Criminal Psychology

Five yuan.

This was the “toll fee” he gave to Xing Conglian that day. Time had passed, but he was still the one being extorted.

Lin Chen’s fingers trembled slightly, and after a while, he took out a twenty yuan bill and handed it to the chubby kid.

The hospital was planted with many pearl plum trees. The blue sky, green leaves, white walls, and snow-white flowers, plus the shock in the little boy’s black eyes after getting the money—everything exuded life.

It’s good to be alive.

Zheng Xiaoming came abruptly and left without any psychological burden after scamming him out of his money.

Lin Chen held the burger wrapper that was exchanged with him, unfolded it, and looked at it in the wind.

The sunlight shone through the snow-white, oil-proof paper. There was no text inside. Indeed, it was just a piece of paper that was carefully packed and taken away after the burger was finished.

The wind brushed the oil-proof paper. Lin Chen sniffed it. It smelled really good, so in a sense, it wasn’t a total loss.

After being interrupted by Zheng Xiaoming, Lin Chen suddenly became bored.

Probably because he wanted to cheer up but didn’t have the energy, but he was too lazy to think about things like human fate and destiny; he just wanted to sleep for a while.

Then he really fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long he had slept.

By the time he opened his eyes, the sun in the sky had changed its angle and became hotter. And there was someone sitting next to him—a youthful, short-haired girl.

He looked at the girl’s fair side profile, wondering what Xing Conglian was trying to do.

Realizing that he was awake, the girl dragged a KFC bucket from a family meal from the ground and set it next to him. She opened the lid without saying a word.

Lin Chen rubbed his forehead, wondering why the children he knew were becoming more and more taciturn. Fang Aizi must have seen the KFC wrapper he was holding tightly, so the misunderstanding was deep.

He folded the paper that Zheng Xiaoming had sent, put it back into his pocket, and couldn’t explain.

He couldn’t refuse the kindness, so he picked a piece of the original recipe fried chicken from the bucket and took a bite. Sure enough, the fried chicken was completely cold despite the hot weather, indicating how long he had been asleep and how long Fang Aizi had been with him.

“Don’t you have to go to school?” Lin Chen asked.

The girl glanced at him. Her black hair was blown into a mess by the wind on the rooftop. “No need.”

“Today is Wednesday. Why not?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“…” Lin Chen could only continue to eat the fried chicken. Fang Aizi found a biscuit inside and handed it to him.

The meaning was probably that the fried chicken was too greasy, so he should eat some bread first.

Lin Chen accepted it and said, “Thank you,” but Fang Aizi still didn’t speak.

Lin Chen ate silently for a while before finally saying, “How can we chat like this?”

“Don’t want to chat.” The response was very straightforward.

Lin Chen was always helpless toward the little girl. After carefully considering women’s psychology, he looked at Fang Aizi and said, “Are you angry?”

Only then did Fang Aizi finally turn her head to look at him squarely and nod very seriously.

“Why?” After he said this, he realized that the answer wasn’t quite right. He recalled the rules he had read about how to coax a girlfriend while chasing Xing Conglian, and tentatively said, “In any case, I must be the one at fault, but I am a bit stupid. Can you tell me where I went wrong?”

Fang Aizi also felt choked. After a while, tears began to well up in the girl’s eyes. Her skin was white and transparent, making her look like a heroine in a Japanese shoujo manga*.

*Japanese comics targeting adolescent girls and young adult women. Generally, the protagonist is a young girl.

But her expression was calm. The tears in her eyes didn’t fall, showing that her endurance was far beyond ordinary people.

Lin Chen sighed deeply. Even though his head was hurting, at this moment, he could no longer see the gray interrogation room, the toilet, or those lives that had disappeared in front of him one after another. He could only see the living people in front of him.

He opened his arms and asked the girl next to him, “Do you want a hug?”

As expected, the advice from the post was very useful. The girl finally couldn’t help it and cried loudly as she buried her head on his shoulder with tears streaming down her face.

Lin Chen patted Fang Aizi’s back. This girl was excessively strong that tears weren’t in her dictionary, but now she was heartbroken.

Lin Chen could feel her sadness, which contained fear, worry, and uncertainty about the future.

Fang Aizi cried for a long time, and Lin Chen suspected that she had never cried so inexplicably in her life.

After a very long time, about half an hour, Fang Aizi was finally able to control her emotions. She took her head off his shoulder, covered her face, probably feeling too embarrassed. Lin Chen took a napkin from the KFC bucket and passed it to her.

“I’m sorry,” Fang Aizi said.

“It’s okay. Capriciousness is a girl’s privilege.”

“When I came to the rooftop and saw you sitting here alone, I was very scared.”

“I know.”

“At first, I thought, ‘Consultant Lin is also human. He may also feel tired and can’t keep going, so let him rest for a while…'” Fang Aizi was still somewhat sobbing.

“Yeah…”

“No, that’s not it,” Fang Aizi interrupted him. “I bought KFC and came back, and you hadn’t woken up yet. I suddenly thought, ‘If even you are ready to give up, what will we do?'”

Lin Chen paused for a moment, always feeling that such words should not be spoken by a girl like Fang Aizi.

“Of course, you don’t actually owe us anything,” she said. “You’re not a savior. There are plenty of tall and strong people in the world, but… I only know you.”

