The Lian Panpan family was emotionally unstable. Considering Lian Panpan’s young age, the police department decided to give her time and space to calm down and did not question her immediately. They only repeatedly advised her parents to remain calm and not get agitated when things happened.
While this matter was put on hold, other things had to move forward.
Chen Jianying wanted to shirk responsibility and push all the blame onto the young girl so he could walk away clean. He wished. Since the police had started investigating, they wouldn’t give him a chance to escape. They were working with the network technology department to secure evidence by locating IP addresses, tracing bank transfer records, and other methods. The more evidence they secured and the larger the sum of his illegal sales they uncovered, the heavier Chen Jianying’s sentence would be.
But again, investigations take time and manpower; these things couldn’t be concluded in a short period.
Besides Chen Jianying, there was the homicide case from the nursing home that morning.
This case was temporarily being followed up by Tan Mingjiu. The police department was so short-staffed now that everyone could only take on more pressure.
In the morning, the statements of the elderly people present at the nursing home were taken. At noon, the family members of the three elderly victims were successively summoned to the station. There were over a dozen immediate relatives, making for quite a scene. After being questioned, they refused to leave, lingering in the hallway and glaring at one another.
If it weren’t for the intimidating presence of Tan Mingjiu’s bald head when necessary, the three families might have started a fight.
The sounds from outside faintly trickled in.
Inside the office, Huo Ranyin wasn’t idle either. He was looking through the report on Ye Wenhui’s case. Neither of them had had time to eat lunch. Now, he pulled a packet of biscuits from his drawer and tossed half to Ji Xun. “Have something to fill your stomach.”
Ji Xun caught it and glanced down. Biscuits were one thing, but they were the worst kind: compressed biscuits.
“Captain Huo, do you know why Yuan Yue doesn’t eat instant noodles?”
“I don’t keep track of what Captain Yuan does or doesn’t eat,” Huo Ranyin said flatly.
“Because when he and I pulled all-nighters on cases, we ate so many instant noodles we threw up. The same logic applies to compressed biscuits.” Ji Xun waved the biscuit in his hand and tossed it back to Huo Ranyin. “We finally have a bit of free time. Can’t you go out and order a couple of proper dishes? At the very least, some noodles or congee would be fine.”
“You go,” Huo Ranyin said.
“Sigh.” Ji Xun sighed again and flopped back onto the cot.
Huo Ranyin’s office at least had a cot for naps during late nights, and now it belonged to him. He lay on Huo Ranyin’s bed, staring at the ceiling. The white walls were like cream on a cake, and the black marks were the marble patterns on top.
“It’s even a cream chocolate cake,” Ji Xun murmured to himself.
Huo Ranyin heard him. While reading the file, he glanced at Ji Xun and had no choice but to say, “Then you go. Noodles, congee, stir-fried dishes, rice—it’s all just one street away from the station.”
“My legs are broken,” Ji Xun said. “From hunger.”
“…”
“You yourself have terribly irregular meals. I’m just saying, with how hard you work, you can’t possibly be too stable,” Ji Xun said, suddenly puzzled. “So with what confidence and standing did you lecture me this morning about whether or not I ate breakfast?”
“I didn’t lecture you.”
“Meddle,” Ji Xun corrected with a more precise term.
Huo Ranyin fell silent. If it was about meddling, he had indeed meddled. He changed the subject. “If Captain Yuan doesn’t eat instant noodles or compressed biscuits, what does he usually eat when working overtime?”
“When Xia Youqing has time, she makes him a bento box to bring.” Ji Xun sounded rather regretful. “Usually she makes a little extra, and Yuan Yue shares half with me. Xia Youqing is a great cook. I still miss her congee. I don’t like thick congee, and as it happens, the congee she makes has distinct grains of rice with a nice, springy chewiness. The moment you twist open the lid, the whole room fills with its fragrance.”
“That is indeed enviable,” Huo Ranyin said. He looked at Ji Xun thoughtfully, his gaze circling the sharp tip of his pen for a moment before he regretfully retracted it.
Ji Xun didn’t see this look. While chatting with Huo Ranyin, his hands weren’t idle either, casually swiping on his phone screen. Just then, a voice message suddenly popped up, and Ji Xun accidentally pressed it.
The voice of the editor for his Poison Fruit series came through: “Hello, Teacher Ji. May I ask how the new book is progressing? Can you submit the manuscript before the New Year?”
The office was quiet for a moment.
Ji Xun calmly replied via voice message, “It’s almost the New Year. Why worry about work and novels? The proper thing to do is go home and celebrate.”
Huo Ranyin let out a scoff.
“What are you laughing at?” Ji Xun said. “If you weren’t always draining my time and energy, would I have not written a single word?”
“So you really haven’t written a single word. Hasn’t Xing Yishan been weighted down and sunk at the bottom of the sea for three months by now? In reality, the body would have already decomposed,” Huo Ranyin said casually while quickly signing documents.
“Was that plot point spoiled on the cover?”
“…”
Ji Xun searched for it. “Hm, no spoilers on the cover.”
“…”
“Knowing your personality, you would definitely go and read it yourself rather than rely on someone else’s inaccurate, secondhand spoilers,” Ji Xun guessed with interest.
