The next day happened to be the weekend. After they returned home, Su Hui slept for a whole day and night. When he woke up, Lu Junchi had already prepared the meal.

On the dinner table was a plate of well-seasoned garlic shrimp. Su Hui was immediately drawn to the aroma and picked up a piece with his chopsticks, savoring its delicious flavor.

By now, Lu Junchi seemed to have a better understanding of Su Hui’s preferences. Su Hui loved eating shrimp, any kind of shrimp. Whether it was Longjing tea stir-fried shrimp, braised jumbo shrimp, river shrimp, or even crayfish, he enjoyed them all. 

However, when it came to peeling shrimp, he would usually peel at most three, and if there were more, he would be too lazy to peel them. But if someone else peeled them for him, he could eat an entire plate by himself.

Eventually, Lu Junchi started peeling them in advance to save time during the meal.

These freshly cooked dishes emitted a steamy, fresh aroma, completely different from fast food.

Unconsciously, Su Hui ate more than half of the shrimp and finished a bowl of rice, which was a rare occurrence. He felt a little embarrassed and offered, “I’ll help you with the dishes later.”

Lu Junchi said, “It’s okay, washing the dishes is quick. Just rest after you finish eating.”

He remembered when Su Hui first came, he was incredibly thin, with a prominent jawline and visible collarbones. There was no flesh on his cheeks. Now, Su Hui’s profile finally had a slight curvature, like finely crafted white jade when illuminated by light.

As Lu Junchi washed the dishes, he thought that if one day he could make Su Hui gain a little more weight, it would bring a sense of accomplishment.

Just like Aristotle, who gained two pounds and had a shiny coat.

The previous case had finally come to an end, providing them with a rare and leisurely time.

Both of them intuitively avoided discussing the just-concluded case, not even rushing into a debrief.

Wounds needed time to heal, and in the face of such things, time was the best remedy.

After finishing dinner, Lu Junchi assembled the newly purchased chair from the internet. It was a small swivel chair that could be placed next to the dining table.

The installation process was not difficult, except for the wheels of the seat that required a lot of force to fit in.

Su Hui had assembled a similar one himself, and it took him half a night of struggling with the six wheels before he finally had to ask a student for help the next day. But now, watching Lu Junchi assemble it effortlessly, pushing and twisting, and securing the wheels in place.

Could it be easier to assemble this one?

Unable to resist the urge to try, Su Hui asked, “Can I give it a try?”

Lu Junchi stood up and let him have a go. Su Hui tried pushing and squeezing, but the wheels didn’t budge…

He tried harder once again, but still, the wheels wouldn’t move…

Seeing him struggle, Lu Junchi said, “Let me do it.” He took it back and effortlessly inserted the wheels.

Su Hui gave up the struggle and squatted next to the cat, watching Lu Junchi busy himself.

The chair was quickly assembled, adding a seat to the room, and the dining table became a more formal workstation.

Su Hui sat in his own spot and read for a while. Then he looked up and saw Lu Junchi sitting in the swivel chair with headphones on, engrossed in his phone.

Their positions resembled those in the serious crime unit office, with Lu Junchi occupying the main seat and Su Hui on the outer side. At home, Su Hui sat at the large desk, while Lu Junchi sat at the adjacent dining table.

Observing Lu Junchi’s focused expression while looking at his phone, Su Hui was a bit curious. Seizing the opportunity while getting up to get water, he asked, “What are you watching?”

Lu Junchi hurriedly took off his headphones and said, “It’s a new Japanese drama that just came out. Each episode is short, only twenty minutes long. It’s a crime comedy, quite interesting.”

Su Hui blinked and took a sip of water. “I can’t imagine you liking this kind of show.”

Lu Junchi replied, “Qiao Ze recommended it to me. It seems to be a good stress reliever.” With a busy workload, he only had spare time to watch some movies. Most of them were ones that men usually liked, either crime, suspense, or action genres. This drama combined crime investigation with comedy, which matched his interests. He was eager to share it, saying, “I have some clips here. Do you want to give it a try?”

Su Hui casually replied, “Sure.”

His eyesight was not good, and reading or watching videos for a long time was strenuous for him. However, he was curious about what kind of movies Lu Junchi liked.

Su Hui initially thought Lu Junchi would send him a link, but to his surprise, Lu Junchi leaned over and handed him a pair of headphones.

It happened to be the right side.

Su Hui took the headphones and put them on. He looked down, and from the corner of his eye, he could sense that Lu Junchi glanced at the screen and then at him. His expression seemed to be concerned whether Su Hui would like it or not.

