Chapter 367 - 300: A Tough Job, But It Must Be Done

"So that’s the situation."

At 10:45 PM, Officer Zuo Guangzhi held a cup of instant noodles he had just taken a single bite of. He looked at the woman across from him, whose slender figure couldn’t be hidden by her thick down jacket, and the dashing, obviously wealthy man beside her.

Police officers are usually excellent at remembering faces. Zuo Guangzhi recognized them instantly.

It was none other than Ni Bingyan, who had just won the Jinma Award for Best Actress, and her boyfriend, Sang Yuan.

He knew a lot of celebrities lived in this district ever since he was assigned to it, but he hadn’t expected Ni Bingyan to live here too.

"So, you want to find the fan who gave you the scratch-off ticket?"

"Yes. It involves a prize of over a million yuan, so I feel I should give it back to her."

To not be tempted at all by such a large sum of money... Even though they were rich, their willingness to do this was still impressive.

Zuo Guangzhi’s stomach growled as he smelled his instant noodles. He glanced down at the cup but resolutely pushed it away.

"Come on, let’s get you registered first. The sooner we find this person, the sooner you can have some peace of mind."

’Who would get into this line of work if they didn’t have a sense of justice in their heart?’

Zuo Guangzhi admired upright people and felt a strong sense of goodwill toward the couple. Even though he was starving, he was still willing to handle their case first.

"It’s alright, it’s alright. We’re not in a hurry. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Are there any forms we need to fill out? We can work on those while you eat."

Sang Yuan was very polite. Zuo Guangzhi thought that made sense, so he handed Ni Bingyan a few forms and started wolfing down his instant noodles.

He’d had a busy day. He had just unwrapped his chopsticks for dinner when he got a call.

A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were fighting. The son, caught in the middle, tried to mediate but ended up getting double-teamed by the two women and got his head busted open. A neighbor heard the commotion and called the police.

By the time he returned after handling that mess, his dinner was long cold. He had no choice but to make do with instant noodles.

He finished his noodles in a few bites, and by then, Ni Bingyan had diligently filled out the forms.

"Do you have a picture of her?"

"I contacted the media outlets that were there today. Many of them got a clear shot of her face."

"I have to warn you, ID photos often look quite different from the person. Even with a high-definition picture, we might not be able to find her."

"It’s okay, it’s okay. I just want to try. It would be great if we can find her. I’ll feel more at ease once this money is in her hands."

Zuo Guangzhi agreed and took the photo to find the technical officer.

The two sat in the office, sipping hot water while they waited.

The wait was not easy.

The officers were still on duty, so it wasn’t appropriate for the two of them to chat. They could only take out their phones to pass the time.

Funnily enough, even though they were sitting right next to each other, they both opened WeChat and started chatting.

Ni Bu Sangxin: [Babe, do you think they’ll find a match?]

Ni Bingyan couldn’t help but smile when she saw his username. [It’d be great if they do. By the way, who taught you to pick a username like that?]

’It used to be "Yuan Yan Sang Yuan," but he suddenly changed his style. It feels so weird.’

Sang Yuan sent her a screenshot.

It was a group chat full of Yuan Yan’s upper management, and none of their IDs were very serious.

Someone was named "Qin Lü," another was "Chen Liu," and there was even an "Asi’s Queen"...

If they weren’t at the police station, Ni Bingyan probably would have burst out laughing!

She was in a good mood, which made her feel mischievous.

Ni Bingyan leaned right into his arms, took a selfie with a CLICK, and changed her profile picture.

The reception hall had white walls and blue text. The camera, angled from below, happened to capture the word "Loyalty" behind them.

Besides "Loyalty," the wall also had "Law-Abiding," "Dutiful," and "Devoted."

Even though she hadn’t posted on her Moments in months, several people noticed the moment she changed her profile picture.

An older person liked it and commented: [Xiao Ni has the right attitude. This is how you should be in a relationship. A serious one.]

A single pringle started getting salty: [Sis, give us a break! People are still bashing you online! And you’re here showing off your relationship! Argh! Take my phantom kick! *Kicks over the bowl of PDA!*]

Then there was her dad, who was all nerves: [What are you two doing at the police station?]

Before she could reply, a video call came in.

Ni Bingyan quickly ran into the hallway to answer it.

She spent a good while explaining things to her dad, and with Sang Yuan coming over to corroborate her story, he finally believed she wasn’t in trouble. He teased her a bit more before hanging up.

When she returned to the reception hall, neither of them was in the mood to play on their phones anymore.

"Tired? Here, lean on me and get some sleep."

