My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Chapter 9 - Xu Binchen's Guilt

Shi Nian looked at him for a moment. [Are you off work now? Why are you still here?]

That silly question unknowingly caused him to relax. He sat down again and leaned back, his voice drawled. "Waiting for you to wake up."

Before Shi Nian could write again. He added, "I'm not asking for the treatment. Not for now."

Shi Nian's head snapped up and she stared at him with an incredulous look.

Xu Binchen scowled. "What kind of face are you making?"

Shi Nian realized belatedly that she had been rude, thus she hurriedly cooled down her expression and mustered up a toothy smile.

Xu Binchen rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that smile. Do you think I'm a goldfish that only has three seconds of memory?"

Fine, then.

Shi Nian turned her head and didn't want to look at him anymore.

There was a sound of 'pfft' beside her. Shi Nian turned her head so fast that she could get a whiplash but the man was expressionless and didn't look at her. She scratched her head in confusion. Maybe she heard wrongly?

Ever since she met Xu Binchen, she had never seen his smile. She even doubted whether he would smile if he got a lottery. That man put on a face as if it was made for every expression besides smiling. Even now, Shi Nian couldn't imagine what he would look like when he smiled.

Then all of a sudden, the man muttered under his breath. "I'm sorry."

Shi Nian instantly thought that there must have been something wrong with her hearing nerves, maybe it was blocked when she was unconscious thus making her having auditory hallucination. But the empty and silent room magnified the sound that it wasn't possible for her to hear wrongly.

She was flustered by this kind of uncle and her grip on the pen slipped.

It dropped down to the ground and rolled to his feet.

He raised an eyebrow, grabbed it and gave it to her. She wrote so fast that her wrist slightly sprained. [Uncla what'swrng why are you srry]

Xu Binchen stared at her board, stared so long but still couldn't understand what she was writing. "…maybe you should practice your handwriting first before everything else."

Shi Nian's jaw fell open, and she took back the board to hug it in her arms. Her cheeks fumed up in anger. She was wrong! She took back her claim that uncle detective had turned kinder and more docile! He was still the same as always!

There was a ghost of a smile on Xu Binchen's face but unfortunately, Shi Nian didn't notice it.

Xu Binchen repeated, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forced you to undergo hypnotherapy."

Shi Nian glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and this time, she took her time to write. Even erased and rewrote when she felt that it was slightly crooked. Thus this time, Xu Binchen could easily discern her words. [Uncle, it's not your fault.]

Xu Binchen was very helpless.

On one side he felt a twinge of guilt, but on the other side, they unexpectedly didn't put the blame on him, even went to the length of comforting him! He could endure it if it was Doctor Chun, after all the old man already had one leg into the grave, but a sixteen years old girl too?

Shi Nian pursed her lips tightly, mirth dancing in her eyes. [Uncle, did you get a fright? That's why you are feeling guilty now?]

Even the black and white characters were oozing with teasing tone!

Xu Binchen held his forehead and started to doubt his twenty four years of life.

[Uncle, do you want to pay it back to me?]

Xu Binchen glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. Irritation, frustration and annoyance written across his entire face. However this time, Shi Nian didn't feel awkward or scared of him anymore. Inexplicably, she even felt that the big uncle slumping there while being all grouchy was slightly…cute.

The man frowned. "What do you want? Say it quickly. You only have one chance."

Shi Nian internally rolled her eyes but her hands were quick.

[Uncle…I'm hungry.]

Xu Binchen glanced at the white porridge in front of her and jutted his chin.

[Can you buy me kuntackey? I haven't eaten it for months…] She put her chin atop of the board, stared at him with her round, misty eyes, longing evident in them. Moreover, she even added a sound effect of gulping loudly as if she was a hungry ghost.

Xu Binchen deadpanned. "No, don't be disobedient and finish your porridge." Then, the sound of sharp phone calls broke the serene atmosphere between them. Xu Binchen strode out of the room whilst taking out his screeching phone. "You have used up all of your chances. See you later."

