Li Meng grinned, his big white teeth almost blinding: “Teacher Mo, asking me is like asking for nothing. I’ve been single since birth for over twenty years, no experience in this area.”

Wang Yue rolled his eyes at him: “Even though I don’t have much experience either, I’ve seriously studied this topic… Girlfriends are hard to please, but boyfriends? That’s easy! Just act cute, be adorable, give a kiss, and all the anger’s gone. If that doesn’t work, just sleep with him once, if once doesn’t work, then twice…”

Mo Lin rubbed his temples and smiled gently. Acting cute and adorable, even if he could pull it off, with Gu Yuan’s temper, he’d definitely end up on his blacklist.

Li Meng said, “It’s a good idea, just a bit problematic…”

Wang Yue asked, “What’s the problem?”

“Using force might get you beaten up!”

“You don’t get it, do you? Hitting is affection, scolding is love. If there’s no hitting or scolding, it’s not love!”

As they chatted, Xiao Ze came over holding a phone, seemingly video chatting with his girlfriend again.

Wang Yue reminded, “The captain has experience, why not ask him? This question’s really got me stumped…”

When Xiao Ze finished his video call and walked over, Wang Yue immediately stopped him: “Captain, got a question for you. When you’re angry, how does your wife cheer you up?”

“Cheer me up? Do I look like someone who needs cheering up?” Xiao Ze laughed. “Why the sudden question?”

“It’s not me asking, it’s Teacher Mo.”

“Teacher Mo? Even Teacher Mo has emotional issues he can’t handle?”

Mo Lin explained, “This isn’t an ordinary emotional issue, I’m gathering opinions.”

Xiao Ze nodded, thinking Mo Lin was probably researching the emotional entanglements of modern couples. If it ever made it into a book, maybe he’d get some credit.

“My wife never cheers me up. When I’m angry, she just punches me twice, and any anger I have gets punched away.”

Mo Lin ran Xiao Ze’s words through his mind: “That’s not a bad method.”

Li Meng said, “What do you mean not a bad method? Using violence to solve problems is primitive… We modern people should reason things out!”

Xiao Ze said, “Well said, say it again!”

Li Meng suddenly realized, “I didn’t mean your wife is primitive, Captain, don’t misunderstand!”

Xiao Ze said, “Repeat what you just said, I’ll record it and send it to your sister-in-law…”

Li Meng: ……

Under Xiao Ze’s coercion, Li Meng had to repeat what he said righteously, and Xiao Ze recorded it and saved it on his phone.

Mo Lin walked to Gu Yuan’s office door and knocked lightly twice.

“Come in.”

The voice sounded full of hostility.

Mo Lin pushed the door open and found Gu Yuan not in great shape, with heavy dark circles making him look even gloomier. His pale fingers tapped away at the keyboard without even looking up.

Despite what happened yesterday, it seemed work hadn’t fallen behind at all.

After a while, Gu Yuan stopped typing, took a deep breath, trying to adjust his mood to continue working, but he found himself unable to calm down with Mo Lin sitting on the sofa opposite him.

“Do you have something to say?”

Gu Yuan stared at Mo Lin with extreme impatience. If it were anyone else, they’d probably just say nothing and stay far away.

But this was Mo Lin, and of course, he wouldn’t react like an ordinary person.

Mo Lin crossed his legs, leaned back on the sofa, his suit jacket unbuttoned, revealing a dark gray vest and a dark red tie underneath.

One hand lazily rested on his leg, the expensive watch on his wrist gleaming with a delicate metallic sheen, making Mo Lin’s wrist look quite attractive. The other hand casually draped over the back of the sofa, his eyes smiling at Gu Yuan with an indescribable hint of ambiguity.

“I have something to say to you.”

Gu Yuan found the person in front of him extremely annoying: “Say it and leave.”

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“I think we should avoid each other. After all, I’m not quite normal… and neither are you.”

To make things clear, Gu Yuan tried his best to restrain his emotions.

“Yeah,” Mo Lin said, “I’m not quite normal… otherwise, why would I like you…”

Gu Yuan was ready with his closing remarks, about to speak, when he realized he might have misheard something. He frowned: “What did you just say?”

“Nothing, I won’t say a confession twice…”

Mo Lin stood up, his long legs particularly eye-catching. He walked seemingly nonchalantly to the other side of Gu Yuan’s desk: “You don’t need to rush to answer me, I’m very patient.”

Gu Yuan’s fists clenched tightly. Although he was very angry, hearing Mo Lin’s confession, an inexplicable excitement surged in his heart.

He couldn’t process this emotion, only feeling his heart pounding violently, more intense than before, leaving him at a loss.

Mo Lin looked at the blushing, emotionally overwhelmed Gu Yuan, suddenly feeling a bit parched.

