Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

October 31, 23:16

Wei Ying sighs and glances at the shut door of the bathroom again as Jiang Cheng’s voice in his ear continues to nag at him.

“And another thing-”

“How many more things-”

“How dare you abandon me between all these weirdos?”

“It’s Halloween, Jiang Cheng. Everyone looks like a weirdo, even if you aren’t at a party.”

“Makes sense that this is the day you were born on, then.”

“Low blow, dude. Low blow.” The bathroom door starts to creak open. “Anyway, I gotta go. I have a guest.”

“Guest?” Jiang Cheng pauses. “Oh no, Mr. Ying Wei, you did not-”

“It’s my birthday! I deserve to get laid!”

“Fuck you.”

“With some luck, yes.”

“Ugh. Die.”

Jiang Cheng says ‘die’ the same way you would say ‘bye’ and then hangs up the phone. Wei Ying stares at it for a while then shrugs.

“It’s your birthday?” says Mina, settling down practically on top of Wei Ying. Very nice. “You didn’t tell me.”

“I mean it’s not like you told me when’s your birthday either, did you now?”

Mina laughs. “Fair enough. Who was that on the phone by the way?”

“Let's not talk about my kind-of brother right now.”

Mina nods and wastes no time in making short work of Wei Ying’s clothes. At this rate they will probably end up doing it on the couch itself. Wei Ying doesn’t mind that but he knows Jiang Cheng will kill him if he finds out.

“Let’s go to my room,” says Wei Ying. “Here, let me-”

He is about to pick Mina up and hopefully impress her with his strength (he works out for it, he deserves to show it off) when his hand accidentally presses down on the remote and the T.V. turns on. Wei Ying groans, Mina giggles and Wei Ying scrambles for the remote to turn the T.V. off. Getting shoved with news of homicides and robberies right before hooking up is not very sexy.

He pauses though and stares intently at the man getting interviewed for a while. Then he sighs and picks up his phone.

“What happened?” asks Mina.

“Calling the police,” says Wei Ying. “I think I just solved a crime.”

Mina’s reaction to that is very positive. “You’re a cop?”

“No, but would you like me to be? I could be a cop. For the next few hours at least. I also have handcuffs that we can use. Do you like that?”

Mina very obviously likes that and Wei Ying grins at her before excusing himself to make the call.

“The store owner did it,” he says without preamble. “The stereo robberies. He is on channel zero right now. He won’t look the reporter in the eye and his hands are constantly twitching, a nervous tic. You’re welcome! Okay, gotta go, bye!”

He hangs up and returns to Mina quickly.

November 2, 10:31

Wei Ying gets off his bike and looks at the letters ‘YILING POLICE DEPARTMENT’ emblazoned on the building.

He wonders if the cops are going to praise him for the hundreds of tips he has called in or if they are going to lock him up inside a holding cell for daring to be smarter than them. He figures it’s more likely to be the second one. Cops don’t like to be told that there are others who can do their job better than them.

Wei Ying internally prepares himself for the lecture he will get from his dad about this. Hopefully uncle Jiang would be around to soothe his ire.

He makes his way in.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen! It is I, Wei Ying, having arrived to grace you with my presence.”

Several people shush him at once and Wei Ying suppresses a laugh.

“Wei-xiong?” says someone and Wei Ying turns to see Nie Huaisang making his way toward him excitedly. “Oh my god, what a nice surprise seeing you again!”

“Nie Huaisang, hi! What are you doing here?”

Nie Huaisang takes out a fan out of nowhere and hides half of his face behind it, as if shy. Wei Ying rolls his eyes good naturedly. It’s nice to see that Nie Huaisang is still pretty much the same.

“I came to see my brother,” says Nie Huaisang from behind the fan.

“Your brother,” Wei Ying repeats. Then he remembers his dad mentioning to him, maybe a year or two ago, about the new chief, Chief Nie. He hadn’t connected the dots then and he had already dropped out of high school so he couldn’t have known it from Huaisang either. “Oh! Wait, is your brother the Chief?”

Huaisang nods eagerly. “He is. He is the best. And intimidating. Everyone in this precinct thirsts after him. Everyone . They all have a minor crush on him. It’s kind of weird but I find it very amusing that my brother has no idea so I come here often and watch everyone fumble around him.”

Wei Ying laughs. “That sounds like something you would do.”

His eyes catch on a guy in a flannel shirt, handcuffed to the bench he is occupying. He is surreptitiously brushing off broken shards of a car tail light off of his clothes. Some of it falls and slips into his huge boot but the guy doesn’t seem to notice.

Huaisang follows his gaze. “Oh, that guy was just brought in this morning for allegedly smashing his ex-wife’s new boyfriend’s car.”

“Oh no.”

“Yeah and I’m pretty sure he did do it but he keeps swearing up and down that he didn’t. He will be detained and I’m sure the cops will find some evidence that he did.”

“Oh, he so did,” says Wei Ying. He watches as the guy gets taken away by a random rookie cop- Ronald McNab, the id hanging off of his neck says- to a holding cell. The cop keeps muttering “one-two-three, one-two-three” under his breath and the hand not holding the perp moves behind him slightly in beat with the numbers.

“Hey, Huaisang,” Wei Ying says, an idea forming in his mind. If Jiang Cheng was here, he would have immediately read his face and scolded him loudly to not create any trouble. But Jiang Cheng isn’t here. “How many holding cells are here?”

“Five.”

“And which one did that guy get taken to, if you happen to know by any chance?”

Huaisang peers at him and despite the generous height advantage Wei Ying has over him, he gets the distinct feeling of being stared down. “Well, McNab took him in the direction of four or five. They brought in a lot of perps this morning so…”

“Most probably five,” finishes Wei Ying.

“Yeah. Wei-xiong, what are you planning?”

Wei Ying grins at him. “You will see. Don’t tell anyone what you told me. Now excuse me, I believe that pretty cop in that amazing suit is coming for me.”

“Yes, to take you to the interrogation room,” Huaisang deadpans but smiles right after. “Good luck, Wei-xiong. We should meet-up sometime.”

“Give me your number, then.”

“Later. Mianmian is almost here. I am always here at the station anyway, just drop by anytime. Bye!”

Huaisang makes himself scarce with impressive speed just as ‘Mianmian’ reaches. Her id says Qingyang Luo. Wei Ying tries not to smile like he knows something. This is almost too easy.

“Hi, Mianmian!” he says and when she freezes he immediately puts his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, I should stop doing that. It freaks people out. I mean hi, Detective Luo.”

“How do you know my nickname?” she asks suspiciously. Wei Ying shrugs. “Whatever. Mr. Ying Wei, am I right?”

“Yes. Wow, you can do that too!”

Mianmian looks unimpressed but faintly amused. That’s good enough for Wei Ying.

“Come with me. We have questions for you.”

So, holding cell it is. He was hoping to be pleasantly surprised and get some praise and/or reward for his valuable service to the YLPD but that is definitely not happening.

“Sure!” says Wei Ying cheerfully. He glances around and notes Chief Nie- Nie Mingjue- in his office. Oh wow, no wonder everyone thirsts over him.

He also takes note of a guy dressed in a pristine white dress shirt and light grey trousers. Around the same height as Wei Ying himself. The person has their back to him so Wei Ying can’t see their face. Some detective, he supposes.

He turns his attention back to Mianmian and asks, just to act obtuse, “So, when am I getting the money?”

Mianmian looks at him quizzically. “Money?”

“Yes. For calling in all the tips? That’s what you called me in here for, right?”

Mianmian almost looks sympathetic and turns her face away.

“Right?” says Wei Ying, letting his voice quiver nervously.

“No,” says Mianmian as they reach the interrogation room. Wei Ying sits down. “Wait here a minute.”

She pokes her head out of the room and says something to McNab in a low voice. Moments later McNab returns with the guy in the white shirt. He has a light grey suit blazer on as well.

The guy seems vaguely startled to see Wei Ying. Wei Ying does a lazy wave at him as both the detectives sit down across the table from him.

“You are a very attractive man,” he tells the guy. He tries to see his id but it’s covered. “Please tell me you are not straight.”

The detective does not dignify that with a response. Mianmian tries hard but doesn’t quite succeed in hiding her small smile. At least he got a reaction out of someone.

“Now, have I seen you somewhere?” says Wei Ying, propping his face up on his hands. “You just seem so familiar.”

The guy opens his mouth and wow he has a beautiful voice. Deep but not too deep. Monotone but smooth and beautiful. Wei Ying almost misses his answer. “Yes.” He does not elaborate any further however and Mianmian cuts the silence.

“I believe we should be asking you the questions,” she says. “Last to last night, you called in a tip, didn’t you?”

“Yep. You guys arrested the store manager, right?”

“He had a partner.”

Wei Ying shakes his head. “So?”

Mianmian glances at the other detective, whose no doubt beautiful name Wei Ying still doesn’t know.

The guy speaks up. “Where were you on the night of the robbery?”

“You will have to elaborate which night that was.”

“Friday night. 10 p.m.”

“Oh. Let me think. I believe I was robbing a stereo shop.”

Mianmian’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. The guy moves his face very minutely but manages to glare at Wei Ying.

“I’m just kidding!” says Wei Ying hastily before his joke somehow gets taken as a confession. “I was, you know, just out there. Minding my own business. Honestly I don’t remember.”

“So you have no alibi,” says Miamian.

“Well, I was doing the same thing you guys were doing,” Wei Ying shoots back. “That is, not solving crime.”

“You are not helping your case, acting like that.”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that I was in the case,” says Wei Ying. He puts on his most frustrated high pitched voice. “Come on guys! I gave you your guy! You should thank me! You should give me a reward! Instead now you are trying to accuse me of being involved in the robbery after zero investigation.”

“The information you gave was too useful,” says the guy. “It could have only come from the inside.”

“Zero. Investigation,” Wei Ying repeats. “I have called in hundreds of tips over the past two years? Do you honestly think I have a hand in all of those crimes? How much crime-time do you think I can fit into my schedule?”

The detectives look at each other. Wei Ying can sense they are a bit uneasy by that too. He is just waiting for the moment he gets taken to the holding cell. Then the real fun will begin.

“We have looked into lots of stuff,” says Mianmian, turning her head back to look at him. She puts a file down on the table between them and opens it. “You are currently unemployed, you have never held a job for more than six months, you are living with your roommate, Mr. Cheng Jiang, who is no doubt paying the full rent of the apartment and you also have a criminal record.”

Wei Ying has to admit, it does not look very good.

“I was eighteen. They were bullies. I bullied them back.”

“By nearly killing them.”

“It got out of hand.” Wei Ying admits. “Look, I had a phase at eighteen alright? I’m sure lots of you had phases at eighteen!”

“You dropped out of high school,” says the guy, very quietly.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, is that in the file too? What does that have to do with anything?”

“You solved all these crimes, apparently, by watching the channel zero news,” says Mianmian. “It just seems a little too-”

“Genius?” says Wei Ying. “It’s not my fault that the police aren't nearly as talented as me. No offence.”

“None taken,” says Mianmian. The guy looks like he has taken a lot of offence. Wei Ying flashes a smile at him and he looks away with a little, hardly there, huff.

“So what, I’m your suspect now?”

“Lead suspect,” replies the guy.

“I can’t believe you did so little police work that you ended up with me as the lead suspect.”

“Mr. Wei,” Mianmian cuts in before the guy can say anything. “I think you should take this more seriously.” To her credit, she doesn’t sound mad, just professional.

“Well, what am I supposed to say then?”

“You can start with how you really ‘solved’ these crimes.”

Wei Ying does a perfectly timed hesitation and sees as both the detectives immediately latch onto it.

Hook.

“Well, sometimes I watch the channel five news,” says Wei Ying, shrugging his shoulders exaggeratedly. “They’ve got better coverage quite often.”

They both stare at him. Wei Ying smiles the smile that makes him look a little dumb and chooses his next words carefully. “What can I say, I really am a genius.”

Lan Zhan levels an icy stare at him.

Wait a minute. His id is still covered. Wei Ying couldn’t have read his name off his id.

So Wei Ying does know him.

Oh, Wei Ying suddenly remembers. He knows him very well. Another thing he can use.

“I know my rights,” says Wei Ying and gets up with just the right mixture of confidence and nervousness. “You can’t just keep me in here.”

Lan Zhan’s eyes narrow.

Line.

“Then you know you have the right to remain silent,” Lan Zhan begins, almost like a challenge, as Wei Ying reaches for the door. Ah, yes. Still competitive. Wei Ying suppresses a smile. He turns the knob of the door, hoping it’s still McNab outside. It is. Wei Ying is in luck today. “You have the right to an attorney.”

“Detective Lan,” Wei Ying hears Mianmian mutter.

“If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you,” Lan Zhan continues. “McNab, put him in a holding cell.”

McNab approaches Wei Ying.

“Okay fine!” he says, turning around to face the detectives, who have both gotten up to approach him as well. “I confess!”

McNab stops. Everyone in the room stops, expectant.

And sinker.

It’s time to have fun.

“I am a psychic,” says Wei Ying with a long suffering sigh.

Mianmian rolls her eyes and McNab resumes.

“Wait, no seriously!” he says. “I mean it! I solved all those crimes with my psychic abilities! I also psychically picked up Detective Luo’s nickname. Mianmian. You remember that, right Mianmian?”

“I think I saw you talk with Nie Huaisang,” says Mianmian. “He could have easily told you that. Nice try. Also don’t call me that. Only people very close to me are allowed to call me that.”

“I apologise. And no, Nie Huaisang did not tell me that! But I guess you will not believe me, will you?”

“We will not,” says Lan Zhan. “McNab.”

McNab nods at him and grabs Wei Ying. Wei Ying gives it a moment then stares at McNab with all the sincerity he could muster.

“Congratulations, Ronald,” says Wei Ying. “Hope you have a very happy and fulfilling married life.”

“Oh, thank you,” says McNab, politely. Then his eyes widen. “How did you know that?”

