My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Qin Weizhe couldn't quite describe the way Nan Xukun looked at him, despite being a quite eloquent detective, in his own opinion. How to say it…kind of complicated, perplexed and bewildered. In short, he looked like he didn't understand why Qin Weizhe was asking this sort of question.

Old Qin, who felt like his IQ was being insulted, rapped on the table with his knuckles. "Can you tell me honestly?"

Nan Xukun rubbed his lips with the back of his hand, pondering. "Let's say it like this, Detective Qin, let me ask you a question. If from a flock of white gooses, suddenly there's a chicken there, will you notice it or not?"

Qin Weizhe ignored how Nan Xukun phrased Li Qing as a chicken and nodded. "Notice."

"Then, if the so-called chicken—wait, you know who I'm talking about. I mean, if a person like Li Qing often passed by in front of you, like five times in less than half an hour, with her face beet red and regularly tripped on her foot then looked at you in panic, would you notice her or not?"

Qin Weizhe nodded.. "…notice."

Nan Xukun spread his palms with the expression of 'See, now you know it'.

Qin Weizhe cleared his throat. "So, you know that she had feelings for you?"

"If I don't know, then I must be blind ah." Nan Xukun sighed. "She was so obvious as if she was scared I wouldn't know it."

The tip of the pen moved swiftly on the paper as Qin Weizhe nodded in contemplation. "Then how do you feel about it?"

"How do I feel?" He asked in return. "How should I feel? She didn't confess at all so I couldn't just reject her out of nowhere, right? Now, the person suddenly committed suicide, I can't do anything even if I want to."

So far, Nan Xukun's answer had been flawless. Qin Weizhe twirled the pen between his fingers and questioned, "Then, how do you explain why you started to exchange messages regularly with her a few days before her death?"

"Huh?" Nan Xukun was taken aback, shocked. "Me?"

"Yes, you." Qin Weizhe sneered lightly and pulled out a few pages of papers where the screenshots of chatting were printed on. There was Li Qing's conversation there with someone with the nickname NanNan. It was such a girly nickname that even Wang Chengbing overlooked it, moreover, there was already someone in Ruo Tingran's group with that nickname. Maybe it was Li Qing's intention, maybe she didn't want anyone to know, that's why she changed it like that.

However, in the end, when the group were questioned by the police, the matter was finally exposed.

The conversation was quite short and it didn't contain any additional meaning or hidden secrets.

[Li Qing]: Good morning smile.jpg

[Li Qing]: Today's weather is very pleasant. Sadly, the homeworks and practice papers are too much.

[NanNan]: Hahaha you're right

[Li Qing]: Good evening

[Li Qing]: The weather forecast said that it will rain today. Do you bring an umbrella?

[NanNan]: I didn't

[Li Qing]: Oh no, you should take a hot bath and take care not to get a cold

[NanNan]: I know. Thank you.

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[NanNan]: Li Qing, you're so kind. Thank you~

[Li Qing]: Where am I kind ah? shy.jpg

If it was Qin Weizhe read the chat log himself first, he might have realized that the chat was too formal and ambiguous between normal friends and unlikely to happen between two girls unless they were lesbian, but in the end, the one who checked it was Wang Chengbing, that blockhead whose girlfriends were only PCs and gaming keyboards. He didn't realize anything at all and gave it a pass.

Li Qing's words were carefully chosen and every single entry was filled with concern and worry about the other party's well being. However, Young Master Nan's reply would differ by hours. Sometimes, when Li Qing messaged him in the morning, he would only reply late at night or early morning after that.

The conversation lasted until the day before her death as Li Qing's last message was: [When the monthly exam passed, can I tell you something?]

There was no reply from Young Master Nan.

Nan Xukun blinked, baffled. "This…" He pointed at the printed conversation. "You said this NanNan is me?"

The corner of Qin Weizhe curled up into a smile which didn't reach his eyes. "Oh, it isn't you?"

"Of course not!"

"Then," He typed on the laptop and turned it around to show the database of the WeChat server which had been hacked. A red circle was drawn on one of the datas, where the register name and ID of the person behind 'NanNan' was evidently Nan Xukun.

Young Master Nan's jaws dropped open as he saw that.

"Any excuses?" Qin Weizhe asked with a smile.

"This…" Nan Xukun was silent for a few moments and to Qin Weizhe's surprise, threw his head back and laughed. His brown curly hair swayed along with his movement. He didn't cower at all, instead he relaxed fully, a lazy smile hung on his lips. "I know what is going on now!"

Qin Weizhe asked blankly. "What?"

"A month ago, one of my phones went missing. I thought it was stolen so I didn't really care about it. This must be my stolen phone. You can ask Huang Lexin about it if you don't believe me. Someone must be impersonating me to chat with her."

"Stolen?" Qin Weizhe raised a brow. "When did you last use this phone? Do you remember approximately when and where it was stolen?"

Nan Xukun shook his head. "It's not the first time this has happened. I have lots of spare phones and I only use one private number which only a few people know. The rest are decoys so that unrelated people can't annoy me. I can give it all to you if you want to check."

Qin Weizhe sucked in cold air. "How many phones do you have in total?"

"Don't remember." He drawled nonchalantly. "You might want to ask the servants in my house for that."

Veins popped up along Qin Weizhe's arms. "Okay, I will make sure to do that. Young Master Nan sure is extravagant."

He nodded humbly, which made Qin Weizhe very much wanted to smack his notebook on the boy's head. "You are exaggerating. It's only normal."

Qin Weizhe tried to recompose himself while chanting that this was the difference between commoners and those beloved children of Heaven. Now, he already got a new lead. The stolen phone. As long as he found that phone, then he might have found something else. He also had to test the blood of all of the people in Ruo Tingran's group to see who was responsible for the drug distribution.

He was ready to end the interrogation when a static tone came from the earpiece and Ru Meiqi's voice came through it. "Comrade Qin, take his blood and ask for his medical report."

Qin Weizhe's movement halted, goosebumps erupted along his arms. The woman's voice was too close to his comfort as if she was whispering right beside his ear. He ignored his racing heartbeat and even though he didn't understand why the woman was asking about that, he didn't say anything and silently complied.

After finishing through the series of procedures, Qin Weizhe came out and rotated his neck, feeling sore and tired. A cup of glass suddenly appeared in front of him and he lifted his head to find Luo Ning. 

"Good work." He said with a smile.

"Thank you, Little Ning." Qin Weizhe accepted it gladly. "You're the best!"

"Ah, I am not—"

Behind Luo Ning was Ru Meiqi. Upon seeing her, Qin Weizhe's eyes lit up as he bypassed Luo Ning and went to her, asking in a whisper. "Senior Ru, may I ask why you're asking for his blood and medical report?"

Ru Meiqi looked at him with an indecipherable gaze. "I don't know. Maybe it's just curiosity. I felt like there's something more about him than what meets the eye."

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A/N: What do you think they will find in Nan Xukun's medical report? hmm...