Qin Rou looked at the phone Lu Xuan handed over, and her professional instinct made her heart burn with excitement; this was a sure-fire major fraud case!
With this, let alone dealing with the Director, she could even bypass the station and report directly to the sub-bureau. No one could steal this credit from her.
She almost instinctively pulled out her own phone, ready to scan the QR code.
“Hey,” Lu Xuan flipped his wrist, pulled back his phone, and looked at her with a smile, “Officer Sister, adding me on green bubble is fine, but for this evidence, don’t you think you should show some sincerity?”
“What do you mean?” Qin Rou’s movements stiffened, and she looked at him warily, “You want to negotiate terms? I warn you, negotiating with the police is not a wise choice.”
Li Yifan, who was next to them, didn’t dare to breathe, keeping his eyes down and trying to minimize his presence.
Brother Xuan was truly Brother Xuan. In the police station’s interrogation room, he could still turn the tables and bargain with the investigating officer. His psychological fortitude was incredible!
“It’s not negotiating terms, just a small request.”
Lu Xuan’s gaze was frank, with a hint of playfulness. He leaned back in his chair, looking as relaxed as if he were in his own living room. “From the moment you walked in until now, you’ve been frowning. It looks good, but it’s too cold. It makes people feel uneasy. How about this: you smile at me, and I’ll send you the evidence.”
“What?” Qin Rou suspected she had misheard, and her pretty face instantly became covered in frost. “Say that again?”
Make her smile? In this interrogation room, smile at him, a suspect? Was this person crazy or did he have a problem with his brain?
“I said, smile.” Lu Xuan repeated, his tone as sincere as if he were asking a neighbor’s sister for help, “Just once, it’s not hard, right?”
Qin Rou’s chest heaved with anger. She felt her professional dignity had been challenged like never before.
This guy, what did he take her for? A hostess?
“Lu Xuan! Please show some respect! This is a police station!” She slammed the table, her voice dropping several degrees.
“See, you’re angry again.” Lu Xuan spread his hands, looking innocent. “Officer Sister, I’m a timid person. If you’re so fierce, I’ll get scared, my finger might tremble, and I might accidentally delete the evidence.”
“Then, you’ll have caught the person, but the evidence will be gone. How will you investigate the case then?”
“You… you dare!” Qin Rou was choked with anger, her silver teeth almost grinding to dust.
She glared at Lu Xuan, and if her gaze could kill, Lu Xuan would probably have been cut into a thousand pieces by now.
But Lu Xuan just looked at her calmly, with not a trace of lewdness in his eyes, only pure, playful amusement, like someone watching a good show.
This guy was a complete bastard!
The stalemate lasted for a full thirty seconds, and the air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze.
In the end, it was Qin Rou who gave in. She needed that evidence, she needed it too much.
She took a deep breath, as if making a great sacrifice, and said through gritted teeth, “Okay… just once! Don’t push your luck!”
“I promise.” Lu Xuan smiled like a cat that had stolen fish, and even raised his chin towards Li Yifan next to him, “Brother, be my witness.”
Li Yifan flinched, shaking his head like a rattle-drum, and instantly turned around to face the wall, muttering, “I didn’t see anything, I didn’t hear anything, I’m air, I’m wallpaper…”
His desire to survive was off the charts.
Qin Rou looked at these two clowns, both annoyed and amused, and finally could only close her eyes in resignation.
She tried to move her facial muscles, pulling the corners of her mouth upwards with difficulty.
One second, two seconds…
Lu Xuan looked at her expression, which was like someone bravely going to their death, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Qin Rou suddenly opened her eyes and glared at him.
“No, Officer Sister, you…” Lu Xuan tried to suppress his laughter and commented, “Are you sure that’s a smile? Why do I think it looks worse than crying? If a victim saw that expression, they might withdraw the case on the spot, it’s too scary.”
“You!” Qin Rou’s face instantly turned completely red. This time it wasn’t from anger, but from embarrassment.
In all her life, she had never been told she was “ugly” to her face like this.
“What exactly do you want?!” A trace of grievance, which she herself hadn’t noticed, entered her voice.
“I sincerely believe that you must look very beautiful when you smile.” Lu Xuan’s expression suddenly became serious, his deep eyes seeming to see through people’s hearts. “Have you not genuinely smiled from the heart in a long time? You constantly keep a straight face, trying to disguise yourself as an indestructible iron person.”
“But Officer Sister, police officers are also people, aren’t they? They have flesh and blood, they cry and laugh. That’s what’s real, isn’t it?”
Lu Xuan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was like a heavy hammer, striking Qin Rou’s heart fiercely.
Yes, how long had it been since she last smiled? Ever since she entered the police academy and resolved to become the best detective, she had put away all her feminine charm.
She learned from the old detectives on TV, being serious, resolute, and efficient. She thought that was what professionalism looked like.
Over time, she had almost forgotten her original self.
Looking at the bright and cheerful smile of the young man in front of her, that smile was clean and pure, like a ray of light, shining into her long-frozen heart without warning, causing a crack to appear in her hard heart.
Qin Rou was a little dazed, staring blankly at Lu Xuan, for a moment forgetting where she was.
“Hello? Officer Sister? Come back to reality.” Lu Xuan reached out and waved his hand in front of her eyes.
“Ah!” Qin Rou woke up as if from a dream, her cheeks burning hot, and she hurriedly turned her head away, “You… don’t go too far! You said it was just once…”
Her voice, unknowingly, had softened, and the coldness that kept people at a distance had quietly melted away a little.
“That one didn’t count, that was an accident.” Lu Xuan said playfully, “Let’s do it again, last time, I promise.”
Qin Rou glared at him, but there was no longer the sharpness from before in her eyes; instead, there was a hint of playful annoyance.
She closed her eyes again, and Lu Xuan’s radiant smile involuntarily appeared in her mind.
She tried, mimicking him, slowly, slowly, relaxing her tensed lips.
This time, she didn’t deliberately “smile,” but just let the ripple of emotion that had been touched in her heart spread to her face.
When she opened her eyes again, a faint, slightly shy smile blossomed on her lips.
In that instant, it was as if an iceberg had melted and spring had arrived.
The serious and oppressive atmosphere in the entire interrogation room seemed to be dispersed by that smile.
Lu Xuan was slightly stunned.
“That’s more like it.” He praised sincerely, “Officer Sister, you look really beautiful when you smile. You should smile more often in the future, otherwise, this face would be wasted.”
Qin Rou’s heart skipped a beat at his compliment, and her face turned even redder. She quickly resumed her cold expression, but deep in her eyes, there was a glimmer of light that she herself hadn’t noticed.
She cleared her throat, covering up her discomposure, and took out her phone again: “Now, can you send me the evidence?”
“Of course.” Lu Xuan readily displayed the QR code.
Just as Qin Rou successfully scanned the code and Lu Xuan was about to send the file, the interrogation room door was violently pushed open from the outside with a “bang.”
The bald Director, with his beer belly, stood at the doorway with a grim expression, his gaze like a knife scraping over Qin Rou, finally fixing on Lu Xuan.
“Who told you to let him use a phone! Qin Rou, what are you trying to do?!”