There was a meeting this morning.

After arriving at the police station, Si Hang directly took her to his office and told her to wait there for a while.

“I’ll sit outside,” Zhuang Zi said, standing at the door, reluctant to enter.

She remembered that idle people were generally not allowed in the office area when no one was present. Once, Xie Kui had let her sleep in the reception room for a night, and Si Hang had warned Xie Kui not to let it happen again.

Now, in his private office area, with him not around, it didn’t seem appropriate for her to stay there.

Si Hang had just walked behind his desk. Hearing this, he looked up at her without speaking.

Zhuang Zi glanced at him, then turned to look outside, contemplating leaving.

But seeing his indifferent yet slightly unfriendly expression, she reluctantly explained, “It’s probably not a good idea for me to be here alone when you’re not around.”

Si Hang was indeed in a somewhat unclear mood, feeling inexplicably puzzled. He didn’t mind letting her into his office, so why was she so picky about the place?

He looked away, pulled a record sheet from a folder on the desk, and said, “I’m not asking you to rest and drink tea here.”

He tossed the form on the desk and took a pen from the pen holder. “Write down the detailed events from the day before yesterday. I’ll check it when I get back from the meeting.”

He took his meeting notebook and walked out. As he passed her, he gave her a look and instructed, “Wait for me here. I have more questions.”

Zhuang Zi took it as an official matter and no longer felt it was inappropriate, dropping her concerns.

After he left, she sat down opposite his desk, glanced at the record sheet, and picked up the pen to start writing.

Halfway through, there was a knock on the door.

She paused, hesitated for a moment, and then got up to open the door.

Xie Kui was standing at the door, and both of them were slightly surprised to see each other.

Xie Kui hadn’t expected her to be the one to open the door.

But after a brief thought, given her current relationship with Si Hang, it seemed normal for her to be in his private office.

Zhuang Zi, on the other hand, was taken aback because of the awkward phone call on Friday night that made her scalp tingle with embarrassment.

Now, thinking about the person in front of her, who had imagined an indescribable relationship between her and Si Hang, made her feel a bit uneasy.

Actually, Xie Kui hadn’t thought much of it. For couples in love, living together was natural, so he acted normally.

He tilted his head to look inside and asked with a smile, “Is the boss not here?”

“He went to a meeting, didn’t he?” She thought he knew.

“Oh, right.” Xie Kui suddenly remembered, “There’s an internal meeting for the leadership today.”

He smiled, checked his phone for the time, and walked in. “It should be over soon. I’ll wait here for him.”

The two sat back down in the office.

Xie Kui, not one to stand idly, saw Zhuang Zi quietly writing something and started chatting with her. “I heard from the boss that you had a car accident the day before yesterday? Is the other person okay now?”

“His leg is broken,” she had visited the hospital yesterday.

The other party was a twenty-five-year-old young man who sold second-hand houses through an agency. Most young people are reasonable. Seeing that Zhuang Zi had brought gifts and personally visited him, and promised compensation without shirking responsibility, he hadn’t made things difficult for her.

“It should be fine,” she said. The problem was minor because she had caused it, and Zhuang Zi felt guilty.

Seeing that she didn’t want to discuss the topic, Xie Kui changed the subject and invited her, “Next week, if you’re free, you and the boss can come to my house?”

Zhuang Zi didn’t quite understand, looking at him blankly.

“It’s my son’s first birthday. You and the boss can come together. The boss is my son’s godfather, and you can come see your godson too.”

“….” Zhuang Zi was embarrassed, realizing his implication, and quickly clarified, “You misunderstood.”

Xie Kui laughed, “Misunderstood what?”

Zhuang Zi felt her face heat up. “I have nothing to do with him.”

Xie Kui was stunned, clearly not believing her, “Are you joking?”

“I’m not joking.” Zhuang Zi’s expression was serious. “If it were as you thought, do you think I would deny it?”

She wasn’t someone to be shy about acknowledging a relationship.

Xie Kui scrutinized her, took a few seconds to process, and incredulously asked, “Isn’t the boss pursuing you?”

“How could that be?” Her expression was both amused and helpless, but her tone was firm. “Just thinking about it, it’s impossible for him to pursue me.”

“Why not?” Xie Kui insisted, “We all think you two are a good match.”

“….” Zhuang Zi felt exasperated.

Not to mention there was nothing between them now, her intuition about him was that he was very picky.

As Aunt Zheng Ru said, he had many beautiful women pursuing him, but he wasn’t interested in any of them, probably because he had high standards and was overly critical.

The thought of her and him?

Remembering the incident from the night before, even if she had been overly sensitive and misunderstood his disdain, he probably didn’t have a good impression of her either.

Nonsense.

She gave a casual smile. “There’s no possibility between us. Stop guessing.”

….
Si Hang finished the meeting an hour later.

Just as he got downstairs, he received a call from Xiao Meng.

Si Hang had tasked him with investigating Zhao Yuan’s hospitalization.

Xiao Meng had rushed over last night and went to the hospital early this morning to verify the situation.

Si Hang answered the call and asked directly, “How did it go?”

Xiao Meng’s voice was a bit unsteady. “Boss, there’s definitely something fishy going on!”

Si Hang’s expression immediately darkened. “What’s the situation?”

“At the end of last year, Zhao Yuan was indeed hospitalized at a hospital in Luosheng for over a month, but it was for tuberculosis, not a fall that caused paralysis.”

Tuberculosis?

He remembered Zhuang Zi mentioning that the person who had held her captive that night had been coughing.

It seemed like this was more or less accurate.

“Don’t come back yet. Go to Zhao Yuan’s hometown and inquire at the local police station. Make sure to get to the bottom of everything.”

After hanging up, Si Hang walked briskly towards the criminal investigation office. Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard Xie Kui’s laughter and Zhuang Zi saying, “There’s no way it’s him. Stop guessing.”

His hand on the door handle paused reflexively, freezing at the entrance.

Xie Kui continued questioning, “Why not? The boss doesn’t have a girlfriend. Do you have someone you like, someone better than our boss?”

Zhuang Zi remained silent for a long time.

People were coming and going in the main office. Standing in front of his own office for so long without going in was bound to raise suspicion.

Finally, he pressed down on the office door lock and went in.

At the same time, Zhuang Zi responded with a single sentence.