“I guess Nie Huaisang told me that too,” says Wei Ying with another theatrical sigh. “In all honesty buddy, it was a lucky guess. I only sensed that you are practising an important dance when you touched me right now. For the wedding reception, right? Good for you! You are improving!”

“You think so?” says McNab, biting his lip.

“Yeah! I can sense that you are doing your very best. It will pay off! Don’t worry.”

McNab looks at the detectives. “I didn’t tell Nie Huaisang about the dance.”

“Nie Nuaisang knows you are getting married,” says Lan Zhan. “Mr. Wei must have guessed that you are practising a dance for your wedding reception.”

“Detective Lan, does Nie Huaisang also know that you love bunnies? How much time did you two spend in high school together?”

“Wait, you both know each other? You and Nie Huaisang went to the same high school? You like bunnies?” says Mianmian, turning to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan doesn’t reply to any of those questions.

“You could have simply remembered who I am,” says Lan Zhan. “The bunnies were… a lucky guess.”

Mianmian gasps. “You do like bunnies then! I can finally buy you proper birthday gifts.”

“Detective Luo.”

“Right, sorry. Wait, did he go to the same high school as well?”

“Yep,” says Wei Ying. “Ah yes, Cloud Recesses. Lan Zhan’s uncle was the principal! Probably still is. I don’t know. I dropped out. Then I had my whole rebellious phase which gave me that criminal record. Then my psychic powers started showing. In fact, Lan Zhan, I sense that you have a teeny-tiny, more of an admiration thing really, crush on a commanding officer. The Chief, perhaps?”

Lan Zhan’s ears go red. Wei Ying congratulates himself on a risk well taken. He couldn’t have chosen anyone else for that crush thing because Lan Zhan– considering how hard to read he is– having a crush on Nie Mingjue would have been the most surprising compared to anyone else having it.

And it pays off. McNab stares at Lan Zhan with very big, round eyes. Mianmian looks like she is confused whether to gasp again or laugh. Both of their expressions scream Him? Detective Lan? Chief? Crush?

Nie Huaisang was right when he said everyone.

“McNab,” Lan Zhan repeats. McNab hesitates comically. Wei Ying has the urge to laugh out loud and ruin his scared-psychic act.

“Look, I understand this is all very… circumstantial. Let me prove it to you.”

Before anyone can reply, he closes his eyes and feigns deep concentration. Then he holds a hand up and starts counting 1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5 on his fingers. Stops at 5. Opens his eyes.

“Guy in holding cell five ,” he says out loud, brandishing his hand forward and almost smacking Mianmian square in the face. She quickly backs away. “Brought in for….um, smashing something, I’m sensing. Something he did out of anger and jealousy . The evidence to prove he is guilty will be in his…” Wei Ying shakes out his left foot and nearly topples over McNab. McNab holds him up firmly. “...his left shoe.”

“Wow,” says Mianmian. She shares a glance with Lan Zhan. “Alright, let’s check it out, I guess. McNab, make sure he stays inside this room.”

McNab nods. Lan Zhan and Mianmian leave.

Ten minutes later, Mianmian comes back. She tells him that he is free to go.

November 2, 19:30

“I’m sorry, so what you’re telling me is that you pretended to be a psychic in front of the cops for fun?” says Wei Changze.

Wei Ying shrugs. “They were about to arrest me for something I didn’t do.”

“You could have asked for a lawyer! And then got out easily after some hours!”

“They did offer me a lawyer, but I got kinda pissed at them so I fooled them all and escaped. It was fun to make the high and mighty cops let me go because I proved I was a psychic.” Wei Ying looks at Jiang Fengmian, who used to be a cop back in the day. “That doesn’t apply to you, of course, uncle.” Then he looks at his father, who also used to be a cop back in the day. “That does apply to you, dad.”

Wei Changze sighs and slumps down in his chair. “Everyday I wonder why you got all the genes from your mother.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Your mother did some highly irresponsible things, son. I loved her and I still do but I will be the first to admit that. Do you know what your little charade could have ended in if you got caught? They can prosecute you for hindering police investigation.”

“Big terms,” Wei Ying scoffs.

“It’s a criminal offence, a-Ying.”

“They are gonna avoid me forever dad. Don’t worry.”

“Changze, let it go,” says Jiang Fengmian, amiably. Wei Ying throws finger guns at him. Uncle is the best. “It’s a one time thing.”

“Everything’s a one time thing with him,” argues his dad. Wei Ying frowns. “He almost killed two guys when he was eighteen-”

“They were harassing shijie!”

“-and that was a one time thing. He drove a car without a licence-”

“I didn’t get caught for that!”

“Which obviously makes it okay, I guess?”

Wei Ying has no reply to that so he keeps quiet.

“Point is, Fengmian, one of these days his ‘one time thing’ is going to get him in serious trouble and we won’t be able to help him. You and Yanli spoil him too much.”

“I don’t know what’s the context, but I agree,” says Jiang Cheng, appearing out of fucking nowhere. He puts his briefcase down and settles into one of the chairs. “So, what’s the context?”

Wei Ying’s phone rings so he excuses himself as Wei Changze and Jiang Fengmian fill Jiang Cheng in. When he returns Jiang Cheng looks at Wei Ying with an expression of pure shock.

“You did what?”

“A-Cheng, I am sure dad embellished the story a little bit.”

“So you didn’t pretend to be a psychic in front of the cops for fun?”

“No, that’s exactly right. Did they tell you it was a one time thing?”

“That doesn’t make it okay!”

“So I’m about to make it okay! It’s not a one time thing anymore.”

Three pairs of horrified eyes look at him. Even uncle. That’s too bad.

“Wei Ying,” begins his dad and oh wow. Wei Ying and not a-Ying? Dad is serious serious. “Don’t tell me…”

“It was from the YLPD!” says Wei Ying, holding up his phone. “They want me to help them with a case using my psychic powers.”

“And you said…” says Jiang Cheng.

“Yes!”

All three of them groan.

November 2, 21:20

Jiang Cheng is sure he has made some good decisions in his life. Once upon a time.

Despite having a short fuse (he needs therapy for that, he knows, but therapy is ridiculously expensive) he is still somehow the less reckless one when it comes to him and Wei Ying. Wei Ying has a sunny disposition and once upon a time he used to be insanely jealous of how easily he seemed to handle everything and charm people and always stay happy.

Then he watched him nearly beat two guys to death and realised everyone has their own fuses, short or not.

Also Wei Ying does dangerously reckless things with his everpresent sunny disposition and makes stupid decisions at the drop of a hat. Point is, Jiang Cheng is sure he has made better decisions in his life. But the influence of Wei Ying catches up with you sooner or later and he finds himself here.

He is at the YLPD station. He still doesn’t know how this happened.

“It will be fun!”

“Your idea of fun is mildly concerning at best and life threatening at worst.”

“Oh come on. We’re meeting an old pal! Hey, Lan Zhan!”

A familiar guy with a familiar blank expression turns and looks at them.

“You brought me here to meet Lan Zhan? ” Jiang Cheng hisses at Wei Ying. He didn’t even know Lan Zhan worked for the YLPD. He would have happily spent his entire life not knowing that.

“Aren’t you happy to see him? Lan Zhan, you remember Jiang Cheng, right?”

Dear god, Jiang Cheng hopes Lan Zhan doesn’t remember him.

Lan Zhan nods, barely sparing him a glance. “I do. You shouldn’t be here, Wei Ying.”

“Oh, shouldn’t I? Are you telling me to disobey the Chief’s direct orders now?”

Lan Zhan doesn’t say anything. His scepticism, however, is so strong it doesn’t even need an eye roll to be expressed. Jiang Cheng is impressed. How does he give so much done with your shit Wei Ying vibes without moving any part of his face?

“Anyway, Huaisang! Nie Huaisang!”

Another familiar guy turns up at the scene and he smiles at them prettily and flaps out his fan. “Hey, Wei-xiong, Jiang-xiong. Long time no see!”

“Nie Huaisang,” says Jiang Cheng with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“His older brother is the Chief,” says Wei Ying.

“Oh. Well, congratulations.”

Nie Huaisang nods proudly. “Come, da-ge is waiting for you Wei-xiong!”

Lan Zhan- Detective Lan- speaks up.

“You should go in,” he says and maybe it’s just Jiang Cheng’s imagination but he seems pained to be saying these words. “If the Chief is expecting you, you should not keep him waiting.”

“Ah yes, the Chief, right Lan Zhan?”

Detective Lan’s ears go strangely pink. Behind him, another detective sitting at her desk giggles a little before coughing and assuming a poker face.

“Go,” says Detective Lan.

Jiang Cheng gets pulled along with Wei Ying despite his protests. Wei Ying seems convinced that the Chief is going to give him some big case but Jiang Cheng knows that he is probably just going to give him some minor case to check his ‘gift’ and then Wei Ying will get in trouble for faking the whole thing.

“Mr. Wei?” says Chief Nie.

Wei Ying nods. “Yes, sir!”

“And who is this?”

“Jiang Cheng,” says Jiang Cheng. Nie Mingjue’s whole stature and aura makes him want to bow, an urge he resists. “Wei Ying’s roommate and childhood friend.”

“We are practically brothers,” says Wei Ying.

Chief Nie doesn’t dwell on it much. “Whatever, he can be here if you want him to. Are you familiar with the McCallum family?”

Holy shit.

Wei Ying was right. This is a huge case.

The McCallum family owns like half the real estate in Yiling. McCallum textiles are a huge thing. And Jiang Cheng has read in the news about the sole male heir of the family going missing.

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng nod at the same time and share a glance. Chief Nie continues.

“Camdem McCallum Jr. was kidnapped seven days ago. He was last seen being forced into a Land Rover at the municipal dog park. No one has seen him or his dog since.”

“They took his dog?” says Jiang Cheng with great distress. Dogs deserve the best. They do not deserve to be kidnapped.

Beside him, Wei Ying’s face twists into a grimace at the mere mention of a dog.

“Yes. Now the feds are itching to jump on this case,” continues Chief Nie with a look of great irritation. Jiang Cheng thinks Chief Nie might give him a run for his money with that scowl. “We need to make progress. I need a miracle.” Chief Nie gives Wei Ying a once over, seemingly mostly unimpressed. “Or the facsimile of one. Heard about what you did. Apparently you are a psychic.”

“Damn right I am.”

“I have heard about your father, Mr. Wei. He was a cop. A very good one, in fact. You sure ‘psychic’ is the story you want to stick with?”

Wei Ying gives a dramatic gasp. Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“What do you mean by ‘story’? I will have you know, my psychic powers are one hundred percent legit!” Then he slumps down his shoulders. “But well, I don’t expect you to believe me. Nobody ever does. Except for my brother and sister. Right, a-Cheng?”

“Right,” Jiang Cheng manages to say with great reluctance.

“In fact!” Wei Ying steps closer to Chief Nie slowly, eyes fixed on his face. “I’m sensing…. Everyone in this department has a little bit of a crush on you.”

Chief Nie looks genuinely taken aback for a moment then sighs. “Did Huaisang put you up to that?”

“Who’s Huaisang? Oh wait!” Wei Ying shuts his eyes, nodding his head. “The spirits are telling me he is your brother. And he carries a fan. Quite the fashionista. Hey, Jiang Cheng is quite the fashionista himself! Maybe they will get along. Right, a-Cheng?”

Jiang Cheng glares at him. “Right.”

“I know you went to the same high school as my brother, Mr. Wei,” says Chief Nie. “I did the background check. Criminal record at eighteen.”

Wei Ying groans. “Not that again. I promise I am a better man now.”

“I saw the evidence of that case,” says Chief Nie, as if Wei Ying hasn’t spoken at all. His scowl is still there but it looks like an… impressed scowl? How can a scowl look impressed? “The video recording from the bystander. I’m impressed.”

Wei Ying blinks. “Come again?”

“Those guys deserved what they got is all I’m saying,” says Chief Nie. “But make no mistake, I don’t believe that you are a psychic for one second. However, that’s the explanation you have chosen to give us and it’s the one I will have to stick with. So I am hiring you, Mr. Wei, a supposed psychic, for this case.”

“Let’s discuss payment,” says Wei Ying eagerly. Chief Nie shuts him down immediately.

“You will get paid if you actually manage to bring anything to the case.” Jiang Cheng almost wants to laugh at how quickly Wei Ying’s face falls. “Also if you somehow manage to expose that you are not what you claim to be… Then this psychic scam gets punished. By the law.”

“Works for me,” says Wei Ying, completely chill. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng already has a list ten items long of how many ways this situation can go wrong. “Can I get any details on Camdem and his family?”

“Can’t you psychically figure it out?”

“The spirit world is only so giving, Chief,” says Wei Ying, looking appropriately sad. “Right, a-Chen-”

“Shut up.”

Wei Ying laughs. Jiang Cheng sees Chief Nie’s scowl deepen before he gives them the details of the case.

When they come out of the Chief’s office, Wei Ying gives the female detective a giant wink and calls for Detective Lan again to get his attention. Nie Huaisang joins their little party too.

“Detectives,” says Wei Ying solemnly, hands behind his back, “I’m afraid you will have to tolerate me tomorrow at the McCallum residence.”

Detective Lan’s brows furrow and the other detective looks surprised.

“Try to focus on your jobs tomorrow instead of fawning over me and my powers,” Wei Ying continues, voice completely serious. “I understand being in the vicinity of a person with such great powers might make you a little awe-struck, but remember that you will be on-duty.”

Jiang Cheng nudges Wei Ying to make him stop before Detective Lan decides to take out his gun and shoot him in the face.

Nie Huaisang whoops, throws his fan into the air and barely catches it when it comes down. “Show them, Wei-xiong!”

Detective Lan sets his jaw. “Wei Ying. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Yeah, Wei Ying,” says Jiang Cheng loudly. “It’s time for us to leave.”

“But-”

“Leave,” says Detective Lan, a fraction louder. Wei Ying chuckles and thankfully budges easily when Jiang Cheng pulls him out of the station.

