482 Brain Damage

They could work together again.

Everyone was happy about Xiang Wan joining them.

After all, the detectives had worked with her before.

The canteen adopted a buffet style for them to get the food they wanted to eat. Everyone sat down after getting their food, and when they started to dig in, Mei Xin arrived at the canteen.

She was alone.

When she saw Xiang Wan, her steps halted.

"Xiang Wan?"

Mei Xin was not someone who bothered to socialize with others.

In a place where the number of male police officers far exceeded the number of female officers by a large margin…

… Unbelievably, nobody chased after her.

She had no boyfriend and her work comprised mainly of working with corpses. She didn't mix around or have a social life after working hours too.

Nobody left her out deliberately, it just happened naturally.

However, Xiang Wan was special to her.

There was mutual trust between them when they got along in Jin City.

They could say that Xiang Wan was the only friend Mei Xin had whom she had confided about her troubles.

"Hi, Mei Xin!" Xiang Wan's greeting was much warmer.

She even waved a hand at Mei Xin.

"Come and sit over here!"

Mei Xin furrowed her eyebrows slightly; she wanted to come over when she hesitated for a moment.

"I'll get my food first."

Most people in the canteen had already sat in their places and had started eating.

Mei Xin's lone figure as she started getting food gave off a feeling of loneliness.

Xiang Wan looked around the canteen.

She did not see Cheng Zheng.

"Hmm." Usually, both of them would be together.

Unconsciously, Xiang Wan asked, "Is Captain Cheng not here today? I didn't see him."

Actually, she had considered that from Mei Xin's angle.

Rather, subconsciously, she had classified Mei Xin and Cheng Zheng to be the same type of people.

Neither of them wanted to get close to people, so both of them could get along.

At the very least, when Cheng Zheng was around, Mei Xin would not appear to be the odd one out, as well as the lonely one.

However…

… Her words made someone unhappy.

Bai Muchuan felt his back stiffening, and he glanced at her.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking for him?"

His tone did not sound friendly.

Xiang Wan knew he was not glad about it.

She cleared her throat lightly and smiled.

"It's only normal to think of Captain Cheng when I see Mei Xin. When he's not around, there is a lonely feeling about Mei Xin…"

What she said was what she had felt, truthfully.

Bai Muchuan understood where she was coming from, but he still felt uncomfortable, nonetheless.

When men got jealous, they had similar reactions as women too.

Hmph! His face turned grim.

"Care more about those who are close to you!"

"…"

His sour mood was so obvious.

Salimu and Tang Yuanchu lowered their heads while trying to control their laughter.

Quan Shaoteng, on the other hand, glanced at Mei Xin lazily.

"This time, I agree with Teacher Xiang. Your eyes are really sharp. All of you don't know that this Cheng Zheng, in fact, he's…"

When he said this, Mei Xin walked over with her food tray.

"Mei Xin, over here!"

Xiang Wan called out to her and waved at her. That interrupted what Quan Shaoteng was trying to say.

Mei Xin walked over to her.

That table, where Xiang Wan sat with the others, was almost full.

Mei Xin sat on the next table quietly.

"I'll sit here."

Everyone seemed to be used to her behaving like this.

Nobody reacted strangely to her.

However, Xiang Wan felt… a little sympathy for her.

In the past, she thought Mei Xin was cold, unsociable, awkward as well as pure and aloof. When she got to know more about psychology, she did not think that way about her.

Maybe Mei Xin behaved this way because of her job…

Could she be thinking that other people were judging her because of that?

Could she be avoiding people subconsciously?

She stayed away from the crowd so that others would not think they had been 'tainted' with the 'air of corpses.'

…

Xiang Wan took her food tray to sit beside Mei Xin.

Mei Xin looked at her; her mouth moved, but she didn't say a word.

The atmosphere silenced suddenly.

Xiang Wan felt that she should say something to break the silence.

"Long time no see, are you busy recently?"

"Yes." Mei Xin's lips twitched. "But it's not that long since we last met."

This person was too honest!

