Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 18

Chapter 18: Isn’t This a Name Clash?

The great Screenwriter Qin carried two trays through the crowd.

To say it was a crowd was no exaggeration.

The entire complex was filled with artistic laborers. Many photography studios and independent theaters were located here, and everyone squeezed into the same cafeteria for meals. Many set workers were pushing carts to pick up boxed lunches.

Qin Luo, with her sleeves rolled up, carried a tray in each hand and steadily made her way to a corner, stunning You Ning, who had just walked into the cafeteria.

Damn, the person Qin Luo was meeting really wasn’t the props executive from the big factory.

You Ning was dragged by her assistant sister to get food, but she kept looking back at Qin Luo’s white moonlight.

Hmm… from a distance, she was a very intellectual woman, dressed simply, with a very intelligent air about her. A cool-toned beauty.

Hey, isn’t this… a clash of styles with Qin Luo?

You Ning lowered the brim of her cap and peered closer.

She saw Qin Luo place the tray on the table, take a napkin from her pocket, and meticulously wipe the edge of the plate before pushing it in front of the woman.

…

So detailed. So she really is a white moonlight?

Shen Yiyi was wiping her hands and felt a little embarrassed by Qin Luo’s meticulousness. “It’s fine. It’s not that serious anymore.”

“Last time at the Japanese restaurant, I saw you wipe your hands eight hundred times.” Qin Luo held her hands out in front of Shen Yiyi. “I’ve washed my hands. Please rest assured.”

Shen Yiyi nodded. “Thank you. I’m very assured.”

But although she said she was very assured, her hands unconsciously adjusted the position of the tray.

The water was on the left, the soup bowl on the right, both five centimeters from the plate, perfectly aligned. Qin Luo couldn’t help but laugh.

How is this “not that serious”? This is already pathological.

Qin Luo teased, “Are your eyes rulers?”

Shen Yiyi wasn’t using the cafeteria’s disposable utensils. Instead, she took out her own from her bag. “Doing forensic evidence work, one can’t help but be a bit strict.”

She said it casually, as if it were just a work habit. But Qin Luo lowered her head and poked at the chili peppers on her plate with her chopsticks.

She had witnessed Shen Yiyi’s mysophobia firsthand in high school. Not allowing people to touch her casually was just the basics. The first thing she did every day when she got to school was to take out a napkin and wipe her stool and desk, and even the desks of the person behind her and her deskmate. The most outrageous thing was when the top student Shen was on duty. She would stay long after class every time, sweeping every corner of the classroom until it was spotless.

Qin Luo couldn’t help but ask, “Haven’t you seen a doctor about it?”

“I have.”

Shen Yiyi ate, saying frankly, “But it’s not much use, since I have to deal with bodies for my work.”

Qin Luo took a bite of the fried cucumber on her plate. It wasn’t good. And Shen Yiyi’s expression wasn’t good either. It seemed she didn’t want to talk about this topic.

She swallowed and nodded. “Well, as long as it doesn’t affect your normal life.”

“It does.”

Shen Yiyi pointed her chopsticks slightly at her laptop bag, saying seriously, “I’ve already disinfected it.”

Qin Luo’s gaze followed the tip of the chopsticks. The laptop bag she had just been carrying… the strap was damp, and there was a bottle of alcohol spray next to it, as if to remind Qin Luo of her recent transgression.

What could she say?

She could only say, “Okay, I won’t touch it next time.”

“But it’s a good thing it was you.” Shen Yiyi’s tone wasn’t exactly comforting, just a calm statement. “If someone else had carried it that far, I probably would never have had anything to do with them again.”

Qin Luo responded to Dr. Shen’s special preference with a wry smile. “Then why do you still have a roommate?”

“First, the rent in Shanghai is very expensive, and financial pressure is harder to relieve than psychological pressure. Second, my roommate works in trace evidence. She’s very clean and doesn’t leave much of a trace. And we’re both very busy with work. We only go home to sleep.”

Qin Luo extracted the key information from this sentence: financial pressure, busy with work.

It had been a long time since Qin Luo had thought about the term “financial pressure.”

It could be said that since she published her first book, her life had basically achieved financial freedom. Of course, this freedom had its standards. Her family’s assets couldn’t be measured in the hundreds of millions yet, but she was more than comfortable living a middle-class life for the rest of her days.

So she had forgotten. She had forgotten that her and Shen Yiyi’s positions had been completely reversed, that their lives had undergone a dramatic change in the past sixteen years.

She could choose any city to live in, move without any worries, and buy a penthouse with a view with a wave of her hand. She even had a veto over her father’s attending physician and her mother’s nanny.

She was no longer in a constrained state, subconsciously shrinking from what she did or said. Her social status had given her a second chance at life. She had started a new life after graduation.

But when the joys of life outweigh the hardships, people tend to forget where they started.

Just like now, her perspective on Shen Yiyi was tinged with a sense of adventurous fun, as if she were looking down, no longer with any obsession, and certainly no admiration.

To the point that when the term “financial pressure” came from Shen Yiyi’s mouth, Qin Luo felt a slight discomfort.

