52 – Intuition

The police contacted the library staff to open the library as it was after closing time. Two library staff arrived within the hour to unlock the door, allowing the six officers to inspect the premises.

"He doesn't have friends and he has been estranged from his family for a long time," Li Yun rephased Wen Fubin's profile as he walked around the dimmed library. "The guy doesn't have much of a life. After he killed his wife, what was his biggest fear?" Li Yun paced through an aisle and his eyes roamed around the room. "Was it to be captured or death? No, his biggest fear was still losing his wife. He will try to preserve her no matter what. There are a few methods to perverse the body like embalming and cryopreservation. However, resin is relatively inexpensive and easy to acquire."

Li Yun looked around and found an off-colored ceiling panel.

"Did we check the attic last time?" Bu Tao asked the other officer.

The officer shook their heads. The attic was well hidden that some of the staff weren't even aware that it existed and no one had thought that Wen Fubin would hide a body at his workplace. One of the officers took the lead to pop open the panel and lowered the ladder.

The officer headed up first and Li Yun followed from behind. As soon as he entered the attic, he felt a slight chill. Attics were usually humid and warm, but this particular attic had an odd draft. The officers looked around the small and cluttered space. It was mostly old furniture and shelving.

Li Yun looked up and saw a shiny pulley wheel anchored to the beam. It looked like Wen Fubin had put in a lot of effort in order to see his wife every day. There was likely a similar setup at his old library.

"Found it," an officer announced.

Hidden in a tall bookshelf compartment was a block of resin encasing a woman with a noticeable head injury. The guy really hid his wife in the attic where he could continue to look up and admire her. Wen Fubin had likely hid her body somewhere random after he killed her, and poured resin over her. Afterward, he would contact the police to let them know that his wife was missing.

The police would naturally investigate her friends and family. However, despite knowing that she was cheating on her husband, they would not reveal it to the investigators. They all assumed that Wen Fubin was not aware of it as he was always seen as the doting husband. Once everything settled down, he moved his wife to the library.

With the case settled, Bu Tao patted Li Yun on the back on their way back to the car. "Thanks again," Bu Tao shoved to him a small red envelope. "Do you want a citizen's merit?"

"How much is in the red envelope?" Li Yun asked.

"Not much, but I'll add a couple of beers. How long are you staying?"

"Probably just for tonight, I have work tomorrow."

"You know I wasn't joking when I asked you to join the Yide Police Department," said Bu Tao. "Being a surgeon must be pretty stressful."

"If I ever need a job, I'll know where to go." Li Yun waved goodbye and got into his car. He wasn't opposed to joining the force if it could help with his mission.

For now, he was still trying to perfect meridian. He was close, but he was still missing something. In classical Chinese medicine, meridians were conduits and channels that qi moves through. Qi could move through channels and also through blood vessels. By that definition, the cardiovascular system in the human body could be defined as meridians, as well as the invisible twelve channels and their connecting vessels.

Although the channels were invisible, the classical documents were able to describe it in detail, with its approximate length and relations to the seasons, nature, and time. However, even knowing all of that, the system had not accepted his current understanding.

Later that evening, Li Yun pulled into a hotel parking lot. He looked at his messaging app, but there wasn't any response from Chu Rouxi. He wondered if she was going to respond or show up.

****

A young woman with long straight hair and a straight-cut bang headed to a hotel. She stood in front of the room indicated in her message and paused to think about the best course of action. Even after she had requested Xuxu not to reveal her number, her so-called business partner had ignored her request and did it anyway.

"I thought you blew me off because you had a meeting with the client," Xuxu had accused her over the phone. "So you ended up screwing around with Li Yun."

"I did meet with a client and I only bumped into your friend afterward," Rouxi replied. "In my defense, I did not know he was your friend."

"Why did you drug him?"

"He looks quite handsome asleep."

"I'm going to give him your number."

"Why?"

"I want to see how you get out of this one." Xuxu hung up the phone.

"F***," Rouxi swore at her phone. She didn't think Xuxu would sell her out so soon.

As she recalled their conversation, Rouxi decided to change their relationship status. She took out her phone and changed "business partner" to "troublemaker."

Standing in front of the hotel room door, her hand raised up slowly to knock, but hesitated. Best thing to do was to walk away. She could pretend that she hadn't read the message. How would he know? But it was the 21st century, everyone under 25 checked their phone 24/7, and she was one of them. Would Xuxu sell her address and other information?

Before she had the chance to reconsider, Li Yun opened the door.

"You have changed your styling," he remarked.

"Why? Which style do you prefer?" Chu Rouxi pulled back her hands over her hips, and flirted with her eyes.

Two arms wrapped over her waist and pulled her inside. His face leaned closer to hers and his eyes examined the contours of her face. Her hair was much longer than before, and her styling made her look like a girl on a date rather than a businesswoman. Her eyebrows had soft curves and her eyes had brown liner with wings, giving her wider eyes and more innocent look.

"I like you better without anything on."

Chu Rouxi's cheeks flushed and pushed him away. "Ah! You!"

He grabbed onto her wrist. "Why did you..."

Chu Rouxi tipped her toes and covered his lips with hers. Li Yun froze for a moment, but then quickly overtook the kiss and then angled to devour her lips. She tensed, not expecting the reaction and pushed him away. The next moment, he wiped a towel over her face.

"Ah! What are you doing?" She yelled.

"Removing your makeup." Li Yun didn't like heavy makeup, it masked too much information.

"Stop, I'll do it on my own," She took the cloth, pushed him away, and escaped into the bathroom.

"How do you know Ning Xuxu?" Li Yun asked from the other side of the door.

"I met her at a party." Chu Rouxi looked around the enclosed space of the bathroom, regretting coming here unprepared. She had been eating out, and she panicked a bit when she saw the message. If he had her number, he would find her eventually, what was the point of hiding? After removing her makeup, she opened the door and saw him leaning against the wall near the bathroom door.

"Why are you guarding the door?" She asked.

"So you won't run away again?" He pulled her closer to look at her face.

It was soft without exuding any sort of aura, and could naturally blend in with the background. His fingers brushed her cheek gently to move a soft black strand behind the ear, and her cheeks turned a slight tint of rose. His heart skipped a beat, and he wondered if this was what falling in love felt like.

"Rouxi, is that your real name?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Why did you drug me?"

She laughed. "I thought it would be funny."

He let out an annoyed sigh. "Seriously? Do you usually carry GHB around?"

"No, I swiped it from that asshole that day."

"And you decide to use it on me? What the heck? I have asked you, but you could have said no."

"Yes, but I didn't think I could prevent myself. You are very charming."

Li Yun snorted, "you drugged me so that you wouldn't sleep with me?"

She smiled as sweetly as possible and nodded.

"When did you start grifting?"

She pretended to think back. "Probably as long as I can remember. It's a family trade, but they are in forced retirement. Although, they may start back again in a year."

In other words, they were in prison. Li Yun stared at her, but he couldn't figure out how dangerous she was. He wondered what line he should detect.

"I'm really quite harmless now. I work for clients to get evidence of their husband's cheating."

"You're really good at reading people."

She laughed. "It's just a woman's intuition. I'm not as good as you."

He knew she was making fun of him for misreading her the first time.

"Are you going to let me go?" She teased. "I don't have any drugs with me, and it's going to be tough to resist this time."

"Sure, why not?" He let go of her wrist and backed away. He wasn't crazy enough to sleep with a pathological liar, it was practically a death sentence.