Xu Man: “…”

That's a very reasonable answer indeed.

Qin Shen was amused by her stunned expression, leaning against the door frame and chuckling, "I was just kidding. That Lu Yajun was fluent and calm when answering our questions, and her words were so clear. Normal elementary school students would not look like that when summoned by the police. It's too abnormal. Even if Zhang Xiaojuan's death had nothing to do with her, her disappearance must be related to her."

So that's why. Xu Man suddenly realized, but the next moment, a layer of confusion arose in her heart.

"But... we can't be sure just based on this." She frowned slightly and said with some confusion, "She answered our questions fluently because the police from Siyang District had asked them yesterday. She was calm in front of us, maybe because we were not wearing police uniforms and looked less majestic. And she is not without nervous times..."

"What question was she asked when she was obviously nervous?" Qin Shen asked her.

Xu Man thought for a moment and replied, "Ask her what she wrote in her diary on July 2."

After saying this, she suddenly opened her eyes wide and looked at Qin Shen.

Qin Shen looked back at her with a smile: "Understood?"

She nodded in surprise: "So that's why you, Captain, asked Team 2 to get Zhang Xiaojuan's diary? Do you think there will be information related to the case written in it?"

"It's not certain whether it's related to the case, but it should be related to Lu Yajun." Qin Shen said, "Unless she does the same as Lu Yajun said, not doing homework in the first month of summer vacation and making up for it in the last month, then there's nothing we can do."

"I think she would remember it." Xu Man recalled the personal information about Zhang Xiaojuan that was disclosed at the meeting in the morning. "She is an excellent student. She has the perseverance to attend dance class every day. She should also have the perseverance to keep a diary."

"Whether you remember it or not, you'll know when Lao Liang and the others come back." Qin Shen answered her nonchalantly, "Okay, go back first and organize all the information you got from the morning inquiry. You'll need it for the meeting tonight."

Xu Man nodded and was about to agree when he added, "When you're done, bring it over to me and I'll check if there's anything missing."

This is of course the best option. Although she has studied criminal investigation for three years, this is her first time doing these things. She is not clear about the rules and procedures in many places. It would be best if Qin Shen is willing to guide her step by step.

After agreeing to this and saying thank you, Xu Man went back to a group office and started organizing the contents of her notebook.

At a quarter before four, Liang Guang, the leader of the second investigation team, led his team members back to the detachment and brought Qin Shen a piece of news: they found a diary on Zhang Xiaojuan's desk, which recorded the period from June 28th after the summer vacation to July 1st, five days before Zhang Xiaojuan's disappearance. In the diary on July 1st, Zhang Xiaojuan wrote down one thing, that is, her classmate Lu Yajun invited her to visit her home, and the time was set for the afternoon of July 3rd, after the dance class.

When Liang Guang was reporting the situation, he happened to meet Xu Man who had sorted out the information and printed it out as a document for Qin Shen to see. The two met in the captain's office, and Qin Shen let her sit in on the results of the report.

"July 3?" When she heard the information about Zhang Xiaojuan's diary narrated by Liang Guang, her eyes lit up and she said excitedly, "Isn't that——"

She stopped talking midway through her words, the surge of excitement receding and replaced by disappointment.

"Are you sure it's July 3rd?" Qin Shen frowned, and he obviously heard the subtle difference in the date at once, "Not July 2nd?"

"This is Zhang Xiaojuan's diary." Liang Guang handed over an exercise book. "Captain Qin, you can take a look yourself. It's definitely July 3rd."

Xu Man didn't want to believe that she had finally found a clue to a similar case, but the most important date didn't match. She guessed with a glimmer of hope: "Could it be that she wrote it wrong? Children don't have much sensitivity to dates."

Liang Guang shook his head: "Definitely not. The diary says that it was set on the afternoon of the 3rd. That day happened to be Friday, and the two of them had nothing else to do after class, so they decided to set the time at that time."

After hearing this, Xu Man completely gave up her hope. July 3rd happened to be Friday of this week. The date might be wrong, but it was impossible to get the day of the week wrong as well.

"How could this happen..." She murmured in disappointment, "I thought there was a breakthrough..."

"How come it's not a breakthrough?" Qin Shen didn't feel disappointed at all. He took the diary handed to him by Liang Guang and turned to the latest page. "Don't you think it's strange that we agreed to go home together after class on July 3, but Zhang Xiaojuan disappeared on the 2nd, but Lu Yajun didn't tell us about it?"

Xu Man was stunned, frowned and said: "Maybe... she didn't expect it? I don't think we have asked her this question."

"Yes, I didn't ask No. 1, but I did ask her what she did with Zhang Xiaojuan on the 2nd." Qin Shen closed the diary. "Logically speaking, for such a big event as the disappearance of a classmate, a normal person would think about everything related to the missing person in the days before and after and tell it. Even if they left out something, they would only leave out some details. It wouldn't be such a complete story."

He threw the diary on the table and made his final conclusion. "There's something wrong with Lu Yajun. Lao Liang, go get Lao Feng over here."

After Liang Guang responded and left the office, he turned his gaze to Xu Man: "Have you asked the educational institution for Lu Yajun's contact information?"

