Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Jian Yao takes her chair and puts it in front of him.  She sits with her hands folded, resting on her knees and smiles sweetly: “Please explain.” 

   - Oh…  so docile…. a nice change.

    Bo Jinyan’s mind is thinking about other things: "Last Wednesday ...... What did we have for breakfast?"

    Jian Yao looks at him in surprise. 

- What does that have to do with this case?  Wednesday… breakfast…

  Jian Yao:  "Fish dumplings."

 It was her first time trying to make them.  It’s quite a tedious process.  She does not intend to make them again.

   Bo Jinyan: “Tomorrow,  I want to have it for breakfast again.  And if you have no objections, let’s get back to this case."

    Jian Yao: "......"

    That’s like daylight robbery! But why is she not angry about it? 

    As she has not objected to the idea, Bo Jinyan smiles:

    "First of all, Mai Chen said she was wearing a blue dress.  That’s her favourite colour, she should keep it on when she committed suicide, but the police records show she died in a black dress.  The man she loved confessed his love to her.  Even if she didn’t change her mind about the suicide, it’s highly unlikely she would change out of her lucky colour.  That’s not her personality.  A timid girl like her will want some luck with her on her way to death.  

   Secondly, her mother’s farewell phone call was made at 0:05am.  Mai Chen left around 0:30am, the second call to her mom was 0:40am, but it didn’t go through.  If she didn’t change her mind, why call again? To double the pain?  And it’s a very short time after Mai Chen left. The most logical conclusion is she gave up the idea of death, and she wants to hear the voice of her mother.

    She wrote her last post at 00:37am, but her death was between 2:00-3:00am.  This is unreasonable.  Would she not write one last post to say goodbye to Mai Chen? 

    What did she does in those two hours before she died?  She didn’t call her home, didn’t reject Mai Chen, didn’t write a blog…And why did she choose to take drugs to die?  If the experience of the last six months made her feel dirty, why would she choose such a filthy way to die?"

    Bo Jinyan ends with this statement: “This is too easy.  Next time, please figure it out yourself.  I am born to solve more complicated cases than this."

    Jian Yao is digesting his words carefully, then she looks at him.

   - Did he say… next time?  

   - There’s NOT going be a next time.

    She asks Bo Jinyan: “Do you think Mai Chen’s words are reliable?” 

   Bo Jinyan replies: “Yes.  Besides, according to Wang Wan Wei’s diary, her miserable life had nothing to do with Mai Chen.”

   Bo Jinyan adds: “There is one more thing.  Mai Chen mentioned she was wearing a pair of pearl earrings.  In the autopsy photos, she wasn’t wearing anything.  Go to the police station to check the evidence to see if there is a pair of earrings."

   Jian Yao: "Okay."

Bo Jinyan picks up the phone: “I need to talk to you now.”

After the other person has done talking, Bo Jinyan replies: “Then just end the meeting. Nothing is more important than a human life.” 

— —-—

     Yin Ziqi is wearing a Chanel suit today. She sits in the sofa of Bo Jinyan’s office and listens to the findings of the investigation.

   Jian Yao did most of the talking, because Bo Jinyan said: “I do not want to repeat the same words again.” 

    "...... So, we need to immediately notify the police, and suspend all of the work on this case.” Jian Yao concludes.

   Yin Ziqi remains silent for a moment, then looks at them calmly: "Thank you for the discovery, or I will not know there’s a murderer in my company. "

    Jian Yao nods. 

    Yin Ziqi continues: "However, can we keep it low-key?  Why don’t you continue with the investigation.  Once you find out who’s the murderer, we will inform the police.  The media do not need to know about this. ”

    Jian Yao can understand her concerns.  She is afraid of the impact on the business. But like  Bo Jinyan says, it’s a human life.  A secret investigation can be very difficult. 

    Bo Jinyan: “No.”

    The room falls silent.

   After a while, Yin Ziqi says to Jian Yao: “Ms Jian, can you give us a few minutes by ourselves.”

    -

    Jian Yao gets out of Bo Jinyan’s office.

    Manager Lin asks : ”Is everything ok?"

    “Oh yes." Jian Yao replies, “The Chairman needs to talk to Director Bo in private.”

    Jian Yao finds an empty seat.  Pei Ze glides his chair next to hers: “Are you busy today?”

   

 Jian Yao looks up and smiles: “I am not sure, need to check Director Bo’s schedule first.”

