Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 3

Chapter 3: To Forge Good Iron, One Must Be Strong

Inside Conference Room 12.

Qin Luo sat in the middle of the three-meter-long table, an inconspicuous spot that happened to offer a perfect view of that “hard iron.”

To her left sat the art director from Hong Kong.

To her right, the lighting director, an overseas Chinese.

Two beautiful female cinematographers craned their necks, their gazes crossing over Qin Luo’s chest as they chattered away, exchanging flirtatious glances.

“Why don’t you two sit together?”

Qin Luo felt that if she didn’t make way for the single lesbians on her crew soon, the way the lighting director was leaning in would look like she was breastfeeding from Shen Yiyi’s perspective.

“Ah, thank you, Sister Qin,” the art director said, standing up to switch seats with Qin Luo.

After changing places, Qin Luo’s line of sight could finally avoid Shen Yiyi’s. She breathed a sigh of relief, but her head was still spinning.

Just now, walking down the twenty-meter hallway with the forensic pathologist, they had walked one behind the other, their steps so out of sync, as if they were strangers.

Qin Luo experienced a rare “sudden moment.”

The harsh sun sliced through the time enveloping her, rewinding her memory to a school campus that still had its summers.

But in that moment.

She saw the stolen shadow of a tree, a withered green apple, and a hasty imprint of lips. Shen Yiyi, holding a sharp knife, had easily slit open her outer coat, flipping through her book of revelations, and then the two of them had scattered in disgrace.

Thanks to Shen Yiyi, today she had successfully achieved her dream of becoming a great screenwriter, and the other woman had successfully passed the exams to enter the public security system and become the director of an identification center.

But the good things had not happened.

They hid themselves in the sea of people, evolving into two parallel lines.

As Qin Luo pushed open the conference room door for Shen Yiyi, she looked at the other woman’s face and thought: An answer lost for sixteen years truly won’t be rekindled by a chance reunion. Ordinary people really aren’t entitled to any kind of dramatic, romantic plot.

Her thoughts were still drifting when Li Wenping, sitting in the center seat as the chief producer, suddenly started the meeting.

“Hi everyone, I’m the production director, currently responsible for the operation of the entire project. On behalf of the production team and our co-producers, I’d first like to thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend the table read for the film Her Kill.”

Li Wenping was the executive president of Guangying Media and the executive director of Gouyan Entertainment. It was safe to say she was one of the most influential women in the media industry.

Of course, adding the word “women” drew a gender distinction, but that’s how Baidu Baike emphasized it.

Qin Luo always said that “search engines” played a key role in gender discrimination. Li Wenping was one of the humans influencing the domestic media industry; introducing her that way sounded much better than “one of the most influential women.”

“Your respective teams have already connected during the production meetings, so I won’t waste any more time.”

“Today, I mainly want to introduce two experts to everyone. This is a show of support for our production from the leadership of the Shanghai Political and Legal Affairs Commission. They’ve invited frontline police officers from the political and legal system to help our actors with their professional training.”

As Li Wenping spoke, she tapped the table, reminding an actor who was playing on their phone to pay attention.

“First, we have the director of the Shanghai Evidence Identification Center, Ms. Shen Yiyi. We are very grateful.” She finished and led the applause.

The conference room erupted in thunderous applause.

Everyone waited for the forensic pathologist to stand up and introduce herself.

But the person in question, Shen Yiyi, was looking down at her phone, scolding her assistant forensic pathologist via WeChat.

The new male forensic pathologist had accidentally fallen asleep last night while boiling a corpse, nearly scorching the human bones and ruining the pot. It was the only large-caliber pressure cooker left in the lab.

Her fingers were typing: “On the rare occasion you guys work overtime, can’t you be a little more reliable?”

Just then, she heard her name being called.

Shen Yiyi looked up, unsure of what she was supposed to do. After a quick scan of the room, her eyes landed on Qin Luo.

It was a plea for help, seemingly tinged with disdain.

Qin Luo caught her gaze and turned her head away in annoyance. But not two seconds later, her heart softened, and she turned back.

With the hand resting on her arm, she made a small upward gesture, subtly indicating that Shen Yiyi should stand up and introduce herself.

It was a secret signal they used in their school days to cover for each other in class. She didn’t think Shen Yiyi would remember.

But the other woman received the signal and scrambled to her feet.

In fact, Shen Yiyi stood up so abruptly that she accidentally sent the unedited text message.

