Wen Xin instinctively tossed her phone onto the center console and leaned toward the door, as if to say that the phone wasn’t hers.
Shen Yan sat in the driver’s seat, his gaze casually sweeping over the abandoned phone. The advertisement’s voice continued from within—”I only want you, and, want you.”
The voice was like a whisper, impossible to ignore.
Wen Xin awkwardly turned her face away, reaching out a slender, fair hand to turn off the sound.
But before she could even touch the edge of the phone, a large palm picked it up first. His cool, pale hand merged with the light purple phone case—both alluring and aesthetically pleasing.
He glanced at the screen, just a single look. His brows furrowed slightly, his expression shifting through several changes, his entire face taking on an unreadable complexity. After a moment, his stiffened features gradually calmed.
Shen Yan turned slightly, his gaze landing on her flushed face. The tear mole beneath her eye flickered faintly as her chest rose and fell. He looked away. “You want to buy this?”
Wen Xin shook her head and explained, “No, I don’t want to buy it. It’s a system recommendation.”
System: What did I do wrong? I only recommended it based on your usual preferences.
Shen Yan sat upright again, both hands resting on the steering wheel. His index and middle fingers tapped lightly from time to time, each tap striking straight into Wen Xin’s heart.
After a long while, a sentence drifted through the air. “The system isn’t wrong. If you have a boyfriend, you really should have one.”
This…
Why did things never go the way she expected?
Could Shen Yan possibly think she wanted to buy it to use with someone else?
This clueless oaf.
Fine, since he misunderstood, she’d just buy it.
Wen Xin, inwardly exasperated, decisively added it to her cart.
Jinxiu Tiandi.
Located between the criminal investigation team and the fire brigade.
This was Wen Xin’s first time here. She lowered the car window and poked half her face out. The people coming and going were all proper public security personnel. She tilted her head up—white clouds drifted across the sky, and a few rays of sunlight filtered through the shade of the trees. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air.
Suddenly, she felt one step closer to Shen Yan.
He carried two suitcases up to the fifth floor. After opening the door, the entire apartment was spotless, with a south-facing layout—even better located than the place at Xizi Bay.
Shen Yan led Wen Xin into the master bedroom. “From now on, you’ll stay in this room. The study can be used for your livestreams, but there’s only one bathroom. I’ll avoid conflicting with your schedule. Also, no revealing clothing in shared spaces.”
???
Wen Xin gritted her teeth. Were all older men this restrained and ascetic?
Wasn’t she a stunning beauty who should be impossible to look away from?
Revealing clothing?
We’ll see about that!
Wen Xin answered with conviction. “Mm, Officer Shen, is there anything else on the cohabitation rules? I’ll follow them all. After all, when you live under someone’s roof, you have to bow your head.”
He paused, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Depends on your performance. I’ll add more rules as needed.”
Shen Yan had never been one to smile easily. In her memory, he seemed to wear the same expression every day. After looking at him long enough, one might think he was made of wood.
“Then thank you kindly, Officer Shen.”
“By the way, next week is Grandpa’s seventieth birthday. He said he misses you very much.”
Grandpa Shen was her lucky star. The first move in breaking through Shen Yan’s defenses—she owed it all to him. Without his help, she’d still be ten thousand miles away from Shen Yan.
But if he ever found out that she wanted to sleep with his only grandson, would he be shocked?
Wen Xin suddenly felt as if she’d been hit over the head with a brick.
“Got it, Grandpa Shen is my grandpa too, I’ll definitely go!”
Just then.
The phone in his pants pocket rang, and Shen Yan turned around to answer it.
Wen Xin didn’t even dare to breathe loudly. She stood behind him, slowly inching closer to Shen Yan, trying to hear whether it was a man or a woman on the other end.
Sure enough, it really was a woman—and a familiar voice at that.
“Captain Shen, we’ve got a breakthrough with Han Xiangya.”
“Alright, I’ll be right there.”
After the call ended, he turned around, and the two nearly had another close encounter. Fortunately, Wen Xin straightened up in time, standing as rigid as a student in military training.
Shen Yan handed her the other set of keys from his pocket and told her to eat dinner on her own.
Wen Xin nodded, walked him to the door, and waved goodbye.
Just then, a man in uniform came out of the apartment across the hall. He glanced at Wen Xin first, then immediately greeted Shen Yan, “Captain Shen, keeping a beauty hidden away in your chambers?”
Shen Yan looked up and said simply, “My sister.”
The man looked disappointed. “I thought Captain Shen had secretly found himself a girlfriend.”
“No.”
As the two walked off side by side, Wen Xin studied the apartment carefully several times inside, searching online for suitable styles to match her own place.
In the end, she chose a Nordic style for the renovation, with green as the main color scheme.
At the Criminal Investigation Unit.
Han Xiangya sat in the interrogation room, having lost all her former radiance, replaced by a haggard appearance.
She leaned against the back of her chair, hands resting limply on her legs, her gaze somewhat unfocused.
Rao Shuwan sat across from her. “When Xie Aixian came to you for her last psychological consultation, what did she say?”
The door to the interrogation room opened. Shen Yan quietly pulled out a chair, swung his long legs over, and sat down beside her—keeping a considerable distance between them.
Han Xiangya sniffled, her voice hoarse from staying up all night. “She said she missed Xie Jingnan terribly, and asked when she could finally find him.”
Rao Shuwan pressed on. “And how did you answer?”
“I said…” Han Xiangya tilted her head back with a laugh. “I said, since your son loves the scent of jasmine, whenever you smell that fragrance, you can go find him.”
“When you gave that instruction, did Qin Lang know about it?” Shen Yan’s tone was calm, but it carried a natural authority.
Her gaze sharpened as she lifted her eyelids. “So what if he knew? Qin Lang is self-centered and only loves himself. He used sweet talk to sleep with so many women—he’s a complete scumbag!”
How exactly had Han Xiangya changed so drastically overnight?
“You don’t love him?”
“Love him? I did love him, deeply. I could accept that he was married before, but he lied to me! He lied and said he didn’t love Xie Aixian, but there were countless other He Yus out there.”
Shen Yan tapped his index finger on the table, his expression calm and focused, as if weighing the truth of her words.
“Then, what was the secret you mentioned at Xizi Bay—the one between you and Xie Aixian?”
He suddenly shifted his posture, leaning back against the chair, and looked at Han Xiangya with a meaningful gaze—one that seemed to see through everything, making her feel an inescapable pressure.
“The secret is—”