Chapter 61

Looking at his office, to which an extra desk had been added, Luo Wenzhou leaned with one hand on the door and silently waited for Tao Ran to explain.

"There's really nowhere to fit another desk outside," Tao Ran said carefully from behind Luo Wenzhou. "But set your mind at ease. I just asked Fei Du, and he said he'll only be coming once or twice a week. He won't be here every day. Once this research project is over, they'll disperse. It won't be very long, he'll only be in here with you temporarily for a few days…"

Luo Wenzhou's gaze swept over the enormous air purifier in the corner, then fell on the door—the space originally piled up with junk had been cleaned up, and a fully-automatic coffee machine had been placed there instead, along with a little refrigerator around a meter high. The refrigerator was jammed full of cold beverages with the scripts of all nations written on them. There was a note on the door that read: "Help yourself, don't be shy."

This battle array really didn't seem like "temporarily for a few days."

Deputy-Captain Tao was rendered speechless. He gave a dry cough and grabbed at the mess on his head, making it even wilder; if you'd taken off his head, you could have used it as a steel wool scourer.

He squinted at Luo Wenzhou's face and diffidently said, "Anyway, when I saw you in his car yesterday, you two seemed to be getting on pretty…"

Luo Wenzhou, his face expressionless, turned to stare fixedly at him.

"…well," said Tao Ran.

Luo Wenzhou snorted.

Tao Ran held himself back for a while, but in the end he couldn't resist asking, "What's going on with you two?"

"How do I know what he's eaten wrong?" While there was no one in the office during the midday break, Luo Wenzhou sighed and issued a very pained complaint to Tao Ran. "He hasn't been looking to pick a fight recently. He's been teasing me nonstop instead, the bastard. Doesn't he know my orientation is 'unconventional?'"

Tao Ran: "…"

"Well?" said Luo Wenzhou. "If you have something to say, say it."

"Well, you know, Fei Du, he…" Tao Ran struggled to find the right wording. "I've always thought that children who grow up in those rather complicated surroundings become worldly-wise when they're very young. They have a strong sense of propriety, especially in front of girls. You sometimes get the feeling that all his sweet-talking is just to make you happy, and he doesn't mean anything else by it. He's extremely familiar with all kinds of hints and subtext. If he doesn't want to cross a line, then he'll very carefully avoid it…"

Hearing this, Luo Wenzhou understood Tao Ran's implication—either the narcissistic self-love from his teenage years was metastasizing, or Fei Du "wanted to cross a line."

He didn't respond, so Tao Ran could only mumble himself to a stop. The two of them looked at each other helplessly for a moment. Luo Wenzhou couldn't tell what he was feeling. Tao Ran also had a complicated expression of not knowing himself what he was saying.

Luo Wenzhou's feelings for Fei Du had always been very complicated. On the one hand, he really had been very concerned about him, never able to resist looking after him a little. On the other hand, Fei Du did often make him incandescently angry. They'd known each other over seven years, and most of that time they'd been locked in a head-on struggle. Outwardly, it sometimes had the look of well-matched opponents who appreciated each other's talents.

Whatever Fei Du did, Luo Wenzhou's first reaction was always to wonder what mischief he was up to now, but Tao Ran's words had opened a never-before opened door in his mind.

After a good while, Luo Wenzhou finally asked, "Where is Fei Du?"

"He took everyone out to eat," said Tao Ran. "I waited here to go over there with you, it's that hotel right by the door…"

At this point, his words again came to an abrupt halt, because he'd once again remembered the surpassingly sumptuous midnight snack from a month before. Now he understood what had happened without needing it to be said.

The City Bureau had handled two major cases in the last half year, and Fei Du, under different guises, had participated in both. Yan City's City Bureau's Criminal Investigation Team all knew him on sight. But despite knowing him on sight, most of them still didn't know what he did. They only suddenly saw the light when they saw him reserve three private rooms at the luxury hotel—this was a local tyrant who'd come to make friends with them!

At the thought that as long as Fei Du was present, the officers on duty could refuse grease, refuse fast food, refuse instant noodles, all of "Captain China" Luo Wenzhou's grunts revolted, even including Lang Qiao, who'd "had a glimpse of the truth."

