Before he could get a good look at what the person was holding, a man spoke from below. “Hey, are you a student?! What are you doing hanging out the window?”
The voice badly startled Guo Changcheng, whose nerves were already shot. In a stroke of misfortune, there was a bit of slippery moss on the windowsill; he lost his footing and fell victim to gravity. Zhao Yunlan leaped into action and made a grab for him but only managed to catch a fistful of Guo Changcheng’s helmet-like hair. Guo Changcheng screamed. In shock, Zhao Yunlan lost his grip and just let him drop.
The black cat sat on the windowsill, tail a-swish. “Meow—”
Director Zhao cursed as he raced down the stairs. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
Seeing Guo Changcheng falling, the person who’d spoken up made a hurried attempt to catch him. He was a man with a lean build who, even at the height of summer, was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He looked clean cut and gentle with rimless glasses that contributed to an elegant, intellectual air. He’d been holding his lesson planner but had dropped it when he reached for Guo Changcheng.
“Are you all right, Tongxue?”5
Thankfully, having only fallen from the second floor, Guo Changcheng was fine, if a bit shaken. Panicked, he turned to look at the windowsill he’d fallen from, only to find it completely empty. It was as if the skeleton hanging outside the window and the black-cloaked figure in its eyes were figments of his imagination.
Legs turning to jelly, Guo Changcheng plopped onto his backside.
“Did you twist your ankle?” The bespectacled man bent down slightly to check on him. “School rules strictly forbid climbing on buildings. It’s too dangerous. Now, I won’t give you any demerits this time. Let me take you to the school clinic?”
Guo Changcheng replied, “N-no need, I’m n-n-not…”
Nervousness always left him tongue-tied, even less able to speak clearly than usual. He felt that he’d probably been born a useless lump of wood. What path could he take through life that didn’t require leeching off a partner? Here he was, first day on the job and already losing his mind.
Zhao Yunlan, having bolted down to the ground floor, grabbed Guo Changcheng by the collar and yanked him upright. What he really wanted was to take off his shoes and dual wield at this precious boy’s face, but with someone else present, he could only swallow his temper. He turned to the man in the glasses and extended a hand. “Hello, we’re from Public Security. The last name’s Zhao. And with whom do I have the honor of speaking?”
Their gazes met, and they both froze.
Out of nowhere, Is he an instructor or the school hottie? flashed across Zhao Yunlan’s mind.
Something flickered over the hot…instructor’s…face. He seemed to instinctively avoid Zhao Yunlan’s hand but quickly recovered. Clearing his throat, he touched his hand to Zhao Yunlan’s for the merest fleeting instant before letting go. “The honor is all mine. The name is Shen—Shen Wei. I teach here. I’m sorry, I mistook that officer for a student staying behind for the summer.”
Shen Wei’s hand had the chill of a corpse fresh from cold storage. Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help giving him another glance, but Shen Wei refused any eye contact, using the excuse of picking up his scattered lesson plans to avoid his gaze. Zhao Yunlan began to help, and the two of them reached for the same piece of paper at the same time.
Under the circumstances—one of them reaching for his own paper, the other simply trying to help—Zhao Yunlan should have been the one to withdraw. Instead, it was Shen Wei who hastily pulled back, as if burned. His lips were pale, but a trace of crimson tinted his cheekbones.
His entire reaction was peculiar for a first meeting. It was as if he feared Zhao Yunlan, but it was more than that. If a criminal with a guilty conscience came face-to-face with a police officer, in addition to being nervous, they would try to sneak peeks at the officer’s reaction rather than fully avoiding their eyes.
It was all rather baffling. Zhao Yunlan started to observe Shen Wei carefully.
The world held all kinds of beauties. Sunny, refreshing, dashing, delicate—the possibilities were endless. But there was one type, like fine porcelain, that at first glance seemed pleasant enough to look at, but not entrancing. Such gentle, elegant beauty didn’t brashly demand attention, but someone with a discerning eye would be drawn in, captivated by the exquisiteness before them.
That was the nature of Shen Wei’s appearance. The longer you looked, the more his beauty was revealed.
Zhao Yunlan had no preference between men or women, and what’s more, he’d been single for a few months. His suspicious gaze changed as lust crept in. His heart, despite the inappropriate timing, skipped a beat.
Just then, the massive spherical black cat wriggled his way over to Shen Wei’s feet. It almost seemed like he was under the influence—after sniffing Shen Wei carefully, neck extended, the cat glued himself to Shen Wei’s leg, meowing piteously. This lordly cat, normally gluttonous and lazy, noble and cold, had never carried out his obligations as a cat so earnestly before. Zhao Yunlan froze at the sight of him shamelessly nuzzling into Shen Wei’s pant leg. Daqing even looked up, as if kissing up to Shen Wei, and stretched his laughably short front legs toward Shen Wei’s knees, begging to be held.
He picked up the cat, who didn’t mind the chill of his touch. With a softer meow, the cat curled into a ball, purring and nuzzling against Shen Wei’s hands.
Shen Wei petted the cat’s head. “What an intelligent cat. Does he have a name?”
“Yeah,” Zhao Yunlan said. “His name is Daqing. Pet name: Fatty. Nickname: Big Dumb Fatty.”
The black cat yowled, fur standing on end as he scratched at Zhao Yunlan. Zhao Yunlan easily evaded his claws and scooped the cat into his own arms, giving Guo Changcheng a look.
Guo Changcheng steeled himself and approached. Opening the document folder he held, he withdrew a female student’s ID, trembling as he passed it to Shen Wei. Speaking to a stranger was intensely difficult for him, but he said, “Sh-Shen-laoshi, h-hello. Could you take a look? Does this person look familiar?”
Shen Wei pushed his glasses up, masking the faintest trace of panic and smoothing out his expression. “I don’t know her. I don’t think she’s taken any of my classes. So the rumors that something happened to a student last night are true?”
Zhao Yunlan studied him, alert to every microexpression. “Yes. This ID was found on the deceased. Where can we find more background information on this student, Shen-laoshi?”
Shen Wei avoided his demanding gaze. “You can try asking at the registrar.”
“Where might the registrar be?” asked Zhao Yunlan immediately. “Would you be so kind as to take us there?” Shen Wei stiffened, but Zhao Yunlan pressed on. “Or is it too much trouble?”
Tightening his grip on his lesson plans, Shen Wei paused. Finally, he reluctantly said, “Follow me.”