Chapter 52

When she was in high school, sometimes, when Li Qingyao saw Luo Huaizheng and Xiang Siling talking, she would not be jealous, because she really did not care. Because there were too many people who liked Luo Huaizheng, she could not be angry, and they could not beat her anyway.

Later, Luo Huaizheng got into trouble. From childhood to adulthood, Li Qingyao had never hated anyone. But when she saw Xiang Siling coming to school again without any injuries, she clearly felt an emotion called hatred. That emotion was so sharp, painful, and dark. Perhaps that was the beginning of her character change.

Last week, when Li Qingyao saw the two of them talking together at a class reunion, she felt angry and thought it was a joke. Her heart was cold and brutal.

She had thought that seeing the two of them paired up in such a dramatic way at the crime scene today would make her mood explode again, but strangely, at the moment she was relatively calm, and her calmness revealed a ruthless and heartless attitude of watching a fire from the other side of the river.

Or maybe it’s because there is still Chen Pu.

Normally, in such situations, when the family of the female victim needed to be comforted, Chen Pu would usually let her go up, and he would cross his arms beside her, occasionally saying a few words. But today, he did something unusual, and as soon as he came down the stairs, he walked in front of her, his tall body almost blocking her. Whenever she looked up, the first thing she saw was his broad shoulders, his ears, and the short black hair on his ears.

He also took over the work of her subordinate, explaining the situation to the two family members one sentence after another, without turning back to communicate with her, nor requiring her to speak. Li Qingyao listened to his low voice, and her heart gradually became calmer.

She remembered the question he asked her at the beginning of yesterday:

[Will your past relationship affect your investigative attitude and judgment on related cases? ]

She answered him at that time: [No one and nothing can affect my determination. ]

Li Qingyao felt that her heart suddenly became extremely clear and calm. Just like the mist that originally covered the moon, it was blown away by the wind in an instant. She left those personal emotions behind and began to observe the three people in front of her with the eyes of a criminal police officer while Chen Pu was talking.

Xiang Siling had probably just rushed in from the workplace. She was wearing a beige branded suit inlaid with pearls. She had tears in her eyes and was crying softly, looking very affectionate.

Li Meiling, who was beside her, had a much stronger emotional reaction. She held her face with her hands and cried loudly, calling out "husband, husband, what will I do without you in the future?" She was very sad and had to rely on Xiang Siling's support to stand firmly. The mother and daughter were both as fragile as willows and beautiful as a willow.

Li Qingyao's gaze fell on the third person.

Compared to them, Luo Huaizheng seemed inappropriately quiet. He didn't cry or say a word, but just stood with one hand in his pocket. If you met him on the street, you would probably think he was an elite business man with extraordinary temperament. He always kept a distance of more than one meter from the mother and daughter, with his eyes downcast. But when Li Qingyao looked at him, his eyelashes, which had been very thick since he was a teenager, trembled slightly, and he slowly raised his eyes and met hers.

Li Qingyao's gaze was cold, but something was gently surging in his eyes.

Li Qingyao calmly looked away.

She thought, maybe he also came from the workplace. When did he become friends with Xiang Siling? Why did he accompany her to such an important occasion? Is he interested in Luo Hongmin's death?
Li Qingyao stopped thinking and let out a breath slowly. In the end, Luo Huaizheng's look still made him feel depressed.

At this time, Li Meiling and her daughter proposed to see the body, but Chen Pu refused. First, they had to protect the scene, and second, the current condition of the body might not be acceptable to ordinary people, let alone their loved ones.

Chen Pu asked the mother and daughter to go back to the team with him, as he needed to learn about the situation from them. The mother and daughter agreed with tears in their eyes. At this time, Chen Pu looked at Luo Huaizheng, and when Xiang Siling saw him, she choked up and said, "Officer Chen, he is just a friend of mine. He came with me, and it has nothing to do with him. Let him go first."

Luo Huaizheng also looked at Chen Pu, but his eyes passed over the tall and handsome policeman in front of him and fell on the slender and graceful figure.

