Wei Muran continued to ignore her and turned to Yang Shaoqun's group. "Thank you for your hospitality these past few days and for allowing me to participate in the investigation."

"Don't mention it. You guys have helped tremendously," said Yang Shaoqun as he waved his hands. It was a situation convenient to both parties—no point making it into something uncomfortable.

Yang Shaoqun had not understood the xenophobia between some police precincts.

"If you have any questions regarding the case, you can contact Muran. We'll also pay attention to the case in City B. We'll definitely help if we can," Qi Youxuan said.

After hearing Qi Youxuan's words, Yang Shaoqun was really happy.

The group accompanied them right to the security checkpoint before leaving.

...

Qi Youxuan sent Wei Muran home, but as soon as the car stopped, before he had a chance to kiss her, Wei Ziqi came out and rapped on his car window.

Qi Youxuan regrettably got out of the car and was glared at by Wei Ziqi. Wei Ziqi said with a stern face, "You have a lot of nerve. You actually dared to take my daughter away for so many days!"

"Dad!" Wei Muran quickly pulled Wei Ziqi away coquettishly. "We went to T City and ended up only staying one night. We didn't even get to go to the hot springs when we happened upon a murder. I was working on the case with T City's Criminal Investigation Division these past few days. I didn't even have a good vacation."

"Murder? Did it involve you?" Wei Ziqi's attention had been firmly diverted. His daughter was given top priority, "What happened? Were you bullied?"

"No. We just found a body. We were assisting the police as eyewitnesses," Wei Muran explained before continuing, "I saw that they were getting nowhere with the case, so I decided to understand more about the case with the T City folks."

"You two… sigh!" Wei Ziqi realized that they were still outside. Although there was no one else around, it was not appropriate and said, "We'll talk inside."

"Ok." Wei Muran was worried that Wei Ziqi would continue to harp on Qi Youxuan, so she willingly complied.

Qi Youxuan tried to take advantage to fish in troubled waters and followed them through the Wei house gate.

Wei Ziqi was not so easily fooled and glared at him, "Did I say you could come in?"

Wei Muran did not dare to defend Qi Youxuan at the time. Wei Ziqi was still angry, the more she spoke-up for Qi Youxuan, the more Wei Ziqi would be against Qi Youxuan.

With such a difficult father, Wei Muran occasionally felt tired as well.

Wei Muran secretly winked at Qi Youxuan and signaled for him to leave.

Qi Youxuan no longer insisted and just said with a smile, "I'll be leaving now, Dad. Bye. Mumu, have a good rest. I'll call you later tonight!"

Wei Ziqi wanted to shout, 'I'm not your Dad! Don't call her phone!'

He raised his foot to kick Qi Youxuan's backside. Qi Youxuan wanted to let his father-in-law let off some steam. He purposely turned toward the direction of his feet and obediently took the kick. He then brushed the seat of his pants, got into his car, and drove off.

Wei Ziqi expressed that he was still upset, snorted, and then took Wei Muran back home.

"That little brat. Did he… did he take advantage of you?" asked Wei Ziqi awkwardly upon returning home.

Wei Muran froze for a moment, still wondering if making-out was considered being taken advantage of?

Looking at Wei Ziqi's expression, she understood what he meant.

She blushed and said, "Dad, what are you thinking! We… We were staying at the resort villas. We had our own separate rooms. Nothing happened."

Wei Muran's voice softened as she spoke, she was quite embarrassed and lowered her head, "Moreover, he has always respected me and has never initiated any demands to… to do that stuff."

Wei Ziqi's expression finally improved a little. He felt that Qi Youxuan at least had some redeemable qualities, but only a little.

In his eyes, all men that caught his daughter's eye were scums.

They both were future sons-in-law but Wei Muche's treatment was far better. From an early age, Wei Muche obeyed Cheng Xicheng. From Cheng Dongge's perspective, this son of Wei Ziqi was meant to be part of his family.

If Cheng Xicheng points to the east, Wei Muche will not go west. Cheng Dongge was not worried that his daughter would be bullied.

Therefore, when Wei Muche sent Cheng Xicheng home, Cheng Dongge invited Wei Muche into the house and generously discussed his experiences regarding taking care of one's wife. Determined to brainwash Wei Muche.