“…”
Huo Ranyin had already been silent for several consecutive turns.
He felt his little hidden secret was teetering on the verge of collapse.
He stared at the documents in front of him, silently stacking them higher and shifting them to hide his face.
“So you’ve really read my books? When did you read them? Don’t tell me you secretly finished them a long time ago?” Ji Xun pinched his chin, a smile playing on his lips. “Captain Huo, you’re so rich… tell me the truth, did you establish that ‘Xing Yishan Foundation’?”
“What Xing Yishan Foundation?” This was a question he could finally answer. Huo Ranyin took a breath and asked.
“Oh, so it wasn’t you,” Ji Xun said with regret. “It’s a fan club that really likes Xing Yishan. The boss behind it is some wealthy person who likes the character so much they started a foundation, putting real money into it to run it for charity, and from time to time they pay for me to hold various fan meetings and book signings. It’s a shame the big boss and I have never had the chance to meet.”
Ji Xun wasn’t truly regretful.
After saying this lightly, he continued to tease Huo Ranyin. “Captain Huo, you’re so interested in me as a person, always thinking I’m some big villain. Did you read my books, which are nonsense from start to finish, hoping to enter my psyche through my writing? So, Captain Huo, how many times have you read them? Do you usually take reading notes? Come, come, let me see them. I’ll check if you did them right. The author himself will deconstruct the truest reading comprehension answers for you.”
Huo Ranyin could no longer work.
He packed up his things, stood up, and grabbed a jacket from the cabinet. As he passed the cot, he let the jacket fall, neatly covering Ji Xun’s face. “Get some proper sleep.”
Then, Huo Ranyin left the office with the rest of his things.
Outside the door, everyone was still working hard. Wen Yangyang was ordering afternoon tea. She planned to buy some sweets to send to Lian Panpan’s family; eating something sweet when in a bad mood can help a lot.
She asked the others, “Does anyone want anything? I’ll order it all together.”
An idea struck Huo Ranyin. “A cream chocolate cake.”
“Okay, Captain Huo,” Wen Yangyang replied crisply.
While Wen Yangyang was placing the order, Tan Mingjiu was also talking.
His workstation was by the window, which was a bay window. He was sprawled on it like a wandering soul, holding up three fingers to the others in the office.
“For three whole hours, those three families didn’t stop for a single second. For the first two hours, they were yelling at each other. For the last hour, they focused their fire on the police.”
Tan Mingjiu was already half-dead.
“It didn’t matter that I said everything I could and promised we’d solve the case. They’re planning to live at the police station… Give me ten minutes. In ten minutes, I’ll go back and continue to placate them.”
Just as he finished speaking, he saw Huo Ranyin sit down at his spot and start reviewing case files.
“?!”
Tan Mingjiu shot up as if from his deathbed.
He actually came over to my spot to work. What kind of terrifying hint is this? Captain Huo, you can’t even give me ten minutes of rest?!
Ji Xun rested in Huo Ranyin’s office for about half an hour.
Then the dreams began to overlap. He forced his eyes open just before he was drowned in nightmares, pulled off Huo Ranyin’s jacket, and ambled out of the office.
The office door faced the break area outside.
On the counter in the break area sat a takeaway bag with his name written on it. The handwriting was elegant, with a little smiley face at the end. It was obviously Wen Yangyang’s note; women always had these cute little details.
But he was sure this takeaway wasn’t ordered for him by Wen Yangyang.
Who else but Huo Ranyin had heard him clamoring for a “cream chocolate cake”?
He opened the takeaway bag, took out the cake, and had a bite.
—It tasted pretty good.
Ji Xun continued to wander.
In the middle of the afternoon, people were coming and going in the police station. Ji Xun strolled around with his small cake, and when he reached the wall of honor, he was once tempted to make good on his promise to tear down his own commendation—but failed.
All the commendations and awards were in a locked glass cabinet, looking smug and defiant.
Ji Xun let out a soft “tsk,” and continued walking, finally finding Huo Ranyin in the station’s training room.
During work hours, Huo Ranyin was the only one in the training room.
Huo Ranyin was doing pull-ups on the indoor bar.
He had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He moved slowly and steadily. As his arms strained to lift his body, the firm muscles usually hidden under his clothes were all revealed. A thin layer of sweat coated them, and the daytime sun shining through the glass made them glisten, as if someone had scattered a handful of dazzling diamonds over him.
Ji Xun leaned against the wall, admiring the beautiful sight. “Captain Huo.”
Huo Ranyin turned his head. “Hm?”
Ji Xun scooped up the equally glistening red cherry from the cake and held it to Huo Ranyin’s lips. “Have a bite.”
Huo Ranyin froze for a second, then instinctively opened his mouth and ate the cherry.
His expression was serious and puzzled as he chewed it carefully, as if trying to discern some unusual flavor.
There was no unusual flavor.
It just tasted like a cherry.
But the cream from the cherry smeared onto the corner of the police captain’s mouth, adding a trace of innocent allure to Huo Ranyin’s confusion.
Ji Xun pulled out his phone, and with a click, captured this rare sight.
