Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 38

Chapter 38: The Damp, Fishy Smell

After showering, Qin Luo wrapped her wet hair in a towel, afraid of dripping water on the floor.

When she opened the door, Shen Yiyi was standing there, holding a hairdryer in one hand and an extracurricular book in the other, seemingly waiting for her.

“Here.”

Shen Yiyi didn’t look up and stuffed the hairdryer into Qin Luo’s arms. “Long hair might take a little longer to dry.”

Qin Luo still had long hair back then, covering her back. Although the school encouraged high school students to have short hair, Qin Luo was reluctant and only cut it once a year. She would be depressed for a long time after leaving the barbershop.

She didn’t understand where this reluctance came from. Or maybe it was more fear than reluctance.

Qin Luo only remembered her mother telling her that men would shave their beards, while women should keep their hair.

But hair was not an organ, yet it absorbed nutrients and grew continuously. It did not belong to a region, nor to others, but for Qin Luo, it could not belong to herself.

It was like a soft symbol.

As long as it was long, smooth, and fragrant, it could summarize something specific, specific enough to determine gender, to become a measure of sexiness used to score desire. People saw it with their eyes, played with it with their fingertips, and used it to whisper ambiguities.

Qin Luo envied Shen Yiyi.

Shen Yiyi’s short hair was above her ears, her hairstyle no different from her male deskmate’s. At that moment, her hair had lost the gender divide, leaving only an outline for Qin Luo’s limited vision to distinguish whose back it was.

Her eyes did not have to submit to the length of her hair. It was no longer a sign. As long as she remembered the back, she could quickly distinguish Shen Yiyi from the crowd.

Qin Luo envied Shen Yiyi’s ability to control her own life.

She could draw her knife at will, get angry at any time, and choose her own hairstyle. And she was just a silent, mediocre girl, wearing popular clothes, listening to so-called popular songs, unable to decide anything for herself, even having to follow the teacher’s arrangements for studying arts or sciences.

Qin Luo walked into the bedroom after drying her hair. Shen Qinwen was squatting on the floor, making a bed near Shen Yiyi’s small bed. The sheets looked like they had barely been used, without a single wrinkle.

Shen Yiyi had already moved a chair for her. Hearing her come in, she turned her head. “Do you want to study?”

This was the first time Shen Yiyi had taken the initiative to invite her.

Qin Luo pulled out the chair and sat down. Shen Yiyi spread a test paper in front of her and pointed to a math problem with the tip of her pen. “The error rate for this problem is very high. You’ll probably get it wrong too.”

…

Qin Luo nodded. “Okay.”

“Then I’ll explain the solution to you.” Shen Yiyi twirled her pen and pulled her chair closer to Qin Luo.

When Shen Qinwen stood up, holding his lower back, his daughter and Qin Luo were huddled together, head to head. He could hear the slightly proud tone in Yiyi’s voice as she taught the problem, and the patience she showed in her social interaction.

He was very gratified.

Shen Yiyi had a strong desire to win since she was a child. Shen Qinwen felt that this was Xu Meng’s mark on her. Back then, in the song and dance troupe, whenever a new play didn’t get her the lead role, Xu Meng would be unhappy for a long time.

His daughter was the same. If she couldn’t solve a problem, she would get stuck on it, and finally cry and ask him for help, and even ask him to explain it slowly. If he ever digressed and talked about a similar problem, he would be scolded by his daughter, who would tell him to focus on solving this problem before talking about others.

He had always felt that Shen Yiyi was not patient, but today, seeing her talk eloquently with Qin Luo, his heart settled a lot.

Dr. Shu had told him that his daughter had to socialize and develop the ability to communicate with others in order to relieve stress in a timely manner.

So bringing Qin Luo home tonight was an absolutely correct choice.

“You two go to sleep after you’re done studying. Go to bed early. I’ll buy you some xiaolongbao for breakfast tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Oh.” Shen Yiyi stared at Qin Luo’s pen and asked in a low voice, “Do you like them?”

Qin Luo put down her pen and turned to Shen Qinwen politely. “Thank you, Uncle. I’m fine with anything.”

***

Shen Yiyi’s room was very large, and the furniture was all custom-made. The desk, wardrobe, and bookshelf were all in one style, but not the old-fashioned yellow wood that was popular in the new millennium, but a bright white and brown.

The decoration was clearly not dull, but as long as Shen Yiyi was silent, all the colors would seem oppressive.

Qin Luo turned over on Shen Yiyi’s pillow, facing the side closer to the floor, and buried her head in the pillowcase.

She was wearing her clothes, using the same shampoo, and lying in her bed. How much she exhaled, how much she inhaled, the fragrance lingered in her body.

There was no secondhand smoke in the room, no Jackie Chan shouting and fighting on the TV, no mother barging into the room, and she didn’t even have to read a novel to fall asleep tonight.

All the restlessness was stilled in the scent.

Qin Luo knew that Shen Yiyi was not asleep either. She thought for a long time. “Can we be friends?”

A “mm” was mixed in with the sound of someone turning over on the floor.

Gentle, subtly moving. The stone thrown out caused ripples, and then Qin Luo was thrown into a state of chaos. She blushed in the darkness. This lead extended into many things, such as the countless romance novels she had read.

Qin Luo moved closer to the edge of the bed until her knees were slightly over the edge. She could clearly hear Shen Yiyi turn over again.

“Then I’ll introduce you to Liu Jia another day.”

After a long pause, Shen Yiyi said, “Oh, it’s not really necessary.”

“She’s a good person.”

“For example?”

“She’s very carefree, she’s very good at telling jokes…” She had cared about her report card, had asked her if she wanted to cry, and with her around, there would never be a dull moment. But Qin Luo didn’t say the last few things, and then changed it to, “She cares a lot about her friends’ feelings.”