The girl sniffed. “You told me, I was born to live a more upright life than others. Others can harbor hatred, I cannot; others can wish for death, I cannot. You told me that from the day my father died, I can only carry the glory and pride he gave me and keep going…”

Lin Chen glanced at her. “I brewed such beautiful chicken soup?”

Fang Aizi sniffed and finally didn’t look as fragile as before. She put on her cloak of strength and said, “You were very good that day.”

“Eh… I thought so too.”

“I thought a lot about it. I’ve been thinking about how to comfort you since I went downstairs to buy the takeout.”

Lin Chen looked down at the tear stains on his shirt and said, “You performed quite well, too.”

Fang Aizi was a bit embarrassed. “Anyway, I really thought of a lot of lines, but the moment you woke up, I suddenly found that I couldn’t say anything. I was afraid that you would say to me: Aizi, life is too hard; let’s just give it up.”

The girl no longer cried, but her eyes were still very red. “I’m afraid that the person who encourages me to keep going will collapse first, and then I will find it hard to keep going.”

Lin Chen shook his head, wanting to find something to joke about, but he suddenly found that it was indeed his real thought at some point.

“So…”

Fang Aizi patted herself, stood up against the light. Her short black hair flew in the wind, making her look heroic.

“Consultant Lin, thank you for pulling me out of the mud when my life was darkest, but I’m sorry, I still need to bother you.” She patted her shoulder and said earnestly, “Since you have become my life mentor, please continue to lead by example.”

Fang Aizi finished speaking and left without any delay. Lin Chen finally discovered the second commonality of children who didn’t like to talk.

The sound of the girl’s footsteps disappeared on the rooftop.

He looked at the gradually setting sun and laughed with a lot of emotion.

Fang Aizi had completely grasped his weakness. He really had no solution to the girl’s tears.

After all, intelligent and beautiful girls were the treasures of all mankind.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged and opened his phone.

For such a long time, he didn’t receive any missed calls, which meant Xing Conglian had excellent control over the situation.

He wiped his phone screen and dialed the number; the call was answered instantly.

Xing Conglian told someone nearby, “Wait a moment.”

In the interim, Lin Chen said to Xing Conglian, “You can stop now. Don’t send more people.”

“How did you know there are more?” Xing Conglian asked indifferently.

Lin Chen was speechless. “I just guessed.”

“The next one is Mu Wenhua,” Xing Conglian said.

“What’s going on?”

“She is a fan of Song Shengsheng.”

Lin Chen could only remain silent. “No more.”

“She wrote a thank-you letter to you and has always wanted to see you.”

“That’s strange.”

“Are you shy?”

“Not really,” Lin Chen said. The city beneath the rooftop was bathed in warm sunshine, making the leaves gleam. He watched for a while, but Xing Conglian didn’t say anything more, so he had to admit, “Okay, I’m a bit shy.”

“Why?”

Lin Chen didn’t expect Xing Conglian to ask seriously.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Because for many people, they would rather admit their dark side than their inherent goodness. For you, you’d rather confront a psychopath to the end than accept the sincere gratitude of a normal person. Are you…”

“Sick?”

“How would I dare to say that to the head of the family!”

“Uh…” Lin Chen thought for a moment and complimented Xing Conglian. “Captain Xing is very eloquent.”

“Consultant Lin, you’re too kind.”

Lin Chen was helpless. It was very quiet on Xing Conglian’s side, like he was climbing stairs.

Xing Conglian continued, “In fact, what really keeps you going is not the criminals, but the good people and the ordinary people you care about. So think about it, why are you standing here?”

Lin Chen glanced at the rooftop. “I just want to enjoy the breeze here.”

“Lin Chen,” Xing Conglian said seriously.

“Here.”

“Be bold. Accept kindness boldly, admit short-term gains and losses boldly, and continue your journey boldly,” Xing Conglian said solemnly. “You don’t owe anyone anything, and you are destined to win.”

Xing Conglian was like a boss lecturing his subordinates, but this kind of advice, without any personal feelings, was very helpful to Lin Chen.

“I see,” Lin Chen said.

After saying this, he paused but still wanted to ask, “Why am I destined to win?”

“No reason. It’s just that it’s always better to have faith than not to have it.”

Xing Conglian didn’t have many profound philosophies and just spoke straightforwardly.

The sun overhead was very bright, and Lin Chen inexplicably felt a sense of being nourished.

“Wife…” Lin Chen drew out his words, and he could clearly hear Xing Conglian gasping at the other end of the phone.

“Lin Chen.” Xing Conglian forced himself to keep his voice steady.

“I’m here, my wife,” Lin Chen continued. “Do you know what I like about you the most?”

“What?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Everything,” Lin Chen answered.

Xing Conglian paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you know what I dislike about you the most?”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing,” Xing Conglian decisively said.

“Ah…”

Lin Chen continued to sigh. The door of the rooftop squeaked open, and the footsteps got closer. His heartbeat accelerated, and when he looked back, he heard Xing Conglian say, “Actually, there’s no Mu Wenhua. She’s in Yongchuan, and I’m not that heartless and crazy.”

Kinky Thoughts:

Okay… I have to admit, this is too fucking cute, especially the husband and wife reversal haha.