ve been a single dog for thousands of years, you wouldn’t recruit prostitutes. Though to be honest, I’m quite concerned about how you solve your personal physiological problems. Do you want me to send you something good tonight, huh?”
The teenager blinked as he spoke.
When Lin Chen heard this, he glanced at Xing Conglian. In fact, he was also very interested in knowing about this issue.
Xing Conglian coughed lightly and switched the topic. “Is there any evidence that the victim is indeed a wandering warbler?”
Before Lin Chen had time to savor Xing Conglian’s reaction, he suddenly realized what the “wandering warbler” that Xing Conglian was referring to meant.
Roses and warbler…
At that moment, Lin Chen felt cold all over.
He raised his eyes and saw Xing Conglian look at him with a solemn gaze and shake his head.
What Xing Conglian meant was: “Don’t say it in front of Wang Chao.”
Lin Chen knew and stabilized his breath and tried to control the chill all over his body.
Xing Conglian had a grave look as he said, “Just because she’s a wandering warbler doesn’t mean Li Jingtian didn’t commit rape.”
“Captain, of course you’re right to say that, but don’t you know how powerful fans are? They quickly pulled out the report.”
“The one that you were reading to us just now?”
“Correct.” Wang Chao nodded. “I really don’t know how they were able to find it. In short, the lace underwear you just saw in the picture was actually the picture in the report. The reporter who reported that incident also attached a picture of him lying in a nightclub. In the photo…”
“There happens to be the victim?”
“That’s right.”
“For fear of polluting your pure hearts, let me briefly tell you about the content of that report. A long time ago, there was a reporter who was very idle. He would go to local nightclubs with a very impure intentions. I mean, everyone knows why he would go to that kind of place… shit. I don’t know which newspaper would publish this kind of vulgar report, but anyway, in that report, he wrote a lot of strange things that are popular in nightclubs—they’re generally related to sexual abuse. In short, it was very, very weird. Among the different types of ‘plays’, one of them was rape play. The report also said that some of the current guests especially like to play the game of pretend rape, so they would ask the wandering warblers to…”
Xing Conglian said, “The fans saw this report, so they found the reporter who reported on the incident at the time, which indirectly proved that the ‘victim’ had provided guests with this special sex service, right?”
Wang Chao said, “More than that. The victim not only provided it just once, but do you know how she became a ‘wandering warbler’? In fact, she originally had a nightclub job. However, in the last nightclub she worked at, she accused one of the customers of raping her, so she was driven away…”
Hearing this, Lin Chen suddenly raised his head. When the matter fell here, it seemed to become clear.
A dusty wandering warbler that was repeated offender of false accusations who used a fake photo without any evidence accusing a singer with an excellent reputation of raping her…
Anyone with common sense would know how to evaluate this matter.
As Wang Chao spoke, he hooked his fingers at him and Xing Conglian and motioned for them to come closer. He lowered his voice and whispered, “A’Chen, Captain, let me tell you. I went through the files later. The wandering warbler confessed after being exposed by the fans. She was afraid that the police wouldn’t believe her, so she lied and said that she was raped by Li Jingtian in his presidential suite. The real place of the crime was actually in a club, but the club she was talking about is an exclusive club in the area. The police felt that it was impossible for a wandering warbler like her to enter such a prestigious place, so…”
“So the local police didn’t go to that club to investigate, right?”
“Who would believe such an incoherent statement? After knowing that her statement was false, the police quickly dismissed the case.”
Lin Chen lowered his eyes. Although he would not make a subjective judgment based on the identity of the victim, in this rape case, the possibility of Li Jingtian being falsely accused was too great. Even if he subjectively wanted to sympathize with the girl, all the objective evidence pointed to: Li Jingtian is the real victim.
Lin Chen didn’t know what to say. At this moment, Xing Conglian suddenly asked, “Can you find out what city the crime took place in?”
“Captain, you should be familiar with it. It’s in Fengchun.”
Hearing this, Xing Conglian’s face sank. “Based on my understanding of the police in Fengchun, they won’t stop a final investigation if the victim revises their statement. What’s going on?”
Hearing what he said, Lin Chen suddenly remembered what Huang Ze had told him. Xing Conglian had a brief resume, and his first entry was being parachuted into Fengchun.
Come to think of it, if it was a team that had been associated with Xing Conglian, it was unlikely they would refuse to continue their investigation just because the victim had changed their statement.
Wang Chao secretly glanced at Xing Conglian and then said, “Captain, you may not know, but Li Jingtian’s identity is actually a bit complicated.”
“Identity?” As Xing Conglian spoke, Lin Chen felt him glance at him. “He’s not some kind of heir to some big family, right? There doesn’t seem to be a surname ‘Li’ in the four elite families.”
Lin Chen understood Xing Conglian well. In fact, he wasn’t obsessed with whether the girl framed Li Jingtian or not. What he cared about was whether his former colleagues did their best to investigate the case.
Wang Chao winked at Xing Conglian, as if he were hinting at something. “Speaking of which, it would be simpler if it was one of the elites. Li Jingtian’s identity involves diplomatic issues. Hey, why don’t you know anything? Li Jingitan isn’t a singer from China. He’s from Xinni.”
When the matter came here, Lin Chen felt that he really couldn’t keep up. Why did this matter involve Li Jingtian’s status as an international friend?
However, he also roughly understood the difficulties of the Hongjing police. Even ordinary people would give in slightly when they encountered foreigners. What was more, the evidence that Li Jingtian was framed was so obvious that if they didn’t let him go, not only would Li Jingtian’s fanatical fans be dissatisfied, but once it was handled carelessly, it would cause a diplomatic incident.
“Are foreigners so powerful?” Xing Conglian asked in an unpleasant tone.
Wang Chao gave his boss a look of paranoia and said speechlessly, “Fuck, of course you don’t care!” He couldn’t help but complain. “But did you know that Li Jingtian’s grandfather used to be the ambassador of Xinni? You should know this.”
“Li Lao?” Xing Conglian was surprised. “Li Jingtian is Li Lao’s grandson?”
“That’s right.” Wang Chao spread his hands. “This can be regarded as a famous family. You see, even with this identity, Li Jingtian didn’t hype himself. In fact, I think he’s pretty low-key. Look, with this kind of personality and identity, I also think it’s impossible he would rape a wandering warbler!”
The teenager seemed to have concluded his summary statement.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to raise his cup when he heard Xing Conglian say, “Then we should continue to investigate.”
Hearing this, Wang Chao suddenly lay down on the table and banged his head repeatedly against it. It seemed that he was unable to communicate with his boss, which made things quite suffocating.
For example, the girl’s hand trembled when she went in for the kill, or the biggest possibility was that the girl didn’t actually plan to kill him. She simply used a knife to create a shallow cut on Li Jingtian’s neck, allowing him to escape death and walk out of the emergency room alive.
This possibility was, of course, option C, which seemingly looked happy but was quite intriguing.
“So, are we going to change the direction of the investigation?” Xing Conglian probably thought of this too. He looked a bit stressed as he finally lit his cigarette.
Blue smoke curled under the dazzling sun.
Lin Chen couldn’t figure out this question for a while.
If Li Jingtian planned this in order to hype the incident and attract public attention, why didn’t he pretend to be more pitiful? He should know that walking out of the emergency room in front of the media would make it seem too self-directed and planned. Because of this, it was impossible for an experienced planner to do such a thing.
To put it another way, if Li Jingtian was a victim, the question remained: why did the girl only cut his neck shallowly but did not kill him?
Lin Chen recalled the scene on stage at that time. The microphone slammed to the ground as Li Jingtian tightly covered his neck. Blood was oozing out between his fingers. In any case, judging by the amount of bleeding, Li Jingtian shouldn’t be able to walk out of that emergency room alive. There had to be something wrong.
“To be honest, I think this matter has violated the laws of human physiology. Normal people can’t lose that much blood and still maintain the ability to act normally. This is too incredible.”
Xing Conglian touched his chin. “It seems we can only trouble the husband of Comrade Zhang Xialong’s colleague to pry out more information.”
Li Jingtian’s manager had already called out the police. Rather than actively expressing a stance, Xing Conglian chose to secretly investigate.
“It’s better to keep a low profile,” Lin Chen said.
“Then let’s go back and study the scene again?” Xing Conglian asked.
“Okay.”
When they returned to the air-conditioned hall, Lin Chen remembered to look at the time.
Time was the most obvious clue. It was now 11:25 a.m. When Li Jingtian was taken to the hospital, he stayed in the emergency room for at most half an hour.