After watching for half a minute, Lu Junchi turned his head to look at him again, as if his reaction was more important than the content of the show.

Su Hui watched the video. He used to enjoy quiet moments alone, and even when watching movies, he preferred

After watching for half a minute, Lu Junchi turned his head to look at Su Hui again, as if his reaction was even more important than the content of the film.

Su Hui watched the movie. He used to enjoy solitude and quietness. Even when watching movies, he preferred artistic ones and rarely watched this type of film. The film had many characters and was a bit lively. His eyesight wasn’t great, so he could only rely on the sound to distinguish them. However, he suddenly felt that this kind of film was also quite enjoyable.

At a few moments, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Su Hui didn’t laugh often, but when he did, his eyes narrowed slightly. The clean and alienated aura around him would fade away a bit. It was just a gentle and light laughter, yet it made him come alive, as if he had become vibrant again.

Seeing his enjoyment, Lu Junchi felt somewhat relieved.

He couldn’t quite explain the feeling in his heart. It seemed that when he saw Su Hui happy, he also felt a sense of joy.

After watching a video segment, Lu Junchi removed his headphones and said, “I’ll share the address with you so you can watch it when you’re bored.”

Su Hui nodded, and he once again focused his attention on the puzzle. After the effort he had put in over this period of time, the pure white hell was almost complete, with only a few pieces remaining.

As he was fitting the last piece, Su Hui suddenly noticed a faint bloodstain on a piece he had just placed.

Frowning, Su Hui looked at his finger and carefully examined it. He realized that at some point, his finger had been cut, and that was how the puzzle had been stained with a trace of blood.

Lu Junchi also noticed Su Hui’s unusual expression. He turned his head and furrowed his brows, asking, “What happened to your finger?”

Su Hui hadn’t felt any pain before. He thought for a moment and replied, “I might have accidentally cut it while assembling the chair just now.”

He pursed his lips as he said this, feeling like a real failure. He had only made one attempt and ended up cutting his finger.

Lu Junchi fetched an alcohol swab and disinfected Su Hui’s wound. Then he asked, “Do you have any adhesive bandages at home?”

Su Hui replied, “Yes, they should be in the storage box above the TV cabinet.”

Lu Junchi had previously tidied up the entire house inside and out, but he hadn’t touched the items in that storage box. It contained some scattered boxes and a few metal tins, all piled up in disorder.

Lu Junchi thought that the adhesive bandages might be in one of the metal tins. He opened one and checked, but it was empty.

Then he opened another one, and this one had something inside. On top was a police officer’s badge and a police identification card, while the rest of the box contained miscellaneous items, but no adhesive bandages.

Lu Junchi put the box back, rummaged through it a few more times, and finally found several adhesive bandages underneath. He tidied everything up, and just as he was doing so, the lid of the second metal tin wasn’t closed properly and fell off, causing the contents to spill out. Surprisingly, among the scattered items, the police identification card fell out.

As Lu Junchi began to collect the items, he accidentally glanced at it, and his heart skipped a beat. The police identification card turned out to be Su Hui’s, dated five years ago.

Su Hui asked from behind, “Did you find them? They might be pressed underneath…”

Lu Junchi hurriedly replied, “I found them.”

He was about to hand it over when he suddenly noticed a small star falling out of the metal box. It was hand-folded using light yellow paper.

Lu Junchi hesitated for a moment, held the star in his palm, and then placed the basket back on top of the TV cabinet.

He walked over to Su Hui with the adhesive bandage in his hand, tore off a piece, and wrapped it around his finger. “Don’t let it get wet. It should be fine in two days.”

Su Hui flexed his finger a bit and casually acknowledged with an “Mm.” He spoke up, “I want to put this puzzle in a frame.”

It was the first time he had completed such a difficult puzzle, and he felt a sense of accomplishment.

Lu Junchi nodded. “Okay, I’ll help you mount it.”

The red bloodstain didn’t look out of place; instead, it seemed to add a soul to the entire pure white hell.

By the time the puzzle was framed, it was already getting late. Su Hui sat at the desk for a while and then returned to the room.

Seeing him enter, Lu Junchi also went into the bedroom and took out a small box from the bedside table. When he opened it, it contained a box of identical little stars. He had collected a total of ninety-nine stars.

Lu Junchi placed the star he had taken from Su Hui’s box on the table and compared it with the others.

The folding method of the stars was relatively ordinary, but what was uncommon was the type of paper used.

Lu Junchi reached out and turned off the lights. Suddenly, those stars illuminated. They were made of fluorescent paper, which appeared to be ordinary yellow under normal circumstances, but in the absence of light, they would emit a bright glow.

It had been so long.

