Shi Nian recalled that she had once paid close attention to the long corridors of Yanwu Square and Kangchuan University dormitory. The two corridors had very similar forms and architectural styles. Furthermore, when she first walked into that ancient dormitory building, closed her eyes, and stood in front of the corridor of Kangchuan University dormitory, she slled a scent almost identical to that of the corridor at Yanwu Square.
Thanks to what happened back then, after being kept in the darkness for a long ti, her sense of sll beca extrely sensitive, allowing her to almost distinguish the unique scent of old wood floating in the air—different years of wood have different moisture contents, producing different fungi, and thus the sll emitted under the effect of fungi is also different. At that ti, she had thought that the old houses of Yanwu Square and Kangchuan University might have been constructed using wood from the sa year and even by the sa group of workers, which is why the treatnt thods were consistent.
That intuition finally found its footnote through this story today.
Shi Nian slowly raised her head: "If that is the case, I worry that Huangfu Huazhang cannot be unrelated to Yanwu Square."
.
Such an important clue finally connected, and Shi Nian could not help but feel a small thrill, like a person walking in fog who finally glimpses a ray of light illuminating the way ahead. She couldn’t help but look up silently at him.
She thought, maybe he would also feel a small thrill.
Unexpectedly, Tang Yanqing rely stared at her impassively, showing no signs of happiness, just shrugged indifferently: "So you know the story of Huangfu Xi’an and Ivan. Yet from this, deducing that Huangfu Huazhang is connected to Yanwu Square might be rash."
"Why?"
Shi Nian was a little surprised, not understanding why he did not encourage her this ti as he usually did but directly denied her.
"The reasoning is simple," Tang Yanqing inserted his hands into his pockets, looked down at his shoe tip: "If Yanwu Square was really the place where his mother had killed his father, it would be a sad place for him and a shadow Fude Group would want to avoid ntioning again. Hence, be it Huangfu Huazhang or Fude Group, they would have found a way to sell off that murder house early, why would they keep it, do they want to keep it as a black souvenir?"
Tang Yanqing’s gaze was calm as it settled on Shi Nian’s face: "Moreover, you know what kind of business Yanwu Square runs. If you were Huangfu Huazhang, would you make your mother’s old residence the place for that kind of business?"
Shi Nian was taken aback, though unwilling, she was at a loss for words.
Tang Yanqing looked steadily at her: "So just do what you as a journalist can do; as for solving cases, especially murder cases, leave that to us."
Shi Nian suddenly raised her head: "Are you subtly reminding that my analysis is completely unhelpful to you?"
Tang Yanqing lowered his gaze: "I’m saying that in professional fields, each has its expertise. Journalists also have the capability to search for the truth, but lack a professional team like the police, so you’d better let it go and leave it to ."
"But our analyses have diverged." Shi Nian silently clenched her fists at her sides: "You told to let go and leave it all to you, but will you still investigate in the direction of my analysis?"
Tang Yanqing quietly stared at her, seeing the anticipation in her eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky, yet ultimately shook his head: "No."
Shi Nian nodded: "I understand. Mr. Tang always trusts his intuition the most, and as your student, I should yield."
"That’s not what I ant." He seed a bit troubled, lifted his hand to remove his police cap, and ran his fingers through his hair: "I’m not stubborn for years, nor ignoring your viewpoint... it’s just, leave this matter to , I will eventually give you a clear answer."
Shi Nian smiled and nodded: "Alright. Then you get busy, I’m leaving."
.
Watched Shi Nian’s back leaving the police station, Jia Tianzi slowly walked up with his arms crossed: "My behavior analysis was learned from you, but even I can see she was just pretending to oblige, don’t tell you didn’t notice."
Tang Yanqing impatiently ran his hand through his hair again.
"Of course I noticed, but I have to lie to her."
Jia Tianzi nodded understandingly: "I understand, the reason you’re doing this is that you don’t want her to approach Huangfu Huazhang."
"She knows that she’s the only one in this world who can approach Huangfu Huazhang, besides her, neither you nor I can." His long brows furrowed: "If I support her deduction, she would step courageously towards Huangfu Huazhang; I have to throw cold water on her."
