Chapter 3
Cen Zhao certainly didn't dare to raise an army to question him, but the coat was still in Shen Liuchi's hands, so Cen Zhao still had the courage to ask for the clothes back.
Unfortunately, the bar closed down and Boss Shen disappeared.
Cen Zhao sat in the car, staring at the dark storefront and clicking his tongue. Beside him, Zeng Baoguo couldn't stop laughing. When he had enough, he started the car again and stepped on the accelerator: "Let's go, Uncle Cen. Let's stop waiting so long."
It was past the rush hour and there were not many cars on the road. Zeng Baoguo was steering and chatting with Cen Zhao.
After leaving the Municipal Bureau, neither of them liked to talk about the case. During the time in the car, they just chatted about some gossip and family matters. The topic naturally turned back to Cen Zhao and Shen Liuchi.
Zeng Baoguo was a straight man with a big, burly figure. His only understanding of this group was that 'my buddy seems to be'. Naturally, he scratched his head as they started chatting: "Are you serious, or are you just flirting? I don't think there's anything special about Boss Shen, isn't he just a bit handsome?"
Cen Zhao closed his eyes and smiled: "Isn't that enough?"
Zeng Baoguo, though straight, had surprisingly good taste. He was the kind of guy his girlfriend would let him pick out clothes and bags with when they went shopping. His compliment of "handsome" made Cen Zhao feel even more relieved.
Zeng Baoguo was amused: "You're acting so cool with a crappy work number. Cen Zhao, did Boss Shen give you some fake alcohol in this bar yesterday?"
Cen Zhao said, "What do you know? This is called having hope."
Zeng Baoguo sighed, still trying to be stubborn.
The car drove into the residential complex and continued to the ground floor of Cen Zhao's apartment. Cen Zhao lived in an older residential complex, not as grand and organized as modern newer communities, but almost every household was occupied, and light streamed through the windows, giving it a lively feel.
"Why don't you move out?"
Zeng Baoguo followed him out of the car. It was too late and he was too lazy to cook for himself, so he just had some noodles at Cen Zhao's place and lingered for a while. Maybe he could even sleep on the sofa for a night. Then he wouldn't have to get up early tomorrow and could still arrive at the Municipal Bureau before nine o'clock.
Cen Zhao let him follow him upstairs, took out his key and unlocked the door: "I'm moving out, who are you going to live with for free?"
As he spoke, he poked the key into the door lock again, pressed the door handle down for a few seconds, and turned the key at the same time. Finally, he successfully opened the old iron door. Hearing the door hinge creak, Cen Zhao thought to himself: "It seems like it's time to move."
If I invite Boss Shen to my house one day, the screaming iron gate will ruin the atmosphere.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing again, thinking that he didn't even have the other person's real number and was still thinking divergently. Was he crazy from working overtime?
It was late and Cen Zhao was too lazy to cook, so he made a pot of instant noodles to send Zeng Baoguo away and went to bed on time at 11 o'clock.
Leaning against the headboard, Cen Zhao thought for a moment and opened Chen Liuchi's work WeChat again. His words "Hello, Boss Shen" were still hanging on the page, looking lonely.
It would be a lie to say that Cen Zhao had no objection, but when he thought of Chen Liuchi's smile with crescent eyes that day, he calmed down. After all, he was using his beauty to commit a crime, so it was only right to be patient with the handsome guy.
What's more, he later learned from the kids in the police station that the bar was a gay bar, so he should not have misunderstood Chen Liuchi's advances.
So, what went wrong?
Not only Cen Zhao was wondering about this question, but Chenliuchi was also puzzled.
For several days in a row, whenever he had free time, he would take out his cell phone to take a look and then continue to wonder.
It's been so long, why hasn't he come to join him yet? Is it that Forensic Doctor Cen doesn't have the heart to do that, and he's just worrying too much?
In short, I never expected that the reason would be caused by myself.
