What did she mean, hadn't he already met him??
Yun Shao's head was full of confusion. When had he ever met that person—why did he have no impression of it?
"Miss Shen, I've met that person before? I have no recollection. Could you give me a hint?" Yun Shao looked very earnest, seemingly still racking his brain over just who he'd met recently—who could have secretly won Ji Xinyue over, and made her so utterly devoted, too.
A-Xin had already finished arranging the fruit plate she'd prepared for Ji Xinyue. Hearing Yun Shao's question, she lifted her eyes and smiled faintly. "Me."
Wha... what??
Yun Shao's eyes went wide, his mind blanking in an instant. What did Miss Shen say? What she'd just answered surely wasn't the question he'd asked, was it? Yes—it absolutely couldn't have been the question he'd asked.
"Miss Shen." Yun Shao kept smiling. "I mean—who is the person Xinyue likes? Who is the person who's good to Xinyue?"
"Me." A-Xin looked straight at Yun Shao and answered earnestly once more. "Officer Yun, you didn't mishear. That person is me. Xinyue and I are in a relationship."
Yun Shao: ??? He must have misheard! How could it be?
"Miss Shen, you really know how to joke. You must be a humorous person normally." Yun Shao kept smiling. It couldn't be a girl—girls just liked to make these strange jokes with each other. It must be that this Miss Shen found him an eyesore and was using this method to fend him off.
A-Xin put the fruit plate in the fridge and sat back down on the sofa, looking serious. "Officer Yun, I never joke. Xinyue and I have known each other a long time. We'll be getting married soon. Once the date is set, I'll send you an invitation—you're welcome to come to our wedding."
"So, Officer Yun, you have no chance."
"The bond between Xinyue and me is not something a man like you can wedge his way into."
"Go find a girl you like, one who likes you too, and marry her." A-Xin advised. "Xinyue is mine. If you mean to lay a hand on her, Officer Yun, I won't be polite with you."
Yun Shao stared at A-Xin dumbstruck. He could already feel it—the other wasn't joking, nor lying. So she and Xinyue really were that kind of relationship? Love between one girl and another? The kind a big grown man like him couldn't wedge his way into???
He felt the world somewhat collapsing, all darkness before his eyes. This soft, delicate little girl was actually threatening him?? Saying if he dared do anything to Xinyue, she wouldn't be polite with him? In all his years as a cop, it really was his first time being threatened so blandly and gently—yet the force of it truly was no ordinary thing.
"Miss Shen, the tasks Xinyue takes on are extremely dangerous. You're a gentle, pretty girl. I think being with Xinyue really isn't very suitable for you. The life ahead might be one of daily fear and dread. But I'm different." Yun Shao straightened his back, lifted his chin, and said with great pride, "I'm a people's cop. I can be Xinyue's lover, and also her comrade-in-arms through life and death. No matter what she does, I can be at her side. I can go through a hail of gunfire with her. Miss Shen, you look like a flower in a greenhouse, suited to living in a stable place, not... not..."
Yun Shao couldn't get the words out, his voice trembling toward the end—because as he spoke, he saw this slender Miss Shen pick up the knife she'd used to cut fruit just now, and with those slender, fair fingers, give it a gentle bend. The fruit knife, it... it carelessly bent.
Bend it again, and the fruit knife, it... it bent again.
Squeeze it once more, and it... it seemed to turn into bits and bits and... fragments?!
"Miss Shen, this is a plastic knife, right?" Yun Shao asked with a smile, his legs trembling, edging two steps toward the seat across from A-Xin. A-Xin held the fragments out in front of him; he reached out, pinched them, and hurriedly pulled his hand back. "It's... it's real."
"Mm." A-Xin nodded with a faint smile. "There's a cleaver in the kitchen. If Officer Yun doesn't believe me, you can bring out the cleaver and I'll give you a demonstration."
Yun Shao: No need, really no need. They were the same kind of person—he'd been wrong. The love between one girl and another, he had no way to wedge himself into.
This kind of soft, delicate, gentle, fair, pretty girl—he couldn't afford to provoke.
"After getting to know Miss Shen, I finally understand that you can't judge a person by their looks." Yun Shao's smile was uglier than crying. "Miss Shen, are you two really so loving?"
"Yes."
Yun Shao fell silent a moment, then asked earnestly, "Will you and Xinyue be together for life?"
"Yes. I'll be with her my whole life."
"When a girl is with a girl, there'll always be all sorts of criticism from the outside world—disapproval from strangers, from family. Miss Shen, can you withstand this pressure and protect Xinyue well?"
"I can."
Yun Shao took a deep breath. "I understand. Xinyue likes you very much. I once asked her why she wouldn't accept me, and she said she already had someone she liked. She also said this person might never come. When she said that, I only felt her sorrow. Miss Shen, if you choose to be with Xinyue, please—you must never abandon her, and you must treat her well. Xinyue is a good girl."
"Because she likes you, and you like her enough, willing to be with her—so I bow out."
Yun Shao stood up. "Miss Shen, I'll be going now."
"Officer Yun, take care." A-Xin also stood and saw him to the door, offering a word of praise. "You're a person of real grace, and a good officer. There will surely be many who like you, and you'll find the girl most suited to you."
Yun Shao nodded and turned to leave.
When Ji Xinyue woke, she ate the fruit plate A-Xin had prepared and asked about Yun Shao in passing. A-Xin recounted what had happened earlier. After hearing it, Ji Xinyue laughed. "Yun Shao really is a decent person." She suddenly sensed A-Xin's gaze change and hurriedly corrected herself. "But I only like A-Xin. He and I are friends; A-Xin and I are lovers. For all my lives, I have only one lover, and her name is A-Xin."
A-Xin was satisfied. She pulled a notebook out from one side and began scribbling and drawing on it. Ji Xinyue stuck her head over to look and frowned. "Why is it all chicken-scratch? These patterns look so chaotic, and they give me an uncomfortable feeling—look too long and it's a bit sickening, dizzying."
"Because what I'm drawing is a curse. I conceived of it a while ago; now I'm refining it. I should be able to finish today."
"What curse?"
A-Xin lifted her eyes. "Didn't you want to solve the matter of those little mountain villages? I said there was a way to root out the trouble for good."
"This curse?"
"That's right."
"A-Xin, what does this curse do?"
A-Xin pressed her lips together and said with a smile, "As long as a man conceives an evil thought toward a woman, he'll..."
"He'll what?"
"Let's go try it out together in a bit. It's almost done." A-Xin didn't want to say it outright.