Chapter 7

It was actually quite awkward for two people who were not familiar with each other to sit in a narrow car. In order to ease the awkwardness, Chen Pu subconsciously reached for the chewing gum in his pocket, touched the bottle, hesitated for a moment, and did not take it out.

For no reason, he felt that she would definitely want it, but he just didn't want to give it to her.

So he gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands and remained silent.

Li Qingyao seemed quite comfortable. He held the car door with one hand, leaned back in the seat, looked out the window for a while, and began to ask: "Can you play some songs?"

Chen Pu felt that he was simply swallowing his anger and connected to the car's Bluetooth and turned on the music on his phone. But when the music started, he was annoyed again - connecting to the phone was a conditioned reflex, but he didn't want Li Qingyao to hear what music he usually listened to.

The speakers were playing an old Cantonese song, a female version of "I Like You".

[The drizzle and wind soaked the streets at dusk,

Wiping away the rain, looking up with innocent eyes,
Looking at the lonely evening light,
It’s that sad memory…】

The streets were very quiet at 11 o'clock at night, with only a few lights on in the street. In the closed and warm carriage, there was only a slightly hoarse female voice singing sadly. Li Qingyao's eyes fell on Chen Pu's face involuntarily. His short black sideburns only reached above his ears, his earlobes were round and fleshy, but his jaw was hard and thin. His head was slightly tilted, his face was expressionless, and his eyes were looking forward.

The female voice sang:
【This is what I say from the bottom of my heart...

Like you,
Those eyes are charming,
Laughter is more charming...】

chapped.

Chen Pu raised his hand and pressed a button on the center console, and the song was abruptly cut off and changed to the next one.

Li Qingyao: "Why are you changing the song?"

Chen Pu: "Crying and sobbing, sounds depressing."

Li Qingyao: “…”

The car drove into a remote road, not far from Chaoyang Community. Li Qingyao noticed that Chen Pu's eyes drifted outward, but he did not stop the car. So she followed his gaze and looked out.

"parking."

"What's wrong again?" Chen Pu said impatiently, but he still slowly pulled the car to the side of the road.

Li Qingyao put her arms on the back of the front seat, and saw Chen Pu move slightly, and his back moved an inch away from the chair. She suppressed her laughter and said, "I'm a little hungry, can we go get some midnight snack?"

Chen Pu looked down at his watch: 11:55. He seemed unhappy: "Now?"

"Yeah." Li Qingyao raised his chin and pointed to the wonton shop on the side of the road: "I saw you looked at it several times and swallowed your saliva once. Do you often come here to eat after get off work late at night? Take me to try it!"

Chen Pu was speechless now. He was like a wooden stick, holding the steering wheel for 5 seconds without moving. Then he lowered his head to turn off the car, unbuckled his seat belt, and said, "Li Qingyao, you talk to your boss like this, do you want to quit your job?"

Li Qingyao smiled slightly, unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. Then he got out of the car with a "bang".

This is a very small shop, with three tables inside and two outside. Chen Pu picked a table outside, and Li Qingyao sat down opposite him. He looked at the tabletop, which was old but very clean.

Apart from them, there were no other customers. But the store was still open, which showed how difficult it was to make a living.

A man in his fifties was holding a simple menu, and his face was full of smiles before he even came up to the table. Chen Pu also smiled, took out two pairs of disposable chopsticks, threw one pair in front of himself and one pair in front of Li Qingyao, and said, "Old Xie, a bowl of wontons and a bottle of ice cola." He motioned the owner to give the menu to Li Qingyao.

Li Qingyao took it and looked at it: "A bowl of wontons, thank you."

The shop owner: "Okay, okay!" He must have been very familiar with Chen Pu, so he smiled and whispered to him: "Girlfriend?"

Li Qingyao smiled but said nothing.

Chen Pu didn't even raise his eyelids, picked up the kettle to rinse the dishes, and replied: "Don't talk nonsense, he's just a colleague."

It was so dark that there were no cars on the road. The lights in the store were not bright enough, and only a little light fell on the table outside. The two sat in silence for a while, and Chen Pu said, "Go back and sleep quickly after eating, we have a tough battle tomorrow."

"Well, I sleep well every day."

Chen Pu picked up the weak tea made from inferior tea leaves and drank it in one gulp. Now he felt that he had a good grasp of Li Qingyao's pulse. This person sounded like he was speaking in a good way, but he refused to speak in a good way. He was the best at being sarcastic, especially to him.

"Have I ever offended you?"

The table was too small and the chair was too low. Chen Pu Ren, tall and long-legged, was huddled opposite her, his back hunched, staring at her straight.

Li Qingyao rested his elbows on his thighs, holding a teacup, his short hair gently swaying and hanging beside his ears, his eyes clear and his mood calm: "Why do you think so? I don't know how much I admire you. When I was in the provincial department, I couldn't wait to come to the team and learn from you."

Well, Chen Pu’s throat was blocked again, and there was no way to chat today.

Fortunately, the wontons came at this time, and Chen Pu felt relaxed all over and buried his head in eating. After he finished a big bowl of wontons and took a few gulps of Coke, he looked up and found that Li Qingyao was holding the porcelain spoon with two fingers, shaking it, but not putting it into his mouth.

Chen Pu glanced into her bowl and saw that there were 12 wontons in the small bowl, and there were still 5 left.

The incident happened suddenly today. Everyone hadn't eaten dinner and was starving, but she only ate 7.