Shi Nian was dumbfounded. "…"

She watched the man open and close the door in a single motion, the phone clamped between his ear and shoulder.

Their gazes met in between the transparent part of the door. Shi Nian couldn't hear what he was talking, but the man pointed at her and then her porridge. His meaning was clear. He then went away without waiting for her answer.

Shi Nian was left in anger and amusement. Where was he guilty? He rejected her request without even batting an eyelid! Where was it guilty?! She must have been blind!

She chucked the board under her bed and grumpily finished her bland porridge.

***

"Captain Jin." Xu Binchen greeted.

He walked out of Shi Nian's room and took the elevator. There were three people inside and he scooted to the corner. A man's deep and powerful voice rang in his ears. "How about it?"

Jin Renguang was talking about Shi Nian. In the morning, Xu Binchen had reported that they might get another clue from the victim's hypnotherapy.

Xu Binchen halted momentarily. He could see his reflection on the elevator wall. Messy hair, wrinkled shirt, bluish eye bags, he looked totally like a wretch. He said smoothly. "I'm sorry. It failed."

"Failed?"

He grunted. The elevator dinged open and he was the last one to step out. Outside the hospital, the air was very refreshing compared to the thick scent of antiseptic inside. He took a deep breath and said. "The patient couldn't withstand hypnotherapy yet. It is my negligence to not consider it. She is our only clue and the doctor said that her condition is fragile. We shouldn't agitate her."

There was silence from the other end of the call. Xu Binchen could almost imagine Jin Renguang cursing his ancestors back and forth. In the end, the man only said, "…understood. Then come back first."

"On it." The call ended. He found his car easily in the parking lot and started it. The slick body of the metal glided down the road, intermingling with various cars which carried people who had just gone off work. Xu Binchen rolled down the window, pulled out a cigarette from the dashboard and lit it swiftly. The scent of tobacco filled his mouth and lungs, and the smoke clouded his eyes.

He glanced at the store on the left, hesitated briefly before braking and spinning the wheel skillfully to a halt. Once again, he stared at the pink and blue fluffy cake sign on the store and thought that he must have been so tired that his brain stopped working.

Even then, he still pushed open the door and entered.

"Welcome to Ha—" The clerk lifted her head and saw Xu Binchen's dark face. She almost choked on her saliva but still forced herself to continue, but this time her voice was as tiny as a mosquito. "Welcome to Happy Sweet Paradise. May I take your order?"

Xu Binchen's frown deepened as he stared at the various little colorful cakes on the display shelf.

"S—Sir?"

Xu Binchen narrowed his eyes with a disgruntled face. "What is a girl's usual favorite?"

The clerk finally deemed him not dangerous and started to energetically introduce him one by one. The name of the cakes were ridiculous and Xu Binchen found that his nerves were twitching in pain. "Nowadays, these are currently very popular among girls! There are apple cake, brownies, black forest cakes, butter cakes, carrot cakes, castella, chiffon, cupcakes, hummingbird cakes, ice cream cakes, marble cakes, princess cakes, red bean cakes, red velvet cakes—"

"Enough." Xu Binchen cut her off peevishly. "Just give me the first three you said."

She was stunned for a while and smiled brightly. "Coming!"

Xu Binchen grumbled endlessly in his heart but his hand pulled out a wallet from the back pocket of his pants and paid for the cakes. "Do you do delivery?"

"Yes, sir! Where do you want to deliver it to? Please choose one of these greeting cards, it is free!"

Xu Binchen once again found himself in a dilemma. He closed his eyes and pulled out a blue bear with a star pattern greeting card and wrote. His handwriting was different from Shi Nian's messy scrawl. His was bold, light yet elegant and neat. He put down the pen and said to the clerk without any expression. "Then, I will leave it to you."

"Sure, sir!" The clerk gave him the change and smiled so wide until her rows of pearly teeth were seen. "Thank you for your patronage. Please come again!"

Yeah, I sure as hell will, Xu Binchen turned around and drove back to the Metropolitan Police Department.