茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Xiang Kun called a car and arrived at the café that Xia Libing had mentioned. Even though it was already past nine o’clock, the café was still very crowded, with almost no empty tables.

Even before he entered, Xiang Kun had already located Old Xia’s position – at a small table in the corner with only two seats. He had his laptop open and seemed to be watching something. The speakers of the laptop were silent.

Apart from Old Xia, Xiang Kun also noticed a person acting oddly by the roadside outside the café. But he did not pause, walking straight into the coffee shop.

Once inside, he glanced around the room as if to make sure the coast was clear before heading over to where Old Xia was sitting.

“What are you watching?” He asked casually, as he placed his backpack at his feet after taking a seat across from Xia Libing.

To his surprise, Xia Libing simply turned the laptop around so the screen faced him and pressed the space bar.

Then, a video started playing on the laptop’s screen. It was a clip of Xiang Kun spontaneously saving someone at the station just a few hours earlier.

Of course, the figure on the video was Xiang Kun seen from behind, covered in a hood connected to his jacket, making it impossible to see his face, bald head, or any other details ─ all you could see was his back.

The video was a few minutes longer, with Xiang Kun only appearing for less than ten seconds, which was precisely how long he had been involved ─ he left immediately after pressing on the old man’s chest for a few seconds.

However, Xiang Kun knew that Xia Libing had shown him this video, and specifically started playing it from where he appeared. It indicated that she recognized him.

As for how she recognized him, he figured it out as soon as he saw the video.

The jacket was the same one he had worn in Tongshi Town a few days ago. Not just Old Xia, who has always been paying close attention to him and is extremely observant, but even Tang Baona and Yang Zhen Er who had been to Tongshi Town with him would have guessed it was him in this video, considering they knew his arrival time in Citong City, the time and location of the incident, in addition to the jacket and his physique.

After all, Xiang Kun already had a history of stepping in to help, and saving lives.

However, he had thought that this kind of local news would not spread too far, but to his surprise, Old Xia had found it so soon. Truly the era of mobile internet.

Well, perhaps the good-looking young doctor also played a part ─ good looks do bring popularity. Sigh.

“This happened right after I got off the train. I didn’t expect the news to spread so quickly. Truly the era of universal video…” Xiang Kun sighed, “That doctor is really handsome and kind-hearted.”

He tacitly admitted that the figure in the video was he, yet didn’t admit that it was him who saved the man. After all, from the video, his ‘contribution’ was definitely not as great as that of the young doctor. He seemed more like a “troublemaker” or a “goofball”.

Of course, he knew that Old Xia wouldn’t see it that way, but she definitely wouldn’t understand what he was really doing.

Xia Libing closed her laptop, put it aside, and said, “The doctor in the video is the son of a former colleague of my third aunt. We happened to have dinner together tonight, and when this incident was brought up, he was of the opinion that the person was saved by the doctor who claimed to be a heart surgeon from the Medical University Affiliated Hospital.”

“What a coincidence…” Xiang Kun exclaimed in surprise, but inside he suddenly understood why Old Xia would notice the video so quickly.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them the doctor was an impostor.” Xia Libing glanced at him and said.

Xiang Kun touched his nose awkwardly.

What surprised him though was that Xia Libing didn’t pursue further about the video or ask him how he managed to save the old man – from her previous conversation and approach, it was clear that she had made the same conclusion as the young doctor, that the old man was saved by him.

“Recently, I came across a news article about the tourist falling off the cliff at the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area. The report claimed that the tourists were startled by a bird of prey, leading to a push and shove that resulted in the fall. It was due to the poor safety measures of the scenic area. But when I compared this with similar news reports, I found this news about the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area to be overly condensed. The specific situation and cause of the accident, alongside the species of the bird of prey, were unreported. I searched other platforms and found few discussions on the matter. Given the casualties caused by this accident, this seems unusual.”

Xia Libing didn’t continue with the previous topic, but the seemingly casual news topic she brought up startled Xiang Kun.

He did not think Old Xia was the type to share ordinary news and interesting events with him. When taciturn Old Xia starts having lengthy conversations, it’s bound to be about her “research results”.

Why would she be interested in the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area incident? Xiang Kun could guess without even using his hair…using his leg hair that this must be because of him.

