Blank Charge

“Don’t panic.” Jin Zhou calmly raised his palm, “Tell me what’s going on, and I’ll help you solve it.”

“No, no.” Xiao Wu quickly waved his hand, distancing himself, “Women are different from men. Jin Zhou, your theories are better suited for men.”

They closed the shop early in the evening, and Jin Zhou took Xiao Wu to a roadside stall for drinks. The kid had really developed genuine feelings, making Jin Zhou feel guilty.

“Jin Zhou, tell me honestly,” Xiao Wu drank several bottles of beer and hiccuped, his speech slurred, “Do you always prioritize desire over emotions?”

“Nonsense.” Jin Zhou flicked off some cigarette ash, his expression filled with weariness as he gazed into the distance, “I don’t prioritize desire, I prioritize emotions.”

“Then tell me,” Xiao Wu pressed on, “Who has captured your heart?”

An image of a refined person appeared in Jin Zhou’s mind. He glanced at the time and put out the half-smoked cigarette in his hand.

“I knew you wouldn’t say it.” Xiao Wu, “All the brothers know you’re a player, so stop pretending.”

Jin Zhou couldn’t help but feel puzzled. He was just a bit casual, so how did he become a player?

After sending Xiao Wu back to the rented house near the repair shop, Jin Zhou didn’t go home. Instead, he leisurely strolled near the courthouse.

He didn’t mind revealing the fact that he knew Yang Shi Yu lived near the courthouse. But there was one thing he didn’t dare let Yang Shi Yu know: he even knew the specific building and apartment number where Yang Shi Yu lived.

Perhaps it was on a drunken return home that he happened to see Yang Shi Yu buying something at a convenience store. Out of impulse, he started following him..

The doors of other households had ordinary key locks, but Yang Shi Yu had replaced his door with a smart electronic lock, as if afraid of someone breaking in.

Jin Zhou still remembered standing in front of Yang Shi Yu’s door that time, hesitating whether to play a prank—suddenly knocking on the door and then slipping away.

But, he thought it was too childish and dismissed the idea.

Now Jin Zhou stood in front of Yang Shi Yu’s door again.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Jin Zhou tapped on Yang Shi Yu’s door.

After waiting for a while with no response from inside, Jin Zhou knocked again.

This time, footsteps gradually approached from inside the door, along with Yang Shi Yu’s voice: “Who is it?”

Jin Zhou: “It’s, Jin Zhou.”

The cat’s eyes, glowing dimly, darkened for a moment. In the next second, the sound of an electronic lock unlocking rang out. Yang Shiyu opened a crack in the door, frowned, and looked at Jin Zhou, asking, “What are you doing here?”

Jin Zhou hadn’t expected to arrive at such a time either.

Yang Shiyu had only a towel wrapped around his body, with water droplets still falling from his hair. Perhaps because he wasn’t wearing glasses, his eyes were slightly narrowed, covered with a layer of mist.

“Wow,” Jin Zhou couldn’t help but whistle in his mind. “When did you gain abs?”

Yang Shiyu’s muscle lines were very well-proportioned,  flowing smoothly. Jin Zhou’s eyes greedily scanned every inch of Yang Shiyu’s skin. The thought of teasing him again appeared in his mind, as if a little devil whispered in his ear that being mischievous was the mark of a real man.

Yang Shiyu obviously didn’t appreciate Jin Zhou’s naked gaze. He moved his shoulder, as if about to close the door.

Jin Zhou couldn’t bear to miss such a beautiful sight. Almost instinctively, he first wedged his foot in the door crack, then used his hand to support the door panel and pushed open the door in one smooth motion.

“Jin Zhou,” Yang Shiyu reprimanded in a low voice but didn’t chase him away. He just closed the door slightly annoyed.

“The hat isn’t dry yet, I’ll return it to you another day.” Jin Zhou glanced around the living room, then looked at Yang Shiyu beside him and asked, “Where are the slippers?”

Yang Shiyu stood still and didn’t move. “What do you want?”

Jin Zhou smiled mischievously. “I heard you went to the southern prison today.”

Yang Shiyu frowned and stared at Jin Zhou for a while. Finally, seemingly helpless, he exhaled and slightly bent over to open the shoe cabinet.

“You’ve got something on you here.” Jin Zhou reached out his hand towards the towel around Yang Shiyu’s waist. Unexpectedly, Yang Shiyu was on high alert and caught hold of his wrist as soon as his fingers touched the towel.

“No need for your help,” Yang Shiyu said, taking out a pair of slippers with his other hand and throwing them in front of Jin Zhou before closing the shoe cabinet.

“It’s behind you, so you can’t see.” Jin Zhou opened his five fingers again and poked towards Yang Shiyu’s butt.

Seeing that his fingertips were about to touch that curve, Yang Shiyu suddenly moved to the side, grabbing Jin Zhou’s wrist with one hand and pressing his other hand against his back, effortlessly pushing him against the white wall nearby.

The impact came unexpectedly, and Jin Zhou instinctively used his other hand to cushion his chest. But just as he rebounded from the wall a little, Yang Shiyu pressed against him again, pinning him against the wall.

“If you don’t me to drag you out, behave.” Yang Shiyu’s chest pressed against Jin Zhou’s back, with Jin Zhou’s folded arm trapped between them.

