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nTranslator: MintCatnip Editor: Chrissy

n“Latest chapter!”

nBai Muchuan’s words reminded Xiang Wan.

nFor an online novelist, updating their latest chapters were more important than their life!

nHence, Xiang Wan automatically ignored her embarrassment, pride, as well as Bai Lu’s cold treatment, and stayed in the guest room of the Bai residence. She locked the room and started working on her latest chapter within the privacy of the room.

nHuff!

nIt was peaceful, quiet, and empty. She felt so reassured.

nXiang Wan was using Fang Yuanyuan’s laptop, so it was not as smooth.

nShe slowly wrote:

nThe nights at the detention center were long and cold; not even a hint of summer heat could permeate through.

nAh Sheng sat alone in the dark, his figure small and fatigued. It was another day of endless interrogation, his willpower had almost deserted him.

nThe soul drew away, and he thought of death.

nMaybe death would be the best way to escape from it all.

nDeath! Death! Death!

nThe few scary words made his heart beat violently. He thought of him again.

nThat day in the early spring, green leaves had just sprouted from a branch, and the grass was rustling in the wind.

nHe drove in with his bulky SUV and smiled at him. “Are you Ah Sheng? Your boss says that you’re pretty good with cars?”

nLater, they got to know each other better. “My car is in your hands,” he said, “pal, do a good job.”

nThey became more familiar with each other consequently. “I’m leaving everything to you,” he said, “brother, do a good job. Old rules apply, you’ll be duly rewarded!”

nOh, he trusted him so much.

nSo much trust that he sent himself to hell.

nWhen Ah Sheng thought about his trusting face, he smiled and struggled to stand up for a good look at the detention cell.

nThis was a place for a murderer. There was nothing there that he could use to send himself over to accompany him.

nAh Sheng’s smile got deeper.

nLooking at the wall, he suddenly closed his eyes and banged his head against the wall!

n…

nAh Sheng did not die.

nThere was a chain latched onto his feet which limited the impact, so he had only fainted.

nWhen he woke up once again, there was a beautiful woman sitting in front of him.

nShe smiled at him. “Congratulations for another chance to start your life.”

nCongratulations? What else is there to congratulate about? he thought.

nAh Sheng gulped, attempting to moisten his dry mouth. “Why are you here again?”

nHe remembered this woman. She had come to the detention center with Detective Fang Yelan. She was gorgeous, but her gaze was sharp as a knife as if it could pierce open his skin and reveal his bloody heart. Every word of hers seemed to dismember a part of him, leaving him no choice but to face up to his deplorable past…

n“I’m here to see you, and to encourage you.”

nHer voice was very gentle, but Ah Sheng shuddered under her gaze.

nAh Sheng could not take it. He shut his eyes firmly, his voice quavering as he spoke, “I’m not protecting anyone,” he murmured, “please go away. I don’t want to see you.”

n“You do need me,” she said, “your soul needs redemption. You won’t be able to escape no matter whether you’re alive or dead. I’m the only one who can help you.”

n“I have nothing to say. I don’t need any help either.”

n“Are you really sure?” The woman let out a soft chuckle, as if a magic spell had opened the pandora box that was stowed away deep down inside Ah Sheng’s heart. “For instance, why did you court Er Niu so persistently, yet you’ve never actually loved her?”

nAh Sheng’s eyes were agape in that instant while looking at the woman who was wearing a faint smile before him.

nShe was like a devil who had, once again, cut open his blood-soaked heart.

n“Ah Sheng, love is an innate ability of human beings. You have it too. No matter who you love, it is not a sin…”

n…

nKnock! Knock!

nThere was knocking at the door.

nXiang Wan’s train of thoughts was interrupted, and she felt slightly annoyed. She had nearly forgotten that she was not at her own place.

n“Who’s that?”

nNanny Li’s voice, with a somewhat apologetic tone, was heard from outside. “Teacher Xiang, Young Master Bai wanted me to send you some tea to let you freshen up your spirit.”