“Do you think…someone is deliberately blocking the news? What do you think is the true cause of the incident in the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area?” Xiang Kun followed up on Old Xia’s topic.

“The basic facts probably haven’t changed, since there were quite a few direct witnesses and survivors at the time. So, it must be true that a bird of prey frightened the tourists. The key point might lie with that bird.” As Xia Libing spoke, her gaze remained fixed on Xiang Kun.

“Is there something wrong with that bird of prey?”

“I don’t know.” Xia Libing responded.

Xiang Kun detected the underlying message in Old Xia’s statement: I don’t know, do you? If you know, tell me!

“Yes, there does seem to be something wrong with that bird of prey…” Xiang Kun rambled on, pretending to be deep in thought.

Xia Libing still didn’t continue on the topic, nor did she mention the incident of Xiang Kun sneaking off to the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area in the middle of the night. Instead, she switched to a different topic:

“A few months ago, you were often ‘on business’, right? After I came to Citong City, I heard from my cousin and Nana that you would ‘travel on business’ periodically. But a few days ago in Tongshi Town, I heard from Zhang Qian that she often couldn’t find you, and most members of their team have not met you in person. Besides their company’s project, have you taken on other projects that require business trips? Wasn’t the incident on the highway last time when you were returning from a ‘business trip’?”

Old Xia was tossing fastballs again.

Xiang Kun’s brain was working overtime, trying to figure out how to answer without lying.

But Xia Libing seemed still not intending to get an answer from Xiang Kun, and changed the subject again: “I heard from my cousin that the last time we had dinner at your house, we found a microscope in your cupboard. Does it have anything to do with your keeping rabbits and the canary?”

Another fastball…

Xiang Kun roughly understood Old Xia’s tactics, which resembled those of a detective investigating a tough case. Despite having a suspect, the investigation seemed to hit a bottleneck due to lack of evidence. Thus, she bluntly disclosed part of the investigated information and deductions to the suspect.

Then, by observing the suspect’s reaction, whether it’s being furious, panic-stricken, attacking to kill or destroy evidence, denying, making excuses, or even turning oneself in, the investigation’s direction and her deduction’s accuracy can be confirmed.

Watching Old Xia, who was now in overdrive talking non-stop, Xiang Kun actually felt a momentary impulse to “just tell her everything.”

But it was just a momentary impulse. Based on his understanding of Old Xia, Xiang Kun believed that she meant no harm to him, was trustable, and would be delighted to help him investigate the mutation issue. However, he hadn’t discovered Old Xia’s “secret” yet, so he couldn’t fully understand her thoughts. Thus, he didn’t think he could accurately assess the impact of revealing his mutation to her on both him and Old Xia.

He would make a decision after he truly understood Old Xia.

“Indeed, I often use the microscope to observe ‘Goldy”s poop to assess its health condition. I also use it to examine various things like tissues, leaves for my curiosity.” Xiang Kun continued to tell his partial “truth”.

Despite throwing several fastballs, Xia Libing remained unruffled and noncommittal about the responses she received, neither expressing agreement nor raising doubt.

“By the way, these are the new clothes that Zhen’er asked me to bring you. They are all loose and athletic… Your cousin understands you well.” Xiang Kun opened his backpack and showed Xia Libing the several sets of clothes inside.

Xia Libing nodded and said, “Thank you.” These clothes indeed met her dressing style: loose, comfortable, simple, durable, warm and easy to clean.

She also knew that on top of these criteria, her cousin Yang Zhen Er must have exceeded her limits to choose the most fashionable styles that suited her.

Xiang Kun put the clothes back into the backpack: “There are too many clothes. I couldn’t find a big enough bag at home, so just take this bag home and bring it back the next time we meet. Oh, and this, it’s a pair of chopsticks I made. I originally intended to mail them to you, but since I’m coming back, I brought them myself.”

“Thank you.” Xia Libing took the simple wooden box containing the chopsticks and removed the pair of chopsticks inside.

She knew before that Xiang Kun had given Nana a pair of chopsticks he made himself, which Nana really liked. She had seen a photo of those chopsticks and knew they were slightly different from common chopsticks.

Now that she opened the box and held the chopsticks Xiang Kun had made for her, she found that these were completely different from Nana’s pair in both length and style.