Chapter 203: 112. Try to imagine his mood when he left the Blood Handprint (Part 2 of Chapter 3)
"Mr. Guan, turns out you police officers bully the weak and fear the strong! Weren’t you supposed to protect my wife around the clock? Why aren’t you chasing after her? Is it because of his status, so even you can’t provoke him, right?"
Guan Liang retorted bluntly, "Lawyer Xiang, I suggest you first resolve your dispute with that lady. I saw with my own eyes you shoving her, and I’m concerned you might harm her. If you can’t resolve it, I don’t mind asking the lady whether she wants to call the police to arrest you."
Xiang Yuan waved his arm in frustration, turned around, and lifted Rosa from the ground.
"Are you done making a fuss? Are you happy to see me in this state?"
Rosa shook her head with tears, "A Yuan... let me explain."
"Explain what? Let’s go!"
Xiang Yuan pulled Rosa into the car, and the BMW drove away sullenly. Guan Liang followed by riding away.
None of them knew that a car parked by the roadside silently lowered its window, revealing a woman’s face with a cold smile.
It was Xiong Jie.
Earlier, when Guan Liang crossed the road, the traffic light turned green right on cue. As she drove past that section, noticing people arguing by the roadside, her journalistic instincts told her to slow down and pull over. Little did she expect a surprising coincidence—the ones arguing were her "old friends" Shi Nian and her lawyer husband.
She took advantage of the fact that nobody paid attention to her, parked by the roadside, and watched the scene quietly through the car window.
Shi Nian, always opposed her everywhere. Back when she joined "Deep Throat" and snatched the position meant for her; the Kangchuan University case, Shi Nian wasn’t even seen interviewing, yet she wrote an article with industry reviews better than hers...
Since you can’t escape this nemesis, but it doesn’t mean every encounter only benefits you and harms me. Look, heaven quickly compensated me by letting me witness this scene.
Everyone’s underpants are dirty, you have your day too.
.
Despite being frustrated, Xiang Yuan still took Rosa to the hospital.
Rosa fell and wasn’t seriously hurt, just sprained her ankle and had a few grazes on her arm.
Rosa was bandaging in the treatment room, while Xiang Yuan sat on a bench outside waiting.
With Shi Nian not around, he regained calmness again. Sitting on the hospital bench, seeing patients in gowns walking back and forth down the corridor, he unconsciously saw them as Shi Nian.
Such a small Shi Nian, eyes full of tears, looking at him lonely and helpless, mouthing the words to him: "Save me."
He only felt his head about to explode, reached to hold his head, bowed down in distress.
Shi Nian.
Time...
Rosa came out from the treatment room and witnessed just such a scene.
She stopped and held the wall.
The Xiang Yuan in front of her was no longer the man just now who was angry, seemingly wanting to hurt her. The Xiang Yuan before her now—was like a child. Lonely, helpless, confused, sorrowful.
Rosa’s heart ached fiercely.
This wasn’t the Xiang Yuan she knew before. The Xiang Yuan she knew before was always the dashing gentleman; as long as he was present, he was always the center of attention in the crowd.
Even in the initial days when he started his career, still a newbie in the legal world, facing obstacles everywhere, his face always showed a confident smile. That graceful gentleman from the East, with such a resilient yet determined smile, made her heartbeat wherever he went.
So even back then, knowing she was taking a risk, even knowing what role she played during the following four years, she willingly took part, unchanged in her devotion.
Because she loved him, loved the man who captured her heart at first sight.
But the Xiang Yuan before her... When exactly had he become like this?
When he returned from China, when he brought Shi Nian back with him, when he married Shi Nian...
Was it the four years of marriage that changed him, or was it Shi Nian who made him like this!
She couldn’t help but feel annoyed, rushed forward, crouched before him, and held his hand, "A Yuan, divorce Shi Nian, will you? You two really aren’t suited for each other. If you continue to force yourselves together, it won’t benefit either of you at all."
Xiang Yuan tiredly raised his eyes to look at Rosa, "You don’t understand; you’ll never understand. I have to protect her... I must keep her by my side, where I can always see her; only then can I protect her."
"If she goes out alone, if she leaves me, she would be in danger. Only I can protect her. I promised her; I promised her dad, I’d never leave her; I want to protect her."