Chen Pu was not completely full yet, so he could have another bowl. If the person sitting opposite him was Fang Kai or Yan Yong, Chen Pu would have taken the bowl and eaten. But he could not eat what Li Qingyao left. Chen Pu finished the Coke in one gulp and asked, "Are you full?"

Li Qingyao put down the spoon and said, "I'll pack it up and take it back. I can heat it up and have it for breakfast tomorrow."

It was breakfast time. Chen Pu thought that a small bowl of wontons could be eaten in two meals. It seemed that her salary should be enough for her. But he still asked politely, "Is it enough? Do you want to pack another bowl?"

"No, there's toast at home."

Chen Pu nodded and asked the owner, "Boss, how much for a takeaway?" He raised his phone to scan the QR code on the wall.

“37,” the shopkeeper replied.

Li Qingyao took out his cell phone: "Let me do it!"

Without even turning around, Chen Pu stretched out his long arm, held her arm, and scanned and input the code with his other hand. Then he put down his arm and stood up: "Let's go."

Li Qingyao packed his bag and followed him: "Thank you, boss!"

Chen Pu didn't say anything. He really didn't want to talk to her anymore.

It was already 12: when the car arrived at Chaoyang Community. Chen Pu parked the car, and Li Qingyao got out and said, "Thank you." He nodded, still expressionless, turned and walked towards his own building, raised one hand, turned his back to her, and waved it twice in the air.

Li Qingyao also walked towards the door of his building, then turned around and saw Chen Pu walking quickly up the stairs, with his hands in his trouser pockets, taking two steps at a time, almost running up the stairs, without looking back.

The smile on Li Qingyao's face had long since disappeared. He turned around, lowered his head, and slowly walked up the stairs step by step.

-

The year Li Jincheng disappeared, a case that shocked the entire city occurred in the district.

A high school boy attempted to rape a female classmate at her home but failed, and accidentally killed the father who was trying to protect his daughter.

Now, seven years have passed, and the boy was sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter due to insufficient evidence of rape. He has now been released from prison. Only Li Jincheng, who participated in the investigation of this case, has been missing.

Li Qingyao returned home. Unlike last night, she was lazy and limp after returning from the death scene. She collapsed on the sofa, looking at the deep night through the misty blue curtains. The scenery of this block - dim street lights, narrow roads, old houses, and a few people whose faces could not be seen in the streets and alleys. Did her brother also walk into such a night alone on the night he disappeared?

Looking back at the case, no one knows why Li Jincheng came to Chaoyang Community late at night, and he came more than once before he disappeared. He did not tell Chen Pu or any of his colleagues why. The high school girl's family did live in a nearby community, but previous investigations did not show that this case was related to anyone or anything in Chaoyang Community.

Perhaps the only way to know the answer is to find Li Jincheng.

Li Qingyao closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly.

Only after studying criminal investigation did she realize that there is no crime without trace in this world.

So as long as she searches any possible place in Chaoyang Community, she will definitely find Li Jincheng.

As for Chen Pu, we haven’t found him in seven years. Maybe it’s a problem of ability.

------

The next morning, Chen Pu was chewing gum and walking quickly downstairs, and saw a person standing next to the car.

Chen Pu instinctively wanted to take a detour, but unfortunately his beloved car had become hers. He planned to secretly move the car to a hidden location tonight and walked over silently.

"Good morning." The soft voice was a little bit soft and sticky like a glutinous rice ball.

Chen Pu groaned and opened the car door. Li Qingyao got in at the same time as him. While fastening his seat belt slowly, he asked, "Going directly to No. 29 Middle School?"

"Eat breakfast first."

"I have already eaten."

"I didn't say anything about you."

The car drove to a crowded noodle shop. Chen Pu parked the car, and as he passed the passenger seat, he turned his back to Li Qingyao and tapped the car door twice, meaning that he wanted her to stay put and not move. He then quickly crossed the street and walked into the noodle shop.

After a while, Li Qingyao saw him holding a bowl of noodles, which was piled high, and walked out of the restaurant and stood on the roadside to eat. Perhaps there was no room in the restaurant, and there were several other men like him on the roadside.

Li Qingyao had heard about Chen Pu's background many years ago: a pampered young man, a bad boy on the edge of crime, and a cold and outstanding police academy flower. But no matter which setting, it is difficult to associate with this down-to-earth young man in front of you - he stood on the busy street, shoveling noodles into his mouth, and stood not far from the trash can, so that he could spit out the rib bones one by one. After eating, he threw the disposable bowl and chopsticks into the trash can, took out a bottle of mineral water from some pocket, rinsed his mouth and spit it into the trash can, and then took a big gulp of water.

Only then did he look up and glance in the direction of the car.

Li Qingyao immediately lowered his head to play with his mobile phone.

After a while, someone knocked on the car window. She looked up and a bottle of soy milk with a straw was handed to her. She took the bottle, which was warm. Chen Pu still looked like she owed him 800 yuan and walked around the front of the car to get in.

Li Qingyao was stunned for a moment, then revealed an expression of surprise and emotion, with stars in his eyes: "Thank you, how did you know that this is my favorite drink?"

Chen Pushin was suspicious and said coldly, "20 yuan off for orders over 2 yuan. I bought it to make up for the loss."

　I couldn't see any of your comments yesterday. I felt so lonely, as if I was playing a single-player game.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)