Chapter 116 Beyond Expectations (1/2)
The atmosphere became stagnant.
Tang Yuanchu looked at the two of them and got away by excusing himself to go to the restroom.
Mei Xin lowered her head without saying anything as she worked on the mouse cursor.
Only Bai Muchuan and Cheng Zheng were looking at each other. It was as if they could smell explosives in the air that seemed it might detonate anytime.
Xiang Wan wanted to get out of the situation by using the same excuse as Tang Yuanchu when Bai Muchuan suddenly turned to her.
”What do you think?”
Uh! After listening to them for so long, it's time for her to express her opinion?
Xiang Wan cleared her throat and took out her mobile phone.
Earlier on while they were talking, she was taking notes on her phone, organizing the clues they had gotten. It was for the purpose of post analysis and learning. She did not expect Bai Muchuan would ask her for her views…
She was glad she was prepared.
”Firstly, I believe in Captain Cheng's professionalism. The judgment of the cause of death for Kong Qingping should be accurate. But here's the problem, there's no third person found in the scene. Where did the external force that hit Kong Qingping come from?”
When she said this, she took a glance at Bai Muchuan and quickly retracted her gaze.
”Therefore, I agree with Detective Bai's views. We can't dismiss Kong Guangming as a suspect just because he is the deceased's father. Strictly speaking, Kong Guangming is not a normal father. He is an alcoholic and irascible man who has spent years in prison; he has strayed from a normal life since long ago.
”Furthermore, everyone has seen how he behaved back in Kong Village. He has no sense of shame, don't pay attention to social rules, and don't care about what others say or think. He does things his way and dares to break the law. He is not on good terms with his son, and his wife left him many years ago. For a man like him, if he knew that his son had committed a crime again, under the influence of alcohol, it is easy to lose control and develop a murderous intent…”
In the beginning of her speech, she affirmed Cheng Zheng's autopsy results.
At the latter part of her speech, she agreed totally with Bai Muchuan's opinion.
With that, Bai Muchuan's gloomy dark face finally eased up.
”Teacher Xiang and myself see eye to eye on this!”
He had stressed heavily on the last few words which made Xiang Wan's ears twitch.
Cheng Zheng looked at the two of them expressionlessly for a moment. ”I've finished what I wanted to say. As for how the case will be solved, it is none of my concern.”
With that, he removed his gloves and walked to a basin to wash his hands.
The room was totally silent except for the sounds of flowing water.
Xiang Wan noticed that this was the third time that Cheng Zheng washed his hands.
When he came back, he had washed his hands once. Halfway while doing the explanation of the autopsy, he washed for a second time. Now, he washed his hands again.
He was wearing his gloves throughout the whole explanation session. How dirty could his hands be?
Did this person has an obsessive compulsive behavior toward cleanliness?
Cheng Zheng did not look at them after he finished washing his hands but went to the balcony directly instead…
Over there, there were a lot of succulent plants that belonged to him.
If he washed his hands because he wanted to take care of his plants, that meant he really liked his plants.
Xiang Wan took a glance, gave a shrug, and went downstairs.
After the forensics team gave their report on the findings, Bai Muchuan assigned the subsequent tasks to Tang Yuanchu and Xie Hui.
Hence, Xiang Wan had nothing to do again.
”So I'll go write my update now? Let me know if I'm needed.”
Everyone was working overtime. She felt awkward if she was to leave like that, so she decided to write her story at the office.
”Awesome, Teacher Xiang!” Tang Yuanchu gave her a thumbs up from a distance and went inside Bai Muchuan's office.
Xiang Wan tried to clear her mind as she stared at the empty white document on her laptop screen.
Writing a novel required peace of mind. As she experienced a lot during the day, she was unable to achieve that tranquil state of mind.
Scenes of the Kong Village still stayed inside her brain.
When she wrote a sentence, she would then delete it after a while. That went on for about 10 minutes, and there was not a single word that she decided to keep.
Geez! She had originally thought that when she worked here, she could accumulate plots and storylines. However, as writing realistic plots depended on realistic cases, it resulted in her having a disturbed state of mind, and her ability to make up stories degenerated instead.