Chen Du's flight was on Friday, but due to weather delays, the flight didn't land until after nine in the evening. Chen Liuchi was there to pick people up at the airport, and Chen Du was all alone.
"Where is Xin Xin?" Chen Liuchi was quite curious. These two have always been inseparable, but now Chen Du is actually left alone one day.
"He has an art exhibition over there and can't leave. He can only fly over next week." Chen Du had a good rest on the plane and was in high spirits. He put his arm around Chen Liuchi's shoulder and said, "Let's go check out our Deadly Bar."
The sinking pool told him to get out and said something auspicious.
As he was joking around, his cell phone suddenly vibrated. Chen Liuchi immediately took it out to check and almost hit Chen Du's chin with his elbow.
Chen Du was so smart that he immediately realized something was wrong and looked at the sinking pool with squinted eyes.
It was just a KFC advertisement. Chen Liuchi pursed his lips, turned off his phone, and looked up to meet Chen Du's meaningful gaze.
"What are you looking at?"
Chen Du didn't waste time talking to him and said directly: "You have a problem."
"Do you know the last time I was so nervous I couldn't bear to miss a call or text?"
Seeing Chen Liuchi's expressionless face and his refusal to admit his mistake, Chen Du sighed artificially, "It was when Xin Xin went to the island to sketch and was caught in a tropical storm and lost contact for three days. To be frank, I wanted to sew my phone to my body and be ready 24 hours a day. You're a bit like me now."
Chenliuchi glanced at him, but did not deny that there was something wrong with the statement.
He did have a problem. He took out his cell phone eight hundred times a day and even strolled around the city police station twice during rush hours. He almost got caught by the security guard as an illegal criminal.
But why can't I meet him?
It was getting late, so the two of them had a quick bite near the airport. Chen Du lived in Yujing Garden, but he gave Chenliuchi an unfamiliar location.
"What are you doing? Are you so crazy because Xin Xin is not here?" Chen Liuchi glanced at the destination, an old residential area not far from the airport.
Chen Du shook his phone and said, "My wife told me to go to their old house and get the album."
Chen Liuchi was a little surprised. He had always thought that Xin Xin was an ABC who immigrated overseas early, but he didn't expect that he was actually a local native.
It was nearly eleven o'clock when they arrived at the gate of the community. The security of the old community was pretty good. Outsiders had to register to enter. Chenliuchi was too lazy to bother with that, so he found a roadside parking spot and let Chen Du go in to get his things by himself.
He was bored and drew a map, and found that this community was quite close to the Municipal Bureau, just across the street. If it weren't for the unfortunate timing, he would have liked to stroll over to see if there was any chance of encountering them.
The battery on his phone was less than 10 percent. It was all because of Chen Du's late flight that he had to play Candy Crush for two hours at the airport.
I searched the armrest box but couldn't find the charging cable, so I had to get out of the car and go to a nearby convenience store to see if there were any shared power banks.
After walking for nearly a hundred meters, only a shop selling sesame cakes had its lights on. This is the old city area, and there are not many shops open 24 hours a day.
Chen Liuchi walked into the pancake shop with a give-it-a-give attitude. There was an old man in his sixties or seventies sitting inside, speaking in a dialect. Chen Liuchi talked and gestured to him for a long time, but didn't understand a word he said.
Seeing that the battery power had dropped to 5%, Chenliuchi had no patience to continue playing guessing games with the old man, so he quickly turned around and walked back, fearing that Chen Du would not be able to find him when he came out.
As soon as he turned his head, before he could take a step, his head hit a hard shoulder.
Chen Liuchi paused, his toes getting stuck on the steps at the door of the store. He staggered forward and fell out as if throwing himself into someone's arms.
But he didn't fall too far, and someone pulled him back by holding his shoulders after only two inches.
"Feel sorry."
The person opposite said: "Did it scare you?"
