Xu Man went upstairs and opened the door with the key given by the landlord.
The room had not been tidied yet, the shoe cabinet at the entrance was empty, and there were no slippers to change into, so she walked into the bedroom in her sandals, put the key on the bedding, and sat on the edge of the bed.
Qin Shen's words downstairs just now gave her a big fright. For a moment, she almost thought that the captain of the criminal investigation team had some intention towards her, but his tone and expression were very calm, as if he was discussing the weather, without any fluctuations. She knew she was overthinking.
Perhaps this care did not come from his original intention, but came from the advice of the elders. After all, their mothers had a deep friendship. She came to Minnesota alone and worked under him. It was a very normal thing for her mother to ask Aunt Jiang to take care of her, and Aunt Jiang asked him to take care of her.
That's why he took extra care of me, taking care of me from the moment I arrived at the scene to the moment I was sent home.
Of course she refused such care. She couldn't have the nerve to accept the kindness from her elders. If that happened, the elders would be dissatisfied and she would feel embarrassed. The relationship between the two sides would become strained, which would be a bad thing.
So she politely declined. After being rejected, Qin Shen didn't say much. He simply said goodbye to her and drove away. This further proved her guess that his care for her was asked by others and not from the heart.
This discovery made Xu Man a little discouraged, but she soon cheered up. No one in this world would be nice to anyone for no reason. It was a good thing to find a reason, otherwise she would really suspect whether Qin Shen had some ulterior motives towards her.
At the same time, she felt a sense of loss. She thought she had finally made some progress in interpersonal communication, but she didn't expect that it was because of others, not her own efforts. Sigh...
Fortunately, her captain herself is not a difficult person to get along with. In a few days, we should be able to become familiar with each other, right?
Xu Man thought uncertainly.
She fell back and lay on the bed, staring blankly at the fluorescent light above her head.
She rented a boutique apartment, which was perfectly decorated and equipped with all the necessary appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators. She only needed to stock up on some daily necessities, and it was just like what was said in the commercial housing advertisements. Once the payment was completed, she could move in with her luggage. But she was hurriedly called out when she had only packed half of her luggage. Now the suitcase was opened and placed aside, and only a part of the clothes inside had been taken out and piled up in the corner of the bed waiting for her to sort it out, but she really didn't have the heart to do so.
After traveling for a whole morning, running around the site for a whole afternoon, and attending a meeting all night, even a strong man could not bear it, let alone her. Now she is physically and mentally exhausted. She just wants to sleep until dawn and doesn't want to worry about things like cleaning the room.
The sound of the air conditioner was heard softly in the room. Xu Man lay on the bed for more than ten minutes before she struggled to get up. She found shower gel and facial cleanser from the box, took her clean clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
The sweat she had produced from running around the site all afternoon had been dried in the conference room, but the short ten minutes or so she had just stood downstairs made her sweat again. She felt sticky and uncomfortable, and she would feel uncomfortable if she didn't wash it off.
After taking a shower, it was almost ten o'clock. Xu Man had to arrive at the detachment before eight o'clock the next day, so she planned to go to bed early. But before going to bed, she picked up her phone for the last time, opened the call page, and checked who called her during the meeting.
The caller was as expected, it was her mother Tang Yourong.
After thinking for a while, she thought the other party should not be asleep at this time, so she called back. Sure enough, after a few beeps, the other party answered the call.
"Hello? Xiao Man, why didn't you answer the phone just now?" Tang Yourong's first question was to inquire about the missed call, "Is there something wrong?"
Xu Man hummed, "I'm in a meeting."
"Meeting? What kind of meeting?"
"Case discussion meeting... I plan to work in the detachment for the next few days. If I feel it's okay, I will intern in the team. If it's still not okay, I will transfer to the Municipal Bureau."
"Work in the detachment first? Does your captain agree?"
"He was the one who proposed it," Xu Man said. "I thought the suggestion was okay, so I agreed to give it a try."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.
"Xiao Man." Tang Yourong's voice sounded hesitantly, "Is your captain... interested in you?"
Xu Man felt her face getting a little hot. It wasn't because she was shy because her secrets were revealed, but it was the normal reaction every girl would have when being told these things. She felt embarrassed and ashamed, and maybe even a little guilty. After all, she was the one who mistakenly thought that the other person was interested in her, and her mother thought the same thing as her. It was really a weird synchronization of thoughts.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" She said in a low voice, "It was just an ordinary suggestion, how come you think you are interested in me?"
"Really?" Tang Yourong didn't sound very convinced. "He's not interested in you, but he invited you to dinner and asked you to stay in the team?"
Not only did they invite your daughter to dinner, they also sent her back home.
Xu Man muttered in her heart, but she didn't say it out loud. If she did, her mother's personality would probably spread to some planet. She could only say, "Aren't you and Aunt Jiang good friends? His mother must have asked him to take care of me. Mom, don't think too much. I haven't graduated yet, so it's too early for such things."
