Chapter 60: Didn’t You Like That?
Life could sometimes be more nonsensical, exaggerated, and unimaginable than novels.
After witnessing a death, Xiang Wan felt somewhat terrified even though she was just climbing the stairs to her apartment.
She was talking softly with Fang Yuanyuan about what they saw at “The Palace” and walked each step carefully.
When they pa.s.sed by the fourth floor, Xiang Wan took a look at Unit 401.
It was the home of the woman and her son.
At this time, it was all quiet. She did not hear any sound coming from the apartment.
Xiang Wan tried to recall their meeting scenes, but she could not remember the woman’s face at all.
“Meow!”
A cat mewled from the miscellaneous lot of clutter along the staircase and corridor.
Xiang Wan got a fright and noticed that a black cat was sitting low in a corner. Its tiny body nearly merged with the darkness, leaving only a pair of remarkably bright eyes.
The cat did not move when their gazes met in mid-air. The gaze of the cat was full of intelligence and that creeped Xiang Wan out.
She stepped back unconsciously as she felt scared all of a sudden.
Fang Yuanyuan grabbed her arm. “Do you need to be like this?”
Xiang Wan’s shoulders trembled. “After going through the 720 case, I think that I’ve become afraid of cats!”
Fang Yuanyuan soothed her by holding her shoulders. “Don’t be afraid, I’ll bring Bao Jie over tomorrow!”
“No!”
Bao Jie was Fang Yuanyuan’s pet cat.
She was an adorable kitty who also had a big b.u.t.t just like her owner.
Before Fang Yuanyuan gotten herself a boyfriend, she was closest to her.
“… Objection overruled!”
…
That night, Xiang Wan found some news and facts from Weibo relating to the police case at “The Palace”.
Photos of the young man who showed off his acting skills at the fountain were widely shared in Weibo.
Ye Lun.
He was an actor that belonged to the C-List.
A former child star, but was not as popular when he grew up.
Nevertheless, he was only 20 years old. There was still a lot of potential for him to grow.
Therefore, netizens could not understand why he would want to take drugs.
If he did take drugs, he would ruin his future as well as his life.
Despite being a C-List celebrity, Ye Lun was widely known due to his former child star status and almost hogged all of the trending news.
Ye Lun’s young female fans were in tears, trying their best to defend their idol from public controversy.
Many VIP accounts in Weibo were criticizing the society. In no time, all kinds of positive, motivational thoughts started to show up.
In the midst of all these, there was no definite news of the woman who had fallen on the s.e.xy G.o.ddess statue.
She only managed to find news that briefly mentioned the woman was a washed-up celebrity older than Ye Lun and depicted her as a cougar who shamelessly exchanged amorous glances with him…
…
The news were overwhelming.
n.o.body knew if all of these were true.
The internet was a place full of drama, and sometimes, it could kill without blood spilling.
Many souls of the modern society were put to “rest” in the internet.
People didn’t really care about the truth—they were only concerned at who was the one on hot news.
Afterward, they would decide based on their feelings to the particular person, if they were to render a.s.sistance as icing on the cake or adding insult to injury by blasting negative comments online.
As for Xiang Wan, she had no affection towards any of them so she was a spectator.
“… Sis.” Fang Yuanyuan was surfing on her mobile phone as well when she suddenly sat up from the bed and turned to face her.
“You scared me!” Xiang Wan huffed a sigh then asked lazily, “What’s up? You miss Huanghuang?”
“I have an idea.” There was shrewdness in Fang Yuanyuan’s eyes.
At that moment, she was not the neurotic Fang Yuanyuan who was in love, she had turned into Xiang Wan’s stern editor.
“I feel that you can use tonight’s incident to create your next murder plot…”
“?” Xiang Wan was somewhat against the idea. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Others will say that I’m jumping on the bandwagon.”
“Why do you want to bother about others? Do you still want to write a novel?” Fang Yuanyuan stared at her. “Don’t you know that novel originates from life? Many excellent literary works are adapted and created based on reality. Your favorite writer, Yan Geling, which one of her works are out of touch from reality? Isn’t ‘My Beautiful Teacher’ also based on a true story that shocked the nation?”
“…”
Yup, these are facts, Xiang Wan agreed with that in her head.