Xiang Wan put down her mouse and rubbed her temples. She put on her ear piece and closed her eyes to do some thinking.
A while later, she heard the notification from QQ.
Xiang Wan opened her eyes and saw Fang Yuanyuan had requested for a video call session.
”Quick, my dear, let me see how the office of the Criminal Investigation Unit looks like?”
It was Fang Yuanyuan's message over at the QQ chat window.
Xiang Wan rejected the video call and typed a reply lazily: ”This is confidential. I can't disclose such information.”
”Stop your cr*p.” There was no way for Fang Yuanyuan to believe her lame excuse. ”Since when did the Criminal Investigation Unit become a confidential and important department? You've failed to convince me with your story.” Fang Yuanyuan refused to believe that. ”Hurry up, I wanted to see the place where my Huanghuang used to work at…”
”…”
Xiang Wan was amused by the enthusiasm her cousin displayed.
She accepted the video call and saw Fang Yuanyuan's smiling face appearing on her laptop screen.
”My dear, so you're not going back tonight?”
”Yeah.” Xiang Wan smiled and turned to look at the direction of Bai Muchuan's office. ”Everyone's busy, I feel bad to just leave like this.”
”Nah, what's there to feel bad about? You're different from them. You're not a permanent staff and you're not paid a lot, either…”
”I'm here to learn, so I should have a learning attitude. You don't understand.”
”Yes, yes, yes, I don't understand.” Fang Yuanyuan blinked her eyes. ”Well, I really don't understand. Are you preparing to waste your precious youth with the police, or are you trying to get close to someone in the team who will become my future cousin-in-law?”
”Hey! You think I'm such a shallow person?” Xiang Wan snorted and quickly changed the topic back to her. ”Where's your Huanghuang? Since I'm not around, you can ask him to come accompany you and spend some time together. No one else will interrupt you.”
”I'm thinking the same thing as you. So here I am, sounding you out.”
”…”
”Are you surprised? Are you shocked?” Fang Yuanyuan put on an evil smile, but three seconds later, she pulled a long face and rested a leg on her thigh to play around with her toes. ”Aye! Truth is, he can't come. He's working in a nightclub, which means his working hours are opposite from mine. It's so difficult to even meet with each other, let alone some time together…”
”Oh.” Xiang Wan consoled her, ”It's alright, there will be a chance.”
”You're so full of naughty thoughts!”
”…”
Her brain cells were indeed more active than others.
”Time to stop chatting and get to work,” laughed Xiang Wan, ”I'm ending the video call now!”
”Wait, don't!” Fang Yuanyuan got flustered and changed her tone to a pleading one. ”Sis, I'm scared being home alone. Don't end the video call, alright?”
”What's there to be afraid of?” Xiang Wan frowned.
Fang Yuanyuan looked around her surroundings. ”Well, I've always liked a big house. But now that I'm alone at home, I realized that the house is too big. My hair is standing on end as everywhere feels so empty…”
Xiang Wan had enough scare for that day.
When she heard Yuanyuan's description, her heart started to get tense again.
”Okay fine, I won't end the video call then.” Xiang Wan laughed teasingly. ”I can get to watch a beauty's sleeping posture… heheheh.”
”You put it as though you've never seen it.” Fang Yuanyuan gave a yawn and laid on the bed in her pajamas. ”Continue to write your story then, I won't disturb you any further. I'll sleep after some reading. So, it's settled, yeah? Make sure you don't end the video call, alright? Or I'll unfriend you for one whole year.”
”…”
Fang Yuanyuan was even more timid than her.
Xiang Wan agreed with a smile. She saw Fang Yuanyuan adjusting her room lights to a dimmer hue and read a story using her mobile phone. Xiang Wan then minimized the video window and started to work on her update.
Her mood tonight was unstable. Although she had been sitting before her laptop for a long while, she still couldn't get into any mood for writing and decided to take a look at her book reviews and comments page.
That page was the same as always.
There were readers who talked about the story, there were spams as well as many other miscellaneous stuff, too.