Sang Yuan patted his shoulder. Ni Bingyan leaned over and started to doze off after a short while.

With all the shock and fright today, plus the flight, and now this happening right before bed, she was truly exhausted.

Seeing her asleep, Sang Yuan let out a soft chuckle, took out his phone, and mimicked her by taking a similar photo and changing his profile picture to match.

Meanwhile, some executives were still working overtime.

One of them had just finished a late-night snack from the cafeteria and was picking his teeth, about to make a cup of coffee, when he noticed the person pinned to the top of his chat list had a new profile picture.

Instead of a private message, he tagged him directly in the group chat.

Chen Liu: [As expected of you! That’s a creative profile pic! @Ni Bu Sangxin]

Ni Bu Sangxin: [It’s alright, nothing special. Just a matching couple’s profile pic. Isn’t this old news for you guys?~ screenshot.JPG]

Chen Liu: [I’m done for. My wife better not see this, or "Chen Liu" won’t be enough to satisfy her anymore!]

Asi’s Queen: [Haha! Brother Liu, too late. I just forwarded it to your wife. Hahaha!]

Chen Liu: [Have a heart! I’m pulling an all-nighter for a project, and you guys... you’re unbelievable!]

Asi’s Queen: [We know, we know, you landed a big project. Stop showing off!]

...

No one dared to mute this group. Thinking there was important news in the middle of the night, they rubbed their eyes and crawled out of bed, only to see a bunch of idle people chatting.

After scrolling through 99+ messages and finally reaching the top, they saw their boss showing off his relationship and immediately cursed, "Fuck!"

"Who are you cursing at in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

This heartfelt exclamation nearly started arguments in many households.

Left with no choice, everyone had to share the story of their boss’s PDA with their significant others.

And so, before dawn, two topics simultaneously hit the hot search rankings.

#NiBingyanScratchOff#, #NiBingyanPDA#.

After all that trouble, unfortunately, the police station couldn’t find the person.

They didn’t get home until three in the morning. Ni Bingyan’s eyelids felt glued shut. Even with a million yuan on her mind, she couldn’t fight off the overwhelming sleepiness and passed out.

She rarely overslept, but the next day, she didn’t open her eyes until half-past ten.

Her head ached a little from the late night. As she sat on her bed in a daze, she heard someone knocking downstairs.

Wangcai was scratching at the door, barking ferociously.

The person outside the gate had no choice but to shout at the top of their lungs, "Ni Bingyan! Open the door! I know you’re home!"

Recognizing Sister Wei’s voice, Ni Bingyan instantly shuddered.

’Why is she so furious this early in the morning?’

’Yikes, getting this angry is bad for your health! She shouldn’t do that!’

Ni Bingyan quickly hopped out of bed.

She used the remote to open the gate for Wei Shuojie, then immediately dove into her walk-in closet to change into some loungewear.

By the time she ran downstairs in her thick fuzzy socks, Wei Shuojie had already reached the front door.

Pulling open the door, Ni Bingyan gave an awkward smile and welcomed her in. "Sis, have you eaten? My, the weather’s so dry. Have a glass of water first, okay~"

Wei Shuojie was about to explode. "I was dragged out of bed by the PR department at five in the morning! Eaten? I don’t want to eat! Right now, I just want to peel you naked, dip you in chili sauce, and chew you up one bite at a time!"

’I didn’t even do anything,’ Ni Bingyan thought. ’It’s not that serious, really...’

Her big eyes looked completely innocent.

"You dare look at me like that? Going to the police station in the middle of the night to show off your relationship? How could you!"

Ni Bingyan: "..."

’Sister Wei, does the boss know you’re this good at summarizing things?’

’Let’s get this straight: at the year-end summary meeting, if you’re not going on stage, then neither am I!’

’Anyone else would have rambled for two hours.’

’But not our Sister Wei. No matter how complicated the matter, she can sum it up in one sentence.’

"What are you spacing out for? Aren’t you going to give me a proper explanation? I told you to look at me! Keep looking! Keep looking!"

On a whim, Ni Bingyan blurted out, "Keep looking and I’ll drink you up!"

Weighed down by a mountain of work, with her client causing trouble the moment she got home, the sleep-deprived Wei Shuojie saw Ni Bingyan still wasn’t being serious and simply plopped onto the sofa, not wanting to talk anymore.

After a long while, she finally uttered a single sentence:

"Don’t talk to me if lunch doesn’t include braised fish. I’ve worried myself sick over you."

Ni Bingyan had just fished her phone out from between the sofa cushions. She hadn’t even figured out what was going on yet, but hearing this, she quickly patted her chest and promised, "No problem! No problem!"