Jia Tianzi shook his head: "But you should know her personality best, she is a girl who strongly believes in her intuition. This confidence also cos from her trust in her father, she believes the intuition her father passed down to her will not be wrong. So she will firmly stick to reasonable analysis, not easily give up on her intuition just because of your denial."
"And don’t forget the influence her father had on her over the years; she will see it as her duty to give up personal interests for case-solving, to safeguard justice even at her own expense."
"I understand." Tang Yanqing frowned: "I won’t let such a thing happen."
He raised his eyes to look again at the door. Outside, the figure had long vanished.
This was supposed to be the eting after that night between him and her, yet he didn’t recall expressing his tenderness and longing to her, but instead used cruel denial to chase her away...
He rolled his foot on the ground in annoyance.
How to make her faithfully follow her own intuition without letting her step into danger?
.
Shi Nian left the police station and specially returned to Kangchuan University.
Again, she stood at the start of that long corridor, closed her eyes, and let her nose seek answers.
Though the sll on this corridor varied greatly, here every item exudes its own sll, and every teacher and student who walks through the corridor leaves their scent as well, those slls entangled together, causing trouble to her sense of sll.
Yet, the most powerful thing in this world is the scent of ti. That unique scent of an old house, albeit possibly weakened by other slls, will never be completely covered.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finally finding that sll again. She nodded with a smile, she still trusted her intuition.
Even if Tang Yanqing had ruthlessly denied her, she still believed.
This is thanks to Dad, who in his lifeti, as part of "cultivating the self of a detective," never overlooked the sll of various items, constantly bringing things close to his nose to sll. And when she was at ho, Dad would take her along to do this, thus her nose gained the ability to distinguish scents.
She opened her eyes again and looked toward the end of the corridor, where the school police office was. Through the window, there still sat a school police officer in a neat uniform, still looking through the window towards the corridor.
Just like it used to be, Sean.
"Nana, why did you co back but not go upstairs?"
While trying to simulate Sean’s state of mind, her shoulder was suddenly patted.
Shi Nian turned to see Zhong Kui, wearing the checkered shirt boys liked, paired with khaki trousers, book clamped under his arm, looking just like he had co back from class.
Shi Nian smiled awkwardly: "Yes, I’m going upstairs now. Long ti no see, Zhong Kui. Is it just you and Marina left in 507? Have there been any new roommates?"
Zhong Kui shrugged: "Our departnt is all studying Oriental studies, and we all have a bit of Oriental superstition. Now our 507 is the second haunted house, second only to Zhou Guanghan’s room, who would be willing to move in?"
Shi Nian also felt a bit disheartened: "Have you and Marina thought of applying for another dorm and moving out of 507?"
"No need for that." Zhong Kui shrugged indifferently: "Or could be considered a blessing in disguise, it’s just Marina and I now and it’s peaceful. And with finals coming, it’s perfect to calmly prepare for the exams."
This sounded reasonable, so Shi Nian nodded with a smile.
Zhong Kui looked Shi Nian up and down: "You’ve been away from class for quite so ti. Why did you suddenly co back today and stand on the corridor with your eyes closed, lost in thought?"
Shi Nian knew she couldn’t bluff her way through, so she told half-truth: "Standing here reminds of Sean. So..."
Zhong Kui also understood and sighed: "Indeed. We’ve all gone through too much during that ti."
"The most admirable thing is you and Marina’s devotion, still willing to stay in 507. Otherwise, 507 would be empty too." Shi Nian said sincerely.
Zhong Kui nodded with a smile: "We have been following Mark’s trial closely, Nana, didn’t expect the chairperson would stand up for you, step into the public eye."
Zhong Kui smiled faintly: "For you, the chairperson’s mystery over the years is entirely destroyed."
This statent caused Shi Nian to feel quite embarrassed: "Yes, I owe the chairperson a lot."
Zhong Kui nodded and smiled: "I can’t help but be curious, since the chairperson can do this for you; if one day the chairperson encounters a similar situation, would Nana be willing to testify for the chairperson?"
Shi Nian was stunned.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
[The second update will be at night, maybe around 10 o’clock~]
Reviews
All reviews (0)