Lu Junchi still remembered that he received his first star four years ago.

It was more than a year after Yu Yan’s death when he had been with the Central Bureau for less than a year. The establishment of the Behavioral Analysis Unit coincided with his entry.

At that time, he was twenty-three years old and still naive, a young policeman who didn’t know much about anything.

Due to his meritorious service in protective missions, coupled with his overseas study background, Director Tan gave him a boost and directly appointed him as the deputy team leader of the Criminal Investigation Team 4. At first, Lu Junchi was at a loss. The procedures and approaches in China were completely different from those abroad, and his young age made it difficult for him to control the seasoned old detectives.

Fortunately, he had an experienced old team leader above him. Old Captain Luo was in his fifties at the time, an experienced old detective who treated Lu Junchi like his own son, guiding him with his wealth of experience.

Many of Lu Junchi’s criminal investigation experiences were learned from his mentor, and gradually, he adapted to the work. The veteran detectives in the team began to respect him, although they occasionally joked and called him “little deputy.”

One of Lu Junchi’s daily tasks was to organize and upload the cases that needed analysis, waiting for the analysis files from the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Almost every day at work, Lu Junchi would open the police office’s OA system. Occasionally, when he received a reply from the person mentioned earlier, he would feel motivated for the day’s work.

At that time, Poet was almost an idol for all the young ladies in the Central Bureau. Having such a legendary figure by their side was far more captivating than the American dramas that came and went.

There were even female police officers who specifically came to work at the Central Bureau because of him.

Next to Poet, the second most popular person was Moonlight.

Prophet and Mockingbird would also appear, but they were mentioned less frequently than the other two.

Due to security measures, no one knew who the members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit were, and there were rumors that they didn’t even know each other’s identities.

Lu Junchi knew that the Central Bureau had thousands of office personnel, with large areas and departments. The poet was just one of them.

It felt quite strange because that person was clearly right by your side. He might have passed by you, or he could be sitting at the neighboring table in the cafeteria, but you just didn’t know who he was.

At that time, many people speculated that the poet was probably in his thirties. The female police officers would refer to him as “senior” when talking about him.

Lu Junchi felt that his experience was still shallow, so he referred to them as “senior” as well.

One time, the poet conducted a criminal profiling behavior analysis for them. Holding that analysis sheet, the detectives in the team divided into two camps. Some thought the deductions were mystical, while others believed that they should follow them for deployment.

Lu Junchi said, “This profiling analysis was provided by the poet. Shouldn’t we ask him about it?”

“Ask Poet?”

The others in the team shook their heads one after another.

“A genius like Poet would be bothered by such questions about profiling.”

“You don’t know how busy Poet is.”

“Yeah, I heard that the team next door kept pestering him with questions for a long time, and he didn’t answer. It seems difficult to approach him.”

Lu Junchi didn’t give up and gathered his courage to leave a message in the system: “Senior, I understand the deductions, but I’m not quite clear about the reasons behind them. Could you explain it to me?”

He asked cautiously, using honorifics, and didn’t even expect the poet to reply to him.

To his surprise, he received a message from the poet in the afternoon, along with a detailed explanation.

Poet asked him, “Understood?”

Lu Junchi couldn’t suppress his excitement and replied, “Yes, I understand.”

Poet’s final words were, “Regarding this matter, just follow my instructions.”

Lu Junchi didn’t find him arrogant; he simply felt that the explanation was miraculous in its approach.

He immediately informed Captain Luo about Poet’s statement. After pondering for a moment, Captain Luo made a new deployment.

Three days later, they caught the perpetrator of the case.

When Lu Junchi returned from the arrest mission, he left a message online immediately.

Poet, your analysis was correct. Thank you.

It seemed that after that incident, Lu Junchi became less hesitant to communicate with Poet.

If he encountered something he was unsure about, he would occasionally ask him. One time, Poet might have been busy, so he replied a bit later and left him a message, “Do you have a police walkie-talkie there?”

Lu Junchi was taken aback for a moment, then fished it out from his pocket and replied, “Yes.”

Poet said, “Typing is too troublesome. I’ll give you an encrypted channel number. Broadcast it, and we can talk through voice.”

Lu Junchi took the walkie-talkie and went to the hallway, nervously broadcasting the channel. A pleasant male voice came from the walkie-talkie, saying, “Hello?”

Lu Junchi was extremely nervous. “Se… Senior, hello, I’m Lu Junchi.”

“Why are you so nervous? I won’t bite. The walkie-talkie will distort the voice, and there’s often electrical noise. But Lu Junchi could still discern that the person on the other end didn’t seem very old.

