The Brain Science Case 76

Chapter 76:

#One day… I will find that person… and kill him with my own hands.

**

The moment she unlocked the door, she had held a glimmer of hope that someone would be waiting for her inside.

But the darkness of the house shattered her illusion. She turned on the lights and looked around. Everything was as it had been, as if time had frozen… frozen on the day after the incident.

Dropping her bag, she lay on the sofa, motionless. After a long moment, she opened her eyes, her vision blurry.

On the small coffee table next to the sofa was a photo of her and her mother, the only one they had taken in all these years. She stared at it, lost in thought, then finally put it back and turned to leave, as tracelessly as she had come.

**

Opening the dryer, she found a pile of dark clothes inside.

After confirming that they were all warm and dry, Zhou Jinglin scooped them into a basket and hurried back into the warm room from the balcony.

While she was folding the clothes, Tang Yingli came out of the bathroom, drying her hair.

Having lived together for some time, Zhou Jinglin felt she had figured out her dressing habits. She usually only wore pants at home, and when she went to teach at the university or to the station, she would always wear her Lolita-style black long dress, with black stockings, suede high heels, and tassel earrings, almost without exception.

Compared to her all-black attire when she went out, she had more color combinations at home, but they were at most basic solid colors like dark blue, dark red, and white.

I wonder if anyone has studied whether color can reflect a person’s psychological state. And she, who always chooses black, are her thoughts as deep and impenetrable as the color suggests?

“Here, yours.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry to keep bothering you with housework.”

“It’s fine. You insist on not taking my rent, so I have to make it up to you this way.”

“Make it up to me doesn’t sound right, does it? You don’t owe me anything.” She smiled, putting the clothes in the closet. “Your old apartment, are you still renting it?”

“Yes, my mom paid two years of rent in one go, and I still have a lot of things there.”

“Have you been back recently?”

“I have…” Speaking of which, Zhou Jinglin just wanted to sigh. “I went back to clean out the fridge. A lot of things were expired, and I also organized some winter clothes… looking at the layout of the house, I can’t help but think of the little things in my life with my mom.”

“It’s always sad when things change.” Yingli went to the kitchen and opened a bottle of red wine. “Especially with the new year coming up… it will only deepen this feeling.”

Zhou Jinglin froze. Right, the new year is less than two weeks away. Although she still has to work shifts, there will be holidays. In previous years, she had always waited until the last minute of the holiday to go back and see Li Yuejiao as a reunion, but now even that formality is gone.

“Have you thought about how you’re going to spend the new year holiday?”

“N-Not yet.” She forced a smile. “What about you, Teacher?”

“My parents have arranged a family trip abroad, and they’re strongly insisting that my brother and I go with them.” She poured red wine into a crystal glass. “But I’m very hesitant. After all, if I’m gone for four or five days, there’s no one to take care of Antisocial Personality.”

“I can help.” She quickly raised her hand.

“So you’re going to spend the new year with a golden hamster?”

Zhou Jinglin froze again. “I wouldn’t be so cruel as to ask you to sacrifice your new year holiday to help me take care of my pet.” She shook her head with a smile. “Besides… you’re the one who really needs a break, right?”

She took the red wine Yingli handed her and heard her continue, “I’m not very interested in family trips. I’d rather use the time to investigate some things… we can spend it together, provided you don’t have other plans.”

“Of course I don’t.”

“Okay.” Yingli raised an eyebrow. “Then you can start planning a little now. Like where you want to go.”

Zhou Jinglin took a small sip of wine and gazed at that light and elegant back until she quietly disappeared behind the door.

**

A cold front had hit, and the temperature had suddenly dropped by nearly ten degrees.

But for some reason, the temperature in the Criminal Investigation Division office had suddenly risen by several degrees.

After a high-intensity boxing training session, Zhou Jinglin returned to her seat, drenched in sweat. She hadn’t paid much attention to the atmosphere around her, but she was suddenly startled by the sound of her colleagues.

“Ah, no way… not a single one.”

Cai Yuwei, on the other hand, shouted as if he had won the lottery, “I got one. Oh my god, I got one.”

“Really?” a colleague groaned, holding his head. “You’re so lucky.”

It was only then that she noticed the scattered wails in the office, and the envious and jealous gazes directed at Cai Yuwei.

She took a sip of water and popped her head out. “What one?”

“Keys’ concert tickets. They’re coming to Taiwan for a concert this spring festival, and the tickets are on sale for a limited time…” Cai Yuwei’s face was filled with an indescribable happiness. “The third round of ticket sales opened today. The first two times were sold out in seconds, seconds. Good thing Xiangrong reminded me, and then I got one.”

“Damn it, Ah Wei, don’t say any more.” The colleague’s face was filled with regret. “I shouldn’t have told you…”

“Oh, come on. Even if I hadn’t told you, you might not have gotten one.”

“Kiss?”

Seeing her pouted lips, Cai Yuwei inexplicably blushed. “N-Not Kiss. It’s them…”

The computer screen showed a photo of five young women of Asian descent in tank tops and tight pants, posing for the camera. Each of them had deep-set features and was beautiful.

She snorted. “You guys all like this kind of thing?”

“They sing very well. They were even invited to a Japanese singing show on New Year’s Day… you didn’t know?”

