My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"Meiqi." Jin Renguang sighed and sat on his chair. "How is your investigation going?"

"It's not very well." There was a sound of rustle and crackle passed through and Ru Meiqi's voice became clearer. "I went to a village near City T to find the first victim's family, but they shut me out of the door."

Jin Renguang laughed in self-deprecation. "Of course, how do you expect them to react?" The first victim, they were the first to find a member in their family murdered so cruelly, so ruthlessly. It was a kind of cold bloodedness that chilled them down to the bones.

The only thing they could rely on was the police. In the beginning, Jin Renguang promised. "I will try to find the murderer as soon as possible and redress the justice for Miss Qian."

At first, they were filled with hope, dependence and trust. One month, they still called regularly to the station and the only answer they could give was, "Sorry sir, we are chasing after the culprit now. Don't worry, we will catch him as soon as we can." But then, two months, three months, half a year, one year…the hope slowly turned into despair, grief and fury. They couldn't hope any longer, they didn't dare to. The feeling of being given hope again and again only to be disappointed each time was an abominable thing that no one wanted to experience.

"Renguang?" Perhaps sensing that something was wrong with his tone, Ru Meiqi's voice softened. "What's wrong?"

"It's a failure." Jin Renguang admitted with guilt and shame. "I am very sorry, Meiqi. You have worked hard to detect the body part but I failed to catch the culprit."

Ru Meiqi retorted ruthlessly. "I never expected you to." On the other side of the phone, Ru Meiqi stood under the shade and fanned herself as she looked around. "It's just one failure. Don't be such a spineless coward. Aren't you a captain?"

Jin Renguang fell silent for a moment before chuckling. "You're right. I have to hurriedly adjust my mentality and continue on."

The convenience store where she took cover was in an old building with its paint almost peeled off, moss grew on the corner of the wall and there was a thick scent of sewer around. Her shoes had been covered in mud because of the undeveloped road. The woman who stood behind the cashier gave her a glance once in a while. "Tell me about the development of the case since I am away."

Then, Jin Renguang began to narrate about their operation and the way they worked, as well as his speculation which he hadn't shared with anyone yet coupled with the culprit's appearance in the hospital where Butterfly stayed at.

The more Ru Meiqi listened, the more she felt that something was wrong. "A mark on the side of his neck, you said? Do you have the picture?"

"Yes, it's just an illustration though. The only one who saw it was Mr.Jiang who was there coincidentally. We could only ask him to describe it as vividly as possible and draw it down."

Ru Meiqi nodded. "It's okay. Send it to me, I want to take a look." She fell silent amidst the clacking of the keyboard on Jin Renguang's side. "Renguang, you have to protect her. She's in danger."

Jin Renguang snorted, amused. "First, it's Xu Binchen, now it's you. Why are all of you being affected by feelings? Is there something special about Butterfly?"

"Xu Binchen?" Ru Meiqi's eyebrows rose to her forehead. "That rude, ice block brat?"

Jin Renguang burst out in a fit of chuckles. His low, velvety voice travelled directly to Ru Meiqi's ears as if he was whispering it right beside her. She pulled the phone away slightly and rubbed her tingling ears. "Come back as soon as possible if you're done there." he said softly.

"I know. I will just ask around for a while more." Ru Meiqi wanted to return too. She had a gnawing feeling that she had overlooked something important. Just like messy pieces of puzzle, she had to slowly think of the bigger picture and pieced it together one by one. For it, she needed to return and do an analysis once again. "I will hang up now, goodbye." Without waiting for Jin Renguang's answer, she hung up resolutely. A chat interface popped up, informing her that there was a new message. She looked at the sole character on the sender 'Jin' and shut her phone off.

Walking inside the convenience store, she looked around, nodded toward the woman behind the cashier who greeted her with a smile. Ru Meiqi walked toward the shelf and took a bag of potato chips and orange juice, bringing it to the cashier.

The cashier woman scanned her snacks as her eyes raked over her in blatant curiosity. She didn't have much of an interest when Ru Meiqi stood outside, but now that she was here in front of her, she couldn't hold back her curiosity. "Are you from the city?"

Ru Meiqi lifted her eyes and her unfocused pupils made her look like she was in daze. "Yes, I am."

The machine beeped and the woman said. "Twenty three yuan."

"Can I pay from Alipay?"

"Yes, please scan here." The woman put Ru Meiqi's snack inside a plastic bag and saw her typing on her phone smoothly. "Your eyes…"

"I am not blind." Ru Meiqi answered bluntly. "My eyes are born this way."

"O—Oh, I see…" The woman smiled awkwardly. "Why did you come so far from the city to here?"

Ru Meiqi's lips curled up in a smile as she glanced over the woman's name tag. Fang Xiaoyuan. "I am here to visit my relatives but the weather is so hot, so I stopped here for a while."

"You're right! It's very hot, especially these days, it has almost reached 30 degree Celsius." Fang Xiaoyuan looked like she was in her thirties. She had short straight black hair, a square face and thick freckles. "Which family is your relative from?" The people in this small village knew each other but she had never seen such a beautiful yet strange woman like Ru Meiqi.

"Huang." Ru Meiqi lied casually. "Actually, I followed my cousin's wife here. She is the youngest daughter of Huang's."

Fang Xiaoyuan smiled, much more genuine than before. "Oh, so you're the paternal family of Xiao Huang's husband?"

Ru Meiqi grimaced and finished the payment. "Yes ah, I have come here once before. It was years ago. Back then, I remembered that Uncle Huang's neighbor, Uncle Qian, has a daughter that is a few years younger than my cousin's wife. But why didn't I see her around? Uncle Qian too, do you know what happened to him? I want to ask but I am a little shy…" She lowered her head and perfectly acted the role of introvert, caring and attentive woman.

Fang Xiaozhou's face changed abruptly. She looked around in fright and seeing that there was nobody in the convenience store, she patted her chest in relief. Leaning forward, she whispered to Ru Meiqi. "Don't ask about Uncle Qian's daughter in front of him, you got it?"

Ru Meiqi showed a flabbergasted expression. "W—Why?"

"It's so tragic." Fang Xiaoyuan's face was somber as she said. "Uncle Qian's daughter is killed!"

Ru Meiqi's jaws dropped so hard that it almost reached the floor. "Killed?!"

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