Naturally, a carotid artery treatment couldn’t be done in that amount of time. The only possibility was that Li Jingtian’s injury wasn’t serious and the girl was indeed merciful.
So the key question was the blood. Why did Li Jingtian bleed so much?
Xing Conglian stood on the stage and was talking to his colleague from the forensic department. The other party nodded, squatted on the ground, and pointed to the large area of blood that had merged with the red carpet. “Captain Xing, I was just about to look for you. I don’t think this is human blood.”
“If it’s not human blood, then what is it? Animal blood?”
“Not likely either.” The forensic pathologist continued to shake his head.
They had cut off a sample of the carpet and sent it for testing. At this moment, it seemed that the entire stage had been hollowed out. “We have to wait for the test results to come out.”
Xing Conglian frowned. As if he had guessed something, he squatted down.
He took off his gloves and gently pressed his fingers on the bloodstain. The forensic pathologist seemed to be aware of something and wanted to stop him, but he saw that Xing Conglian had already put his fingers in his mouth and tasted it.
Lin Chen walked to the edge of the stage and saw that Xing Conglian had just licked his fingers. Xing Conglian turned his head and said to him, “It tastes sweet.”
Lin Chen was speechless. Licking a victim’s blood in public was indeed a bit extreme.
Xing Conglian didn’t seem to care. He patted his butt and stood up. “Cream with artificial coloring. The blend is just right.”
Lin Chen was taken aback as he asked, “What is it?”
“A kind of fake plasma prop. This formula is quite good—basically on the level of a Hollywood prop,” Xing Conglian said as he smacked his lips.
The forensic pathologist on the side was also stunned. “What the hell? Is this a self-planned throat cutting?”
Anyone who had seen something like this would probably have a similar thought.
Xing Conglian turned his head, pressed his index fingers to his lips, and motioned for the forensic pathologist to keep his voice down.
Lin Chen pondered for a while. If this was a planned self-throat cutting to create hype, it would be too unwise to use a girl to pretend to be a fan to cut his neck on stage, then use artificial blood to create the illusion of a tragedy while leaving a bunch of cruel green roses on the stage. Although such an incident could be explosive, it was still a double-edged sword. If Li Jingtian was careless, it would cause great damage to his image.
This was still a matter where the gain wasn’t worth the loss.
While Lin Chen was hesitating, he suddenly heard Xing Conglian ask, “If this is artificial blood, doesn’t it mean there’s only one murder we need to investigate?”
He was, of course, referring to that poor bird that was stabbed to death by the roses.
Xing Conglian sighed. “I have a headache.”
……
Naturally, what could give Xing Conglian a headache wasn’t the artificial blood or some singer staging a throat cut.
The one that really could give him a headache was only a certain person—a certain stubborn person.
Wang Chao was sitting in an ice cream shop on the second floor of Ansheng International Mall and ordered a matcha-flavored smoothie. While sipping on his cold drink, he searched for the two questions Lin Chen had asked him.
First: Li Jingtian’s background.
Second: Why were there so many fans supporting Li Jingtian today?
The air conditioning in the store was fully turned on. The young waitress there was much more beautiful than others.
After he set the keywords, he took a big gulp of his cold drink. Before he could finish a portion of it, the laptop beeped, indicating that the search had been completed.
He stuffed all the remaining cold drink into his mouth, then sat down crossed-legged on the sofa. He dragged the scroll bar down as he read the search results carefully.
Honestly speaking, he didn’t really have much interest in gossip in the entertainment circle. It was probably due to straight men being naturally unfond of that kind of heart-wrenching story. However, the gossip about Li Jingtian was really bloodier than a dog-blooded* drama. The more he read, the more fascinated he became. He was so focused that he didn’t notice someone had opened the glass door of the ice cream shop.
*Melodramatic.
“So nice?”
Wang Chao felt someone sitting down by his side. They leaned over and asked him this.
“Hey, don’t talk.” He waved his hand, trying to swat the man away like a fly.
When his head touched the other person’s head, Wang Chao suddenly got a prickly feeling that was transmitted from his skin straight to his brain.
“Captain, why are you here?!”
He jumped up and then sat down again with a bang. “You didn’t say a word. Are you trying to scare me to death?!”
“Mr. Xiao Wang, I didn’t expect you to have such a hobby.”
Xing Conglian took out a cigarette and looked at the explosive title on the screen as he curled his lips.
On the screen was a piece of news, but compared to the explosive headline, the accompanying picture was even more eye-catching. It was a pair of women’s lace underwear thrown on a messy blanket that was black.
Wang Chao subconsciously tried to cover it up and then felt he was wronged. “Captain, this is proper behavior. I’m investigating the case!”
Lin Chen sat opposite of him and looked at the appearance of the two in front of him. He always felt that the topic they were about to discuss wasn’t going to be a good one.
“Oh, Mr. Xiao Wang, at your age, it’s normal for people to have this kind of hobby.” Xing Conglian patted the teenager’s head as if he understood it well.
“Fuck Captain, don’t treat me like I’m dirty!”
Wang Chao tried to get away, but Xing Conglian had squeezed into the booth, cutting off his only way out.
“Well, well. I didn’t know you had this kind of taste, though it is a bit heavy…” Xing Conglian said as he gazed up and down at Wang Chao, then turned his head and read out the headline. “The princess in the private room earns 100,000 a day with all kinds of novel plays that shock reporters?”
Hearing Xing Conglian read the headline aloud, Wang Chao’s face instantly blushed. Although Lin Chen knew the young man probably was finding some key clues, his shy appearance was so cute that he couldn’t help laughing.
Probably because he didn’t want to talk to Xing Conglian, the teenager turned his head and looked at Lin Chen seriously. “A’Chen, it’s really a clue related to Li Jingtian’s case!”
“Oh…” Lin Chen dragged his tone, then slowly said, “Actually, you can do whatever you like. After all, you’re still young. You just have to pay attention to safety…”
Zhang Xiaolong shuddered. This elder sister truly knew which pot not to open and which pot to lift*.
*Idiom referring to people shouldn’t talk about other people’s shortcomings (i.e. knowing what to and not to say).
Consultant Lin was right. This woman was amazing!
After Liu Ying finished speaking, the situation on the scene changed.
The crowd at the ward’s door all followed the queen’s lead and began to look around, hoping to spot a police officer.
However, the only police officer here…
Zhang Xiaolong thought about it. It seemed like she was the only one there.
“It seems there are no police coming.”
“How can this be?! Jingtian is injured like this, and the police haven’t come yet?!”
Doubts and complaints came from all sides. Zhang Xiaolong understood it well. After all, their idol was injured, so they hoped that a police uncle would be present to state the situation and promise to arrest the culprit and bring her to justice.
The problem was…
Zhang Xiaolong lowered her head weakly. There were so many of them that she dared not go out!
Although intuition told her she’d become a target if she went out, if she didn’t, who knew how the media would chastise the Hongjing police?
“So, after such a big incident, the police didn’t send someone here?”
Sure enough, finding that there really wasn’t anyone related to the police around, the queen spoke indifferently.o
Zhang Xiaolong shivered.
With things at this point, she turned to her phone and asked in a pensive voice, “Captain Xing… should I go out?”
The other end of the line was silent for a moment. Although no one spoke, the scene of Captain Xing and Consultant Lin looking at each other and exchanging ideas appeared in Zhang Xiaolong’s mind.
She asked since a normal leader would probably send one of their subordinates out to shoulder the blame.
Soon, she heard what seemed like Xing Conglian approaching the phone again. His breathing sounded in Zhang Xiaolong’s ears, making her nervous.
Suddenly, she heard the person on the phone say, “Don’t go out. It’s okay.”
At that moment, she wanted to hopelessly cry.
……
At the entrance of Ansheng International Shopping Mall, under a camphor tree.
Wang Chao had already rushed to search for various information. Lin Chen stood outside and was accompanying Xing Conglian on his call.
After a few words of relief, Xing Conglian hung up the phone with a helpless expression.
Although he didn’t talk to the girl, based on Xing Conglian’s expression, she was probably frightened at the scene. “Is it Xiaolong?”
“It looks like she’s crying?” Xing Conglian shook his head as if he were saying, “I don’t know why she’s crying.”
Lin Chen sighed inaudibly. He thought to himself, ‘If you have a handsome boss who will shoulder the blame and protect you, naturally you will be moved. If you’re a girl, it’s more likely you will cry.”
Xing Conglian made a gesture to take out another cigarette, but when he was halfway there, he paused. “Speaking of which, why is Li Jingtian’s manager so good?”