In the novel ”Murder The Dream Guy”, the previous case had basically been solved. Just like the first case, however, the case of the mutilated corpse also had some unsolved doubts. The readers discussed about the cases with relish as most of them felt that these cases might have some connection with the fate of the protagonist and would lead to the occurence of the third case.
Likewise, there was also a small group of readers who felt that the author was lacking a calm and unhurried narrative ability. Those supposed ”doubts” might not be doubts at all. In their opinion, the author was not capable enough to fill in the ”loopholes” she had created, and that was why it remained as ”doubts”.
With regards to the analysis of the case, the readers had their own views.
Nevertheless, with respect to the love triangle between the characters: Fang Yelan, Rong Xiaonuan, and Gu Yusheng, most readers were also looking forward to further development of the romance plot.
From the start of the book till now, the two murder cases had already reached a closure, but the relationships were still unclear—there was no saying who the protagonist would end up with.
There were readers who ran out of patience and requested for a speed up of the romance plots by demanding the characters to go get a room, have the deed done, and head for a good ending instead.
Pffft! Xiang Wan could not help sneaking a laugh at such comments.
”Frankly, I'm more interested in the upcoming criminal case that the author would come up with compared to the romance plots. I'm looking forward to how the story would move forward. I wonder what will be the third case this time? Will it be the incident that happened at the set of 'The Grey List'? I feel that the case doesn't seem to be unusual as well?”
The incident of the ”The Grey List” was on hot news.
This comment caught the attention of Xiang Wan, as well as the other readers.
Under that comment, there was a huge amount of replies.
Most readers expressed the same opinion as the original poster.
”'The Grey List' is my most anticipated television drama. I've waited so long for it. I didn't expect the moment it started filming, there will be such an incident… My mom was just telling me yesterday that Jin City's fengshui didn't seem quite right as bad incidents keep popping out of nowhere… Maybe the author should write this case into a supernatural one? It'll be very interesting for sure.”
”Write it into a supernatural case? Why don't you go to heaven instead?”
”Heheh! No matter how the author write about the case, I would like it anyway… This is because I really like Xie Wanwan! She's too beautiful, right?”
”A celebrity with a beautiful face full of hyaluronic acid? Sister, has your judgement of beauty been stolen or something?”
”What business is it of yours as to who I like? People who dislike Xie Wanwan and Ye Lun are the same type of people. Please stay away from me as far as you can!”
After these few argumentative comments, Xiang Wan saw a familiar ID.
”The author is going to write about this case. She definitely will. If she didn't, then no matter what she write, it will become the truth. By then, one by one, her story will be replicated in reality… Hurhurhurhur, will everyone still like her story?”
”Geez! What do you mean by this? Hey brother, don't scare me…” someone asked that ID.
”Hurhurhur, this is a secret. I can't tell you,” that ID replied.
”Secret, what secret? Don't leave us hanging in mid-air, say it.”
Numerous people were asking about this, but that ID did not reply anymore. Other readers started to leave mocking comments.
”He's just a silly idiot spewing nonsense! How can all of you believe the words of a chuunibyou?”
Xiang Wan gasped.
Is that ID really a reader who liked to sprout nonsense?
Why did he always appear whenever a case appears?
Moreover, not only other readers could not understand what he was trying to say, even Xiang Wan herself could not understand.
What did he mean by no matter what she wrote, it would become reality? What did he mean by her story would be replicated one by one? What if she did not write about this case?
”Yuanyuan, that lunatic appeared again!”
”What the heck? I don't know who could be so free to come out every now and then to scare others. Did he think he is a deity or something? That he can dictate what I should write… Hmph! If he wants me to write this case, I will bleeping not write about that and see how he'll take it.”
Xiang Wan cussed in a low voice facing her laptop, but there was no response from Fang Yuanyuan.
”Hello? You fell asleep?” Xiang Wan moved her mouse to check on the video call window to look at what Fang Yuanyuan was doing…
Fang Yuanyuan was sleeping on the bed on her side, facing the laptop. Her mobile phone was beside her pillow and should be very much asleep.
This girl! She did not even pull the curtains, what if someone is snooping around and peeking at her…