WWY Chapter 46

Chapter 46: The Starting Point. Oh well, oh well, I chose this stubborn mule…

Ling Tuxi in the painting is wearing a police uniform, his gaze focused on the distance. The hair at his temples is slightly lifted, as if facing the wind. Because the painting was done in haste, the brushstrokes are somewhat rough, but precisely because of this, the person in the painting has a unique fortitude.

Lan He proudly curled the corners of his mouth: “Believe I can paint now?”

The two people opposite him nodded twice simultaneously, appearing foolishly in sync.

Ling Tuxi pretended to be profound and pushed the painting back to him, only to have him push it back: “It’s for you.”

“Huh? I’ll keep it!” Shengbo Xia put down his bottle of mineral water and snatched the painting, holding it up for a close look. If he didn’t have to take notes, he would have immediately taken it out to show it off to the entire team.

Lan He rolled his eyes impatiently.

This little episode passed just like that. The thick-skinned Shengbo Xia didn’t think about it at all. For example, why did Lan He paint their captain, and not him?

Regarding the case, Ling Tuxi still had doubts in his heart: “Lan He, can you recall the specific content of your conversation with Professor Qiu? Also, did he exhibit any unusual behavior while you were talking?”

“I’m not sure, because it was the first time I met him. I probably can’t provide strong testimony regarding his behavior and demeanor, but…” Lan He paused, unlocked his phone, and stared at the screen for a while. “He looked at this painting for a little too long, but he was clearly looking at it carefully, yet he glossed over it with just a few words in the end.”

“What did he say? Can you repeat it?”

Lan He poked at his increasingly rounded chin, thinking for a while: “It wasn’t anything special, really. He just mentioned that the approximate dynasty of this dragon-patterned jade disc was the Warring States period, and that based on the pattern, it should be from the Yan state. Then, he jumped to the next painting. He introduced the other three in great detail, including two imitations made by commoners in the early Qing dynasty. He painstakingly answered my questions about the texture, carving, and everything.”

“Could it be that he didn’t know much about this one?”

“Possibly!” Lan He didn’t know Qiu Na, so he couldn’t be sure.

Seeing him so cautious, Ling Tuxi changed the question: “After you left, did you see anyone go up to the rooftop?”

Lan He shook his head: “No, there was no one on the rooftop. Oh, you guys checked too, right? It’s very empty up there, just a few pots of flowers. You can see anyone at a glance.”

That was indeed the case.

Ling Tuxi watched Shengbo Xia write the last stroke in the record, took it to read through, and had Lan He sign it.

While organizing the record, Shengbo Xia said: “Looks like it’s definitely a suicide. We can close the case!”

Ling Tuxi kicked him under the table.

Making a conclusion so casually in front of a witness was too unprofessional!

Lan He smiled: “Well, officers, can I go now?”

Ling Tuxi stood up, pretending to shake hands with him: “Thank you for your cooperation.”

Lan He raised his eyebrows, reached out to shake his hand. Ling Tuxi tried to pull his hand away, but Lan He held on tightly, as if afraid he would run away.

The warm touch made his heart skip a beat.

“Well, since it’s suicide, you can get off work, right?”

“There’s a case. There’s no such thing as getting off work.”

Lan He glanced at his watch. It was 6:30 PM. He hadn’t noticed because of the drawn blinds, but it was almost dark outside.

“Then you have to eat, right? Not far, just nearby.”

Ling Tuxi still wanted to decline, but Lan He spoke again: “Interest.”

“…”

Just like that, the two walked to the Municipal Bureau courtyard, their shoulders close together.

Jiu Ya honked the horn in the car. Lan He waved to him, and he got out and jogged over.

“Young Master Lan!” He glanced at Ling Tuxi and reluctantly greeted, “Officer Ling!”

“I’m going to have dinner with Officer Ling. You don’t need to follow.”

“Young Master Lan, I’m sorry, I have to protect you every step of the way!” Especially in front of this “supervisor,” Ling Tuxi, he had to act even more dutiful than before.

Lan He hooked his arm around Ling Tuxi’s: “No need. You wait here for me. Officer Ling will protect me!”

Shengbo Xia failed to get a free meal. He looked at the painting in his hand for a while, and finally realized something. He ran all the way from the second-floor interrogation room to the third-floor office, grabbed everyone, and dragged them to the window, just in time to see this scene.

Ling Tuxi felt like those gazes were burning a hole in him, but he had to admit, Lan He’s words were quite pleasing to hear.

His tone toward Jiu Ya was slightly better than last time: “Just wait here. We’ll be back soon.”

Jiu Ya turned around and went back to the car without another word, full of resentment.

He said all the good and bad things, a damn nuisance!

Lan He held onto Ling Tuxi’s arm and walked out of the Municipal Bureau gate together. Just then, a taxi stopped outside the retractable gate, and a middle-aged woman around fifty years old was helped out of the car by a man.

The woman was wearing a knee-length ink-wash-style dress, her demeanor elegant. Her hair was styled into an antique bun at the back of her head. She wore no makeup but didn’t look old, clearly someone who paid attention to her appearance.

The man was slightly younger than her and seemed to have a close relationship with her.

As soon as she got out of the car, she looked up at the national emblem on the gate and began to wipe away tears.

The man comforted her in a low voice, supporting her as she walked inside. When passing Ling Tuxi, he asked, “Officer, can you tell me how to get to the Second Detachment of the Criminal Investigation Brigade?”

Ling Tuxi sized them up: “You are?”

The man was taken aback for a moment, but reacted quickly: “Are you an officer from the Second Detachment? We are Qiu Na’s family. We received a notice this afternoon from an officer surnamed Wu…”

Here to identify the body.

