Chapter 76

After leaving the teahouse and entering the empty elevator, Li Qingyao felt that the depression in his chest was swept away.

One reason is that, during the conversation with Xiang Siling, although the other party concealed it very well and behaved very steadily, many details of his reactions still revealed his panic, which verified some of Li Qingyao and Chen Pu's guesses.

The second was the question that Xiang Siling asked at the end. Of course, it was very likely that she was just trying to change the subject to hide her guilt, but it still hit Li Qingyao right in the face. She retorted, feeling very happy.

This kind of confrontation was a bit low, but Li Qingyao didn't care. Couldn't she be low? Didn't Chen Pu want her to expose her true nature as she pleased?

Thinking of this, she glanced at the man beside her. Ever since leaving the teahouse, Chen Pu had been silent, with one hand in his trouser pocket, looking a bit cool. The little movements and looks he usually made when he was with her were gone.

Li Qingyao tugged at his sleeve: "Why are you daydreaming? Do you have any new ideas about the case?"

Chen Pu didn't look at her.

He lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the blurred silhouettes of the two people on the bright elevator wall. He felt the gentle tug on his sleeve and thought: Here it comes again.

She was well again, could see him again, and could feel his joys and sorrows.

But why can't he be happy at all, haha.

He comes when called and leaves when dismissed. Does this describe a resentful person like him?

He twitched his lips and said, "I didn't think about the case. I'm a little tired."

Li Qingyao was stunned. He had been working for so long and had heard other people in the team complain about being tired, but Chen Pu was definitely not one of them. But it was normal to think about it. How long had the two of them been working non-stop from dawn to dusk? And when they could rest, he would let her rest and he would watch over and carry the work alone.

Li Qingyao's tone softened a bit: "After you finish your work tonight, leave work early, Captain, and go back to have a good rest."

"Row."

The elevator door opened with a ding, and we were on the underground first floor. There was a parking lot on the left, a supermarket on the right, and a toilet sign on the passage. Li Qingyao said, "I'm going to the toilet." Chen Pu followed silently.

After entering the men's restroom, Chen Pu flushed the toilet, walked to the sink, applied hand sanitizer, rubbed his fingers very vigorously, and finally rinsed them clean. He shook his hands vigorously in the sink and looked up at himself in the mirror.

He saw his gloomy expression and the confusion in his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt really tired, not just physically, but also faintly powerless and exhausted from the inside out. He propped his arms on the sink and stared at the empty pool. What emerged in his mind was still the look that Li Qingyao gave Luo Huaizheng at the hotel entrance.

She never looks at me like that, he thought.

Never had.

He himself didn't know when he started to take Li Qingyao's torture to heart. At the beginning, he wanted to protect her like a younger sister.

But that person's sister is always flirting with him, whistling at him, and rubbing her face against his chest muscles; that person's sister is sometimes delicate, sometimes strong, and sometimes cold, tormenting him and making him feel confused; that person's sister, when angry, acts like a lover and goes into a cold war, making him unable to sleep well and he has to coax her for so long before she feels better.

When a brother is glared at by his sister, his chest beats like a deer in panic. When he touches his sister, his heart feels as sweet as if a jar of honey has been overturned. When a brother sees his sister's ex-lover, the sourness in his stomach is pickled into his bones. He chokes himself when he speaks in a hypocritical manner.

Chen Pu looked up at himself in the mirror, with a very bitter smile on his face. He raised one hand, and pinched his cheek hard from the front with his thumb and index finger, flattening the bitter smile.

What is he going to do?
If it is a fair competition, with his personality, he will never give in. Even if Luo Huaizheng is a Tsinghua student, he is also an elite in the police force. But this chase without a starter was unfair from the beginning. Luo Huaizheng was her serious boyfriend seven years ago, whom she loved deeply and hurt deeply. If not... if not for the unexpected case that year, would they have finished their studies at a key university together, become equally outstanding people, get married, and have many children and grandchildren? They were a perfect match made in heaven, but were separated by fate and now they are finally reunited.

But who is Chen Pu?
Her brother's substitute, a colleague in the police force, perhaps her closest partner. There was at most a hint of ambiguity between them, but nothing more.

Or maybe, it was all just his illusion all along. The heart-to-heart support they showed each other late at night was not real; the willfulness and indulgence he thought he knew were not real; the little bit of affection and concern that was revealed in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were not real either.

He couldn't even ask. Who was he to ask?

Even if Luo Huaizheng wasn't here now, with his personality and his desire to save face, he would only dare to get closer to her day by day, little by little, like now. As long as she doesn't reject him, as long as she slowly accepts him, that's enough, there's a long way to go. They haven't found Li Jincheng yet, and he really doesn't want to focus on a happy relationship. He thinks she's the same, there are some things they must have a tacit understanding of. He's looking forward to the day when everything comes together.

But it turns out that even though they have been so close these days, it is still far from love.

She and Luo Huaizheng had both demonstrated to him what a lingering, heart-wrenching love was. Could he still pretend to be blind?
……

Finally, he figured out the relationship between the three people, and the gloomy mood between Chen Pu's brows gradually faded away. With his arms still propped up on the sink, he looked up at the sky, exhaled very slowly, and his expression had returned to calm, and he left the bathroom.

