CHAPTER 58

Sheng Qing grabbed a dirty laundry basket from the side and held it in front of him, then moved toward the row of wardrobes standing against the wall where the rustling sound came from.

The room fell into an eerie silence; Sheng Qing could even hear her own heavy breathing and heartbeat.

No, there's another breathing sound that doesn't belong to me.

As they drew closer, Sheng Qing could clearly feel the sweat welling up in her palms as she gripped the laundry basket.

What exactly is this strange thing?

"come out!"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

Sheng Qing raised his voice, as if that could alleviate his inner fear.

There was no response, so she took off her slippers again and threw them at the wardrobe from a distance.

"Meow~" A cat meowed, and then a white cat's head peeked out from the gap between the wall and the cabinet, followed by its entire fluffy, snow-white body.

"That was terrifying! It was just a cat." Sheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

"Meow, come here~" Sheng Qing instantly switched to a clip-like voice, put the dirty laundry basket aside, squatted down, and beckoned to the kitten.

The kitten was clearly not shy at all. Its green eyes darted around a few times, and it leisurely took small steps to approach, but then stopped a meter away.

Tilting its head, it scrutinized the object intently, making an ambiguous gurgling sound, the few perfectly placed wisps of mustache at the corner of its mouth trembling slightly.

Sheng Qing had never seen such a beautiful kitten before; it must have gotten lost and wandered in.

"Good kitten, come here and let your big sister hug you." Sheng Qing got up, closed the window, and turned back. The kitten had already jumped onto the sofa, lazily stretching its body, but its eyes were still intentionally or unintentionally falling on Sheng Qing's outstretched hands, hesitating whether to come over.

Should I ask the building manager whose cat is missing? Sheng Qing wondered.

"Knock, knock, knock." A rhythmic knocking sounded on the door, but there was no response. A minute later, a gentle female voice rang out. "Hello, I'm the resident upstairs. My cat is missing. Have you seen it?"

"Hey, just a moment." Sheng Qing turned to the door and answered, looking regretful. How could such a beautiful cat not have an owner?

"Little cat, your two owners have come to take you home. Come here." Without waiting for its consent, she gently picked it up and went to open the door.

The locked door opened, and a woman with a gentle smile appeared in the doorway. She had an outstanding temperament, and her smooth curly hair was draped over her shoulders, giving her a unique charm. Sheng Qing was momentarily stunned.

"Sheng Qing..." Sheng Qing was hallucinating again, but she endured it and did not turn around.

"Is this your cat?" Sheng Qing stroked the cat's fur and reluctantly handed it back to the beautiful woman.

A beautiful cat deserves a beautiful owner.

What a lucky day! She's run into all sorts of handsome men and beautiful women.

"It's so lovable, isn't it? Come to think of it, this is the first time it's been so affectionate towards anyone other than me." The woman carefully took the cat and held it close to her chest.

"Really?" Sheng Qing smiled and reached out to touch the cat in the woman's arms. The kitten affectionately licked her palm.

Do you really like her?

"I live upstairs, 12-4. You can come and play with it when you have time." The woman smiled and waved goodbye to Sheng Qing.

Sheng Qing only closed the door after the woman's figure disappeared at the top of the stairs.

I almost forgot about the important matter!

Sheng Qing took out her phone, opened the chat box with the agent, typed in a question, then deleted the text after thinking about it.

Then she found the book that had appeared out of nowhere at the foot of the bed, took a picture of the cover, and randomly flipped to a page with obscure text and distorted patterns that she couldn't understand, so she took another picture.

Feeling it was an unlucky omen, I finally put the book away and left it far away by the door.

"Brother Li, I found this in the house. Did the previous tenant leave it behind?"

"Was there some kind of story or accident that happened?"

Quickly, I took two photos.

After thinking about it, I sent the same message to the landlord's WeChat account.

I waited for several minutes but still didn't receive a reply.

Sheng Qing then asked several close friends about the encounters, vividly recounting how she met the handsome men and beautiful women.

"envious!"

Where is morality? Where is the bottom line? Where is the address?

"I don't believe you unless you take a picture as proof!"

Sheng Qing began to regret not taking a picture of the beautiful cat as a memento.

Oh right, the business card! Sheng Qing suddenly remembered the business card she had casually placed at the entrance.

It was right here, how could it be gone?

Sheng Qing searched around twice but couldn't find the business card. Finally, she found it in the basket where dirty clothes were kept.

Unfortunately, the last three digits of the phone number were wet and illegible.

Sheng Qing sighed and threw the business card into the trash can.

From another perspective, what could she possibly need to deal with the police for? Naturally, it would be best if she never had to.

At midnight, Sheng Qing turned off her phone and silently waited for the drunk person to realize he had gone to the wrong door and leave obediently.

Considering tomorrow is a day off, I won't argue with him.

If she dares to do it again, she will definitely complain to the building manager!

Something seemed to have been forgotten; I clearly saw a red shadow flash by in the corner of my eye. How did a white cat end up appearing at the end?

Sheng Qing was instantly wide awake, turned on the bedside lamp, and set it to the lowest brightness setting.

The next day, Sheng Qing slept until noon, ate some bread with warm milk, then got ready to go out and stock up on food. He needed to eat something light; he felt he was gaining weight from eating takeout every day.

A new message came in; it was the landlord's reply.

"I don't know, I haven't heard of it."

"Ask the agent; he's the one in charge."

I could feel the indifference even through the screen.