    Pei Ze smiles at her: “There’s a new Cantonese restaurant that’s just opened, wanna try later?”

     - Do not have physical contact with them… drug addicts carries infectious diseases…  do you not have any bone, let go of her….  She suddenly remembers Bo Jinyan’s words

   She has a sweet smile on her face: “Sorry, I am busy tonight.”

    Pei Ze: "Boyfriend?"

    Jian Yao does not disagree.  She gives Pei Ze a smile.  He glides his chair back to his table.

    -

    Yin Ziqi looks at her brother.  She is a little disappointed with him.  

    She knew Bo Jinyan from young.  He is withdrawn, indifferent to everyone, including her.  But they did spend a lot of time together.  And they had some fun times too. In high school, she was the centre of attention.  Bo Jinyan was the handsome and talented boy.  Nobody suspected they were related. But once, her boyfriend cheated on her, she was devastated.  She cried and cried at home.  Bo Jinyan went to find the boy, and beat the crap out of him. 

    Then he went to university to study criminal psychology.  He never bothers to initiate contact with her.  Sometimes she wonders if he has any feelings for anyone.  But  undeniably, she is the only woman who has been able to walk into his life.  And this fact had always brought her a strange satisfaction and pleasure. But she will never bother to analyst why she feels this way.  Is it because she is a proud sister, or it’s more than that.  Anyway, she has a brilliant life, a fiancé that is very nice to her.  And he is her only brother.  That’s enough.

But Bo Jinyan has refused her request to her face, in front of an outsider. She is a little upset by it. 

   Yin Ziqi says to him: “ This is a listed company.  A murder scandal will cause our stock price to drop dramatically."

   Bo Jinyan glances at her.

    Yin Ziqi said: "This company is built by your father and my mother with their sweat and tears.  And now it’s my future and my life.  Can you stand by to see your sister’s life ruined?”

    She sees that he is still not convinced. Yin Ziqi stands up from the couch to walk beside him. She puts her hand on his shoulder : ”I don’t want you to suspend the investigation, just do it in secret.  It should be a piece of cake for you.  You are so capable.  I have never asked you for a favour in my life.  This is the first time.  Just this once.  OK?“

    -

  Yin Ziqi walks out of Bo Jinyan’s office.  She is wearing a smile.  

    All the employees stand up to greet her: ”Just had a chat with Director Bo.  he is very satisfied with all of you.  Good job.  Keep it up.  Wait for the bonus at the end of the year.”

    Everybody laughs.  Manager Lin sees her out.

    Jian Yao returns to Bo Jinyan’s office.

"Book two tickets for tomorrow morning.  We are going to the resort for site exploration.”   

    -

Night.  Bo Jinyan’s apartment. 

Jian Yao and Bo Jinyan are doing some prep work ahead of tomorrow’s trip.  There’s quite a bit of information to go through, but she is getting tired. 

    Jian Yao do not know when she fell asleep, but when she opened her eyes, she realises she is on Bo Jinyan’s bed. When did she go into his room?

  She is still wearing the same white shirt and black knee high skirt she had earlier, but her slippers have been removed, and it’s not on the side of the bed.  Was she… carried into the room by Bo Jinyan? 

 He didn’t just leave her on the couch, but carried her to his bed.  That’s unexpected… and sweet. 

    Classical music travels from the lounge into the hallway, where she is standing now.  She slowly takes her step towards the lounge.  She stops as she sees another unexpected scene.  

Only the floor lamp is on in the lounge.  She sees steam rising out of the big bathtub. No wonder he brought her into the room - he wanted to bathe in the living room.

   But there’s no one in the bathtub.  She looks around, and sees him standing with only a towel around his waist.  His entire back is exposed. 

  With the dim lighting in the room, the shadows give his body a nice definition.  But soon, she also notices there’s something on his back.  Scars.  Lots of scars.  By the looks of them,  they were caused by once deep wounds.  In the night, they seem like ferocious vine flowers, blooming on his back.

- Where did these scars come from?  Isn’t he just responsible for analysing work?  Arresting the criminals is the police’s responsibility.  That’s what he said before.

She takes a closer look.  The scars are neatly arranged, in rows.  There are more than a dozen on the left, and on the right too.  

    Jian Yao stands in the dark.  Then softly, she tip toes back into the bedroom.