But since he had already gotten used to calling him “senior,” he didn’t know how to change it at that moment.

“You want to ask about that case…” The poet analyzed the entire case.

His thinking was clear, and his logic was organized. He exuded an unquestionable confidence, as if what he said was correct and represented the truth of the matter.

Lu Junchi kept acknowledging and listened attentively, deeply impressed and in awe.

In the end, the poet said, “You can contact me through this channel. But keep it confidential because besides the leaders and a few people in our department, only you know about this number.”

Lu Junchi was pleasantly surprised by these words.

Once there was a first time, there came a second. Lu Junchi began to anticipate the intersection of cases and the poet.

He couldn’t quite describe the feeling he had towards the poet. When they communicated, he often felt as if his uncle was still alive. That tone, that casual and certain attitude, was like his uncle speaking to him across time and space.

Sometimes he would discuss the details of a case with the poet. He remembered a case of dismembered boys. They quickly caught the culprit, but the poet said there were still doubts. “…From a criminal psychology perspective, it’s impossible for a person in that situation to commit dismemberment unless there was an accomplice. The dismemberment technique was very chaotic, possibly driven by drugs or alcohol… including the traces left at the scene, both alcohol and perfume were of high quality. The other party might be wealthy…”

The poet suddenly paused in his words, and a low groan could be heard.

Lu Junchi’s heart skipped a beat. “Senior, are you feeling unwell?”

After a while, a voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie. “No, it’s just a little stomachache.”

Lu Junchi remembered that he had some commonly used medicines in his office, including stomach medicine, and he hurriedly said, “I have stomach medicine here. Shall I bring it to you?”

There was a momentary pause from the other side, and the breathing sounded a bit rapid. “Never mind, don’t trouble yourself…”

Only then did Lu Junchi remember that the members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit couldn’t reveal their identities. He quickly changed his words, “If it’s inconvenient for me to come over, then I’ll leave the medicine somewhere for you…” After considering for a moment, he turned to see the vending machine in the hallway. “Is there a vending machine near you that’s relatively close?”

The other person hesitated for a moment and said, “Do you know the vending machine on the first floor of the Police Building No.3? It’s a bit further back, not a place many people go to.”

“Alright, I’ll leave the medicine at the pickup slot of the vending machine. Can you go and get it? I’ll do it in about ten minutes.”

The voice from the other side said, “Okay.”

Lu Junchi immediately rushed back to his office, rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and found the box of stomach medicine. Then he planned to head out.

Captain Luo watched him bustling around and smiled, asking, “Is it for a girl?”

Lu Junchi was taken aback. “Ah, no, it’s for a friend.”

“If it’s just an ordinary friend, you wouldn’t be so eager.” Captain Luo spoke with the tone of someone experienced, opening his desk drawer where he kept his work items. “Come here, let me teach you a trick.”

Captain Luo took out a lemon candy from his pocket and handed it to Lu Junchi. “When you want to pursue a girl, you have to put some thought into it. For example, give the medicine together with the candy. Don’t let her remember the bitterness of the medicine; make her remember the sweetness.”

Lu Junchi accepted the candy, thanked him, and felt a bit flushed. He had almost zero experience in this aspect.

Captain Luo waved his hand. “Go quickly, are you going to keep her waiting?”

Lu Junchi ran all the way to Building No. 3. There weren’t many people there, so he placed the medicine and candy together at the pickup slot.

Then he hurried back and left a message for the poet, “Senior, I’ve placed it.”

After a while, the other person replied, “Got it. I also left something for you.”

Lu Junchi was elated and dashed downstairs. It was still the same vending machine, but the medicine and candy were gone, replaced by a tiny star.

Holding the star, Lu Junchi left another message, “Thank you for the star, senior. Have you taken the medicine? Are you feeling better?”

The poet replied, “Thank you, I’ve taken it. But that candy… it’s so sour.”

Lu Junchi: …

From that day on, the vending machine became a tool for exchanging messages between the two of them. It became their secret communication channel.

The second time was when it rained. Lu Junchi left an umbrella inside the vending machine. The umbrella was returned to him the next day, accompanied by another small star.

The third time was when they needed to exchange files. The poet borrowed a USB flash drive from Lu Junchi. When it was returned, there was an additional star.

That star became a tacit understanding, a promise between them.

Slowly, they grew closer, and the stars accumulated in a small box.

As he finished reminiscing, Lu Junchi picked up the stars on the table. He had originally thought that he wouldn’t be able to reach the one hundredth star.

He wondered if this star and his own star could possibly be from the same person.

His star was a gift from the poet.

So where did Su Hui’s star come from?