Okay, Sheng Qing found the chat box with the agent and realized that she had received the message yesterday, but somehow she had crossed it out, probably because she was chatting with her friend at the time.

The sunlight was a bit dazzling. Sheng Qing held a cloth bag over her head as sun protection in one hand and her phone in the other, converting the voice message sent by the real estate agent into text.

"Miss, I asked the previous tenant, and this isn't his stuff. I also asked the landlord, and it's not his either. It might have been left behind by an even earlier tenant. You probably don't need it anymore; you can just throw it away."

"Our house is very clean and safe, so you don't need to worry. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions."

The agent's Mandarin was quite standard, which Sheng Qing could clearly understand, but she still felt uneasy.

Besides, real estate agents aren't stupid. Even if there's a real problem, would they tell her the truth?

The money she had just paid couldn't be wasted, so Sheng Qing sighed and decided to stay a while longer to see how things went, since she was short of money anyway.

Looking up, a pleasing figure appeared. It was the beautiful woman who had been looking for her cat, accompanied by a handsome young man.

Wait, isn't that the person who helped others the other day but left in such a hurry?

"Thank you so much for that day." Sheng Qing smiled at the beautiful woman and then thanked the young man.

"What?" The boy's expression was indifferent.

"Huh?" Sheng Qing was taken aback. Was the young man's memory really that bad? But he quickly replied, "It's nothing."

"Want to come to my house to see my cat? It can even do backflips!" the beautiful woman warmly invited.

"Really?" Sheng Qing was a little curious, having only seen it online before.

"Of course!" The beautiful woman smiled and glanced at the boy.

"What's so interesting?" The boy curled his lip indifferently and walked ahead on his own. "Aren't you sunburnt?"

"They're looking at the cat, not you, so why are you giving me that sour look?" The beautiful woman waved goodbye to Sheng Qing.

As Sheng Qing watched the two figures leave, she wondered if they were siblings, or if it was a relationship between an older woman and a younger man.

This world is far too small.

When Sheng Qing returned carrying bags of food and supplies, she ran into the plainclothes policeman again. Today he was wearing a white shirt and casual pants, looking very sunny and healthy. He was walking and chatting casually with a man and a woman.

Seemingly noticing Sheng Qing's gaze, he suddenly turned his head, raised his chin at her, and made a phone call gesture.

Sheng Qing was a little confused. Was he greeting her? She turned around and looked behind her. The other person was withdrawing his raised hand.

Oh, I wasn't greeting her after all. How embarrassing. I quickly withdrew my smile and walked away expressionlessly.

The amount purchased exceeded the original plan, making it a bit difficult to carry. In addition, the sun was unusually hot, and Sheng Qing's nose was slightly sweaty.

"I'm greeting you, didn't you see me?" A clear voice rang out. Sheng Qing felt her hand lighten as her shopping bag was lifted up. She turned to face the plainclothes policeman's expressionless face.

"Officer Meng?" Sheng Qing was completely bewildered. Had she done something wrong? Could something have happened in the neighborhood, or was there really something wrong with the apartment she was renting?

"My name is Meng Yunxi, just call me by my name."

Sheng Qing swiped his access card, and Meng Yunxi strode in, reaching the elevator door in just a few steps.

"Officer Meng, I can carry these myself, thank you." Sheng Qing tried to take back the shopping bags, but Meng Yunxi subtly blocked her way.

"11-4, right?" Meng Yunxi quickly pressed the button, and the elevator rapidly ascended.

"Officer Meng, I didn't commit a crime..." Sheng Qing was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

"Why didn't you call me?" Meng Yunxi didn't look at Sheng Qing.

"Huh?" Sheng Qing was truly stunned this time. Could she really be entangled in some case?

However, how did a police officer end up carrying my things to my doorstep?

"Would you like something to drink?" Sheng Qing opened the door and saw Meng Yunxi still standing there. He didn't know whether to close the door or not.

"Come and take a look." Meng Yunxi frowned as she looked at the bottom of the door.

"What's wrong?" Sheng Qing handed over a bottle of mineral water, but after being refused, he put it back on the cabinet before leaving the house.

There were some dirty scratches and some unidentified substance on the bottom of the door. I guess that drunkard kicked it down.

Sheng Qing then told Meng Yunxi the whole story. After listening, the latter squatted down, took out gloves and a plastic bag from her pocket, carefully took out some unknown substance, sealed it, and then carefully put it back into her pocket.

Why didn't you call me?

Such a small matter, surely it shouldn't be this big of a deal? But the police must have some special reason for doing this, so Sheng Qing could only explain that the business card was wet and the writing was illegible.

"Give me your phone." Meng Yunxi held out her hand.

How could you so easily hand over something as private as a cell phone to someone else? Sheng Qing remained silent.

Seemingly letting out a sigh, Meng Yunxi added helplessly, "I'll save my phone number for you. Contact me anytime if anything comes up. Okay?"

Sheng Qing then unlocked his phone, accessed the dial pad, and handed it to the other party.

"Okay." Meng Yunxi handed the phone back, then took out her own phone, presumably to save a note.

"If someone knocks on the door again in the middle of the night, remember to contact me immediately. Don't open the door yourself," Meng Yunxi reminded her again before leaving.

Then, Sheng Qing watched helplessly as Meng Yunxi took out her key and opened the door to the room opposite.

"Officer Meng, you live here too?"

"For now." Meng Yunxi closed the door.