Sakura

The old leader was the one who requested leave for Chen Xiaoqiu, and he asked with concern, "What work did you have her do yesterday?"

I replied helplessly, "She was just looking through documents in the office. We were looking for those Qingye people together."

Skinny vouched for me, "Old leader, it's not Brother Qi's fault. Chen Xiaoqiu was just too dedicated, she added work for herself, ate bread and drank plain water for lunch. The night before last, she even went to find documents from the Qingzhou Manufacturing Bureau, wanting to start investigating from that lead herself. She was like this on her first day here, what could we do? I thought she looked quite good yesterday."

"That was makeup," Guo Yujie chimed in.

"You, who always go bare-faced, know about makeup?" Skinny was surprised. "Don't you just splash water on your face when you wash it?"

"Get lost!" Guo Yujie raised her hand to swat at Skinny.

Skinny dodged like a monkey and hid behind Fatty.

"Alright, alright," the old leader said, not angry at their antics, but reminded me, "That girl Xiao Chen is too dedicated. Keep an eye on her, and you all should also advise her."

"Only if she listens," Skinny complained.

The old leader was also helpless about this.

Although we had only been colleagues for a day and the relationship was still a bit stiff, we still called to check on the sick Chen Xiaoqiu. We called her mobile, but it wasn't her who answered, it was her mother. Her mother's attitude was very gentle, and she thanked us for our concern.

"I hope she rests well and takes a few more days off," Skinny said sincerely, slumping onto his chair as if his spine had been removed.

Guo Yujie let out a "Hey" to show her displeasure, but I saw a look of relief on her face too.

Honestly, our work ethic and attitude couldn't compare to Chen Xiaoqiu's. Seeing her yesterday, she seemed determined to "work hard and fast, and die of overwork at her post." With someone like her around, the pressure on us increased dramatically, and we were very unaccustomed to it.

With Chen Xiaoqiu gone today, we returned to our usual lazy state.

Skinny was looking at his phone, and suddenly said to us, "Even though her personality isn't very likable, she's really beautiful."

"Are you into her?" Fatty asked.

"With that personality, how could I be?" Skinny scoffed, holding up his phone to show us. "Look at this."

We crowded around and saw a promotional poster for a play from the Minqing Drama Academy. Chen Xiaoqiu was actually in it.

"What's this?" Guo Yujie asked, looking at the play's performance date. "Shouldn't Chen Xiaoqiu have graduated by now?"

"I read their log. One of the drama club members is Chen Xiaoqiu's cousin, and she invited Chen Xiaoqiu to fill in," Skinny flipped through the webpage for a while and pointed to a section for us.

It turned out that the play the drama club was rehearsing was scheduled to open this month, but a main actor was in a car accident two weeks ago and couldn't participate. Chen Xiaoqiu was then invited by her cousin to fill in. Chen Xiaoqiu wasn't a graduate of the drama academy, but she was beautiful, smart, and hardworking. She memorized the lines in a day and could perform convincingly within a week. She was simply a genius. Her cousin praised her to the skies, and her resume was indeed excellent, so she quickly gained popularity and became somewhat famous within the drama academy.

Skinny searched for Chen Xiaoqiu's name, and perhaps with some mischief, he found this information.

"I don't think she's sick because of yesterday's work," Fatty stated incisively.

Skinny nodded emphatically, "Definitely! Even with three heads and six arms, you couldn't handle that much, right?"

Guo Yujie swiped through Skinny's phone screen and opened a video of Chen Xiaoqiu rehearsing. "But she's really amazing. If she never studied this before, it's either talent or extreme dedication."

Neither Skinny nor Fatty argued with this.

"Brother Qi, why aren't you talking?" Skinny suddenly asked me.

Fatty also looked over, "Brother Qi, what's wrong?"

"Lin Qi, what are you spacing out for?" Guo Yujie nudged my chest with her elbow.

I lost my balance and fell to the ground.

"Hey, Xiao Jie, take it easy!" Skinny scolded Guo Yujie.

Guo Yujie stuck out her tongue and quickly moved to help Fatty pick me up.

"Brother Qi, are you okay? Your face is so pale, and you're sweating a lot," Fatty asked, looking surprised and uncertain.

"Yeah. Are you sick too?"

Skinny grinned playfully, "Brother Qi, no way? Did you collapse after working hard for a day? Have you been slacking off for too long?"

"Stop joking!" Guo Yujie cursed angrily.

Skinny stopped laughing and asked with some worry, "What's wrong? Are you really not feeling well? I'll go get the car, you guys help Brother Qi, we'll go to the hospital."

Fatty and Guo Yujie helped me up.

I took a breath and quickly said, "No! Don't! Give me your phone!"

The three of them looked surprised.

"Give me the phone!" I didn't know what my expression was, but my hand reaching out to Skinny was trembling.

Skinny, confused, handed me the phone.

The video was still playing. Because it was taken on a phone, it wasn't very clear. I closed the video and scrolled back to the top of the page, looking at the poster.

The play was called Big Family, and it was about international marriage. The "big family" in the play consisted of people from six countries. Chen Xiaoqiu played the daughter-in-law from Country J. In the poster, she was depicted wearing a kimono, and she wore a kimono for half of the performance.

The kimono was black, with a few cherry blossoms floating on the upper part. Due to the arrangement of the characters in the poster, only Chen Xiaoqiu's upper body was visible.

I dragged the phone page down again, tapped the video to reopen it, and stared at Chen Xiaoqiu on the screen without blinking. Suddenly, I reached out and paused the video, then carefully moved the progress bar a little.

The screen froze, capturing Chen Xiaoqiu's turn. Her black kimono revealed her back, where a giant cherry blossom tree was in full bloom. Yet, I seemed to see a malevolent spirit, its blood-soaked hand, gripping Chen Xiaoqiu's shoulder.

"Brother Qi, what exactly is wrong?" Skinny asked.

I tightened my grip on the phone, walked to my desk, found the file for "Shadow Follower," and flipped to the end.

The skinny guy's expression soured when I pulled out Aoba's file, a bad feeling dawning. His voice changed, "Qi Ge, stop scaring us. What's wrong?"

"You guys... take a look at this." My voice had also changed, hoarse.

Infected by our unease, Fatty and Guo Yujie grew anxious but obediently walked over to me, looking at the file spread on the table and the phone placed on top of it.

The video was blurry, but placed next to the kimono photo, anyone could recognize it was the same kimono.

The skinny guy was a step behind the other two. He peeked with a furtive glance, then pulled his gaze back.

"It's the same outfit?" Guo Yujie still didn't understand what I meant.

The skinny guy said, "It could be a coincidence, that happens a lot."

"Aoba burned this outfit. The person who wore it before was Zheng Xiaorui." I looked at the skinny guy. "You investigated her. She died of illness, organ failure, immune system problems, and the cause couldn't be found."

The skinny guy shivered.

"Qi Ge, you're not saying this outfit killed someone, are you? How is that possible?" Fatty's eyes widened.