Lin Chen replied, “Women are amazing. That’s all.”
Xing Conglian said, “But I suddenly felt the words of that powerful woman to be very heavy-handed. First, show weakness, then establish authority. First, share hatred, then fight against the enemy. Are people in the entertainment industry that thoughtful?”
Lin Chen glanced at him and saw that he was asking it seriously. Aren’t you quite scheming yet you can’t see through this setup?
However, he could only say that in his heart. “You mean, she has the ‘same hatred’ with the fans and media, so who is the ‘enemy’?”
“It seems that’s now us.” Xing Conglian leaned against the newly planted camphor tree and started to question. “A star suddenly encounters an accident, but his manager is targeting the police. So, if you’re in the entertainment industry, why do you think this is?”
Although Xing Conglian’s suspicion seemed cold, it wasn’t unreasonable.
In fact, although Li Jingtian’s manager’s speech didn’t put any blame, it was precisely because of that—seemingly too calm and victorious—that it felt sketchy.
Lin Chen said honestly, “I don’t know what kind of setup this is. After all, playing with the mind hasn’t been my strong point.”
Hearing his answer, Xing Conglian was taken aback and couldn’t help laughing. “Consultant Lin, why doesn’t that sound right?”
“Captain Xing is thinking too much,” Lin Chen replied.
Xing Conglian then approached him and continued, “Tell me, in that ward Li Jingtian’s in, do you think they are treating him for a ‘serious injury’? Are we falling into a hype plan in the entertainment industry?”
Lin Chen didn’t refute him. “It’s possible that if Li Jingitan and others are trying to hype this incident, then they may target us to prevent the police from investigating it.” When he said this, he shook his head. “To be honest, this approach is too stupid. The police may be afraid of public opinion, but if they insist on investigating, it’s not like the public can stop them. In fact, ever since Li Jingtian’s throat was slit, I have had an indescribable feeling—as if I’m falling into a trap, but…” He stopped at this point. He really wasn’t a person who liked to analyze personal emotions in the process of handling cases, but he really did feel weird. “I think it’s vexing…”
Xing Conglian smacked his lips and said, “It’s quite refreshing hearing you say ‘vexing’. Why do you find it vexing?”
“I don’t know.” Lin Chen shook his head, unable to describe this strange feeling.
Vexing was indeed an imprecise word.
But perhaps it was the same feeling Lin Chen had when he was standing on the upper floors of the mall, when he saw Li Jingtian fall to the ground, or even when Xing Conglian untied the bouquet of roses.
If he had to choose a more appropriate and specific description, he could only say that being vexed came from a sense of powerlessness.
Analyzing emotions didn’t have much effect on solving the case. Lin Chen seriously thought about the questions surrounding Li Jingtian and finally cruelly stated, “To judge whether this is hype or not, it will depend on Li Jingtian’s final condition.”
Thinking of the blood on the stage, he added, “In fact, judging by the amount of bleeding at the scene, it’s difficult to say the culprit didn’t cut his carotid artery. If that’s the case, it’s very unlikely Li Jingtian can be rescued.”
“What Consultant Lin means is that if Li Jingtian is pushed out covered in a white cloth over his face, then we must admit that our thoughts are too pessimistic about people, but if Li Jingitan is pushed out as if he were saved on the verge of death, we have to consider the possibility of all this being a plot he devised on himself… That is quite cruel.”
“Although both choices A and B are cruel, if C appears, it will be even more of a headache, so I hope that there isn’t a third possibility,” Lin Chen said.
In fact, Lin Chen didn’t know why all his bad premonitions usually came true.
Two minutes after he spoke, Xing Conglian’s phone rang again. Seeing that the ID showed “Zhang Xiaolong”, he knew he was about to get his answer.
Xing Conglian answered it and put the phone on speaker.
“Captain Xing, Li Jingtian is out!”
The girl’s voice sounded excited as it came out of the speaker. Such a soft and sweet voice was collided by the noise of traffic around creating a kind of illusory setting.
Sure enough, it was option B—self-inflicted and directed.
Xing Conglian asked, “How’s Li Jingtian’s condition? Is he still conscious? What did doctors say?”
Zhang Xiaolong said, “He’s awake. How can he be unconscious?”
“Just after an operation, and he’s still conscious?” Xing Conglian asked suspiciously.
“You won’t believe it, Captain Xing. Li Jingtian actually walked out by himself!”
……
Municipal Hospital, corridor outside Emergency Room No. 3.
Zhang Xiaolong held up her phone and stared at the man standing at the door of the ward in disbelief.
The singer himself wasn’t much different from on TV. Compared with his slightly noble appearance, Li Jingtian in real life looked more approachable. Of course, this wasn’t to say he wasn’t handsome. He was still elegant and good-looking, though his face was pale due to excessive blood loss. He stood slowly, with a thick gauze wrapped around his neck. After looking around, Zhang Xiaolong saw him slowly bowing, as if thanking the surrounding fans for their support.
Seeing this scene, the surrounding girls began to scream and applaud desperately, as if it were the best celebration they had ever experienced.
Li Jingtian’s face was full of gratitude. His eyes were a little moist, but he didn’t speak.
Naturally, Zhang Xiaolong was also extremely happy. She smiled and looked at the singer from top to bottom. The singer’s shirt was covered with blood, and even his pants were soaked in it.
She found it a bit strange. Zhang Xiaolong suddenly realized that Li Jingtian had his throat slit and lost copious amounts of blood, which dyed his shirt red. With this amount of bleeding, how could he still stand?
At this moment, she heard Consultant Lin’s voice coming through the phone.
“Quietly take a picture for me,” he said.
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaolong stood on tiptoe and raised her phone, and with a click, she quickly withdrew her hand. The people around her gave her a nasty glare.
The photo was quickly sent over.
On the other end of the line, Consultant Lin’s voice became hesitant. “It’s true. He has come out.”
“Is it option C?” Captain Xing asked.
Zhang Xiaolong didn’t understand what they were talking about, and even she was full of doubt.
Why did someone rush on stage to try and kill someone, and the person who was attacked managed to come out of the emergency room alive?
The usual emergency department building always had an indescribably gloomy atmosphere, but today it was particularly lively.
After Li Jingtian was taken to the hospital, some of his girl fans also followed. The girls cried, bleeding out their makeup, and their eyes were full of helplessness.
Among the group of petal-like girls, one of them looked alert. She hid in the corner and looked around. Although her face wasn’t much different from the girls around her, she was actually a police officer from the Hongjing Police Criminal Division. Her name was Zhang Xiaolong.
When Zhang Xiaolong received the call from Xing Conglian, a girl at the scene had cried until she was completely exhausted and was immediately hooked up to an IV bag by a nurse. She looked at the anxious faces around her and pressed the answer button. “Captain Xing. I’m here.”
“How is Li Jingtian?” Xing Conglian’s voice came through from the speaker.
Zhang Xiaolong stepped around the corner and lowered her voice. “Li… Mr. Li was pushed into urgent care and hasn’t come out yet!”
In fact, as a police officer, it was quite humiliating to check on the situation so cautiously, but when someone was in such a precarious state, saving their life was naturally the most important thing!
“That is to say, there’s no news yet?” Captain Xing paused, then asked, “What’s the situation at the scene?”
“Uh…” She stood on her tiptoes and looked around, then reluctantly said, “It’s crowded.”
The use of crowded was quite euphemistic. After all, about half the women in the hospital were around her, while the remaining half weren’t present because they were unable to squeeze in.
The entrance to the ward was no different than that of a farmer’s market.
The hospital security guards were constantly persuading fans to leave, but in a place like a hospital, they couldn’t make a ruckus driving them away. Besides, everyone knew that Li Jingtian was injured. If his fans were expelled, who knew what the crazier ones would do?
Therefore, the situation at the door to the emergency room where Li Jingtian was located seemed to have turned into a fan meeting. The security guards surrounded some of the fans at the entrance, hoping that they wouldn’t make too much noise, and at the same time, they prevented more people in the periphery from entering the encirclement.
To be honest, Zhang Xiaolong knew that Li Jingtian was coming to Hongjing a while ago. She had thought about asking for leave to go to his fan meeting, but in the end, she chose her lust for Captain Xing over Li Jingtian. After all, the former had the best-looking face!
However, not long after she went into work, something seemed to have happened at the shopping mall where Li Jingitan was holding his fan meeting. Captain Xing quickly rushed to the scene. While anxiously waiting for news, she suddenly received a call from Captain Xing, who sent her to the hospital to wait for Li Jingtian’s results. He further instructed her to wear normal clothing and told her to keep her mouth shut if she encountered the media.
