Muchuan and Xiang Wan

“Talk, or we’ll summon your wife to come here and assist in our investigations!”

“Don’t, don’t, don’t! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” CEO Song gave in. “I… I have a hobby that I like to watch live performances…”

“Live performances? Make it clearer.”

“It’s not some strange hobby… Didn’t the nobles from ancient times love to watch Chinese Opera? It’s similar to me… I loved to watch actors and actresses perform before me… Hehe, I only watched them act, nothing more…”

“Mm, continue.”

“I’m here today to look for Xie Wanwan. I had wanted to watch her perform again… I enjoyed her performance last time… But my wife showed up at the last minute… So, I can’t go to meet her. I didn’t even dare to call Xie Wanwan to cancel the appointment lest my wife misunderstood my intentions…”

Here comes the crux of the matter.

“Stop here first!”

Bai Muchuan was sitting inside the interrogation room, although the interrogator was Ding Yifan.

This was because Bai Muchuan was sick, so he couldn’t be the interrogator. However, he still asked to stop.

Ding Yifan turned his head. “Captain Bai… ?”

He was looking at Bai Muchuan since he didn’t know what the latter had in mind.

Bai Muchuan coughed a few times and took a sip of water before saying anything. “When you asked to meet Xie Wanwan, did you also ask Ye Lun to come along?”

When they questioned Xie Wanwan previously, they got to know about CEO Song’s peculiar hobby—he loved to watch intimate scenes… The performance that he enjoyed was the one that Ye Lun and Xie Wanwan would do. Thus, if he wanted to watch it again, he couldn’t have asked to meet up with only Xie Wanwan.

CEO Song also looked at Bai Muchuan.

In his head, this detective had remained quiet during the interrogation.

CEO Song was a businessman who possessed an acute sense of instinct.

He had long noticed that this detective was the one who called the shots.

Hence, he gave it a thought and answered the question carefully. “Yes, yes, I did ask him to come along…”

Bai Muchuan looked stern, and his gaze was piercingly sharp. “Did you ask him, or did he ask you?”

CEO Song looked at his cold and indifferent face. He couldn’t detect what this detective was thinking. “I…” He deliberated over his reply, “I asked him.”

“Think it over clearly,” Bai Muchuan said coldly, “tell us the entire conversation from start to finish.”

From start to finish…

CEO Song couldn’t understand why he made such a request.

Nonetheless, it was not difficult for him to tell the details between their conversation.

He told them that he met up with Ye Lun and Xie Wanwan yesterday. That was the day when Ye Lun introduced him to Xie Wanwan. After that, he told Ye Lun that he enjoyed watching them act, hinting that he couldn’t get enough of it. Ye Lun didn’t disagree with him at that point; he only replied that as long as CEO Song was happy and as long as ‘The Grey List’ could be broadcasted smoothly, then it would not be a problem to get Xie Wanwan to do that…

It seemed that Ye Lun was giving him a hint…

That he could call Xie Wanwan out anytime.

Earlier that morning, Ye Lun was the one who called CEO Song.

He wanted to talk about some other matters before both of them mentioned the acting session that occurred the other day.

When CEO Song thought about it, he would smack his lips with a lustful look. After that, he suggested having a meeting that day.

Bai Muchuan asked, “What did Ye Lun say?”

“He didn’t object to it. In fact, he agreed readily.”

While talking, CEO Song lifted his chin a little, and his words suggested a hint of contempt. “Celebrities nowadays, when you put it more nicely, they will work willingly as actors and actresses; otherwise, they are no different from opera actors in the olden times… For the sake of money, you can ask them to do anything!”

Well, he seemed to think that he was far superior to the celebrities.

The atmosphere turned cold in an instant.

Bai Muchuan coughed and lifted his hand to instruct Ding Yifan.

“Continue!”

…

Ding Yifan proceeded to ask for some of the details.

For example, the time and location for the appointment, as well as when CEO Song’s wife showed up until there was nothing else that they could get out of his mouth.

“Alright. That’s all for today.”

Ding Yifan kept the statement and turned to look at Bai Muchuan.

“Captain Bai, is there anything else that you want to add?”

Bai Muchuan waved his hand, got up from his seat, and left the room.