“He’s kind of hot when he gets mad,” Wei Ying muses. Jiang Cheng pretends not to hear.

November 3, 09:18

“I can’t believe you made me get up so early,” says Wei Ying, yawning as Jiang Cheng drives him to the McCallum residence. “Why do you even care about this case so much?”

“You were supposed to be at the residence at nine,” says Jiang Cheng. “You are already late.”

“What, you’re my babysitter now?”

“Don’t act like you don’t need one.”

Wei Ying scoffs and shifts into a more comfortable position. “Wake me up when we reach.”

He has barely shut his eyes when a hand lands on his gut and he straightens with a wince. “What the hell?”

“You did some research last night, didn’t you? On the case?”

“Jiang Cheng, psychics don’t do research. They pick up on spiritual vibrations and-”

“I am going to kill you right now. We are on the outskirts of the city and there are forests everywhere around us. No one will know.”

“Well damn, okay.” Wei Ying rolls his eyes. “This is because of the dog, right?”

Jiang Cheng says nothing.

“It is, isn’t it? I can’t understand why or how you love those little menaces so much.”

“You are a fine one to speak. You are a little menace yourself.”

“Aw, are you saying you love me too?”

Jiang Cheng blindly reaches out with his hand to hit Wei Ying again, eyes thankfully on the road. Wei Ying wheezes and smacks his hand away. “Okay, okay, no need to get violent. Yes, I did research. And I’m sure this is not just a simple ransom situation. The ransom call hasn’t even come yet. Camdem McCallum got involved in something bad, I know it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Come on, it’s Camdem McCallum. Eighteen months ago he ran his fathers boat into the Mow Bay Aquarium. It was all over the papers. Right after he got caught with that hockey player’s wife, remember? And that was right after the whole social media scandal. The guy hadn’t been out of the papers for five fucking years. Always some new drama. And then eighteen months ago, this boat thing happened and suddenly there was radio silence from him. No news story, nothing. Not even a little drunk driving. You really think he just straightened his act so easily? No, something happened.”

Jiang Cheng hums. “Possibly.”

“I’m sure of it. Anyway, that’s all my research gave me. Now I’m gonna sleep.”

“We’re there,” says Jiang Cheng, pulling up to a legitimate mansion. “Sorry Wei Ying. No sleep for you I guess.”

He cackles as he gets out of the car and Wei Ying curses, wishing he had some coffee for this at least.

November 3, 09:30

“Are you serious right now?” says Jiang Cheng, watching with despair as Wei Ying digs through the multiple garbage cans. “You are the worst detective I have ever seen. What are you even looking for?”

“Jiang Cheng, shhh.”

The audacity. Jiang Cheng itches to call his mom and hand the phone over to Wei Ying.

“Listen Jiang Cheng, you can learn a lot from what people throw away. Who knows, maybe Camdem’s sister got annoyed by the whole patriarchal ‘my-son-will-inherit-all-my-fortune’ nonsense and got rid of him.”

“And you are going to prove that by looking through the trash,” says Jiang Cheng, adding a sarcastic clap at the end. Something Wei Ying pulls out catches his eye and he stops. “Woah, hold on.”

“What?” Wei Ying peers at the empty silver packet in his hand. “Dog food?”

“Berenson’s brand,” says Jiang Cheng. “Best in the market. No additives, no preservatives and ridiculously expensive.”

“Let’s go inside the house and steal some for your imaginary dog.”

Jiang Cheng would smack him if Wei Ying currently didn’t have his arms elbow deep inside the trash. He doesn’t want to touch him right now.

“Fuck off,” is what Jiang Cheng settles for.

Wei Ying goes back to his apparently newfound hobby of digging through other people’s trash and frowns. “Wait a minute.”

“What? You found something?”

“Sort of. Three of these dog food packets are here.”

“So?”

“Who needs to open three at the same time?”

“Rich people who love to waste money. Can we go now?”

Wei Ying seems thoughtful as he finally leaves the trash alone. “Nah, something doesn’t add up.”

Jiang Cheng lets him be and they both enter the house.

As soon as they enter, Detective Luo (Jiang Cheng finally managed to read the name off her id) informs Wei Ying that the sketch artist is there and waiting to see him.

“The Chief insisted on having the artist here,” says Detective Luo. “In case you get a psychic vision of who the kidnapper is.”

Jiang Cheng remembers how Chief Nie told them last night that he doesn’t believe in Wei Ying’s supposed psychic powers at all. He wonders if this is a joke or if it is meant to scare Wei Ying.

“I will be with them in a sec,” says Wei Ying. “But first, can I get a psychic reading on the victim’s family?”

Detective Luo smiles a little. “Who do you wanna talk to? Mr. McCallum is out right now so pick anyone else.”

“Is Camdem’s sister here?”

Detective Luo nods. “I will send Katarina McCallum to you.” Then she pauses. “Hope you get a good psychic reading on her.”

She leaves and Jiang Cheng looks at Wei Ying. “None of them believe you, do they?”

“Nope,” says Wei Ying, completely unbothered. “But the only way they can prove I am not a psychic is if I tell them. And you can rest assured, I will never do that.”

“Whatever. Katarina’s coming this way,” says Jiang Cheng. “Try not to flirt too shamelessly.”

“You ask me to do impossible things, Jiang Cheng.”

As soon as Katarina arrives, Jiang Cheng moves away from them a little to avoid hearing their conversation. He wants no part in this.

He catches snippets of their conversation. Wei Ying does some psychic bullshit, tells Katarina everything’s going to be okay then literally asks if she is currently in a relationship. God. Jiang Cheng moves away further.

After a while Wei Ying comes back looking pleased. “Good news, she isn’t in a relationship.”

Jiang Cheng stares at him. “Are we really here for you to flirt with the victim’s sister?”

“Not originally but it’s a bonus I guess.”

“I’m done, you can handle this on your own,” says Jiang Cheng, about to leave. Wei Ying grabs him by the arm.

“Hey, hey, chill. Look, I did get a ‘reading’ on her. She seems like a genuine person. Remember when I said that she might have tried to get rid of her brother? Well I am sure that theory’s wrong.”

Jiang Cheng sighs. “People can act, Wei Ying.”

“Well, then she is a terrific actor. Also she hasn’t been in a relationship for over a year. Which means that we can rule out the possibility of someone Katarina is dating or dated having kidnapped Camdem under the guise of a relationship.”

“Why would you suspect any potential partner of Katarina having done this?”

“Because, Jiang Cheng, it’s not that easy to kidnap filthy rich people. It has to be someone who knows a good deal about the family and not just through research on the internet.”

The argument does make sense. Jiang Cheng calms down.

“Now let’s go see that sketch artist,” says Wei Ying.

“Whom are you even going to describe?”

“Don’t know yet. It will come to me.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and goes with Wei Ying to the sketch artist.

November 3, 10:30

“Wei Ying, what are you doing?”

Wei Ying looks up from the sketchpad to see Lan Zhan towering over him.

“Hey Lan Zhan! Here, have a seat.”

Lan Zhan continues to not have a seat. “You were supposed to describe the kidnapper with your powers.”

“I will get to that! Look, currently I and Mo Xuanyu are having a friendly competition of who can draw you better.”

“Draw me?” says Lan Zhan and his eyes focus on the sketchpad in Wei Ying’s hand. Then he looks over to Mo Xuanyu’s sketchpad.

“I think Mr. Wei is good enough to be a sketch artist himself,” says Mo Xuanyu reverently. “In fact, he is better than me. Look at his sketch! It looks exactly like you.”

Wei Ying smiles at Mo Xuanyu and holds up his sketchpad for Lan Zhan to see. “There you go Lan Zhan. Have a look. Which one do you like better, mine or Mo Xuanyu’s?”

“This is a waste of department money,” says Lan Zhan. “You were supposed to describe the kidnapper.”

Wei Ying brings his sketchpad down with a pout. “The spirits don’t just give me whatever I want, Lan Zhan. Sometimes it takes time. Who knows, maybe sketching like this will help the spirits get into the… spirit of helping me out.” Wei Ying grins. “You see what I did there?”

Lan Zhan stares at him for a while.

“You are an amazing model by the way,” says Wei Ying, getting up from the couch. “You are pretty and you can stay still for long periods of time.”

Lan Zhan keeps staring. Wei Ying sighs and hands the sketchbook over to Mo Xuanyu, thanking him for letting him use it.

“Fine, fine. I am leaving. I will come back when I get a psychic premonition or vision or something.” Wei Ying walks away, muttering “spoilsport” under his breath.

“What the fuck was that?” Jiang Cheng hisses when Wei Ying reaches him. Wei Ying pulls him along so that they can leave the McCallum residence. “You had some sort of dual sketching activity with the sketch artist and then you seemed to piss off Detective Lan all over again. What exactly is your game plan here?”

“I observed,” says Wei Ying. Jiang Cheng scoffs. “No, really! I did.”

“What exactly did you observe?”

“Apart from Katarina, the only members of Camdem’s family present here are Camdem’s mother and some aunt, possibly from his mother’s side because Camdem’s mother seemed very close with her. I caught parts of their conversation and it seems as if Camdem really did straighten his act during these eighteen months.”

“How does that help us?”

“Well, even if Camdem only pretended to get his act together, you would think someone in his family knows about that, right? My theory is whatever happened to Camdem has to be related to something from eighteen months ago. It is just showing results now. In fact, I have a very nice theory. Wanna hear it?”

“Why not, I guess.”

“Let’s go to your car. I want some privacy for this.”

Jiang Cheng shrugs. As they come out of the mansion, an elderly man in a long-sleeved shirt and an overcoat in hand arrives, looking stressed and harried. He is just about to enter when Wei Ying makes a guess and calls for him. “Mr. McCallum?”

The man stops and looks at him. “Yes?”

“Hello, I am Wei Ying. I am a psychic hired by the YLPD for this case.”

Mr. McCallum looks sceptical. “They hired a psychic?”

“My powers are very unique and useful, I assure you,” says Wei Ying politely. “I truly hope your son gets back home safe and sound.”

Mr. McCallum’s face falls and he gulps. “Yeah, I hope so too. I can only hope anymore. Let me know if I can help you in any way.”

“Actually I do have a question,” says Wei Ying. “How did Camdem feel about his dog?”

Mr. McCallum shrugs. “Well, he loved that thing. Never went anywhere without it.”

“Thank you,” says Wei Ying. “I will try to connect with the dog on the spiritual plane. Maybe it can help us. Animals are much more attuned to psychic vibrations than humans, you know?”

Mr. McCallum nods politely but looks entirely unconvinced.

“Really? Your great question was if he liked his dog?” says Jiang Cheng as soon as McCallum is gone.

“Jiang Cheng, please. I’m making progress.”

“And what progress is that?”

“Think about it,” says Wei Ying and gestures toward Jiang Cheng’s car. Jiang Cheng unlocks it. They both get in. “Camdem McCallum loved his dog. Never went anywhere without it. The dog got kidnapped along with him. And we found three packets of expensive dog food in the trash.”

“Will you just get to the point?”

“I think I know who kidnapped Camdem.”

“Who?”

“Nobody.”

Jiang Cheng groans and lets his head fall back on the headrest. “Great. Nobody. Call the Chief. Tell him we imagined the whole thing. All of Yiling had a collective hallucination of Camdem McCallum Jr. getting kidnapped and missing for over a week.”

“Jiang Cheng, you are not listening. I didn’t say he is not missing. I said nobody kidnapped him.”

Jiang Cheng lifts his head suddenly. “You’re saying he did it himself?”

Wei Ying nods. “Quite possibly he staged it for the ransom money. His one and half year streak of sudden good behaviour would make sense then. He didn’t want anyone to suspect him. In fact I wouldn’t have suspected him either if I hadn’t seen those dog food packets.”

Jiang Cheng nods. “He opened the packets to store it somewhere else and take it with him to wherever he is hiding. It’s an expensive brand, way too noticeable, so he can’t take it in the brand packaging and throw it out with the trash there…wherever he is.”

Wei Ying nods. “Exactly! You get it. But I have no idea where he might be hiding.”

“With a friend maybe? Camdem’s friends were all as bad as him, they just made the news less often.”

“Who do you think will know about Camdem’s friends the best?”

Jiang Cheng takes some time to ponder on it. “I don’t know. His father? Wait, his sister. Same generation; will probably know a great deal about all his friends.”

Wei Ying grins. “His sister, you say?”

Jiang Cheng looks at Wei Ying then rolls his eyes and hits his head on the headrest again. “No. Not again.”

“Hey, it’s for the case!”

“Well, do not bring her to our place. I do not want to have to sanitise the whole place again.”

“First of all, I did not have sex with Mina on the couch that day. I made sure of it. Second of all, I’m not going to sleep with her! Her brother is missing! I am just going to talk with her a little.”

“Good luck,” says Jiang Cheng, as if he is cursing him out. “I’m out.”

November 4, 07:56

The doorbell rings. Jiang Cheng opens the door. Wei Ying is standing outside.

“Malcolm Orso!” he says brightly.

“You realise you have a damn key, right? Why did you ring the bell?”

“So that you will open the door and I can do my dramatic reveal. Malcolm. Orso.”

“What about him?” says Jiang Cheng, going back inside the apartment. Wei Ying can bloody well follow and shut the door himself. “Who even is he?”

“Let’s sit down. I will show you the pictures.”

“Pictures?”

“Yep. From Katarina McCallum’s room.”

“Ugh.” Jiang Cheng gags as he sits down at the dining table. “Spare me the details of that please.”

“Dude, we legit just talked.”

Jiang Cheng raises one eyebrow and keeps it raised until Wei Ying gives in.

“Fine, we made out a little.”

“There it is.”

“Anyway. Point is, she told me loads of interesting stuff. For example, eighteen months ago, Mr. McCallum threatened to cut Camdem off if he didn’t stop making headlines for the wrong reasons.”

“Eighteen months.”