What the hell?!
Why was Li Jingtian’s throat slit? Oh my god, the sky in the entertainment industry was about to crack!
Zhang Xiaolong shouted silently in her heart.
Although she wasn’t considered knowledgeable about the entertainment industry, she at least knew more than Xing Conglian.
Who was Li Jigntian? Ten years ago, he debuted with the Illi group. A powerful lead singer, he won three Golden Melody Awards. Although Li Jingtian wasn’t as popular as before because of his age, part of the reason was because he was humble and low-key and didn’t like hype. Moreover, Li Jingtian was really enthusiastic about public welfare. It was reported that his total donations surpassed ten million. Even if someone wasn’t his fan, they wouldn’t have any ill feelings towards him. Even if he had bit of a scandal recently, WHO TM CARES*? How could Li Jingitan do that kind of thing? His status in the music scene was still the same—as stable as Mount Tai!
*Lingo basically meaning, “Who the fuck cares”.
Zhang Xiaolong rushed to the hospital with a heart full of gossip to witness the history of the entertainment industry. Because she arrived earlier, she was able to grab a better spot to watch, and gradually, more people started filling in around her. Most of them were Li Jingtian’s “fans”, while the rest were hospital patients who heard the news. Then there were also the media reporters who came to join the fun.
Looking at those cameras occasionally flashing their lights, Zhang Xiaolong felt that Xing Conglian was quite farsighted. In fact, she could of course just walk through the crowd, handsomely flashing her police badge, and ask the doctor to report on the situation, but the result would be that she would never be able to return as she would be blocked by fans and reporters in the hospital.
“Did you say… urgent care?”
Captain Xing on the other end of the phone paused and asked again.
“That’s right.”
“Don’t you mean the emergency room*?”
*Clarity: The word Zhang Xiaolong said is “急救室” which is referring to a place for emergency treatment and diagnosis, while Xing Conglian is saying “急诊室” which is an emergency room for operations. Technically, they are both “emergency room” as urgent care as how the US understands it may not be the most accurate translation, but there needs to be a distinction because this is important to the story. Generally, if you get your throat slit, you would just go to the ER (no distinction), but Li Jingtian is sent to “urgent care” instead of “emergency surgery”.
Zhang Xiaolong was a little puzzled. She didn’t know why Xing Conglian had specifically asked this question, but she could only try her best to explain. “Yes, perhaps the situation is too critical to be sent to the operating room? Or maybe because there are too many people outside, so the doctor can’t push Li Jingtian to have an operation…” she said quietly. She looked around and found that the girls were only immersed in their sadness and didn’t notice her. She relaxed a bit and lowered her voice. Acting like a secret agent, she asked, “Do you want me to ask the doctor about the situation? My college classmate’s husband seems to be a doctor here.”
“Got it. I don’t need it for the time being. Just keep me posted.”
When Xing Conglian finished talking, he was about to hang up.
Zhang Xiaolong felt sad. She felt that she seemed quite useless. It was rare to take on a task, and the captain also wanted to protect her and didn’t let her pry for more information.
At this moment, there seemed to be some movement at the outermost end of the crowd. The girls in the entire corridor suddenly separated from each other. They stood on tiptoe again and found someone passing through from the far end of the corridor.
It was a lady in a plain dress with shoulder-length black hair wearing a thin layer of makeup. The lady wore sunglasses and met the media and fans in the corridor. She took off her sunglasses very politely and hung them on her neckline. She walked to the door of the emergency room, turned around, and faced all the fans. She then bowed deeply but didn’t speak.
When the girls saw the lady, they all choked up after being stunned, then shouted in a low voice, “Liu Jie…”
Only then did Zhang Xiaolong remember that this lady seemed to be Li Jingtian’s manager, Liu Ying.
Most likely how an artist really was, their manager would be the same. Li Jingtian’s manager also seemed to be humble and polite. As the manager of a big star, while facing fans and the media, she didn’t have the slightest arrogance.
“What’s going on?”
Captain Xing seemed to hear some commotion on the other side and called out to her a few times.
“Captain Xing… It’s Li Jingtian’s manager. She just arrived,” Zhang Xiaolong answered in a low voice.
The situation at the door to the ward was chaotic again.
At first, those reporters were just interviewing fans or harassing doctors on the periphery, but now they were pushing the onlookers in front of them, trying to squeeze to the forefront to interview Li Jingtian’s manager, as if she held big news.
“Oh, did she say anything?”
There were so many clicks and shouts that they drowned out Captain Xing’s voice in Zhang Xiaolong’s ear.
“She hasn’t started talking yet. She just bowed.” Zhang Xiaolong diligently reported. She then had a flash of inspiration and said, “Captain Xing, I’ll raise my phone higher. Don’t talk. Just listen quietly.”
There was an “Nn” on the other end of the phone. Zhang Xiaolong pretended she was taking a picture and cut off the call screen, then she held her phone forward.
At the same time, the lady at the door to the ward finally spoke. “I am Li Jingtian’s manager, Liu Ying. We all know that Mr. Li Jingtian suffered a terrible assault today, and currently his condition remains uncertain, but if he knew, during his struggle with life and death, how many people care for and love him this much, he would be relieved. So I must thank everyone for their concern for Jingtian. Thank you very much.”
Liu Ying’s face was dignified. Her speech was slow and had a vaguely mournful tone, which made it extremely touching.
Hearing this, the girls at the door of the ward burst into tears, as if they were aggrieved children whose parents were willing to stand up for them.
“What should I do…”
“Liu Jie, what should I do…”
“Jingtian will definitely persist, right?”
The helpless inquiries of the girls came one after another. In fact, they didn’t want an exact answer. What they wanted was hope.
And what a manager could say to the fans and media was, at most, nothing more than words of gratitude and conviction. Zhang Xiaolong sighed, intending to listen more, but suddenly, Ms. Liu bowed again. When she looked up, she had already cleaned up her sad face and made a solemn expression.
“You ask me what you can do?” She looked around at all the faces gathered at the door of the ward. Zhang Xiaolong glanced at her and hurriedly avoided her gaze. She clenched her phone and lowered her head.
Ms. Liu’s voice was stern as she quickly changed her tone and spoke seriously. “Although I don’t know what to do, I share your concern, fear, and sadness. I know you want to save him. The doctors are doing their best, just like the police, who are trying to catch the killer. Right now, Jingtian has been injured, and his condition remains uncertain. You being here is affecting the work of the doctors and disrupting the hospital. If you love Jingtian, then at this moment you should believe that the doctors are doing their best. More importantly, even if you’re worried, scared, and sad, you should not let others think that we ‘Tian fans’ are an unorganized and undisciplined group. Please, for Jingtian, don’t affect the normal order of the hospital. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.”
Zhang Xiaolong was shocked.
Looking at the stern-faced woman at the door to the ward, she instantly felt the queenly aura of Ms. Liu. However, she couldn’t scream out loud, so she could only do it silently in her heart. Seeing that this manager was reasonable and was trying to control the fans in this kind of tragedy was just too incredible!
She stood on her tiptoes again and tried to catch the queen’s face more clearly through the gap between people.
Zhang Xiaolong saw the queen’s face frown. Her chin was slightly raised, and her gaze fell on the media reporters behind the crowd as she continued, “Similarly, thank you very much for your presence, media friends. It would be a lie if I were to say I didn’t want the media present. I hope that you will be here and that you can spread the news about this matter. I even hope you can hype it up because we have been swallowing our anger for too long. What about the artists? They are humans too. Why should artists suffer infamy for no reason and be powerless to fight back? Now Jingtian is like this. No matter what the result is, we hope to use this example to tell everyone in society that although we’re part of the entertainment industry and are under the eyes of the public, we are also human and need our privacy. We need a safer environment. I don’t want the tragedy of what happened to Jingtian today to happen to another artist. So please, hype it hard!”
The queen’s words were loud. She bowed again. Although she was only wearing a plain dress, her words were so humble and polite that they mesmerized everyone present.
Zhang Xiaolong only felt the blood in her body getting hot. Indeed, Jingtian had received so many accusations for no reason. He was wronged, scolded badly, and now his throat was slit. This was too much. She even had an inexplicable feeling of anger. At this moment, she heard someone on the phone coughing lightly, summoning her back from her anger. She hurriedly took back the phone and heard Consultant Lin’s light voice coming from the other end of the line.
“How amazing.”
Consultant Lin only said this.
