Chapter 35: I Won’t Bend
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
n.o.body answered Tian Xiaoya’s question.
Who was the murderer? Was it greed? Bottomless desires? Human nature?
“Ah lala, ah lala! Ali that baba—”
Not sure whose alarm alert rang, the few of them in the interrogation room were suddenly awakened from their thoughts.
“Take her away!”
Bai Muchuan’s cold voice ended the interrogation.
Two detectives went over to pull Tian Xiaoya up. She sat unmoving and was drooping her head at her seat. She was like a dead person, at the mercy of others.
Such a scene…
Xiang Wan felt a tingling sensation in her nose. Her heart felt heavy as she came out from the interrogation room.
The office was much warmer and a little stuffy, which was a big difference from the interrogation room.
Xiang Wan felt that the reason for the freezing cold air conditioning inside the interrogation room must have been intentional so as to let the suspect let their guard down…
With that in mind, she picked up her mobile phone and wrote that thought in “Notes”.
After she started to write novels, her memory started to become poor. She needs to record down everything, or she would forget the moment she turned her head away.
“Why is it that when it comes to love, it’s always the women who suffer? What is love like in a man’s heart?”
Zhan Se’s mood seemed a little low.
Through the current evidence, as well as w.a.n.g Tongsheng, Xiao Cheng, and Tian Xiaoya’s statements, they could basically restore the truth behind the case.
Women are sentimental beings.
Their moods were affected by the depressing sad story.
Xiang Wan’s gaze swept across Bai Muchuan, Quan Shaoteng, and Huang He. “Guess you have to ask them.”
Bai Muchuan flattened his lips slightly and remained quiet. He was obviously not interested in the topic. Huang He was scratching his head and pretended that he had not heard anything. On the contrary, Quan Shaoteng, who had been a bachelor for many years, jokingly shared a notion about love.
“This is easy. For men, love is when you’re wearing clothes, but he still sees you as not wearing any. When there’s no love, even if you’re not wearing anything, he still sees you as dressed.”
“You sound so experienced!” teased Zhan Se, “has our Laowu fallen in love?”
“Tch!” Quan Shaoteng laughed in a steady and calm manner while touching his earlobes. “You still need experience in such matters?”
“How do you know so much then?”
“I know by just looking at you and my brother…”
“You little scoundrel, you…”
“Everyone!” Bai Muchuan’s cold voice as well as his hand that raised in mid-air, stopped their conversation. “That’s all for tonight. Laowu, Teacher Zhan, both of you can return to the hotel first. Huang He, you and Tang Yuanchu make a trip to Mrs. Zhao’s former home, which is the Xu Family, first thing in the morning…”
After he finished issuing orders, Xiang Wan gave a laugh.
“So it’s none of my business now? Captain Bai, I’ll get going first then.”
“Hm,” acknowledged Bai Muchuan who did not even lift up his head. Only when Xiang Wan took her bag did he seem to think of something and suddenly stood up with a cold face.
“I’ll drive you back first!”
The detectives still needed to work overnight.
Xiang Wan saw that his original clear eyes were filled with tiny red blood vessels. Upholding the good tradition of taking care of handsome guys, she was a bit reluctant to accept the offer.
“It’s alright, Captain Bai, I’ll take a cab back to my cousin’s place, it’s very convenient…”
Bai Muchuan did not take her answer as he went ahead to pick up the car keys on the table.
“We’ll get a laptop on the way!”
With that, Xiang Wan stopped talking.
The compensation was her ent.i.tlement, so she should not refuse it. Moreover, she had been using Fang Yuanyuan’s laptop for the past few days, and she was about to explode with frustration.
Since Detective Bai had time to compensate her, she should accept it with grace.
“Thank you!”
She smiled pleasantly and politely, then she held her bag and lowered her head, looking for something.
Xiang Wan had a weaker body const.i.tution and was afraid of cold. She would feel unbearable if she stayed in an air-conditioned room for a long time, so she had specially brought a cardigan with her. Earlier on, she had felt stuffy, so she took it off and left it on a stool. It disappeared when she turned around and she thought it was weird.
“Where’s the clothes 1 I placed here earlier? Anyone saw it?”
Bai Muchuan stopped walking and frowned at her. “You were wearing clothes?”
Xiang Wan: “…”
In actual fact, she understood that he had actually meant he did not know that she had been wearing or brought additional clothing.
However, his words when coupled with Quan Shaoteng’s earlier joke about love, it was somehow a bit… a little bit ambiguous.
The people in the office all raised their heads to look at Bai Muchuan. After being stunned for half a second, all of them laughed out loud simultaneously.
“Little Bai, so Teacher Xiang is the type that’s not wearing anything in your eyes?”
Inside the office, only Quan Shaoteng dared to casually joke around with him and behaved like his buddy.
Bai Muchuan’s face instantly turned as cold as a glacier.
“Shut up!”
The next second, his gaze fell under the table.
“Isn’t that your clothes?”
Somehow unknowingly, Xiang Wan’s cardigan could have been pushed by someone and fell under the table.
