Chapter Twenty-Eight: Portrait

Qin Ruonan’s expression and tone were both steeped in unmistakable contempt. She looked down on a man like Fang Da, whose greed knew no bounds, from the bottom of her heart. With his ex-wife, he had resented being hounded and controlled; with his current wife, who did not keep him on a tight rein, he thought she did not care enough for him. It seemed the man had forgotten to stand before a mirror and reflect on himself for a moment, to ask whether, as a husband, he had ever been flawless and beyond reproach to either of his two wives.

Fang Da was not a fool, nor was he a child blind and deaf to the looks of those around him. He had not failed to notice the expression on Qin Ruonan’s face when she said those words, and he could certainly hear what her tone and word choice meant. Faced with the young female officer’s disdain, all he could do was sigh again and again, head lowered as he smoked, unable to refute her.

“I know you look down on me. You’re a woman, and women dislike men like me the most, don’t they? Still, I’m actually grateful to you. What you just said wasn’t even that harsh. Even if you had said something worse, I’d still have to take it.” Fang Da quickly finished another cigarette, crushed the butt into the ashtray, and looked up at Qin Ruonan. “Does Xia Ying know you think this way?”

Qin Ruonan asked, “Does Xia Ying know you think this way?”

Fang Da shook his head and tapped his own temple. “I do still have a little intelligence in here. I admit you’re right. I do have a greedy side, but I still have the bare minimum of conscience. I know that if Xia Ying knew I thought like this, she’d be upset, she’d be hurt, so I never let her discover it at all. Especially a few days ago, when I found out she was pregnant, I treated her even better. I can’t make a woman sad when she’s carrying my child.”

“You’re wrong. I don’t know whether, back then, when you felt that Qian Yuling interfered too much and restricted you too much, you ever really talked things over with her beyond arguing. That issue doesn’t matter now anyway, since you’re already divorced. But having had that lesson once, why is it that apart from nitpicking your remarried wife in your own mind, you never once thought to communicate with her? Tell her how you feel, and ask how she feels too. You never reflected on yourself. You never thought about properly resolving the problems between you and Xia Ying. Not only that, but for your own selfish reasons, you went to harass Qian Yuling and stop her from remarrying, just so you could keep a backup plan for yourself. You tied up two women all by yourself, and yet you still complain that neither of them is perfect enough to make you feel truly secure and happy. In my view, the biggest problem in this whole chain of events is you yourself!”

Qin Ruonan said all this without mercy. When she finished, she looked at Fang Da, whose face had turned ashamed, and fell silent for a moment. Then she sighed. “I’m sorry. As the officer handling the case, I shouldn’t have spoken about your family matters. I lost control for a moment. If you think I went too far, I can apologize.”

An Changpu had been listening quietly from the side, never once interrupting. The look he gave Qin Ruonan held a bit of scrutiny, but also some interest.

Fang Da was not offended by Qin Ruonan’s words. As he listened, he had worn an expression of contemplation the whole time. After hearing her final remarks, he hurriedly waved a hand. “No, no, you’re right. I really should reflect on myself properly. As a husband, I should have devoted more energy to my family and communicated better with my wife about what we both wanted. For so many years I’ve been living exactly as I pleased, rarely considering the other person’s feelings. Thinking about it now, I really haven’t been much of a man at all. Once my son comes back safe and sound, I definitely won’t bother Qian Yuling again, and I’ll treat Xia Ying properly as well. I won’t make the same mistake a second time.”

“Mr. Fang, it’s good that you can think that way. Everyone makes mistakes; what matters is recognizing them and correcting them.” Seeing that Fang Da’s attitude was still fairly good, An Changpu stepped in at the right moment to smooth things over and bring the topic to an end. He glanced at his watch and said, “If it’s convenient for you now, could you come with us to the Public Security Bureau?”

Fang Da knew he was talking about the portrait sketch, and he agreed without hesitation. The three of them left Fang’s home and drove straight to the bureau.

“Both of you, it’s true that I interfered in Qian Yuling’s search for a partner, but what I said about that suspicious boyfriend of hers is true too. Please don’t think I’m just slandering someone out of malice and ignore it. You absolutely must investigate that man!” On the way to the Public Security Bureau, Fang Da sat in the back seat in a daze. After a while, he leaned forward uneasily, poking his head between the two front seats to speak to An Changpu and Qin Ruonan. As he talked, his eyes kept darting nervously toward Qin Ruonan.

Qin Ruonan nodded at him. “Don’t worry. I won’t ignore a lead just because of my subjective impression of you.”

Only then did Fang Da finally relax. He settled back against the seat.