“I think it was pretty good.” Zhang Xiaolong felt her nose sour. She felt that Consultant Lin’s statement sounded wrong, so she couldn’t help but retort in a low voice.
“Indeed.”
Consultant Lin didn’t say anything else. The scene was quiet, with only the clicking of flashing lights being heard. Hearing that there was no sound coming on the other end, she sent her phone forward again.
This kind of thing felt like a slap in the face.
As if to prove her innocence and cuteness, the queen looked at the flashing white light from the cameras in front of her and began to summarize her statement. “Many people say that the media and artists always use each other, but in any case, I hope that we no longer oppose each other in this matter. I hope that our media friends can stand with us ‘Tian fans’ to help us through our difficulties, and finally, let us firmly believe the police can give Jingtian justice!”
Applause rang out. Zhang Xiaolong followed the surrounding fans and nodded vigorously, but after nodding, she suddenly felt that the queen’s words just now seemed weird. At this moment, the queen’s voice suppressed all the applause and sounded again. She said, “So, may I ask… Is there a relevant police officer in charge here?”
Kinky Thoughts:
I smell a set up.
Just to clarify on the emergency room thing, basically, Li Jingtian is sent to the ER but not to emergency operations. He’s getting treated, but not surgery-wise (like under the table), which is something you would expect him to be in if he got his throat slit. This is most likely relevant to the plot, which is why two terms are being used here.
Lin Chen recalled the last time he saw Wang Chao this emotional, it was probably when he was tracing the Dark Web.
Lin Chen thought children like Wang Chao were in fact not afraid of vicious villains but rather the dark side of the world—or, more precisely, the dark side of the human heart.
He knew the world was filled with goodness and kindness, but he was also clear that there were bad people as well, but they were convinced that justice and conscience would always overcome malice, which constituted their basic judgment of the world.
However, sometimes, whenever there were scenes or events that would make Wang Chao lower his expectation of the world or human nature, he would find them unacceptable, such as when there was a person who loved to kill and the victim was a bird.
Lin Chen had also dragged Wang Chao out, and before he knew it, they were walking out of the mall.
The teenager looked sad as he squatted down directly under the sun.
Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, who shook his head at him, meaning that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to persuade.
Lin Chen sighed, squatted down, and continued patting the teenager’s head silently. He then took out a toothbrush from his pocket and handed it over.
“A’Chen…” Wang Chao raised his head and called to him softly in an extremely sad tone.
In fact, at times like this, many adults would say to their children: “You always think the world is too beautiful, so I must show you how bad the world really is and how truly evil people are. What’s there to be sad about? It’s just a bird.”
But whenever he saw those sincere eyes, Lin Chen couldn’t say that kind of thing.
“You seem really miserable following us,” he said with a smile. “In fact, these things aren’t really suitable for you to see or experience. After all, you’re still too young, and you’re really too kindhearted…”
Thinking of Wang Chao’s parents, who died to protect citizens of another country, he thought Wang Chao really inherited this extreme kindness from them.
“No… I don’t think so. It’s just…” The teenager was flustered for an instant. The excessive sunlight shone on his face, forcing him to cover it with his hands.
“I’m not trying to find any reason for you to persevere and say how great and amazing our work is. After all, the bad guys in this world are inexhaustible, and human nature is always worse than you think. I hope you have a deep understanding of this.”
When Lin Chen finished saying this, he felt the obviousness of Xing Conglian’s giving him a deep look. Perhaps he was blaming him for speaking too directly, or maybe he thought it was too reasonable. In fact, Xing Conglian’s interaction with Wang Chao was quite interesting. He usually beat up the kid for nothing, but when it was critical, he was always soft-hearted. By the side of such a powerful person like Xing Conglian, Wang Chao would always be well protected.
But this was black and white, and the world was never that clear. Any deliberate beautification or protection wouldn’t seem sincere. Perhaps only Xing Conglian could raise someone like Wang Chao, or someone who was as strong-willed as him. If he wanted, he could make Wang Chao the happiest little prince in the world.
Wang Chao said in confusion, “What you’re saying is, if we catch one person, there’ll be another. If we catch a group, there’ll be another group, because the speed at which we catch people will never keep up with the speed of their growth?”
“Growth… may not be the right word, but this is true.”
“You’re not even comforting me!” Wang Chao suddenly said. “Last time you said that as long as I have light in my heart, the world won’t be dark.”
“Oh, those words are just made-up chicken soup for the soul1. In fact, there’s another saying, which is roughly like this—just as malice will not disappear, kind and beautiful hearts will always be there.” Lin Chen paused, then said, “But chicken soup2 tastes good, right?”
1Refers to things, normally writings or articles, which affect motivation and make you feel good reading it. 2Clarity: Double entendre. He’s referring to the metaphor, but also to actual chicken soup. The metaphor arises from the fact that eating chicken soup soothes the soul (makes you feel good). He’s now using it with both meanings.
“Hey!” It seemed he didn’t expect Lin Chen to be so straightforward. “In this case, shouldn’t you hug and pat me? Why are you feeding me chicken soup?”
Lin Chen raised his head and patted the boy’s head. “However, although these words are chicken soup, they must be made up by people who experienced those things. For those who haven’t experienced them…”
“But even if there are indeed a lot of good people in the world, what’s the use of doing these things? If we catch one, we can’t catch the remaining 999. Although this killing and bird abuse are already seriously messed up, there must be worse people, right?”
Hearing this question, Xing Conglian had already helplessly reached into his pocket and taken out a pack of cigarettes. After all, the biggest headache for all adults was the continuous problems of children.
“Yes, you understand it well.”
“A’Chen…” Hearing this, Wang Chao was plaintive.
Lin Chen interrupted him and continued, “On the topic of what’s the use… I can give you a lot of reasons, but I won’t.”
“Do you still love me or not? Don’t you love me?”
“I do…”
In fact, Wang Chao just wanted to be comforted by him. After hearing such an accurate answer of “I do”, he suddenly became more energetic.
“But my answer must not be your answer. I hope you can find your answer by yourself,” Lin Chen concluded.
“So philosophical, A’Chen! Why is it that the Captain talks bullshit when he speaks?” Wang Chao shouted.
Before his voice fell, Xing Conglian had smacked him on the forehead. “Is your sadness gone? Get back to work if it is!”
“Ah, it’s illegal to abuse child labor!” Wang Chao stood up on the ground. The teenager’s face was so bright in the sun that it seemed to be burning. “Come on, let’s find the culprit and get the victims justice!”
Lin Chen propped up his legs, stood up, and looked at Xing Conglian.
Xing Conglian looked like he was about to die of anger at this rebellious son. After taking a deep breath, he kicked Wang Chao’s ass and said, “Did you check on what I ask you to check?”
“Ah, what is it?” Wang Chao turned back and asked confidently.
“Mr. Xiao Wang, I find that you’re slacking off in your work…”
“A’Chen, what do you want me to check now?”
Lin Chen watched from the side. When he was suddenly asked, he felt like he had been shot inexplicably. The saying was true that children would start to rebel against their parents when they grow up.
He subconsciously looked at Xing Conglian, but saw that he was simply smoking his cigarette while listening attentively. “Tell him. It’s fine. I’ll listen,” Xing Conglian said.
When Xing Conglian said this, his tone was sincere. Most leaders didn’t like someone rushing in to express their opinions before them, but Xing Conglian was different.
Lin Chen thought for a moment, then said, “First, no matter how tragically the little bird in the bouquet died, the case we’re going to solve now is still the case of Li Jingtian’s assault, so the key problems still return to him. Now, there are three problems…”
“Nn…”
“First, we really don’t know much about the entertainment industry, so we still need to figure out Li Jingtian’s identity and background.”
“It depends on his coffee position*, right?” Wang Chao answered.
*(咖位) Refers to the status of a star in the entertainment industry. A celebrity with status is called a big coffee. The higher the coffee position, the greater the influence and the higher the salary. Therefore, the coffee position is also a title that stars are keen to compete for.
Lin Chen nodded reluctantly and continued. “Second, no matter how big Li Jingitan’s… ‘coffee position’ is, the number of fans on the scene today seems far too excessive. This is too abnormal, so the second question is, why were there so many people here today. The few words he said on stage were also quite profound. I think there must be more to the story behind this, so we must investigate it.”
“No problem. I’ll check on these two things. What about the third?” Wang Chao said.
“Third…” Lin Chen addressed this to Xing Conglian. “Third, and most importantly, is Li Jingtian’s condition right now.”