From the other side of the private room's door, Luo Wenzhou heard Lang Qiao selling him with vim and vigor: "Are you leaving when the project's over? Will you come again afterwards? Why don't you simply come work with us when you graduate? You're fated to be at the City Bureau! We'll leave the desk for you, Captain Luo definitely won't mind! He's just a little sharp-tongued, but his temper's actually very good. He brings everyone breakfast every morning, and sometimes he'll cook up something special at home and bring it to work to give everyone a little extra. His culinary skills are really…"

The person next to her poked at her shoulder.

Lang Qiao shook it off. "What?"

"What about Our Imperial Presence's culinary skills?" said Luo Wenzhou.

Lang Qiao's spine stiffened, and she clutched at her throat, turning her head with a crack. She was just in time to see Luo Wenzhou walk through the door, looking at her with a fake smile. He warmly said, "Eldest Princess, why don't you go home and gather your things? Get ready to be sent to North Korea for a political marriage."

Lang Qiao turned pale with fright. "Imperial Father, your subject child has erred!"

Luo Wenzhou looked up and squarely met Fei Du's gaze. Fei Du was once again perfectly playing the character of the rich kid, with his usual eye-searing getup, the sight of which raised sparks of rage.

What Tao Ran had said was still going around and around on replay, pressing on Luo Wenzhou's arteries like a fishbone in the throat, sticking so firmly that his blood pressure had gone up a few dozen points.

He slowly walked up to the empty seat beside Fei Du. Ignoring the person next to him as much as he could, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and spoke, adopting a rare bureaucratic tone in front of his colleagues. "First, I'll pass along the gist of the meeting Director Lu just held.—This plan of a collaborative project with Yan Security Uni was first implemented many years ago. It was called the 'Picture Album Project' at the time; it later fell through for certain reasons. Last year Director Zhang was recalling past events and wrote to his superiors a few times. Though he's recently moved on, if this project can get results, in the future it will supply a great deal of help to your work. I hope you'll all be able to actively cooperate."

Luo Wenzhou was very rarely this solemn on private occasions; no one dared to make a sound.

"It'll be very strictly managed. The research group must follow all of the bureau's internal regulations in the process of requesting files. They have to be signed out and recorded. Materials relating to details of cases that haven't been made public can't be copied, photographed, or removed from the City Bureau. Everyone at the research group has to sign confidentiality agreements. That's discipline. Besides that—" Luo Wenzhou gave Fei Du a quick look. "I hope our contact person will be able to restrain his easy-going style. The City Bureau isn't a school, and it isn't your enterprise. You can't come and go as you please. I heard Director Ceng say you were planning to come every Tuesday and Friday? Then on those two days you'll follow normal working hours. If you come late, leave early, or want to change the times at the last minute, you'll need to have a proper reason and an excuse note. Does this pose any difficulties? If it does, I recommend you switch to a different contact person."

At first everyone had still been listening solemnly. By the middle of Luo Wenzhou's speech, the whole table full of Criminal Investigation Team personnel was looking at him with hard-to-describe expressions, not speaking, quietly watching this king of being "easy-going" pretending to hold the high ground.

He hadn't finished expressing himself from his high ground; he thought about it, then said to Fei Du, "Besides that, our official resources are limited. You've seen that. Ordinarily, only major cases come up to the City Bureau's Criminal Investigation Team. You may run into all kinds of crime scenes. Blood and guts are commonplace. If you see something horrifying…"

Lang Qiao, unable to resist, interrupted him: "Imperial Father, are you going to eat?"

"…you still have to act as if it's nothing, go back and eat your meals normally." Luo Wenzhou gave her a cold glance. "We only have the law here. We aren't prepared for emergency medical care. Comrades who vomit or faint at the least whiff of blood are advised to reconsider their choices."

Without turning a hair, Fei Du answered, "Thank you for the reminder, Captain Luo."

Over the last half year, the swords-drawn-bows-bent atmosphere between the two of them had turned into something full of turbulent undercurrents, an increasing torment to others.

