Chapter 12 Car Accident 12

  Qin Fei stood there, looking somewhat bewildered, and was confused by his own sudden stop. Why did he stop? Qin Fei furrowed his brow in thought, seemingly having subconsciously heard someone calling him, which caused him to reflexively halt and look towards the middle of the road. However, all he saw were passing vehicles, with no sign of anyone who might have called out to him. His gaze swept around the surrounding area, but still, there was no one in sight who seemed to be calling him.

  Is it an illusion?

  He thought again, and Qin Fei began to doubt whether he had really heard the voice calling him. It was possible that it was just his own illusion... Qin Fei rubbed his temples, in a situation where even he couldn't be sure, continuing to hesitate wouldn't lead to any conclusion either. After thinking for a while, Qin Fei gave up and lifted his feet again, walking towards his family's bookshop.

  When Qin Fei arrived at the bookstore, the door was already open, and it was clear that Shen Wei, who was on early shift today, had already arrived. As full-time employees, Shen Wei and Xie Zhe had keys to the store, so if they arrived before Qin Fei, they would let themselves in. Qin Fei walked into the store and saw Shen Wei tidying up the counter. It being a weekend, apart from Shen Wei, Xie Zhe and part-timer He Shidong were also there; Xie Zhe was organizing books on the shelves, while He Shidong was busy sweeping the reading area.

  "Boss, good morning!" Xie Zhe waved a book at Qin Fei, who smiled and replied with a "good morning", then continued putting the books on the shelf.

  The work of tidying up and sweeping the book bar is not much, in less than half an hour, the staff of Weidu Book Bar finished their work with ease.

  Qin Fei held the coffee that Shen Wei had ground for him and took the book he hadn't finished reading in the past few days, then went to his exclusive spot to snuggle up. Xie Zhe, who had just finished his work, ran to sit down at the position opposite Qin Fei and asked enthusiastically: "Boss, are you going out with Officer Gu again today?"

  "Today I'm not going out, what's wrong?" Qin Fei said.

  "Has the bank robbery case from last month been solved?" Xie Zhe still had a strong interest in mysterious investigations, and having known the general outline of the case, he naturally wanted to know what the final outcome was.

  "There's no result yet." Qin Fei paused for a moment, then said: "That case was such a big deal, when it's closed, it will probably be on the news. Pay attention to the news."

  "What's the difference between news content and first-hand information?" Xie Zhe leaned on his chin with one hand, looking at Qin Fei who was reading a book with his head down across from him. "Boss, will you help Officer Guo investigate this case this time?"

  Gu Wenkai is a detective who has been on the job for only a year, but he has already encountered many big and small cases. Before getting familiar with Zhou Jun, a former detective who opened a detective agency upstairs, Gu Wenkai would always look for Qin Fei when he hit a bottleneck in his investigations. Qin Fei had an excellent memory and was also very talented in reasoning, but he seemed to have been spoiled by the leisurely environment of the book bar. He could spend an entire day lounging on his special seat at the book bar without moving if there were no other matters. This was also why Gu Wenkai quickly abandoned Qin Fei after getting familiar with Zhou Jun and chose to discuss cases with Zhou instead.

  "It's the police's job to investigate, and I'm not a policeman." Xie Zhe wasn't surprised to hear his boss say that. "Besides, it's cold outside, I don't want to go out."

  Isn't the point of that sentence? Xie Zhe smiled and looked at Qin Fei, who was comfortably nestled in the sofa, and teased: "It's hot outside, but you're not willing to go out. Boss, if you keep nesting like this, you'll eventually become a homebody."

  Qin Fei raised his eyes and looked at Xie Zhe, "Is it bad to become a homebody?"

  "Of course it's not good."

  Qin Fei: "Why?"

  Xie Zhe: "Will be unable to find a pretty wife."

  Xie Zhe had barely finished speaking when Shen Wei on the other side of the table started shouting, "It's you Xie Zhe who can't find a pretty wife! Our boss doesn't even need to leave his house, and pretty wives will line up at his door!"

  "I was wrong, I misspoke." Xie Zhe hastily raised his hands in a gesture of surrender to Shen Wei. He didn't want to argue with Shen Wei, who regarded Qin Fei as her male god - that would be a completely hopeless cause.