“Speaking of which, my phone hasn’t rung yet.” Xing Conglian suddenly took out his phone and glanced at it.
“This is a good thing.”
“Consultant Lin, don’t jinx it.” Xing Conglian looked at him as he called the number to a colleague who was at the hospital.
The person screaming in the lobby was a female employee who was tidying up the seats.
Since this case happened in public view, it was inevitable that it was watched by others. When Xing Conglian glanced at her, the other party quickly quieted and silently backed away.
However, it seemed she couldn’t hold back the horror in her heart as the female employee quickly grabbed another female colleague and whispered, “The bouquet of flowers moved just now. Did you see it? It moved! How scary!”
Xing Conglian retracted his gaze and said nothing.
He bent over, took out a pair of plastic gloves from the toolbox of the forensic pathologist, and put them on. He then walked to the stage and picked up the bouquet of green roses on the floor.
The wrapping paper was a special mercerized cotton. When Xing Conglian picked it up, he noticed that there was something off about its weight.
It was reasonable that any florist who wrapped a bouquet would put nutrient solution at the bottom in order to preserve the bouquet longer, but the bottom of this bouquet of roses didn’t seem to be wrapped with moist nutrient solution, so the weight was light.
Xing Conglian tightened the wrapping paper of the lower half of the bouquet, untied the string with one hand, and held the lower part of the bouquet packaging, trying to separate the packaging from the bouquet. The moment he touched the bottom, he froze.
At that moment, Lin Chen came around from the corner.
“What’s inside?” Probably because he felt that Xing Conglian’s eyes didn’t look right, Lin Chen asked keenly.
Xing Conglian felt something soft and warm to the touch at the bottom of the bouquet. He thought for a while and said to Lin Chen, “It’s a very suitable case for you.”
“That must mean it’s not a good case,” Lin Chen replied.
“Consultant Lin’s declaration is quite accurate.”
Xing Conglian shook his head helplessly. He squatted down and beckoned the personnel from the pathology department to come forward.
A piece of plastic paper was quickly spread on the stage. Xing Conglian gently put down the bouquet and slowly pulled it away from the bottom packaging.
Several police officers stepped forward and put up a human wall behind him to block the view of some onlookers.
At the moment the package was separated, it seemed that someone had cast a strange petrification spell, as everyone around them froze.
Lin Chen frowned and glanced at the faces of the police officers beside Xing Conglian. Some of them turned their heads while others closed their eyes, avoiding the bouquet on the ground. It didn’t matter if the faces of those officers were young or old—it was obvious that they couldn’t bear it, as if they had seen a rare, gruesome scene.
So, what was the scene that could make these criminal police officers, who were used to homicide cases, feel so unbearable?
The surrounding area, which had suddenly seemed quiet, became extremely noisy again. Time seemed to return when the girl was on stage. There were people applauding and screaming while Li Jingtian was singing.
Lin Chen stepped on the stage and walked slowly to Xing Conglian.
Xing Conglian looked up at him, then lowered his head to look at the bouquet of roses.
However, when Lin Chen saw the thing wrapped in the floral paper, his first reaction was ridiculousness, and soon after, he felt the temperature around him drop a few degrees.
At the bottom of the bouquet of roses, where the nutrient solution should be, was a bird.
As ridiculous as it may seem, it was indeed a small bird.
The bird’s wings were grayish brown. It looked like a sparrow but didn’t seem like it. The beak was wrapped in scotch tape, and a black ribbon was tied to the bird’s body. A small bow was tied at the end, as if it were a beautiful gift.
It was just that this gift was too cruel.
On the body of the little bird, there were a few rose stems embedded in it. Anyone who had bought roses would know that the store would prune the stems sharply so that the flowers could absorb more nutrients. Now those delicate roses were like sharp sword tips as each one pierced into the little bird.
There wasn’t much blood on the bird’s body, so even if it was pierced all over, under the white light, the bird’s grayish brown fluff was only covered with a few bloodstains that weren’t deep or shallow.
It seemed to perceive many people looking at it. Suddenly, the little bird twitched again, but it was more like an autonomic nervous reaction after death. This reaction also proved that the poor little bird had just died not too long ago.
Thinking of this, Lin Chen once again looked at the black ribbon tied to the bird’s wings. The ribbon was tied skillfully. Not only was it beautiful, but it also happened to be able to restrain the poor bird and those sharp rose stems. Forty minutes had passed since the girl came on stage. Logically, this bird should have died a long time ago, but just now, it twitched…
In Lin Chen’s heart, he suddenly had a bad guess. It was very likely that this bird was still alive when it was stuffed into the bottom of the rose bouquet. Although its wings and beak were bound, it could still struggle. Based on how loose the black ribbon had become, it could be speculated that it had actually struggled for a long time inside the bouquet. In the process of its desperate struggle for survival, when someone raised the bouquet, and when the bouquet fell to the ground, the rhizomes of those green roses would pierce into its body—it was stabbed to death.
As if icy water had submerged his heart, Lin Chen felt his limbs become cold and numb.
He squatted down slowly beside Xing Conglian, wanting to say something for a while, but couldn’t utter a word.
“Are Consultant Lin’s thoughts the same as mine?”
Suddenly, Lin Chen heard Xing Conglian ask him this.
Although Xing Conglian only said “thoughts”, he didn’t need to ask further. He knew that Xing Conglian was asking him: “Do you think this little bird was killed in such a cruel way?”
“Yes,” he replied.
Xing Conglian sneered and said, “It looks like we encountered a homicide?”
With Li Jingtian’s condition uncertain, the murder mentioned by Xing Conglian naturally didn’t refer to his throat being slit, but the murder of the bird.
This sounded ridiculous, but behind this murder that wouldn’t be considered a murder, was an exquisite technique and extremely cruel intentions, perhaps from someone with an antisocial personality or abnormal psychology…
Lin Chen could use many words to describe the person who killed this bird, but all of them were just simple descriptions. Descriptions were sometimes meaningless, because everyone knew that it was someone with a messed up head; an extremely dangerous psychopath.
The meaningful question really was: Why did he or she do this?
“Although I know it’s inappropriate to ask now, can you tell me why?”
Sometimes, Xing Conglian telepathy was too good, and that wasn’t a good thing. Sure enough, Xing Conglian was asking him why.
Lin Chen looked at the blood-stained fluff of the little bird and slowly said, “Of course I can’t answer this question now, but the criminal left this special bouquet of flowers behind, obviously hoping we will inspect it…”
“So?”
“So, instead of saying that this bouquet is for Li Jingtian, it’s more like that this bouquet and bird are for us.”
When Xing Conglian heard this, he wasn’t surprised. He nodded calmly, then put down the flowers and birds together and stood up.
Lin Chen raised his head and saw Xing Conglian take off his gloves and stretch out his hand at him. He was taken aback before he put his hand on Xing Conglian’s and was pulled up.
They stood opposite each other. He, Xing Conglian, and even the surrounding forensic pathologists were speechless for a moment. It seemed that they had a lot to say and a lot of analysis to do, but because of something too sad and cruel, they lost the ability to speak for a short period of time.
Finally, it was Xing Conglian who spoke again. “Go for a walk?”
Lin Chen nodded.
When he followed Xing Conglian down the steps, Lin Chen realized that Wang Chao had been standing under the stage alone for a long time. He reached out and rubbed the teenager’s head before the other party turned around abruptly.
It was obvious he was affected by the dead bird, but at this moment, he returned to his senses. His eyes were flushed as he said to Lin Chen, “A’Chen, please, we must catch her!”
Wang Chao was terrified when he heard Xing Conglian say, “Come here”…
Lin Chen was unable to guess what the hell was going on, but no matter what it was, he felt he should do as he was told, so he walked towards Xing Conglian.
There was no explanation, no greeting. Seeing him approach, Xing Conglian turned around and walked in the other direction, towards the milk tea shop.
He’s not going to buy milk tea, right?
Or was he taking him to apologize because he stepped on someone else’s chair?
Lin Chen couldn’t help but give Wang Chao a confused look, but at the critical moment, Wang Chao looked away while still standing by himself in the elevator, pretending that he didn’t exist.
Lin Chen had no choice but to follow Xing Conglian.
There was a worker from the shop tidying up the seats by the door. Seeing them come, the girl’s eyes flickered, and then she silently retreated to the counter without even asking, “Sir, how can I help you?”
Looking at the worker, Lin Chen felt there was nothing wrong with his intuition. It wasn’t just him who felt Xing Conglian’s aura.
Naturally, a cup of milk tea couldn’t cure anger, so of course Xing Conglian didn’t want to buy milk tea.
