Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 84

Chapter 84: The Mysophobe

“How come it’s raining again in Shanghai when I open my eyes?”

You Ning had only slept for two hours before her alarm went off. She had to rush to the set and couldn’t sleep in Qin Luo’s guest room anymore.

She opened the curtains. The office building opposite was dead silent, and the sky was as gray as a concrete wall, which made her feel stuffy.

You Ning took a deep breath and picked up her clothes to smell them—my god, they all smelled of smoke. There was no time to go back to her apartment to change. She would either have to go to the set in what she was wearing and then wash it and return it to Qin Luo later.

She put on her jeans, made the bed, and then neatly placed the charging cable on the bedside table.

As she pushed open the door, she saw Qin Luo standing in the living room in her pajamas.

You Ning said hesitantly, “You… you haven’t slept?”

Qin Luo was natural, as if she had completely forgotten the scene on the balcony a few hours ago. “Yes, my sleep schedule is quite chaotic. I’m not sleepy yet.”

You Ning looked at her watch. “It’s six in the morning. Your body will collapse if you keep going like this.”

“I’ve made porridge. Do you want some?”

Her gaze shifted. A single bowl of porridge was on the dining table, steaming in the air-conditioned room. It was clear that Qin Luo had just made it.

You Ning was flattered and pointed at herself in confusion. “For me?”

Qin Luo blinked. “Who else?”

The “Love Until You Die” she had sung yesterday was so good!
Many miracles will only exist if you believe!

You Ning put down her messenger bag, rushed to the dining table, sat down obediently, and stuffed the porridge into her mouth with a spoon.

“It’s delicious. Hehe, it’s really delicious.”

“It’s just plain porridge.”

You Ning ate seriously. “Plain porridge is also delicious. The rice at your house is so soft. I haven’t had such soft and sticky plain porridge in years. The boxed lunches on the set are so hard.”

Qin Luo walked away and sat on the sofa, watching her eat half a bowl from a distance, and then said, “You don’t have to call a car. I’ll have my driver take you later.”

You Ning held her bowl and turned her head. “In a bit? The driver will take me to the set?”

“Yes.”

A book that Qin Luo hadn’t finished was lying face down on the sofa. She looked down and flipped a page of the book on her lap.

She asked, “Don’t you need to change your clothes?”

Clothes?

You Ning reacted and quickly explained, “Ah, sorry. I forgot to tell you. There were too many people smoking at the KTV yesterday… My own T-shirt smells of smoke and sweat, so I thought—”

“You can change in a bit.” Qin Luo stared at the love poem in front of her, without looking up. “I’ll find you something to wear.”

In the cloakroom, You Ning was buttoning her shirt in front of the mirror, her face so happy she couldn’t close her mouth.

Last night, she had worn pajamas. This morning, she had a shirt to wear, and it was even personally chosen for her by Qin Luo, a plaid shirt from a big brand’s spring/summer collection, neatly ironed.

You Ning did not roll up her sleeves as usual, but used Qin Luo’s habit of folding her sleeves, folding them outwards. She deliberately did not wear a hat, but tied up her hair.

You Ning walked to the living room and spun around. “Haha, thank you for the clothes, Sister Qin. I look very cultured today.”

“The clothes are a gift.” Qin Luo was focused on the book in her hand. “The driver is waiting for you in the underground garage.”

Zhan Luo was sitting in the car and saw the elevator open.

The familiar shirt was on the drunk woman from last night. He was not very surprised and just did what an assistant should do—take the person to their destination.

He got out of the car and opened the door for You Ning.

You Ning was used to having a driver and did not say thank you, just got into the car while playing with her phone.

Zhan Luo said, “We’ll be there in about 15 minutes.”

“Okay.”

“There’s water in the back.”

You Ning did not answer, just looked for the salesperson of this shirt brand on WeChat. Just now, Qin Luo had said she would give her the clothes. She wanted to buy something else for Qin Luo, so that they would have a chance to interact.

The salesperson sent her the new products in less than two seconds.

You Ning frowned and typed: [It’s not for me. It’s for a cultured person. It has to be business-like and have a perfect temperament.]

You Ning was also busy. After chatting for two minutes, the calls from the set began to come in frantically. One moment, there was a problem with the equipment, and the next, the props department said that the close-up decoration had broken during construction, and they didn’t know whether to wait for the art department to 3D print it or to buy it from the market.

“What’s broken that needs to be 3D printed? Who has time to make up for it in post-production with the fixed shooting time?”
“The wine glass is broken.”
“Then go and buy one.”

You Ning slapped her forehead. “Oh right, the mall isn’t open yet. Send me a picture and let me think of a solution. Don’t hang up yet.”

It was a red wine glass, and it looked a little expensive…

You Ning scratched her head. “I’ll go and ask the bar if they have one later. You guys don’t have to worry about this. Just set up the scene first.”

After hanging up, You Ning unluckily flipped through her contacts and muttered to herself, “I was in such a good mood, and now I’m being bothered before I even start work.”

“Are you going to buy a cup? I know where to buy one.”
“Now?” You Ning asked.
“Yes, they should be open for business now.”

Sure enough! The men who could stay at Logos were indeed useful!

You Ning’s sad face immediately turned into a smile, and she said politely, “Really? Then please take me there.”

But then she thought again. This person was Qin Luo’s assistant, not a Didi exclusive.