On the other end of WeChat, the assistant forensic pathologist received a message from his director: “On the rare occasion you men work overtime, can’t you be a little more reliable!!”

***

“My name is Shen Yiyi. I’m responsible for consulting on the forensic pathology expertise for your production. I hope to help you improve the accuracy of the political and legal system aspects.”

Shen Yiyi’s expression was stern, her tone serious, as if she were going through the case file verification process. She held up the script.

There were notes in her handwriting, freshly scribbled on it. She had circled large excerpts.

Before coming to the set, her superior had specifically instructed her.

The film Her Kill was being promoted by the Political and Legal Affairs Propaganda Department to enhance public legal awareness and showcase the strength of women within the system. It was also a window for positive external publicity for the public security apparatus. He hoped she could provide the necessary professional services and not let the production team run wild.

Shen Yiyi had taken these words to heart and had come with this purpose in mind.

Therefore, she assumed the script reading had already begun the moment she stood up. After all, police officers like them were never ones for pleasantries when handling cases.

So she continued:

“I just received the script and took a look at the parts concerning the forensic pathology profession. I believe you have overly deified this profession, adding a lot of individual heroism to the character. Moreover, many of the case-handling procedures are detached from reality… There are many nonsensical parts that are not rigorous.”

Sixteen years had passed.

Only this person’s memory had changed; her personality was still as rigid as ever, always an individualist regardless of the occasion. She said whatever she wanted, did whatever she wanted.

Qin Luo bit her lip. It had been a long time since she’d worn contacts, and her eyes felt dry. She cut Shen Yiyi off. “This is a cinematic creation, not a documentary.”

“The script has already been submitted and approved. The main plot will not be changed. However, if Dr. Shen feels there are any logical inconsistencies in the details, you can connect with me privately. I’m the screen—”

“Alright, then I have no further suggestions.” Shen Yiyi laid the script flat on the table and sat back down.

The atmosphere in the conference room grew a bit tense.

As the producer, Li Wenping needed to balance all the creative clashes in the room. She started clapping to ease the tension, saying with a smile, “Thank you, Director Shen, for coming. Next, let me introduce Director Liu from the procuratorate…”

Qin Luo was in no mood to listen to the trainers’ self-introductions. Her emotions churned like waves with Shen Yiyi’s every move.

***

The morning meeting was for the staff to get acquainted, while the afternoon was for the actors’ script reading.

This part had nothing to do with Shen Yiyi. She had work in the afternoon, so she said goodbye to Li Wenping and prepared to leave.

As Qin Luo came out of the restroom, she saw Shen Yiyi standing right at the doorway.

It looked like she was waiting for her, but Qin Luo dismissed the possibility.

Shen Yiyi would never wait for her.

Qin Luo watched from the corner of her eye. Shen Yiyi was wearing a clean white t-shirt today.

Qin Luo didn’t like to overly describe a female protagonist’s appearance or figure in her writing, attaching symbolic highlights to them, reducing her characters to toys for others’ eyes, objects of the public’s fantasies. Would readers not be able to imagine them without a concrete image? Or would giving them a concrete appearance make the characters more vivid? A character’s layers should be built through events. Adding an extra stroke in the corner would make the plot either too intense or too bland.

But at this moment.

She unexpectedly found herself combining all external things with Shen Yiyi into a single, clean entity. She added the melodies and colors of her own creation, blending them with that ordinary white t-shirt, turning it into a sweet dessert that could be devoured, or a sweet powder.

Not beautiful, not pretty.

Not words created according to sexual desire, specifically to deal with and define women.

It was “pleasure.”

It was a return to being a person, having secret fantasies about her. It was the soaring excitement of wanting something, and the swelling disappointment and residue of not being able to have it. The desire to possess her both spurred the writer’s absurd imagination and stripped her of the ability to express it correctly.

This kind of pleasure made one grit their teeth.

Qin Luo blinked, shook the water from her hands, and paused the hypersensitive perception in her brain. She prepared to walk past Shen Yiyi.

“Qin Luo.”

Shen Yiyi, hands in her pockets, called out to Qin Luo, as if she had come specifically for her.

This is terrible, Qin Luo thought. She wasn’t sure if she had misheard, but Shen Yiyi hadn’t used the stiff, serious tone from the meeting. Instead, she had used the intimate and ardent tone from their school days to call her name.

The affection dormant in the name involuntarily fractured.

She stopped and turned around. “What do you want?”

^(1): Baidu Baike is the Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia.