Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 25

Chapter 25: Have You Lived with Someone Else?

Shen Yiyi didn’t answer. She took a napkin, carefully folded it, and wiped the edge of the table in front of her.

Only after she had finished wiping did she open her mouth. “I just told Old Shen about our meeting. He said we could go back to Fengjiang together for the New Year.”

Qin Luo stirred the porridge in her bowl with a spoon and refused lightly, “I don’t want to go back with you.”

Shen Yiyi pushed the napkin away, picked up her spoon, and forced a mouthful of food into her mouth. Her throat was stinging, and the hot porridge couldn’t warm her bloated stomach.

Looking at her, Qin Luo explained, “What if I have a girlfriend by the end of the year and we drive back together? Wouldn’t that be awkward for you? If you’re not embarrassed, then we can go back together.”

Shen Yiyi bit her spoon and swallowed hard. “You’re out?”

“No.” Qin Luo had lost her appetite. She also took a napkin and wiped her hands. “But whether I’m out or not doesn’t matter to my mom. We don’t see each other much anyway. How can she control me?”

Shen Yiyi nodded and forced a smile. “That’s true.”

“Eat more.” Qin Luo pushed the plate of food in front of Shen Yiyi and then stood up. “After all, you cried for so long.”

Shen Yiyi saw that Qin Luo hadn’t finished her porridge. “Are you full?”

Qin Luo walked toward the restroom with her back to her. “Yes, I don’t like plain porridge. It’s too bland and tasteless.”

***

Shen Yiyi was cleaning up in the kitchen.

Actually, compared to washing dishes, she was better at cooking.

Shen Qinwen had never taught her how to cook. Her dad always said that she didn’t need to be in a hurry to learn how to cook. When the day came that she had to rely on her own two hands to eat, she would naturally learn.

So she had only ever helped with the dishes at home.

But Shen Yiyi thought Shen Qinwen was a bad cook.

She didn’t like the taste of garlic, but her dad always started by stir-frying garlic in oil. He was also reluctant to add salt when the dish was done. Everything he made was bland.

Qin Luo was a much better cook than Shen Qinwen.

She remembered one winter vacation when Qin Luo was staying at her house. Shen Qinwen felt it was inconvenient for a man to live with two girls, so he moved to his grandmother’s house, leaving the space for them to study.

During that time, Qin Luo cooked lunch and dinner. Shen Qinwen would only come back in the morning to check on them and make breakfast.

Well, there’s no harm without comparison.

After that winter vacation, Shen Yiyi took the initiative to make a dietary request to her dad, begging him to add more seasoning when he cooked.

But now, Qin Luo’s cooking was also bland, different from the past.

Shen Yiyi rinsed the last bowl and placed it in the dishwasher in order of size.

Then she rinsed her hands again and looked up at the living room.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window was a dark blue night sky. Qin Luo was slumped in an orange-yellow single sofa in front of the window, her legs stretched out on a leather stool, staring blankly at her computer screen. There were still people working overtime in the building across the river. The lights struggled to create many light spots in the glass. The living room was suspended steadily in the city.

Shen Yiyi looked at her, through the window.

The building across the river was so rigid. It was as if only she were soft.

“Do you need me to help you with anything right now?” Shen Yiyi had her hands in her pockets. She spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing her.

Qin Luo’s hands were typing on the keyboard. She was so busy she didn’t even look up. “I want to eat grapes.”

…

Shen Yiyi looked back at the refrigerator. “Then I’ll go wash them for you?”

Qin Luo still only stared at the screen. After a few seconds of silence, she finally said, “Okay.”

She had just walked out of the kitchen when she turned and stood back.

Shen Yiyi opened the refrigerator, took out the grapes she wanted, and slowly, carefully washed each one.

What was this… retribution?

She suddenly remembered that back then, Qin Luo had seemed to be like this too, often washing fruit and bringing it to her, asking if she wanted to take a break and eat some fruit. She didn’t seem to have given Qin Luo a good face back then either, just shaking her head and pointing to the table for her to put it down, and then continuing to read without a word.

This shouldn’t be retribution.

Shen Yiyi thought to herself that Qin Luo was not a vengeful person. Besides, she hadn’t not looked up back then. At least she had smiled when she shook her head.

She thought back to Qin Luo’s tone just now.

There seemed to be no deliberate coldness or neglect in her tone, but rather a natural habit.

It was as if, in the sixteen years she had been gone, Qin Luo had gotten used to reading in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, used to someone asking her if she needed help. She would habitually reply that she wanted to eat grapes, and then wait for the grapes to be washed and brought to her.

Shen Yiyi drained the water from the grapes, put them on a plate, and walked toward Qin Luo.

“They’re washed.”

Shen Yiyi glanced at the screen. The font size in the document was very small, all densely packed Chinese characters.

Qin Luo pushed up her glasses. Although her body leaned toward her, her eyes and attention were clearly not off the screen. She smiled naturally and asked gently, “Are they?”

Are they?
Are they washed?

She hadn’t expected to wash the grapes so quickly.

Her mind was clearly only on the computer, and she was using a smile to be perfunctory and deal with her.

Shen Yiyi was bewitched. She looked down, picked the biggest one, and brought it to Qin Luo’s mouth. “Here.”

Qin Luo’s peripheral vision seemed to have caught the grape she was offering. She lifted her chin and opened her mouth to take it. Her eyes finally left the screen and looked at her. But the problem was, Qin Luo had clearly bitten the grape, but when she turned, lifted her head, and saw her, her smile unexpectedly disappeared.