That day in the restaurant, I saw Chen Pu bringing Li Qingyao over. Although Ma Junhong concluded that the two were not in that kind of relationship, Luo Huaizheng had a strange intuition that it was not that simple.

Although the two of them did not have any intimate words or actions, Li Qingyao was very relaxed in front of Chen Pu, and every bone and every cell of his body was lazy.

Even though it had been seven years, Luo Huaizheng could still feel it.

Because she was like this only in front of him. She was just like this. It was hard for her to get close to others, but once she got close, she would "claim the other person as her own" and pull you in with an aura called "Li Qingyao". That aura was loose and casual, but it was everywhere. And you would be attracted uncontrollably and just wanted to get closer and closer.

Luo Huaizheng calmed down, not wanting to look at anything more, and lowered his eyes and asked, "Officer, can I go now?"

Chen Pu looked at the handsome, but slightly embarrassed man in front of him, and thought of the girl who was always silent behind him. He felt like he was watching a sad TV series. Even if the male protagonist of the TV series was in jail and felt broken, he would stand out in the crowd just standing there. The female protagonist was the one that Chen Pu wanted to protect and was afraid of being hurt. As for him, he was probably an insignificant passerby, a background board. At most, he was the male No. 7 who had nothing to do with the main plot.

A sour emotion, like a bud that quickly broke through the soil, grew from Chen Pu's heart. It climbed silently, gently entwining his heart, his liver, his spleen, lungs, and kidneys. Then it continued to grow upwards, lightly and cunningly, secretly laughing, drilling into his chest, and turned into a cloud of mist, sticky, invisible and intangible.

Chen Pu also calmed down and said seriously: "Mr. Luo, please come back with us and assist in the investigation."

As their eyes stared, Luo Huaizheng immediately understood the unspoken words in Chen Pu's eyes - he was the murderer who killed Xiang's father, and he had a sensitive relationship with Li Meiling and her daughter. He was not an unrelated person and must cooperate with the investigation.

It turns out that this policeman has a grasp of the situation and is very smart.

Luo Huaizheng smiled faintly, with a hint of self-mockery in his smile. He lowered his head and said, "Yes, officer."

Li Qingyao saw the whole process. She agreed with Chen Pu's approach that all three people should be taken back to the police station for questioning. But when Luo Huaizheng lowered his head and honestly asked Chen Pu, "Officer, can I leave now?" and Chen Pu answered honestly, she still felt a surge of pain in her heart. She didn't want to think about whether Luo Huaizheng had been facing the police officers with such a face that didn't belong to him all these years. And now, she has become one of the police officers.

-

The on-site investigation was over, and everyone took the police car back to the police station. Just as Chen Pu walked to the front of the car, Li Qingyao came over.

He looked at her with an inquiring look, but could not see any emotion on her face. Now Chen Pu did not know whether to be happy or sad, because he could not figure out whether Li Qingyao was really no longer affected by her ex-lover, or whether she had become numb to the pain.

Li Qingyao said in a businesslike manner: "Captain, I need to ask you something."

Upon hearing this, Chen Pu leaned his back against the car door, put one hand on it, lowered his head and used his other hand to wipe off the mud on his fingertips, and said, "Officer Li, please speak boldly."

Li Qingyao smiled, but that smile was not as charming as before. It was indifferent and showed a kind of indifference. She asked, "Luo Huaizheng and Xiang Siling, one is my ex-boyfriend and the other is my high school classmate. Do I need to recuse myself from this case?"

"We have discussed this issue. We have been in a relationship for seven years. Besides, you were still young at that time, so you don't need to avoid it. But if you want to avoid it, I respect your opinion."

“I don’t want to shy away from it.”

"Then go forward boldly."

"I understand, thank you."

Chen Pu turned around and opened the main car door, then glanced at the empty passenger seat. While he was considering his words, Li Qingyao had already turned and left.

Chen Pu: “…”

He thought about it and decided not to call her.

The vine that grew big with sour water had already grown in his chest. At this moment, the slender branch on the top was swaying gently, emitting a faint sour smell that was so faint that it was invisible. A thought came to his mind: She might need to be alone now. How dare Man No. 7 get close to her and be disgusting?