At around four in the morning, Yin Ren emerged from the paper and returned to his home in Ping'an Manor.
“Crack.”
Before Yin Ren could open his eyes, a crisp sound came into his ears.
Zhong Cheng said he was sitting two or three steps away from the sofa. He moved a chair and sat on it, eating an apple, with the book "The Art of Communication" on his knees.
After making sure Yin Ren had come back to his senses, Zhong Cheng quickly finished the apple in his hand and stood up.
The sky was a jewel-like indigo in the early morning. The window was slightly open, and the curtains were swaying in the wind. The faint light fell on Zhong Chengshuo's face, and he seemed like an exceptionally soft and solid ghost.
The air was filled with the aroma of fresh apples.
Zhong Cheng said, "You're back."
"Why did you wake up so early?" After five days of isolation, Zhong Cheng's biological clock should be completely normal.
"You pulled out his hair." Zhong Cheng said, pointing at the ends of Yin Ren's hair.
Just as Yin Ren was expressing his feelings through the melon, the bedroom door opened silently. Zhong Cheng, who was too rational, moved in front of Yin Ren and stretched out one hand.
Yin Ren stretched out his body on the sofa, put some hair into the refrigerator, and ate the ice watermelon bit by bit. The sweet taste was moist and refreshing, just right to wash away the little bit of anxiety.
Zhong Cheng said while holding the hair tightly in the same solemn manner, the two of them seemed to be performing some strange ceremony.
The evil spirit who wanted to destroy the world sat obediently at the table. The aroma of the food did not make him relax. He and Zhong Cheng had only been together for six days, five of which they had been isolated. Yin Ren himself was still adjusting his mentality.
"The Sinking Society was able to infiltrate the archives, and I also want to try a similar technique." Half a minute later, Yin Ren couldn't help but explain.
However, practicing controlling the evil power was very painful, and he didn't want to tell Zhong Cheng about it specifically.
“… Not for now.”
The previous entanglement had long been thrown out of his mind. He closed his eyes happily and decided to sleep for a while.
Poor Yin Ren has lived for so long, but has absolutely zero experience of meeting his lover's parents.
Zhong Cheng stopped going back to the house and turned back to Yin Ren: "Are you in a bad mood?"
He stared at the familiar yet strange ceiling, unable to close his eyes for a long time. Lord Ghost King once took out the dog stuff and wanted to open the coffin to say something, but thought about it and gave up.
It's still that warm, soft and reassuring touch.
Forget it.
"Be careful, your body is your capital." Cheng Xuehua's sharp eyes swept over the two of them.
Finally, the last dish of sweet and sour pork tenderloin was served. Zhong Youde happily opened a can of beer and sat down opposite Yin Ren.
The living room fell silent for a moment.
Yin Ren: “?”
Upon hearing that Yin Ren and Zhong Cheng were coming for dinner, the two elders of the Zhong family cooked a large table of dishes again.
"Xiao Yin, tell me, how is Xiao Zhong doing recently? Is there anything wrong with his work?"
Yin Ren lay back on the sofa and stretched hard, with even his toes stretched straight.
"Go ahead."
This time, Zhong Cheng said he did not go to the kitchen to help. He sat down next to Yin Ren, looking like he was about to hold a press conference.
So this guy woke up three hours ago and has been sitting here ever since
Zhong Cheng turned his head and felt the hand for a moment before returning to his bedroom. His bedroom was well shielded from light, and with the door half-closed, the man seemed to have sunk into a sea of shadows.
"Okay." Zhong Cheng poured himself a glass of cold water and drank it slowly. "I'm going to go back to sleep. Today is Saturday, let's go to my parents' house for dinner tonight."
Yin Ren's mood instantly improved. He solemnly placed the ends of his hair on Zhong Chengshuo's palm. The ordinary atmosphere gave him a sense of being entrusted with a child.
It doesn't seem to be calculated. The words "sincerity and friendship" do not exist in the dictionary of the sharp ghost. He will only become Walnut's happy gossip.
"Yeah." Under the residual effect of the pain, Yin Ren reacted a little slow.
"Shi'an, your job is tough enough. I haven't heard from you two in the past week. How are you? Are you tired?" Zhong Youde pretended not to notice his son's abnormality and wiped his face vigorously with a towel.
"Give me some hair." Zhong Cheng said seriously, "Train your heart."
Yin Ren packed up the white paper and lay back on the sofa.
The small dining table was overwhelmed with dishes. Yin Ren continued to sit quietly beside the table, feeling three to five times more nervous than his first visit - at that time he could never have imagined that nearly two months later, he and Zhong Cheng would really become a loving family.