He thought Wei Ziqi was being stupid. His daughter would be married sooner or later, what good would it do to guard against Qi Youxuan as though guarding against a thief.

It would be better to be like him, brainwashing Wei Muche from the beginning as well as every time they met. To the point that he was very reassured. He was simply preparing a good husband for his damsel. He was not afraid of a change of heart.

In terms of the relationship, he had already transformed Wei Muche into an honest man.

While poor Wei Ziqi was so obsessed with protecting his daughter, he did not realize that his son was being turned by Cheng Dongge.

Cheng Xicheng returned after changing into her more comfortable home clothes and sat right next to Wei Muche. Wei Muche stood up immediately and said, "Chengcheng, let me make you some fruit juice!"

Er Cheng does not like to drink tea and does not like unflavored drinks. Wei Muche thought that store-bought fruit juices had too many additives and it was not good to drink too much of those. Therefore, as long as he was around, he would make freshly squeezed juice for Cheng Xicheng.

Under Cheng Dongge's tutelage, Wei Muche was extremely familiar with the Cheng family's kitchen. He slid into the kitchen, took out the juicer from the cabinet along with a variety of fruits and proceeded to make Cheng Xicheng a fruit and vegetable juice combo.

...

Wen Xu sent Qi Youning back to Prestige Residences. As soon as he found out that they would be returning, Qi Chenglin sat in the living room scrolling away on his iPad. However, Ruan Danchen, who sat beside him sipping tea, could clearly see that he was just scrolling on the home screen. Occasionally, he would tap and launch the browser by accident, but would just close it and continue scrolling.

Ruan Danchen silently observed him doing that for two hours.

As he scrolled, he would glance at the clock on the iPad from time to time, and while frowning, he said, "Why hasn't Youning returned yet?"

"..." Ruan Danchen reached out and rubbed his brows, reminding him silently not to frown.

He calmed down a little after being massaged by her soft fingers—his brows relaxed. The expression on his face also softened. He raised his hand and grabbed Ruan Danchen's hand, pulled it towards his lips, and kissed it a few times.

They had been married for decades. Except for a few more wrinkles on his face, Qi Chenglin did not change much. He still looked good after so many years, as though only a day had passed.

Ruan Danchen felt a little embarrassed to be kissed. She rested her head on his shoulders and gently poked his shoulder with her other hand. She did not lift her head but heard the low sound of Qi Chenglin's laughter.

"Don't worry, Youxuan is with her. He's not the kind of person to sit back while his sister is being taken advantage of. Besides, this is Wen Xu. I'm quite relieved," said Ruan Danchen smiling.

Although Qi Chenglin regarded Wen Xu as an enemy who wanted to snatch his daughter away, Ruan Danchen treated Wen Xu as her prospective son-in-law. She watched Wen Xu stay by Qi Youning's side all this time while watching her grow up. He could maintain it for so long, so Ruan Danchen did not have any complaints. To have someone like this protecting her daughter, they could rest easy.

What if Wen Xu had a change of heart in the future? If someone who had protected Qi Youning for more than ten years could have a change of heart, then she was afraid to think what other men would be like.

Besides, she believed in Wen Xu.

Ruan Danchen smiled and held onto Qi Chenglin's arm, "Although she's my daughter, I have to admit that she was really fat as a child. Even then, Wen Xu still liked her and treated her so preciously. I thought then if Youning couldn't reduce her weight and continued to get fatter, it would be a blessing to have someone like Wen Xu. Think about it. At the time Youning was a little fatty, Wen Xu was still able to admire her. To find a son-in-law like this is very rare!"

"..." Qi Chenglin was speechless.

Although he did not want to admit it, why did he feel that what his wife said made sense?

Hence, when Wen Xu brought Qi Youning home and rang the doorbell, Qi Chenglin chucked the iPad aside, rushed over, opened the door, and pulled Qi Youning inside.

Wen Xu stared at an expressionless Qi Chenglin and addressed him earnestly, "Father-in-law Sir, I've brought Youning home safely."

Qi Chenglin had nothing to say.

How could he quickly get rid of this brat?

Qi Youning wisely embraced Qi Chenglin and said, "Dad, I missed you so much!"