“Yep. That time period is coming up quite often, don't you think? Camdem didn’t offer to clean up his act voluntarily. No, daddy threatened to cut him off permanently. From everything. Which includes inheritance.”

“Daddy? Really?”

Wei Ying pays him no heed and pulls out his phone. “Now, I saw some pictures of Camdem and his friends. I couldn’t exactly steal them but I did secretly take pictures of them. This is Camdem’s gang of friends.”

Wei Ying shows Jiang Cheng a couple of pictures of six or seven boys, including Camdem, on his phone. They look like they had been taken on vacation trips.

“The one on the far right here?” says Wei Ying, zooming in on one of the pictures. “That’s Malcolm Orso. Camdem’s longest friend. Also the only friend who didn’t end up going to rehab.”

“Oof.”

“I know. Malcolm hasn’t been seen with Camdem for very long. Guess how many months.”

“Eighteen months,” says Jiang Cheng slowly, the wheels in his head turning. “So Malcolm definitely helped Camdem with the fake kidnapping and is also probably keeping him somewhere.”

“All of the McCallum family’s cabins and farmhouses and whatnots have been checked by the police,” says Wei Ying. “But nobody has any reason to believe that Malcolm could be helping at all. I bet Camdem and Malcolm are at one of the Orso family’s cabins. In fact, see this picture?”

Wei Ying swipes and shows him one of the pictures of Camdem’s friend group that Jiang Cheng has already seen. “This is taken at Orso’s cabin. Apparently young Camdem and young Malcom used to spend all their summers here.”

“This is good,” says Jiang Cheng, taking the phone and observing the picture carefully. “You know where this cabin is?”

“A little town just outside of Yiling,” says Wei Ying. “Not far from the McCallum residence.”

“Did you get to know that from Katarina as well?”

“Oh no, no. She would have gotten suspicious if I asked about that and I don’t think she would have taken kindly to me suggesting that Camdem staged the whole thing. No, I did my research. The Orsos are not as rich or famous as the McCallums but they are plenty rich. And Malcolm has appeared in the papers next to his best friend a few times. It gave me some material to check up on and I found the address.”

“Well then,” says Jiang Cheng. “We should go check out this place.”

“Eh,” says Wei Ying, suddenly falling back in his chair and slouching so much he is barely in the chair. “Let’s just call the Chief and tell him I got a very strong feeling and describe random things I got from my ‘vision’ like highway and cabin and Orso and hope they are smart enough to find out the rest themselves.”

“We can’t do that! We need to check for certain if Camdem and Malcolm are really there. If by any chance they aren’t at the cabin then you will be basically telling the Chief that your powers are fake. You know that won’t end well.”

“The worst they can accuse me of is having a hyperactive imagination.”

Jiang Cheng carefully eyes Wei Ying. “This is about the dog, isn’t it?”

“Yes of course it’s about the dog!” says Wei Ying, sitting up. “Those things are ferocious and deadly.” He slams his hand down on the table to punctuate his point.

“Dude. It’s a dog. A pet dog. ‘Deadly’ my ass.”

Wei Ying looks away and crosses his arms over his chest petulantly.

“Fine, let’s take your binoculars. We will check on the cabin from far away. Sounds good?”

Wei Ying cheers up. “Oh yes! Let’s do that!”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and goes to get dressed.

November 4, 09:12

“Not worth it,” says Jiang Cheng. Wei Ying turns to see he has gotten scratched by yet another branch. “Totally not worth it. This sucks. Why did I insist we come here?”

“Maybe you won’t get scratched so much if you learn how to dodge and duck a little,” says Wei Ying. “Like, what are you doing? You are walking like you are on a fashion runway. Step lighter, crouch a little, keep your eyes on the floor instead of keeping your head high and stomping through a forest.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” says Jiang Cheng, fighting for his life against a bush. His hair is sticking out in every direction. Wei Ying wonders how that even happened. “I hate this. I hate this so much.”

“Ooh, I can see the cabin,” says Wei Ying. There is a lake between where they are and the cabin. The cabin is a dark brown thing in the distance. Wei Ying lifts his binoculars to his eyes.

“Can’t believe the police didn’t check this place out,” says Wei Ying. “I know Malcolm and Camdem stopped appearing in public together but someone in the family should have been suspicious, right? Camdem is not exactly the goody-two-shoes type. But no, apparently everyone in the family is a dumbfuck. Jiang Cheng, are you done struggling yet?”

In response, Wei Ying has his binoculars snatched away.

“I must say though, great plan by Camdem. He deserves to be commended. I wonder if he is as attractive in real life as he appears to be in pictures.”

“Oh yeah, flirting with his sister wasn’t enough. You gotta flirt with the brother too. The actual criminal, if he is in this cabin.”

“Of course I do. Technically, I am a criminal too.”

“You got a reduced sentence dumbass because the guys you assaulted harassed a-jie first.”

“I got a sentence nevertheless. Camdem and I can be the perfect couple. We can just be gay and do crimes and live in this cabin.”

“The cabin belongs to Orso.”

“We will kick him out after Camdem realises I am far more attractive than anyone named Malcolm could ever be.”

“That makes no sense- Holy shit!”

“What?”

“It’s the dog. It’s Camdem’s dog!”

“Fuck,” says Wei Ying. “We did it! We solved it!”

“Okay, let’s call the Chief,” says Jiang Cheng, putting down the binoculars. “Tell them we found-”

“Oh no,” says Wei Ying, snatching the binoculars back. “No, no, no, Jiang Cheng. We gotta have more fun with this.”

“What?” Jiang Cheng’s tone is filled with dread. His eyes are filled with dread. Wei Ying gives him his most impish smile.

“I can't just tell them that I did actual detective work. No, I gotta tell them that I got a vision and lead them here and act surprised when I find the cabin. ‘It’s exactly what I saw!’ I will say with amazement. ‘Sometimes I’m scared of my own power.’ Then Lan Zhan would realise he made a terrible judgement call regarding me and tearfully confess how painfully attractive he finds me and we will make out. Everyone else will stand in a circle surrounding us and clap and I will be officially recognised as a psychic.”

Jiang Cheng has already turned and started walking away leaving Wei Ying to chase after him.

“If you don’t like that plan, we can tweak it a little to suit your likes!”

“How about I just claim that I am not affiliated with you in any way?”

November 4, 11:48

Mianmian finds herself making way through a forest with the strangest company possible.

Well, having Lan Zhan walking with her is not that strange. They have staked out strange places together quite often. Comes with the job. But having Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng along with them? Now that was strange.

At least Wei Ying is a psychic. Or claims to be one. Mianmian doesn’t know whether to believe it. Lan Zhan certainly does not. He has expressed that clearly to Mianmian through words and his general propensity to glare at Wei Ying whenever he is around.

Jiang Cheng however? He is apparently just coming along for the ride. He is also cursing out the plants around him with violent and concerning passion.

They are here because Wei Ying had a vision which he and Jiang Cheng came running to share with them at the YLPD station.

Lan Zhan and Mianmian then shared a glance which basically meant: “Chief hired Wei Ying himself so we better listen to what theories… or visions Wei Ying has to share with us.”

So they all got in Lan Zhan’s car, Lan Zhan driving and Wei Ying riding shotgun because he was leading them. Wei Ying would rub his temples with his fingers and give random instructions which the rest of them would have to decode. It led them to a highway road. It led them to a town just outside of Yiling. All throughout the process, Jiang Cheng settled in the backseat beside Mianmian, scowling like a disgruntled cat.

Mianmian noticed the broken twig attached to Jiang Cheng’s shoe.

Mianmian decided not to mention it.

Now Wei Ying loudly asks if anyone has any binoculars. Mianmian and Lan Zhan didn’t and unsurprisingly, Wei Ying magically finds some in his pocket.

“Forgot I put them here, haha,” says Wei Ying and lifts the binoculars to his eyes. “Now let me see, it must be somewhere around here…. my vision…”

Mianmian and Lan Zhan lean toward each other. “They’ve been here before,” they say at the same time. Wei Ying is too busy acting and Jiang Cheng is still too mad at the vegetation for either of them to notice.

“Here, Lan Zhan!” says Wei Ying, handing his binoculars to Lan Zhan. “Tell me if you see something.”

Mianmian holds in her laugh at the look Lan Zhan shoots Wei Ying. He does lift the binoculars to his eyes and move forward to take a good look though.

“What exactly am I looking for?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Thanks, Mr. Wei. That helps a lot,” says Mianmian.

“My vision… it-it spoke of deception and greed…”

“Am I supposed to look for deception and greed through these binoculars?” says Lan Zhan, clearly close to gritting his teeth.

“Patience, detective! I am trying, just give me a second…uh, dead trees.”

“Dead trees?” says Mianmian.

“Dead trees for a vacation!”

Mianmian stares at Wei Ying. Lan Zhan actually puts the binoculars down to stare at Wei Ying as well. There is silence for a few seconds.

Jiang Cheng sighs. “Maybe he is talking about a cabin. Made of wood, so dead trees. A cabin, so made for a vacation.”

“Jiang Cheng, you are so smart!” says Wei Ying. “I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t around to decipher my visions.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes so hard that it looks painful.

“I see a cabin across the lake,” says Lan Zhan. “How is this relevant to the case?”

“Deception and greed, Lan Zhan.”

“Wei Ying-” Lan Zhan stops abruptly. “I can see Camdem McCallum’s dog.”

“What! Are you sure?” says Mianmian, moving closer to the lake to get a better look.

“Yes. It matches the pictures we have of the dog. Camdem McCallum is here, probably of his own volition.”

Mianmian looks at Wei Ying, who looks highly satisfied.

“Deception,” says Mianmian. “Camdem McCallum faked his kidnapping. And greed for the ransom money.”

Wei Ying’s smile widens and he winks. Mianmian shakes her head, impressed despite herself.

“Detective Luo, call for backup,” says Lan Zhan.

“On it.”

November 4, 13:05

“Man, I can’t believe they didn’t let me enter,” says Wei Ying, sighing. He is leaning against one of the random YLPD cars, wistfully staring at the cabin mere metres away from him. Beside him, Jiang Cheng is furiously doing something on his phone. “The best part is over. The dudes must have been arrested already. What are they even doing in there, right now? Interrogating them before they are even taken to the station? That doesn’t seem right.”

Jiang Cheng looks up from his phone with a pained expression. “Wei Ying, shut up. I missed work for two days and now I have to finish a thousand tasks by midnight. Half of the day is already gone. I haven’t had lunch. I’m hungry and scratched up and miserable. Can’t I go home now?”

“Jiang Cheng, no! You know there is a dog here! You have to protect me!”

“Oh come on, the dog won’t do shit.”

Wei Ying decides to leave out some choice words he has about the dog. All dogs actually.

“Mianmian and Lan Zhan must be having all the fun right now,” he says gloomily. “ I found them, for fuck’s sake.”

“They are the cops, not you.”

“Yet I cracked the case and they couldn’t.”

An officer comes up to Wei Ying and tells him that he can enter now. Wei Ying jumps up. Jiang Cheng comes along as well.

Then the blasted dog appears in front of them, barking ferociously at them.

Wei Ying screams and hides behind Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng, the psycho, bends down to scratch the dog between its ears all lovingly.

“Watch out, that thing could be vicious!”

“Oh yeah,” says Jiang Cheng, tone choke-full of sarcasm. “It’s diabolical with its calculated decoy tail wagging.”

“There is blood on its whiskers!” Wei Ying hisses.

“That must be some snack, not blood. Or maybe he just had a fight with a random forest animal. Calm the fuck down.”

Wei Ying skirts by the dog and Jiang Cheng on tiptoes and makes a run for it in the direction of the cabin.

It’s time to act. He puts on his most surprised-pikachu face.

“Oh my god, it’s just like I saw it!” he proclaims, walking up the short flight of stairs to the entrance of the cabin.

Mianmian is at the entrance, apparently waiting for him. “I thought your vision was of ‘deception’ and ‘greed.’”

“It was also of dead trees for a vacation.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t dead people for a vacation?”

“What do you mean?” says Wei Ying with a scoff, entering the cabin. Mianmian follows closely behind. “Oh. I see what you mean.”

Two dead bodies and a terrible smell greet him inside the cabin. Wei Ying no longer has to pretend to be surprised.

Wei Ying quickly assesses everything.

1: Camdem face down on the floor, blood pooling under his head.

2: Malcolm sitting on a chair, at the table, hand with a piston resting on the table and blood-soaked shirt. The bullet seems to have hit him square in the middle of his chest.

3: A thin line of blood on one corner edge of the table. Camdem must have hit his head on that table.

4: Mug lying on the floor, a little distance away from the table. Something, most probably coffee, has spilled out of it.

The obvious explanation is that Malcolm and Camdem got into a fight and Camdem accidentally died. Then Malcolm shot himself.

Jiang Cheng walks in smiling, apparently in a good mood. It doesn’t last long. His smile drops remarkably fast when he sees the bodies.

“Great, now I will have nightmares,” Wei Ying hears Jiang Cheng mutter loud enough for everyone to hear and promptly stomps out.

“Good job, Mr. Wei,” says Chief Nie. “Once we get back to the station, we will make sure you get paid for your invaluable services.”

Payment is the last thing on Wei Ying’s mind but he nods anyway.

November 4, 18:33

“Wei-xiong, congratulations!” says Nie Huaisang, clapping eagerly. Mianmian joins in a little too but Lan Zhan, right behind Huaisang, stays quiet and still. Wei Ying laughs and tugs Lan Zhan forward.

“Won’t you congratulate me, Detective Lan?” says Wei Ying, ducking his head a little and blinking up at Lan Zhan through his eyelashes. “After all, it was my powers that helped solve this case.”

“It was your powers that solved the case at all. Thank you,” says Mianmian. She steps forward and nudges Lan Zhan’s arm a little. “Don’t be rude, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Zhan says nothing. He looks down pointedly where Wei Ying still has his forearm in a grasp. Wei Ying smiles and doesn’t let go.