However, she had her concerns too. “I can’t…”
“If others can do it, you can do it too.”
“…”
Xiang Wan and Fang Yuanyuan sat on the same bed, looking at each other for at least 10 seconds.
Fang Yuanyuan sighed as Xiang Wan did not utter a word. “Think about the current situation of your novel. Your book’s in such an awkward position that it might be better to just let it die.”
Xiang Wan rolled her eyes. “Don’t persuade me using words like that!”
Fang Yuanyuan gave a snort and continued to a.n.a.lyze from the editor’s point of view.
“Xiang Wan, do you know how many online authors are there in the whole country? More than six million! And it’s not the complete statistic. If you want to stand out from more than six million people so that you can be with the same ranks as your idol, Second Young Master Mu, you won’t see hope unless you think out of the box!”
Second Young Master Mu!
Xiang Wan started to waver.
Second Young Master Mu did not write a lot of books, but he was a legend in the online fiction industry.
Even without mentioning the revenue from just online alone, just his copyright alone already reached an eight digit sum.
Of course, I want to!
It’s money!
Who doesn’t love money?
Xiang Wan’s ears were ringing.
“Good grief, my dear sis, then what exactly are you hesitating for?”
Fang Yuanyuan could stand it no longer and snapped, “If you hesitate any longer, I’ll… I’ll go sleep and could only care less about you!”
“I’m not hesitating!” Xiang Wan turned slowly toward her with a tinge of worry on her face. “I’ve already written a case which became real, and I’m shaken by it. Now you want me to use a real case to write my story…”
“Hey!” Fang Yuanyuan knocked her forehead anxiously. “How in the world will there be so many perverts who liked to replicate novels to commit murders?”
“…”
That night, Xiang Wan had a couple of dreams.
She dreamt of a b.l.o.o.d.y crime scene where blood flowed just like the water from the fountain, splashing her face.
Next, she dreamt she was all smiles as she was being interviewed together with Second Young Master Mu.
Second Young Master Mu was just a vague blurry presence in her dream.
Nevertheless, he’s also very good-looking.
That feeling was really beautiful.
In her dream, she had the notion that success could really change a person’s happiness index.
…
In the morning when Xiang Wan woke up, she noticed that she had broken out in cold sweat.
After promising Fang Yuanyuan that she would work on the detailed outline of that case, her cousin went to work in satisfaction.
After Xiang Wan rinsed her mouth, she saw a plastic bag placed beside her sofa.
That was given by Bai Muchuan to her last night inside the car.
She was so eager to find out about the news and actually forgot about the plastic bag.
My memory sucks! she thought.
Xiang Wan gave a light slap on her head before she sat down on the sofa and opened the plastic bag…
A waft of nice smelling osmanthus suffused the air around her nose.
The plastic bag actually contained osmanthus scented sachets?
It was a string of sachets just like the ancient times where women make and embroider tiny little bags to contain potpourri which was chic and popular.
But what did Bai Muchuan mean by this?
She sat in a daze for about 10 minutes before she dialed his number.
“Detective Bai, why did you give me that?”
Bai Muchuan sounded as if he was woken by her call. His languid voice sounded sleepy, “Didn’t you like it?”
She had climbed up the osmanthus trees to pick the osmanthus flowers, so how could she not like them?
“I’m not talking about this,” Xiang Wan chuckled, “I’m asking you, why did you give that to me?”
“I happened to see them when I went home,” said Bai Muchuan. “They were prepared by Nanny Li. It can soothe one’s nerves and provide a good night’s sleep. I don’t use them so I gave them to you.”
Is that so?
If that’s the case, what makes him think that I will keep them?
Xiang Wan’s eyes suddenly turned red, “Where are you?”
Bai Muchuan paused for a while before he replied, “At home.”
Very well.
Xiang Wan ended the call.
She changed clothes, put on her lipstick, and saw her red eyes in the mirror. She grabbed the MacBookPro as well as the osmanthus scented sachets and dashed all the way across the street.
The neighborhood Bai Muchuan resided in had strict security measures. But as she had stayed there for a short period before, he had informed the security about her. Therefore, when the security guard saw that she was in a hurry, he did not stop her.
Xiang Wan walked to the Bai Residence and continuously pressed on the door bell.
“Bai Muchuan, open the door!”