Xu Man's heart skipped a beat, and she felt that something was wrong and she had messed up. "No." She replied quietly, "Sorry Captain, I didn't think of this..."

"It's okay." Qin Shen breathed a sigh of relief. "It's your first time on a field trip, so it's normal that you didn't expect this. Just remember it in the future."

There was no blame in his words, but it made Xu Man feel even more ashamed. She nodded and responded in a low voice: "Well, I remember it."

Qin Shen took in the change in her expression and smiled silently.

This girl is so thin-skinned that she feels guilty over the smallest things.

I am still young and don’t have much social experience.

"Do you know Zhao Jia? She's in the same group, the one with the glasses." He said in a calm tone that he didn't even notice, "Ask her to look up Lu Yajun's family information, contact her guardian and send her over to assist in the investigation, and learn from her how to do all this. There may be a time in the future when you need to do this kind of thing."

Xu Man nodded again, returned to the group office, found Zhao Jia and told her Qin Shen's request.

After hearing her purpose, Zhao Jia agreed readily, and directly used Lu Yajun as an example to demonstrate the internal background check of the public security system on the spot, and contacted Lu Yajun's parents.

Although they had some complaints about their daughter being repeatedly summoned and questioned by the police, Lu Yajun's parents still expressed their understanding and set a time with Zhao Jia for Lu Yajun to appear for questioning at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

"We were lucky today. We met a pair of reasonable parents." After hanging up the phone, Zhao Jia said to Xu Man, "Sometimes you will meet some people who will not listen to you no matter how you reason with them. They just refuse to come here. They think they are prisoners here and we have wronged them. No matter what we say, they just can't make sense. It's really frustrating. You can't scold them. You can only explain to them in a nice way. Otherwise, if they complain, you will be fined and have to write a self-criticism."

Xu Man said "Huh?" and frowned in surprise and distress: "What should I do if no one listens to my explanation?"

"It's simple. Let someone else explain it to him." Zhao Jia said, his eyes moving around her and revealing an ambiguous smile. "I think you can go find Captain Qin. He takes good care of you. Let him help you fight back."

"Really?" Xu Man was puzzled. "I don't think he takes good care of me. It's just normal care. After all, I'm new here and I'm not familiar with some places. I need his guidance."

"Normal? That's a lot of words. I've never seen him treat new people like this before." Zhao Jia was full of disbelief. "Hey, do you think our captain is interested in you?"

This was the second person who said this to her. If Guan Shuiyun's subtle hostility towards her also stemmed from this misunderstanding, then there were three people. Xu Man didn't know why she was misunderstood like this. Qin Shen's attitude towards her was obviously normal, just an ordinary superior-subordinate relationship.

Well... although we had two meals together, it was because the mothers of both sides knew each other. This situation should be very common in social interactions, right?

She thought uncertainly.

[What a common ghost!] During dinner in the evening, Xu Man chatted with her childhood friend Tian Si. When she mentioned the doubts about Qin Shen, he replied to her, [Your captain is definitely interested in you, absolutely! Or maybe he is bored and wants to treat you to noodles? Noodle money is also money! 】

[But my mom knows his mom, and I’m interning under him, so isn’t it normal for him to treat me to a meal? And I also asked to go back.]

Tian Si: [Have you ever eaten with boys in college? No matter what the reason is, for example, there is a student union meeting, and you and another male student leader are having dinner and discussing this kind of thing.

Xu Man: [I didn’t join the student union]

Tian Si: [I am just giving an example, just tell me if there are any similar situations.]

Xu Man: […No]

[That's all] As a childhood friend who went to the same school from kindergarten to high school, unlike Xu Man, Tian Si has a lot of experience in relationships. She is very experienced in looking at men and is basically accurate in what she sees. Therefore, she replied firmly, [Believe me, sister, your captain must be interested in you]

[No way?] 】Xu Man replied,【I have only known him for two days】

The other party was disdainful: [It doesn’t take long for a man to like a woman. He first looks at her legs, then her face, and finally her figure. It’s all love at first sight. If you want to fall in love with her over time, that’s definitely not what you think.]

...What an inappropriate answer. Xu Man skipped over this sentence and edited a new message and sent it out: [I think he really has no interest in me. When he is with me, he always acts very businesslike and doesn't seem to be interested in me.]

Tian Si: [I sent you home, treated you to a meal, and taught you step by step. If I don’t mean to be interested in you, what else could it be? 】

Xu Man: [Is he responsible? 】

Tian Si: [……]

Tian Si: [Do you have a photo of your captain? Send it to me to see]

Seeing the message from Tian Si, Xu Man was a little puzzled. She didn't understand why she wanted Qin Shen's photo, but since the other party asked for it, she looked through the conversation with Qin's mother and forwarded the mountain climbing photo that Qin's mother sent her that day to Tian Si, while instructing the other party: [This is a private photo of our team leader. You can just take a look at it, don't post it online.]

Tian Si did not answer, because as soon as the photo was sent, she replied to Xu Man with a series of emoticons. She did not stop until she had scrolled through the screens several times before she calmed down and edited a message and sent it over.

[Oh shit!] What a divine captain, you don’t want this, right? Don’t be very good! Give me! Give me! I want it! 】