When he awoke from his dream, the sky was a brilliant golden-orange, and the room was bathed in a red glow, as if a hidden fire was burning brightly.
Ji Xun lay in bed, contemplating life. After parting with Huo Ranyin yesterday, he had lingered at the bar for a long time, getting home around six in the morning. He then tossed and turned in bed for two hours before finally drifting off into a hazy sleep around eight.
He had slept until now, which wasn’t very long, just two or three hours. It was now half-past ten in the morning.
The fiery light in the room seemed to have entered his body, especially his stomach, which was now sending out signals of ravenous hunger.
He wanted to get up, but couldn’t move. His body was still lazy, his entire frame curled up as if in hibernation.
He waved his hand around blindly, found his phone, and while too lazy to get up and eat, he had the energy to play on his phone. Ji Xun aimlessly scrolled through various apps, finally taking a picture of the sky outside his window with the camera and posting it to his social media feed:
“Slept until now, about to faint from hunger. Can a chef come provide door-to-door service? [cat soul leaving body.jpg].”
After posting, he tossed his phone aside and continued to rest with his eyes closed, not seeing the two people who replied one after another within five minutes.
Xia Youqing: [What’s going on? Do you need me to come over?]
Yuan Yue: [I happen to be free today. I’ll buy some groceries and come over to your place to cook.]
Naturally, half an hour later, Ji Xun, who was playing dead in bed, was woken up by a knock on the door.
Knock, knock, knock. It sounded like a death knell. Sooner or later, he was going to have his front door installed at the head of his bed so he could open it with his eyes closed!
He got out of bed, annoyed, and walked unsteadily to the front door. As he pulled the door open, he was still wondering if Xia Youqing had come again. Caught off guard, he saw Yuan Yue.
Yuan Yue was wearing a thin knit sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, carrying two large bags. A vibrant green scallion peeked out, stretching its body sensuously to hook onto Ji Xun’s pant leg.
“Is the case solved?” Ji Xun asked immediately.
“No, but we have a breakthrough.”
“Just a breakthrough, and you’re already running over to my place? Is the bureau that free?” Ji Xun looked out the window in confusion, wondering if the sun had risen in the west today.
“Not free, but we have enough people. Plus, with the progress we’ve made, the leadership is happy and letting us take breaks in shifts. When we met at the bureau last time, didn’t you say we should have dinner together? I happen to have a six-hour break today, so I came over.”
Yuan Yue carried the bags into the kitchen. Soon, the rhythmic sounds of cooking filled the air. Yuan Yue called from inside, “The shrimp at the market were good today, and the lamb wasn’t bad either. Let’s make some blanched shrimp and scallion-braised lamb. Do you have any meat at home that needs to be cooked?”
“No meat at home.” Ji Xun moved from the bed to the sofa, his soul once again leaving his body to meditate on the universe. “There’s oatmeal.”
“…I see. I also bought chicken, so let’s make a white-cut chicken as well.”
Although Yuan Yue’s hands were usually rough from handling guns, fighting, and flipping through case files, seemingly far removed from domestic life, he was a culinary genius in the kitchen. He was especially good with meat dishes—steamed to tender perfection, fried to a crispy texture, braised to be flavorful, and roasted to be fragrant. If he had enough time, he could even carve garnishes and arrange the plates artistically.
Unfortunately, Yuan Yue’s problem was that he never had enough time.
Ji Xun sat on the sofa, his mind wandering the cosmos, oblivious to the passage of time. He vaguely sensed Yuan Yue going in and out a few times, and then he heard, “Ji Xun, do you have a kitchen knife in your house?”
“No,” Ji Xun answered lazily.
“I forgot about the situation here…” Yuan Yue paused for a few seconds, then asked again, “What about a blade?”
“A utility knife, in the storage cabinet by the entrance,” Ji Xun said. He had returned from the universe. His nose seemed to have revived as well, picking up a fragrant aroma. Following the scent with his eyes, he saw that, holy cow, steaming hot dishes were already on the table. Yuan Yue was wearing a pink piggy apron he had found from somewhere, holding a bottle of soy sauce in his left hand and wiping his wet right hand on the apron. His usual stern demeanor had evolved into a domestic, pink, stern demeanor.
Ji Xun’s eyes were assaulted by Yuan Yue’s look. “Where did that apron come from?”
“It was a freebie from when I bought the groceries,” Yuan Yue said. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s an eyesore. Take it off, you’re done cooking anyway,” Ji Xun said, then added as an afterthought, “You’re done already? That was pretty fast.”