“Not until you compliment me,” says Wei Ying.

Mianmian nudges Lan Zhan again. “You are acting like Zixuan,” she complains. “It won’t kill you to acknowledge that Wei Ying did a good job. Usually, you have more manners than this.”

“Detective Luo,” says Lan Zhan.

“Don’t ‘Detective Luo’ me right now, Lan Zhan. Go ahead, thank him.”

Lan Zhan inhales, as if steeling himself. Then: “Wei Ying, you gave invaluable input to this case.”

“That’s not a thank you,” says Wei Ying, narrowing his eyes playfully. “But you know what, I will take it.” He lets go of Lan Zhan’s arm. “Mainly because the case isn’t solved yet.”

Mianmian and Huaisang’s smiles drop at the same time. Lan Zhan’s gaze sharpens.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“Who is Zixuan, by the way?” Wei Ying asks Mianmian. “Your boyfriend?”

“No. Not exactly,” says Mianmian, looking flabbergasted. “Mr. Wei, what do you mean by-”

“Oh come on, not ‘Mr. Wei’ again! I thought you called me Wei Ying just moments ago! Please don’t be so formal, I hate it.”

“Wei Ying,” says Lan Zhan. “What did you mean by ‘the case isn’t solved’?”

“It means there is more to it than it seems like,” says Wei Ying. “Oh look, the Chief is calling me. Gotta go, bye! I will tell him the rest.”

Wei Ying skips off to Chief Nie’s office and enters.

“Mr. Wei,” says Chief Nie and gives him an actual smile. Wei Ying almost feels bad that he is about to bring that perpetual scowl on his face back again. “Thank you for helping us with this case. Here is your-”

“You are making a mistake,” says Wei Ying.

Chief Nie blinks. “Excuse me?”

“Probably not the best way I could have started that, I realise.” Wei Ying sits down on one of the chairs and makes himself comfortable. “I meant the case. It isn’t closed yet.”

“It is,” says Chief Nie. “Orso-”

“Yes, yes, murder and suicide, I got it. But are you seriously buying that?”

There it is, the signature scowl. Chief Nie sits down on his chair. “I’m not buying anything. Those are the facts. Orso and Camdem had a falling out. It resulted in Camdem’s death and Malcolm killing himself to avoid charges.”

“ Before they got the ransom money? What possible reason could they have to fight before they got hold of the money? The money they went to such great lengths for?”

“Just to remind you, Mr. Wei,” says Chief Nie. “You are not the cop here. I am. And I say the case is closed. End of discussion.”

Wei Ying pauses, trying to think of a new strategy. “Will it make any difference if I said that Malcolm Orso spoke to me?”

Chief Nie glares at him.

“...from beyond the grave?”

“Shut the door on your way out,” says Chief Nie. He practically throws the envelope at Wei Ying. “And here is your payment. Now get out, I have other things to do.”

Wei Ying grimaces, picks up the envelope and gets up.

“Orso said ‘It wasn’t me’ by the way.”

“Leave, Mr. Wei.”

Wei Ying leaves.

November 4, 19:22

“They wouldn’t let me talk to the Mccallum family!” comes a voice and the sound of a door being shut quite aggressively. Wei Ying is home.

Jiang Cheng walks out of his room. He has been working for a few hours straight at his laptop and he needs this refresher anyway. “What?”

“Chief Nie and the detectives,” says Wei Ying, sulkily. He flings off his shoes and stomps to the kitchen. “They wouldn’t let me talk to the family. Something about ‘the McCallum family has been through enough, they don’t need a crazed psychic on their case’ blah blah blah.”

“What do you need to talk to them for? The case is closed.”

“No, it’s not,” says Wei Ying, shouting from the kitchen. “They got the wrong guy. Or no guy, since the guys are dead. Anyway. Point is, someone else killed them.”

“What the fuck are you on about?”

“Think about it! Why would they get into a fight before they got the ransom money? They are greedy, Jiang Cheng. They are the definition of greedy. And you expect me to believe that they simply forgot about the money and got into a fight? Camdem started fighting the very guy who is helping him with his fool-my-family-so-that-I-can-get-the-easy-money plan? Malcolm started fighting the guy who was about to give him a large sum of money? It doesn’t make sense.”

Wei Ying comes out with a snack in hand. “Also I don’t know when exactly the guys died but I have a feeling-”

“Wen Qing told me it most probably has been over a week.”

Wei Ying blinks, takes a bite of his snack. “Who’s Wen Qing?”

“Someone from the forensics team. Seemed like she was the head or at least someone of high importance within the team. She told me that it has most likely been a week or more after doing a quick check of the bodies.”

“When did you even talk to this person?”

“When we were outside the cabin and you were busy hiding behind Detective Lan everytime the dog was within a ten feet radius of you.”

Wei Ying grins as he takes another bite. “Ah, yes. Good memories. I got a good feel of his arms by the way. Detective Lan Zhan has very, very nice arms. Could pick me up easily.”

“Can you please not thirst over him right now?”

Wei Ying seems to not have heard. “Ah, it’s the dream you know? Lan Zhan is strong. Must have amazing stamina too.”

Jiang Cheng groans and facepalms. He doesn’t want to hear any of this.

“Okay, but see? That’s what my point is.”

“That Detective Lan is strong?”

“No. That it most probably has been over a week of Camdem and Orso being dead. It has been just over a week of Camdem getting fake kidnapped as well. So basically we are supposed to believe that the two of them got into a fight right after their plan commenced. Which doesn’t make sense at all! They had eighteen months to plan this thing and suddenly they threw violent fits and tried to kill each other? They waited for eighteen months , Jiang Cheng! And they couldn’t wait a few more days?”

Jiang Cheng says nothing. Wei Ying, unfortunately, does make sense.

“Even if what you are saying is true, you don’t need to get involved anymore,” says Jiang Cheng. Wei Ying gawks at him. “I mean it. You have already just narrowly avoided getting into trouble for the psychic thing. Neither of the detectives seemed to believe that you just had a vision of the cabin. Detective Lan kept glaring at you-”

“That was only because I kept dirtying his pristine clothes every time I grabbed him to avoid that monster.”

“-and I have no doubt Chief Nie will actually prosecute you if you bother them anymore. You have done your thing. Now drop it. Let it be.”

“Aw, Jiang Cheng, you do care about me!” says Wei Ying, looking delighted. He takes one last bite of his snack and dusts off his hands. Jiang Cheng opens his mouth to refute all such ridiculous claims of him caring about Wei Ying but Wei Ying speaks first. “Too bad it’s not gonna make a difference.”

“Don’t you dare. I will call-”

“Who? Your dad? He will only encourage me to do the right thing. And I am doing the right thing by bringing justice to the actual culprit! My dad? He will scold me a little but I will ignore it and he will give in anyway when uncle tells him to let me do the right thing. Your mom? She will either not care or be happy that I am possibly getting into more trouble, as long as I don’t involve you. And I won’t anymore. And my mom is dead!” He pauses. “I probably shouldn’t sound so happy about that. I am not happy that she is dead, I am just happy that she can’t stop me. Although, theoretically, if she was alive… Well, dad does say that she was a lot like me. She would not-”

“A-jie.”

Wei Ying stops, eyes widening. “No. No. You wouldn’t. ”

“Oh yes, I would. She spoils you just as badly as dad, but she will absolutely not stand for you getting into trouble like this. You know that. And the best part is, you can’t say no to her. You are physically incapable of saying no to her.”

“Jiang Cheng, put your phone away. Jiang Cheng! Don’t call her, I swear to-”

Wei Ying leaps forward, trying to snatch his phone away and Jiang Cheng avoids his attacks as best as he could while trying to bring up a-jie’s contact details. Wei Ying yelling in his ear is a bit painful but Jiang Cheng can be determined when he needs to be.

“Does she even know about the psychic thing? I bet neither of our dads told her. She has been so busy with her restaurant and you are just going to spoil her damn mood, aren’t you?”

“Jiang Cheng-”

Wei Ying manages to snatch the phone out of Jiang Cheng’s hand but Jiang Cheng tackles him to the ground and tries to take the phone back.

“Fine!” says Wei Ying, gasping. Jiang Cheng is no better off. “Fine, fine, you win! I won’t do it.”

Jiang Cheng manages to snatch the phone from Wei Ying’s grasp. “Do what?”

“I won’t poke my nose into this anymore. Just don’t bother shijie.”

Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him until he can barely see. “You’re lying.”

“No! I mean it. I don’t want her to have any more stress right now. Being the head chef of a whole ass restaurant is stressful enough. She has quite enough on her plate.” Wei Ying stops and starts snickering, breathless and idiotic. “Pun not intended.”

Jiang Cheng, to his horror, is snickering too. “That’s not funny, you idiot.”

“Must be why you are laughing too. Can you get off of me now?”

Jiang Cheng gets up and Wei Ying follows.

“If you go after this case even after I told you not to,” says Jiang Cheng and lifts his phone threateningly. “I will call her and I will also tell her about the time you drove your bike without a helmet.”

“Jesus Christ, fine! I won’t.”

Jiang Cheng shakes his phone in Wei Ying’s face one last time before going back to his room.

November 5, 00:00

Wei Ying bursts into Jiang Cheng’s room but finds him asleep over his desk, laptop lid open and the screen having gone blank.

Wei Ying carefully saves his work and shuts the laptop, then slings Jiang Cheng’s arm over his shoulders gently. He shifts him to the bed and draws the covers over him.

Then he picks up a notepad and a pen from his desk and scribbles a note on it.

Happy Birthday Jiang Cheng! My dearest one year and five days younger brother!!! I bought a cake and it’s in the fridge. Enjoy :D
You were asleep when I came into your room to congratulate you so I am leaving this note. I probably will be missing today, investigating the McCallum-Orso case. Sorry for being a liar. I will apologise to shijie later if you tell her like you threatened but this is simply too important.
Happy 24th!!

He leaves the note on his desk, right over the laptop. Then he turns off the lights and goes outside his room. Once outside, he takes out his phone to send Jiang Cheng a text.

also my phone will be switched off
dont try to find me, u have a job and u cant keep taking day offs for me
and dont get too mad lmao. i will be fine.

He switches off his phone and puts it back in his pocket.

November 5, 09:31

“Um, what are we doing?” Wen Ning asks nervously. 

Wen Ning is one of Wei Ying’s best friends. He is hella sweet though and extremely helpful. The handling toddlers all day long clearly builds up strength so he is strong as fuck as well.

It’s something Wei Ying might need today. He has tricks up his sleeve and he can throw a mean punch. Growing up with two cops for a dad and an uncle made sure he can handle himself pretty well in physical altercations. But perhaps he will need brute strength today.

So now they are outside the McCallum Textiles offices, spying from behind the bushes. It dawns upon Wei Ying that perhaps this isn’t something Wen Ning wanted when he woke up this morning.

“Wen Ning, it’s okay if you miss one day at the daycare, right?”

“Of course! It’s just one day. I’m still not sure what we are doing though.”

“Nobody knows you are with me, right?”

“No, no. My sister thinks that I am at work and my daycare colleagues didn’t really ask any questions.”

Wei Ying puts down the binoculars for a moment to grin at his friend. “Bet you miss me at the daycare, right?”

Wen Ning smiles and nods. “You were my closest friend there, and probably one of the only ones who treated me kindly at first. I do miss you.”

“Aw, Wen Ning, I will make sure to meet up with you more often. I miss you too buddy.”

Wen Ning looks adorably excited at the prospect. Wei Ying turns back to his binoculars.

“Now, what we are doing might seem a little wrong…”

“Is that a woman you are spying on? The one who came out of the building?”

“...Yes.”

“Wei Ying,” says Wen Ning, sounding nervous again. “Is that someone you are dating or have dated?”

“Not exactly.”

“Oh, my god, she rejected your advances so you decided to stalk her and gather personal information to take revenge?!”

Wei Ying rolls his eyes. “No, I-”

“Wei Ying, you are an amazing friend but this is one thing I simply cannot stand for-”

“Would you relax?” says Wei Ying, turning back to look at Wen Ning. “It’s not like that! I’m investigating a case. Heard about Camdem McCallum’s kidnapping and death?”

Wei Ying quickly goes back to observing her again. Wen Ning’s voice seems thoughtful. “I am usually not very updated on things like these but I think I did hear something about the heir of the McCallum family going missing like…. some days ago? I’m not sure.”

“Bingo. Camdem faked his kidnapping to get ransom money but he and his accomplice, Malcolm Orso, were found dead in their hideout yesterday, apparently dead for over a week, which means they died just after they got kidnapped.”

“Oh yeah, I think I heard something like that from my sister. The being-dead-for-a-week part.”

“You did? That’s strange, I thought that was classified information only the YLPD and family members knew.”

“Well, my jiejie is-”

“Hold on, Wen Ning, can you look through the binoculars and tell me if the bag the lady is carrying looks like it has stacks of money in it?”

He hands the binoculars over to Wen Ning and Wen Ning dutifully looks through them.

“It has something in it for sure,” says Wen Ning. “It looks… very full.”

“Doesn't it look exactly like the kind of scary bags which are used to carry ransom money?”

“Well, my knowledge of that is limited to movies but yeah.”

“Everyone’s knowledge of that is limited to movies, Wen Ning. Well, except for people who give or receive ransom. And the cops, I guess.”

“So, this woman is a suspect?”

“Oh, she is our lead suspect now.”

“Who is she?”

“She is the victim’s sister,” says Wei Ying. Wow, so he really made out with a killer that day, huh? For the better part of an hour, in fact. He suddenly feels a little sick. “Katarina McCallum.”

November 5, 10:14

Katarina is handing over the bag to a very shady looking guy.

“Oh Katarina,” says Wei Ying in despair. “Nooo.”

“What do we do?” says Wen Ning.

“That bag is the evidence,” says Wei Ying. “I have to get it somehow.”

“Should I-”

“No, you stay here, ready to make a run for it at any given moment. I will get the bag.”

