"Okay, it's my fault this time. Next time you bring that girl here, I promise I won't say anything but praise you for being handsome, smart, capable, and having a promising future. I promise that the girl's impression of you will improve immediately."
The boss answered with a smile, scooped two spoonfuls of chicken soup onto the tofu pudding, and sprinkled a handful of seasonings on it. Soon, two bowls of fragrant and tender tofu pudding were ready, put on a tray, and pushed out of the glass window.
"Hey," he continued gossiping, "How long have you been pursuing this girl? How's the progress?"
"Not long." Qin Shen replied vaguely, "It's going well, just so-so, so-so." He warned him again, "If I bring her here again in the future, you have to be careful and don't say anything. She's quite shy, be careful not to scare her away if you say anything."
"I know." The boss waved his hand with a smile, and buried his head in making pancakes. "I will only say good things about you in front of girls. If it really doesn't work, I won't say a word. Is that okay? Don't worry too much. Girls nowadays like your style. You are good-looking, handsome, and a policeman. A few days ago, a few girls came to me and asked if I knew who the handsome guy who often bought pancakes from me was. They also showed me the photos they took of you secretly. Wow, you are really amazing."
"You told them?"
"I didn't say anything in detail. I just said that you often come to my shop to buy breakfast. If I want to know more about your personal information, I have to ask you yourself." The boss quickly spread a layer of sweet sauce on the pancake dough, sprinkled it with scallions, and rolled it into a square shape. A pancake was ready. He put it in a bag and handed it to Qin Shen, "Here, everything is ready."
Qin Shen took it, said thank you, put it on the tray together with the tofu pudding, and walked towards Xu Man.
Xu Man sat on the stool, not fiddling with her phone, nor looking at the scenery outside the window. Her eyes were fixed on Qin Shen, watching him greeting the boss. However, due to the distance, she could not hear clearly what they were saying. She could only guess based on their body movements. It looked like they were just having an ordinary chat, the two of them talking and laughing, and they seemed very familiar with each other.
She found that she couldn't take her eyes off Qin Shen. He was just standing there, leaning against the wall and casually chatting with the shop owner, but she couldn't move away. She kept staying on his smiling face, like a magnet, attracting her attention infinitely.
Seeing him taking the breakfast bag from the shop owner and walking towards her with the tray in his hand, she quickly retracted her gaze and pretended to look down at her phone until he approached. Then she raised her head, stood up as if she had just noticed him, took one of the bowls of tofu pudding and put it on the table to reduce the weight in his hand.
There was a chopstick holder and a spoon and bowl on the dining table. She took out a spoon and handed it to Qin Shen, then took another and put it in her own bowl, then sat down face to face with him and started eating.
The bowl of tofu pudding is very large and the portion is generous. The golden chicken soup is poured over the tender white tofu cubes and topped with a variety of condiments. It is a feast for the eyes, with good color, aroma and flavor. Xu Man used a spoon to break up the tofu, mixed it all together, scooped up a spoonful of it along with the soup, and took a sip carefully. The taste is very fresh, it is the pure taste of water tofu pudding.
"How is it?" Qin Shen looked at her. "Is it to your taste? Is it different from the ones you have back home?"
She swallowed the soup, smiled and nodded, and said, "It's quite similar, there's not much difference, except that the seasonings in Jiangzhou are not as abundant as here, and the taste is lighter. The ones here are a little fresher and more delicious."
"Then eat more." Qin Shen smiled and imitated her to break up the tofu cubes and stir them. "If you like it, I'll bring you here when I'm free in the future."
Xu Man's smile faded. "This isn't good," she lowered her eyes and said softly, "I can't always trouble you like this."
"It's okay. We just came here to have breakfast together. It's only a few steps away and won't take much time." Qin Shen just thought she was being normally reserved. He was prepared for this and gave a plausible excuse. He never expected that what he had just said had caused a serious misunderstanding on the other party. The two of them now had completely different ideas and were not on the same channel at all.
Xu Man didn't say anything else. She was not a talkative person to begin with. Hearing him speak so easily, as if it was just a trivial matter, she smiled slightly and continued to eat her tofu pudding with her head down. However, her mood was completely different from when he invited her last night.
Qin Shen took care of her like this because of Aunt Jiang, not out of his own will. Naturally, she couldn't be happy because it not only meant that he didn't have that kind of intention towards her, but also meant that she was a trouble to him and a responsibility forced upon him by his elders.
Realizing this, Xu Man felt a little sad, but she did not show her disappointment and continued to eat her breakfast as usual. She was only a little more polite and courteous to Qin Shen when she spoke, trying her best to express that she was not noisy or annoying.
Qin Shen was a little happy at first, thinking that she had agreed to his proposal. But after chatting for a few words, he felt that something was wrong. Why did her attitude towards him suddenly become distant?
