Although Song Yan hadn't yet decided what to say when he saw Ye Zhiqiu, he had no room to turn back now.
All the way, he had to listen to Shen Huaian's constant chatter. His ears were almost numb from it. When they arrived at the Qin Tower, from afar, he saw Ye Zhiqiu's back.
Ye Zhiqiu was still wearing that moon - white long gown. At this moment, he was pacing outside the Qin Tower. He seemed to be hesitating whether he should go in or not.
"Hey, isn't this Master Ye?" Shen Huaian quickened his steps and walked right up to Ye Zhiqiu. He said this in a hearty voice.
Ye Zhiqiu turned to look in Shen Huaian's direction. His expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't been the one hesitating about going in just now.
"What a coincidence, Young Master Shen. I didn't expect to meet you here." Ye Zhiqiu said some polite words. Shen Huaian didn't mind, since he had long known that Ye Zhiqiu was such a dull person.
He just couldn't understand how Song Yan could have a conversation with him.
"Not only me, but Director Song is here too. Look, he's right there not far behind." Shen Huaian gave up on this conversation and waved to call Song Yan over.
Song Yan walked up to them. Ye Zhiqiu glanced in Song Yan's direction, but there was no look of surprise on his face.
Wherever Shen Huaian was, Song Yan would surely be there. There were quite a few rumors about these two in the tabloids of Yu Ling.
"You're here at the Qin Tower too?" Song Yan felt the situation was quite awkward, so he broke the silence.
But he might have forgotten that in front of Ye Zhiqiu, no matter what he said, the conversation would end up being cold.
"Yes. It's about the Intelligence Pavilion. Why are you here?" Ye Zhiqiu just gave a faint response.
Shen Huaian watched the back - and - forth conversation between the two. He didn't know what Song Yan was thinking, but he himself couldn't stand this inexplicable awkwardness.
Without waiting for their next round of conversation, he clapped his hands and said with a laugh, "We're here because there's been a murder in the Qin Tower. The government has handed the case over to the Investigation Department. We're also here to inquire about the Intelligence Pavilion."
As he said this, he noticed the gazes of various people at the entrance of the Qin Tower. Well, it was really strange for the three of them to be chatting awkwardly at the main entrance.
This made the situation even more embarrassing.
Shen Huaian couldn't stand these inquisitive gazes. He was a proper businessman. How could he be under so many people's gazes at the entrance? It would be so embarrassing if this got out.
So he pulled Song Yan and Ye Zhiqiu into the Qin Tower, saying as he walked, "Come on, let's not block the entrance. Let's go in quickly."
When the three of them entered the building, as soon as they stepped in, they were pulled over by someone. The woman looked like a madam. She was about thirty - five years old. Her face was powdered deathly white, and her lips were painted bright red with lipstick.
When she saw Song Yan, she couldn't stop trembling. She reached out and grabbed his sleeve, "I guess you must be Lord Song from the Investigation Department?"
"Yes, I am. What's going on with you?" Song Yan calmly pulled back his sleeve that she was holding and said in a calm tone.
At this, the madam burst into tears. She took out a silk handkerchief and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. She was so scared that she stammered, "Just a little while ago... there was a murder... I don't even know what happened. It just... just..."
The madam stammered for a long time but couldn't say a complete sentence. Song Yan was completely confused, not to mention understanding the whole thing.
"Alright, let me tell you about this."
Just then, a slightly hoarse voice came from upstairs. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman walking gracefully. She wore a thin veil on her face, only showing a pair of charming eyes.
She wasn't as petite as other girls. She seemed to have a rather large frame. The girl held a round fan in her hand and walked slowly towards them.
The hairpins in her hair jingled with her movements. In a short while, she was in front of them. Shen Huaian was very excited. He kept winking at Song Yan secretly.
Based on his years of experience, this girl in front of him was the one he had fallen in love with at first sight and had praised to the skies.
But Shen Huaian wasn't really exaggerating. Just the pair of eyes that the girl showed was enough to make people lose their minds.
It was only because Song Yan had strong self - control that he didn't stare at her like Shen Huaian did.
"Jinghong pays respects to Lord Song." Jinghong lowered her voice a bit. Her hoarse voice was extremely charming. She slightly lowered her beautiful eyes and bowed towards Song Yan.
Song Yan nodded and said calmly, "Cut the nonsense. What exactly happened in this murder case?"
"This place is crowded and full of prying eyes. It's not appropriate to talk about this here. Please follow me to the private room to discuss this matter."
Jinghong's tone was unhurried. Song Yan didn't say anything else. He just made a gesture of invitation in her direction.
Jinghong supported the madam and walked in front. Song Yan and Shen Huaian followed behind. But Ye Zhiqiu was in an awkward situation in this matter.