“Mm.”

Qin Luo said, “Of course, if you don’t want to meet her, then forget it.”

Shen Yiyi said, “I just think she’s very noisy.”

Hearing her friend described as noisy, Qin Luo was at a loss for words.

Liu Jia was the only tree hole and light in Qin Luo’s childhood. She had witnessed all the interesting things and tears of her growth. Qin Luo didn’t know why Shen Yiyi would describe Liu Jia as noisy, when it was clearly this small town, this family, that was noisy.

“I’ve seen her laughing loudly several times, but the next second she’s angry enough to kick someone’s butt. She seems very energetic.” Shen Yiyi clutched the corner of her blanket, curled up.

Qin Luo still didn’t answer. She didn’t want to explain for her friend, nor did she want to submit to Shen Yiyi’s ideas.

Not hearing a response, Shen Yiyi raised her head slightly and asked in a soft voice, “Are you asleep?”

Qin Luo didn’t answer and continued to pretend to be asleep in silence.

Not getting an answer, Shen Yiyi barely slept that night.

She was not yet used to the sudden intrusion into her room, a stranger who could interrupt the shadow’s thoughts and drive away the moon.

Shen Yiyi got out of the blanket, wearing only shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, and stood foolishly by the bed.

Qin Luo was sound asleep. The thin blanket on her had been on her yesterday, but it seemed she was afraid of the cold, clutching the blanket tightly, as if wanting to be completely wrapped up. Shen Yiyi opened the door, took a sofa blanket from the living room, and came back, gently covering the thin blanket.

Her mother had also covered her with a towel blanket like this when she was alive.

But Shen Yiyi thought for a long time but couldn’t remember her mother’s face. The autumn wind gave her a headache. She hugged her arms to ward off the cold and was reluctant to lie down.

It wasn’t until Qin Luo turned over that she was so scared she quickly lay down and wrapped herself in the blanket.

***

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qin Luo went to school with glasses.

She wasn’t wearing a fashionable style, but the most cost-effective one in the store.

Qin Luo abandoned Liu Jia and deliberately came to school early, afraid that someone would arrive before her and look up to observe her new look the moment she walked into the classroom.

She was afraid of being watched. She just wanted to be lost in the mediocre crowd, to be the most inconspicuous, unnoticeable stone.

But she was also nervous, nervous that Shen Yiyi wouldn’t notice the subtle change on her face.

Qin Luo waited in the back row for a whole day before the Shen Yiyi who had promised to be her friend finally came to talk to her.

Shen Yiyi was handing out test papers, and the conversation was just on the way. “Is your prescription very high?”

With glasses, Qin Luo’s world became clear and bright, enough for her to observe even the smallest details. But at this moment, she didn’t dare to look up.

She was afraid that the eye contact with Shen Yiyi would be too real.

Qin Luo tidied up the textbooks on her desk. “Yes, over two hundred degrees.”

Shen Yiyi nodded and laid the test paper flat on Qin Luo’s desk. She pointed to a math problem with a checkmark and said proudly, “See, you got this one right.”

Qin Luo’s movements became even more flustered. She folded the test paper in half. “You’re a good teacher.”

Shen Yiyi asked, “Then do you need me to explain any other problems tonight?”

The male deskmate who was sleeping on his desk looked up, glanced at the top student, and then teased Qin Luo, “Qin Luo, hurry up. Your math is saved.”

Shen Yiyi didn’t look at him and said to herself, “Then how about you come to my house on Friday night?”

Qin Luo couldn’t believe it. Shen Yiyi had taken the initiative to invite her to her house again. “Huh? Okay!”

Math, a subject that had once made Qin Luo’s heart tremble, became the subject she treated most seriously after the Mid-Autumn Festival. She even gave up reading, gave up gossiping with Liu Jia on Friday nights, and stayed up late studying her math test papers.

She didn’t dare to let down Shen Yiyi’s explanation, and she didn’t dare to disappoint her expectations.

So in the final exam of that semester, Qin Luo’s math score jumped thirty points from the passing line, directly into the upper-middle level.

The deficiencies in Qin Luo’s subjects were thus filled by Shen Yiyi. Her grades soared, and her mother received unanimous praise from the teachers at the parent-teacher conference.

At the end of the parent-teacher conference, Qin Luo’s mother held Shen Yiyi’s hand and thanked her profusely, insisting on inviting her to her house for dinner.

Qin Luo had thought that Shen Yiyi would not agree.

Who knew that Shen Yiyi would say with a smile, “Okay.”

Qin Luo wanted to stop her. She even took the initiative to suggest that her mother find a restaurant and invite Shen’s father to eat out together, but who knew that she would be rejected by Shen Yiyi.

Shen Yiyi said that Shen’s father was very busy during the final exam week, and besides, her aunt had invited her, so she didn’t want to bring her father along.

Qin Luo was not one to spoil the fun. She was speechless in her heart, but she forced a smile and agreed.

On the way home with Shen Yiyi that day, Qin Luo’s mind was in a daze.

Qin Luo didn’t know how to introduce the room full of secondhand smoke to a mysophobe, whether the corners filled with clutter would disgust her.

She couldn’t even bring herself to introduce her own father.

A man who was worlds apart from Shen Qinwen. He would never speak standard Mandarin, and his mouth was full of nonsense. At the dinner table, he would not talk about astronomy or geography. The only thing he was proud of was the few grass carp he had secretly caught from the reservoir.

Qin Luo had already imagined that halfway through the meal, her father would take out a banknote from his pocket and tell her to hurry up and finish eating so she could go buy a pack of cigarettes.

Qin Luo felt suffocated. Her self-deprecation slowly seeped out a damp, fishy smell.