“Not fast, it’s been over half an hour,” Yuan Yue teased. “I called you a few times just now and you didn’t respond. It wasn’t until I asked about a kitchen knife that you finally woke up. That must be your trigger.”
Ji Xun hummed noncommittally. “I have it set as a keyword for alerts. In a kitchen as bare as this, you could have just ordered takeout. Wasn’t it a hassle to cook yourself?”
“Aren’t you tired of takeout from work?” Yuan Yue said. “Besides, you were the one who asked for a chef to come over on your social media. Now that I’m here, you’re complaining about this and that. Even a princess isn’t as hard to please as you. And cooking is no trouble. We can discuss the case while we eat.”
“The last sentence is the main point, isn’t it,” Ji Xun said, just now remembering the post he had made earlier.
He fumbled for his phone, unlocked the screen, and casually glanced at it, finally seeing Xia Youqing’s message above Yuan Yue’s, asking to come over.
Ji Xun’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
At the same time, the door was knocked, the sound like a judge’s gavel, thumping on Ji Xun’s heart. Yuan Yue, who was standing by the door looking for the utility knife, opened it casually. “Who is it?”
Ji Xun’s heart pounded wildly, instantly breaking 180 bpm. He shouted:
“Wait, Yuan Yue, let me—”
The door opened, a tall figure appeared. Standing at the door was Huo Ranyin.
“…explain.”
Yuan Yue was startled by Ji Xun and looked back at him, then at Huo Ranyin standing at the door, and laughed in confusion. “Explain what? Are you talking about how you two were caught in the vice raid last night?”
Ji Xun: “…”
Huo Ranyin: “…”
Both their expressions began to turn strange.
“Hey,” Yuan Yue, seeing the atmosphere was a bit awkward, laughed directly. “Who would take that seriously? Everyone knows you were there on official business. Did you hear some of the gossip from the female comrades at the bureau? Don’t mind it, they’re just having fun, like fangirling over celebrities. We should respect their hobbies. We’re all tough guys, are we going to lose a piece of flesh from a few words?”
“…”
Their expressions became even stranger.
Yuan Yue noticed it too. The more he tried to alleviate the awkward atmosphere, the thicker it became.
A bunch of question marks appeared above his head, but he wiped them away and continued to break the awkwardness. When it came to persistence, criminal policemen were masters of the art. “Captain Huo, we just made food. You haven’t had lunch yet, right? Come eat with us.”
Huo Ranyin glanced at Yuan Yue.
Pink apron, soy sauce bottle, plush slippers, a hand resting on the doorframe, saying “we just made food.”
He then glanced at Ji Xun.
Wearing a loose-fitting pajama top, coffee-colored to match Yuan Yue’s sweater, sitting on the sofa looking dazed and not fully awake, as if waiting for someone to wipe his face and feed him.
He felt that if he stepped through that door, he would be disrupting their domestic life. He tucked the thing he was holding behind his back, hiding it with his body. “No need, you two go ahead and eat. It’s rare to have some time to relax, I won’t disturb you.”
Yuan Yue had sharp eyes. “Is that chocolate for Ji Xun?”
“…Ah,” said Huo Ranyin.
“He’ll definitely like it. He has low blood sugar in the morning, he needs something sweet like this to wake him up.”
“…I saw he was almost out of chocolate last time I was here, so I bought some,” said Huo Ranyin.
“Captain Huo has been here before?” Yuan Yue said in surprise. “When did you two get so close?”
Ji Xun felt embarrassed for Huo Ranyin, who was standing at the door. He got up from the sofa, trying to figure out how to pull Yuan Yue back and send Huo Ranyin away. Just then, ding-dong, the elevator door opened again, and a delivery man walked over. “A delivery for Mr. Ji Xun in 1303.”
He didn’t order it. It must have been Xia Youqing!
Ji Xun’s heart first leaped, then he breathed a sigh of relief: a food delivery was fine, as long as she didn’t come in person and run into Yuan Yue face-to-face.
“You ordered takeout too?” Yuan Yue took the delivery and glanced at it. “Then there’s too much food for lunch. I made four dishes, and there are three more here. Two people really can’t finish it all. Captain Huo, really, don’t be polite, stay and help us finish it. Otherwise, it’ll be a waste.”
“I really shouldn’t—”
“I don’t need—”
Both refused at the same time, but Yuan Yue immediately followed up, “Perfect. After we eat, I was planning to discuss the case with Ji Xun. The three of us can analyze it together, pool our ideas.”
“Then I’ll impose.” Huo Ranyin instantly changed his tune, flip-flopping back and forth.
“…” Ji Xun.
That’s really not necessary!
Huo Ranyin finally entered, placing the chocolate he was holding on the dining table.
Ji Xun glanced at it. Swiss liqueur chocolates, a good brand. His mouth tasted like nothing, and he kind of wanted one.
Yuan Yue came out of the kitchen with the dishes. The four dishes he made plus the three takeout dishes were all plated and on the table. Only one portion of rice was left, still in its plastic container. He asked Ji Xun, “Do you have any more bowls?”
“Nope, this is all of them,” Ji Xun said listlessly. What’s the point of a bachelor hoarding so many dishes?
“Then I’ll take this one.” Yuan Yue placed the plastic rice container at his own seat.
Huo Ranyin, who had already sat down, looked at his and Ji Xun’s matching bowls and chopsticks, felt a sense of strangeness, and swapped his bowl with Yuan Yue’s. “I came last. I’ll use the plastic container.”
“No, no, I’ll use it.” Yuan Yue stopped him. He felt it was wrong; Huo Ranyin was a guest.
“I’m not being polite, give it to me,” Huo Ranyin insisted. He felt it was wrong; these two were the insiders.
Ji Xun rolled his eyes. While the two were pushing and pulling, he executed a swift move, sliding the plastic container in front of himself, picked up his chopsticks, dug out a mouthful of rice, and chewed. “You guys use the bowls, I’ll use the box. Stop all this nonsense and eat.”
The three of them finally sat down to eat.
Yuan Yue made small talk, “Captain Huo, did you come over after seeing Ji Xun’s social media post too?”
Ji Xun, chewing on a chicken leg, mumbled, “Impossible, he and I aren’t even WeChat friends.”
Huo Ranyin, who was about to answer, closed his mouth.
“You’re not friends?” Yuan Yue was surprised. “Isn’t it inconvenient for discussing the case?”
“Isn’t there Bluetooth? And text messages,” Ji Xun said.
“Bluetooth needs to be face-to-face, and texts cost ten cents each.” Yuan Yue found Ji Xun very strange. He directly took out his phone. “You should add each other. Captain Huo, I’ll send you Ji Xun’s contact card.”
“…” Ji Xun looked at Huo Ranyin, hoping he would refuse.
Huo Ranyin hesitated for a few seconds, then took out his phone and added Ji Xun. “Captain Yuan has a point. I’ve added him.”
The ball was in Ji Xun’s court.
Ji Xun put on a fake smile and agreed without emotion, “You have a point. I’ve accepted.”
The patriarch, Yuan Yue, having successfully brought the two together, was very pleased and went back to the kitchen to get a bowl of rice.
During this gap, Ji Xun waved his phone at Huo Ranyin and said, “Was that necessary? What would have happened if you just refused Yuan Yue?”
Huo Ranyin scoffed, “Have me refuse a colleague? Why don’t you refuse your crush?”
Great, this guy still hadn’t figured it out. Not only had he jumped to a conclusion, but he was digging himself deeper.
Ji Xun didn’t understand why Huo Ranyin, who seemed so sharp and capable on a daily basis, had gotten stuck in this pit and couldn’t get out. Could it be that he was a novice in matters of the heart?
Ji Xun took a sip of soup. “I’ve never seen you so hesitant. Could it be that you really wanted my WeChat? You didn’t have to go through all this. You could have just asked, and I would have given it to you.”
Huo Ranyin fiddled with his phone, not looking up. “Whether I want your WeChat or not is another matter. You, on the other hand, really want the chocolate I brought, don’t you? You’ve looked at that box five times since it was put on the table. If you want to eat it, just eat it. Why the hesitation? It’s not like Captain Yuan will have an opinion just because you ate a piece of chocolate.”
“Who said I don’t dare to eat it?” Ji Xun leaned over, grabbed a rum-flavored one, dangled it in front of Huo Ranyin, and popped it into his mouth. “See? I’m eating it. I’m just afraid of being indebted to someone for a small favor. If I eat yours and then have to go through another terrifying car chase with you, that would be a huge loss.”
“Heh.” Huo Ranyin was not one to admit defeat. He tapped his phone a couple of times, then turned the screen showing the ‘delete friend’ interface toward Ji Xun. “I’ll teach you a trick: feign compliance.”
“What are you two talking about?” Yuan Yue, having gotten his rice, returned to the table.
“Nothing,” the two said in unison, putting down their phones at the same time and eating obediently.