“I’m so busy with case clues, how would I have time to pay attention to these little girls?” She put down her boxing gloves and returned to her seat to open her bento box.

“I’m telling you… it’s good to be focused on your work, but sometimes you need some entertainment to relax.” Cai Yuwei was still not giving up. “Don’t you look at other handsome male stars?”

“You mean those pretty boys?” Not that she was complaining, but some male stars were prettier than women.

“There are some who are very manly.”

She shook her head. “Not interested.”

“Oh, Little Zhou and the teacher are already a beautiful combination. The two of them are so close…” The colleague named “Xiangrong” came over with his bento box. “Let’s go, let’s go eat at the entrance.”

“I…” Cai Yuwei hadn’t had a chance to explain before he was pulled away.

“Me and… the teacher?” Zhou Jinglin took out her chopsticks and unconsciously glanced at Yingli’s seat. She had gone to assist Tao Qianya with an autopsy and had been away all morning.

A beautiful combination… so close?

Why does that sound like there’s a hidden meaning?

**

After finishing a forensic autopsy, Tang Yingli took off her isolation gown and gloves and carefully washed her hands.

“You’ve worked hard, Teacher.”

“Not at all.” She pointed at Tao Qianya. “You’re having a bento box today?”

“It’s cold outside.” Tao Qianya scratched his head. “It’s only twelve or thirteen degrees today. Ah, but for you, Teacher, this temperature should be nothing, right?”

“I’ve been back for over half a year, and I’m already used to the weather here.” She dried her hands. “Besides, compared to the dry cold of California, the low temperatures and rain in Taiwan sometimes feel even colder than the sub-zero temperatures there.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The operating room was not a suitable place to eat, so Yingli and Tao Qianya went outside together and unexpectedly ran into Zhou Jinglin, who had come running.

“Teacher, your fruit.”

“Thank you, I almost forgot.” Yingli took the container of sliced fruit, and the two of them found a bench to sit on.

“Wow, there’s fruit. Little Zhou, when are you going to prepare a portion for me?”

“Doesn’t Dr. Tao always eat at high-end restaurants outside? A small box of sliced fruit shouldn’t be very attractive, right?”

“Don’t say that.” Chewing on his chopsticks, he noticed that the two of them not only used the same kind of reusable chopsticks, but also had the exact same sliced fruit. “You and the teacher are officially roommates, right?”

Although they had never made a big deal of the fact that they were living together, as time went on, their colleagues would eventually find out.

Zhou Jinglin was taken aback. “Not really, right? I’m just staying there temporarily.” She turned to Yingli, who was eating with her head down, not saying a word.

“I heard the teacher’s apartment is quite spacious. You two are so close, it would be good to live together and share the rent.”

But Tang Yingli had firmly refused to take it. “That’s true…” she said vaguely.

Fortunately, two male colleagues who were passing by came to their rescue, and their conversation also revolved around the Korean girl group that was coming to Taiwan for a concert.

“Dr. Tao, do you know Keys? That girl group…”

“Yes, I do.” He looked as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Their songs are very good.”

“A lot of people in the office are trying to get tickets.” She touched her forehead. “They’re that famous? I didn’t expect Dr. Tao to know about them too.”

“It would be strange if I didn’t.”

It was Yingli who spoke. “Keys is a five-member Korean girl group that debuted in 2014. The members are Kim Hyun-joo, Yoon Eun-soo, Han Ji-hyo, Choi Eun-hee, and Zhou Jingxun. The last one is Taiwanese and went to Korea as a trainee after graduating from high school. They just released their third album last month.”

She looked up and found that the two of them were staring at her in surprise, their jaws almost on the floor. “You two, do you have to be so surprised?”

“Teacher, you… you know so much.”

“I didn’t know you paid attention to this kind of news.”

“I just happened to see it on social media and remembered it. I should thank some has-been celebrity for hyping her up, otherwise I wouldn’t have paid special attention.” Looking at the blank-faced Zhou Jinglin, she couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey, hey, you don’t even know this, do you?”

Zhou Jinglin shook her head in embarrassment.

“That’s not good. How can you solve a case if you’re out of touch with society?”

“But idol stars and all that… they have nothing to do with current events, right?”

“Not at all. A lot of people will deliberately follow their idols’ clothes, eating habits, and so on. Sometimes that can be a clue in a case.”

“As expected of the teacher, you’ve even considered that.”

“Dr. Tao, I think you should put away your adoring gaze first.”

Ignoring their shock, Yingli rested her chin on her hand. “Speaking of Keys… I remember Zhou Jingxun is coming back to Taiwan in a few days. She might have already arrived.”

“You know that too.”

“It was on her fan page.” Yingli casually brought up the female star’s fan page. The cover photo was a group photo of them. Her gaze focused on one of their faces, and when she looked up, it happened to overlap with Zhou Jinglin’s face.

“Huh…”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Your eyes and mouth… no.” Yingli tilted her head, repeatedly comparing the photo with Zhou Jinglin’s face. “No, no, no… it must be my imagination.”

“What is it?” she snatched Yingli’s phone without a word and saw the photo she had just seen on the computer screen. “What imagination?”

“It must be my imagination… it’s impossible.” Yingli frowned, trying hard to shake off the absurd thought that had flashed through her mind.

“What’s impossible? Speak clearly.”

“It’s nothing. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I said it.”

“Tang. Ying. Li.”