Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Chapter 27 — “This is Jian Qing, my friend.”

Another weekend.

The weather was turning colder, but the leaves had not yet fallen—perfect for viewing autumn maples. Coincidentally, last time the Major Crimes Unit hadn’t managed to gather for hotpot, so Wang Lai took advantage of the free time to organize a hiking trip.

The mountain wasn’t very high. At least for the physical fitness of everyone in the Major Crimes Unit, reaching the top was effortless.

“Where’s He Fox still?” Wang Lai checked his phone and muttered, “Two minutes late already. He didn’t used to be this punctual—or this unpunctual.”

While bending down to check his wife’s shoelaces, Zhou Shan made a reasonable guess: “Probably like us—held up by his ‘master.’”

Recently, work had been light and sleep had been heavy, and beside him stood his gentle, long-haired, beautiful wife. He looked cheerful all day, completely satisfied in life, the very picture of a man fulfilled by marriage.

Song Xiaotong, meeting Brother Zhou’s partner for the first time, nervously greeted her: “Hello, Sister-in-law!”

Her tone was polite, but her voice was a little loud, which made the woman chuckle softly. “Hello to you too. Just call me Xin Lan.”

For the rest of the Major Crimes Unit, Xin Lan was a completely familiar face—every stage from dating to marriage had been witnessed by them.

Wang Lai had even been Zhou Shan’s self-proclaimed “strategic advisor” for texting during courtship.

“I heard the temple on this mountain is super effective,” he said in a lowered voice. “For love, money, anything—even warding off bad luck or calling back lost souls.”

“Later I’ll get you guys a red string. Eternal love till old age.”

Thud.

A flying water bottle tapped Wang Lai on the head. Yan Qiuyu said, “Oh? So that’s why you insisted on coming hiking for no reason—you had ulterior motives.”

Letting out an exaggerated “ow,” Wang Lai rubbed his head and tried to get away with a silly grin.

No helping it.

Who told him he was born with a “mother hen” personality—always worrying about everything? Especially He Linfeng, who had been acting very strangely lately. Wang Lai was afraid that one day he’d wake up and find the guy had gone “crazy in love” and put on a rose-gold handcuff bracelet.

Speak of the devil.

Seeing a familiar figure in the distance, Wang Lai quickly changed the subject. “They’re here! Today He Fox is paying for everything.” He waved. “Over here!”

They arrived early, and there weren’t many tourists around. A thin morning mist still lingered in the mountains. Song Xiaotong raised her hand to shade her eyes and squinted. “The one next to him is…”

Yan Qiuyu was surprised. “Jian Qing?”

It wasn’t strange that she reacted strongly—although Jian Qing was a frequent visitor to the North River City Bureau, aside from work matters, Yan Qiuyu almost never saw him in private settings.

After confirming that their captain hadn’t misseen, Wang Lai froze on the spot.

He had dragged He Linfeng out on the weekend “with the whole family in tow” to burn incense and ward off peach blossoms, and yet this guy had brought the peach blossom itself—so what was he even praying for now?

A wish for eternal harmony and a wish for unrequited love were in direct conflict. Would the gods get confused?

The young man wore a loose but well-tailored black-and-white sports outfit. The gold-rimmed glasses still sat on his nose bridge, but he lacked his usual untouchable “CEO aura,” looking more like a campus drama’s perfect student idol.

Jian Qing’s gaze swept over Zhou Shan and his partner’s obvious matching wedding rings. His brow twitched. Without hesitation, he turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” He Linfeng grabbed his shoulder, utterly reasonable, and pushed him forward. “We’re just out having fun. I never said you could only bring family.”

Jian Qing: …

After three consecutive days of being bombarded with the same messages, what he should have done was not compromise—but directly blacklist that person.

If the other party hadn’t sworn up and down that it was just a Major Crimes Unit outing, and if he hadn’t caused trouble for everyone in the last case, he would never have come out.

“Honestly,” having easily guessed what the youth was feeling from the low pressure around him, He Linfeng smoothly soothed him in a practiced, hushed tone and took the initiative to introduce, “This should be Sister Xin Lan, right? Old Zhou’s partner.”

“This is Jian Qing, my friend.”

The wording itself was perfectly proper and faultless, but the order and contrast between the two introductions somehow created a subtle, strange feeling.

Yan Qiuyu glanced at He Linfeng with thoughtful eyes.

Strictly speaking, among the entire Major Crimes Unit, He Linfeng was actually the one who had known Jian Qing the shortest—less than a month—and yet he had become the one introducing Jian Qing to everyone, using the term “my friend.”

Tsk.

Interesting.

Song Xiaotong, secretly clenching her fist, silently screamed in her heart: Even a weekend hiking trip can turn into a couple sharing “sugar”—who could have predicted this! Brother He’s execution speed was truly admirable.

She felt like she might have actually stumbled upon something real this time.

Having heard the youth’s name more than once from the news and from her husband, Xin Lan extended a friendly hand. “Hello.”

Wang Lai’s heart instantly lifted into his throat, already thinking about how to smooth things over.

The reason was simple: when Jian Qing greeted people, he usually only nodded rather than engaging in physical contact. To someone unfamiliar with him, it could easily come off as cold and aloof.

Who would have thought the youth would give him no chance to step in at all.

Lifting his hand, Jian Qing lightly and quickly touched Xin Lan’s hand and nodded. “Hello.”

—The entire contact lasted less than a second, but at least he had made contact.

“Don’t judge people based on assumptions,” He Linfeng said lazily, turning his head. “Jian Qing is soft-hearted and very easy to get along with. You’ll know once you spend more time with him.”

