Pristine Darkness Chapter 4

Okay guizzz! Bo Jinyan is officially in the house, repeat, Bo Jinyan is officially in the house!!!! Now that we’ve wrapped up WASFIL, and we’re starting on this novel, our schedule for this novel will be released next week haha~

Join us on to fangirl/fanboy about this novel together haha~

Chapter 4

Fang Qing and his partner both lifted their heads at the same time.

"What did you say?" His partner asked.

Bo Jinyan repeated what his position was again. Fang Qing and his partner both saw that Bo Jinyan had an obvious slight smile on his face. His face looked a little arrogant and smug.

Fang Qing's partner was unable to stay calm, as he laughed and said, "You're a specialist from the Ministry of Public Security? Hah!"

However, Fang Qing stopped his partner, then looked straight at Bo Jinyan, his two eyes like torches as he said, "What can you use to verify your ident.i.ty? I caught you at the crime scene!"

Bo Jinyan expression become cool. "Haven't all the doc.u.ments that I had on me been confiscated by you guys? Verifying them is your responsibility, not mine."

From under the table, Fang Qing's partner took out the basket that contained everything that was just found and confiscated from Bo Jinyan. An ident.i.ty card, a plane ticket from from Beijing to the ancient city dated back three days ago, a wallet, tissues, gloves, a surgical mask …

"If you really are an expert, why don't you have your certificate of expertise? Why don't you even have a business card?" Fang Qing's partner asked.

Bo Jinyan let out a laugh. "I'm just simply going out, why would I bring so much useless stuff?”

From the basket, Fang Qing pulled out an official-looking bright red booklet and opened it to look inside.  "Then why did you bring your marriage certificate along?"

Bo Jinyan calmly did not speak.

However, the interrogation was still cut short and Fang Qing undid the handcuffs on Bo Jinyan.  At the same time, he told his partner to go check on Bo Jinyan's ident.i.ty and said, "If you really are an expert from the Ministry of Public Security, then we overstepped our boundaries. However, I found you at the crime scene, so bringing you back here was a right we had as well as our duty."

Bo Jinyan nodded his head a little. "I understand." He rubbed his wrists that was red from the handcuffs. His face was calm and didn't even seem a little bit angry.

The weird feeling in Fang Qing's heart appeared again. He really thought that compared to a normal person, Bo Jinyan just wasn't behaving appropriately. He appeared at a time he wasn't supposed to, not even getting angry when he should have gotten angry.

A word came to his mind…..

Eccentric*.

T/N: 奇葩 can be translated as prodigy if meant positively, or weirdo if meant negatively.

In the end, Bo Jinyan picked up the cup of tea again and patiently took a small sip and then said, "Oh, that's right. I just forgot to tell you guys that my expert ident.i.ty  is confidential. With your level of authorization, you guys probably won't be able to have access to it. You probably should be able to gain access if you bring it to your superior's attention."

Fang Qing and his partner looked at each other in dismay.

Twenty minutes later.

Fang Qing had no choice but to invite Bo Jinyan into his office to sit, as the sub-bureau’s chief was now on the way to the station.

"Professor …… Bo, please sit." Fang Qing sat next to him. He wasn't a good conversationalist, not to mention the fact that he was right in front of a big Buddha like Bo Jinyan*. So after the two sat down, both of them did not say anything.

*T/N: "big Buddha" means that Bo Jinyan is a big celebrity, VIP

After a while, Bo Jinyan suddenly said something. "According to standard practices, since I have been brought back to the police station by you guys, shouldn't I notify my family to come pick me up?"

Fang Qing glanced at him. "Yes, that's right."

Bo Jinyan smiled, took the pen from the table, and wrote down a phone number. "Then please give this phone number a call and ask her to come pick me up."

"This is?" Fang Qing asked.

"Of course it's the other owner of the marriage certificate, my wife."

At this point, Fang Qing finally felt somewhat guilty. He took the woman's husband as a suspect and brought him back to the police station in the middle of the night. Although this was also caused by Bo Jinyan's  behaviour, Fang Qing was actually scared of facing women when they came to the police station, because they would always complain and argue noisily. Because of that, he politely smiled and said "Professor Bo, you can call her yourself."

