«Senator Lin, you are here as well?»

They turned, following the voice, and saw a group of people in shirt and tie. Xu Mei stood near Lin Longwei in silence, not too interested in them.

«Yes, I am. Are you inspecting the work?»

«We have just finished,» the same man answered.

Xu Mei felt familiar but didn't give weight to it, because she probably already met that man on another occasion. Those people were seemingly the officers that the secretary had mentioned when Lin Longwei and the girl just got in.

«Is everything all right?» Lin Longwei asked, totally unbothered.

«Seems so. Do you have time for a chat?»

«I'm busy right now.»

«I see.» The man looked briefly at Xu Mei but didn't examine her further. Either way, he couldn't see her face. He could just guess that it was a girl and, judging by the cheerful colour of her dress, a young one.

'It must be the cousin,' the office thought. It was a very well-known fact that Senator Lin used to spoil his younger cousin, Lin Yulan.

Meanwhile, Xu Mei observed the man in silence, noticing how his relationship with Lin Longwei seemed that of two rivals respecting each other. His fair skin testified he was near Lin Longwei's age. She tried to remember the people from the Government she knew that were young enough. None of them matched the height and physique of the officer in front of her.

«In that case, we will go. I'll trouble you another day about the documents I requested but didn't receive.»

«Such a thing happened?» Lin Longwei asked suspiciously. «What kind of documents?»

The man thought for a moment about how to reveal the minimum amount of information. He needed to be understood by Lin Longwei but not the person next to him. Even if it was someone the man trusted, the project was a matter where the Government was involved. Not anyone could listen to its details.

«I would like to see the accounting reports on the project that the Government invested in. However, it's not an urgent matter. It can wait.»

The officer fixed the sleeve of his shirt with a swift movement. Xu Mei kept her breath, realising who was in front of her.

That movement... She knew only two people with so much elegance: her grandfather and her older brother.

Lin Longwei noticed her reaction and greeted the people in front of them quickly. He surrounded Xu Mei's shoulders with an arm to distract her, but she managed anyway to glimpse the man's mouth and a tiny mole on the lower lip.

Wasn't he supposed to be out of the country at that time?

«That was...» she started as soon as they were alone, but Lin Longwei signalled to keep quite.

«You... I can't believe how much of an actor you can be!»

«How can you be so sure you know him?»

«I know my brother! And I saw the mole on his lower lip,» she whispered so that only Lin Longwei could hear.

«You saw it?»

«Yes. What's so surprising?»

«You shouldn't be able to.»

«Why? You cannot see a whole face, I get it, but you can identify people from the details. I'm sorry to say that your system isn't flawless.»

«Mei, normal people don't see the details.»

«Ah.»

Xu Mei looked at him, disoriented. In part, she was afraid that they would do experiments on her to find out why the system failed. The rest of her confusion was due to Lin Longwei saying her name out loud for the first time.

«I was joking. I cannot see anything!» the girl defended herself, laughing nervously.

«I won't hand you over to the scientists,» Lin Longwei voiced.

«Mhm. There is no need since I see... Ehm...» What was she supposed to see?

«Theoretically, you should forget a face as soon as you see it. Then, the brain tries to construct an image that won't cause inconsistency with your current knowledge. It's usually a blurry image, like smoke or fog. The face is forgotten before your brain has time to construct it. At least, this is how they explained it to me.»

«It's odd enough this way. I cannot imagine how weird should your employees feel every day.»

«They say you get used to it.»

«Well, your lab sure it's crowded during the night,» Xu Mei noticed. «What time is it?»

«Almost eight o'clock. It's not that early...»

«I have a test in two hours!» Xu Mei remembered all of a sudden.

Lin Longwei chuckled.

«I need something from my office, and then we can leave. Do you want to come with me?»

«Of course. If I stay here, people will stare.»

«They see you are a guest from your outfit,» he explained while passing the gaze on her light yellow shirt and short jeans, on her long legs and finishing on her black sandals. «It's quite cold here.»

«I'm fine, thank you,» she uttered and preceded him on the hallway.

«It's the other way.»

«Oh!» She turned around quickly.