  "If you're so interested in investigating cases, why didn't you become a police officer?" Qin Fei asked casually while taking a sip of his coffee.

  Xie Zhe shrugged and spread his hands: "Didn't get in, a great disappointment."

  "So you used to want to be a police officer?" Qin Fei asked in surprise, "But why did you come to work as a waiter at the bookstore? Being a police officer and a waiter don't have much in common, do they?"

  "This...," Xie Zhe glanced at Qin Fei and said slowly, "Life is always full of all kinds of unexpectedness."

  As for Xie Zhe's pseudo-philosophical attitude, Shen Wei and He Shidong both expressed disdain and ignored him.

  Xie Zhe's focus was on university graduation, and for him to come to this small bookstore as a waiter, Qin Fei had always been very curious about the reason behind it. However, Xie Zhe didn't want to say anything, so Qin Fei stopped asking. Everyone has secrets they don't want to share with others, and Qin Fei didn't necessarily need to know Xie Zhe's reason.

  There are two universities near Weicheng Bookstore, so every weekend, there will be many university student couples visiting the bookstore. The bookstore will have a short period of busyness during that time, and Qin Fei will also get busy for a while.

  "Hey, Qin Xiaofei, is this the book you've been reading lately?" Just as Qin Fei had served coffee to a customer, he was stopped by a regular at the bookstore, a young woman who pointed at the book on his reserved seat and asked in a low voice.

  "Yes!" Qin Fei nodded and said.

  "'Ghost Story'? You've been reading stranger and stranger books lately." The young woman said, propping her chin up with both hands.

  Because of what happened during this time, things are getting stranger and stranger... but that's not something he can talk about casually, so Qin Fei just smiled slightly and didn't respond.

  "Qin Xiaofei, I also want to watch 'Ling Yi Za Tan'." The young woman didn't ask any further questions and instead made a request of Qin Fei.

  "There's only one copy of this book left in the store, I'll give it to you." Qin Fei said as he took out the "Ling Yi Za Tan" from his desk and handed it to the young woman. Seeing her hesitation, he added, "I've almost finished reading it, you take a look."

  The young woman did not hesitate again and happily accepted the book handed over by Qin Fei.

  The bookstore closed at 9 pm, and Qin Fei bid farewell to He Shidong, Shen Wei, and Xie Zhe at the entrance. As he walked back to his place, he received a call from his mother. She mentioned that they were opening a new store in B city this month, and neither she nor Qin's father would be able to return home to see him. Then, she nagged on about winter approaching and told him to take care not to get sick. Qin Fei obediently responded, not daring to mention that he had just caught a cold two days ago, or else his mother might have immediately rushed back home.

  After Qin Fei finished talking to his mother, he casually flipped through the calendar and found that tomorrow was the beginning of winter. Speaking of the beginning of winter, Qin Fei thought of eating dumplings. Unfortunately, Zhang Zhi Xin was not around, so he couldn't eat handmade dumplings, which made Qin Fei feel regretful. He thought that Zhang Zhi Xin's dumplings were absolutely delicious.

  Zhang Zhixin's dumplings won't be eaten tomorrow, it seems he encountered something on the way back and sent a text message last night saying he would return the day after Li Dong. However, after thinking about Zhang Zhixin's dumplings for a while, Qin Fei's desire to eat dumplings was stirred up, so he turned back at the entrance of the community and decided to go to a nearby supermarket to buy some frozen dumplings to eat tomorrow morning.

  It was already close to the supermarket's closing time at nine o'clock, and there were basically no other customers checking out at the cash register. Qin Fei picked up a bag of frozen dumplings, paid for them, and quickly left the supermarket.

  Carrying a bag of frozen dumplings, Qin Fei started walking back. The evening temperature was a bit low, and Qin Fei intentionally quickened his pace, but he hadn't walked far when his footsteps gradually slowed down. There was something following him, and he felt a chill run down his spine, the kind of cold that made his skin crawl, which wasn't caused by the night's low temperature. He had experienced this feeling many times before, only this time it was particularly strong and clear.

  Qin Fei gradually came to a stop, the chill on his back still lingering, as if something cold was about to stick to his back...