“Are you-”

Wei Ying leaps out of his hiding place and runs toward Katarina and the Shady Guy. They both startle when they see him approaching at top speed.

“Wei Ying? What are you-” Katarina begins but Wei Ying has snatched the bag out of her hands and begun to make a run back. Both Katarina and Shady Guy immediately follow him.

“Wei Ying! What are you doing?”

Something is very, very wrong.

The bag should have been way heavier if it was full of stacks of money, like Wei Ying imagined. Of course, he doesn’t exactly speak from experience but it feels lighter than expected. As if…

Wei Ying stops abruptly and Shady Guy bumps into him painfully.

“Ow! Wait, wait, wait!” says Wei Ying when Shady Guy struggles with him for the bag. “I just need to see one thing.”

“Wei Ying! What the fuck are you doing?” asks Katarina furiously. “What kind of joke-”

Wei Ying spots the thrift store shirt and cap Shady Guy is wearing and suddenly Shady Guy becomes Actually Innocent Thrift Store Employee.

Wei Ying groans. “I can explain.”

Katarina crosses her arms as she glares at him. “Can you?”

“I thought you killed your brother and Orso so that you can steal the ransom money for yourself.”

Katarina’s gaze makes Wei Ying regret saying that immediately.

“But you didn’t!” he says, laughing nervously. “I mean, this isn’t money, is it? It’s clothes. To give to the thrift store. I realise now. ”

Katarina is still glaring at him in that shocked way. Thrift Store Employee manages to snatch the bag away.

“Can you just let me see the content of the bag for once?” says Wei Ying. “I just need to be absolutely certain. Then I will leave, I promise.”

Thrift Store Employee looks like he has some choice words to say about that but Katarina says, “Let him.”

So he does. He glares at Wei Ying the entire time but he does. As expected, it’s just clothes inside.

“Satisfied?” says Katarina. Wei Ying doesn’t get a chance to reply. “Now, like you promised, leave. I never want to see your face again.”

“That’s fair,” says Wei Ying and turns and walks away.

November 5, 10:35

Wen Ning and Wei Ying are peering inside a thrift store through the backdoor. Wei Ying points out the bag he needs to get his hands on. Apparently Wei Ying will enter the store from the front door and distract the guy who chased Wei Ying earlier while Wen Ning will-

“You want me to what? ” says Wen Ning. “But-”

“It’s for a good cause. That bag is the key to the whole case. Do you want a murderer on the loose? Do you want that on your consciousness, Wen Ning? Do you? ”

“No,” answers Wen Ning honestly. “But we can simply buy the bag, can’t we?”

Wei Ying makes a ‘tch’ sound and shakes his head. “The thrift store employee won’t sell it. Also he probably wants to kill me.”

“Are we sure that you going in to distract him will be the best thing to do then?”

“Don’t worry, I will talk some nonsense. I’m good at that. Besides, it's either that or you trying to distract him while I steal the bag. Now you are great with babies, I know, but I do think you are kinda…”

“Shitty when it comes to distracting adults,” finishes Wen Ning. “I know. This sounds like a dangerous plan, though. What if we get caught? Why is this bag so important?”

“I got a look of the bag from the inside and it looks an awful lot like it was used to store money at some point. I believe it was used to hold the ransom money, just way earlier.”

“You can tell that?”

“Well yeah. There was a groove on the- We need that bag, Wen Ning, and we need it now. We need it to prove someone’s innocence.”

“Isn’t the Orso guy dead?”

“Dead people are still people, Wen Ning!”

Wen Ning nods and Wei Ying thumps his back once. “Now remember. Anything happens, you grab the bag and make a run for it. Don’t stop until we reach the park. All the best!”

Wei Ying leaves and Wen Ning waits. A few minutes later, Wei Ying enters the store from the front door. He immediately makes a beeline for the scary thrift store guy to talk to. It seems like the scary guy is not pleased at all.

Wen Ning quickly slips inside and makes his way toward the bag. No one seems to be around. It’s the perfect opportunity.

He is so scared.

He picks up the bag as things seem to get more heated between Wei Ying and the scary guy. Wen Ning quietly makes his way back to the backdoor when he hears Wei Ying say loudly, “I said I will pay for it man! Don’t look at- Wen Ning, run!”

Wen Ning runs. He runs like hell out of the door and to the designated park. No one seems to be following him but it does nothing to ease his stress. If he isn’t being chased, that means Wei Ying is.

He reaches the park in a few minutes and sits down on a bench.

Now to wait.

November 5, 12:30

“Lan Zhan!”

Lan Zhan nearly startles. Except for Miamian, no one in the station calls him Lan Zhan. And even she only calls him that while they are both off-duty or taking a little break.

But this voice….

He turns and sees Wei Ying hurrying over to his desk with a big bag in hand. Lan Zhan sighs internally and pointedly does not clear any space on his desk for Wei Ying to keep the bag on or to god forbid, sit down on, like he did yesterday after coming back from the cabin. (Lan Zhan found himself strangely transfixed by the way Wei Ying’s legs were swinging as he sat on his desk yesterday. And by the way his arms were braced on the desk. For a moment, Lan Zhan almost decided having him sit on his desk wasn’t that bad. It was weird.)

Wei Ying reaches his desk, clears some space out haphazardly. Of course. Lan Zhan should have seen this coming.

He tries to glare pointedly at where Wei Ying places the bag but Wei Ying is either very good at ignoring his glares or he simply doesn’t notice.

“Lan Zhan, I need your help,” says Wei Ying in a whisper. “Actually I was kinda hoping Mianmian was the one around here but it doesn't matter. I need a small favour.”

Lan Zhan feels his mood sour. “I cannot help you.”

“You haven’t even heard what I want yet!”

Lan Zhan ignores him and goes back to his paperwork.

“Look, you have some experience with ransom cases, right?”

Oh. Wei Ying is still on that.

“Chief said that the case is closed, so the case is closed, Wei Ying.”

“Oh come on, I know you have a crush on the guy, but you know I’m right!”

Choosing to ignore the first part of that sentence, Lan Zhan says, “Actually no, Wei Ying. I do not know that.”

“Fine, tell me something, you noticed the bandage on Mr. McCallum’s wrist yesterday, right? When he came to the station after Camdem’s body was found?”

Lan Zhan nods. “Rumour is that he tried to commit suicide after coming to know about his son’s death.”

“That doesn’t make any sense! McCallum was a literal war hero. And he just tried to kill himself? Granted, it was his son but still. Also, you are telling me that in the few hours between him coming to know about his son’s death and him coming to the station, he managed to break down, cut his own wrist, calm down, get medical attention for the wound and come to the station as calm and collected as he did? Come on, Lan Zhan! I know you don’t think anything about this case adds up either!”

Lan Zhan doesn’t refute that. He does have the feeling that the case is not as simple as it seems and he does want to investigate further. However, Chief Nie was in a bad mood after Wei Ying left the previous day, so when Lan Zhan tried to get permission to work on the case, Chief shut him down immediately. With an intense glare added on top.

“Gut feelings are not admissible in the court,” he tells Wei Ying instead of replying. Wei Ying, unfortunately, seems to read between the lines anyway and grins.

“I knew it! You and I are on the same wavelength here! Now, look at this bag. I am convinced this bag was used to carry the ransom money. I saw Katarina McCallum with this bag but I don’t think she is the culprit. I placed some bills inside it to figure out how much money this bag could hold and let me tell you, it’s a huge sum. Huge enough for it to be the ransom for a member of the McCallum family. Now look, I just want you to see for yourself and open the case again, please. ”

Lan Zhan, despite himself, takes a look inside the bag. He reaches a hand inside. Wei Ying is right; the wear and indentation on the inside of the bag is definitely similar to bags which carry ransom money that Lan Zhan has seen before. He wonders how Wei Ying knows this.

“You are right but this is not enough evidence to open the case again.”

“Ugh!” Wei Ying groans dramatically and pulls out Mianmian’s chair. He brings it closer to Lan Zhan’s desk and sits down, across Lan Zhan himself. Then he buries his face in his hands, elbows resting on his desk.

“How did you get this bag?” asks Lan Zhan.

“Nevermind that,” says Wei Ying, lifting his face from his hands. “Are you absolutely sure that you can’t reopen the case?”

He pushes out his lower lip in a pout, probably as a miscalculated attempt to soften Lan Zhan’s resolve. Fortunately, Lan Zhan doesn’t get affected by such things.

Or so he used to think.

Wei Ying must have practised a more effective method of pouting because Lan Zhan suddenly wants to do a lot of things at once. He wants to do what Wei Ying is requesting, he wants to reach across the desk and-

Lan Zhan gets up abruptly. Wei Ying looks up with surprise. “Wha-”

“I can’t reopen the case but I can give you information that will help you investigate,” says Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying brightens. It almost hurts to look at that smile. “Really? Oh, my god, Lan Zhan! You have become quite the daredevil!”

“I simply think justice should be served,” says Lan Zhan. It’s true. If he helps Wei Ying investigate when he himself can’t then he is doing nothing wrong, simply ensuring that the case is closed properly. “Just tell me what you need.”

Wei Ying laughs. “And if I say I need you? ”

Lan Zhan doesn’t know what that means. Lan Zhan has no idea what that means. His ears should not be feeling so hot and his fists should not be clenching.

Wei Ying shakes his head, still smiling. As if just saying things like that are normal for him. As if Lan Zhan’s breathing didn't quicken embarrassingly just from hearing Wei Ying utter the words ‘need’ and ‘you’ in the same sentence while addressing Lan Zhan.

Maybe, Lan Zhan realises, he has a little crush on Wei Ying.

Wei Ying gets up from the chair and brushes his bangs out of his face. He keeps his hand on his hair as he appears to think about something. Lan Zhan’s eyes are now stuck to his slightly long and artfully messy hair, the way his arm bends at the elbow, his entirely casual posture, the hint of a sleeve tattoo peeking from underneath his full-sleeved black t-shirt, the way he is biting his lip…

He definitely has a crush on Wei Ying.

It is a somewhat annoying realisation to have.

“What I need is everything you have on Malcolm Orso,” says Wei Ying finally, dropping his hand from his hair. “Can you-”

“We can’t talk here,” says Lan Zhan. “Follow me.”

“Always, sweetheart,” says Wei Ying in that infuriatingly casual way again. Lan Zhan wants to throttle him.

November 5, 12:47

“Hang on, this file says Orso was seen twice in town near the cabin,” says Wei Ying, from somewhere behind him.

Lan Zhan focuses on shooting a bullet before replying. “Mn. Always quite late at night. Never seen during daytime.”

“That’s good, that’s really good,” says Wei Ying, sounding absorbed. “I am forming a theory…”

Lan Zhan shoots his last bullet, satisfied with his performance. He has shot the precise spots he needed to on the target sheet. Not that he couldn’t before, but it has been a while since he practised shooting and firing a gun. It’s good to brush up on skills every now and then.

He turns back to look at Wei Ying, who has a thoughtful expression on his face. He looks beautiful like this, gaze distant in almost a dreamy way and mole under his lip on stark display. Then Lan Zhan remembers that Wei Ying is forming theories on who did the murders and how they were done. This is an entirely inappropriate time to admire Wei Ying’s beauty.

A part of his brain refuses to accept that and continues to wax poetic about Wei Ying and his voice and his hair and his face and the way he probably looks without a shirt, in those tattoos…

He offers Wei Ying the gun. “Do you want to give it a try?”

Wei Ying visibly shakes himself to reality. It’s cute. Lan Zhan only realised he has a crush on Wei Ying about 15 minutes ago but his control seems to be deteriorating fast. He hopes he is not being as transparent as he feels.

“A try?” says Wei Ying, tone holding something in it that Lan Zhan can’t quite decipher. “Sure, I can give it a try.”

“You will need a new target sheet.”

“Oh no, no, this is fine,” says Wei Ying and he hands Lan Zhan the file while taking the gun away. He prepares himself and aims. “Okay, cool. Here I go.”

It’s attractive the way Wei Ying straightens from his usual casual and borderline slouching posture to something this sharp and focused. It’s extremely attractive the way Wei Ying shoots five times in quick succession, barely taking time to breathe in between. Lan Zhan allows himself this moment of shameless admiration before he turns to look at the target sheet.

Considering Wei Ying shot five times so quickly, he was expecting only one or two to actually hit close to the targets. But as he watches he sees there are no new holes on the sheet. The previous ones were all made by Lan Zhan. He is a little disappointed that a look of such intense focus didn’t actually come to anything.

“You missed,” says Lan Zhan, not to be rude but as a precursor to a gentle suggestion for him to take some shooting lessons. Lan Zhan would be happy to teach. He would be more than happy to step behind Wei Ying, hold his hands which are holding the gun, and show him how to aim properly.

This is actually getting too much now. Lan Zhan needs to stop fantasising such things.

“Oh no, I didn’t,” says Wei Ying, looking pleased.

Lan Zhan frowns and presses the button to bring the target sheet closer, ready to point out that all the bullet holes on it were made by him.

Then he gets a better look at each one of the holes.

It’s barely visible, but each hole looks slightly bigger than it should. They seem a little deformed too and Lan Zhan realises it’s because they have been widened by another bullet passing through the same hole.

Oh.

Oh.

If Lan Zhan was someone who cursed more freely then he would have cursed out loud. If he was someone who was slightly less in control of his reactions, he thinks he would have swooned openly. As it is, he is having difficulty not throwing himself in Wei Ying’s direction.

He needs to see this man shirtless someday. Preferably when they are both alone and Lan Zhan is shirtless too.

“Look, it’s a perfect match,” says Wei Ying. “ We are a perfect match, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Zhan wonders if this is another instance of Wei Ying flirting without even thinking. Whatever it is, he wishes he would stop before Lan Zhan actually embarrasses himself by begging for a kiss.

“That was hot, wasn’t it?” says Wei Ying, putting the gun down and taking the file back. Lan Zhan realises that his grip on the file had grown slack. He hopes Wei Ying didn’t notice. “Come on, Lan Zhan, give me something. Wasn’t that wildly attractive of me?”

