Silent Reading 默读 [BL Novel by Priest]

Chapter 21-32

CHAPTER 21 [Julien- Twenty]

"Officer Tao, just in case the test results come in and prove I was overreacting, could I ask you to keep this a secret for me?" This was Attorney Liu's third phone call to Tao Ran, the gist as before being "I would love nothing better than to go back in time half an hour and cut off the hand that phoned you."

Tao Ran sighed helplessly, feeling that this Attorney Liu really was a little neurotic.

Attorney Liu then jabbered, "Otherwise I'll really have no way to carry on in this profession. What would you call this thing I've done? You absolutely can't tell anyone else about this. My well-being and my family's are in your hands."

Tao Ran could only reassure him for the third time, all but raising his hand to heaven to swear and signing his mark. The overcautious and indecisive lawyer on the other end was finally forced to agree to bring the tie to the City Bureau at once for testing.

Having dealt with him, Tao Ran very apologetically turned his head and smiled at the young woman in the backseat. "Sorry."

He'd been disturbed by Attorney Liu in the middle of watching a movie. The movie had just gotten to the part where the male and female main characters were having a falling out—he and the young lady had walked out amidst the crying, sniveling, and mutual accusations; it really wasn't a very auspicious beginning for a relationship.

But the young lady hadn't said anything about it. Even if she was inwardly cursing, she had the self-possession not to show it. She very understandingly said, "If you're busy, there's no need to see me home.—Driver, please stop a moment by the subway entrance up ahead. Then you can take him where he's going."

The roots of Tao Ran's ears turned red—he was all embarrassment. "That's not...not very..."

"It's fine. We also regularly get called out to work overtime on the weekends," the young lady said. "And when we work overtime, it's only to make money for our boss. You're working for public safety.—And I've read about that case of the rich kid killing someone online. You have to hurry up and solve it."

Stuttering a little, Tao Ran said, "It's not, not necessarily the rich kid, we...we're still not sure of the killer."

As they spoke, the taxi had already come to the subway entrance. The driver, all smiles, stopped the car, and waited for the young lady to wave Tao Ran goodbye.

Before leaving, the young lady remembered something and turned back to say to him, "It's very nice to be able to meet an old classmate when I'm away from home, even if the way the two of us met was a little awkward."

If there had been a hole in the ground, Tao Ran definitely would have jumped in without a backward glance.

This far from home, what were the chances of ending up on a blind date with your senior middle school classmate? And then what were the chances that the senior middle school classmate would just happen to be the person you had a crush on back then?

Of course, there was nothing worth celebrating about here. Even if he'd managed to get a date with Audrey Hepburn, at this moment he'd still have to throw her aside and go work overtime.

When he had seen the girl go into the subway station, his critically obstructed intellect at last returned to its regular path. Deputy-Captain Tao shook his head to force the porridge in his head to turn back into normal brains and once more focus on the case.

Looking on from the sidelines, the taxi driver issued a conclusion: "Young man, you have hope."

Tao Ran laughed bitterly. "Driver, turn back up ahead, go to the City Bureau."