CH 14

News of Lu Ye’s heroic act of bravery and getting injured had spread to the police station last night. As soon as he arrived at work in the morning, he received inquiries from all directions.

“I heard you left during dinner yesterday.” A colleague passing by his desk for the third time, holding a cup of warm water, nudged Lu Ye’s elbow with a playful expression and said, “What happened? Were you busy being a hero and saving a beauty?”

“What are you rambling about?” Lu Ye said helplessly, “It’s my friend.”

“Don’t deny it.” The colleague leaned against his desk’s bookshelf, full of enthusiasm, and said, “We heard from Xiao Yao, who was on duty last night. That young guy you helped is really handsome, like a little star.”

“Yeah he was really handsome!” A young girl in the corner of the office suddenly raised her hand, peeking out from behind her computer screen, and interjected, “—hey, you know, after dealing with suspects all the time, now anyone with a complete set of features looks handsome to me.”

“And Xiao Yao said that your ‘friend’ was really worried about you.” The colleague emphasized the word ‘friend’ and then, lowered his head slightly, giving Lu Ye’s arm a playful poke, “So, what’s the situation? Anything going on?”

It wasn’t a secret that Lu Ye was gay and had been in a relationship before. Even though that relationship had only barely started and ended within half a month, some of his old colleagues at the police station still knew about his sexual orientation.

Hearing this, Lu Ye chuckled and jokingly pushed his colleague’s hand away, scolding, “What situation? It was just an impromptu encounter last night—instead of gossiping about me, you might as well hurry up and work on your quarterly report.”

“Oh, in a rush, are we?” The colleague made a face at him, then sighed dramatically and shrugged, saying, “Anyway, there are plenty of young single girls in the bureau. If your ‘friend’ is single and interested, you could introduce them.”

“I agree!” Yao Xing suddenly raised her hand and enthusiastically volunteered, “Lu Ge, I’m applying to be the first in line.”

“What are you queuing up for?” Li Zhiwen walked in holding soy milk, furrowing his brows and scolding, “If you’re so into dating, should I transfer you both to the Civil Affairs Bureau?”

Li Zhiwen was a towering figure in the Public Security Division, and Yao Xing and the colleague instantly retreated, like two mushrooms shrinking back to their respective workstations.

“And you, don’t bring your personal affairs into the workplace in the future.” After giving Lu Ye a piece of his mind, Li Zhiwen placed a bag of soy milk on his desk and said, “That drunkard from last night has sobered up. You should go question him.”

Lu Ye asked, “Didn’t you question him last night?”

“He passed out as soon as he got in the car last night, snoring like thunder.” Yao Xing rolled her eyes and said, “We were thinking of taking him to the hospital for a sobering shot, but then there was a major multiple-car accident over at Silver Galaxy City, so we all got busy and no one attended to him.”

That drunkard had followed Qi Yanbai, intending to harm him. It was a serious matter both morally and legally. So, Lu Ye packed his things, didn’t waste time, and immediately went next door.

However, that drunkard had been confident while drunk last night, but when he sobered up at the station, he became weak as a straw. Seeing himself in the police station scared him, and at the slightest reprimand from Lu Ye, he spilled all the details.

“What about the knife?” Lu Ye was still concerned about this matter, “Where did you get the knife?”

“I bought it at the supermarket.” The drunkard lowered his head, trying to explain, “But I didn’t intend to hurt anyone. I just… I just bought it on a whim, to intimidate him.”

“Intimidate, huh?” Lu Ye nodded.

The man’s face turned pale, stumbling over his words, “I also… I didn’t expect to encounter him. It was just a coincidence… so, in the heat of the moment, I followed him.”

“I really didn’t mean to, I was drunk last night.” The man didn’t seem entirely clueless; he leaned forward and pleaded, “I was wrong, I really know I was wrong. If it’s not possible otherwise, can I meet that teacher? I’ll apologize to him and promise not to do this again.”