When they reached the bureau, Fang Da followed them to the Major Case Unit and sat for a while, waiting for An Changpu and the bureau’s portrait specialist to accompany him over. The specialist spoke with Fang Da. Since Fang Da said that if he described the man himself he could only offer a vague outline, but that it would be easier with some reference, the specialist said they could give the sketch a try, though it might take a while. In the end, they agreed that Fang Da would stay there for the time being, and An Changpu could head back first.

When An Changpu returned to the Major Case Unit office, Qin Ruonan was still rummaging through the investigation records, trying to find even the faintest mention of the men around Qian Yuling, hoping to uncover a clue about the “broad-faced, fleshy-looking boyfriend” Fang Da had described. It was only after An Changpu sat back down at his desk that she realized there was someone else in the office.

After their adjustment period had passed and the two were no longer at loggerheads as they had been before, Cheng Feng had, for the sake of convenience, arranged their desks side by side, facing each other, making it easier for them to discuss the case.

“I’ve found that you’re actually quite interesting,” An Changpu said after silently watching Qin Ruonan frown as she sifted through the materials.

Only then did Qin Ruonan shift her attention from the records to him, looking at him with some confusion, not understanding why he had suddenly blurted out such an unconnected remark.

“Whether you admit it or not, I think you actually don’t like Xia Ying as a person. But because she’s pregnant, you’re very considerate of her special circumstances whenever you interact with her. When Fang Da voiced his opinions about his two wives, you even stood up for her and Qian Yuling without worrying about offending him. So I suddenly realized that although you seem so serious at work, and can even be a little fierce when your temper flares, you’re actually very softhearted. Your sense of justice is practically overflowing.” An Changpu voiced his own impression of Qin Ruonan. It was a new discovery, one made only through close contact.

This girl was straightforward by nature, but being straightforward was not the same thing as being simple. She disliked beating around the bush in speech and conduct; she was rather candid, yet beneath that forceful exterior there was a completely different softness of heart, especially when faced with the weak.

“I’ll just take that as your praise and affirmation of me,” Qin Ruonan said with a faint smile, offering no real response to his assessment.

It was not that An Changpu was wrong. On the contrary, he had hit upon one of the most defining traits of her character. But she did not want to admit, face to face, that she had been seen through. Because the man sitting across from her, though he seemed bright and sunny, gentle and courteous, was someone she had known for so many years and yet, somehow, had never truly understood.

He was polite to everyone, meticulous in thought, thorough in his work, like the perfect gentleman. But his warmth was always just right, never too hot or too cold, and she had never once seen his emotions boil over.

Everyone was merely a passerby crossing his path; no one knew who, if anyone, had ever truly entered his heart.

That was Qin Ruonan’s impression of An Changpu.

Before she could see through him, she did not want him to see through her first. That might well have been the second major trait in Qin Ruonan’s character: stubbornness.

“How long will Fang Da’s portrait session take?” she asked, changing the subject, not wanting their conversation to keep circling around the analysis of her inner character.

An Changpu glanced at the time and estimated, “If everything goes smoothly, it should be finished in less than an hour. If it doesn’t, then it’s hard to say.”

Qin Ruonan nodded and said nothing more. The two of them suddenly fell silent. Perhaps because of their earlier conversation about personality, the atmosphere had inexplicably grown a little strange.

Suddenly, An Changpu jolted, startling Qin Ruonan. She looked at him in surprise as he hurriedly took a still-vibrating phone from his pocket, smiling apologetically. It turned out a call had come in all of a sudden, and the vibration had startled the absent-minded An Changpu.

“Hello? Who’s this?” An Changpu glanced at the string of numbers on the screen and paused slightly. Then, after hearing the other person introduce themselves, a look of sudden understanding appeared on his face. “Oh! I know who it is now! Sorry, after I wrote down the number last time, I forgot to save it in my phone. My memory’s been pretty awful lately... Oh... yes, yes, of course! Come on up. Mm, all right.”

After hanging up, he stood and went to the window to look outside, murmuring, “So it really is hailing!”

Qin Ruonan followed his gaze and discovered that, at some point, hail had started falling outside. The temperature in early winter had already been dropping gradually, but it had not yet gotten cold enough for snow. Rainwater had frozen into tiny pellets in the air by the cold current. They were small, about the size of grains of rice, and when they occasionally struck the glass, they made only the faintest tapping sound. If An Changpu had not said anything, she likely would not have noticed it yet.

“Is someone coming?” Qin Ruonan asked.

An Changpu was just about to answer when a knock sounded from the door outside the Major Case Unit.