nFreshen up my foot!

nXiang Wan rubbed her head and shuffled to the door wearing the slippers. “Thank you, Nanny Li,” she smiled awkwardly to receive the tea, “please help me thank Young Master Bai.”

nNanny Li smiled and waved, then she closed the door.

nXiang Wan puffed a sigh. She placed the tea on the table with a despondent face and continued her work without taking a sip of the tea.

nThis time, she took at least 15 minutes before she regained her momentum as halfway through, she was nearly pulled away by news of a certain famous star who committed adultery. It was not easy for her to get back on momentum. When she finished that chapter, 40 minutes had passed.

nThe time indicated on the laptop was 11:58 p.m.

nIt was a race against time. Every second count!

nXiang Wan uploaded her chapter at an amazing speed. The editor was awesome as well, the chapter was approved in seconds.

nFinally, Xiang Wan managed to update the chapter before midnight at 11 o’clock, 59 minutes, 59 seconds sharp!

n“Haha!” She stretched herself. “I managed to update in time! I’m too awesome!”

nThe comments urging her to update in the reviews and comments page were about to drown all other comments.

nXiang Wan finished her update and started to look through the comments and found a lot of speculation about the case as well as the daily “battle” between the RongFang ship and the RongGu ship fans…

nVery interesting!

nThe readers’ imagination was often greater than the author’s.

nThey would think about anything like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies, powerful and unrestrained.

nThere were even comments who often collided with Xiang Wan’s plot…

nEvery time when Xiang Wan saw such comments, she would be shocked for a while. After that, she would reinforce her belief of the importance of logical reasoning to the case.

nBased on the known clues and conditions, there could only be so many conclusions to deduce… What else could there be?

nTherefore, the case in her book colliding with an actual case in reality should not be that shocking after all? And Detective Bai had to kick a big fuss over it!

n“You seem to be in a good mood.”

nA sudden frosty voice coming from behind her made Xiang Wan’s spine frozen.

nThis Bai Muchuan!

nEvery time, he had to appear in such a cold and eerie way which scared her.

nXiang Wan took a deep breath before she turned around. With a calm face, she asked, “I look very happy?”

n“It’s written all over your face.”

n“Oh, okay then. So Detective Bai has finished reading my latest chapter?” Xiang Wan cut to the chase, “can you tell me about the case now?”

nBai Muchuan squinted his eyes to scrutinize her.

nA while later, he pulled a chair and sat opposite her, face to face.

n“After Ah Sheng attempted suicide, the part after he woke up, when he conversed with the criminal psychologist, what are you trying to imply here?”

nWell! Is this really difficult to understand? Xiang Wan wondered.

nOh right! He’s straight after all.

nXiang Wan winked. “Just a little achillean humor here, don’t mind it.”

nBai Muchuan’s brows knitted slightly. “Just achillean humor?”

nXiang Wan gave it a thought. “Not quite. Any clues thrown out by a mystery novel are not casually written. In my book, Ah Sheng is quite a good looking and shy young man. He’s friendly, but he’s bashful and introverted when interacting with people. Er Niu liked him a lot. However, for him, due to certain special circumstances or biological gene changes, when compared to women, he seemed to enjoy a better emotional experience with men…”

n“Cut to the point!” Bai Muchuan’s brows knitted closer this time.

n“Ahem!” Xiang Wan lowered her gaze. “Simply put, he is a criminal with a gay tendency.”

nBai Muchuan raised an eyebrow but did not say a word.

nXiang Wan observed his expression and had a sudden thought to tease him. “Detective Bai, are you able to understand that kind of feeling?”

nBai Muchuan gave Xiang Wan a stony glare. He chose to ignore that and continued to ask, “Why did you think of him as gay?”

nHow did I think of that? This question made Xiang Wan thought of the past.

n“Strictly speaking, this character, Ah Sheng, when I first started, he was just a flat character without much details. Especially this gay trait, when I was discussing this character in my private chat group, Er Niu private messaged me to suggest this setting!”