Tao Ran could only firmly interrupt Luo Wenzhou's "education," stepping forward to mediate: "Oh, why haven't I ever heard of this 'Picture Album Project?'"

"It was over a decade ago. You hadn't even gone to university yet." Luo Wenzhou gave him some face and let Fei Du off for the moment. "Back then, the miraculous science of psychological profiling had just come to our country from abroad. There were many unsuccessful attempts."

Xiao Haiyang, who was always rather silent, suddenly spoke. "Why was it called to a halt?"

Luo Wenzhou paused in the middle of wiping his hands on a moist towelette, then, as if nothing was the matter, said, "Our capabilities hadn't matured then. There was no practical value to it… Enough, go ahead and eat, don't overindulge and forget your duties. Aren't you going to work this afternoon?"

There were no meetings scheduled for the afternoon. Nor was there any important work. Luo Wenzhou indifferently examined a document about reinforced security procedures throughout the city for National Day, making mental preparations not to have a moment's peace two days out of the week now that Fei Du had been added to the office.

But Fei Du was unexpectedly quiet. He didn't act up or talk nonsense. He sat there peacefully going through some materials, a living person not making as much noise at the air purifier next to him. The greatest commotion his arrival caused was that all the colleagues simultaneously shunned the instant coffee and lined up with their cups to get the freshly ground stuff.

The air-purifier hummed; next to it there were only the small sounds of fingers from time to time flipping a page. It was the sleepy period of autumn. After nesting at his desk for a while, Luo Wenzhou became increasingly drowsy, dozing over the dry official document. When he woke, he found that Fei Du was in the same position as before, but at some point a jacket had been draped over Luo Wenzhou, and the window blowing towards his back had been closed.

Luo Wenzhou stopped the falling jacket and looked over from behind his computer—Fei Du really was very pleasing to the eye. Anyone who had eyes had to admit it. Luo Wenzhou couldn't resist once again carefully recalling Tao Ran's words, admitting that what Tao Ran had said made sense.

Fei Du wasn't a youth who didn't understand the gravity of things; nor was he Zhang Donglai, who'd sleep with any living creature. He was well-acquainted with all the unspoken rules of society; where others had only a vague concept about the word "ambiguity," Fei Du could split the different shades of ambiguity into a hundred parts and bring each degree precisely into play.

Clearly knowing Luo Wenzhou was gay, if Fei Du had only been joking, he wouldn't have used this degree.

But…

Luo Wenzhou gently moved the mouse, dispelling the screensaver.

He also felt he shouldn't be presuming too far.—Why would this project choose Fei Du, who had just started his studies, as a contact person? Had all the senior students died off? There had to be some kind of strategy at work here; Luo Wenzhou wouldn't have believed otherwise even if you'd beaten him to death.

And Fei Du had started planning last year to enter Yan Security Uni. He'd received his acceptance notice in April, and the frequency with which he ran over to the City Bureau for all kinds of reasons had increased ever since; he was already familiar with the whole Criminal Investigation Team—even with the whole City Bureau.

Didn't the graduate program choosing him as their contact person also enter into these considerations?

This whole clear sequence of events and ideal course of action were permeated with a sense of deliberate scheming.

Fei Du was like an attractive poisoned apple. Taking a bite would clearly turn your guts, but smelling it still made your mouth instinctively water.

Luo Wenzhou moved, slightly relaxing his spine, which he'd been holding so straight it was about to stiffen in place. He strove to rein in his lust, which was about to get out of control, remembering a piece of information Fei Du had let slip—that article of his that had reportedly been included in an academic text had been a study concerning the victims in criminal cases… Why would it be on that subject?

While Luo Wenzhou was spying on Fei Du from behind his computer, Fei Du suddenly got up and went over to him.

Luo Wenzhou was startled, but he saw that Fei Du seemed not to have noticed his gaze. He only went to the water cooler at the door, not forgetting to bring over Luo Wenzhou's cup, refilling it with water.

Luo Wenzhou thanked him and was about to take the cup, but Fei Du held onto it, his fingertips deliberately moving forward, touching Luo Wenzhou.

