When he received a thousand yuan from the lady owner, Xiang Wan really had to hand it to Cheng Zheng for helping Blackie out.

Blackie could not talk. Therefore, he couldn’t express directly what he had gone through.

If she had come alone today, not only would Blackie suffer in vain, but he would also be wronged as a “disobedient, stubborn cat” for his entire lifetime.

After getting the compensation, Xiang Wan was even more apologetic toward Blackie. She kept carrying him in her arms, refusing to put him into the pet carrier.

“Blackie, we need to thank Uncle Cheng today…”

Uncle Cheng…

Cheng Zheng turned to look at her.

Xiang Wan patted Blackie and smiled. “We need to find a more reliable pet care center, but somehow, I don’t feel at ease anymore…”

Once bitten, twice shy.

It worried her that Blackie might end up in another pet care center like this one.

Cheng Zheng thought about it. “Are you fine if Cheng Xin helps you to take care of it?”

What? Xiang Wan shook her head a few times. “No! I’d rather put Blackie in a pet care center than to let her help take care of him! I daren’t trouble your younger cousin!”

When she shook her head and said she daren’t trouble Cheng Xin, that expression and behavior looked charmingly adorable.

Cheng Zheng pursed his lips. “We can think of another solution later. Let’s wait for Bai Muchuan to arrive!”

Xiang Wan nodded.

Both of them did not talk anymore. They stood under the shade by the roadside and waited for Bai Muchuan.

Xiang Wan had her attention on Blackie as she patted it while Cheng Zheng’s eyes were on her.

After leaving that pet care center, Blackie was in a good mood. He would express his joy by purring and giving an occasional mewl. He would also lick Xiang Wan’s hand.

The warm tongue of a cat when it lick the back of her hand was ticklish. Xiang Wan felt that her heart almost melted and couldn’t stop giggling.

“So cute! Blackie, do you know that you’re sooo cute!?”

“You’re as cute as him!” Cheng Zheng remarked suddenly.

Xiang Wan was dazed for a moment. She looked up and met Cheng Zheng’s gaze.

She was unsure as to how long he had been looking at her. His eyes were glimmering like the starry sky as he gazed at her deeply…

Xiang Wan felt an uncomfortable tug at her heart. Nevertheless, she still maintained her composure and gave a natural smile. “Thank you so much, but please don’t compare me with cats! After all, I’m really not as adorable as them….” As she said so, she lowered her gaze to look at Blackie’s beautiful cat eyes. “Am I right, Blackie?” She said dotingly, “I’m not as cute as you, right?”

Cheng Zheng did not move.

In his eyes, there was actually some warmth in them.

“Xiang Wan.”

“Mm?” Xiang Wan responded casually.

“Your face…” said Cheng Zheng, when he suddenly lowered his head, “there’s something on your face.”

Ah! Xiang Wan suddenly looked up and lifted a hand to wipe her face.

“Where?”

Women tend to be more sensitive toward topics related to her face. It was no exception for Xiang Wan as well.

She did not have a mirror with her. Now that she was carrying a cat, she used her elbow to wipe her face. When she noticed Cheng Zheng looking at her, she looked at him doubtfully.

“It’s here…” While Cheng Zheng said so, he suddenly moved a step closer, and his hand reached out to her face. “It’s a cat fur!”

The process was as though done in a split second. Xiang Wan couldn’t react in time at all. She only felt that a warm feeling drew close and Cheng Zheng’s palm was on her face.

He brushed off the cat fur and moved away immediately.

“Done…”

Xiang Wan seemed slightly startled. “Thank you!”

It was just a few seconds of contact, and there was nothing between them at all.

However, the lady owner who compensated Xiang Wan a thousand yuan walked out of her shop.

What happened had enraged her.

She snorted while looking at both of them standing under the tree by the road.

“Excuse me, both of you. I haven’t opened the business for the day. Please don’t behave intimately in front of my shop. It’s inauspicious, do you understand?”

“…”

When Xiang Wan learned of the truth that the lady owner had maltreated Blackie, she quarreled with her back in the shop.

Now that she heard the lady owner’s tart and mean tone, it nettled her.

“You cat abuser! Are you sick or something? I’m only standing by the roadside and that actually irritated you?”

