"You've only had half a can of beer, it'll be fine, right?" Qingmu saw that Hu Xing's can of beer was still on the table, picked it up and shook it; there was still quite a bit left inside.
Hu Xing said, "How can that be? Even half a can is drunk driving. I'm a police officer; I can't break the law while enforcing it."
"Then don't go back," Qingmu said. "You sleep in my room, I'll sleep on the sofa."
"But..." Although Hu Xing is a police officer, she is, after all, a lady from a prestigious family. Aside from working overtime at the police station or on duty, she has never stayed out overnight. "Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
Qingmu laughed and said, "What's wrong with that? Are you afraid of me?"
"Tch~~ I'm not afraid of you!" Hu Xing retreated back into the house, then thought for a moment and realized something was wrong. "You're provoking me!" she said angrily, and headed back out the door. "I'm taking a taxi home!"
Qingmu remained noncommittal, finished the last sip of beer in his can, and lazily leaned back on the sofa, giving off an attitude of "take it or leave it."
Seeing that Qingmu didn't try to stop her, Hu Xing felt inexplicably disappointed. She took out her phone and opened a ride-hailing app, but it was difficult to hail a car at this time, and after waiting for five minutes, no car came.
At that moment, the Crow suddenly cawed, "A conspiracy! It's all a conspiracy!"
Hu Xing turned around and saw that the Boss Coal had flown onto the table at some point, kicked over the half-empty can of beer she had drunk from, and was now using his long beak to drink from the can.
Hu Xing said, "What conspiracy are you talking about?"
The Boss Coal pulled his mouth out of the liquor jar, Guagua his lips, and yelled twice, "You're a stupid woman!"
Hu Xing became even more curious. "What exactly are you talking about?"
Qingmu said, "Just ignore him. He starts talking nonsense after a little alcohol."
The Boss Coal retorted, "No nonsense! It's a conspiracy! It's all a conspiracy! Don't drink and drive, it's easy to drive after drinking, drive fast, drive recklessly..."
The Crow were cawing incoherently, and Hu Xing, confused, asked, "What do you mean, 'don't drive' and 'drive' again? Are you telling me to drive or not to drive?"
The Boss Coal seemed a little unsteady, flapped his wings twice, and cried out, "Thirty-six stratagems for picking up girls: drink, don't drive, I'm the one who drives, the old driver will teach you how to drive—ah~ ah~ oh~ oh~"
Hu Xing didn't understand the beginning, but she understood this sentence perfectly. She was initially very angry, but the last few onomatopoeic words from the Crow were so lifelike that they immediately made her laugh.
Qingmu spread his hands and said, "I didn't teach you that!"
Hu Xing said, "I know you didn't teach me, but you spoiled me!"
Qingmu looked completely innocent. "You can reform even a murderer, but you can't reform a Crow has a low alcohol tolerance and loves to drink."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Boss Coal suddenly yelled, "Yay, buy a disc!" and then slammed down on the table with his feet in the air, his white eyes staring blankly, as if he were dead.
Hu Xing was startled and asked, "Is it alright?"
Qingmu grabbed the Boss Coal by the neck, dragged him to the corner of the sofa, and said, "It won't bother you again until Tiantian, so you can get a good night's sleep."
"Oh, it's alright." Hu Xing said, then suddenly realized something was wrong, and her face flushed red. "I didn't say I was going to sleep here! Oh dear, why hasn't the car arrived yet!"
Qingmu said, "No need to call, it's so late, and ride-hailing services aren't safe these days. You can sleep in my room." He glanced at the Crow lying on the sofa, "I'll sleep downstairs."
Without waiting for Hu Xing to say whether she agreed or not, Qingmu tightened his trench coat and went downstairs.
"Hey, you think I'll sleep in the room just because you tell me to?" she said, but she still went over and pushed open the door to the inner room of the studio.
The room was surprisingly clean.
Four white walls, a bed in the middle, the blanket on the bed neatly folded. There is a small cabinet by the bedside with a lamp on it. Other than that, there is nothing else.
Hu Xing couldn't help but go inside and take a look around, touching the edge of the bed and the lampshade; there wasn't a speck of dust.
She returned to the outer studio. The books and magazines on the shelves were in disarray, many lying on the floor; the ashtray on the desk was piled high with cigarette butts, and several beer cans lay scattered about; empty cigarette boxes were strewn in the corner of the room, and the sofa looked old, with the drunken Crow now sprawled out on it, fast asleep.
"Is this the same person's place? "Hu Xing couldn't help but wonder.
She had initially planned to spend the night on the sofa, as it wasn't appropriate for a girl to sleep in a man's bed. However, after comparing the two rooms, she decisively changed her mind. Moreover, she became even more interested in investigating this strange man—what kind of person could have two such drastically different lifestyles?
The rooms inside were so clean, like monks' quarters in a temple, not meant for ordinary people.
Hu Xing gently dusted off her clothes and carefully entered the clean room again, sitting down on the bed. At this moment, she felt a little nervous, as if even the slightest carelessness would be met with disdain.
The bed was hard, but luckily she slept on a hard bed when she lived in the police academy, so she didn't have any problems. It was just that the dazzling white of the walls and ceiling was a bit unsettling. Even with the lights off and her eyes closed, there was always a glaring white shadow in front of her.
She longed to fall asleep quickly, so she could have another lucid dream. She knew it wouldn't be easy, but the guy was downstairs. Maybe when she woke up from her dream, he would pull her up, just like he had in her grandfather's dream.
But the more she thought about it, the less she could sleep. The Huahua shadows on the ceiling kept flashing before her eyes.
Lying on this hard bed, she thought of her university life.
Police academy has strict management, but everyone relaxes on weekends, going shopping or playing games, just like at other schools. The girls are also more outgoing, showing far more interest in playing cards than in putting on makeup.
She remembered that back then, her dormitory was always packed with people on weekends. It was because several of the school's most beautiful policewomen lived in their dormitory. She didn't know if it was a coincidence or something else. Hu Xing once suspected that her mother or uncle had used some connections to arrange things this way to protect her.
Hu Xing closed her eyes, and it seemed as if she saw her classmates again. One of the girls, who was also a policewoman, was a girl who was infatuated with girls and liked to lie in bed and write poetry while biting her pen; two game addicts would sit in front of the computer and play games day and night as long as the instructors didn't come to check the rooms; the rest of the people played Dou Dizhu (a card game), and sometimes when people from the next dormitory came over, they could make up two tables.
Hu Xing liked to read, or sleep, and occasionally she would join in the mischief with the others, but not as much as they did. They all called her Little Princess. The teachers and instructors at school weren't very strict with her, which she knew was because her family had put in a good word for her. Not to mention the influence of her mother's family, even her father, before his sacrifice, was quite well-known in the police force, and his comrades-in-arms were now in high positions.
That period was the happiest time of her life, unlike the immense pressure she felt after joining the criminal investigation team. Captain Shi Dazhuang was a ruthless man; when he wanted to yell at someone, he didn't care what their father had done in the past.
Perhaps because of the beer she had drunk, Hu Xing felt the urge to urinate while lying down.
Oh dear, where's the toilet?
This room doesn't have a bathroom, and outside is Qingmu's office, which obviously doesn't have a library either. Damn it, I forgot to ask him. Do I have to go downstairs?
Hu Xing turned on the light, walked out of the room, and into the hallway. The hallway was dark, but fortunately there was a motion-activated light that turned on when she opened the door.
She felt her way down the stairs, the stairs seemed very steep in the darkness, but fortunately they weren't long, and she soon reached the first floor.
" Qingmu, Qingmu..." she called out several times in the dark bar, but there was no response.