Qianqian clenched her fists tightly, her whole body trembling violently.
The policewoman beside her gently offered her a cup of warm water.
Qianqian took the water and sipped it, drew an almost forcefully deep breath, then set the disposable paper cup on the table.
She pulled a voice recorder from her pocket and pressed play.
Her boyfriend's voice immediately drifted out of the recorder.
"You filthy bitch! You dared to record me! You actually recorded me! You have a death wish?!" The man had never imagined Qianqian would have a voice recorder. It struck him like a bolt of lightning, and in a surge of panic and rage, he jumped up to hit her.
Qianqian shrank back in fright, covering her head.
The police pinned her boyfriend down in an instant.
The conversation on the recorder was clear and unambiguous.
It began when Qianqian was being beaten and ended when the police arrived.
The recording even made it possible to determine that after Jiang Mingxi fought back, he had not beaten the other man. He had simply pinned him down and called the police.
Yet while Jiang Mingxi was calling the police, Qianqian's boyfriend had attacked him with a rock, destroying the watch worth over five hundred thousand.
The circumstances were serious, and the damage to someone else's property involved such an enormous sum that the case was beyond what the local station could handle.
It had to be transferred to the county bureau.
By the time Jiang Mingxi finished giving his detailed statement and left the police station, it was dark.
He was just about to find a florist to buy Song Lan flowers when he looked up-
"Teacher Song?"
There was Song Lan, leaning against a car door outside the police station. When Jiang Mingxi looked over, Song Lan was looking at him too.
Jiang Mingxi's eyes instantly lit up, and he ran toward Song Lan.
His voice brimmed with delighted excitement as he reached Song Lan in a few strides. "Teacher Song, did you come to pick me up?"
Song Lan could not say what he was feeling at that moment.
The agitation of being unable to see Jiang Mingxi after things had gone wrong.
The frustration of returning to the room and finding him gone.
The anxiety when he received the call and learned that something had happened to Jiang Mingxi.
The panic as he drove while frantically calling his family, asking them to use their connections to find out the details of the case...
Yes.
Panic.
Only when he learned that Qianqian had provided a voice recorder did his heart, tangled with agitation, panic, anxiety... and all those other feelings, settle.
Now, lowering his eyes to the person whose head was almost against his chest, Song Lan let out a very soft breath and reached up to ruffle Jiang Mingxi's hair.
At that gesture, the already burning gaze in Jiang Mingxi's eyes grew even more intense. As though encouraged, he edged closer, his chest almost pressing against Song Lan's, and asked clingingly, "Were you worried about me, Teacher Song?"
Outside the police station was no place to talk.
Song Lan opened the car door and tucked him inside first.
He slammed the passenger door shut, his grip tightening hard around the handle.
It was as though only now had his anxious heart truly settled.
He slowly exhaled and walked around to the driver's side.
He had only just gotten in and shut the door.
Jiang Mingxi threw himself at him.
He was remarkably bold.
He put his arms straight around Song Lan's neck and tilted his head, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Were you worried about me, Teacher Song? Did you come especially to pick me up?"
He was so close.
Their breaths almost mingled.
Song Lan turned his head to look at him, his voice a little hoarse, his emotions unreadable. "What if Qianqian hadn't brought out that recorder?"
Jiang Mingxi froze.
He had not expected that question.
He did not even stop to wonder how Song Lan knew about the recorder before eagerly smiling with pride. "I wasn't counting on her at all."
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a voice recorder of his own, waving it like a prized treasure. "I came prepared! That scumbag was bound to show his true colors. He even smashed my watch. Seven years at the very least!"
Looking at the recorder Jiang Mingxi had produced, Song Lan blurted out accusingly, "So it wasn't that he had designs on you at all. You did it on purpose!"
There was a hint of anger in his accusing voice.
"Weren't you afraid you'd take it too far? That he really would..."
Jiang Mingxi suddenly darted forward, brazenly planting a kiss right on Song Lan's lips.
The instant those soft lips touched his, Song Lan fell silent.
In the enclosed car, his heart pounded.
After pressing his lips to Song Lan's for a kiss, Jiang Mingxi drew back a little. His eyes held nothing but Song Lan, his face full of affection he could not conceal. His voice was soft. "Teacher Song, I'll protect you. No one gets to bully you."
Song Lan distinctly felt his heart tremble.
Jiang Mingxi had done it for him.
Jiang Mingxi had done it for him.
"What are you doing? No parking outside the police station! Move along!" Outside, the security guard at the station entrance had waited ages without seeing the car leave after picking someone up. He promptly shone his flashlight over and shouted into the car.
The instant the flashlight beam shone inside.
It scattered the tender atmosphere rippling through the car.
Jiang Mingxi obediently returned to his seat, and Song Lan drove off.
His hands were on the steering wheel, his eyes on the road ahead.
But his mind seemed to have slipped out of his control, filled with nothing but Jiang Mingxi's words: Teacher Song, I'll protect you.
He simply could not drive like this.
Breathing heavily, Song Lan pulled over.
Jiang Mingxi did not suddenly throw himself at him as he had expected. Song Lan turned to look and found Jiang Mingxi asleep against the seat back.
He had been running around all day.
First, he had fought Jiang Ke that morning. Then he had taken tourists around, done tasks, fought someone in the bushes, and come to the police station...
Jiang Mingxi slept soundly.
Even he had not expected to sleep so deeply. When he opened his eyes again, they were already in Bridgehead Village.
Boo-hoo~
Jiang Mingxi rubbed his face in frustration.
The mood in the car had been so good earlier. He should have pressed his advantage, seized the momentum, and asked whether Song Lan was willing to accept his courtship.
Even if he doesn't want to accept just yet, could I get a kiss on credit?
Not the lips-on-lips kind.
The kind with tongue.
Waaah~
I really deserve to die!
How did I fall asleep?
The car stopped outside the courtyard where the production team was staying. All the frustrated lust in Jiang Mingxi's belly turned to courage, and the instant Song Lan finished setting the handbrake, he lunged over.
"Teacher Song~"
Having just woken up, his voice was a little hoarse and terribly alluring.
Song Lan did not move, only turned his head to look at him.
The instant their eyes met, Jiang Mingxi's rested brain suddenly grew a little sharper, and he belatedly realized something.
"Teacher Song, you mentioned the recorder earlier. How did you know about it?"
Song Lan did not answer.
He only looked at him.
Jiang Mingxi's little heart thumped away.
Oh my god~
Could I have finally ground that iron pestle into a needle, endured as a daughter-in-law until I became the mother-in-law? Had I, Jiang Mingxi, won my dream man's heart?
Jiang Mingxi eagerly sought confirmation. "Did you use your connections to ask around, Teacher Song?"
Song Lan raised his brows slightly.
Jiang Mingxi immediately moved a little closer. "There are so many people on the production team. Why didn't the director come get me? Why didn't the assistant director? Why was it you, Teacher Song? Am I really such a big deal that Teacher Song would come pick me up in person?"