Skin - Chapter 79

Chapter 79 – Fairy Lu is Worried About Meng Zhao

　　After going to the hospital to have their wounds checked up, the pair picked up their luggage from the B&B and returned to the city.

　　Lu Shichen drove the car and drove straight to a hotel without consulting Meng Zhao. Without thinking too much, Meng Zhao knew that Lu Shichen must have booked the most expensive one nearby.

　　The two walked to the hotel front desk, and the receptionist asked them what room they wanted to book. Lu Shichen said in a normal tone: “A king-size bed room.”

　　Meng Zhao lowered his head and pretended to look at his phone.

　　After having dinner in the hotel’s restaurant and returning to the room, it was almost early morning.

　　After Meng Zhao finished washing up, he sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling a little uneasy.

　　At this time, Lu Shichen also walked in. Seeing Meng Zhao seemed to be in deep thought, he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

　　”I always feel a little uneasy,” Meng Zhao looked at him, “Did you notice that when we went back the second time, the woman’s house was a little messier than before? Was it because she was still looking for that bag? Also, the woman’s face didn’t look right…”

　　Lu Shichen thought back to when he realized that his attention was focused on Meng Zhao’s wound and he didn’t pay much attention to the woman. “She seemed a little flustered.”

　　Meng Zhao shook his head: “That’s not what I care about. She was a little flustered when she first opened the door, but her panic was only brief. After that, she behaved surprisingly naturally and calmly. When she saw that we were injured, she didn’t ask anything… In short, the more I think about it, the more something seems wrong.”

　　”Let’s go check it out tomorrow,” Lu Shichen said after thinking for a few seconds, “You can’t stay there forever. You’re not a police officer anymore. You can’t call on police forces, and you don’t have the right to monitor the situation 24 hours a day. If you continue to stay there, there will only be unforeseen dangers and the possibility of being caught again.”

　　”That’s right,” Meng Zhao sighed, “Forget it, let’s not think about it for now.”

　　Lu Shichen took a bottle of disinfectant prescribed by the hospital, unscrewed the cap, and sat next to Meng Zhao: “I’ll help you disinfect your wound.”

　　Because he had been fighting with the “black shadow” in close combat for quite a while, although Meng Zhao was not seriously injured, he had many abrasions and shallow knife wounds on his arms.

　　In the past, Meng Zhao would not have treated these wounds at all, but since Lu Shichen wanted to help him disinfect them, he turned sideways as Lu Shichen asked and rolled up the sleeves of his T-shirt to his shoulders.

　　Lu Shichen took a cotton swab and dipped it in disinfectant, then applied it to the wound under Meng Zhao’s shoulder: “Does it hurt?”

　　”It doesn’t hurt,” Meng Zhao said, “It’s not a big injury.”

　　”Are you often injured?”

　　”Not very often,” Meng Zhao said in a non-serious tone, “every now and then, maybe.”

　　Seeing that Lu Shichen didn’t say anything, he paused and asked, “Are you worried about me?”

　　After a moment of silence, Lu Shichen said, “Don’t act alone in the future.”

　　”It’s okay,” Meng Zhao said half-jokingly, “The fortune teller said that I will have a bloody disaster once a month on average. I had this one this month, and I will be completely safe from now on.”

　　”Let’s go and see if we can buy a folding knife for self-defense tomorrow,” said Lu Shichen.

　　”That’s not necessary.” Meng Zhao turned his head to look at Lu Shichen. Lu Shichen was carefully helping him disinfect with his eyes downcast. His long and thick eyelashes were like crow feathers, fluttering up and down with his blinks, which made him feel a little itchy, so he blew gently on Lu Shichen’s eyelashes.

　　Lu Shichen paused and looked up at him: “What are you doing?”

　　”Fairy Lu,” Meng Zhao said with a smile in his eyes, “You are quite skilled, have you ever learned martial arts?”

　　”Well,” Lu Shichen helped Meng Zhao disinfect and tightened the cap of the disinfectant bottle. He paused for a moment and continued, “When I’m bored, I always have to find something to do. The feeling of punching each other in a fight at least makes me feel like I’m alive.”

　　Lu Shichen put the disinfectant on the bedside, stood up and walked to the other side of the bed, turned off the light, and sat down beside the bed.

　　As darkness fell, Meng Zhao whispered, “Thank you again for saving my life this time.”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t say anything, but just lay down beside him.

　　After a moment of silence, Lu Shichen turned sideways and put an arm around Meng Zhao. Then he tightened his arm slightly and hugged Meng Zhao: “Go to sleep.”

　　This was a hug-like posture, very intimate, and Meng Zhao could clearly hear his breathing.

　　It was as if a small cut had been made in his chest, and a swollen and sour feeling was overflowing. Meng Zhao realized that Lu Shichen seemed to be very afraid of losing him at this moment. He fumbled to hold Lu Shichen’s hand and tightened his fingers.