Chen Liuchi suddenly stopped trying to escape from the other person's arms, looked up, and said in surprise: "Cen Zhao?"
Cen Zhao was wearing a dark cotton pullover that looked like pajamas. He must have just showered; his hair still smelled of shampoo, something like jasmine. Chen Liuchi sniffed it gently and confirmed it was some kind of floral scent. Compared to the Cen Zhao in the bar, the Cen Zhao before him felt completely different: comfortable and at home.
"Why are you here?" Chenliuchi asked.
Cen Zhao didn't answer immediately, but first lowered his head to look at Chen Liuchi's feet: "Did it hit you?"
Chen Liuchi was wearing sneakers today, and the toes were soft, so his toes did hit the steps a little, but it wasn't a big deal. He asked again, "Why are you here? Do you live around here?"
Cen Zhao nodded and pointed to the location of the old neighborhood: "After taking a shower, the water at home was cut off. I came down to buy some drinking water."
After answering, he naturally asked, "Does Boss Shen also live nearby?"
Chen Liuchi shook his head: "I came here with a friend."
Cen Zhao said "oh" and asked, "Didn't you have dinner tonight?"
He lowered his voice a little, leaned closer, and whispered something in a whisper: "Their sesame cakes are a bit hard, not very tasty, and they hurt my teeth."
Chen Liuchi suppressed his laughter and subconsciously patted Cen Zhao on the shoulder, meaning, why do you say bad things without avoiding others?
Cen Zhao understood what he meant and led his men out of the shop. After walking a few meters, he said, "If you want to buy it during the day, you can, but you should eat something easily digestible at night."
Chen Liuchi then explained: "No, I wanted to see if there was any shared power bank here. I'm about to lose connection." As he spoke, he shook his phone. The battery was at 3%, which was in danger of being wasted.
Cen Zhao looked at the page on his mobile phone, and the lonely words "Hello, Mr. Shen" flashed through his mind again.
But now is obviously not the time to "raise an army and hold someone accountable". The atmosphere is quite good, so Cen Zhao would not do anything tactless.
“There’s no 24-hour convenience store around here.”
Seeing Chenliuchi still looking around, Cen Zhao thought for a moment, "When I came here, I saw that the small shop by the side gate of the community was still open. Should I go over and take a look?"
Chen Liuchi nodded naturally and followed Cen Zhao back. He was slightly behind by a shoulder and could see the back of Cen Zhao's hairy head with a side glance.
Cen Zhao had just taken a shower, so naturally he didn't have his hair done. His hair stuck up unruly at the back of his head, and the naturally curly hair looked a bit fuzzy, not as calm as Cen Zhao himself.
Chen Liuchi stared at him unconsciously for a long time until the other party said "unfortunately" and then he came to his senses. He looked up and saw that the small shop was closed and the lights were turned off.
"It's almost twelve o'clock."
Cen Zhao was a little frustrated: "There are few young people living in old neighborhoods, and there are basically no shops open late nearby."
Chenliuchi glanced at his phone and saw that it was turned off.
Cen Zhao followed his gaze and saw the black-screened phone, but he really couldn't conjure up a power bank with his bare hands.
The two stood at the entrance of the community looking at each other for a while. The awkward atmosphere made Chen Liuchi want to laugh again.
"How about you..."
"It's getting late..."
After a few seconds, they both spoke and stopped talking.
After staring at each other for a few seconds, they couldn't help but laugh. Chen Liuchi took the opportunity to ask, "What do you want to say? Or what?"
Cen Zhao looked at him, his eyes still straight, straight and gentle, without any scrutiny or sizing. Even though he was staring at him like that, it didn't make people feel uncomfortable.
"How about you come to my house?"
Cen Zhao just stared at the sinking pond, his light-colored pupils appearing bright under the streetlight:
"I have a charging cable and a power bank at home. It's 200 meters away, a three-minute walk."
"Boss Shen, what do you say?"
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