Chapter Text
Zhao Yunlan cursed. He was sure he’d hung his jacket on the hook the evening before, yet, now, it wasn’t there. He was already running late — not that anyone at SID would bat an eye at that, him included, but it was the principle of the thing, being delayed by something not being where he remembered it — and his favourite jacket had decided to disappear.
Da Qing hadn’t returned that night as far as he knew so a prank on his side was unlikely. Besides, Da Qing wouldn’t prank him with his favourite jacket . The cat knew better as it would negatively impact his supply of dried fish.
Did he remember wrong?
Zhao Yunlan frowned as he stared at the empty hook. His memory only failed him when he got drunk and he hadn’t been drunk the evening before. Still, he dug through his apartment, throwing stray clothes and dirty socks this way and that. He cursed again when, after a second round, his jacket was still nowhere to be found.
Reasoning that maybe he’d left it at SID, he grabbed the Jeep’s keys from a different hook, only to freeze in his tracks. Those keys were normally in his jacket’s pocket. Never would he have taken them out only to leave his jacket behind. He threw another suspicious look through his apartment before finally leaving for SID. Maybe Da Qing had come home after all.
“Boss,” he was randomly greeted as he walked into the office.
“Aren’t you missing a key part of your outfit?” Zhu Hong tagged on.
“Where’s Da Qing?” he growled in response before yelling through the entire office. “Dead cat!”
“You’re late,” Da Qing said, appearing from the library and sitting on the edge of the table. “And missing a layer. Where’s your jacket?”
“Ha-ha,” Zhao Yunlan said. “If I don’t have my jacket back in half an hour, I’m cutting your dried fish for an entire week.”
He marched off to his office, ignoring Da Qing’s indignant yelp. As expected, his jacket was nowhere to be found there either, solidifying his suspicion that Da Qing had something to do with its disappearance. Aggrieved, Zhao Yunlan dug up a lollipop and dropped down in his desk chair, waiting.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“What’s this about me giving you your jacket back?” Da Qing protested as he jumped on the desk as a cat.
“Don’t act like you don’t know, fatty,” Zhao Yunlan countered. “It was on the hook next to the door when I went to bed and it wasn’t anymore this morning.”
“What’s that got to do with me?” Da Qing countered, flicking his tail in annoyance. “Your faulty brain probably remembered it wrong.”
“Nice try but I’m not buying it. Your dried fish supply is running very low.”
“Cat abuse,” Da Qing exclaimed. “I didn’t even go home last night. Ask Wang Zheng.”
Zhao Yunlan sat up in his chair, waving his lollipop at Da Qing. “You’re certain you’re not messing with me?”
“As if I would risk my fish.”
“Then where did it go?”
“Under the couch? Maybe you should try cleaning.”
“Maybe you should try cleaning. Half the mess is yours.”
Da Qing merely turned his head away and licked at a paw. Zhao Yunlan snorted.
“It isn’t,” he answered. “I searched. And the keys to the Jeep were hanging on the hook, which wouldn’t have happened if I’d simply misplaced my jacket.”
“That’s strange,” Da Qing agreed, returning to his human form but still perching on Zhao Yunlan’s desk. “What do you think happened?”
“Hmm.” Zhao Yunlan settled back again, putting an ankle on his knee and twirling the lollipop around in his mouth. “I can’t think of anything else but that someone broke in and stole it but I wouldn’t see why anybody would go through the trouble for a jacket. And manage to succeed without me noticing it.”
“As if anybody would want that dingy jacket.”
“It’s a perfectly good jacket,” Zhao Yunlan countered. “And do you have a better idea?”
“Were there any unknown scents?”
Zhao Yunlan tilted his head back as he thought. “No, not that I noticed.”
“Then nobody broke in and you’re just lousy at keeping track of your stuff,” Da Qing concluded, sliding from the desk and walking out. “I demand a complete supply of dried fish, and then some for falsely accusing me,” he yelled back before the door closed behind him.
Zhao Yunlan continued turning the lollipop around in his mouth, not nearly as satisfied with Da Qing’s conclusion as Da Qing was. Something was off and his instincts were seldom wrong. At the same time, too many things weren’t adding up for it to have been a burglar.
He was still ruminating on the issue when a shift in the air announced Hei Pao Shi’s imminent arrival. Sighing, Zhao Yunlan made his way to the main office area. The Black Cloaked Envoy’s tendency to work more closely with them — more closely compared to showing up just in time to drag a dixingren away to wherever they went for justice to be dealt out — was a new one and another mystery Zhao Yunlan still needed to solve. Why had the Envoy suddenly decided this closer relation was necessary?
He arrived just in time to see the Envoy step through the portal. Even Zhao Yunlan had to admit he struck an imposing figure, not that he allowed it to intimidate him.
“Hei-lao-ge,” he greeted, earning himself the same glare he got from Lao Chu every time he used the nickname to address the Envoy. “What brings you to SID?”
“A small matter,” the Envoy answered before explaining about a shop-keeper that was using her powers to lure in customers.
Much to Zhao Yunlan’s surprise, the Envoy requested they pay the woman a visit to warn her, not wanting to go himself and frighten her given that she hadn’t broken the law, yet.
He invaded the Envoy’s personal space, poking him in the chest. “Not as heartless as you would like us to think, huh,” he teased. “No worries, your secret is safe with us.” He threw in a wink for good measure before stepping back again and throwing his arms wide open. “We will do the Envoys bidding and make time in our busy schedule to visit your wayward dixingren.”
The Envoy silently gazed at him before throwing a look at the empty case-board at the far wall. He nodded once and, without so much as a ‘thanks’ stepped backwards and into a portal, disappearing from view.
Zhao Yunlan frowned as soon as he was gone.
