Sharing Space and Catching the Killer. Wedged in the gap of the cabinet door was a short, broken fingernail the color of red bean paste.
Its edges showed slight wear, and its hue was soft and natural—clearly a fingernail that had grown normally on a human hand.
“Lu Zheng, come take a look.”
Lu Zheng strode over with long steps and stopped beside Wen Qingli.
He asked her to hold the flashlight for him while he took photos and collected the evidence.
Once he was done, he turned to her, his eyes filled with approval. “How did you spot this?”
Wen Qingli pointed to the repainted section of the cabinet door. “There must have been a fierce struggle here. When a woman panics and fights back, it is easy for her fingernails to break.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “Exactly. The autopsy report on Lin Weiwei shows that a section of the nail on her left ring finger was missing.”
After leaving the office building, Wen Qingli went to return the spare key.
As they walked toward the faculty dormitory building, Wen Qingli noticed the faint signs of fatigue in his eyes and spoke softly. “Lu Zheng, would you like to come to my room and rest for a while?”
Lu Zheng was indeed feeling worn out, having spent almost the entire day working on Lin Weiwei’s case. He glanced at her, his voice low and deep. “Aren’t you afraid your colleagues might see me?”
Her expression softened. “You’ll leave very early, long before anyone else is awake.”
Lu Zheng ran his tongue lightly over his back teeth. “All right.”
Wen Qingli lived in a single room for faculty members, and the space was kept spotlessly clean and tidy.
After traveling all day and staying up through most of the night, Lu Zheng raised a hand and rubbed his temples. “May I use your bathroom to take a shower?”
Wen Qingli took a disposable bath towel from the cabinet and handed it to him, pointing toward the bathroom. “It’s right over there.”
Lu Zheng nodded and pushed the door open to go inside.
No sooner had Wen Qingli turned around than she suddenly remembered: after having an erotic dream the night before, she had taken a shower and left the underwear she had changed out of still hanging in the bathroom.
Her face instantly grew warm. She turned back and knocked on the bathroom door.
Lu Zheng had just taken off his T‑shirt and was about to hang it up when he noticed a small piece of fabric on the rack.
It was light‑colored, trimmed with lace.
It was barely the size of his palm.
Realizing what it was, his thin, reddish lips pressed tightly together.
Tap tap.
Just then, a knock came from outside. “Lu Zheng, could you open the door?”
Lu Zheng pulled his T‑shirt back on and opened the door. “What is it?”
Wen Qingli avoided meeting his gaze, her voice so faint it was almost a whisper. “Could you… step outside for a moment?”
Seeing the blush creeping up her fair earlobes, he guessed roughly what was going on.
A faint, teasing glint flickered in his deep eyes. He stepped back out of the room without question.
When Lu Zheng returned to the bathroom a moment later, the small piece of fabric on the rack was gone.
After his shower, Lu Zheng put his dark clothes back on. They were slightly damp from the steam and clung to his body, outlining his tall, firm physique even more clearly.
“You take the bed. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Lu Zheng shook his head gently. “No need. I’ll take the sofa.”
He turned and lay down sideways on the small fabric sofa against the wall.
The sofa was designed for women—narrow and rather short. With his tall, sturdy frame, he could not stretch his long legs out at all; his calves hung over the edge and rested on the floor.
Wen Qingli wanted to persuade him again, but saw that he had already closed his eyes.
She said nothing more and quietly turned off the main light, leaving only a dim bedside lamp glowing.
She lay down on the bed and peeked toward the man on the sofa.
All around was quiet, so still that it seemed she could hear only her own breathing and his.
She bit her lower lip gently, and warmth spread uncontrollably through her chest.
In the past, she could only ever watch him from a distance. The gap between them felt so wide that even a single extra glance felt like a luxury.
When she was in college, she missed him so much that she once took a twenty‑four‑hour hard‑seat train ride all the way to the capital, just to stand across the street from the police academy where he studied.
She could not enter the campus, so she simply stood on the opposite sidewalk.
She did not even need to see him—just being near the place where he studied felt sweet and satisfying.
A secret crush was a one‑person performance. Back then, she had been too sensitive and insecure, forced to hide her feelings carefully deep inside her heart.
Every day at school, the happiest and most exciting moment was looking toward the back row. Occasionally, he would lift his head, and when their eyes briefly met, a storm of emotions would surge inside her.
She knew he was not looking at her, only glancing forward casually, yet her heart would still race and feel completely thrown off balance.
She had never imagined that one day she would actually marry him and become his wife.
Even less had she imagined that she could share a room with him like this.
A soft, gentle sweetness rose slowly, filling her heart bit by bit.
Just let this moment last a little longer.
Back at the police station, Lu Zheng sent the broken fingernail to the laboratory for testing.
In less than an hour, the results came back.
The fingernail belonged to the victim, Lin Weiwei.
Traces of skin cells and tissue were also found deep beneath the nail.
Lu Zheng read the report, his expression turning stern. “Zhou Kai, bring Gu Huaiyuan back to the station immediately for questioning.”
He then turned to Xu Yan. “Gu Huaiyuan left no physical evidence at Ji Chuan’s apartment, but it is highly likely he left traces along his escape route. Search every section of road without surveillance footage carefully.”
Once Gu Huaiyuan was brought back, the laboratory ran a comparison of the biological samples right away.
The results came back quickly: the DNA sequence of the skin tissue found under Lin Weiwei’s fingernail matched Gu Huaiyuan’s exactly.
Lu Zheng pushed open the interrogation room door and walked in.
He sat down across from Gu Huaiyuan, his gaze sharp and piercing like a hawk’s. “What exactly was your relationship with Lin Weiwei? And why did you kill her?”