Chapter 13 : She Has a Rose on Her Lower Back

“Who did this?” Chen Mo pulled her to sit beside him and glanced at the wound on her arm.

In the half-year since they got their marriage certificate, he hadn’t let the young girl get hurt.

Why did she get injured just by going out today?

“I… just accidentally scratched it.” It’s just a small scrape, not even a real wound.

“Was it Meng Yu?”

“No, no, no!” Song Zhiyi quickly waved her hands. “How could it be?”

“Then who was it?”

Did she encounter another thug?

“It’s…” Song Zhiyi opened her mouth, then decided to tell him. “I ran into Mr. Song.”

Song Xinyuan?

That scumbag!

A cold glint flashed in Chen Mo’s eyes, almost imperceptible. Half a year ago, that jerk nearly sold his girl to a casino boss.

Now, he shamelessly comes to pick a fight again?

“Did he hit you?” Chen Mo asked softly.

“No, just a small conflict. It seems like he keeps coming to my old apartment to find me every now and then.” Song Zhiyi hadn’t expected that after half a year, Song Xinyuan would still be waiting for her at her old apartment.

“Did he not get what he wanted?”

When he saw Song Zhiyi return, she was empty-handed.

“I got it,” Song Zhiyi happily took out a small photo album from her bag and handed it to Chen Mo. “My clothes got ruined by rats and can’t be worn anymore, so I don’t want them.”

“If you ever want to get anything, I’ll go get it for you.”

“I’ve already returned the rent. I won’t be going there anymore.”

She didn’t want to see that scumbag Song Xinyuan again.

“Mm.”

Chen Mo flipped open the album. It was full of pictures of her and Song Qi, from childhood to now, some solo shots, some group shots, with only the two of them in the pictures.

After flipping through two pages, he stopped looking.

“It seems we don’t have any photos together,” Chen Mo said, having known Song Zhiyi for so long, but he had never seen her ask to take a picture with him.

“We do,” Song Zhiyi suddenly corrected him seriously when she heard this.

“Huh?”

“… On the marriage certificate.”

On those two red certificates, there was a photo of her and him.

White shirt and red backdrop.

It’s a perfect match!

Chen Mo smiled, “Right, I must have remembered wrong. We do have one.”

No photo could compare to the one on the marriage certificate.

Sometimes, before bed, he’d take it out to look at it.

Chen Mo paused, then took a small first aid kit out of the drawer under the coffee table.

“It’s fine. By the time you finish applying the medicine, it’ll be healed.” Song Zhiyi thought he was going to treat her wound, and quickly spoke up.

“I just want to check if you have other injuries.”

When he had held her wrist earlier, he had noticed her brow slightly furrow.

It seemed like this wasn’t just a scrape.

“I bumped my back a little, but it’s not a big deal.”

“Take your clothes off.”

Song Zhiyi: “???”

Why does he want her to take her clothes off all of a sudden?

“Really unnecessary…”

“Do you want me to help you take them off?”

When Song Zhiyi saw his muscular arms, she figured if he were to do it, he might just rip them off.

“…” She lowered her head. It wasn’t really that she was embarrassed, she just didn’t want him to see her back.

“Seems like you want me to help,” Chen Mo said, his tall figure moving closer to her. He gently lifted her up like carrying a child and laid her back on the sofa. His big hand moved to lift her shirt.

“Huh?” Song Zhiyi didn’t react right away when she was lying on the couch.

Then, she felt a chill on her back.

Her shirt had been lifted.

Chen Mo didn’t first see her fair skin. Instead, he saw a rose tattoo blooming on her lower back.

The rose was beautifully done, but upon closer inspection, beneath the tattoo, there were two cigarette burn scars and a three-centimeter-long knife scar.

“…”

Ah, it was seen.

Song Zhiyi quietly retracted her hand, which she had originally raised to stop him. She rested her chin on her hand, pouting and staying silent.

“The tattoo is beautiful,” Chen Mo said lightly, though his eyes darkened in the places she couldn’t see.

“Thank you.”