Unexpectedly, Bo Jinyan was silent for a moment, his white face blus.h.i.+ng.

"If she was willing to pick up my calls, would I need to rely on a pa.s.serby to relay a message?"

Fang Qing: "…"

The phone call quickly connected and was picked up by an extremely young and gentle, female's voice. Fang Qing originally didn't want to admit to mistakenly arresting Bo Jinyan, but Bo Jinyan insisted that Fang Qing tell her "How much suffering he went through while being arrested," as he stood next to Fang Qing, and listened to the conversation. Fang Qing had no choice but to narrate everything systematically and in full detail. He also had a bit of a headache. He was only following the directions of the director to welcome this expert – who seemed to come out of nowhere- until the director came. How did he suddenly turn into a couples' relations.h.i.+p mediator?

After the woman finished listening to him talk, as expected, she was very startled, but also worried. "Is he is currently at your police station? I will come immediately.”

"Okay," Fang Qing said hurriedly.

When Fang Qing hung up, Bo Jinyan was already calmly sitting down, unruffled by everything going on. He had one leg over the other and a faint smile on his face.

Fang Qing watched him, arms crossed.

Wasn't he a famous expert, who was the best at figuring out the savage mentality of criminals? Although he had the face of a mature man, why did it seem like all his emotions were expressed on his face? Right now, you could tell that he was happy, very happy.

At the moment, Fang Qing noticed that Bo Jinyan was flipping through the investigation's evidence book that he held in his hands.

Why would Bo Jinyan be investigating this type of case? They had just discussed it with him and also had summed it up very clearly with him. Because he coincidentally also stayed at the Yao's inn, he had seen the corpse on the streets. "Because I've been bored recently," so he began to investigate this case. He was able to find the elementary school and had gone through a process of investigation similar to Fang Qing.

Even though he wasn't very happy about Bo Jinyan browsing through  his information, what he said next surprised Fang Qing.

Bo Jinyan looked over the notes one last time, repeating the last sentence of the notes that summed up the meeting. "……You guys believe, at the time there wasn't any clear and valuable clues to solve the case? Heh ……" He raised his head, looked at Fang Qing, and smiled. "There may not be a lot of information here but from my perspective, it's packed with clues."

Jian Yao rushed out from the Yao's inn's courtyard and went to the street, getting a taxi and going straight to the police station.

Jian Yao thought of a few scenarios in her head. Bo Jinyan being the type of person to continue in his own way and he also liked to pretend to be a murderer or victim. He went to the crime scene to experience it himself so it would be easy for someone to misunderstand him.

As to why he got bored in the middle of the night and went to the crime scene? Jian Yao had a little blush of shame. Could it be because of tonight and how she was still mad at him?

The night air blew gently through the car windows. Jian Yao gazed at the ancient city lights, thinking about the past six months, and her and Jinyan's relations.h.i.+p.

After the big "Flower Cannibal" case had ended, Bo Jinyan had proposed to her. She thought she needed to prepare for the wedding, but who knew that a few days after they returned from Beijing, Bo Jinyan would bring her to the Civil Affairs Bureau and get a marriage license. At that time, Jian Yao was somewhat surprised because she still hadn't completely mentally prepared herself to be someone's wife. However, when she stood at the Civil Administration's front door, she saw Bo Jinyan's antic.i.p.ation and his happy gaze. His whole person seemed to glow because of this. As a result, Jian Yao's heart softened. He wanted her to be absolutely clear that this was what she always wanted.

"I do," she said softly.

Because she agreed, she admired his talent and integrity and she forgave his willfulness and innocence. She had managed to meet him, out of the millions of men out there, because of the blessings from her three lifetimes.  Even if he gently frowned at times because he was not able to eat his beloved fish, he would always s.h.i.+ne in her eyes.

But even fish could get mad*.

*T/N: Even though Jian Yao will accept his good and bad characteristics, she has a bottom line too lol.

During the Flower Cannibal Case, Jian Yao had suffered a good amount and it had taken her a few months to recover before she could return to work. At that time, Bo Jinyan had been busy wrapping up the case but had promised her, once he had free time he would take her for a holiday  to relax and to spend time with each other.

But …

One month later, Jian Yao suggested that they go traveling.

