"Latest chapter!"
Bai Muchuan's words reminded Xiang Wan.
For an online novelist, updating their latest chapters were more important than their life!
Hence, Xiang Wan automatically ignored her embarrassment, pride, as well as Bai Lu's cold treatment, and stayed in the guest room of the Bai residence. She locked the room and started working on her latest chapter within the privacy of the room.
Huff!
It was peaceful, quiet, and empty. She felt so reassured.
Xiang Wan was using Fang Yuanyuan's laptop, so it was not as smooth.
She slowly wrote:
The nights at the detention center were long and cold; not even a hint of summer heat could permeate through.
Ah Sheng sat alone in the dark, his figure small and fatigued. It was another day of endless interrogation,his willpower had almost deserted him.
The soul drew away, and he thought of death.
Maybe death would be the best way to escape from it all.
Death! Death! Death!
The few scary words made his heart beat violently. He thought of him again.
That day in the early spring, green leaves had just sprouted from a branch, and the grass were rustling in the wind.
He drove in with his bulky SUV and smiled at him. "Are you Ah Sheng? Your boss says that you're pretty good with cars?"
Later, they got to know each other better. "My car is in your hands," he said, "pal, do a good job."
They became more familiar with each other consequently. "I'm leaving everything to you," he said, "brother, do a good job. Old rules apply, you'll be duly rewarded!"
Oh, he trusted him so much.
So much trust that he sent himself to hell.
When Ah Sheng thought about his trusting face, he smiled and struggled to stand up for a good look at the detention cell.
This was the place a murderer lived, and there was nothing that could send him to his side.
Ah Sheng's smile got deeper.
Looking at the wall, he suddenly closed his eyes and banged his head onto the wall!
…
Ah Sheng did not die.
There was a chain latched onto his feet which limited the impact, so he only fainted.
When he woke up once again, there was a beautiful woman sitting in front of him.
She smiled at him. "Congratulations for another chance to start your life."
Congratulations? What else is there to congratulate about? he thought.
Ah Sheng gulped, attempting to moisten his dry mouth. "Why are you here again?"
He remembered this woman. She had come to the detention center with Detective Fang Yelan. She was gorgeous, but her gaze was sharp as knife, as if it could pierce open his skin and reveal his bloody heart. Every word of hers seemed to dismember a part of him, leaving him no choice but to face up to his deplorable past…
"I'm here to see you, and to encourage you."
Her voice was very gentle, but Ah Sheng shuddered under her gaze.
Ah Sheng could not take it. He shut his eyes firmly, his voice quavering as he spoke, "I'm not protecting anyone," he murmured, "please go away. I don't want to see you."
"You do need me," she said, "your soul needs redemption. You won't be able to escape no matter whether you're alive or dead. I'm the only one who can help you."
"I have nothing to say. I don't need any help, either."
"Are you really sure?" The woman gave a soft chuckle, as if a magic spell had opened the Pandora Box that was stowed away deep down inside Ah Sheng's heart. "For instance, why did you court Er Niu so persistently, yet you've never actually loved her?"
Ah Sheng's eyes were wide-opened in that instant while looking at the woman who was wearing a faint smile before him.
She was like a devil who had, once again, cut open his blood-soaked heart.
"Ah Sheng, love is an innate ability of human beings. You have it too. No matter who you love, it is not a sin…"
…
Knock! Knock!
There was knocking at the door.
Xiang Wan's train of thoughts were interrupted, and she felt slightly annoyed. She had nearly forgotten that she was not at her own place.
"Who's that?"
Nanny Li's voice, with a somewhat apologetic tone, was heard from outside. "Teacher Xiang, Young Master Bai wanted me to send you some tea to let you freshen up your spirit."
Freshen up my foot!
Xiang Wan rubbed her head and shuffled to the door wearing the slippers. "Thank you, Nanny Li," she smiled awkwardly to receive the tea, "please help me thank Young Master Bai."
Nanny Li smiled and waved, then helped close the door.
Xiang Wan puffed a sigh. She placed the tea on the table with a despondent face, and continued her work without taking a sip of the tea.
This time, she took at least 15 minutes before she regained her momentum as halfway through, she was nearly pulled away by news of a certain famous star who committed adultery. It was not easy for her to get back on momentum. When she finished that chapter, 40 minutes had past.
The time indicated on the laptop was 11:58 p.m.
It was a race against time. Every second counts!
Xiang Wan uploaded her chapter in an amazing speed. The editor was awesome as well, the chapter was approved in seconds.
Finally, Xiang Wan managed to update the chapter before midnight at 11 o'clock, 59 minutes, 59 seconds sharp!
"Haha!" She stretched herself. "I managed to update in time! I'm too awesome!"
The comments urging her to update in the book review and comments section were about to drown all other normal comments.
Xiang Wan finished her update and started to look through the comments and found a lot of speculation about the case as well as the daily "battle" between the RongFang ship and the RongGu ship fans…
Very interesting!
The readers' imagination was often greater than the author's.
They dared to think about anything, as if a heavenly steed soaring across the skies, powerful and unrestrained.
There were even comments who often collided with Xiang Wan's plot…
Every time when Xiang Wan saw such comments, she would be shocked for a while, then she would reinforce her belief of the importance of logical reasoning to the case.
Based on the known clues and conditions, there could only be so many conclusions to deduce… What else could there be?
Therefore, the case in her book colliding with an actual case in reality should not be that shocking after all? And Detective Bai had to kick a big fuss over it!
"You seem to be in a good mood."
A sudden frosty voice coming from behind her made Xiang Wan's spine frozen.
This Bai Muchuan!
Every time, he had to appear in such a cold and eerie way which scared her.
