The next day after returning to work after the holiday, Xu Man still failed to get up on time because she once again forgot to set the alarm on her mobile phone. The only good thing was that she didn't sleep too deeply and was woken up by the incessant vibration beside the pillow, unlike yesterday, when her lover was at the bedroom door but she was still not awake.
She took the phone in a half-awake state and saw it was 07:13. She woke up immediately and noticed the name of the caller was Qin Shen. She realized that it was Qin Shen who called her, and maybe not the first one. She quickly swiped to answer the call: "Hello? Captain?"
"It's me." A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone, as clear and bright as ever, with a full smile and no hint of impatience, "Xiao Man, are you up?"
"Well, I'm going to get up." Xu Man replied hurriedly, while turning over and getting out of bed, walking to the chair in front of the desk to get the clothes she wanted to wear, "Right away... just wait another fifteen minutes."
Qin Shen knew she had woken up late when he heard her tone of voice. He smiled and answered her question, "Did you oversleep again? What time did you set your alarm?"
"Six forty." Xu Man said, turning on the speaker of her phone and placing it on the table, taking off her nightgown and changing into her bra, "But I forgot to turn it on... I forgot it once the night before last, and I didn't expect to forget it again last night."
There was a laugh from the other end: "Your memory is really bad. I was just wondering if I would have to go upstairs and knock on your door again today. Well, you answered the phone after I called you. It seems like you don't have to worry about being late today."
There was a blatant smile in the other person's words, and it was obvious that he was just joking and not really blaming her, but Xu Man still quickened the pace of changing her clothes. It was okay yesterday, as she went to work alone and was late only for her, but today Qin Shen was going to work with her, and no matter how shameless she was, she was embarrassed to drag him to be late with her.
After washing up as quickly as possible, Xu Man took a look in the mirror to make sure there was no major problem, then hurried out and downstairs. It was exactly 7:30 when she got into Qin Shen's car, only two minutes more than the fifteen-minute limit she had said.
"No need to be so anxious." Seeing that she was out of breath, Qin Shen said to her, "Didn't I tell you that being late for the team is not a big deal? Besides, I will be back to the team from today. It doesn't matter if you don't come for a whole day. Just say hello to me."
"That's impossible." She immediately retorted seriously, "I'm not dating you to get this kind of special treatment."
Qin Shen smiled and started the car, driving forward: "I'm just joking with you, don't take it seriously."
Xu Man was startled, leaned back in her chair, and said angrily: "You always like to mix jokes and serious words together, I can't tell the difference..."
"Then don't be so clear. I like you being so serious." He replied with a smile, "When I saw you at the scene, you looked like you wanted to vomit, but you still forced yourself to investigate with me, and I had a good impression of you. I thought you were really interesting. You must be a good student and a good kid. As expected, I guessed it right."
She was not convinced: "This is how you should treat your work. You should thank me for my seriousness. Otherwise, I would have applied to be transferred to the Municipal Bureau and would not have stayed in the detachment. You would not have had the opportunity to get to know me better."
Qin Shen: "So I'm keeping you here, right? Have breakfast. I forgot to ask you what you wanted to eat this morning, so I brought you some pancakes with sweet sauce and no coriander. Do you want some?"
"I'll eat later." Xu Man frowned and stroked her chest. "I ran too fast just now. I feel a little uncomfortable now. I don't have much appetite... Let's eat when we get to the team."
"So I told you not to worry. Being late isn't a big deal." Qin Shen frowned when he heard her say that. He reminded her with a look of concern and reproach, "Don't forget to set the alarm today, or you'll have to get up in a hurry tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll call you at 7 o'clock in the future, to act as your artificial alarm."
"No thanks," she declined quickly, "I'll set the alarm now and I won't oversleep tomorrow."
As she spoke, she took out her phone, called up the alarm interface, and set the alarm for 6:40 on weekdays. Qin Shen glanced at her while waiting for the red light and asked curiously, "I thought you would remember to turn on the alarm after you overslept yesterday. How come you forgot it again?"
Xu Man blushed and murmured, "I just accidentally forgot..."
In fact, she did remember it last night, but just when she opened her phone to set the alarm, Tian Si sent her two photos of Qin Shen and talked about her lover. It was that conversation that made her completely forget what she was originally going to do.
Although it was her first time to fall in love, she had a childhood friend like Tian Si who had seen a lot of things, and with the highly developed Internet culture, it would be a lie to say that she didn't know what would happen between a couple in love.
But knowing is one thing, and having it pointed out to you and having to face it personally is another.
Didn't she have a rough idea about living with Qin Shen before Tian Si pointed it out? What exactly does it mean to agree to live together? Has she really never thought about it at all?
