Huojin elbowed her, a crafty smile curving his lips up. "You have a ride all ready for you."
"Which I am gonna reject."
Jia faced Mingshen with a sneer and said, "Yang Mingshen, do you suppose I will accompany you in YOUR car?"
"Aren't partners supposed to work together and stick together at every possible moment?" His eyes gleamed with mischief.
"I am a police officer, working for the citizens of China. You think an officer in uniform should go around locations in a Porsche?"
"Is my car not big enough? Don't worry! I will call for a bigger one!" He merrily chirped, knowing very well that he was only egging her on.
Jia folded her arms and took a step closer, her gaze on full display of the impending alarm.
"Spicy, you cornering me like this is making me blush…" Mingshen 'shyly' said.
Jia ignored that useless comment and looked straight into his twinkling irises. "I am truly unfortunate that I will have to share my working space with you from now on."
"You mean you cannot stop yourself from dancing in pure bliss," he winked.
"So let me set some ground rules so that it will be easier for me to tolerate your existence."
"You mean you cannot express how honored you feel with Yang Mingshen working with you."
"First. You will come in a separate car from Huojin and mine, and it will be a POLICE CAR. You are going in your professional capacity and as someone who is working to give justice, not as the heir to the Yang family. People don't need to see your lavish car or know your wealthy existence. That's irrelevant to the cases."
Mingshen cocked his brow.
"Second. Keep your distance from me and if you dare speak useless chatter to me or to anybody related to any case, then you are done for. Only talk if you have some sensible information to give me to help with the case or keep your mouth shut."
He pouted.
"Third. If you dare pull any such stunt in any case like you did during Danya's rescue mission and obstruct my plans, then I will personally burn you down in your own lab," she narrowed her eyes. "I tolerated it at that time. But there won't be a second chance. Do you get it?"
"I disagree," Mingshen haughtily expressed his disregard.
Huojin - "..."
This man seriously has a death wish.
"First I-"
"I don't care about your disagreement, Mr. Yang. These are the ground rules that you have to follow if you don't want me to decorate your face with the purple bruises of my punches."
Mingshen sparkled brightly. "Spicy, I like it when you threaten me like this~ You look like such a fearsome tigress."
Jia smiled. "I just don't look like one. I can act like one too. My claws are really sharp and deadly."
Not wanting to waste anymore time, she said, "Let's go, Huojin. He already wasted five precious minutes of ours."
Huojin gave him a sympathetic look and followed Jia. He took the driver's seat while Jia sat in the passenger's seat.
And Mingshen took the back seat.
"..."
Jia's knuckles cracked. "Get out, Mingshen."
"Nope. If you don't come with me in my car, then I come with you in yours~ Simple," he chuckled.
Huojin's brow twitched. "You are already violating the first ground rule."
"Which I didn't agree to," he smiled. "I will accompany Spicy wherever she goes. Period. Even if I have to make do with this small police car," he released a sigh as if it was a big sacrifice.
"You…"
Jia said, "Start the car, Huojin. We don't have time to waste. And you," she threw daggers at Mingshen, who had lazily consumed all of the back seat for his comfort, "I will deal with you later."
"I cannot wait for it, Spicy~" his eyes shone with an imaginary glitter.
—
They reached Dahua movie theater fifteen minutes later, and Jia and Huojin immediately tasked the other officers and their team to get to work. They surrounded the area and began approaching the witnesses and the people of the movie audience for questions.
As Jia went inside the theater, she started climbing up the steps towards the row where the victim's seat was. She immediately came to realize that her initial suspicions were correct.
The family was indeed sitting in the last row, she thought.
Reaching nearer, she found a familiar figure crouching over the victim's body. She looked surprised, and her gaze lit up with joy. "Bojing!"
Bojing turned and in return, his beautiful orbs shone in delight as well. "Sis Jia!" He walked down towards her but immediately coughed, noticing his mistake, "I-I mean Superintendent Jia."
He also greeted Huojin, who smiled and nodded back at him. "Nice to see you."
Jia gave him a warm hug and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"B-Boss called me to be here."
Jia shot a glance at Mingshen to which he only shrugged. "He is my able assistant after all. He will be accompanying us in our cases too, partner~"
Bojing wiped the sweat off his forehead. When he was first made aware of Mingshen pitching in as a medical and forensic investigation expert, his jaw had dropped so wide that it could have easily fit an entire orange inside his mouth.
'Boss, why w-would you decide to do this?' He had asked, horrified. 'You will l-leave the lab to assist sis Jia on her cases?'
'Why do you always need to confirm my decisions with me for a second time?' Mingshen gave him a grimace.
'Be-because this is unlike you…' Bojing shrunk into a ball, afraid of him lashing out. 'You were never interested in law and justice.'
He smiled. 'But I am interested in Spicy~'
Tears pooled in his eyes. 'A-are you d-doing this to find a ch-chance to kill sis Jia for her heart? T-that's not a g-good thing…'
He jolted when he felt Mingshen's palm on his shoulder, his face turning whiter.
He-he is going to kill me…he cried.
'My dear assistant. Yang Mingshen doesn't go by what is good and what is bad.'
He swallowed a gulp.
'What interests me matters the most. And right now…' he slightly tilted his head, an enigmatic smile charming his lips, 'I am very interested in seeing Spicy work her job. I want to see the cop Song Jia in action.'
Bojing only nodded to his whims.
'And of course, if I land a golden chance to kill her then it will be the perfect icing on the cake~'
'...'