Published at 16th of March 2020 12:11 am

Chapter 597: Not the Same as Before

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Hmm, bad apple huh?…

That fits Cheng Xin perfectly!

Xiang Wan smiled and put both arms around his neck.

“I heard that the Bai Family and the Cheng Family actually tried to pair you two up originally. To be honest, I can’t imagine how you would turn out if you were to be with Cheng Xin. I have a feeling that you wouldn’t be as cool as you are now?”

Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow and pinched her nose.

“Are you disparaging her?” he chortled. “Or are you singing praises of yourself?”

“Both.” Xiang Wan grinned and buried her head in his chest. She closed her eyes and huffed a sigh in comfort. “Too bad for her. She misjudged me.”

“Yeah.” Bai Muchuan hugged her tightly and delivered some gentle kisses to her head. “My wife’s the best.”

It was a small disturbance that did not create any waves.

The next day, the sun rose from the east as usual.

Bai Muchuan had wanted Xiang Wan to rest at home. However, because of last night’s events, she knew she wouldn’t be able to achieve anything if she stayed at home. So, she went to work with him.

When she reached the main hall, she could see Cheng Xin ‘working hard’.

This tall beauty had been trying to gain favor from her colleagues and improve her performance at work. She would come to work early and knock off late. That was not all. She even put down her young missy airs and helped the janitor auntie to clean up the desks of her colleagues, bought breakfast, as well as make coffee or tea for them.

No doubt, such a tactic would certainly bring about some changes to their opinion of Cheng Xin, towards the positive side. Many of them would try to avoid her in the past. Now, they would greet her in a friendly manner when they see her.

Xiang Wan had stood at her spot for less than 10 seconds before Cheng Xin noticed her.

“Hi Teacher Xiang, good morning!”

“Morning.” Xiang Wan smiled at her. “Officer Cheng seems to be in a good mood today. You seem to have become prettier too?”

Cheng Xin was dazed for a moment.

The compliment was too unexpected.

And somehow, she had a bad feeling about it.

After all, Xiang Wan was certainly not someone who would give her compliments…

“Thank you, Teacher Xiang. But you’re the more beautiful one.” Cheng Xin ran her fingers through her hair awkwardly and took another glance at Xiang Wan—she had a half-smile on her face. Cheng Xin couldn’t quite grasp what she was up to. After giving it a thought, she came over to Xiang Wan. “I used some skincare products recently and found them to be really good. Do you want me to recommend them to you?”

Xiang Wan’s smile widened slightly. “Sure!”

Cheng Xin seemed thrilled to see that response. “Let’s add each other in WeChat so I can send you the links.”

Xiang Wan took a deep look at her and did not reject the idea.

The two of them then added each other’s WeChat in the main hall. When Xiang Wan arrived in her office, she pulled out her chair, sat down and took out her laptop. Soon after, Cheng Xin knocked on her door, holding a cup of coffee that she had just prepared. “Teacher Xiang,” said Cheng Xin warmly, “This coffee was brought back from a friend who went overseas and gave some to me. Please give it a try. The taste and flavor are different from those cheap brands in the market…”

“Sure!” Xiang Wan welcomed that, a half-smile on her face. “Just leave it on the table.”

“Okay, sure.”

Cheng Xin placed the coffee on the table.

Suddenly, she felt something amiss.

Why did she have a feeling… that Xiang Wan had become her superior?

Cheng Xin felt displeased and wanted to grit her teeth.

But the next moment, she told herself to tolerate it.

Why? Because Xiang Wan had an official title as the ‘Criminal Psychologist’s Personal Assistant’.

Cheng Xin didn’t forget what her aunt had taught her and continued to chat with Xiang Wan warmly. “I’ve been too ignorant in the past and my brother has taught me a lesson. Teacher Xiang, I’m moved that you didn’t hold a grudge against me. I hope that we can be good friends in the future…”

Eh?

Xiang Wan stared at Cheng Xin’s eyes for a moment, with a slightly puzzled look.

It seemed like she was getting popular?

She had one such request last night and another one now.

Xiang Wan laughed politely. “Why not?”

“Wah, that’s great.”

This was akin to an enormous encouragement for Cheng Xin, for that meant her ‘angelic’ image had upgraded again.

“I better go now. I’ll send you the links later. If you don’t intend to get them now, I can also give you some of mine so you can try them first…”

“No need for the trouble. Just the links will do.” Xiang Wan smiled.

“Mm, alright. Teacher Xiang, please continue with your work.”

Cheng Xin left the office.

The moment the door was closed, Xiang Wan’s face immediately turned cold.

She did not even take a sip of the coffee. She simply poured it all away.

Although she rejected the idea of being good friends with Xie Wanwan, she knew that they could face each other honestly without having to act or pretend at all.

But Cheng Xin… was different.

This woman might be a hundred times more naive than Xie Wanwan, but she was certainly more troublesome to deal with.

This was mainly attributed to her being a member of Serious Crime Division One, and also from the Cheng Family. She was Cheng Zheng’s younger cousin whom the latter treats her like a sister, and she was the niece of Cheng Zheng’s mom… Such an identity meant that she could get hold of information that most people wouldn’t be able to get.

It was nearly impossible to guard against dirty tricks that she might do behind their backs.

Although such mean people might not be able to do anything earthshaking…

No lives would be lost, yet her bad tricks could make her feel disgusted.

Xiang Wan knew that she had to be wary of her.

