Killer Nights

As the night wind blew, A-Jiao did not break off her embrace with Jiang Zhengkai.  She continued to tightly hug his chest.  What Jiang Zhengkai didn’t know was that the real reason A-Jiao closed her eyes wasn’t because she was scared, but because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold back tears.  Of course, there was something else that A-Jiao should’ve done but couldn’t, and that was to vomit.

No, she didn’t vomit.  A-Jiao knew that not doing so might arouse Jiang Zhengkai’s suspicions.  However, she simply didn’t want to do so.  The purpose of her performance was to hide her true ident.i.ty from Jiang Zhengkai for a little while longer.  She wasn’t trying to hide her ident.i.ty forever, like some kind of deep-cover spy.  But she wasn’t going to do anything that might jeopardize the relations.h.i.+p she already had with Jiang Zhengkai.  She was a good actress, which meant that she knew when to quit while she was ahead.

“You feeling any better?” Jiang Zhengkai asked her softly, holding onto her body.  His voice was so gentle, yet powerful.

A-Jiao shook her head lightly.  She still had her face buried in Jiang Zhengkai’s chest.  “Brother Jiang, I’m scared!” she muttered softly.

“Don’t be scared, I’m here,” Jiang Zhengkai rea.s.sured her as he stroked her short hair.  Right now, he had even more reason to believe that Ren Ziyuan really was A-Jiao.  But was that such a bad thing?  Did he not secretly wish in his heart that Ren ZIyuan was in fact A-Jiao?  Of course not!  Every man wanted his woman to have a respectable profession.

Lu Xiaoqiang spent more than an hour crying in front of A-Mei’s corpse.  Finally, the police guards at the morgue came over to console him and politely told him that he had to leave.  As for Jiang Zhengkai and A-Jiao, the two of them held each other tight the entire time.  By now, Jiang Zhengkai’s att.i.tude towards this woman he suspected was A-Jiao was more that of a man’s affection and less that of a professional detective’s vigilance.  He loved A-Jiao, so he hoped she and Ren Ziyuan were one and the same, that the woman in his embrace was indeed A-Jiao.

“Thank you, Inspector Jiang,” said Lu Xiaoqiang as he stepped towards Jiang Zhengkai, all the while wiping away his tears.

“Don’t mention it.”  Jiang Zhengkai s.h.i.+fted his focus from A-Jiao to Lu Xiaoqiang.  He looked at him and regretfully said, “She’s not feeling too well.”

“It’s okay!” Lu Xiaoqiang said between sobs.  “Inspector Jiang, could you talk to the guards so they can make an exception for me?  I’d like to spend the night here and keep vigil over my sister’s soul.”  As he spoke, his tears once again started streaming uncontrollably down his face.

“Alright, let me see what I can do,” remarked Jiang Zhengkai, before he gently patted A-Jiao to tell her he had to go.  He then went straight to the morgue’s duty officers, while A-Jiao took a moment to turn her back on both of them so she could wipe away her own tears.

After Jiang Zhengkai settled Lu Xiaoqiang’s request with the morgue guards, he came back and held A-Jiao as the two of them walked out of the sub-bureau together.  “Brother Jiang, could you not go home tonight?  Could you spend the night with me instead?” A-Jiao softly asked as she was nestled in his embrace.

“Is that… appropriate?” Jiang Zhengkai asked with hesitation.  “Your home…”

“I live by myself,” A-Jiao quietly replied.  “Please come back with me!  I’m… I’m scared…”

“Alright, fine,” Jiang Zhengkai replied with some hesitation, ultimately deciding to accept her invitation.  After all, every day he was noticing more and more things that Ren Ziyuan and A-Jiao had in common.  The one thing he’d thought had set them apart, artistic talent, had become yet one more thing that the two of them actually shared.

“You agree?”  A-Jiao’s eyes seemed to jump for joy when she heard his response.  “Excellent!  Let’s go out somewhere then!”

“It’s already really late.  Where would we go at this hour?” Jiang Zhengkai looked incredulously at her.

“Okay, fine!  But you can’t hog the TV remote once we go back home,” acquiesced A-Jiao as she held onto his arm with both hands and swung it back and forth.

“Haha!  Your house, your rules,” Jiang Zhengkai happily replied.  Even though he wasn’t quite sure what this little witch standing next to him had in store, at that moment, he truly felt like he was with A-Jiao again.

“Okay, this is it, my home!”  A-Jiao arrived at her old house with Jiang Zhengkai.  Besides maybe A-Tao, Jiang Zhengkai was the only man she had brought there.