Li Qingyao had been waiting for a while. In the past, whenever she went out on a mission to go to the toilet, Chen Pu would wait for her. She thought that he was probably going big today, and then she saw him walk out with wind in his footsteps and his face slightly lowered.

Li Qingyao was stunned for a moment, and when he walked to her side, just as they were about to pass by, she grabbed his arm. He paused, pulled his arm out, and said in a rude tone, "Why are you touching me?"

Li Qingyao stared at his face: "You didn't cry, did you? You're dripping wet." Chen Pu's heart skipped a beat, but his expression was very frank. He said: "What nonsense are you talking about? Would I cry? I'm not you, who only got my face wet after washing it. Let's go, don't dawdle."

When Li Qingyao saw him retort, he felt that he was normal. The last bit of guilt and uneasiness in his heart disappeared, and he followed him into the car.

The car drove out of the parking lot. It was still early, just 8 o'clock in the evening. Li Qingyao had thought about it while waiting for Chen Pu just now. If she were to say it, she would definitely not doubt Luo Huaizheng. Even though Luo Huaizheng is now down and out and sensitive, she still believes him unconsciously. But from a public point of view, as a criminal policeman, Luo Huaizheng's five years in prison may have led to an extreme change in his personality. Not long after he came to Xiangcheng, Xiang Siling's stepfather was killed. Xiang Siling is their number one suspect, but now Luo is seen with Xiang. So, it is reasonable for them to investigate Luo Huaizheng again.

So Li Qingyao said, "Originally, we planned to go find Li Meiling next, but I think we should strike while the iron is hot. I just told Luo Huaizheng that we should go talk to him directly to eliminate his suspicion. What do you think?"

Chen Pu had actually thought about what she had thought but had not said. But when she asked to see Luo Huaizheng as soon as she got in the car, Chen Pu, who had already reached a dead end, had only one thought in his mind: Did she really want to see him?

The heart that had already fallen to the bottom of the valley fell to the bottom again, and I didn't know where it fell. Chen Pu was in a mood of giving up everything, and even smiled and said, "You are right."

Li Qingyao was thinking, now you know I am selfless, I even interrogated my ex-boyfriend.

After deciding on the direction of investigation, Chen Pu navigated towards Luo Huaizheng's company. His mind was still empty, and he subconsciously said, "His cellphone number should have been registered before. Lao Fang is in the bureau. Let him check it and send it to you." After he said that, his heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, Li Qingyao lowered his head and opened his phone, saying, "I have his WeChat, and his phone number is on it. If I find it, I'll beat you up?"

Chen Pu: "Of course you did it."

Li Qingyao understood that Chen Pu was having difficulty driving, so he called him directly.

Luo Huaizheng picked up the phone after only two rings. Hearing the deep and calm voice coming from the other end, Li Qingyao's mood was not as turbulent as when he ran into him and Xiang Siling before.

She said: "Luo... Huaizheng, Chen Pu and I are coming to your company now, is it convenient for us to chat?"

Luo Huaizheng said: "Okay."

"Then I'll find a place nearby?"

Luo Huaizheng answered politely and reservedly: "The company has a small meeting room, is that ok?"

"Okay, we'll be there in twenty minutes."

After hanging up the phone, Li Qingyao said, "Let's go to his company's conference room and talk directly."

Chen Pu: "All right, we guarantee sound insulation."

The car continued to drive forward. Li Qingyao was thinking about what to ask Luo Huaizheng when he saw him later. Chen Pu did not speak. They were both silent for a while. He turned on the car stereo, and the first song that played automatically was "Angel".

[In the mirror, I saw a strange face with such dim eyes.

A smile only brings bitterness to the corners of my mouth. Who knows my loneliness...]

Chen Pu tilted his head towards the window and raised his hand to press his face.

Li Qingyao noticed it.

She stopped thinking about Luo Huaizheng and listened to the song quietly for a while. Then she turned her head decisively and stared at Chen Pu.

I always feel like there's something wrong with him.

Chen Pu noticed it and said, "Why are you looking at me? I've been standing next to you all day, and you haven't seen enough?"

Li Qingyao was confused again: Isn't this quite normal?
She said: "You are so narcissistic."

Chen Pu smiled and muttered, "I am narcissistic? I am a fart narcissist."

Li Qingyao didn't pay much attention.

Soon they arrived downstairs of Luo Huaizheng's company. Chen Pu stopped the car and Li Qingyao said, "I just thought about it. Through these few contacts, have you noticed that Luo Huaizheng is now more sensitive and has a strong sense of self-esteem? Although I had an unpleasant quarrel with him just now, it was also a special situation and I caught him red-handed. He felt ashamed to face me, and I was a little angry. Now that everyone has calmed down, it may be more appropriate for me to ask some questions alone, so that I can be sure to dig out his true attitude. To you, it's just a business matter, and he may not be willing to say it. So I suggest that I conduct today's conversation alone, what do you think?"

Chen Pu was silent for a moment and said, "You are right and reasonable. I can't find any reason to refute it. It is entirely for the purpose of case investigation. Okay, let's do it. However, the recording must be turned on, and both of you must be where I can see you. This is the rule, please understand. You can explain it to him in advance."

Li Qingyao thought what he said was strange. Why couldn't she understand the rules?

"Nonsense," she said.

Oh my god, it’s already 3300 words after a little stretch. Chen Xiaopu takes up too much words. I deleted it twice, and his psychological activities are still more than a thousand words!