Xing Conglian stood at the entrance of the milk tea shop, bent over slightly, dragged a plastic chair out, took two steps, and placed the chair beside a stone pillar.
Lin Chen looked at the chair and fell into a state of confusion he had never seen before. What was Xing Conglian doing?
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Sit down.” It was as if Xing Conglian was cherishing his words like gold.
Lin Chen thought there was something wrong with his hearing. He took him to the entrance of the milk tea shop just to ask him to sit down?
He pointed to himself and made sure again, “This is for me?”
“Yes.”
Lin Chen inaudibly sighed as he slowly walked to the plastic chair and calmly sat down.
But in the next moment, he was stunned.
He saw Xing Conglian take out a cigarette, take a puff, and then slowly squat down in front of him with a careless attitude.
Lin Chen sat on the chair, looking at the top of Xing Conglian’s hair and face as if nothing had happened, and became extremely lost.
A person like Xing Conglian wouldn’t ask for other people’s opinions on what he wanted to do. He lowered his head slightly and his eyelashes drooped, as if he were too lazy to speak. After taking two puffs of his cigarette, he reluctantly said, “Stick out your left hand.”
Lin Chen had no choice but to comply.
Xing Conglian’s gaze fell on his wrist that was covered with a plaster, and he then lightly said, “Hold tight…”
Lin Chen clenched his fist subconsciously.
At that moment, Lin Chen suddenly understood that Xing Conglian was checking his injuries.
This kind of cognition made everything seem to stand still.
He looked at Xing Conglian, who was examining his hand.
Xing Conglian’s gaze was focused. From his point of view, the man’s face was almost hidden by the occasional rising smoke. He could only see a straight nose bridge, slightly pursed lips, and his thick eyelashes.
Strangely, at this moment, Lin Chen was suddenly distracted and thought about Xing Conglian’s mother. He thought she must be an extremely gentle and beautiful woman.
Soon, Xing Conglian’s light voice brought him back from his thoughts. “Hold your hand flat,” Xing Conglian said.
Lin Chen straightened his hand, and in the next second, his wrist was grabbed.
Xing Conglian was holding the cigarette in his mouth, so his voice was muffled, but Lin Chen could clearly hear him asking, “Does it hurt?”
Probably, among the irresistible romantic words in the world, there had to be such a simple question.
“Does it hurt”, “Are you okay”, “Is it uncomfortable”, “Is this better”; such words were always irresistible. No matter how painful reality was, as long as someone asked you it, the pain would ease.
Lin Chen thought, ‘Of course it hurts.’
He even felt that just thinking about it made the smell of the mint tobacco that Xing Conglian normally smoked more pleasant. He remembered the description he gave to Su Fengzi. Xing Conglian was truly sweet.
It was natural that if someone you like asked you this, of course you would start to think about it.
It seemed that the originally tightly isolated part suddenly broke open through a gap, and water was leaking out along the chiseled breech and was slowly flowing to other parts.
For the first time in his life, Lin Chen experienced a strange struggle with thinking. The rational part of his mind was telling him that Xing Conglian was just worried about him since he was pushed and injured a second time. This was a normal concern between colleagues. If something like this were to happen to Wang Chao, Xing Conglian would probably pull the kid’s hair and drag him to a chair to check on him. But the other part of his mind that was irrational and emotionally manipulated was saying, ‘What do you think? How can there be colleagues who care about you like this? Perhaps he might like you too…?’
—He might like you too.
If there was any magic statement in this world that could make people instantly happy, the line “I’ll pay for you” would assuredly be selected.
Lin Chen thought it was funny that he would have such an irrational day.
However, looking at the serious face and concerned gaze from Xing Conglian, he realized that if he were irrational for a second now, he would be happy all day long because of such irrationality.
“It hurts.”
So he gave a response like so.
Sure enough, Xing Conglian withdrew his hand and said coldly, “I knew it.”
Lin Chen looked down at Xing Conglian, feeling that a good attitude towards admitting mistakes must be the only way to win leniency, so he said solemnly, “I’m sorry, but at least it’s not a big deal. I was careful…”
But it may be that his apology wasn’t sincere enough. When Xing Conglian heard this, he suddenly got up, crossed his arms, stood behind him, then straightened, extended, and rotated his arms in various directions before asking, “Does it hurt from any angles?”
His answer to “pain” just now was obviously the wrong answer, so this time Lin Chen cleverly changed it. “It doesn’t hurt.”
He replied with great certainty.
In short, this was probably the correct answer.
After several seconds of silence, Xing Conglian finally dropped his arm and walked away.
Lin Chen turned back inexplicably but saw that Xing Conglian had returned to the milk tea shop and asked the worker, who was pretending to clean the tables, “Do you have mineral water?”
How can a milk tea shop sell mineral water…
Lin Chen wanted to speak but saw the worker nodding vigorously and then replied, “Yes, yes. 2 yuan.”
Xing Conglian didn’t say much, but simply took out 2 yuan from his pocket, put out the cigarette in the ashtray on the trashcan, and walked back with the mineral water. He unscrewed the cap and handed it over to Lin Chen.
Lin Chen glanced at the bottle of water. He didn’t need Xing Conglian to give him any more instructions. He consciously picked up the bottle and began to drink it.
In order to show his sincerity and tell Xing Conglian how thoughtful he was to bring him this water since he was incredibly thirsty, Lin Chen quickly gulped down half the bottle. He realized that Xing Conglian kept leaning on the side of the stone pillar and didn’t have any intention of moving.
Does he want me to continue drinking or stop?
Lin Chen glanced at the elevator. The teenager who had been hiding there shook his head at him.
What does shaking your head mean?
Continue to drink or not?
Thinking of this, Lin Chen simply slowed down his drinking speed, hoping Xing Conglian would say something to him so he would have a good reason to put the water down.
However, people’s hearts were unpredictable. It wasn’t until he finished the entire bottle that Xing Conglian finally spoke.
In the end, he put down the empty bottle of mineral water with great difficulty. Only then did Xing Conglian come over and take the bottle from his hand and put the cap back on, then he threw it in the trash.
Xing Conglian frowned slightly as he asked, “Why are you so thirsty?”
……
What does it feel like to get your life back?
This was probably how Wang Chao was feeling.
The forensic department had finally arrived, so his captain was called downstairs after he finished throwing away trash.
Wang Chao finally breathed a sigh of relief and sent a text message to his comrades who had been camping on the shore of a certain ocean: [The alarm has lifted!!!]
[Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I already bought a spaceship ticket to Alpha Nebula. Are you going to pay for it?]
[Isn’t it good that you’re alive???]
As soon as he finished replying to this text message, he heard Lin Chen’s voice ringing in his ears.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Chen asked.
Wang Chao wanted to say, “Even though he didn’t know what kind of illness Xing Conglian is suffering from, it’s obviously not because of Huang Ze or you, but really it’s because of Huang Ze and you!”
He was extremely upset when he saw Huang Ze forcibly kissing you. This was most likely the reason for him to be so angry today, but how could Wang Chao say this!
Wang Chao suppressed the words that were bursting in his heart. After three long, deep breaths, he smiled at Lin Chen and said, “A’Chen, have you ever experienced the beauty of life?”
“What do you mean?”
“Live well!” He patted Lin Chen’s shoulder hard.
“I mean, what’s wrong with your captain today?”
“Men have those few days every month!” Wang Chao made a very appropriate excuse.
“Is that so?”
“A’Chen, do you think I should buy some meditative oral liquids for the captain?”
“That has no effect on regulating men’s mood, right?”
The topic gradually developed in an academic direction, and as an academic, Wang Chao had to posture himself in front of A’Chen. He quickly found an appropriate topic that he could fully control. “A’Chen, you were standing in front of the milk tea shop, then you must’ve seen which passage the girl who slit Li Jingtian’s neck escaped from.”
Lin Chen shook his head. His expression turned grave. “Although I was paying attention to the passages of the emergency exit on the 1st through 4th floors, I didn’t see which one she took. The scene was densely crowded, and she was wearing a mask when she was on stage. As long as she simply changed clothes in the stairwell, she could instantly become another person, making it difficult for us to track.”
“Fuck, I’m so angry when I talk about it. It’s all because of that poster that the stage was blocked, and I can’t even fucking track her through surveillance. Argh, I’m so pissed!” As Wang Chao spoke, he was smacking the laptop in his arm and then suddenly paused. “A’Chen, do you think this was premeditated? Covering her face, slitting his throat, and blocking the surveillance? Did they take into account the complex flow of people on the scene in the first place? I can’t believe that this isn’t something that was meticulously planned ahead. So this means that fatty Huang is extremely suspicious!”