…

It had been quite a while since Xiang Wan last met Cheng Zheng.

They didn’t bump into each other nor did they communicate with each other. She had almost forgotten about this person yet because of Cheng Xin, she was reminded of him.

The two of them met at the canteen that day.

Bai Muchuan went out with a few detectives in the morning and was not back yet.

Xiang Wan went to the canteen for her lunch. When she sat down with her food tray, she saw Cheng Zheng.

He was also alone.

Mei Xin and Miao Zichen were not with him.

He walked in with his usual apathetic looking face and queued up to get food. After looking around the canteen for a seat, he came and sat opposite Xiang Wan.

That act surprised Xiang Wan.

After that, she smiled and nodded at him as a form of greeting.

They were working in the same building. There were bound to be times where they meet each other. There was no need to avoid him deliberately.

Nonetheless, Cheng Zheng seemed to look for her intentionally.

After he sat down, he was the one who broke the silence. “Did Cheng Xin cause any trouble for you?”

“Mm?”Xiang Wan narrowed her eyes slightly. “Is it? I don’t think so… What happened?”

She also knew how to pretend that nothing had happened.

Cheng Zheng scrutinized her face and was unable to tell if she was lying or not.

A while later, he started to poke around the vegetables gently but mindlessly with his chopsticks.

“There have been some groundless rumors about you and Bai Muchuan recently. Cheng Xin has been trying to find out more about it. I was worried that she might create trouble for you…”

“No, don’t worry.” Xiang Wan smiled. “Am I someone who is easy to mess with?”

Cheng Zheng furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her for a long time before revealing a half-smile.

“Yeah, you’re not the same anymore.”

“Thank you!” Xiang Wan didn’t probe what was not the same about her and just answered to show courtesy.

Cheng Zheng remained quiet for a moment and suddenly puffed a sigh. “If it was your current self that went to the blind date back then, I feel that I wouldn’t have said those words…”

Those words? What was it?

Xiang Wan tried to recall her memories and let out a chuckle.

“In fact, I’ve always been me. I didn’t change. It’s your attitude that has changed.”

Cheng Zheng was at a loss of words.

When he mulled over it, he realized that what she said was right after all.

He pursed his lips, trying to show a smile. “Your happiness is a lesson to me, a good one. At least, it could serve as a warning to me.”

“Mm?” Xiang Wan felt a little odd to talk about this topic.

Cheng Zheng squinted his eyes as his warm gaze brushed her face.

“So I know who I am and learn how to cherish.”

Cherish.

Xiang Wan caught the subtle hint in his words.

The corner of her mouth quirked upwards. “Captain Cheng has some good news to share?”

Cheng Zheng avoided her gaze by looking at his food. “Recently, I met a girl who likes me and I’m considering… I feel that I shouldn’t pass up on such a nice girl.”

“That’s a wonderful thing.” Xiang Wan was sincerely glad for him. “Congratulations.”

Cheng Zheng’s grip on the chopsticks got tighter.

Half a second later, he showed another smile.

“Thank you!”

At the entrance of the canteen, Cheng Xin was holding her mobile phone…

She quickly snapped a picture and left the spot quietly and surreptitiously, like a thief.

…

After the Lunar New Year holidays, there was an endless amount of news every day.

The top spots of trending news change quickly.

For the past two days, the Internet was still in full blast discussing the ‘zombie’ case as well as the gossip of Xie Wanwan. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the trending spots were taken over by the news that the main character of “The Grey List” was involved in the ‘zombie’ case and the show might be banned from broadcasting.

This was a bolt from the blue.

This piece of news affected not only Xie Wanwan, Ye Lun, Yu Ning, the rest of the actors, actresses, film crew and the Meng Entertainment Group to a great extent. It also affected Xiang Wan and numerous fans of “The Grey List” and Second Young Master Mu. This was unacceptable to them.

The fans had waited for so long.

Many people were waiting in anticipation to watch the show.

Why was it dogged by so many misfortunes?

Right from the start, Meng Chi was the one who was determined to secure the IP rights to produce the drama and movie “The Grey List”.

He had invested a huge sum of money on the production of “The Grey List”. However, as he was involved in a murder case, he was now locked up in the detention center. Till now, he was still waiting for trial. Nevertheless, the future that was awaiting him would either be a death sentence or a long jail term…

Xie Wanwan, Ye Lun, Yu Ning and the film crew, had been plagued by numerous cases ever since they started filming “The Grey List”. All these unforeseen incidents that took place during the process of shooting the film was not far from an exciting thriller…

Now, “The Grey List” had finally finished filming and was waiting for the final broadcasting schedule, yet there was a high possibility that it might suffer a terrible fate – getting banned.

Immediately when Xiang Wan saw such news, she ran over to Bai Muchuan’s office.

He was actually leaving his office and they met at the corridor. Xiang Wan was gasping for breath as she asked him about the news.

“What do you think about the latest news of ‘The Grey List’?”

“… Don’t think, just wait and see.”

“Don’t joke around! I’m being serious here. Is there any way to prevent that from happening?”

“Wait for further developments.” Bai Muchuan glanced at Xiang Wan casually. “A case just popped up and I’m going to the crime scene now. You wanna come along?”

“Eh?” Xiang Wan was still very much agitated over the news of the possible ban. “Is it related to ‘The Grey List’?”

“You can say that.” Bai Muchuan wore his coat and answered her after a moment of deliberation. “Xie Wanwan’s assistant is dead!”

…

Share