Qin Luo’s smile vanished, leaving Shen Yiyi’s hand awkwardly suspended in the air.

The lips that had been kissed lightly touched her fingertips.

If Qin Luo had bitten a little further, she could have taken her entire fingertip into her mouth. She could already feel the soft, moist sensation, her wet touch lingering on the purple skin of the grape.

“Thank you for washing the grapes. I can get them myself.”

Qin Luo held out her palm under the grape, as if to remind her that as long as she let go, the grape would automatically fall into her palm.

Those lips refused to accept it.

Shen Yiyi put the grape back in the bowl, handed it to her, and turned away, saying, “I’ll send you the script in a bit.”

“Okay.”

Qin Luo took the grapes and moved with Shen Yiyi to the study to work.

There were two ergonomic chairs in front of the log table. Qin Luo sat on the right and pointed to the remaining chair, saying to Shen Yiyi, “You can sit here.”

Shen Yiyi sat down in the designated spot. The letters were still on the table in front of her.

What had happened here an hour ago flashed before her eyes…

Shen Yiyi swore that, as a mysophobe, besides entering and exiting a murder scene, she would never touch anyone else’s things in her life. Even with her roommate, with whom she had frequent contact, she would avoid it as much as possible.

She hadn’t meant to read those letters.

It was just that they were tucked into the dictionary, making the book bulge. She had thought it was something important and wanted to take it out to sort it, but she had unexpectedly seen her own name on the outside of the envelope.

So, as if possessed, she had opened one. She had just read half of it when Qin Luo caught her, which led to her crying all over Qin Luo’s shirt.

The letters were right in front of Shen Yiyi. It was quite embarrassing to think about.

She buried her head and apologized awkwardly. “I didn’t mean to go through your things. I just saw my name on the letter—”

“I know.” Qin Luo glanced sideways and forced a smile.

Shen Yiyi pursed her lips and turned her head back to the computer.

She opened the script for Her Kill, but her eyes saw a grape, and Qin Luo with half a grape in her mouth, her smile gone.

It was as if the hand that had fed her the grape should not have been her hand…

She had been so busy tidying up Qin Luo’s books that she hadn’t paid attention to the placement of the other items.

Shen Yiyi leaned back in the ergonomic chair and scanned the entire crime scene with the widest possible view, quickly conducting a static examination.

The position of the frequently used water cup, the layout of the lamp, the wear and tear of the items near the chair, the power strip, and the tomato timer next to Qin Luo and…

…Qin Luo’s camisole was a little too revealing.

Shen Yiyi retracted her gaze.

Well, besides the lighter under the game console, which was a bit unusual, the only other thing was that the camisole was too revealing.

Shen Yiyi logged into WeChat on her computer and then sent the file to Qin Luo.

“I’ve sent you the script. Take a look.”

“Thanks!” Qin Luo moved her mouse to pull out the document and then opened it to check Dr. Shen’s notes.

Shen Yiyi asked, “Does Liu Jia still smoke?”

Qin Luo looked up from the large swaths of red highlights. “Are you asking about Liu Jia? She probably quit in college.”

Shen Yiyi said, “Oh,” and then added, “I want some water.”

Qin Luo was staring at the screen, greatly shocked.

Shen Yiyi had meticulously marked a series of wording errors in her script. For example, the line she had just seen was marked with: “The protagonist’s line can’t use ‘fine.’ ‘Fine’ is a term for administrative punishment, while ‘penalty’ is for criminal punishment.”

“The kitchen has filtered water. You can get it yourself.”

Qin Luo took a mug from beside her and pushed it across the table. But just as it was about to reach Shen Yiyi’s hand, she turned back and took the mug back.

Qin Luo raised the corners of her mouth at Shen Yiyi. “Wait, I’ll go get it for you.”

Shen Yiyi had successfully gotten rid of her, but she didn’t get up to look for an ashtray right away. Instead, her gaze followed Qin Luo as she stood up, then as her back disappeared. Finally, she stared at the mug Qin Luo had taken back.

It didn’t look like it had been left by someone else, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility.

But even if it had been left by someone else, so what?
Qin Luo just thought the mug was practical and continued to use it for water…

Qin Luo continued to use someone else’s mug for water. Her lips would touch the rim. A mug that had been disinfected ten thousand times still had bacteria, not to mention if they had ever kissed…

Ah?

Shen Yiyi hadn’t expected that just by analyzing a mug, she would end up with an image of Qin Luo kissing someone else in her head.

She leaned back in the ergonomic chair. Even though she wanted to pull out the shadow to block the blow now, she found that it was no longer under her command. It was hiding far away. She couldn’t even feel that the mug was dirty, because Qin Luo had definitely drunk from it.

She didn’t even have a strong urge to wash her hands.

Shen Yiyi brought her hands to her eyes and checked her nails and the spaces between her fingers. Compared to others, the grapes she had washed were definitely clean. Even if Qin Luo had just held her finger in her mouth, it definitely wouldn’t have made her sick from the bacteria.

But her fingertips still had the lingering scent of Qin Luo’s breath.

“Do you want to go to sleep?”

When Qin Luo walked in barefoot, Shen Yiyi was still checking her hands.

A disposable paper cup appeared out of nowhere in front of her, and she had to hold it with both hands.

Qin Luo sat back down in her chair and continued to browse the document. “If you’re tired, you should go to sleep. Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

Shen Yiyi took a sip. “Qin Luo, have you lived with someone else?”