Qi Chenglin's originally cold expression softened immediately. He smiled at Qi Youning and said, "Are you hungry? Your Mom cooked and prepared some delicious food for you this afternoon."

"Yes! The meals on the plane weren't nice, so I didn't eat." Qi Youning thought of nothing else when she heard of food.

"Father-in-law Sir, I have not eaten as well," said Wen Xu calmly.

"Then, get home quickly for dinner!" said Qi Chenglin, who then shut the door.

"..." Wen Xu was speechless.

"..." Ruan Danchen had nothing to say as well.

Qi Chenglin had already ushered Qi Youning inside. Ruan Danchen quietly opened the door again and said, "Ah Xu come in and join us."

The corner of Wen Xu's mouth curled, although not a big change in his expression but his eyes were like that of a loyal puppy looking up. Ruan Danchen almost wanted to pet his head and say, "Sit, good boy, shake hands."

Fortunately, Ruan Danchen held back the urge to do so and only invited him in for dinner.

…

After returning to B City, Wei Muran kept in contact with Yang Shaoqun, but there seemed to be no progress made with the case.

On the eighth of October, the holidays officially ended.

In the morning, Wei Muran received a call from Yang Shaoqun.

"Muran, we received a report early this morning. They found another female body. The cause of death is asphyxiation. She was found dead in the bathtub which was filled with water at home. What's different this time is that the body had multiple needle-like puncture holes. According to the forensic pathologist, the thickness of the holes is similar to that of barbeque skewers. Could you please inform Mr. Qi and have him make a trip to T City. This is not a simple matter."

Something flashed across Wei Muran's mind, it was something related to the case but she could not quite grasp it at the moment. On the phone, Yang Shaoqun kept pleading for her help, causing Wei Muran to not be able to think clearly.

"I'll talk to him." It was the only thing Wei Muran could say.

Yang Shaoqun happily thanked Wei Muran. After Wei Muran hung up, she gave Qi Youxuan a call.

As there were no cases recently, Qi Youxuan did not come over.

Wei Muran did not insist that he must go but let him decide the matter for himself. She knows that Qi Youxuan has his own work to attend to. It was a little overboard to have him constantly come to the police station at her request. After all, this was not his job.

Qi Youxuan said he will finish up what he was working on and if they still had no solution by then, he would come over.

Wei Muran hung up the phone, then frowned and thought about what came to her mind when she was talking to Yang Shaoqun a moment ago.

"Muran, what are you thinking about?" Tech geek Yang Shaozhan finally took his eyes off his computer screen for a moment. He saw Wei Muran immersed in her thoughts, unsure of what she was thinking about. She had been thinking for some time—her brows scrunched tighter and tighter. There was no movement in her posture from the beginning.

Yang Shaozhan could not stand it and finally got up and walked to Wei Muran and asked her.

Xing Jiadong did not see Wei Muran's face but only overheard Yang Shaozhan's question and said loudly, "What else could she be thinking of. Must be the boyfriend!" Having worked with Qi Youxuan on solving the two cases, Xing Jiadong no longer resented Qi Youxuan as he did in the beginning. He secretly quite admired him.

Wei Muran suddenly stood up startling Yang Shaozhan.

Wei Muran apologized and quickly rushed to Jiang Yuecheng's office.

"Ah, did she want to meet him that badly?" asked Xing Jiadong sluggishly.

Yang Shaozhan could not be bothered with these two. He waved his hand and went back to his computer.

"Sergeant Jiang, I have something to attend to. I'll be right back," said Wei Muran.

Jiang Yuecheng stared blankly, "What's the rush?"

There was not much to do recently, so if someone leaves to attend to errands, he did not mind.

However, observing Wei Muran's actions, he just asked nonchalantly.

"Hard to say at this point. I'll tell you when I'm certain. It's only such a hunch." Wei Muran frowned with a solemn expression.

Jiang Yuecheng saw this and presumed that it had to do with work and that Wei Muran was not attending to a private matter, so he nodded. "Alright, you may go."

Wei Muran did not return home. Her house was too far a distance, by the time she got back, her colleagues would have gotten off work.

There was a bookstore not far from the precinct about a quarter of an hour away. Wei Muran sprinted and got there in less than ten minutes.