The more Wang Chao spoke, the more he felt his deductions were correct. He sat down on the ground and said, “Wait for me to pull up surveillance of that fatty Huang. A’Chen, see if there’s anything suspicious…”
“It doesn’t seem likely that Huang Wei would murder his promotional guest at the opening ceremony of his shopping mall…”
“Since you say so, it must be true.” Wang Chao paused again. He raised his head and asked, “Are you hungry? Should we go for noodles?”
At this moment, a horrified scream suddenly came from the hall downstairs.
Wang Chao jumped up abruptly and rushed to the edge of the railing.
He looked at the stage and saw the forensic personnel on the scene step back and stand still on the edge of the cordon. They were staring sharply at the bouquet of roses on the ground as if they had encountered some extremely strange situation.
He did envision what would happen when he would meet Xing Conglian again. After all, Xing Conglian had just rescued him and would naturally appear to lead the investigation, so they would end up running into each other.
However, he thought Xing Conglian would either taunt or sneer, but among the things he thought would be said, they didn’t include: “What qualification do you have to talk to me like that?”
How dare Xing Conglian ask him about his qualifications!
The irritability that had been desperately suppressed during his encounter with Lin Chen had surged again.
He thought, ‘I have a higher police rank than you, a better family background than you, and I’m younger than you. Who you are and what you have done before doesn’t matter, as you are now just a small criminal police captain, so how dare he ask me about my “qualifications”. It should be me who should be asking this. How dare he treat me like this!’
Huan Ze laughed.
He really wanted to remind Xing Conglian that qualifications and strength didn’t come from the mouth or the words that were said. Those qualifications and strength came from identity and status.
And since his identity and status was higher, he wouldn’t verbally argue with Xing Conglian. Rather someone else would speak on his behalf.
“Captain Xing, what do you mean by this?”
Huang Wei dragged his fat body in front of Huang Ze and asked condescendingly.
Although Huang Wei was filthy and smelly, and always had been irresponsible like a soft-legged shrimp* in his career, when he questioned Xing Conglian, most of this stain had been completely erased in Huang Ze’s heart. Satisfied with his arrogance, Huang Ze began to consider if he should help him out.
*Also can be referred to as a soft-legged crab (软脚蟹/虾) It’s a derogatory term calling someone basically a wuss.
Xing Conglian, on the other hand, didn’t show any displeasure after being offended. He was still smoking a cigarette expressionlessly; his eyes weren’t even cold or sharp. He turned his head slightly and glanced at the police officer next to him.
What was strange was that, though the gaze looked calm, the police officer that was being stared at suddenly gritted his teeth, rushed forward, and twisted Huang Wei’s arm and pressed him against the wall. In the next second, he was neatly handcuffed.
“Mr. Huang Wei, you are under arrest in accordance with the law on suspicion of endangering public safety,” the police officer said in a businesslike tone.
Huang Wei was baffled for a while before he shouted, “What’s wrong with you?! Why are you arresting me?!”
“You’re under arrest in accordance with the law on suspicion of endangering public safety.”
The police officer mechanically repeated what he just said, then another person stepped forward and twisted the manager’s fat arm, preparing to drag him away from the scene and back to the police station.
“How is this any of my business? It’s not like I asked someone to kill Li Jingtian! Why are you arresting me?!” The fat manager’s legs became soft. He was sweating profusely, and his face started turning pale.
Huang Ze saw him stiffly twist his head and looked at him with an expression like a tourist on a sinking ship trying to grab the last life jacket. “Inspector Huang, help me. Help me!”
Huang Ze’s face suddenly turned blue.
He knew very well that the fact that Xing Conglian dared to detain Huang Wei meant that there was reason and justification. The incident that happened just now in Ansheng International could already be counted as a major public safety incident, so it was reasonable to detain the administrative person in charge of the mall.
However, Huang Ze didn’t expect Xing Conglian to be so merciless. This slap was not only a slap to his face but to the Huang family’s.
However, at this moment, he couldn’t think of any way to fight back. “You’re quite bold, Captain Xing.” In the end, he could only grit his teeth and respond like so.
“What does it matter to you?” Xing Conglian still didn’t bother to address him properly. He lowered his eyes slightly but looked at him with a gaze as if he were looking down at ants.
Huang Ze felt all the contempt, disdain, and all kinds of condescending emotions from that gaze. How could a person like Xing Conglian have such confidence to possess these emotions?
At that moment, Huang Ze felt that the person in front of him wasn’t Xing Conglian at all.
He stabilized his mind and then found that he seemed to have no means to crush Xing Conglian currently, which made it excruciatingly suffocating.
“Is this your attitude towards your superior, Captain Xing?” He raised his head and sneered at Xing Conglian. “Xing Conglian, prepare to receive a letter of reprimand.”
“Superior? So Huang Ze, are you attending the opening ceremony of your family’s mall in a capacity as an Inspector?” Xing Conglian asked slowly.
This was not only a threat but a rebuke; not vicious but extremely lethal.
Huang Ze thought about all the written reprimands he had given. After all, it was his job to find problems and point them out. However, among them, none were as severe as the one he had just received.
What Xing Conglian brutally pointed out was his shamelessness in protecting his family business. How could he still think of himself as an Inspector?
Huang Ze clenched his fists tightly. His nails embedded into the palm of his hand, giving him pain so he could stay sober.
Every word Xing Conglian spoke was scolding him, but it didn’t seem like it. If he reprimanded Xing Conglian for inappropriate behavior, it would prove that he was participating in his family’s property ceremony in the capacity of an Inspector. But if he were to participate in the ceremony as a private citizen, then he wasn’t an Inspector right now, so what qualification did he have to accuse Xing Conglian?
Thinking of this, Huang Ze was livid, but because of it, he didn’t have a reason to be angry. He could only grit his teeth and swallow back the blood.
Without looking into a mirror, Huang Ze knew that his face was probably extremely ugly. He took a deep breath and wanted to speak, but Xing Conglian beat him to it.
He saw Xing Conglian take a puff of his cigarette and added calmly, “I said you aren’t qualified, which means you aren’t qualified.”
Again, it was qualifications, and he wasn’t qualified.
At that moment, Huang Ze felt that it was too ridiculous. Indeed, Xing Conglian had the upper hand now, but did he intend to keep taking advantage of his words and tear his face apart?
A slap in the face already hurts, and now there was another slap. At this point, Huang Ze realized that no matter what he said, it would be a useless counterattack. He took one last look at Xing Conglian, fighting back the anger in his heart, and said coldly, “Xing Conglian, it’s rare to see people like you who like to court death.”
After speaking, he took a step forward. The moment he passed by Xing Conglian, he heard the other party say his name.
“Huang Ze…” Xing Conglian stretched his tone. “Leave and don’t let me see you again.”
……
Although it was a few minutes, to Huang Ze, it was like a few years. In fact, the conversation between him and Xing Conglian was short; so short that Lin Chen was still standing in front of the milk tea shop. Before he could move, he saw Xing Conglian coming out of the sightseeing elevator.
Lin Chen leaned on the railing and looked at Xing Conglian from head to toe, because Xing Conglian also did the same thing.
Wang Chao came out of the elevator cautiously, stood behind Xing Conglian, and gave Lin Chen a wink.
When Lin Chen received the signal, he couldn’t help but observe the expression on Xing Conglian’s face again.
The face of Wang Chao’s captain at the moment was extremely calm, as if it were a lake in complete stillness, or a more appropriate metaphor would be an ancient well without waves*. Therefore, even if he reluctantly used all micro-expression analysis methods, he couldn’t guess what Xing Conglian was thinking about.
*(古井无波) Metaphor referring to inner tranquility.
Although he couldn’t guess it, he could reason it out. Since Xing Conglian was downstairs just now, he probably bumped into someone.
“Did you run into Huang Ze?” he asked tentatively.
As soon as he spoke, Wang Chao shook his head desperately from behind Xing Conglian.
Was it just a simple encounter, or did they have a fight?
They didn’t really fight, right?
He thought about it for a while and couldn’t help asking, “Huang Ze didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”
After hearing this, Xing Conglian’s face finally changed. Although he still couldn’t guess what Xing Conglian was thinking, fortunately, Xing Conglian finally moved.
He was holding a cigarette as he walked towards Lin Chen in great strides. He then stopped, crushed the cigarette with one hand, and lightly said, “Come here.”
Kinky Translations 