Jiao said nothing on the way home, but the moment Jiang Zhengkai and Jiao entered the house, Jiao took off her high-heels and placed them neatly on the shoe rack. Then, she slipped off to the bedroom instead of showering or cooking dinner. She covered herself with the blanket and held her legs up to her chest while staring blankly into s.p.a.ce.
“What’s the matter?” Jiang Zhengkai changed into his slippers, rinsed his mouth and washed his face before entering the bedroom. “Honey, are you still upset about the matter with the surveillance cameras?”
“Humph! You knew!” Jiao exclaimed in a slightly sobbing tone. “You! You knew that there was going to be surveillance, but you didn’t let me know ahead of time.”
“Didn’t you also know this beforehand?” Jiang Zhengkai wanted to wrap Jiao into a hug in his arms, but Jiao violently twisted her body and contorted her shoulders to avoid his touch. “Humph! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Don’t touch me. Aren’t you guys going to keep records of the surveillance? Now it makes me feel like I am going to be in a p.o.r.nographic movie.”
“Don’t worry! I have already spoken to the technology department. The camera lens that we’ll be using are frosted. They won’t be able to see any details of what we’ll be doing,” Jiang Zhengkai smiled as he comforted Jiao. However, this was also a reminder to himself. Tomorrow, he had to ask the technology department to see if they could blur the images of them…
“Really?” Jiao looked at Jiang Zhengkai suspiciously. Women have a tendency to fall for men’s lies. They typically believe that men are smarter than themselves and were born to protect them.
“Yes!” Jiang Zhengkai nodded his head solemnly. To convince Jiao, he knew that he could not show any hesitation. Otherwise, Jiao would definitely change her mind and reject their current plan. Men could be very heartless, but they were usually weak towards their sweethearts. Even if they were able to be steel their hearts and be cruel, their hearts would usually soften when they saw their sweetheart’s tears.
“Fine! Honey, hug me.” Jiao nodded her head slightly. Jiang Zhengkai brought Jiao into his arms and felt the coldness of her body with his warmth. Clearly, Jiao was very conflicted and scared about the matter of the surveillance cameras.
“Honey, will you always love me?” Jiao softly murmured as she was embraced by Jiang Zhengkai. Jiang Zhengkai tightened his arms around Jiao and responded with one simple word. “Yes!”
The next morning, Jiang Zhengkai went to the bureau early to start his work for the day. Yet, Jiao hadn’t nagged him about going to work with him. At the same time, she didn’t accept Cui Jing or anyone else’s invitations to go out. She went to the supermarket and the grocery store to buy quite a bit of food to bring home. She wanted to cook a sumptuous dinner for Jiang Zhengkai. This may possibly be my last dinner with Jiang Zhengkai.
In the morning at work, Jiang Zhengkai called the colleagues of the technology department. He specifically made a request for them to blur out the images to the best of their abilities. Although Jiang Zhengkai was a police officer, he was first and foremost a man. Men didn’t like other men viewing their woman’s private body parts. Of course, there were always exceptions for special cases. But in general, men would always try to avoid these special cases if possible.
After Jiang Zhengkai made his request, the colleagues of the technology department thought of ways to remodel the surveillance camera so that a blurry image would be produced when the surveillance camera was facing the bed. Naturally, Jiang Zhengkai felt much better after this was done. In fact, this decision probably caused Jiang Zhengkai to feel happy and untroubled for the rest of the day. All of a sudden, Jiang Zhengkai felt as if he had grown ten years younger.
At night, Jiao gave Jiang Zhengkai a call when he was about to get off of work. “Honey, you don’t need to work overtime tonight, right? Are you coming home for dinner?”
“Come home for dinner? Sure!” Jiang Zhengkai responded without any hesitation. “What do you want to eat? I’ll buy it for you.”
“You don’t have to. I have already finished cooking,” Jiao happily answered. “I made a banquet’s worth of food and I’m just waiting for you to come home. Hurry! Honey, I love you.”
Jiang Zhengkai heard the ‘Du-Du-Du’ sound coming from the phone and knew that Jiao had already hung up. But before he left, he sat in the office for a while, going back through all the details of the murder in the alley in his mind. Once he was certain that he hadn’t missed anything, he stood up, left the office, and drove home.
“Whoa! Why are there so many dishes?” The moment Jiang Zhengkai walked into the house, he saw a table filled with both large and small dishes. “Honey, what’s the matter? Are we celebrating New Year early this year?”
“Hm. Yes.” Jiao smiled while carrying a dish of fish out from the kitchen. “Quick, go wash your hands. I’ve already finished cooking and was just waiting for your return.” Jiang Zhengkai obediently went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
When Jiang Zhengkai came out, Jiao had already finished setting up the table. They each had a tall wine gla.s.s facing their seat. However, instead of wine, the cups were filled with a fruit juice that resembled the color of wine.
“Honey, hm. We…” Jiao raised the gla.s.s in front of her. She thought for a while, but couldn’t think of a suitable way to express her thoughts. Ultimately, she pursed her lips and exclaimed, “Let’s celebrate that you’ll always be in love with me, honey!”
Jiang Zhengkai raised his gla.s.s but didn’t rush to clink his gla.s.s to Jiao’s. He knew that Jiao was speaking from the bottom of her heart. A woman who had sold her body in the past desired a normal lifestyle, ten and maybe even a hundred times more than a normal woman. However, it was hard for them to fit into the regular society afterwards. Yet, currently, Jiao had succeeded and was doing very well for herself. But, this was all because the man across from her hadn’t exposed her ident.i.ty and had fallen in love with her. Therefore, deep down, aside from love, Jiao would always feel a deep sense of grat.i.tude towards Jiang Zhengkai.
Jiang Zhengkai was also deeply in love with Jiao. And yet, how could he accept Jiao’s feelings with a clear mind? If it weren’t for Jiao, he would’ve had to continue suffering and grieving the loss of his wife and daughter. He would have to endure the overbearing weight of his guilty conscience. Jiao was the woman that had led him to find light in his life once more. Jiang Zhengkai held onto the wine gla.s.s, pondering. Yet, he was also unable to come up with the appropriate words to express his feelings. In the end, he looked at Jiao gratefully and faintly replied, “We will definitely grow old together!”
After dinner, Jiang Zhengkai helped Jiao clean up the dishes and utensils. After that, the two of them affectionately clung to each other in bed for a while before leaving the room together. When Jiang Zhengkai and Jiao came out of the corridor, she looked at him naughtily and asked, “Honey, do you still remember our pa.s.sword?”
“Pa.s.sword?” Jiang Zhengkai looked at Jiao, surprised, then responded, “Oh, I know.”
“I thought that you had forgotten a long time ago.” Jiao’s face turned red, then she leaned against Jiang Zhengkai again. “Honey, then why didn’t you enter the pa.s.sword and come inside to check it out while you were looking for me in the past?”
Jiang Zhengkai stroked Jiao’s hair and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I was confident that you would return to my side. Deep down, I knew that you loved me.”
“Humph! Who loves you? At that time, I didn’t love you.” Jiao exclaimed and buried herself deeper in his arms. Jiang Zhengkai didn’t respond, but there was a sweet smile on his face. Then, he pulled Jiao tighter into his arms. After a while, Jiang Zhengkai asked Jiao in a low voice, “Honey, it’s getting dark. Should we head to the alley now?”
“No! I want to hug you for a bit longer,” Jiao murmured in his arms. Maybe tonight will be their last night together. Maybe they will no longer exist by dawn tomorrow.