Actually, when she had gotten the tattoo, she hadn’t looked at it closely. She had only wanted to cover up the scars on her lower back.

The tattoo was done with Meng Yu accompanying her.

She said, “Yiyi wants a rose with thorns, to stab the jerk of a dad!”

Chen Mo knew the young girl didn’t want to talk about the tattoo, so he shifted his gaze away.

She had two bruises on her back from being hit, and because her skin was so delicate and pale, the bruises looked rather shocking.

Chen Mo took out some ointment and gently rubbed it on her injuries.

“Ah…” The sudden slight pain made her let out a small sound.

“Hold on, the bruises will heal faster if you rub them out.”

“Mm… okay…”

Song Zhiyi lay on the sofa, her hands clutching the fluff of a pillow.

Chen Mo: “…”

The way the young girl lay there made it feel like she was being ravaged by him…

The skin under his hands was delicate and smooth, and a light pinch could almost make it feel like the skin would release water.

“Brother Chen Mo .” Song Zhiyi suddenly called out to him.

“Mm?”

“Why are you pinching me?” She had been enjoying his massage, but suddenly felt a small piece of her back pinched.

“You’re too thin.”

He could only pinch such a small piece, confirming that she was too skinny, and needed to be fed more to gain some weight.

Then it would be more comfortable to hold her.

“…”

So he pinched her just to prove how thin she was?

Men and their strange thought processes.

After finishing rubbing her injury, Chen Mo helped her put her clothes back on.

She stretched her shoulders a bit, sore from lying down for too long. “Did the bureau have a meeting today? Was there any progress on the case? If so, could you give me some material to write my articles?”

As an intern journalist, Song Zhiyi had tasks every month.

She needed to write at least twenty articles every month.

“There’s progress, we’ve identified a few suspects.”

“Let me see!”

Who’s the bastard responsible?

If I find them, I’ll expose them without a pixelation!

Chen Mo took out the photos. There were several suspects, all of whom had been in contact with the victim that day.

Song Zhiyi flipped through them. To be honest, just judging by looks, it was hard to tell who the killer was.

“Eh?” When she reached the last photo, she took it out. “I think I’ve seen this person today.”

The guy in the photo looked to be in his early twenties, with both ears pierced, wearing a trendy brand sweatshirt. His narrow eyes, when looking at people, carried the arrogance typical of rich people.

“His name is Chi Lin,” Chen Mo glanced at it, “A rich second-generation, studying at a vocational school near B University. He’s the victim’s ex-ex-boyfriend.”

“Could it be him?”

“Did he hit on you?”

Chi Lin was a rich second-generation who enjoyed drinking and women. In high school, he was often arrested for causing trouble, but his father always used money to settle things.

In fact, during the meeting today, the focus was also on him.

“Not exactly…”

It was just that his gaze toward her made her uncomfortable.

But if she judged Chi Lin to be the killer just based on how much she disliked the way he looked at her, it would be too hasty and disrespectful.

“Don’t worry, we’ll solve the case quickly.”

“Mm.” Song Zhiyi nodded, and when she looked at Chen Mo again, a trace of concern flashed in her big eyes. “Brother Chen Mo , you need to be careful too.”

What if the killer gets desperate and targets a police officer to take them down with him?

She…

Didn’t want Chen Mo to end up like her brother.

Then she would be left all alone.

“I know,” Chen Mo said with a slight smile, “I won’t leave you.”

He hadn’t even taught the young girl how to date yet.

How could he bear to die?

Song Zhiyi obediently nodded. “Then I’ll go take a shower.”

“Okay.”

In the bathroom, Song Zhiyi turned on the shower.

After a moment of thought, she glanced at the rose tattoo on her lower back in the mirror.

“Does it really look good?”

Maybe Chen Mo was just trying to flatter her!

…

Chen Mo put the photo album, which he had placed on the coffee table, into her bedroom, then returned to his own room.

He opened the drawer of his bedside table and took out the red book he had carefully kept.

He opened it.

In the two-inch photo on the cover, the young girl smiled brightly beside him.

Wasn’t this photo more beautiful than any other?