　　•|•

　　The next morning, the two had breakfast in the hotel. Seeing that the woman still hadn’t called, Meng Zhao felt uneasy, so he and Lu Shichen drove to the woman’s house again.

　　Standing in front of the door of 402, Meng Zhao raised his hand and knocked on the door.

　　Footsteps were immediately heard from inside the door, and the person in the room walked over quickly. The footsteps got closer, and Meng Zhao noticed that the light from the peephole was blocked. It seemed that the person inside the door was looking outside through the peephole.

　　But the door didn’t open immediately. Meng Zhao and Lu Shichen looked at each other, neither of them spoke, holding their breath to listen to the movement inside. After a while, Meng Zhao raised his hand and knocked on the door again.

　　The security door was pushed open, and the woman leaned out: “Officer Meng, you guys are here so early?”

　　”How’s it going? Did you find it?”

　　”Not yet.” The woman shook her head. Meng Zhao looked inside the house. Compared to yesterday, the house looked very messy.

　　He noticed that the woman looked very tired, with red bloodshot eyes, as if she had not slept all night.

　　”Can I go in and take a look?” Meng Zhao asked.

　　The woman seemed to hesitate for a moment, then she moved aside and said, “Come in.”

　　Meng Zhao and Lu Shichen walked into the house, pushed open the doors of each room and took a quick look. The actual situation inside the house was even more messy than it looked from the outside.

　　The woman spoke behind him: “Officer Meng, I searched this house inside and out last night, but I can’t find it. Why don’t you wait a little longer? I’ll go look in my other houses.”

　　Meng Zhao nodded: “Thank you for your hard work. We’ll leave first. Please contact me anytime if you have any news.”

　　When they reached the entrance, Meng Zhao suddenly asked, “Where’s your son? I don’t think he’s in the house. Why is he going to work so early?”

　　”Yeah.” The woman was stunned for a moment, “He goes to work very early.”

　　The woman walked them to the door and closed it.

　　After going downstairs, Meng Zhao looked at Lu Shichen: “Do you feel something is wrong?”

　　”There is indeed a problem.” Lu Shichen pondered, “This woman’s house was turned upside down, and it looked like she had been searching all night long. This doesn’t make sense.”

　　”Yes, she also looked for it for a while when we were at her house yesterday. Although she tried her best at that time, she was still very calm overall. Although we were very anxious, we did not force her to find it tonight. It seemed that after we left, she was forcing herself to find it.”

　　”Yeah.” Lu Shichen responded, and then asked: “Did you find any clues related to his son at the entrance?”

　　”Her son was not in the house. I asked if he had gone to work, and she answered affirmatively. But on the carpet at the entrance, there was a pair of leather shoes that the young man wore when he got home yesterday, and a pair of men’s slippers that he changed into after he got home yesterday. If I remember correctly, there was no sign that the shoe cabinet at the entrance had been opened?” After a few seconds of silence, Meng Zhao made a guess, “This woman’s son may have been kidnapped, and the criminals used him as a threat to force the woman to find the bag.”

　　”It’s very likely.” Lu Shichen said after thinking for a while.

　　”If that’s the case, it’s troublesome. If the criminal has entered the woman’s home, then there’s a high possibility that there are eavesdropping devices installed in the house. I didn’t dare to ask more questions just now because of this concern.” Meng Zhao raised his hand and pulled Lu Shichen’s wrist, “Let’s go to the property management first.”

　　The two of them walked quickly to the property office. The receptionist who helped yesterday had just arrived and was standing at the table at the door boiling water.

　　”Hey? Officer Meng,” the receptionist turned and looked at them, “You’re here again. Did everything go well yesterday?”

　　Meng Zhao stepped forward and said, “Miss, I need your help.”

　　”Tell me,” the girl at the front desk said enthusiastically, “I will help you in any way I can.”

　　”Can you please call Ms. Lin from Room 402 over for us? Don’t say the police asked her to come over. I’ll teach you how to explain it.”

　　The receptionist thought for a few seconds and nodded, “No problem.”

　　”Also, do you have any vacant rooms here? I would like to borrow them temporarily.”

　　”There’s a very small meeting room inside. We don’t usually use it. You can use it as a lounge, I suppose?”

　　”Okay,” Meng Zhao said, “Thank you.”

　　The girl walked to the front desk and picked up the phone on the desk: “Hello, this is the property management front desk. Is this Ms. Lin Mai from Room 402, Building 4?”

　　”It’s like this, your electricity meter seems to be a little abnormal, and the amount you paid is far lower than the actual amount. We need you to check the electricity consumption and electricity bill. You may need to pay a certain amount of electricity bill… Sorry, I know you are busy, but if you don’t come to check and pay the electricity bill, your power will be cut off soon…”