The fact was beyond Yin Ren's expectation. Hiding this matter was easier than he thought.
He once had the ability to "enter dreams with his physical body". Since the previous dream-entering technique was successful, it would be free to try again. After trying to modify the technique, Yin Ren successfully returned to Guo Wei's campus.
What can he say
She first spent half an hour explaining that she and Zhong Cheng were dating, and then felt melancholy for three seconds, "Why didn't he ask me where I was going or what I was doing?"
"As long as it's safe," Zhong Cheng said, moving the chair back to its original position without asking any questions. "Want an apple?"
Yin Ren didn't know whether he should be moved or horrified.
Comrade Xiao Zhong has been overly rational for a long time. He should adapt as soon as possible.
"It's nothing, you should go to bed early." Yin Ren touched Zhong Cheng's hair.
The subtext was to make the relationship public, but Yin Ren always felt that this dialogue seemed to be missing something.
"OK."
That performance was simply too good to be true. There is no one else like it in the world.
"He has been working very hard recently and his performance has been exceptionally good."
Yin Ren took a deep breath. For the first time, he felt that the words "uncle and aunt" were a bit painful to say.
"Our team did go on a mission, but the mission was not completed successfully. It was mainly my fault..."
Zhong Youde took a sip of beer and let out a sigh of relief.
"It's normal for young people to have problems. Don't cover up for him. Whoever is responsible should bear the responsibility."
Yin Ren laughed a few times guiltily.
Strictly speaking, they did have some problems - one power went out of control and almost caused the Fiend to come into the world. Another saw the Fiend in person and was later confirmed to be the culprit who forced the murderer to commit murder.
In the end, they even joined hands to hide their identities and pretend nothing happened.
Responsibility is really hard to calculate!
Seeing that Yin Ren did not respond, Cheng Xuehua smiled and changed the subject: "Alright, alright, it's nothing serious. The atmosphere was so tense just now that I thought something had happened."
Yin Ren: "Actually..."
Zhong Cheng cleared his throat and ruthlessly interrupted Yin Ren's speech: "Dad, Mom, Yin Ren and I are actually in love. Please don't arrange blind dates for me anymore."
Zhong Youde almost spit out his beer, and Cheng Xuehua's smile froze on her face.
"What?" the two old men asked at the same time.
"Yin Ren and I are officially dating." Zhong Cheng said with his fingers crossed and a very serious expression.
Cheng Xuehua narrowed her eyes and said, "Son, if you don't want to continue the blind date, just say so. Don't drag Xiao Yin into this."
"Your mother is right, we don't know you yet." Zhong Youde wiped the beer foam from his mouth. "We are indeed dating." Yin Ren confirmed nervously.
Cheng Xuehua, Zhong Youde: "..."
The expressions on the two old men's faces remained unchanged. They slowly turned their heads and looked at each other for a few seconds.
"This is such a great thing!" Zhong Youde coughed and slapped his thigh, "Come on, Xiaoyin, open a can of beer, let's have a drink together."
"Very good, very good." Cheng Xuehua maintained her smile, "Xiao Zhong, Xiao Yin is still a patient, right? You have to treat her well, do you hear me?"
The chopsticks in Yin Ren's hand sank for a moment.
He could see that the two old men were not as happy as they were the last time they had dinner and chatted. There was a hint of worry beneath their smiles, which they hid well.
But it didn't seem like she was dissatisfied with him personally, but more like she was worried about something else.
Clearly, they were talking about this matter openly last time.
Unfortunately, although he cared, Yin Ren couldn't ask them face to face. In the next two hours, he used up almost all his deception ability before he made up a "normal moment of being moved" under the sharp eyes of the two detectives.
When leaving the room, Lord Ghost King's head felt numb.
After they left, the two elders of the Zhong family did not clean up the table immediately.
Cheng Xuehua and Zhong Youde sat back in their seats and sighed at each other.
"It's too fast," Cheng Xuehua said. "It's been less than two months."
"Yeah, that was too fast."
Zhong Youde tried to pick up the meat from the leftovers, but his wife cruelly pushed his chopsticks down.
"With your blood lipids, eat less." Cheng Xuehua snorted, "Such a big thing has happened to your son, and you still want to eat."
"What else can we do? We can't beat a duck with a stick." Zhong Youde changed his posture and continued to pick the meat. "Wife, I think you are more worried about Xiao Yin."
"… well."
Cheng Xuehua tucked her white hair behind her ears and looked at the night sky outside the window.
"Xiao Yin, I can see that the child is noisy and will cause trouble when his temper is mature. I originally thought that Xiao Zhongduo and him could learn some principles of life... but it has only been two months, and the two of them are talking Up?"