Hearing this, she picked it up like a thief, feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed. She bid goodbye to Zhan Se and walked out of the office with her face flushed red.
…
Xiang Wan was a sensitive young woman.
She was paired up as a couple with Bai Muchuan without rhyme or reason, so it was inevitable that her heart was in a disarray.
This had nothing to do with her feelings toward him. It was purely the basic ambiguities of modern men and women.
As a result, she followed Bai Muchuan to the parking lot with a “lively” heart, only to realize that he had not a change of expression from beginning till end.
This is so awkward!
Why am I getting so shy for?
Too inexperienced! Silly idiot!
Xiang Wan chided herself in her head before quickly jumping out from the impractical thoughts and regained her composure. She opened the door expressionlessly and got onto the car nimbly.
Her facial expression changed so much that Bai Muchuan seemed to notice it.
Before starting the car, he turned around and squinted at her face.
“What kind of laptop do you want?”
What kind of laptop? Why does this sound as if a parent is asking their children what they want?
Xiang Wan rolled her eyes and wore a faint smile. “That will depend on what kind of laptop Detective Bai is intending to compensate me.”
Bai Muchuan closed his thin lips tightly. He did not say anything more and stepped on the accelerator.
Swish! The car shot out like an arrow from the bow, forming a light flash that raced through the dark parking lot.
There were a lot of cars in the car park at night, and they were parked rather irregularly. Bai Muchuan maneuvered around the big “U” shaped curve to exit the car park.
Poor Xiang Wan had not even fastened her seat belt and she was being flung left to right with every turn of the car.
“Hey! Slow down, it’s dangerous—”
She was shouting when suddenly, her whole body swung toward the left…
“Ah!” Xiang Wan screamed out of reflex and reached to grab something to stabilize herself.
However, something happened with this “grab”.
Her hand had grabbed a firm, strong thigh.
In the summer season, it was hot and humid inside the car. The normal human temperature had made her felt like her hand had touched something scorching. Her heart pounded frantically, and she wanted to move away. However, the car had not pa.s.sed the curve, and the tilting force flung her body toward the driver’s seat. She could only continue to hold onto Bai Muchuan’s thigh, and there was nowhere she could move to.
Geez! Xiang Wan felt like cussing.
The thigh of the hunk maybe good to hold, but that was not as important as her pride!
“Please, stop bending!”
She cried in a low voice!
“I won’t bend 2 !” Bai Muchuan glanced at her from the corner of his eye as he looked in front. “Sit tight!”
Huff! Maybe she was in such haste and too ashamed for grabbing his thigh. She had wanted to tell him to slow down, but in the end, the words came out like this and she didn’t know why she felt embarra.s.sed.
That was not all. When the car finally got out of the car park, she was still holding onto his thigh. It got even more embarra.s.sing as the road no longer “bends”.
“I’m sorry!”
Her fingers felt a little numb. She was blushing as she moved her hands away swiftly.
Bai Muchuan was controlling the steering wheel, sitting upright as if he had not heard anything.
Well, that’s good actually. That saved her from explaining.
Xiang Wan actually admired him for being able to make use of his indifference to resolve any ambiguous situation, leaving only awkwardness to the other party.
“At this hour, the shopping mall should have been closed,” he suddenly remarked.
Oh right! Xiang Wan felt that she must have been too affected by Tian Xiaoya’s story that her brain “crashed” and resulted in being “controlled” by Bai Muchuan. Why did she fail to realize that where in the world could she get a laptop at this hour?
However, Bai Muchuan should have known there was nowhere they could get a laptop at this time, so why did he still do this?
Xiang Wan turned her head, furrowed her brows, and pouted her lips. “Then JD.com, Taobao.com or Suning.com? They’re all very fast!”
Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow; there was a faint smile at the end of his eyes.
“We’ll go tomorrow.”
That smile is from a heartthrob! Xiang Wan was dazed for a while and felt that this guy was basically trouble. He did not have to do anything, and yet she could feel a strong sense of seduction…
I can’t be alone with him anymore. If not, I’m the one who’s going to suffer.
With regards to matters of the heart, Xiang Wan was snail-like. She was not much of a proactive person. If she felt somewhat stirred, she would take the initiative to eliminate any budding thoughts.
“Hm, will Detective Bai please send me to my cousin’s place? Or, I can get down at the main entrance of the Criminal Investigation Unit and take a cab back myself…”
“No!” Bai Muchuan’s expression seemed a little stiff. The way he flatly refused her request was domineering, willful, and aloof. Xiang Wan had an innate fear of the police; her heart missed a beat and she felt chilly all over.
“What should we do? It’s already so late.”
Could it be that I’m going to stay at his house again?
Xiang Wan looked at his dashing side profile, a little lost.
Bai Muchuan’s car stopped gradually at this time.
Another car was coming in, and it stopped when it pa.s.sed by them.
The car window wound down, and a woman’s face was revealed.
” Chuanzi 3 , where are you going?”
…