He wasn't from the Investigation Department. He had no reason to get involved in this case. But being alone in this brothel, he seemed out of place.
Ye Zhiqiu was a shy person. It would be inconvenient for him to move around in this place.
...
After much thought, in the end, Song Yan meddled in Ye Zhiqiu's business. He walked up to Ye Zhiqiu and said, "If Master Ye has no other arrangements later, why not join the Investigation Department in investigating this case?"
Song Yan thought very simply. He thought he was helping Ye Zhiqiu out of this embarrassing situation. Even if Ye Zhiqiu didn't feel extremely grateful to him, he would at least owe him a favor.
It was worth doing this.
But unexpectedly, Ye Zhiqiu just straightened his robe and didn't appreciate Song Yan's words. He lowered his long eyelashes and said, "As an outsider, it's not appropriate for me to get involved in the affairs of the Investigation Department. I have something else to do. I'll leave first."
After saying that, without waiting for Song Yan to say anything else, he turned around and left Song Yan's sight, leaving Song Yan not knowing whether to laugh or cry at this scene.
Fine, he had meddled in other people's business again.
"Lord Song?" Jinghong saw that Song Yan didn't seem to be following, so she asked in a low voice.
Seeing that the beauty had spoken, Shen Huaian immediately walked up to Song Yan. Looking at Ye Zhiqiu's departing back, he knew that his Director Song had once again had his enthusiasm rebuffed.
So he patted Song Yan's shoulder and said, "Come on, stop looking. It's not the first day that Master Ye doesn't appreciate your kindness. Let him go. Don't keep Miss Jinghong waiting for too long."
Then he pulled Song Yan to follow. When they reached the private room, Jinghong poured them all a cup of tea. After doing all this, she sat back on the chair.
"About this murder, it actually happened this morning. And the location is this private room. And the place where the body was found is..." She paused for a moment, then reached out and gently tapped on the table. Her tone showed no sign of panic, "It's right here."
!!!
As soon as she said this, Shen Huaian's expression changed instantly. He was timid. And for a businessman, anything related to death was always inauspicious.
But with the beauty in front of him, he couldn't show his fear too obviously. He just seemed a bit fidgety.
Song Yan didn't react much to this. He used to spend days with the coroner in the morgue looking at the bodies of serial murder cases. This kind of thing wasn't enough to make his expression change even a bit.
Jinghong looked at the expressions of the two. One was clearly scared to death but still pretended to be calm, while the other...
Although there was no expression on his face, he didn't touch the tea in front of him at all. Seeing this, Jinghong raised the corners of her mouth in a smile.
It was really interesting.
"Tell me the details." Song Yan's expression remained unchanged. He said this in a cold voice. His time was precious, and he didn't have the time to play these mind - games with her.
Hearing this, Jinghong told them exactly what had happened this morning.
This morning, the Qin Tower was just like any other day. The victim, Cui Liu, was called into the private room by a new customer. At first, no one thought much of it, since there were always a lot of people coming and going in the Qin Tower, and there were many new customers.
But unexpectedly, even after the customer left, Cui Liu didn't come out of the private room. Her good friend, Chun Tao, thought it was strange. It was already lunchtime, but Cui Liu still hadn't come out.
After inquiring, they found out that Cui Liu hadn't left that private room the whole morning. Because there were so many people, no one had noticed.
When Chun Tao went to check, as soon as she opened the door, she smelled a strong smell of blood. And Cui Liu, who was hanging, fell from the threshold.
She fell right in front of Chun Tao, bloody. She was completely naked, but covered in blood so that she hardly looked human. Chun Tao's scream made the Qin Tower fall into panic. The Qin Tower reported the case to the government immediately.
"After that, this is what happened." Jinghong took a sip of tea and slowly said this. From her tone, one couldn't hear any trace of fear or sadness.
When she said these words, she seemed like an outsider, calmly telling a story.
Song Yan looked around the private room. If this was really the crime scene as she said, there couldn't be a single drop of blood on the floor.
Shen Huaian was already quite scared after hearing this story. He stammered, "So... Miss Cui Liu died in this private room?"
Hearing this question, Jinghong covered her mouth and laughed. She reached out and gently patted his shoulder, "Master Shen is so cute. How could Jinghong dare to bring the lords to that place to talk about this? The real private room where the incident happened is across from here. I'm just here to tell you the whole process."
Hearing this, Shen Huaian's heart didn't calm down. He just felt that the person in front of him was much more dangerous than he had thought.
But he couldn't show it too obviously, so he just gave an awkward smile.
Sure enough, people said that a beautiful and dangerous woman was like a snake. Miss Jinghong was really like a snake, unpredictable.