"You know our son's situation, so if you miss him, just treat it as if you were not destined to be together."
"You are quite open-minded."
Cheng Xuehua shook her head.
When Zhong Cheng said he wanted to apply for the police academy, it was she who personally stopped him. Her adopted son might be suitable for many careers, but being a policeman was definitely not one of them - she knew this fact very early on.
After entering primary school, Zhong Cheng said he was undoubtedly a typical "other people's child".
Zhong Chengshuo's test papers are always neat and beautiful, and can be regarded as a perfect example. He never makes trouble during class breaks, but only studies quietly. In addition, he is handsome, so he is very popular with teachers.
But his classmates didn't like him - they didn't bully him, they just deliberately avoided him, and Zhong Cheng said he didn't care much. The teacher privately advised those children, but those children themselves couldn't explain why.
"He's so weird," is all they would say.
"If you want to find fault, Zhong Cheng is not sociable," the head teacher said. "He helps his classmates when he should, and he is not the type to be naturally withdrawn... I don't understand, a kid like him should usually be very popular."
As a criminal police officer who knew Zhong Chengshuo's background, Cheng Xuehua decided to observe her son's "friendly" style carefully.
She bought a goldfish for Zhong Cheng, who was still in elementary school.
It was a bright red, very beautiful goldfish. Cheng Xuehua still remembers what it looked like.
Zhong Cheng's performance was flawless. He would change the water and feed the goldfish on time and clean the fish tank. He would also lie down beside the fish tank from time to time, looking through the glass fish tank, and his dark eyes were stretched into strange shapes.
The fish didn't live long, and no one knew the exact cause of its death. But there was a surveillance camera in the living room, and Cheng Xuehua was sure that Zhong Cheng said he didn't do anything he shouldn't have done.
Now, instead of teaching “friendship”, we have to teach “death” well.
"I know it's dead," said the young Zhong Cheng. "Mom, what's the best way to deal with the body?"
"Aren't you sad?"
"It's dead."
Zhong Cheng raised his eyes and answered the question irrelevantly. His eyes were clear, without any redness or tears. The body of the goldfish lay in the palm of his hand, motionless.
“Can I throw it in the trash?”
He asked seriously.
Since then, Cheng Xuehua has been keeping an eye on her son.
Whether facing classmates, teachers, or cats and dogs, she has never seen Zhong Cheng say that she is angry, worried, or sad. Her son is smart and outstanding, and he does not despise life like his crazy parents... But that's all.
The world that Zhong Cheng talked about always seemed to have a little incomplete blank space.
"You are not fit to be a criminal police officer."
Several years later, when faced with Zhong Chengshuo who came to discuss the future, Cheng Xuehua responded with decisiveness.
"If you don't understand human nature, you will never do well in this business."
She couldn't imagine how a person who didn't understand anger and sadness could understand the murderous intentions that came from love, hate, and vengeance. As she expected, Zhong Cheng said he simply threw away this ambition, just like throwing away the body of the goldfish.
Teenagers are the most sensitive. Zhong Cheng said he remained calm despite receiving such comments.
Cheng Xuehua shook her head, stuffing the memory back into her heart. She put away her chopsticks and stood up tremblingly.
"Xiao Zhong is a kid who can say that he likes me, so he must really like me from the bottom of his heart." She did not hide the worry on her face, "What a pity..."
Unfortunately, Zhong Cheng said that he has not had time to change. Can he express his love as naturally as ordinary people
"I hope our son will wake up soon and not miss it." She sighed, "It's rare for two children to like each other, alas..."
At the same time, in the emergency department meeting room at Shian Park.
"What do you think?"
Fu Xingchuan leaned on the back of the chair, using only the two back legs of the chair to stand on the ground, and swayed back and forth. Behind him, the information that Yin Ren and Zhong Cheng were talking about was projected.
"I don't have any special opinion." Xiang Jiang lowered his eyes. "According to the regulations, they should indeed follow the procedures."
Li Nian nodded: "These two people are too suspicious. We can't just leave them alone."
Hao Wenze was not present, and there was only a computer at his desk. Other members of the emergency department sat at the table, exchanging opinions in low voices from time to time.
There were so many coincidences and doubts about these two people that Zhian could no longer ignore them and could no longer observe them calmly.
The archive mission was the first attempt. Although their emotional readings had no malicious intent, the other suspicious points that arose could not be ignored.
"That means no one has any opinions."
Fu Xingchuan let out a long "oh".
"Very good, let's officially start the discussion now - next, we need to arrange the 'enemy premise survey mission' for Special Task Force 9."
"Hereinafter referred to as 'execution mission'."
(End of this chapter)