Jin Zhou naturally wouldn’t behave. He struggled, trying to pull his arm back, but at that moment, Yang Shiyu used his right leg to trap Jin Zhou’s legs, leaving him no room to struggle.

“Fine.” Jin Zhou reluctantly admitted verbally, but his hand couldn’t help but lightly brush against Yang Shiyu’s abdomen.

With his head pressed against the wall, Jin Zhou could only catch a glimpse of half of Yang Shiyu’s head. However, when he played tricks with his fingertips, he could clearly feel Yang Shiyu’s abdomen tremble twice.

In the next second, his arm was bent even more painfully, and Jin Zhou finally couldn’t bear it any longer. “Ouch, it hurts! Let go!”

Yang Shiyu released Jin Zhou, asking in a flat tone, “Did you drink alcohol?”

They had been close just now, so it wasn’t surprising that Yang Shiyu could smell the scent of tobacco and alcohol on Jin Zhou.

Rubbing his sore shoulder, Jin Zhou casually replied, “Yeah, I just came from Baby’s place.”

Yang Shiyu walked coldly towards the bedroom, but as soon as he took a step, an unexpected situation occurred that surprised both of them.

Perhaps due to their previous antics, they hadn’t noticed the looseness of the towel, and a white piece of fabric slipped from around Yang Shiyu’s waist. Although he quickly held onto a part of it, the towel had already loosened, revealing everything underneath.

The corners of Jin Zhou’s mouth suddenly lifted, but then froze instantly.

“You’re wearing underwear under the towel?” Jin Zhou exclaimed as if he had witnessed something intolerable. “People like you should be dragged out and shot at!”

Yang Shiyu gave Jin Zhou a faint glance, rewrapped the towel, and walked into the bedroom.

He didn’t close the door, obviously because his underwear had already been seen, and he couldn’t be bothered to care about privacy anymore. He simply put on a short-sleeved shirt and long pants in front of Jin Zhou’s sneaky gaze.

Jin Zhou clicked his tongue in disappointment. Indeed, it was black underwear, and it was the boxer-briefs type, not at all erotic.

He casually slumped on the couch and asked towards the bedroom, “Is there no water to drink?”

Yang Shiyu came out of the bedroom, wearing his usual gold-framed glasses. He grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator and tossed it to Jin Zhou. “Why did you come over?”

Jin Zhou’s chest was hit by the bottle, and he replied unkindly, “Aren’t you a bit rough?”

Although he said that, Jin Zhou looked at the golden anti-slip chain swinging behind Yang Shiyu’s ear, and an inexplicable itchiness filled him, making him want to play a prank and take off those glasses.

Of course, it was just a passing thought. He had already exhausted his quota for teasing today, and if he continued, he might really get beaten up by Yang Shiyu.

“Why did you personally go to the prison?” Jin Zhou stopped beating around the bush and brought up the real matter. “Aren’t you investigating secretly?”

Yang Shiyu could only go to the prison as a judge to investigate, so this matter was completely open and known to everyone. Everyone would know that Yang Shiyu was paying attention to this case.

“How did you know I went to the prison?” Yang Shiyu sat down on a single-seat sofa, counter-questioning instead of answering.

“I have plenty of brothers inside.” The statement sounded true, but in fact, Jin Zhou was just making it up. under his watch, his hooligan friends only got administrative detention at most, and no one had ever been taken to prison.

However, Yang Shiyu seemed to believe his words and couldn’t hide his headache: “Jin Zhou, do you even understand the saying ‘the company you keep influences your character’?”

Jin Zhou laughed, “Are you still talking about that?”

Yang Shiyu furrowed his brows and pursed his lips, no longer responding.

“Has there been any progress from the police?” Jin Zhou continued to ask.

He intentionally left Wang Darong for the police, and Yang Shiyu had taken new actions, so obviously, something happened behind the scenes that Jin Zhou didn’t know about.

Yang Shiyu didn’t answer, as Jin Zhou expected. Jin Zhou then asked, “Wei Ge?”

This time, Yang Shiyu’s eyebrows twitched imperceptibly, a reaction that Jin Zhou accurately caught.

“I knew it.” Jin Zhou smiled.

 Wang Darong had previously thought Jin Zhou was sent by “Wei Ge.” At that time, Jin Zhou didn’t pay much attention and casually asked, “Who is Wei Ge?”

Now, thinking back, Wang Darong claimed that he didn’t owe anyone money but admitted that someone was causing him trouble. From this, it could be inferred that the person after him was Wei Ge.

Or to put it more bluntly, the person chasing after Wang Darong was Wei Ge.

Wei Ge was obviously someone from the underworld, and Yang Shiyu had no connections, so it should be difficult for him to investigate. That’s why he had to reveal his identity and openly investigate Wang Darong’s girlfriend in prison, probably in search of clues about Wei Ge.

And the reason Jin Zhou sought out Yang Shiyu today was to see his reaction when he heard about Wei Ge. After all, he couldn’t see his expression over the phone.

Having achieved his goal, Jin Zhou no longer continued to ask questions he knew Yang Shiyu wouldn’t answer.

He looked around and casually remarked, “Your place is quite clean.”

Yang Shiyu should have known that Jin Zhou had seen through the things he wanted to hide. He still furrowed his brows.

“The room is tidy and has no strange smells. Either you’re a crossdresser or gay.” Jin Zhou looked around and then turned his gaze to Yang Shiyu jokingly. “Yang Shiyu, are you gay?”