Rosa felt heartbroken, stumbling back with a cold chuckle, "Protect her? A Yuan, don’t be silly. She’s so strong now; she doesn’t need your protection. Besides, she has police officers who protect her around the clock; aren’t they more capable of protecting her?"
Xiang Yuan impatiently pushed her away, "You’ve never experienced it; you’ll never understand! When faced with such matters, police are all useless!"
"Only I can protect her. I promised her she’d never be harmed again; I’ll make that come true!"
Rosa was also stunned upon hearing this.
Back then, what exactly happened in China; he has never been willing to tell her. Over the four years, she only vaguely knows that he encountered danger and Shi Nian’s father, who was a police officer, saved him. But as to what specifically happened, he has always been reluctant to say more. If she asked, he would lose his temper.
Rosa patiently asked, "A Yuan, what really happened four years ago? Can you tell me? Maybe it’s not as serious as you think. I’ll help you analyze it, okay?"
"No."
Xiang Yuan rejected her outright, staring fixedly at her, "Only she and I know about what happened back then, and we will never tell anyone."
.
Huangfu Huazhang directly sent Shi Nian back to Kangchuan University.
Hua Mansion did not return to school himself, just dropping Shi Nian off at the gate.
Shi Nian got out of the car and bowed towards it, "Chairman, thank you again."
Huangfu Huazhang nodded slightly, bending down to look out from the car window, "Are you planning to write me another note? Alright, I’m waiting."
Shi Nian smiled, "No need. Last time it was because I didn’t have the chance to thank you in person, and I didn’t have your phone number, so I had to use such a primitive way to express my thanks. This time, there’s already a chance to thank you face to face, so no need to trouble that secretary gentleman."
"You mean you’re not going to write me a note this time?" Huangfu Huazhang’s beautifully long eyebrows raised slightly, "I would be very sorry to hear that."
Shi Nian assumed he was joking and just smiled without saying anything.
Huangfu Huazhang then sat upright and closed the car window. The Rolls-Royce immediately started up, steadily moving forward.
But it went not even a hundred meters before suddenly stopping again. The man in black from the front passenger seat got out and walked back towards Shi Nian.
Shi Nian went forward to meet him, "What’s wrong? Does the Chairman have any more instructions?"
That man was sparing with words, just handing over a note and then said solemnly, "For your use only, do not leak it."
Shi Nian was taken aback, but the man turned around and left, the car driving directly towards the depths of the oblique setting sun, never stopping again.
The wind on the long street blew in, stirring long hair. Shi Nian lowered her head and unfolded the note.
As she suspected, even though it’s just a memo, the edges were cut with perfect lines, folded very neatly, every line, every corner neatly aligned.
Inside the note was a string of hand-written cursive digits, a cell phone number.
The handwriting was lively and graceful, yet carrying a steady classical beauty.
Shi Nian looked up, gazing deeply in the direction where the car has already disappeared from view.
.
At this moment, Tang Yanqing was standing alone in the campus police office.
Tomorrow morning, the campus police office will lift the lockdown and restore its use.
Sean died, so naturally more campus police would be replenished; just like in the behavioral analysis class, although Zhou Guanghan died, S died, Jack and Mark were caught, there are still students who rush to fill those four spots—all over the world perhaps never will change its original pace just because of the departure of some life or lives.
Taking advantage of the last bit of time, he stood quietly in front of the window, standing by the Blood Handprint, gazing outside solemnly.
Sean’s killer was caught, everything pointed to Mark, so people naturally believe the Blood Handprint left on the window is Mark’s.
But he sees it differently.
Unfortunately, the person who left the Blood Handprint was too cunning; the handprint itself has no fingerprint, not even the length and width of the palm differed from Mark himself—both had equally slender palms and fingers.
Standing here, he is trying to imagine himself as that person, to imagine what mood the person was in while looking through this glass window, touching Shi Nian’s long hair.
And almost at the same time, a murder was happening on the floor behind him.
Like cosplaying in the popular anime world, a good officer sometimes has to be a cosplay master too, be able to get into the mind of criminals, stand from their perspective to reason the whole case, becoming one with the criminal.
He was squinting and concentrating when he saw Shi Nian crossing the large grass field, walking over here.
The grid glass window was like a picture frame, and she was the person in the painting coming closer and closer.
She was the only focus in the picture.
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[Third update later~]