Wang Lai, who seriously suspected his brother was wearing a hundred layers of filters: …Soft?

Are you sure that word can be used for Jian-zong?

In any case, the arrival of the two did not make the atmosphere awkward. Jian Qing spoke little, but he did not deliberately kill the mood, and He Linfeng had always been socially adept. Within minutes, the group had become lively again.

The most frequently discussed topic was still Wu Nan.

“This guy is insane,” Wang Lai, who had personally participated in the interrogation, was full of complaints. “No matter how we questioned him, we couldn’t get him to state a motive for killing Yuan Yun and Qu Tao. His account of the crime itself was also vague and inconsistent.”

“Later he probably got pushed too hard and just insisted he was a random killer—said he simply camped out in old streets with fewer surveillance cameras and stabbed whoever passed by.”

“Clearly lying. Does he really think I can’t see through it?”

After finishing the witness statement, Jian Qing had not gone back to the city bureau. Although He Linfeng occasionally came to pick him up, their conversations were all trivial and harmless topics.

So Jian Qing listened rather attentively.

This case had caused a huge online stir because of the “black cat cannibal” rumor. Xin Lan had only heard a rough outline from her husband and hadn’t asked in detail, so she was only now realizing the full context. “No wonder the official account hasn’t released a statement.”

Marketing accounts had been posting videos every few days to ride the hype, and the latest version had already escalated to: “Beautiful female streamer narrowly escapes death, midnight date with Jian Corporation CEO.”

—Yes.

That was precisely the “Jian Corporation” CEO walking quietly behind her on the hike.

“It doesn’t matter if he lies,” Yan Qiuyu said, having seen plenty of stubborn criminals. “With complete physical evidence, no motive will stop him from going to prison.”

Wang Lai: “That’s true, but…”

“Don’t you feel even a little curious?”

“Anyway, I can’t sleep no matter how I toss and turn. The method is exactly the same as Chen Yang’s. These two people had absolutely no connection at all—this coincidence is a bit scary.”

“Could there be some big conspiracy behind this?” Like a trope often written in detective novels.

Yan Qiuyu tapped the back of Wang Lai’s naturally curly, bird’s-nest hair for the second time: “I told you to catch criminals, not to keep thinking from the criminal’s perspective after closing the case.”

“If you really can’t sleep, go watch some sweet romance dramas. One episode, one sleep.”

What was that saying again? While gazing into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Standing at the boundary between good and evil, you inevitably encounter many bizarre people and events. If you try to understand everything one by one, you’ll only exhaust yourself and eventually collapse. Otherwise, why would the bureau set up a dedicated psychological counseling room?

“We agreed to come admire the maple leaves—why are we talking about work again?” Zhou Shan took a deep breath of fresh air and looked around. “These red leaves are really beautiful.”

Xin Lan patted her small bag: “I brought a camera.”

“We can take photos together after we reach the top.”

While chatting, Song Xiaotong, who was already forming a heart shape with her cheeks, had turned on her front camera and found her angle.

Jian Qing didn’t like taking photos and gradually drifted to the back.

He rarely participated in non-essential group activities, treating it purely as exercise. But no matter how slowly he walked, He Linfeng—who seemed busy socializing—could always walk beside him at the same pace.

And even naturally detach from the conversation.

“I didn’t know Lao Zhou was bringing his wife. I just wanted to ask you out for a walk,” He Linfeng explained, adhering to his principle that conflicts should never last overnight. “But if I invited you myself, the success rate was really low, so I borrowed Wang Lai’s group outing. I hoped Jian Zong would give me some face for everyone’s sake.”

“Are you angry?”

Jian Qing: …

He wasn’t exactly angry, but how did this person manage to describe his own scheming so innocently?

Other transmigrators always tried their best to make everything seem like fate, like things naturally falling into place, afraid he would notice the manipulation—only He Linfeng went against the norm.

Even his “badness” was open and aboveboard.

“Good that you’re not angry,” He Linfeng accurately read the unspoken meaning in Jian Qing’s expression and added, “Qu Tao is still in the hospital and has been wanting to thank you. Should we go see her someday?”

Jian Qing: This isn’t even finished and he’s already arranging the next one.

A fox really is a cunning creature.

He stepped forward, expression blank, and stepped onto a higher stair: “I don’t need thanks.”

But He Linfeng keenly caught a difference even Jian Qing himself hadn’t noticed: “Got it.”

“Jian Zong is refusing a visit.”

“Not refusing going with me.”

Nonsense.

Jian Qing suddenly turned back, meeting the man’s smiling eyes looking up at him.

Red leaves rustled, morning sunlight broke through the mist, burning across the mountains in layers of light and shadow. Standing at a slightly higher position, he inexplicably felt his cheeks grow warm.

So Jian Qing lifted his hand and pulled his collar zipper upward, half his chin buried inside it.

“Think whatever you want.”

After saying that, he continued walking toward the mountaintop with his head down, sulking.

He Linfeng, however, took a long stride with his long legs and followed beside him, chattering nonstop:

“Qu Tao’s dog has been found.”

“It didn’t run far. It just went wild and played around the neighborhood. By the time Wang Lai followed the surveillance footage over, it was squatting at its own doorstep with a very aggrieved look.”

“Then it got held down by the police uncle and given a cross-species educational lecture.”

The few minutes they had been delayed earlier had already caused them to fall behind the main group. Not understanding why the other suddenly brought up the dog, Jian Qing pressed his lips together and only cast him a faint glance.

“Actually…” He Linfeng cleared his throat very seriously, then blinked and leaned closer as if whispering into his ear.

“Fans say her dog can do a backflip.”

“You’re really not interested?”