nEr Niu again?

nBai Muchuan curled his lips. “You like to push the blame to the dead?”

nThe dead tells no lies!

nXiang Wan tousled her hair, frustrated. “You can go ahead to verify this. Everyone in the chat group knew that Er Niu was a fujoshi… Oh, Detective Bai know what is fujoshi right?”

nBai Muchuan did not answer this question directly.

n“I’ll verify this!”

nAs he said this, he squinted his dark eyes, and his gaze felt colder. “Do you know that from your latest update, you’re now one step closer to being the criminal suspect?”

nWhat the heck? Xiang Wan felt a chill in her heart and looked at him, horrified.

n“If Er Niu could not climb out of her tomb to testify for you, then you would not be able to explain the many coincidences that happened in the case!” said Bai Muchuan indifferently. “In this case, it is as though you’re the director of the whole incident, hiding deep in the dark! Everyone and everything is acting and moving according to your presupposition. Xiang Wan, don’t tell me that you do have the ability to foresee what is going to happen in the case!”

n“What do you mean? Detective Bai, could it be that Wang Tongsheng is also…”

n“No!” said Bai Muchuan, “strictly speaking, Wang Tongsheng is not gay. However, he was violated by a man when he was young. He really did like Er Niu, but like is not equivalent to love. When he met Zhao Jiahang consequently, maybe it was the natural reverence the weak individual felt toward the stronger individual, he actually harbored abnormal thoughts toward him…”

nHearing him talking about “abnormality” in a stern and righteous way, Xiang Wan pursed her lips.

n“Er Niu was introduced to Zhao Jiahang via Wang Tongsheng,” continued Bai Muchuan, “did you think of that?”

nWith regards to this point, Xiang Wan really did not think of that.

nWith Er Niu’s background, she had no opportunity to come into contact with the upper echelons of the society like Zhao Jiahang.

nWith Wang Tongsheng acting as the medium, it was unexpected but reasonable.

nShe puffed a faint sigh. “Isn’t he in love with Zhao Jiahang? Why did he introduce a woman to him?”

nBai Muchuan remained silent for a while.

nThree seconds later, he said, “He’ll do anything for love.”

nFrom the beginning till end, Zhao Jiahang never knew that this young fella was madly in love with him.

nIn order to make Zhao Jiahang happy, Wang Tongsheng introduced Er Niu, who was in love with him wholeheartedly, to become Zhao Jiahang’s mistress. Er Niu’s role was to give birth to a surrogate baby for Zhao Jiahang so he could have an heir.

nThis was also because Wang Tongsheng understood Er Niu too well. He knew that she had zero resistance toward money, and she would not be a threat toward Zhao Jiahang due to her simple background. Lastly, people like her was easy to control.

nNevertheless, Zhao Jiahang developed more emotions than he should, toward the woman who was carrying his baby.

nHe developed some genuine feelings for Er Niu, while Wang Tongsheng lived his days in suffering, covering for them. Every day could be described as torture for him, but the affair between Zhao Jiahang and Er Niu still got exposed…

nMrs. Zhao found out about the affair.

nShe wanted Zhao Jiahang to settle things with Er Niu within a week.

nAs for Er Niu, she was being misled by Wang Tongsheng’s lies and thought that he was really afraid of Zhao Jiahang’s influential position and had no choice but to listen to him. Due to that misunderstanding, she started to bear a malicious intent toward Zhao Jiahang.

n… Xiang Wan felt a chilly sensation at her back.

nWith Mrs. Zhao’s personality, there would not be a perfect solution to the problem.

nThe two women bore murderous intent, and all four of them were calculating their options…

n“So… who’s the one that fiddled with the SUV?”

nShe was extremely curious about the answer to this case.

nHowever, Bai Muchuan got up slowly and looked down at her from his height.

n“The night is late, I need to rest for a few hours. You’ll stay up for the night to get the next chapter done. I’ll wait for your answer! Miss Director.”

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