“Chu-ge,” Guo Changcheng hesitantly said. “Why couldn’t I smell the Envoy?”
“Because he never has a scent,” Zhao Yunlan said before Chu Shuzhi could answer. “Fatty, does he smell like something to you?”
“No,” Da Qing answered from the table where Lao Li had apparently left him some fried fish. “Nothing. It’s disturbing.”
“It is undoubtedly one of his many powers,” Chu Shuzhi said, always quick to protect his idol.
“But Chu-ge,” Guo Changcheng asked, turning large eyes on the alpha. “Even the Envoy must have a secondary gender?”
“It is disrespectful to speculate.”
Zhu Hong snorted. “I bet he’s an alpha.”
“He might be a beta,” Lin Jing offered.
“Unlikely, with his strength,” Zhu Hong countered.
“Maybe he’s an omega,” Guo Changcheng said.
They all stared at him, incredulous, and he quickly stepped back, almost bumping into Chu Shuzhi, whose posture shifted to something protective.
“It- It was just a suggestion,” Guo Changcheng stuttered.
“Humans,” Da Qing complained, effectively cutting through the speculation.
Zhao Yunlan took advantage of it. “Lao Chu, Xiao Guo, go pay that woman a visit. Everyone else, at least pretend to be busy.”
He returned to his office and did barely anything at all himself before returning home early. As he drove home, he tried to find a valid excuse to knock on Shen Wei’s door. Having no ongoing case meant that there was no reason for their new consultant to spend time at SID and even Zhao Yunlan couldn’t drag up a good enough excuse to change that. Knowing Shen Wei’s schedule by heart though, he knew Shen Wei was already home for at least an hour, if his office hours hadn’t run late.
He was still pondering the issue when he arrived at the apartment building. Shen Wei would never believe him if he came to ask about something cooking or tea related, besides, the store down the street was still open so there was absolutely no need for Zhao Yunlan to bother Shen Wei about it. He was shameless though, but it looked too much like he was begging to be fed.
With a regretful sigh, not having thought of a solution yet, Zhao Yunlan opened his front door, and froze. He doubted the apartment had ever looked as clean as it did at that moment.
The view dumbfounded him to such a degree, it took him a while to realise exactly what was going on. He plucked his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and dialed Da Qing’s number.
“What?” Da Qing responded in annoyance. “I was napping.”
“You’re always napping,” Zhao Yunlan countered. “Now get home as fast as possible.”
“I’m not helping you look for your jacket. You lose it, you dig through your disgusting socks to find it.”
“Da Qing, someone’s been in the apartment. Get your ass here immediately.”
There was a moment of confused silence, then, “On my way,” before the connection broke.
Zhao Yunlan eyed the ridiculously clean apartment one more time before grinning. It would take Da Qing a while to arrive and it seemed he had found his excuse to knock on Shen Wei’s door. He popped a lollipop in his mouth, knocked, and leaned against the opposite wall.
“Shen Wei,” he brightly greeted as the door opened.
“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei said, his eyes flickering to the half-open door of Zhao Yunlan’s apartment. “Is everything alright? Has a case come up?”
“Maybe,” Zhao Yunlan answered, glancing at his apartment as well. “Have you been home long?” he asked.
“A little over an hour. Why? Can I help you with something?”
Zhao Yunlan took the opportunity to get closer, pushing himself away from the wall to conspiratorially lean closer to Shen Wei. The omega’s scent, of books and ink and something earthy he still couldn’t identify, was intoxicating and caused all his alpha instincts to go wild. He suppressed the baser ones but allowed the protective ones to bleed through. Shen Wei, on the other hand, never seemed affected at all by Zhao Yunlan’s nearness. However, his cool was so perfect it was suspicious and Zhao Yunlan was dead-set on getting a reaction out of him.
“Have you noticed something unusual?” he asked. “It would seem someone broke into my apartment.”
“Are you alright?” Shen Wei immediately questioned. “Do you need anything? Have things been stolen?”
Zhao Yunlan patted Shen Wei’s arm, right over those thrice-damned arm garters. He twirled his lollipop around his mouth to give himself a moment’s respite.
“It doesn’t seem like anything has been stolen,” he answered. “I’m waiting for Da Qing to arrive so we can assess together.”
Shen Wei’s confused look made Zhao Yunlan want to purr with how adorable it looked.
“Then why would they break in?” Shen Wei asked.
“I hope to figure that out when we go in,” Zhao Yunlan honestly answered.
Da Qing chose that moment to arrive. “Professor Shen,” he said.
“Da Qing,” Shen Wei answered before regarding them both. “Let me make you both dinner,” he said. “This must come as quite the shock.”
“We wouldn’t want to impose,” Zhao Yunlan answered, his heart soaring at the opportunity to have Shen Wei cook for him, well, them.
“It’s not an imposition at all,” Shen Wei assured them. “Dinner should be ready in an hour-and-a-half.”
“If you are sure, then we gladly accept.”
Shen Wei smiled and ducked his head slightly. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
Zhao Yunlan was still grinning as the door closed with a click.
“You start stinking as soon as you see him,” Da Qing complained.
“Shut it, fatty. Get inside and see if you can smell a third person.”
Da Qing grumbled some more before pushing open the door to their apartment. “Why is it so clean?” he exclaimed, flabbergasted. “Someone broke in to clean? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless they did it to cover up something’s missing?” Zhao Yunlan suggested.
He didn’t sound convinced though. With the mess their apartment usually was, it would take them longer to realise something was missing if the thief just let everything be than if they exerted such an immense effort to get their apartment spotless. To say it was dumbfounding would be an understatement.
Things turned even stranger when neither Da Qing nor Zhao Yunlan could detect a third person’s scent in their apartment, everything smelling like cleaning agents and some lingering traces of their own scents.