Ling Tuxi pointed the way for them: “That building, go up to the third floor.”

The man thanked him and helped the weeping woman inside.

Walking far away, Lan He was still looking them up and down, his gaze finally landing on the woman’s wrist until they entered the Criminal Investigation Brigade office building.

Ling Tuxi explained: “That should be Professor Qiu’s wife.”

Lan He retracted his gaze and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

The topic changed too abruptly. Ling Tuxi paused slightly and asked back, “What do you want to eat? You definitely don’t want KFC, right?”

Suddenly drawn back to memories, Lan He laughed twice, looked around, and asked, “Is the noodle shop still there?”

Ling Tuxi’s breathing suddenly tightened. He asked, knowing the answer, “What noodle shop? You want noodles? The newly opened Northwest noodle shop across the street is good.”

As he spoke, he eagerly tried to cross the road, clearly feeling guilty.

Lan He raised his hand and grabbed the back of his police uniform: “Don’t play dumb. The beef noodle place you treated me to the first time we met!”

The dimly lit alley was lined with low, small houses. Piles of debris were stacked on the roofs and beside the walls, inhabited mostly by elderly people.

The noodle shop was not far from the entrance of the alley, with an old-fashioned lightbox sign. Because it was old, the characters were blurred, filled with mosquitoes and bugs. Two of the light strips were broken, half lit and half unlit.

Two tables of customers were sitting in the noodle shop, all seemingly familiar with the owner, eating and chatting in the misty steam, the atmosphere lively.

Seeing customers, the owner stood up and greeted warmly upon seeing the two people entering one after the other: “Officer Ling is here! Oh, brought a new colleague! Hello!”

Seemingly not remembering the guest who had come once three years ago.

Lan He raised his hand in greeting and found a corner table to sit at with Ling Tuxi.

The chubby owner smiled kindly: “What are you eating today?”

Lan He was the first to hold up two fingers: “Two bowls of beef noodles, four ounces of dragon whiskers, and a side of tea eggs.”

Exactly the same as the first time he ate it.

The owner responded and went to the kitchen. Ling Tuxi pulled out a paper towel and wiped the table in front of him, smiling and saying, “Remember so clearly?”

“Of course! That was the most delicious meal I’ve ever eaten, bar none!”

Ling Tuxi felt that there was definitely some exaggeration in his words. This person was usually a bit venomous, but that was only because he didn’t care about other people’s opinions. Undeniably, he actually had a very high EQ and was a master of controlling the scene.

But he didn’t want to follow his line of thought back to three years ago.

“Lan He, today we needed you for work. Thanks for making the trip.”

Lan He glanced at his instantly stern face, crossed his arms, leaned back, and looked at him with his nostrils: “Can’t you not talk about these things while we’re eating? It’s unappetizing!”

Being summoned was actually not a big deal to him at all, because the other party was Ling Tuxi. No matter what Ling Tuxi did, he wouldn’t take it to heart.

But Ling Tuxi was always cautious, very deliberately trying to distance himself from him. Trying to distance himself was fine, but he was always clumsy in letting him see through it, again and again, making him increasingly annoyed.

Ling Tuxi nervously rubbed the back of his hand, still immersed in self-reflection and remorse, slowly uttering a line he had been brewing for a long time: “Also, last time, I didn’t control my attitude well, but it wasn’t directed at you. I was just worried…”

Lan He interrupted him: “Ling Tuxi, you’re so melodramatic!”

Ling Tuxi was stunned. This seemed to be the first time Lan He had addressed him by his full name while chatting. It sounded uncomfortable.

Lan He pulled out two chopsticks from the disinfection drawer, tapped them vertically on the table, and aligned them: “You don’t see me as a friend at all, do you? If you’re always like this, then we might as well not see each other again!”

He pointed around expressionlessly: “The place where it started is also the place where it ends. How fitting!”

Ling Tuxi stared at his face in a daze, feeling that he was serious. His chest felt like it was blocked by a pile of bricks and tiles, both painful and stuffy.

“I’m not…”

“This meal is on me, I’m returning the favor.”

Ling Tuxi’s whole body stiffened, feeling that the familiar noodle shop had suddenly become very crowded. He wanted to say a lot of things, but since there were others present, he couldn’t say it.

Even if there were no others, he didn’t seem to know what to say.

The owner brought two bowls of noodles, looking strangely at the two people who were about to petrify: “What’s wrong?”

Lan He smiled and said it was nothing, took a bowl from the tray and handed it to Ling Tuxi, the second bowl for himself, just as he had done for him back then.

His eating habits were still like a starving ghost being reincarnated. He only realized halfway through eating that Ling Tuxi was still being silly, his noodles hadn’t been touched, he hadn’t even picked up his chopsticks.

He stopped chewing, like a hamster, his clear eyes looking at him: “What’s wrong?”

Ling Tuxi didn’t realize his eyes were red. He just shook his head, grabbed a pair of chopsticks for himself, and started eating the noodles with his head down.

Lan He couldn’t figure out this person again. He was also a novice when it came to being a pure love warrior. He was both afraid of being too intimate and scaring him away, and worried that being too distant would make him feel neglected. It was really tiring, but that was fine. The key was that unrequited enthusiasm always made him feel that hope was slim.

Stop fishing, you won’t catch anything! Soft or hard, nothing works. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t developed “love” for him?

Lan He just watched him eat, kept eating, kept eating, not raising his head, just eating like that. The light from above shone on the back of his neck, and he could see a layer of fine fluff, which seemed very soft.

He put down his chopsticks, leaned back slightly in his chair, and quietly watched this scene. After a while, he finally compromised helplessly.

Oh well, oh well, I chose this stubborn mule, what can I do? Keep coaxing him!