Bo Jinyan said, "Oh! Darling, a series of homicide cases just happened in Hunan. I've already booked our  two plane tickets for tonight."

"Oh, okay," Jian Yao said.

After two months-

"America has invited me to do lectures about the Flower Cannibal Case. This is so that we can prevent any similar future cases and thus has a lot of significance. Plus, I can hand out with my old colleagues and we can reminisce over every detail from this case. Just thinking about it makes me feel enthusiastic," Bo Jinyan said.

"Okay, you go then," Jian Yao said.

After three months-

Bo Jinyan said, "Traveling? Jian Yao, this month my old colleague from the FBI have published three new books. I have to read them all this month. You have to keep in mind, that me and my old colleague, will be giving pointers to each other, which means that the world's leading criminal psychologists will be giving pointers to each other. Aren't you excited?”

Jian Yao: "…"

By then, four months had pa.s.sed.

A few days ago, Jian Yao brought some information and went to talk to Bo Jinyan. "Jinyan, I really like this ancient city and right now is the most suitable time of year for visiting." At that time, he was hugging her in his lap , excitedly playing with her hair, but how did he respond?

"You like a whole bunch of fake old buildings, ignorant tourists, and cheap replica souvenirs?"

Jian Yao: "…"

In the end, he faintly smiled and made the matter worse. "Actually, I can recommend a better vacation destination. Heilongjiang, near the Chinese and Russian border, just constructed a new prison with lots of security, it's outstanding. And, the prisoners admitted are all serious criminals. If we're fast enough, we could be lucky enough to be the first visitors!"

The morning of the second day, Jian Yao packed her luggage, wordlessly going alone to the ancient city.

Suddenly, the taxi already stopped in front of the police station entrance. Jian Yao got out of the car and there was already a police officer at the entrance, waiting to bring her in. Jian Yao thought about how she had been ignoring Bo Jinyan these past few days, and how she had not seen him properly in such a long time. Her heart suddenly starting beating faster.

Just now, she had hastily picked up the phone but now that she thought about it, when Bo Jinyan was taken in as a suspect by the police captain, did he suffer a lot? Although these past months he has been exercising, he even let her touch the small muscles on his triceps, but according to Jian Yao's judgement, that little bit of muscle would not be able to fight against a police officer. Not to mention the police captain.

As she was thinking about this, they had already arrived in front of a door. A tall and large man walked out and smiled when he saw her. "You must be Madam Jian*. I am the ancient city's police captain, Fang Qing. Thank you for coming at such a late hour.

*T/N: In China, married women don't change their last names, but their children take on their husband's last names. Later, Jian Yao is referred to as Mrs. Bo (薄太太). 太太 means married woman. Fang Qing addressed Jian Yao as 简老师 which means “Teacher” Jian.

Jian Yao  hurriedly shook his hand and smiled as well. "h.e.l.lo, I am the Ministry of Public Security Criminal Psychology's Officer Jian Yao, and Bo Jinyan's wife. I'm honored to meet you."

Fang Qing glanced behind him and said, "He's inside."

The both of them looked up and looked around. The office wasn't s.p.a.cious. It was three a.m. but the lights inside the office s.h.i.+ned like a layer of clear water. Bo Jinyan's suit was straight as he stood in front of a whiteboard, his hands behind his back, habitually tapping his fingertips together. He looked up and read all the different conclusions written on the whiteboard. The words were tall and straight and looked clear as water.

Jian Yao watched him from a distance, and suddenly the anger she had for him disappeared like a cloud of smoke.

Or maybe when he came after her to the ancient city, the anger had disappeared. But she couldn't let go of her pride and just forgive him.

She quietly watched his lone figure under the light, suddenly thinking of something.

Perhaps, in this life, he would always be standing there, lonely. Perhaps, he would always stand like that until his black hair slowly became white, and his straight back slowly began to hunch over, but his eyes would stay as clear as always.

Sensing that there was movement behind him, Bo Jinyan turned around. His eyes swept over Fang Qing and then quickly to Jian Yao. There was about ten meters between the two people and they stared at each other.

Jian Yao softly called to him. "Jinyan…"

He faintly smiled and said, "Mrs. Bo, I'm doing very well, I'm fine."

Translator: Ting

TL Checker: Tranzgeek, Clue

Proofread: Librismuse