She went straight to the best-sellers area and browsed quickly. She instantly found the book she was looking for, 'Killer of the Heart'. It was a book she used to read every night before going to bed.

As she was previously busy with cases and often stayed late working overtime, she was mentally tired and went to bed immediately. Then later, she was busy dating Qi Youxuan.

Qi Youxuan was even busier. Apart from dating and his own job, he still had to fight a battle of wits with Wei Ziqi. Avoiding Wei Ziqi's eyes and ears and climbing into her bedroom.

He would not listen, no matter how many times she told him not to do it anymore.

Although they did not do anything particularly overboard in her bedroom, being hugged and kissed like that made her blush and sent her heart racing.

Whenever he left, she still could not calm down enough to read.

Until now, she had only read half of the third case in the book and stopped there. She did not even know the ending.

Wei Muran quickly flipped to the last case and read the ending. She made a general summary, paid for the book and rushed back to the precinct.

"Sergeant Jiang, I have a hunch. It might sound crazy, but I think it's too similar to just be a coincidence." Wei Muran took the copy of "Killer of the Heart" back to the precinct and directly went to Jiang Yuecheng.

Jiang Yuecheng was working on a report. When he heard someone speaking, he saved his document and put away the work at hand. He then had Wei Muran take a seat, "What seems to be the matter?"

"I bought this book at the store just now. I have one at home as well," said Wei Muran as she handed the book to Jiang Yuecheng.

The new book was still wrapped in plastic. Jiang Yuecheng looked at her, confused. Wei Muran said, "Open it. It's a mystery suspense novel. Each case is connected and makes up the whole story. Almost all the cases are serial killings. Sergeant Jiang, can you quickly read the first three cases? I might not be able to explain it clearly. It's better if you have a look yourself."

"Is this related to our case?" asked Jiang Yuecheng keenly.

Wei Muran nodded, "It wasn't clear to me during the first two cases, but since the case in T City, I immediately associated it with this book. The two cases our team solved recently, plus the ongoing case in T City, are all very similar to this book. They're not exactly the same, but the way the victims died is the same."

"In the first case, Dong Zhengfeng kidnapped the three victims and had them kill each other like in a food chain. One killed the other, then was in turn killed by another. I remembered from Dong Zhengfeng's statement that he was seeing a psychiatrist, but then committed suicide in the psychiatric hospital. This is the same as the first case in the book, the modus operandi and the fate of the killer. The killer was also treated by a psychiatrist but had yet to be cured."

"For the second case, Li Niancheng avenged his daughter who was raped and committed suicide, killed two people, and then attempted to kill a third. The first victim was strangled, hung outside the dormitory, and then spotted by students. The second victim had a wound on his abdomen but was still alive. He was hung in the living room and died of asphyxiation and excessive blood loss. The body was discovered because the killer turned on the faucet in the bathtub. The water leaked downstairs and was reported by the neighbors. These two deaths are exactly the same as in the book. According to Li Niancheng's statement, he was also seeing a psychiatrist."

"For the third case, it's still under investigation in T City. During the National Day holidays, I was on vacation with my friends in T City. I was one of the first people to discover the first victim. The first victim also died of asphyxiation and then submerged in the resort's hot spring pool. The second victim was discovered this morning with the same cause of death and was found in her water-filled bathtub at home. However, compared to the first victim, the body had multiple needle-like puncture holes. According to the T City's Criminal Investigation Division's Sergeant Yang Shaoqun, the puncture holes are roughly the thickness of barbeque skewers. It's not known whether the victim was punctured after death, or was tortured and pierced prior to death. However, if it really does follow what the book describes—"

Wei Muran found it difficult to vocalize, "Then it would be prior to death."

"I quickly read the ending when I was at the bookstore. As we can't exactly follow what happens in the book. Moreover, the motives of the first two cases were different—only the modus operandi was the same and that the killers had seen a psychiatrist. Therefore, for this third case, we can't entirely rely on the book's plot to find the killer," said Wei Muran, frowning.

"However, at the conclusion of the third case, the killer also mentioned that he was seeing a psychiatrist." Wei Muran continued, "I briefly took a look at the ending of the book. In the end, these series of cases were all orchestrated by a psychologist. He used his position to influence his patients to commit all these murders."