Yes, she still didn’t know Shen Yiyi well enough.

Without knowing the battle situation, her tactics couldn’t be precise.

She chewed the broccoli slowly, her thoughts racing to integrate the new information. After swallowing, she asked another question, “So you’ve been sleeping at the station for the past two weeks?”

Shen Yiyi took out a napkin, wiped her hands, and took a sip of water. “More or less.”

Qin Luo smiled and probed, “What about this week?”

“Busy.”

Shen Yiyi put the bottle back in its original position. “On top of my regular work, I’ve added your production’s matters. So I’m even busier.”

“I felt it was very hard on you when I took you for the autopsy late at night. If you’re really too tired, you must tell me. I’ll coordinate with the producers.” Qin Luo’s voice was tinged with concern. “Let them give you a break or a solution. If that doesn’t work, just have them find someone else. We can’t work you to death.”

The big bosses who put pressure on people every day were simply dismissed with a “let them” from Qin Luo’s mouth.

Shen Yiyi felt a little full. She placed her chopsticks on the napkin. “No matter who they get, this job is still overtime. It’s the same whether it’s me or not.”

“How can it be the same?”

Qin Luo didn’t notice the slight emotion in Dr. Shen’s words. She put down her chopsticks and forced a smile. “If you hadn’t come for the training, how would we have met?”

Shen Yiyi wrapped her chopsticks in the napkin and stood up with her tray. “I’m full.”

“You’re full?”

Qin Luo looked up at the half-eaten rice and vegetables on the plate. This wasn’t Shen Yiyi’s appetite at all. She would never mistreat her body. She asked, puzzled, “Was the cafeteria food not good today… You’ve only had a few bites—”

“It was good, but I still have work to do. I have to go take care of it.” Shen Yiyi’s voice was deep as she stood up and walked toward the utensil return area.

Hasn’t this person’s mood always been very stable?

Why the sudden cold face?

“Hey?”

By the time Qin Luo reacted and turned to look, she was already several meters away.

As she turned back, her peripheral vision caught Shen Yiyi’s laptop bag. She wiped her hands, wanting to grab it, but was immediately warned by the alcohol spray standing guard next to it.

There was nothing she could do. She had to get up and follow Shen Yiyi’s retreating back, watching her go to the sink to wash her utensils, and then head straight for her laptop bag.

“Yiyi.”

Qin Luo slightly blocked her bag with her body, wanting to figure out what this sudden “I’m full” was all about. But she had just softly called her name when the rest of her words were cut off.

“That doesn’t sound good. It makes us sound too close.”

“…”

Shen Yiyi picked up the mineral water bottle on the table and wiped it, then picked up the alcohol spray and wiped it, and finally picked up the laptop bag. “Just call me by my full name in the future.”

Qin Luo couldn’t bring herself to say the name “Shen Yiyi.” She even felt that once she said the full name, their relationship would be over, somersaulting a hundred and eight thousand miles away. “It’s fine. It doesn’t matter if the production knows we’re close. It can save some unnecessary trouble.”

Shen Yiyi strode out, smiling. “I think it will only add to the trouble.”

Qin Luo caught up with her, then realized she hadn’t washed her hands yet.

Her crush was a mysophobe!! She couldn’t not wash her hands. So when they passed the sink, she immediately turned on a faucet and quickly cleaned her hands.

Shen Yiyi was walking further and further away. Qin Luo didn’t have time to find a napkin to dry her hands and hurried after her.

You Ning was eating chicken pot with her sister right at the restaurant entrance. She saw the great Screenwriter Qin with fire under her feet, flinging water from her hands as she chased after the white moonlight’s back.

Having been used to seeing the composed writer Qin, this kind of tension was rare.

You Ning threw down her chopsticks and shook her head in disbelief. “Damn, the enemy fire is too fierce.”

“Yiyi, do you have some misunderstanding about me?” Qin Luo caught up, even bending slightly to make sure Shen Yiyi could hear her. “Or maybe you’ve misinterpreted me. The trouble I was talking about is that the production assistant has a lot to coordinate, so there might be some work bias. She might annoyingly confirm the same thing with you over and over, or she might forget to inform you of a change in procedure, like what happened this morning when you went to the wrong conference room. If we… our relationship…”

Qin Luo searched through the thousands of words in her mind for the most suitable one. “If we interact more, she might come to me first for confirmation, to improve your work efficiency on the set, so you won’t get bogged down in trivial matters. I just don’t want you to work so hard.”

Although Shen Yiyi was still looking straight ahead, her pace slowed considerably after hearing Qin Luo’s words. “Thank you for your kindness, but I think it’s better not to call me that like we used to.”

Qin Luo’s heart was hit with a dull thud. In her vision, Shen Yiyi’s face was cold, as if she had no attachment to the intimate name. She stopped, puzzled, and even boldly grabbed Shen Yiyi’s wrist, stopping her.

“Why?”

The laptop bag swung back and forth by her leg as she stopped abruptly. Shen Yiyi smiled. “That name is the same as one of the actors on the set.”