Criminal Investigation: Clearing the Fog

- Revising the manuscript now. The pirated version may differ. 2024/12/3

- Coming soon: "Ex-Boyfriends Are Not Allowed at Crime Scenes" and "After Marrying My Ex's Older Brother by Agreement." Please add them to your reading list!

- Eight years ago, Shen Shangxin had just become a rookie police officer when he met Rong Xu, a child who had lost his mother. Unable to leave the boy to fend for himself, Shen took meticulous care of him. Then, two years later, Rong Xu vanished without a word.

Six years later, Shen ran into him again. Rong Xu had joined the team as a psychological consultant, and every question on the tip of Shen's tongue was shut down by the words, "We've only met once." Shen decided to play along, thinking, If you're going to pretend, I'll pretend with you.

But one case after another turned out to be connected, and a vast web of intrigue came crashing down, tangled up with Rong Xu's feelings.

He suddenly remembered the younger Rong Xu asking him, eyes red, "Is honor more important than the truth?"

He thought, No. The truth should always come first.

Now, he wanted to ask Rong Xu: Why did you come here? Who arranged it? Where were you all those years you were gone? And how much of what you feel for me... is real?

Everything seemed to rise weightlessly, like the morning mist.

A brawny, impoverished police officer who lives by his principles and is the bottom (Shen Shangxin) VS a haughty, unruly, wealthy genius who is the top (Rong Xu)

- Coming soon 01: "Ex-Boyfriends Are Not Allowed at Crime Scenes"

Synopsis:

When Xie Lingyin was eighteen, he and his first love parted on bad terms. He went abroad for further study at his family's insistence, and ten years later became one of the country's Ten Outstanding Young Medical Professionals.

But as soon as he returned home, he found himself embroiled in a murder case and face-to-face with the first love he had never forgotten.

Back then, he was everyone's dream catch and a rich golden bachelor, while Lu Maoyu was so poor he had to share a cup of instant noodles with a cat.

Lu Maoyu, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Unit, had weathered every storm. He never expected to meet his first love again ten years later. This time, he was an upright police officer, and Xie Lingyin was a suspect in a major case.

The two, whose breakup had never been properly explained, dropped all pretenses and traded barbs, tormenting each other until the case was solved.

The day Xie Lingyin left the city bureau, his spoiled-brat temper flared. "If you ever catch me again, I'll acknowledge your cat as my big brother."

Lu Maoyu: "..."

Early the next morning, Xie Lingyin was crouched outside the door with a police officer beside him. He called out to Lu Maoyu awkwardly, "...Good morning, Cat Dad."

Lu Maoyu: "?"

He thought it was over, but it was only the beginning.

Every parting is a reunion after a long absence. Our meeting was fate.

- 02: "After Marrying My Ex's Older Brother by Agreement"

After a breakup, Song Yanxing was targeted by his vengeful ex and ended up getting acquainted with the industry's most sought-after big shot. Wen Xinqie came from a prominent family and was a brilliant young man, with people everywhere eager to win his favor.

As far as Song Yanxing was concerned, Wen Xinqie was his scumbag ex's older brother, a young master who expected strangers to keep their distance. They belonged to different worlds.

That is, until Wen Xinqie became his blind date. Song Yanxing blurted out, "No talk of feelings, no getting back together. It's never going to happen."

His date smiled. "Fine. You want to get married? What do you think of me?"

Song Yanxing knew all too well how far apart they were, so he turned him down, saying there was no foundation of affection between them.

He never expected that, when he fell on hard times, the man he had rejected would come to his rescue.

Wen Xinqie not only sorted out the mess caused by the whole affair, but also put the people who had designs on Song Yanxing in their place, openly standing up for him.

But there was a condition.

Wen Xinqie: "Three years of marriage by agreement."

A convenient excuse to keep you by my side.

*

After they married, Wen Xinqie took care of him in every way, as if they were a real couple.

Song Yanxing tried several times to bring it up, but whenever he looked at Wen Xinqie's gentle face, he forgot what he wanted to say.

Even so, Song Yanxing constantly warned himself not to fall for him.

Because they... had never even touched.

Perhaps this was a platonic marriage.

So Song Yanxing relaxed and let himself go around Wen Xinqie, never noticing the increasingly undisguised look in the man's eyes.

The day Song Yanxing's company won the industry's Best Company award, he boldly confessed his feelings to Wen Xinqie.

It wasn't until they had spent a whole day and night without leaving the bedroom that he finally realized the distance between them had been the restraint Wen Xinqie had forced himself to maintain.

And Song Yanxing had unlocked the cage with his own hands, releasing the beast that had coveted him for years.

*

The first time Wen Xinqie saw Song Yanxing was in a suggestive scene from an erotic film.

The sunset lingered on the horizon, bathing the man's face in a warm flush.

He lowered his head to open the door. He hadn't expected a pretty boy wrapped in a white bath towel to stumble into his arms, along with a pair of clear, panicked eyes glistening with tears. In that moment, Wen Xinqie thought: From now on, those eyes should look only at me.

Later, when he learned that the boy was his younger brother's boyfriend, Wen Xinqie buried his feelings and played the role of an older brother who barely registered.

Until he overheard his younger brother making a flirtatious phone call, and the person on the other end wasn't Song Yanxing. The feelings he had kept hidden for years could no longer be contained.

Reader's guide:

1. Main character is the bottom. The setting is fictional, so don't compare it to real life. The mysteries are solved mainly by cracking the cases, so there's no need to overthink them.

2. They are each other's first love. The romance is mostly angst-free (probably).

3. The story alternates between the main plot and everyday life. Most of the data in the novel comes from Baidu, while a little is made up by me, so don't take it as fact.

4. Please don't insult me. I'll get depressed. If you don't like it, please leave quietly. Thanks.

Theme: Who says a hero covered in mud isn't a hero? - "The Lonely Warrior"