Ceo Song was somewhat flustered when he saw that. “Wait! Detective, what do you mean by that’s all for today…”

Ding Yifan answered with a poker face. “It means that we’ll continue tomorrow.”

“What?” CEO Song’s face went ashen. “Where will I be resting for the night then?”

“The detention room.”

“… My wife will kick up a fuss if I don’t go home!”

Ding Yifan took an in-depth look at him with a straight face. “CEO Song, don’t worry. You’re only going to stay here for 24 hours at most.”

…

Late night.

Xiang Wan was hugging the blanket while sitting on the bed.

She hadn’t gone to bed. She was looking at Blackie’s pictures on her mobile phone.

On and off, she would check her WeChat or Weibo to see if anyone messaged her about Blackie.

She wanted to know… if anyone saw the cat.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” Bai Muchuan entered the dorm, bringing a waft of cold air along with him.

Xiang Wan lifted her head. “I’m waiting for you!”

Bai Muchuan frowned when he saw the tiny red vessels in her eyes. “Silly girl! You shouldn’t wait for me, don’t forget that I’m a detective.”

“…”

What did he mean?

She looked at him with a quizzical expression.

Bai Muchuan sat down on the edge of the bed with a smile and ruffled her hair. “Detectives do not work according to a fixed time. Maybe I will come back or maybe… I won’t. You got to manage the time according to your lifestyle and need not wait for me. Understand?”

She did understand that.

However, it was different that day…

Xiang Wan kept quiet and appeared to be down.

Bai Muchuan’s line of sight shifted to her mobile phone, where he saw a picture.

His eyebrows furrowed together in concern. “Still no news?”

Wasn’t that obvious?

Xiang Wan glanced at him and shook her head. “I don’t know if I can get Blackie back.”

It was tough enough to find a missing person, let alone a lost cat.

Searching for a missing person was perhaps easier since one could report the case to the police, paste missing posters in many other places, and use whatever resources one had for the search. However, all these didn’t apply to cats or pets.

She had lost a cat, but she’s the only one who considered the gravity of this situation. For others, this was not important at all; that includes those who were close to her, and her colleagues and friends at the Gossip group chat. They continued to chat and banter happily with one another. Their mood was not affected simply because she had lost her pet cat.

Xiang Wan had to bear the pain alone.

“Aye, my little silly one!” Bai Muchuan understood that she was feeling bad.

Although he didn’t feel the same emotions as her, he would give her a comforting hug.

“Come, let me give you a hug, so you would not feel so bad!” He embraced her tightly and patted her back gently when he started to cough again. “I’ll get some help and check out the pet markets to see if anyone is selling similar cats…”

“No!” Xiang Wan looked up in shock. “I don’t want another cat. I just want my cat back.”

These were two different matters altogether.

She had never adopted a cat before.

In fact, she didn’t like cats, but she never disliked them as well.

In her eyes, Fang Yuanyuan’s pet cat, Bao Jie, was just a cat.

However, after having Blackie, things changed.

Bai Muchuan chuckled at her response. “You thought that I wanted to buy you a similar cat?”

Xiang Wan tilted her head. “Isn’t that so?”

“Of course not.” Bai Muchuan pinched her nose gently since Xiang Wan had an agitated look. “You’re really… I wanted to go check out those pet markets to look for similar cats because Blackie might be brought to such markets for sale since we couldn’t find him in the neighborhood!”

Oh!

Alright, she misunderstood his intentions!

Xiang Wan felt guilty and leaned her head against his chest before shaking her head.

“He won’t be at the pet market. There’s no point going there.”

“Why are you so certain?”

“Blackie’s just an ordinary black cat. He’s not some precious or exotic breed. Moreover, he’s already an adult cat, not a kitten. Why would anyone want to buy a cat like that? Since nobody wanted such cats, nobody would sell such cats either…”

Fine.

Bai Muchuan admitted. “Well, I don’t know much about this.”

Thus, they were back to square one.

What should they do?

“Guess I have to depend on fate.”

Xiang Wan gave him a hug back and got out of bed.

“You don’t need to worry about Blackie or me. Quick, rest here. I’ll get you some water, You need to take your medication!”