Tang Yourong sighed on the other end of the phone: "You will be a senior at the beginning of the school year, and graduation is not far away. It's too late to think about these things. It's also your dad's fault. He is too strict about these things. He doesn't let you fall in love even though you are in college. He said he is afraid that you will be cheated by others. But if you don't have a few relationships in school, won't it be easier to fall into trouble when you enter the society? Listen to mom. If you really like someone, just feel free to talk to him/her boldly, don't worry about your dad."
"It's not all because of Dad." Xu Man rolled up her hair and recalled her life in the past three years of college. "I have no interest in boys in college..."
"Then are you interested in Captain Qin?"
"Mom." Xu Man said coquettishly, "If you say that again, I will be angry."
"Okay, okay, mom won't say anything more." Tang Yourong said soothingly, "So what have you been doing in the detachment these days?"
"Um."
"You're working in the detachment today too? How do you feel? Are you tired?"
"Not bad, a little tired, but I didn't work overtime today. The captain asked me to come back early." Xu Man replied, "I happened to encounter a case today. I will follow up the case from beginning to end. I will decide whether to stay or leave after it is over, so I may be a little busy."
"Then you should have a good rest." Tang Yourong advised, "Mom asked Aunt Jiang, and she said that her son has not had a normal life since he started working as a criminal investigator, and it's been very hard. Don't force yourself. If you feel you can't bear it anymore, just ask for help. You weren't asked to do criminal investigation in the first place."
"Yeah, I know." Xu Man smiled, her heart warmed, "I will take good care of myself, don't worry, Mom."
The mother and daughter exchanged a few more words and then ended the call. Xu Man set the alarm clock, packed the things she would take and the clothes she would wear tomorrow, then turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. After a busy day, she quickly fell asleep and slept without dreams until dawn.
At seven o'clock in the morning, she was awakened by the alarm on her mobile phone. She got up, brushed her teeth, washed up, put on her clothes and took her bag.
With yesterday's experience, she did not wear a skirt today. Instead, she wore a white short-sleeved top and denim shorts. She also changed her shoes to sneakers for easier mobility. The backpack was still the same one from yesterday. After making sure that there was nothing missing, she went out and went downstairs, bought a bun for breakfast, and went to catch the early bus.
The bus stop is just opposite the entrance to the community, but there is no direct route to the Criminal Investigation Detachment. One needs to change buses halfway, which takes about half an hour. She was in a hurry yesterday and did not take the bus. Today she got up early on purpose and had plenty of time, so she chose this mode of travel. Sure enough, although it took a little longer, because she left very early, she arrived at the detachment just after 7:40.
The guard on duty at the gate let her in after she showed him her temporary ID.
In the lobby, she met Li Shijie, who was holding a breakfast bag. Before she could even say hello, Li Shijie walked towards her as if he had seen a savior: "Hey, Junior Sister, you're here just in time. Do you have anything to do? Help me deliver this breakfast upstairs. The Intelligence Department wants to talk to me about something, and I really can't spare the time. Thank you very much."
Without waiting for Xu Man to say anything, Li Shijie stuffed all the bags in his hand into her arms: "These steamed buns and soy milk are for Group 1, and this portion of pancakes and milk is for Brother Qin. Have you had breakfast? If not, just take one from the bags. I'm leaving now. I'll thank you later."
After stuffing his breakfast and talking, Li Shijie ran away quickly without even giving Xu Man a chance to say a word. Xu Man had no choice but to carry the breakfast that fell from the sky upstairs and go into a group office to distribute it.
When she stepped into the office door, she felt a little embarrassed because she had never done anything that required shouting loudly. She was carrying more than a dozen bags of breakfast in her hands and didn't know how to distribute them.
Zhao Jia was sharp-eyed and caught a glimpse of the breakfast bag in her hand. She immediately stood up and walked towards her, and spoke for her.
"Why are you the one delivering breakfast? Were you cheated by that guy Li Shijie? He owed us all a meal. He was stingy enough just treating us to steamed buns and soy milk. He wouldn't trick you into paying for it, would he?"
Xu Man smiled quickly: "No. I met Senior Brother Li downstairs. The Intelligence Department wanted to see him for something, and he didn't have time to come up, so he asked me to bring him here." It was Li Shijie who asked her to call him Senior Brother. She didn't want to call him that at first, but she was so happy to be called Junior Sister that she felt embarrassed to call him by his name, so she just called him that.
"He went to the Intelligence Department?" Zhu Zhuo came over with a smile and took a bag of buns and soy milk from Xu Man. "Isn't he known as a traitor to the Intelligence Department? What did Team Leader Feng say before? If he dares to go to the Intelligence Department, he will be taught a profound lesson to let him understand what it means to be a member of the Intelligence Department in life and a dead person in death."
"Why don't you go down and take a look?"
"I'll eat a bun first. Damn, why is that guy so stingy? The buns are filled with vegetarian stuffing and not even any meat!"
Li Shijie's move to the Intelligence Department triggered a wave of discussion. Most of the breakfast in Xu Man's hand was divided up amid the laughter of the crowd. There were still three or four bags left, which were all placed on Li Shijie's desk. The remaining pancakes and milk were for Qin Shen, so Xu Man took them and delivered them to Qin Shen's office.
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