No, she knew, but she only had a vague concept. Tian Si's words tore off the fog that shrouded it, forcing her to face it head-on.
Of course, it’s not that she doesn’t want to have a further relationship with Qin Shen, but... after all, this is her first time experiencing something like this. Rather than being nervous, she feels more at a loss. She doesn’t know what attitude to adopt to face it. Naturally, she feels a little confused and it’s difficult for her to take care of other things.
Of course, she couldn't explain such a reason to Qin Shen, so she could only give a vague answer. Fortunately, Qin Shen didn't think too much about her answer. He probably just asked it casually, so he just listened to her answer and didn't take it to heart.
She was relieved about this, but also felt a little guilty. Thinking of her conversation with Tian Si about living together last night, her face couldn't stop getting hot.
What about preparing a set of pajamas, washing yourself clean and smelling good... What kind of nonsense is that...
Does she, does she really want to do that? …
…
The case in the scenic spot was forced into the public eye because of the popularity of Qin Shen, the "most handsome criminal policeman in the country". The superiors issued a requirement to solve the case as soon as possible. However, Qin Shen did not increase the intensity of the investigation. He still followed the original pace, conducting the investigation in an orderly manner and gradually finding out various information.
The deceased did not have any identification documents on him, but through surveillance screening at the scenic spot's ticket entrance, it was discovered that he was using an electronic ticket. After checking the effective time of the electronic ticket, his identity was quickly confirmed.
Cheng Yao, 32 years old, is from Qingzhou and currently lives in Jiangzhou. He is the founder and general manager of Yingke Network Technology. He runs three physical retail stores in Qingzhou. He is married and has one son.
"...The ticket purchase records within the scenic area show that the deceased used his ID card to purchase two electronic tickets, both of which were issued on August 6, the day he died, and the effective dates were also one before the other. In other words, the deceased did not go up the mountain alone, but was accompanied by someone."
A surveillance screenshot appeared on the projection screen, zooming in on the deceased. One could vaguely see a man holding a woman on his left hand. The woman was wearing a baseball cap and had her head lowered, so her face could not be seen clearly.
"From the surveillance footage, the deceased was accompanied by a young woman. The two of them had entered a souvenir shop at the foot of the mountain. They did not buy anything, but the shop's surveillance camera captured the woman's face."
The color image on the screen turned into a clearer black-and-white surveillance video. The woman in the video was holding the arm of the deceased and looking up at the hanging commercial wind chimes. This scene was captured on camera. She had bangs, girlish makeup, and a bit of purity. She did not look very old.
"…I guess he is around 20 to 25 years old, no older than 30."
"Is it the deceased's wife?" Qin Shen asked.
The reporting police officer flipped through the documents and shook his head: "We have compared it with the deceased's wife, and it doesn't look like her."
"Maybe it is." Zhu Zhuo interrupted, "Don't they say that a woman looks like a different person once she changes her makeup? The ID photo doesn't look like her to begin with, so it's possible that she won't be recognized if she puts on makeup and changes her clothes."
Li Shijie has a different opinion on this: "No, no, no, I think she is more like a mistress. Look at her movements, she is obviously clinging to the deceased, with a bit of a fawning attitude. Only mistresses do this. Wives treat their men as free laborers and order them around. How can they be so docile?"
"You are showing prejudice and discrimination against women." Zhao Jia was unhappy. "Can't a wife be like a little bird? Must she be a shrew?"
"But she looked—"
"Shut up." Qin Shen interrupted the quarrel between the two, glanced lazily at the projection screen, and asked the reporter, "Tell me about the situation of the deceased's wife."
The reporter turned over a page of the document: "The deceased's wife is named Yu Wei, 31 years old, also from Qingzhou, and settled in Jiangzhou with the deceased. She is currently unemployed. The child she gave birth to with the deceased is named Cheng Tian, who is seven years old this year, has just graduated from kindergarten, and is about to enter the first grade of elementary school."
"What does she look like?"
A new ID photo appeared on the projection screen and was placed together with the screenshot of the souvenir shop surveillance for comparison.
Qin Shen only took a glance and shook his head and said, "It's not her."
Xu Man was also looking at the photo. Before she started to compare it carefully, she subconsciously asked after hearing his conclusion, "Why can't it be her?"
After she said this, she realized that they were in a meeting, not a private chat, and she felt a little embarrassed. Fortunately, Zhu Zhuo immediately echoed her, "Yes, why couldn't it be her? Captain Qin, aren't you too absolute?", which diverted some of her attention and prevented her from becoming the focus of everyone's attention.
Qin Shen looked at her and explained patiently: "The shape of the ear of the deceased's wife is completely different from the ear of the woman in the surveillance video. Unless she had plastic surgery, they are definitely not the same person."
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