It seemed no amount of water could help; Gu Yuan always had a way of being irresistibly adorable.

A warm hand discreetly rested on the back of Gu Yuan’s hand, the heat startling Gu Yuan, who tried to pull his hand back, only to have it held first.

A fist swiftly bypassed the other’s instinctive blocking action and landed precisely on Mo Lin’s left cheek.

As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. The seemingly fair and tender fist packed a powerful punch!

Besides the pain, Mo Lin felt a surge of black miasma shooting up to the ceiling!

“Get out!”

The owner of the miasma had erupted!

Mo Lin covered his face, seemingly relaxed, and smiled: “Even when you’re mad, you’re so cu…”

Before he could finish saying “cute,” he saw the other person opening a drawer, seemingly looking for something.

Mo Lin suddenly realized, was he looking for a knife?

Thinking of this, an image of Gu Yuan dissecting a corpse flashed in his mind…

Mo Lin immediately shivered: “I just remembered I have something to do…”

Seeing the other person quickly disappear from the office, the yellow tape in Gu Yuan’s hand fell back into the drawer.

If Mo Lin had said one more word, he would have taped his mouth shut!

As Mo Lin passed through the corridor, covering his left cheek, the observant Meng Lan quickly noticed something was off: “Teacher Mo, what happened to your face?”

“Nothing, just got scratched by a little wild cat.”

“Wild cat? Are there wild cats in the police station? Where?”

“Just jumped out the window and ran…”

“Are you okay? Do you need to disinfect it? Gu Yuan has iodine… I can go get it…”

“No need, I have some. By the way… is there an ice pack in the fridge?”

“There is, I’ll go get it now!”

*

Xiao Ze came out of the office and happened to see Meng Lan coming out of Mo Lin’s office. He stood in the corridor, lit a cigarette, and then knocked on Mo Lin’s office door.

When Xiao Ze entered, he found Mo Lin sitting in a swivel chair, back to him. Xiao Ze walked up and took out a pack of cigarettes: “What, got beaten up?”

Mo Lin turned the chair around, holding an ice pack to his face: “You noticed?”

“I’ve been a criminal police officer for so many years, if I couldn’t detect this, how would I make a living?”

He handed a cigarette to Mo Lin and fished out a lighter from his pocket, lighting it for him: “The question you asked this morning already exposed you.”

Mo Lin’s long fingers held the cigarette, taking a deep drag and slowly exhaling the smoke. Seemingly thinking of something, he suddenly smiled: “What do you feel when your wife hits you?”

“Feel?” Xiao Ze exhaled smoke: “At first it hurts a bit, but after the pain, it feels kind of thrilling, even wanting her to hit me a couple more times.”

Mo Lin suddenly grinned widely: “That’s the feeling, thrilling!”

*

“How’s the interrogation going, any progress?”

At three in the afternoon, Mo Lin took a short nap and felt he should find something to distract himself. Otherwise, he’d keep thinking about Gu Yuan and couldn’t calm down.

Wang Yue had a pen tucked behind his ear, organizing materials: “The deceased and Ye Nian are both locals. The deceased, Wang Zhongming, ran a logistics company, which was doing quite well. 

Ye Nian was a housewife, and the two got married a year ago. After getting married, Ye Nian rarely went out, staying at home most of the time and seldom seeing people.

A week ago, the two went to Tianlong Bay for a vacation, only frequenting the nearby restaurants and hotels. They didn’t know anyone in the area, and not many people knew they were on vacation. 

We’re currently investigating, and at the time of the incident, Ye Nian had an alibi. She was sitting on the second floor of Gangfu Seafood and had no opportunity to commit the crime.”

Li Meng’s computer screen popped up with a file. He opened it and glanced at it: “The deceased’s examination report just came out. There was a large amount of alcohol in his blood and stomach, but due to the seawater washing, no other effective DNA was extracted…”

Wang Yue said, “The scope of this investigation is too broad, and we haven’t found the location where the deceased was pushed into the water.”

Mo Lin rubbed his temples: “I think you might want to look for any discarded swim rings nearby.”

Wang Yue and Li Meng instantly became interested: “Swim rings?”

“If I were the killer, wanting to get a 200-pound man into the sea, I’d definitely use a tool. And what’s the easiest thing to get on the beach without drawing attention? Swim rings. Drag the unconscious person onto the swim ring, push the ring into the water, and with the buoyancy of the ring, it’s easy to get the person into deep water. After doing all this, deflate the ring, and it can be made to look like an accident… Too bad our Doctor Gu saw through it at a glance…”

Mo Lin realized he had brought the topic back to Gu Yuan, so he coughed twice: “So, you might want to look for discarded swim rings by the sea to see if you can find any useful evidence.”

Author’s Note: Wow, just made it on time today, that was close~