He felt a little guilty and wondered if he was too impatient and should take it more step-by-step. I didn't dare to ask rashly, for fear that I would overthink it and it would seem awkward if I asked.
The two finished their breakfast in such a strange atmosphere and returned to the detachment.
After arriving at the detachment, Xu Man went to the parking yard and took back her bag from Qin Shen's car. On the way, she met one or two colleagues from the team, both of whom were unfamiliar police officers from other groups. When they saw her taking out the shoulder bag from Qin Shen's car, their expressions became a little strange. However, since Qin Shen was standing aside, they didn't say anything extra. They just said hello and left.
Her main job today was to check the surveillance. This work was originally done in the intelligence room, but since most people were doing this job today, the intelligence room could not accommodate so many people, so she changed to watching it on her own computer. So she and Qin Shen walked from the hall to the second-floor corridor. However, it was the time for shift change, and there were many people coming and going in the hall. Many people went up to the second floor with them, and greeted Qin Shen in twos and threes as they passed by, just like every ordinary working morning, so there was no weird atmosphere like in the parking lot.
"Morning, Captain Qin."
"Morning, Captain Qin."
"Captain Qin, good morning."
Greetings like these continued one after another, bringing a sense of relaxation and casualness to the busyness. Xu Man found that she really liked this atmosphere.
After arriving at a group office and talking to the team member in charge of coordinating and distributing surveillance videos, she sat down at her workstation, turned on her computer and logged into the intranet, putting all those miscellaneous little emotions behind her and staring at the surveillance video intently.
The morning passed quickly. After the shift change at noon, she and Zhao Jia went to the cafeteria together. They discussed the case while eating, focusing on the matter of Lu Yajun coming over in the afternoon.
Due to Zhao Jia's speech yesterday that shocked the whole audience, Lu Yajun's identity changed from a classmate of the deceased to an important suspect related to the case. Qin Shen specially assigned people to investigate the activities of her family. After more than ten hours of continuous investigation, he really found a lot of clues one after another. Just like he said in the meeting last night, the case is about to be solved.
Now, everyone was waiting for Lu Yajun's arrival. While she was coming to be questioned, Deputy Captain Chen Kangquan would also bring people to her home to verify and search. They would act on both ends at the same time. Because the matter of contacting Lu Yajun was handled by Xu Man and Zhao Jia together, the job of receiving her fell on the two of them. Lu Yajun came at 1:30 in the afternoon, and the two discussed the matter during the lunch break.
When this matter was mentioned, Xu Man was a little bit unbelievable. How could such a polite and sensible child be a cruel murderer? But on second thought, it was not impossible. She had heard of many classic cases in school. Many murderers were not always vicious in their daily lives. Some even looked elegant. Although Lu Yajun looked young, weak and polite, she might not be a murderer.
There was one thing she was very curious about. If Lu Yajun was really the murderer, then what was her reason for killing Zhang Xiaojuan? What kind of hatred could make her kill her classmate and do such a cruel thing as dismembering him?
At 1:37 p.m., Lu Yajun was sent to the Criminal Investigation Brigade by her parents. Xu Man and Zhao Jia were waiting at the door. After Lu Yajun got off the car, Xu Man walked up to her and led her to the hall, while Zhao Jia was responsible for communicating with Lu Yajun's parents.
Just like yesterday, Lu Yajun was polite and calm when facing them, with a smile on her face the whole time. She even greeted Xu Man and called her "Hello, police sister" in a friendly manner.
Xu Man also smiled at her, but this smile was different from the one she gave her yesterday.
She led Lu Yajun to the interrogation room on the first floor.
As a citizen, you don't need to go to the interrogation room to assist the police in the investigation. You can just conduct relevant questioning in the office. However, although Lu Yajun was invited here in the name of assisting in the investigation, as evidence was gradually collected, her identity in this case underwent a major change, from a person related to the case to a suspect. The place for the questioning was decided by Qin Shen and was set in the interrogation room.
There was a table in the interrogation room, with one chair and two chairs on both sides. The lone chair was located in the middle of the room. Xu Man asked Lu Yajun to sit on that chair, turned on the computer and the camera on the table, and adjusted the angle of view towards her.
Lu Yajun sat upright, watching her actions with some curiosity: "Police sister, do you have anything else to ask me?"
Xu Man did not answer, but raised her head and said: "The interrogation will be conducted under the camera. All your actions and answers will be recorded. Can you accept this?"
Lu Yajun looked a little nervous, but she quickly adjusted her expression, smiled and nodded. "Can."
Xu Man smiled at her, said "Please wait a moment", and walked towards the door. Just as she was about to reach out to turn the handle, the door was opened from the outside.
Qin Shen was standing outside. When he saw her, he raised his eyebrows slightly: "Did you bring the person?"
She nodded: "Everything is ready."
"Yeah." He replied calmly, walked in and closed the door. "I'll ask, you listen and take notes."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