It was just small talk.

Xiang Wan pursed her lips. "I guess I didn't have a lifestyle healthy enough to have a good grasp of time."

"Mm." Mei Xin sounded indifferent while she picked the food in the tray. "We're busy for the past two days since we just took over the case. There are quite a few corpses in our Forensics Team."

"Oh!" Xiang Wan felt some goosebumps.

This girl really didn't know how to chat.

Looking at the faint green hue under Mei Xin's eyes, Xiang Wan tried to find things to chat about. "Even if you're busy, you still need to rest well. You can't always be working overtime with Captain Cheng. He's a workaholic; he need not maintain himself, but we women need beauty sleep."

"… Mm, it's okay. I don't work overtime that much."

Both of them didn't talk loudly at all.

It was because the tables were side by side with each other, so the ones on the other table could hear their conversation.

When Quan Shaoteng heard that, he couldn't resist chuckling. "Nah, Cheng Zheng didn't work overtime at all. He's busy chasing after girls…"

Everyone fell into silence. "…"

Cheng Zheng would chase after a girl? That didn't sound possible at all.

Everyone didn't want to diss Cheng Zheng, publicly or privately.

All these never bothered Quan Shaoteng. Since he was especially close to Bai Muchuan, he wasn't that friendly toward Cheng Zheng.

Tch! he snorted. Nobody spoke, and he smiled nonchalantly.

"Yesterday I was out to get some surveillance footage with my men. Guess what I saw?"

"…"

It was clear that this Quan Laowu loved to gossip.

Bai Muchuan swept a glare at him. "Eat your food!"

Quan Shaoteng smiled casually. "Well, I only did something righteous when I see injustice."

Eh?

Nobody understood what he was talking about.

In Quan Shaoteng's opinion, he believed that Mei Xin liked Cheng Zheng, and Cheng Zheng never rejected her.

Basically, these two were a pair to him.

How could he not talk about it then?

He turned to Mei Xin.

"Assistant Mei, your Cheng Zheng went for a date with another woman behind your back. I don't think you know about it."

Mei Xin seemed slightly baffled and turned her head slightly to look at him. "…"

Since she didn't say a word, Quan Shaoteng thought he had guessed it correctly.

"I don't like people who have their feet in both camps, so I taught him a lesson."

"…"

Silence enveloped their surroundings, instantly.

Everyone kept quiet.

The way Mei Xin looked at Quan Shaoteng seemed as if she was looking at a fool.

Quan Shaoteng propped his forehead with a hand while showing his ravishing smile and his pair of enchanting eyes along with a flash of levity and triumph.

"I told his date that Cheng Zheng already has a girlfriend in Serious Crime Division One, so that she wouldn't get cheated by him. Guess what happened? That girl was shocked and asked Cheng Zheng, 'you have a girlfriend already?' See? She really doesn't know that…"

"Captain Quan," said Mei Xin, "you might have misunderstood something."

Quan Shaoteng was biting his chopsticks, even his eyes were curved like a crescent.

"I did not misunderstand. I saw it with my own eyes. That girl behaved ambiguously with him. As for him, his whole face seemed lewd…"

Lewd?

Was he really talking about Cheng Zheng?

Everyone couldn't imagine how Cheng Zheng would look if he had a lewd expression.

This obviously annoyed Mei Xin, and her expression seemed colder by a few notches.

"I'm saying, I'm not Captain Cheng's girlfriend. You've misunderstood."

"You're not?" Quan Shaoteng raised his eyebrows before letting out a laugh. Then he looked around him before speaking in a low voice. "Everyone in this division knows whom you like, no?"

"…"

Mei Xin was really gloomy now.

"I've said, I'm not his girlfriend."

Quan Shaoteng looked at her as if he was looking at an idiot. "He's even cheating on you now but you still want to help him by denying your relationship? Miss… please open your eyes and have a good look… There are a lot of other men who are better than him in terms of character and appearance. Don't look at corpses all day long and damage your brain!"

Everyone kept their silence. "…"