“You didn’t irritate me by standing there, but you and your boyfriend are behaving intimately in front of my shop. That will affect my fengshui, how can it not peeve me?”

Xiang Wan got agitated, she wanted to continue arguing with the lady owner but Blackie was in her arms. Cheng Zheng was worried that she would really flare up and quickly patted her shoulders to calm her down, just as he wanted to open his mouth to persuade her…

He couldn’t say anything more since something caught his eye, and he froze for a moment.

Over at the other side of the road, a police car stopped.

A man was standing beside the car and was watching the two of them.

“Bai Muchuan?” Xiang Wan noticed that as well when she turned around.

Cheng Zheng retracted his hand and said nothing.

“Are you done?” Bai Muchuan did not walk over but spoke with them through the street. “Get on the car when you’re ready!”

Xiang Wan looked at Blackie who was in her arms. She suddenly felt miserable as she didn’t know how to explain this to him.

What could she say on the street?

She turned back to glare at the lady owner before walking over to the other side of the street with Blackie in her arms.

The middle-aged lady owner was a shrew. She didn’t want to end this argument just like that. Nonetheless, when she saw the police car, she had no choice but to shut her mouth and returned to her shop.

…

The police car started.

Cheng Zheng sat at the front passenger seat.

Xiang Wan and Bai Muchuan were sitting at the back.

Both of them did not talk for a long time.

The relationship between men and women were sometimes strange and sensitive. It was difficult to express it in words…

It was Blackie who broke the silence.

“Meow, meow—”

The cat’s mewl reminded Xiang Wan.

She turned to look at Bai Muchuan. “Where are you going?”

Bai Muchuan did not ask her what had happened earlier on. “We need to go back to Nanmu as soon possible.”

Nanmu?

The mention of Nanmu made Xiang Wan nervous.

“Is it about the investigation of the corpse?”

“Yup,” said Bai Muchuan, “we’ve got some clues so we need to verify them personally.”

“Oh…” Xiang Wan looked at Cheng Zheng, who was sitting in front. “Both of you are going there?”

In fact, she was able to tell that Bai Muchuan and Cheng Zheng were good partners in hand as they worked together to solve cases. Although the two of them held different beliefs and did not seem to get along well privately, they were able to work well without problems. If Bai Muchuan wanted to get Cheng Zheng to come with them to Nanmu, he must have a good reason for doing so.

Her question was simply to continue the conversation.

However, when Bai Muchuan heard that, it did not sound that way to him.

He followed Xiang Wan’s line of gaze and saw the back of the head of Cheng Zheng. “Do you both have other arrangements?” He asked slowly.

“…”

Xiang Wan felt a little uncomfortable…

.. Since there were two other police officers in the police car, beside herself and Bai Muchuan, it was not convenient to say anything.

“Then drop me off somewhere by the road,” she sighed softly, “I have to find a reliable pet care center! Blackie got maltreated and was being wronged!”

When she said that Blackie had suffered, she herself also felt that she was in a similar situation.

That tone, the flickering emotion at the end of her eye, fell into Bai Muchuan’s eyes at the right time.

Bai Muchuan noticed that micro-expression.

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “I had wanted to ask you to go with me!”

It was because Nanmu was far away. Bringing a cat along would be inconvenient.

Xiang Wan felt as if she was in a bind. “Will we be passing by the hospital?” A thought came to her mind. “I can entrust Blackie to Yuanyuan while we’re there.”

Bai Muchuan gazed at her. A moment later, he nodded.

…

While on the way there, Xiang Wan called Fang Yuanyuan.

When the car arrived at the entrance of the hospital, Fang Yuanyuan was already waiting there.

Yuanyuan was someone who knew how to handle cats. The moment she took Blackie in her arms, she established a friendship with him right away.

“Little thing, your mom and your dad need to go to work. We’ll get along these two days! I’ll let you take a nice bath and eat good food…”

Fang Yuanyuan waved to Xiang Wan after coaxing the cat and walked into the hospital!

Xiang Wan felt reassured as Blackie laid comfortably in Yuanyuan’s arms.

She was sure Yuanyuan would take care of Blackie well.