“Now you realize you were wrong?” Lu Ye said matter-of-factly, “We’ll handle the communication for you, but we don’t know if the other party wants to see you or not—wait for the procedure.”

Lu Ye finished filing the report and stood up from his desk.

As he was leaving, he took out his phone from his pocket, intending to send a message to Qi Yanbai to explain the situation. However, he noticed that Qi Yanbai had sent him a WeChat message twenty minutes ago, asking if he was busy.

“Not busy.” Lu Ye replied, “Just finished questioning someone.”

Right after he sent the message, Qi Yanbai’s call came in seamlessly, as if he had been waiting.

Lu Ye looked around, took a couple of steps towards the stairwell, and casually answered the call.

“You’ve been working hard,” Qi Yanbai’s voice came through the phone, accompanied by a faint sound of wind and a hint of laughter, “It’s almost noon. What are you having for lunch?”

“Lunch?” There was still an hour left until lunch break, and Lu Ye hadn’t even thought about lunch yet. After a brief pause, he replied, “Nothing special, I have to go out for a case later, so I’ll just have some instant noodles.”

“Don’t bother with instant noodles.” Qi Yanbai said, “I have about five minutes until I reach your unit. If it’s not a bother, can you come down and meet me?”

Lu Ye was slightly taken aback, his first thought being that Qi Yanbai must have encountered some trouble again.

“What happened?” Lu Ye asked, “Do you need to report something?”

“No.” Qi Yanbai was amused by his reflexive assumption. He laughed softly on the other end of the line and said, “It’s nothing big just wait for me I’ll be there in a moment.”

He hung up the phone, leaving Lu Ye standing in confusion.

The precinct’s reception area only accepted reports from the public, and private visitors were stopped at the security booth outside. When Lu Ye came downstairs, Qi Yanbai was already there, holding a deep blue square bag and standing outside the automatic sliding door, waiting for him.

Perhaps because he didn’t have classes that morning, Qi Yanbai had dressed very differently from his usual meticulous teacher’s style. He wore a navy blue British-style coat over a high-necked pure white sweater. A thin decorative chain was fastened with a golden pin on the turned-up collar of the coat. Even though Lu Ye had seen him many times, he was still dazzled by this appearance.

“Do you have a date today?” Lu Ye greeted the security booth and stepped out through a side door, greeting Qi Yanbai with a smile, “Why are you dressed so nicely?”

Qi Yanbai had decent looks, but when he usually wore white shirts, he tended to appear a bit dull. That day, with such a contrasting outfit, he didn’t look older; instead, the outfit accentuated Qi Yanbai’s composed personality. At first glance, he didn’t resemble a fresh graduate entering society.

“Who said anything about a date? I just wanted to change my style a bit.” Qi Yanbai smiled and handed him the bag, saying, “By the way, this is for you.”

“What’s this?” Lu Ye asked.

“Lunch.” Qi Yanbai said, “You’re still injured, so it’s best not to eat out. I’m not sure about your taste, so I just prepared something randomly. Let me know if there’s anything you don’t like, and I’ll remember it for next time.”

Lu Ye exclaimed softly, feeling a bit touched. He looked down at the well-sealed insulated bag in Qi Yanbai’s hand, feeling a bit awkward about accepting it.

“I couldn’t possibly.” Lu Ye said.

“Why not? Plus takeout is too oily and salty. The doctor said you should avoid such.” Qi Yanbai took a step closer and pressed the bag into Lu Ye’s hand, saying with a smile, “Besides, I have to cook at home anyway. It’s just a small effort.”

Qi Yanbai had worn perfume that day, an unusual move. As Lu Ye held the heavy bag, he caught a faint whiff of a light and sweet fragrance, as if he had just passed by a blooming locust tree.

“You must take care of yourself.” Qi Yanbai paused briefly, his voice soft, and said, “Don’t make me worry too much about you.”