“Or you can give me an address, and I’ll have them drive there to buy it.”

Zhan Luo turned on his turn signal at the intersection and made a U-turn.

“It’s fine. Director Qin has no schedule during the day these few days. You are her very important friend. I’ll take you there.”

You are her very important friend…

You Ning pursed her lips, her smile almost uncontrollable. As expected of Qin Luo’s assistant, his emotional value was so high, a one-click right swipe to make the work-related smell disappear. “Really? I’m already a very important friend to Qin Luo.”

Zhan Luo said softly, “I haven’t been with Director Qin for long. I’m not sure about before.”

You Ning nodded, but she was not used to communicating with drivers. After all, she was an outsider, and it would not be good if too much idle talk reached Qin Luo’s ears.

She had the most sense of propriety. “Then thank you so much for today. I still don’t know your name.”

“My name is Zhan Luo. I’m mainly in charge of the reading group’s project.”

He was the one who picked up and dropped off Qin Luo when she came to the production. Sometimes he would also come to the production to deliver documents, but the security guard would always stop him from entering. You Ning had seen him several times, but she had never looked at him carefully. Now, observing Zhan Luo from behind, his voice sounded like he was in his thirties, he had a lot of hair, and he was also managing his figure. Although his shirt was not a big brand, the color of his tie matched his shirt, and it had been chosen. His glasses were not the academic style that an ordinary man would wear, but a brand name. He did indeed meet Logos’s requirements for men’s appearance.

The assistant director had developed a smooth personality. She said politely, “Brother Zhan, thank you so much for today. You’ve been a great help.”

“It’s not a big help. You don’t have to call me that. You can just call me Little Zhan like Director Qin does.”

You Ning hesitated. “But you’re older than me. It’s too strange to call you Little Zhan.”

Zhan Luo made another turn and stopped the car steadily.

You Ning looked up. In front of her was an industrial park. There were tall trees on both sides of the road, which blocked the stuffy heat from above. In front of them was the warehousing and logistics center of the industrial park. It looked like a wholesale distribution center.

“We’re here.”

***

“My god, the documents from the legal department have finally arrived!”

Just after the department’s morning meeting on Monday, Lin Puping was running back and forth on the third floor. Director Shen was right. The start of the school year and the breakup season were indeed busy with cases. He had just settled down when he received a call from the legal department, saying that the documents had arrived and the leadership had agreed to the autopsy of the foreigner.

“An autopsy for a corpse, and it’s so complicated. It’s not like we’re happy to take it.” He muttered under his breath and placed the documents on the director’s desk. “Director Shen, you can decide on the time. I’ll make an appointment with the funeral home to thaw the body.”

Shen Yiyi was looking at her computer and did not say anything.

Lin Puping looked at the desk. He had bought breakfast for the director at the cafeteria at 6 in the morning. It had been sitting there for almost three hours, and the plastic bag had not even been opened. She had been in this position when he had come to change the materials just now, and she had not moved since.

“Director Shen?”

“I can hear you.” Shen Yiyi clicked her mouse a couple of times and hid the web page. She picked up the report, flipped through a couple of pages, and then threw it back. “Let’s make it the day after tomorrow.”

Lin Puping thought about what the legal department’s leader had said. “But the team means that we have to hurry up, because this victim is involved in many investment issues, and the family is also very annoying.”

“Then I’m not free,” Shen Yiyi said coldly.

“…” Lin Puping was in a difficult position between the leaders. “Okay, then the day after tomorrow. I’ll call the funeral home in a bit. As for Qi Yingjun, do you want to schedule it for tonight or tomorrow night?”

“Let’s wait and see what the criminal tech department’s analysis meeting says.”

The director’s voice had suddenly turned cold and deep. It was like a worker who had worked all year and had not gotten a year-end bonus, a faint sense of death that made the back of his head ache. He was very afraid that he had done something wrong and had made her angry again.

But she had been quite normal at the department meeting this morning. She had even joked and comforted everyone when she was talking about the key work arrangements. Could it be that Director Hong had come to find fault again? Why was this old man so troublesome?

Lin Puping said with concern, “Is it because Director Hong asked you to lead the team in the competition that you’re annoyed? Or is it because these major cases are putting too much pressure on you?”

“Get out!” Shen Yiyi’s voice rose in an unbearable tone.

…So fierce…

Lin Puping fled in a panic.

The force she had just used had made the wound under her ribs ache faintly. But if it weren’t for the incision, Shen Yiyi was not sure if she would have slammed the table on the spot.

She had been trying her best to restrain her contempt for her subordinates, but this kind of lack of boundaries, this repeated probing and reminding, was really annoying.

Of course, the person who had set her on fire today was not Lin Puping, but she couldn’t blame anyone else.

She clicked her mouse a couple of times, and the web page was restored. A mirror selfie of a river view room filled the screen at its maximum size. The science and technology department’s notice kept popping up in the window eight hundred times a day, reminding her that the web page was not safe and there was a risk of data leakage.

Shen Yiyi was naturally aware that the risk of this ordinary web page leaking police work was one percent, but the risk of the person on the screen affecting her emotions was currently inestimable.

As she looked, she took out an alcohol wipe and began to wipe the computer screen. Halfway through, she angrily threw it into the trash.

She really didn’t understand.

Qin Luo clearly knew that she had mysophobia. Why would she let that person wear her clothes?