16. Accident

  "Let's get down to business." I glared at him, wondering if this guy was here to stir up trouble in my life. Hadn't he heard about my past? Forget it, there was no use wasting words on someone like him. I furrowed my brow and said calmly, "Shao Yin... how should I put it? She used to be a college classmate of mine, although we weren't in the same major. We lived in the same dorm building and became good friends by chance. She's a very smart girl, and seemed more mature than anyone around me, including myself. She's with Li Cheng... hmm, even now I don't quite understand why she would be with someone like him. He's got no taste at all, and yet... this is a world where looks matter, how many points do you think Li Cheng scores? Maybe she was stimulated by something and chose to be with him... or maybe she was tempted by money and chose her current life."

  "A very objective evaluation. So, you also got to know Li Cheng only after this case happened?" Qin Ming quickly entered the state, he frowned, "You and Shao Yin have been in contact for only a few days, and there were not many opportunities to meet each other in the past year, just a few phone calls."

  "Have you investigated me? You can't be... suspecting that I might be an accomplice?" Although it was within my expectations, when I said these words, I felt my own voice trembling slightly. As expected, Qin Ming had conducted a preliminary investigation on me beforehand, otherwise he wouldn't have easily brought me in for temporary assignment. Being suspected by the police isn't exactly a pleasant thing. Moreover, having one's private matters examined is like being stripped naked and presenting oneself openly to familiar people - how could that make me happy?

  Qin Ming nodded calmly: "Don't worry, those things are just what I've seen, and I'll keep them completely confidential from others. You also know that this is our rule for handling cases, anyone involved with the suspect will be investigated. Your call records can reveal some secrets, just like..."

  "Shall we continue talking about the case then? Tell me, have you found any useful leads?" I shifted the topic with a hint of helplessness. Who knows what Qin Yiming is up to? Discussing my own private matters with him is absolutely not a good thing. Who knows what kind of strange questions he'll ask next?

  "Alright, alright. Actually, I wanted to confirm something with you - that you've become single again. Since you don't want to talk about it, let's just discuss this instead. Take a look at this photo, it's the person who came to our place yesterday and asked about Guan Xinyue. We investigated before and found out that apart from work, Guan Xinyue doesn't have much contact with outsiders, so the appearance of this person makes me quite suspicious."

  The photo was a bit blurry, obviously taken from the surveillance footage. The person had clearly disguised himself, with large glasses covering half of his face. However, just the outline of this face gave me a huge shock, because the man in the photo was all too familiar to me - it was Li Bin!

  "Do you know him? Are you very familiar with him?" Qin Yiming had obviously noticed the change in my expression and asked cautiously, "You're not allowed to scare me, actually I was thinking..."

  "It must be my eyes playing tricks on me... It must be my eyes playing tricks on me. How could it be him? How could it be him? How is that possible? Are you sure it's this person... Is he really the one who went to ask about Guan Xinyue? Are you really sure?" As I asked these questions, I could feel my voice trembling a bit. It was actually Li Bin? How is that possible? I really wanted to think it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but because I'm too familiar with Li Bin, even if he disguised himself, he still couldn't escape my notice.

  Qin Ming nodded very seriously, as if he wanted to say something. I raised my hand and my voice was a bit unusual: "Don't speak, whatever you do, don't speak. I'll show you something, just wait, wait."

  I walked quickly into my bedroom, took out a photo album from the bedside table, flipped through a few pages and confirmed that I wouldn't make a mistake. It was Li Bin's photo, taken when we went on a trip together. In the photo, Li Bin looked very happy with his arms raised in victory, and standing next to him was Shao Yin.

  I handed the photo to Qin Ming, and he carefully compared it. Before he could speak, I smiled wryly: "How is this possible? It's been over two years since graduation, we all went our separate ways. I heard Li Bin, the person in the photo, entered a well-known company in this city and was highly valued. He's too busy, hasn't even shown up to our occasional classmate gatherings, so how did he suddenly appear here and get involved with Guan Xinyue?"

  Qin Ming still looked puzzled, so I pointed to the photo of Shao Yin and Li Bin. "Those two... Li Bin, he was Shao Yin's high school classmate, later he also entered our school, and was also Shao Yin's first love."

  Qin Ming's mouth opened into a big "O" shape, and after a long while, he shook his head: "This world is really too small! He and Shao Yin were in their first love? My god! This is really too coincidental! First loves basically don't have good results. No need to ask, they eventually broke up."

  "It's a pity that they broke up in their junior year. Actually, Li Bin was very good to Shao Yin, as long as Shao Yin wanted something at midnight, he would find a way to deliver it. Alas, we were still young and vigorous back then... But he... how did he get involved with Guan Xinyue?" I looked at the photo again with some nostalgia, we were all very young back then.

  However, Qin Ming seemed to not understand my emotions at this moment, so he didn't respond to my sigh. He continued to ask: "Tell me, what kind of person is Li Bin? He looks... although I have to admit that he's a handsome guy, but shouldn't be some rich and noble person, right?"

  This is also the reason why Shao Yin and I drifted apart, isn't it? I couldn't help but smile wryly. Actually, it was during our sophomore year that Shao Yin's life suddenly became more affluent, and she began to interact with people outside of school. It was from then on that she and I started to drift apart, because her conversations often mentioned brand names I had never heard of before, such as Chanel and Dior. She even began to pay attention to the luxury cars entering and leaving our campus, which ones were good, which ones were expensive... But at that time, I was busy going in and out of the library every day, and didn't pay much attention to her changes.