“This place looks pretty neat!” complimented Jiang Zhengkai as he walked in.  Even though this house was much smaller than the Ju’an Estates condo, Jiang Zhengkai nevertheless felt that the two had much in common.  The interior decoration of both dwellings had a very strong artistic flavor.  Originally, Jiang Zhengkai had thought that the artsy décor of the Ju’an Estates condo had been left behind by its previous owner, but it was now clear to him that the décor was most likely the product of this woman in front of him.

“Really?  You like it?” asked A-Jiao as she took off her high heels and neatly placed them on the shoe stand by the door.  “Brother Jiang, your shoes, please.”  Once she finished, she pulled out a pair of brand new slippers and placed them in front of his feet.

“Can I take a look around?” asked Jiang Zhengkai after he finished putting on the slippers.

“Sure!” came A-Jiao’s voice from the bedroom.  “Brother Jiang, I’m changing right now, so look anywhere but the bedroom!”

“Alright, got it!” Jiang Zhengkai chuckled at her request.  If he really wanted to violate her, would her warning have had any effect at deterring him?  Jiang Zhengkai took a stroll around the house.  He didn’t find anything worth investigating, but then again, A-Jiao had long known Jiang Zhengkai would one day visit this house.  The presence of a brand-new pair of male slippers on the shoe stand proved as much.  Therefore, she would have already hidden anything that could’ve piqued his interest.

“I’m done!” A-Jiao declared as she walked out of the bedroom in her pajamas.  “Brother Jiang, the pajamas on the bed are for you.”  Afterwards, she walked directly into the bathroom, but casually left the door unlatched.

Jiang Zhengkai heard the sound of running water in the bathroom, then glanced at the unlatched door and let out a slight chuckle.  What a truly clever girl she was.  She constantly reminded him not to hurt her, but she also left him plenty of opportunities to do so.  For Jiang Zhengkai, this was both an opportunity and a test.

He walked into the bedroom and obediently put on the pajamas A-Jiao had set out for him before focusing his attention on her dresser.  He knew that in order to understand a woman’s habits, he had to start with her dresser.  The cosmetic products he saw on the dresser were very neatly organized.  He didn’t see any of the cheap stuff prost.i.tutes typically used.  Apparently, this woman was someone who valued the finer things in life.

“I’m done.  It’s your turn,” said A-Jiao as she exited the bathroom.  Her hair wasn’t long, so she didn’t have a need to blowdry it.  As soon as she entered the bedroom, she immediately sat on the bed and turned on the television.  “Come on, hurry up!  What are you still standing around for?”  A-Jiao gave him a light shove to hasten him towards the bathroom.

“Oh, right!”  Jiang Zhengkai had no choice but to obey A-Jiao’s orders.  He got off the bed and went to the bathroom.  Before long, the sound of running water once again filled the bathroom.

A-Jiao sat on her bed and pursed her lips as she carefully listened to the sounds coming out of the bathroom.  She knew Jiang Zhengkai had already started showering.  She quietly left her bed and walked to her dresser, where she opened a secret compartment in her music box and retrieved a pair of colored contact lenses.  She then speedily removed the contacts she was already wearing and replaced them with the ones she had just taken out.  So that was how she was able to change her eye color!

By the time Jiang Zhengkai came back from the bathroom, A-Jiao was long done with changing her contacts.  From Jiang Zhengkai’s point of view, the differences in eye color between A-Jiao and Ren Ziyuan remained: A-Jiao had dark irises, while Ren Ziyuan had light ones.

“Alright, get in bed!” said A-Jiao as she patted the neatly made sheets.  “Brother Jiang, you’re on the left, I’m on the right.  Hurry up!  Star Wars is about to start!”

“Are you… sure?”  Jiang Zhengkai looked at A-Jiao with some amount of hesitation.  He was worried that his determination that A-Jiao and Ren Ziyuan were one and the same might have been mistaken.  If that were the case, and he did sleep with Ren Ziyuan, then there would be no way he could possibly explain himself to A-Jiao.  But if he were really that worried, what the h.e.l.l had he been doing up until now?

“What are you waiting for?  You want me to carry you into bed or something?” A-Jiao asked with  a c.o.c.ked head.  “Come on, hurry up!  I promise I’m not going to rape you.  Besides, I’m having my period right now.”

“Is that right?”  Having heard what she just said, Jiang Zhengkai finally obeyed and got into bed.  As soon as he lay down, A-Jiao moved her body next to his and placed her head on his chest.  “Brother Jiang, can we cuddle?”