Fei Du rested a hand on his desk, looking loftily down on Luo Wenzhou. He leaned down and lowered his voice. "If you want to look, Captain Luo, go ahead and look all you want. I don't charge."

Luo Wenzhou didn't move. In the same sort of low voice, he said, "Is it popular at your school right now to harass your superiors?"

Fei Du looked into Luo Wenzhou's eyes with a certain carnivorous expression for a while. Then he smiled, turned, and strolled back to his temporary work station. "If you want to hang someone, you can always find a pretext. If Captain Luo feels my presence is harassment, there's really nothing I can do."

Luo Wenzhou got out his cigarettes, glanced at the air-purifier, then stuck his cigarettes in his pocket and headed towards the restroom, feeling that he'd really been pure of heart and free of desires for too long.

Having somehow made it to the end of the workday, Luo Wenzhou found that Fei Du showed no signs of leaving.

Luo Wenzhou picked up his keys and consciously or unconsciously glanced at the document he was holding. He found that Fei Du was reviewing Xu Wenchao's confession; his gaze had been stopped on a certain page for a long time.

Fei Du seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. Seeming to understand his question from his steps, he slowly said, "Xu Wenchao said that Guo Heng found him while he was in the process of following Wu Guangchuan. After they spoke, Guo Heng had some suspicions about Wu Guangchuan and Su Xiaolan's relationship. When he failed to get assistance from the police, Guo Heng began to investigate Wu Guangchuan in private, and Xu Wenchao tailed him for him."

"Yes?" said Luo Wenzhou.

Fei Du leaned back lightly. "This seems a little strange to me."

Luo Wenzhou put a hand on the back of his chair, reaching past Fei Du's shoulder to trace the words with his fingertip. "What's strange about it?"

"Guo Heng asked for Xu Wenchao's help when he had no other choice. We've tacitly acknowledged that Guo Heng divulged the details of Guo Fei's kidnapping to Xu Wenchao during this process."

Luo Wenzhou said, "That's what Guo Heng said himself."

"It's been over twenty years. Guo Heng wouldn't necessarily clearly recall what he'd said. But I've thought all along it was strange for him to share details like the bells in the pencil box with Xu Wenchao.

"In the eyes of Guo Heng and the police back then, this detail had no investigative value aside from proving that the phone call was connected to Guo Fei's disappearance. What's more, it had caused Guo Heng severe psychological trauma.—Imagine his psychological state then. Under what circumstances would he talk about that detail?"

Luo Wenzhou said, "For example, if someone asked, 'How did you know it was your daughter on the phone?'"

"'How did you know it was your daughter on the phone.'" Fei Du shook his head. "That sounds as though Xu Wenchao were verifying the truth of what Guo Heng had said."

Luo Wenzhou came around at once—only a person who knew absolutely nothing would react to Guo Heng's words by instinctively trying to verify their truth.

Xu Wenchao meanwhile already knew about Wu Guangchuan and Su Xiaolan's twisted relationship, and he also knew that Su Xiaolan was the chief culprit in the serial kidnappings. With all that clear as a mirror in his heart, would he have acted like he knew absolutely nothing so convincingly?

"If that's the case, then Xu Wenchao is too frightening," said Fei Du. "But if it isn't the case, why would Guo Heng talk about this detail on his own initiative? Pouring out his heart? If you were Guo Heng, with a child over ten years old and already entering middle age yourself, would you pour out your heart to a boy twelve or thirteen years old?

"Su Luozhan said she only got the idea of imitating Su Xiaolan after reading her diary, but I was just thinking about it carefully. In Su Xiaolan's diary, aside from describing her excitement when she called the victims' families, there was no mention of the detail about the pencil box." Fei Du tapped the desk with his finger. "So how did the little girl know?"

Luo Wenzhou froze. Before he could follow this frightening line of thought, the phone on his desk suddenly rang.

Luo Wenzhou picked it up.

"You haven't left yet? Good," said Director Lu. "This problem is a rather thorny one, Wenzhou. See who's still on duty and go over there yourself to have a look."

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