Fighting valiantly against the urge to say “yes” Lan Zhan manages to mutter, “Good aim.”

Wei Ying laughs like Lan Zhan has said the funniest thing ever.

November 5, 13:59

“Is this your car?” asks Wei Ying.

“It’s my jiejie’s car,” says Wen Ning. “Since we live in the same place currently, we both use the car.”

“Nice,” says Wei Ying. “I actually have the same system with Jiang Cheng but I also have a bike since he needs to use his car for work purposes a lot.”

Wen Ning nods. “Sounds fair. Jiejie drops me off at the daycare centre and goes to work.”

Wei Ying laughs suddenly. “That makes it sound like you are a baby she drops off at daycare before going to work.”

Wen Ning tilts his head down, slightly embarrassed but unable to stop his smile.

“And you are. You are the cutest baby,” says Wei Ying and pinches his cheek. Wen Ning really doesn’t know how to respond to that. Wei Ying has always been very fond of his cheeks. “You are just a big baby looking after smaller babies in the daycare.”

Wen Ning’s cheeks are warm. “Th-Thank you.” Then he looks at the mansion whose driveway they were sitting in. “Now can you tell me why we are here?”

“Oh, I know who murdered Camdem and Orso,” says Wei Ying nonchalantly. Wen Ning almost chokes. “At least I’m pretty sure. The person might be inside the McCallum residence right now. And I will be going in there.”

“Alone?”

“Yep!”

“Are you sure that you should go in alone inside a house which has a murderer?”

“Well, I can’t take you along! In case I need to make a quick exit, you need to be here, ready with the car to whisk me off.”

“No, I mean, shouldn’t you call the cops if you are sure this person really is the murderer?”

“Well, I do need to be absolutely certain or the cops might just arrest me. Also the cops won’t come if I just call them. The case is technically closed. I will figure out how to alert the cops later!”

Wei Ying opens the door and jumps out of the car. “Don’t worry. Be ready to make a quick escape.”

After delivering those two very contradicting sentences, Wei Ying goes inside the mansion.

Wen Ning wonders how many times he has to keep making quick escapes today.

His phone rings. It’s jiejie.

Oh no.

November 5, 14:18

Wei Ying has been waiting inside for quite some time now. The servant who opened the door told him to wait until Mr. McCallum comes back in a few minutes. It has been several moments. Wei Ying is growing restless.

Finally he sees McCallum enter and take the stairs, apparently not noticing him.

“Mr. McCallum! A moment please,” says Wei Ying. McCallum stops on his way upstairs and looks down at him.

“The psychic?” says McCallum. Wei Ying nods. “Why are you here?”

“I am here about the case, of course! The case about your son?”

McCallum immediately stiffens. “I was told that the case is closed.”

“That’s what you would like, won’t you?”

“Yes, I would like that very much. Now kindly get out of my house.”

Wei Ying smiles and tilts his head. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

McCallum isn’t quite able to suppress his flinch. Wei Ying nods to himself.

“Definitely you,” he says. “That was really cool, I have never done that before, you know? Accuse someone of murder to their face. It feels every bit as cool as movies make it look like. Now it’s time for my genius detective monologue.”

“You are insane,” McCallum says, looking somewhere between bewildered and pissed off. “Are you trying to say that I killed my own son?”

“And his best friend. Yes.”

“What are you-”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think you meant to,” says Wei Ying. Then he puts his hand to the side of his forehead. “I…got a vision. Of you preparing the ransom mon-”

“WEI YING YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Wei Ying blinks. “I just got a vision of my brother shouting at me.”

“Wasn’t a vision!” hisses Jiang Cheng’s voice and suddenly the man himself is in front of Wei Ying, blocking his view of McCallum. “You. Literal. Son of a BITCH!”

“Jiang Cheng, don’t misuse the word ‘literal’!”

Jiang Cheng looks ready to throw hands and Wei Ying ducks, just in case.

McCallum makes an irritated sound. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Look, Jiang Cheng, you insulted the man’s murder story!” says Wei Ying and pushes him out of his view. That somehow seems to anger Jiang Cheng more. “Anyway, happy birthday a-Cheng, now let me continue on why and how Mr. McCallum killed his own son and his son’s accomplice-slash-best friend.”

“Thanks for an amazing birthda- wait, what? McCallum did it?” Jiang Cheng glances at McCallum quickly.

Wei Ying pats his shoulder. “Yes, my dear brother. He did.”

“I did not!”

“Now let me start from the beginning. So, I got a vision of McCallum. There he is preparing the ransom money.”

“Wait, wait, before that,” says Jiang Cheng. “Mr. McCallum can you tell me-?”

“No, Jiang Cheng, he is not just going to confess like that! Anyway, I see you, preparing the ransom money.”

“I did not get a ransom call,” says Mr. McCallum, through his teeth.

“Oh, but you did. Your son wanted it to be over quickly, he would not have waited a whole week just to frighten you more! He already waited eighteen months, didn’t he? Also the risk of getting caught was too high. He called you, or had Orso call you, and asked for a huge sum of money. But what is that amount to you? All you cared about was your son’s safety. I see it so clearly.” Wei Ying puts a hand to his forehead. “It was nighttime. You didn’t call the cops, you were too scared something might happen to Camdem. So you prepared the money and dropped it off at the location told to you without thinking twice. You love your son after all! Which made you all the more angry when you realised that it was all fake.”

“None of that happened, young man,” says McCallum. “What is going to happen is that I will have you both thrown out of my house.”

“But don’t you wanna hear what happens next? See, what happens next is, on your way back from the drop-off, you see a familiar car cross you on the highway. You recognise this car! It’s Malcolm Orso’s car. And suddenly that little suspicion you had in the back of your head? Suddenly it’s much bigger. You know Orso’s cabin is nearby so you go there and guess what you find? Your own son, completely safe and fine, drinking coffee.”

“Okay, I really need to pee!” Jiang Cheng bursts out. Wei Ying blinks at him.

“What? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. Where. Is. The. Bathroom.”

“Really, Jiang Cheng? Now? I am doing the great reveal and you-”

“I don’t give a shit!” hisses Jiang Cheng. “Because of your antics, I had to take Wen Qing’s help to figure out where you are and rush here and now I really need to pee so don’t you dare run off without telling me again. Besides, Wen Qing is outside anyway and she wants to have a word with you. I don’t think she will let you run off.”

“Who the fuck is Wen Qing? Why does this name sound familiar?”

Jiang Cheng ignores him and looks expectantly at McCallum. McCallum sighs and points. “Down the hall, third door on the left.”

“Thank you,” says Jiang Cheng and practically flies away.

“Wow, that happened,” says Wei Ying once Jiang Cheng is out of sight. “Where was I?”

“At the part where I apparently kill my own son in cold blood.”

“Cold blood? Hell no. The blood wasn’t cold. The blood was boiling hot. You were angry and you knocked around your son a little, maybe teach him a little lesson. You never wanted to kill him! But suddenly his head hit the table and he was on the floor, dead.”

McCallum looks mildly sick but mostly keeps his expression on that note of disbelief. “And then I supposed I killed off Orso too, for no reason?”

“For no reason? You killed him for a very good reason. How else were you supposed to hide what you have done? Orso came into the cabin with the ransom money that he picked up from the drop-off and saw the dead body. He pulled out a tiny piston, but he had no real experience. You wrestled the piston out of his hand and you knew you only had one thing left to do. You shot Orso, wiped off your prints from the gun and placed it in Orso’s hand. And then you left with the ransom money and that’s when you called the police, apparently terrified for your son’s safety. It’s easy to look shaken after what you did.”

“You have a very active imagination,” says McCallum.

“No sir, it was all just a vision. It’s real.” Wei Ying leans forward slightly, lowering his voice. “And to think that eighteen months ago, your son looked you dead in the eye and told you this time, he’s gonna change, he swears. Then you find out you have been lied to, again. That sent you to a place even you couldn’t believe, didn’t it?”

“This is outrageous. I’m calling the police if you don’t leave right now!”

Wei Ying pauses. Wait, that’s brilliant. Of course! What if-

“Wei Ying!” screams Jiang Cheng, literally screams. He comes into a view a second later. “Let’s go.”

“Jiang Cheng-”

“We are leaving now.”

“Listen to him,” says McCallum.

Then Jiang Cheng drags Wei Ying out of the mansion in one minute flat.

“Jiang Cheng, please, he-”

“I know, he killed them,” says Jiang Cheng, looking mildly panicked now that Wei Ying takes a good look at his face. “I believe you. But he was going to call the cops, dude. Do you want another criminal record? Do you want to get a restraining order? You don’t have enough proof to prove that he really did it.”

“Aww, Jiang Cheng, you care about me!”

“I am going to break your legs-”

“Alright, alright, calm down. But you do realise that we need to expose this man somehow?”

“ We are not doing anything!” Jiang Cheng hisses at him. “We are going to leave right now, in fact. Look, there is Wen Qing, ready to kill you.”

Wei Ying looks at the pointed direction, alarmed, and sees a woman in a high ponytail and professional looking pantsuit, the kind Wei Ying has seen Lan Zhan and Mianmian wear to work, walking toward him with an expression-

Wei Ying yelps and hides behind Jiang Cheng, face carefully hidden from the woman’s wrath. “What the fuck? Why does she hate me already? I don’t even know her!”

“You kidnapped her brother and took him to investigate a closed case, that’s why.”

“Her brother-” begins Wei Ying and has a horrible epiphany. “Oh god, this is that forensics lady you are whipped for-”

“What?”

“-and she is also Wen Ning’s sister? Why? Why me? Why now?”

“Mr. Wei,” says a voice, cold with rage in the way only a sister-who-has-discovered-her-younger-brother-at-places-he-shouldn’t-be-at can manage. “Can you stop using Mr. Jiang as a shield and have a word with me?”

I’m fucked, Wei Ying thinks.

“Wei Ying, I’m sorry,” says Wen Ning’s unmistakable voice. “Jiejie found out I wasn’t at the daycare-”

“Daycare?” says Jiang Cheng. “How old are you?”

Wei Ying snorts. “He works at a daycare, the same one I used to work at,” he explains to Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng makes a small noise of understanding.

“So she found out I was not at daycare. And then apparently your brother came into the station and they figured out we must be together-”

“I have heard how great you are from a-Ning,” says Wen Qing’s voice, distressingly close to a growl. “But I didn’t realise you were this great.”

“Well,” says Wei Ying, still behind the protection of Jiang Cheng’s body. Then he says no more.

“Can you please come out?” says Wen Qing and although she says ‘please’ her tone is very hostile.

Wei Ying reluctantly pushes himself out into the open, under Wen Qing’s highly effective glare. Wei Ying looks down at the ground, half because he feels genuinely chastised and half because he needs to play it up for now. Right now he needs to get the YLPD here. Wen Qing might be his best option for help since Jiang Cheng is clearly not going to let him do anything.

“Miss Wen, I’m sorry,” he says and he means it. “But it was urgent. McCallum killed his son and his son’s best friend. You know how you told Jiang Cheng how the bodies must have been-”

“What the YLPD does after I submit the autopsy reports is none of my business,” says Wen Qing, much to Wei Ying’s dismay. Jiang Cheng does a very unsubtle side-eye at him and stifles his laughter.

“Don’t you fucking laugh,” he warns Jiang Cheng. “If she won’t help us, you know what I will do. You can’t stop me.”

Jiang Cheng’s smile falls away and gets replaced with a scowl. Good. It’s a thoughtful scowl though and after a long moment, he sighs. “Consumine.”

“What?” say Wei Ying, Wen Ning and Wen Qing at the same time.

Jiang Cheng’s scowl gets deeper. “I’m only saying this because you are an idiot and I know you will actually do something rash if I-”

“What the fuck is a ‘Consumine’?”

“It’s a drug for dog bites,” explains Jiang Cheng. Well, he mostly just spits it out. “You know the rest.”

Wei Ying is at an utter loss. “Why would I care about some drug that is used to treat dog bites?”

“I saw a bottle of it in the bathroom’s medicine cabinet, for fuck’s sake!” says Jiang Cheng and everything clicks into place. “It’s a fairly recent bottle too. I checked.”

“Oh my god,” says Wei Ying. That wound on McCallum’s wrist. Fuck. Yes. Perfect. “You are saying that Camdem’s dog bit him when he went to the cabin.”

“Yes,” says Jiang Cheng, with a lack of enthusiasm Wei Ying frankly finds insulting. “You were right. It was blood on the dog’s whiskers.”

“I told you so!”

“Me and my brother are going to be excluded from this narrative,” says Wen Qing firmly. “But Mr. Wei, I must warn you, I hardly think you can get anyone to check any wounds caused by any dogs on McCallum. The YLPD isn’t even going to come here if you call them.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” says Wei Ying, grinning. Wen Qing rolls her eyes. She and Jiang Cheng make an excellent done-by-Wei-Ying’s-antics couple it seems. Wei Ying ships it, even more so when he looks at the clearly whipped expression on Jiang Cheng’s face. “I have my ways. Jiang Cheng, I can’t believe you withheld that info from me until now!”

“I was hoping you would do the sensible thing and leave this alone.” Jiang Cheng sneers. “Clearly that was too much to expect from you. It’s still a risk though, so do your best or I will kill you even if the cops don’t.”

“The cops can’t kill me simply for investigating a closed case, Jiang Cheng.”

“Well, maybe they should.”

Wei Ying laughs and waves goodbye at the Wen siblings. Wen Ning throws an adorable thumbs up at him while Wen Qing grudgingly nods, as if to wish him good luck too. Then they get into the car- Wen Qing behind the wheel- and take off.

“How do you plan to bring the YLPD here by the way?” says Jiang Cheng in a tone which would have been more withering if it wasn’t marred by the curiosity in it.

“Glad you asked,” says Wei Ying and takes out his phone. “I’m gonna impersonate McCallum and call the cops on me.”