Xiang Wan took a deep breath before she turned around. With a calm face, she asked, "I look very happy?"
"It's written all over your face."
"Oh, okay then. So Detective Bai has finished reading my latest chapter?" Xiang Wan cut to the chase, "can you tell me about the case now?"
Bai Muchuan squinted his eyes to scrutinize her.
A while later, he pulled a chair and sat opposite her, face to face.
"After Ah Sheng attempted suicide, the part after he woke up, when he conversed with the criminal psychologist, what are you trying to imply here?"
Uh! Is this really difficult to understand? Xiang Wan wondered.
Oh right! He's straight after all.
Xiang Wan winked. "Just a little achillean humor here, don't mind it."
Bai Muchuan's brows knitted slightly. "Just achillean humor?"
Xiang Wan gave it a thought. "Not quite. Any clues thrown out by a mystery novel are not casually written. In my book, Ah Sheng is a good looking and shy young man. He's friendly, but he's bashful and introverted when interacting with people. Er Niu liked him a lot. However, for him, due to certain special circumstances or biological gene changes, when compared to women, he seemed to enjoy a better emotional experience with men…"
"Cut to the point!" Bai Muchuan's brows knitted tighter this time.
"Ahem!" Xiang Wan lowered her gaze. "Simply put, he is a criminal with a gay tendency."
Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow but did not say a word.
Xiang Wan observed his expression and had a sudden thought to tease him. "Detective Bai, are you able to understand that kind of feeling?"
Bai Muchuan gave Xiang Wan a stony glare. He chose to ignore that and continued to ask, "Why did you think of him as gay?"
How did I think of that? This question made Xiang Wan thought of the past.
"Strictly speaking, this character, Ah Sheng, when I first started, he was just a flat character without much details. Especially this gay trait, when I was discussing about this character in my private chat group, Er Niu private messaged me to suggest this setting!"
Er Niu again?
Bai Muchuan curled his lips. "You like to push the blame to the dead?"
The dead tells no lies!
Xiang Wan tousled her hair, frustrated. "You can go ahead to verify this. The chat group knew that Er Niu was a fujoshi… Oh, Detective Bai know what is fujoshi right?"
Bai Muchuan did not answer this question directly.
"I'll investigate!"
As he said this, he squinted his dark eyes, and his gaze felt colder. "Do you know that from your latest update, you're now one step closer to being the criminal suspect?"
What the heck? Xiang Wan felt a chill in her heart and looked at him, feeling strange and surprised.
"If Er Niu could not climb out of her tomb to testify for you, then you would not be able to explain the many coincidences that happened in the case!" said Bai Muchuan indifferently. "In this case, it is as though you're the director of the whole incident, hiding deep in the dark! Everyone and everything are acting and moving according to your presupposition. Xiang Wan, don't tell me that you do have the ability to foresee cases!"
"What do you mean? Detective Bai, could it be that Wang Tongsheng is also…"
"No!" said Bai Muchuan, "strictly speaking, Wang Tongsheng is not gay. However, he was violated by the same gender when he was young. When he liked Er Niu, he really did like her, but like is not equivalent to love. When he met Zhao Jiahang consequently, maybe it was the natural reverence the weak individual felt toward the stronger individual, he actually harbored abnormal thoughts toward him…"
Hearing him talking about "abnormality" in a stern and righteous way, Xiang Wan pursed her lips.
"Er Niu was introduced to Zhao Jiahang via Wang Tongsheng," continued Bai Muchuan. "Did you think of that?"
With regards to this point, Xiang Wan really did not think of that.
With Er Niu's background, she had no opportunity to come into contact with the upper echelons of the society like Zhao Jiahang.
With Wang Tongsheng acting as the medium, it was unexpected but reasonable.
She puffed a faint sigh. "Isn't he in love with Zhao Jiahang? Why did he introduce a woman to him?"
Bai Muchuan remained silent for a while.
Three seconds later, he said, "He'll do anything for love."
From the beginning till end, Zhao Jiahang never knew that this young fella was madly in love with him.
In order to make Zhao Jiahang happy, Wang Tongsheng introduced Er Niu, who was in love with Wang Tongsheng wholeheartedly, to become Zhao Jiahang's mistress. Er Niu's role was to give birth to a surrogate baby for Zhao Jiahang so he could have an heir.
This was also because Wang Tongsheng understood Er Niu too well. He knew that she had zero resistance toward money, and she would not be a threat toward Zhao Jiahang due to her simple background. Lastly, people like her was easy to control.
Nevertheless, Zhao Jiahang developed more emotions than he should, toward the woman who was carrying his baby.
He developed some genuine feelings for Er Niu, while Wang Tongsheng lived his days in suffering, covering for them. Everyday could be described as a torture for him, but the affair between Zhao Jiahang and Er Niu still got exposed…
Mrs. Zhao found out about the affair.
She wanted Zhao Jiahang to settle things with Er Niu within a week.
As for Er Niu, she was being misled by Wang Tongsheng's lies and thought that he was really afraid of Zhao Jiahang's influential position and had no choice but to listen to him. Due to that misunderstanding, she started to bear a malicious intent toward Zhao Jiahang.
… Xiang Wan felt a chilly sensation at her back.
With Mrs. Zhao's personality, there would not be a perfect solution to the problem.
The two women beared murderous intent, and all four of them were calculating their options…
"So… who's the one that fiddled with the SUV?"
She was extremely curious to the answer of this case.
However, Bai Muchuan stood up slowly and looked down at her from his height.
"The night is late, I need to rest for a few hours. You'll stay up for the night to get the next chapter done. I'll wait for your answer! Miss Director."
"…"