"Spicyyyyy, I am hereeee~~ Did you miss me?"
It was the next day when Jia had just set her schedule for the day when the familiar annoying voice that she loathed to listen to echoed in the bureau once again.
Huojin arrived just in time as well but was all lethargic and grumpy. "Yo Yang Mingshen. Glad to see you are as energetic as always."
He chuckled. "I am always energetic when I see my Spicy's beautiful face contorted in fury."
He rolled his eyes and then waved a hi to Bojing too.
"G-good morning…" Bojing greeted him tremblingly while hiding behind Mingshen.
"Hey that hurts! I am not gonna eat you."
Bojing burst into tears. "No, no! I-It's because of me…I am not g-good with people…"
He saw Jia and beamed. "Sis!" Huojin could see flowers blooming around his head.
You sure are not nervous around Jia, he thought.
Jia watched their faces - one almost in tears, one as annoying as always and one so tired as if he would collapse at any time.
"What's wrong with you, Huojin? The day has just started."
He made a face. "All thanks to you who pushed me into taking that cheating couple to the hospital. Gosh, they were such a handful! Nitpicking and crying on every little thing. I wanted to arrest them on charges of causing nuisance!"
"You reap what you sow," she smiled. Then she glanced at Mingshen who was eager to have her attention. "And you. What are you doing here? I only called Bojing to hand me the post mortem report."
"B-Boss insisted that he come with me…"
"Of course, Spicy! I am the lead medical examiner. As such, I should always be by your side instead of my clumsy crybaby assistant."
Tears flowed like a broken dam. "Boss…!"
Mingshen sneered at him. "What else should I call you? You couldn't even return the bike you stole."
"Huh?" Jia stared at Bojing, incredulous. "The one you stole during Danya's kidnapping case? You still have that bike?"
Bojing trembled and burst into tears. "I n-never found that guy. I vi-visited that area many times, b-but I never found him to return his bike…"
"And so it's lying in my lab wasting precious space," he scorned.
"H-How can I throw it away?" He cried.
"Like how we throw away a million other useless things."
"I-It wasn't useless! I could re-reach the place where D-Danya was kept…"
"Eventually getting kidnapped yourself," he dryly remarked.
Bojing paled and shrunk, crying all out in a corner.
"Shut up, Mingshen," Jia glared at him. "At least he was more useful than you who jammed my rescue plan just for fun!"
"Wasn't it fun, dear?"
"It wasn't but I will show you what real fun is. I have already spoken to Supervisor Tang to fire you from your position," she snorted. "You caused way too much trouble with your insensitive remarks yesterday and your interference with Danya's case too. Now begone!"
That was the first thing Jia did as soon as she reached the bureau. Tang Haitao was helpless but with so many complaints already against Mingshen, he acceded to her request.
Mingshen stepped closer to her, his lips curving into an amusing smile. "Now, now, Spicy. Think carefully."
She challenged his fickle gaze with her own determined one. "I don't need to. I cannot work with you, and you weren't so shy in not giving me more reasons either."
"Aish. Spicy, what I did was just talk. But your dear colleague here physically harmed that stupid man albeit 'accidentally.'"
Huojin - "..."
"Either you caused that accident or your friend here. I so wished it would be you but alas…you are so uptight with the rules and regulations that it couldn't have been you. But your colleague is fairly flexible in being mischievous once in a while~"
"..."
Mingshen victoriously smirked. "So if I am removed from my position for some mere remarks then I wonder what would happen to your friend if I made a slip of a tongue~ I bet Supervisor Tang wouldn't be so thrilled to know a cop acting out of his line."
"It was an accident," Jia remained stubborn.
"Which would have been believable had I not noticed him purposely sticking his foot out for that stupid man to trip~"
Jia ever so slowly turned towards Huojin, her glare mercilessly throwing knives in his direction.
Huooooojiinnnnnnn....
Huojin swallowed a gulp and adjusted his collar, sensing her murderous gaze.
Ugh I just snatched away Jia's golden chance to throw Mingshen out of the team. I am so dead.
Jia heard Bojing's sniffles growing louder and she remembered the whole ordeal. She walked up to him and patted his head. "Bojing you don't need to worry. Tell me about the bike and I will find that owner."
His tears stopped flowing, the air around him suddenly shining golden. "Really sis?"
"Of course. I am always there to help you," she grinned.
"I love you sis!" Bojing hopped back to his feet, hugging her happily.
It was then when Tang Haitao arrived and glanced at Mingshen. "Well Dr. Yang. I guess we need to talk a bit."
He smiled. "And I don't think it's necessary anymore. Right, Spicy?"
Jia had the option to let Mingshen reveal Huojin's mistake just so that she could kick him out of the team in any way possible but…
From her side, she felt Huojin's begging stares to keep the 'small accident' hush hush within themselves.
Please, please, please Jia! I won't do this again anymore! I will be a good officer from now on!
She could practically hear what he was pleading to her in his mind.
Jia forced a smile out of her lips. "...There was some small misunderstanding, Sir. It's been resolved now. Mingshen…doesn't need to leave," only she knew how bitter her heart felt.
Tang Haitao alternated his gazes between them. "But you said he was rude, insensitive and causing trouble."
"It's nothing, Sir. I might have overreacted. I already don't like him so even some small action from him antagonizes me…"
Tang Haitao wasn't stupid. He figured Mingshen must have played some card to make Jia withdraw her statement. But there was nothing he could do until she herself confessed it.
"Well I am glad the misunderstanding is resolved," he smiled. "Dr. Yang. I hope you continue to work with Jia. Peacefully," he emphasized the last word for Mingshen to clearly understand.
Mingshen lazily threw him a sideways glance and chuckled. "As long as Yang Mingshen is here, peace will never be an option."
Jia focused her attention on Bojing and asked, "What does the report say?"
Bojing hopped over to Jia's side and said, "It's the same as we had f-figured out, Sis. There are traces of fur in Mrs. Dai's respiratory tract, which is inflamed as well due to the allergy. The muscles surrounding the airways constricted, n-narrowing the bronchi and causing hyperventilation which is why we deduce that she must have fainted. Her condition then wor-worsened an hour later which is when she passed away."
"I see."
"But…"
"But?"
"I-I detected fur of two different breeds of animals. One was dog fur and the other minute traces belonged to a cat."
That left her and Huojin perplexed. "Jia, didn't you say that you saw Miss. Ma playing with two dogs?"
"That's right. There wasn't a cat anywhere. So then…how did cat fur enter her body?"