“I regret everything,” says Jiang Cheng immediately. “This better work out, Wei Ying, or I will-”

“Break my legs, yes I know. You gotta pick a new insult every now and then Jiang Cheng, this one’s getting- Hello, YLPD?” Wei Ying mimics McCallum’s deeper voice, probably only with limited success because Jiang Cheng shoots him a look which is scowl-ier than usual. “Yes, there is a young man here, claiming to be psychic, and he simply won’t leave…”

November 5, 15:48

Jiang Cheng wishes he wasn’t here.

His hands are cuffed behind his back and he is legitimately getting arrested. And Wei Ying is still not saying anything, just giggling in that cocky way of his and…eyeing Detective Lan for some reason? Detective Lan, for his part, is resolutely not looking at Wei Ying, even as he is escorting a cuffed Wei Ying to the car but Wei Ying doesn’t stop the coy…whatever he is doing. Jiang Cheng is going to be sick.

“You should do this to me more often,” Jiang Cheng distinctly hears Wei Ying say and oh god, he is really going to be sick. Detective Lan looks mostly unaffected but he does shoot Wei Ying a glare. Detective Luo, behind Jiang Cheng’s back, lets out a little snort. Jiang Cheng itches to ask her how any of this is funny.

He glares at Wei Ying instead. “Can you get a move on?”

Wei Ying simply rolls his eyes lazily. “Jiang Cheng, relax. Look, the man’s getting cocky.”

That’s true. McCallum had burst out as soon as the cops arrived and after he realised they were actually there to arrest Wei Ying (and Jiang Cheng) he slipped into a very easy demeanour. He demanded Chief Nie to ensure that Wei Ying doesn’t bother him again. Chief Nie assured him and shot a look so dangerous at Wei Ying that Jiang Cheng felt fear out of sympathy. Of course Wei Ying put on an expression of fear so over-the-top, it could only be fake.

“I don’t like to be in cuffs,” Jiang Cheng hisses at him.

“Well, I do,” counters Wei Ying and then again eyes Detective Lan like that . Jiang Cheng will throw up. “Did you hear that, Detective?”

Only because Jiang Cheng is so close, does he manage to catch the tiny gulp that Detective Lan takes. What the FUCK-

“AHHH,” screams out Wei Ying suddenly and wriggles out of Detective Lan’s grasp. Jiang Cheng breathes a little easier. Finally. “I’m getting a vision! I’m getting a vision! Ugh, it’s so vivid!”

Everyone stops. Jiang Cheng has to admire Wei Ying’s ability to stop everyone in their tracks with the most utterly nonsensical bullshit ever.

Detective Luo sighs. “Here we go, I guess,” she mutters under her breath and okay. That is a little funny. Jiang Cheng does have a sense of humour, at the end of the day.

“Mr. Wei,” says Detective Lan. “Stop-”

“I can’t just stop a vision , Lan Zhan, that’s not how it works!” groans Wei Ying, flopping uselessly to the ground. Detective Lan bends down to grab Wei Ying but Wei Ying neatly rolls out of reach, all the while moaning as if in great pain.

At least he has the acting skills down pat.

“It’s him! McCallum! I see him!” Wei Ying opens his eyes and stares at an unimpressed McCallum. “You killed your own son?”

“I did not,” says McCallum, furiously. He turns to Chief Nie. “Can you please take him out of my premises already?”

“Mr. Wei, stop this nonsense,” says Chief Nie. “Or-”

“CHECK HIS WRIST!” screams Wei Ying. “CHECK HIS WRIST, THE DOG BIT HIM, oh fuck, it hurts.” Wei Ying winces theatrically. “God, yes, I see it! His right wrist-”

“Shut up!” McCallum outright snarls.

“-check it! The teeth marks will match up.”

“No one is checking any part of me!”

Detective Lan has managed to haul Wei Ying up and is about to shove him in the car when Chief Nie speaks up. “Why not?”

Everyone stops for the second time.

“Huh?” says McCallum, stupidly.

“We can discredit him right now,” says Chief Nie. There is a suspicious look on his face as he stares down McCallum. “Just show us your wrist. If there are no bite marks, then Mr. Wei will be arrested and you can even file for a restraining order against him. He won’t be able to bother you again.”

McCallum gets visibly flustered. No one seems to breathe. Then McCallum says, “You really want to do this right now?”

Chief Nie’s gaze settles on something that is almost a glare. “I can do this right now, or I could call in a warrant.”

“I’ll call my lawyer.”

“And I’ll be right here,” returns Chief Nie, glare hardening.

“CONSUMINE,” yells Wei Ying, struggling in Detective Lan’s hold like a fish out of water. “For dog bites! The wound is fresh! Check the wound! Check the wound! ”

McCallum looks down at his wrist and then up at Wei Ying and back at the Chief. Jiang Cheng can see the exact moment he gives in.

“It…was an accident,” says McCallum. Chief Nie’s face does something interesting. “I didn’t mean to…”

“What?” whispers Detective Luo in amazement. Jiang Cheng barely holds in his laugh.

Chief Nie takes a breath. “Detective Lan,” he says. The detective nods and uncuffs Wei Ying and goes to McCallum. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng glances at Detective Luo to see her mouth hanging open.

“Can you take these cuffs off please?” says Jiang Cheng. Detective Luo shakes herself and nods hurriedly, uncuffing Jiang Cheng quickly. Relief. He is going to punch Wei Ying so hard after this, he will wish Jiang Cheng had just told a-jie instead.

Then Jiang Cheng catches a tiny look that Detective Lan throws at a very smugly smirking Wei Ying and he wishes he had told a-jie instead of coming here.

November 5, 17:40

“Worst birthday ever,” grumbles Jiang Cheng.

“I got you a cake!” says Wei Ying.

They are both at the station, waiting on the visitor benches. Jiang Cheng has only just stopped hitting random body parts on Wei Ying and seems to have zoned out, while still staring murderously at everything in his line of sight.

“I didn’t see the cake. You were-” Jiang Cheng abruptly stops and turns his head away stubbornly. Wei Ying feels a prickle of guilt.

“Ah, Jiang Cheng, I didn’t know you would be that worried for me,” he says honestly. “I gave you that note!”

“You also switched off your phone and went to investigate a double homicide on your own,” says Jiang Cheng. Surprisingly enough, he doesn’t snap it. He seems rather tired. “Sorry if that was just a tad concerning.”

Wei Ying contemplates what joke to make, how exactly to tease Jiang Cheng, but nothing seems right so he sighs and pats Jiang Cheng’s hands. “I’m sorry, Jiang Cheng.”

Jiang Cheng looks at him then, almost soft, then rolls his eyes and looks away again. “Whatever. I will just kill you next time. And I know there will be a next time. So fuck off.”

Wei Ying laughs. At least that means his apology is accepted. “I love the way you show your love for me, dude.”

“I will lock you out of the apartment today, don’t test me.”

“Okay, okay.”

Wen Qing appears in front of them. Jiang Cheng startles and flushes a little.

“Mr. Wei, good job on the case I suppose,” says Wen Qing. “A-Ning said… Well, he said he had a lot of fun, weirdly enough.”

She stays silent for a while and Wei Ying can almost make out something she is not saying. Probably about how she is always very protective of her brother but maybe in the process she sometimes tends to keep her brother too safe, too isolated. Wei Ying knows Wen Ning feels suffocated at times, but he never says it outright, because he is an angel of a human being.

“It was still wildly dangerous and apparently,” Wen Qing’s voice drops lower, “you committed theft?”

Wei Ying chuckles uncomfortably.

“No more of that, I’m warning you Mr. Wei, but… thanks, I guess.”

Wei Ying nods. “You’re welcome and I’m sorry.”

Wen Qing nods and then turns to Jiang Cheng. “And thank you for your help today, Mr. Jiang.”

“Call me Jiang Cheng,” blurts out Jiang Cheng and then flushes deeper. “If you want to.”

Wen Qing gives a smile. “Okay, Jiang Cheng. You can call me Wen Qing too, if you want to.”

Jiang Cheng looks positively delighted and Wei Ying smothers a giggle in his hand. Once Wen Qing is gone, he speaks up. “Bro, go get some.”

“Ugh, shut up,” says Jiang Cheng, but his small smile is still there.

After that Wei Ying gets called to the Chief’s office, where Chief Nie gives him a thanks grudgingly and a polite smile grudgingly and another case, regarding some chop shop, grudgingly.

Wei Ying blinks at him. “Wait, does that mean…”

“If you want, you can investigate cases with the YLPD using your psychic powers,” says Chief Nie, as expected, grudgingly. “The department will pay you for the cases it hires you for.”

“Damn,” says Wei Ying and looks down at the money Chief Nie handed him seconds ago. “So like, this can be my permanent job?”

Chief Nie nods. Grudgingly.

Wei Ying smiles brightly. “Thank you! You are the best! Clearly everyone here has a crush on you for a reason!”

“I forbid you from talking to my younger brother anymore,” says Chief Nie with his first non grudging smile. “You know, on record. Not that it will stop either you or my brother. He is outside, by the way, and he wanted to meet you before he left for Qinghe.”

“He is leaving Yiling?” says Wei Ying with surprise.

Chief Nie simply sits down at his desk and gets back to work. “Ask him whatever you want to ask. I have work to do.”

Wei Ying waits for a beat then he cheerfully trills out another thanks and makes a beeline for Nie Huaisang- who is standing and chatting with another guy Wei Ying has never seen before- outside the office.

“Huaisang!” says Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang breaks off mid chat to wave enthusiastically at Wei Ying with his fan.

“Wei-xiong! Hello!”

“Oh, call me Wei Ying please.”

“Oh dear, how could I ever?” says Huaisang, flipping open his fan and waving it furiously. “But if you insist… Wei Ying, meet my tutor, Meng Yao.”

Huaisang points at the unfamiliar guy and Wei Ying quickly greets him. Meng Yao greets him back.

“Tutor?” says Wei Ying.

“Oh yeah, Meng Yao was, and still is kind of, my homeschool teacher,” says Huaisang. “Dropped out of high school, remember? Meng Yao taught me then. He is practically family to us Nies.”

“Wow,” says Wei Ying. Meng Yao looks appropriately shy and inclines his head forward slightly. “Must be a really good teacher.”

“I manage,” says Meng Yao and then both Huaisang and Wei Ying tell him not to be too humble and their chat derails until Nie Huaisang mentions Qinghe.

“I actually live in Qinghe, along with Meng Yao,” says Huaisang. “We come to visit Yiling every now and then.”

“All the time,” says Meng Yao. “He means all the time.”

“Well, da-ge clearly needs your advice!” says Huaisang. “Do you know who convinced da-ge to keep hiring you for cases for the YLPD, Wei-xiong… er Wei Ying?”

Wei Ying stares at Meng Yao. “You?”

Meng Yao laughs. “I only thought this city could use some psychic intervention every now and then. Less criminals on the loose and everything.”

“And this had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it might help increase the number of solved cases for the department, which will make Chief Nie look better in turn, not to mention the fact that it will help buy the trust of the many superstitious folk in this city since I am a psychic, which will again work in Chief Nie’s favour?”

“Absolutely not, why do you ask?” says Meng Yao. Wei Ying shakes his head, smiling. Nie Huaisang and Meng Yao are both something.

“Bye, see you on our next visit!” says Nie Huaisang and then both he and Meng Yao leave.

Wei Ying leaves soon with Jiang Cheng too, after both the detectives give him their numbers and he winks at both of them. Mianmian scoffs and walks away. Lan Zhan glares at him but mutters a quiet, “Good job on the investigation” to him so Wei Ying considers it a success.

November 7, 12:01

“You are… what?” says Jiang Cheng. Wei Ying doesn’t pause his packing.

“Moving out,” says Wei Ying with a sigh. “Jiang Cheng, chill. I should have done this a long time ago.”

“You get one paycheck from one case-”

“Two actually because Chief Nie paid me twice for that case.”

“-and you think that’s enough for you to survive on your own?”

“I can do anything!”

Jiang Cheng makes an annoyed sound but then stops and goes eerily quiet. Wei Ying looks back in concern.

“Did mom tell you to move out?” he asks after a while.

Wei Ying almost trips over his own shit on the floor. “No! Your mom didn’t talk to me in the past… many months? Whatever, she didn’t tell me to-”

“Not now. But before,” says Jiang Cheng. “Cool, so now you are listening to stuff that my mom says.”

“It’s not like that,” protests Wei Ying. “Well, you know, she was kinda right.”

“You-!”

“What? She was! How long am I supposed to live off of you because I don’t have a stable job?” says Wei Ying. “That’s not fair on anyone. Besides, I already bought the place, Jiang Cheng. Gonna renovate it and stuff so that it becomes my home-cum-private-detective-agency. I am thinking about what to name it. I have too many names and I can’t decide.”

“Go to hell.”

“Sure, but a name first please.”

“You know you don’t have to listen to my mom-”

“I know I don’t,” says Wei Ying gently and he squeezes Jiang Cheng’s arms comfortingly. Jiang Cheng looks anywhere but at his face, sulky. “But I should. And I am. I will be fine. I will come hang out with you all the time anyway. And you can come to my place anytime as well! We will investigate cases together! How does that sound?”

“Awful,” says Jiang Cheng, after a pause slightly too long. “When can we start on the chop shop case?”

Wei Ying laughs and Jiang Cheng curses and attempts to shove him off half-heartedly when he hugs him.

For the time being, Wei Ying decides not to mention the fact that Jiang Cheng’s mom has talked with Jiang Yanli and called for all of them- yes, all of them, divorced husband Jiang Fengmian and divorced husband’s kind of current life partner Wei Changze and his son Wei Ying- to visit her in Yunmeng. Wei Ying has no delusions about her wanting to get on friendlier terms with everyone. Jiang Cheng will only grow more agitated right now if he hears about it.

“Did you get Wen Qing’s number yet?” says Wei Ying and gets shoved for real this time.