“Will it be bothersome if you tag along with us?” Bai Muchuan’s tone was tepid and sounded a little stiff.

Uh!

He didn’t use to behave like this.

If he was polite when they were close enough, it simply meant he was treating her as an outsider.

Xiang Wan looked at his aloof and cold expression. She knew why he was like that. “I’ve already uploaded my chapter for today! I’m fine with coming along.”

Bai Muchuan looked at her quietly and took out a laptop bag. “I’ve brought a laptop along. If you need to, you can use this!”

He was so sweet and considerate!

“…” Xiang Wan did not know how to thank him enough!

Since both of them were close, it was also not suitable for her to thank him as well.

She took the laptop and held Bai Muchuan’s arm. She leaned close and whispered in a voice only he could hear.

“Sir Little Bai,” she smiled, “don’t be childish.”

Bai Muchuan froze for an instant but did not say a word.

…

Over at the front passenger seat, Cheng Zheng suddenly asked a question. “What’s the identity of the deceased?”

Regarding the deceased, he and Bai Muchuan had not yet talked to each other on this.

By starting this new topic, they could also avoid the awkward situation.

Bai Muchuan did not move Xiang Wan’s hand away but peeked at her instead. “The deceased should be the big Boss of the Dark Clan! Cui Ming!”

The Boss of Dark Clan?

Although the 121 case triggered their journey to Nanmu, what exactly made them get commended was the successful extermination of the Dark Clan’s base in Nanmu—the deaths of Brother Steel, the eye-patched guy, who was the supposed second-in-command of Dark Clan and the rounding up of the triad members. As for the big Boss of the Dark Clan, the police knew nothing about him, except for his name which they were also unsure whether it was his actual identity. He was a mysterious presence that even Brother Steel and his men had never seen how he actually looked like.

There were also members who said that whenever Cui Ming appeared before them, he would be wearing a mask—

Regarding this aspect, that might explain why he was also wearing a mask when they found his body.

However, what could all these prove?

Was the face behind the mask, the same as the one whom Xiang Wan met at the Nunnery?

Cheng Zheng contemplated for a moment. “How did you ascertain that it was Cui Ming?”

Bai Muchuan replied after a pause, “The tattoo.”

Cheng Zheng’s body stiffened slightly. Then he turned his head slowly. “Who can prove that the big Boss of the Dark Clan has a tattoo like that?”

Bai Muchuan’s eyelids moved. “Ye Lun.”

…

The sunlight outside the window suddenly dimmed.

The atmosphere inside the car also grew heavy.

Xiang Wan had not seen the said tattoo, but from their conversation, she could deduce that it was a unique characteristic of the corpse.

Next, Xiang Wan thought about Ye Lun; maybe he had left a deep first impression when she first met him. When she thought of him, his pair of eyes would come to mind first.

Under the statue of the fountain goddess, that look of his when Xiang Wan saw him emerged.

He was haughty, flamboyant, and cynical with an evil vibe. It seemed as if he disregarded the entire world.

Ye Lun’s appearance was the classic example of an antagonist.

When they chose him to cast as the antagonist of “The Grey List”, everyone said he was acting like himself.

“But Ye Lun is just an actor, why would he be connected to the Boss of the Dark Clan?”

Besides, by giving out such an important clue, wouldn’t it indicate that he was directly involved in this as well?

He was never a stupid person.

In the Fountain Goddess’ case, he was someone who had refused to open his mouth.

Bai Muchuan interlocked both of his hands. “Because of a woman.” He intoned.

Xiang Wan was shocked. “A woman?”

Bai Muchuan turned to look at Xiang Wan. He seemed as if it was difficult for him to answer that.

After some time, he came up with a sentence that did not sound uncomfortable to the ear.

“Both of them had the same woman before.”

Xiang Wan mumbled, “… He even told you about such matters?”

Bai Muchuan looked toward the window; his dark-colored eyes narrowed slightly.

“In order to clear his name, of course, he will tell us anything, right? He insisted that he didn’t hurt Yu Ning and expressed that he’s also shocked that his bloodstain was on the robe of the deceased. When he saw that tattoo, he thought of an important clue.”

“But if he’s innocent,” gasped Xiang Wan, “wouldn’t that mean Yu Ning is lying?”