Early the next morning, Lu Yan was in the kitchen preparing breakfast as soon as she woke up.

Jiang Chengyi woke up later than her. After two consecutive nights of overtime work, he was especially exhausted and didn’t wake until ten in the morning.

After getting up, Jiang Chengyi was more energetic than any other day. Knowing Lu Yan was in the kitchen, he went to inspect her breakfast preparations with a critical eye. After looking everything over and taking a taste, he remained silent.

“How is it?” Lu Yan’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve improved, haven’t I?”

He made a noncommittal sound and opened the steamer to reveal two dishes. As he lifted the lid, steam rushed out. “What’s this?”

“It’s for Dr. Yu,” Lu Yan put on heat-resistant gloves and took out the dishes one by one. “Dr. Yu’s wife is still out of town and won’t be back until tonight. The hospital food isn’t very good, so I promised him yesterday that I’d bring him lunch from home today.”

He watched as she packed the food into containers.

He had underestimated her—so early in the morning, and she’d already prepared such a variety of dishes.

“Dr. Yu is a native of B City, he likes strong, salty flavors. Your cooking is too light—it might not suit his taste.”

“Even if it doesn’t quite match his taste, it’s still better than hospital cafeteria food.” Lu Yan turned around and, seeing Jiang Chengyi’s furrowed brow, said confidently, “What’s with that look? My cooking isn’t bad at all. I’m sure Dr. Yu will like it.”

When they arrived at the hospital, Yu Zheng was in the cardiology department due to unstable blood pressure.

When they entered the ward, Yu Zheng was sitting on the bed reading a newspaper.

“Dr. Yu, are you feeling better today?” Lu Yan walked over with a smile, placing the food containers on the bedside table.

“Much better.” Probably hungry, Yu Zheng immediately jumped out of bed at the smell of food and quickly set up a small table on the bed. “I think I could be discharged now, but the doctors insist on keeping me under observation for a few more days. Wow, this smells wonderful—it must be delicious.”

Jiang Chengyi smiled and said, “Our Lu Yan’s cooking is just average. I lived in B City for a few years—Dr. Yu, if you’re craving hometown food, I can cook something and bring it over tonight.”

Lu Yan gave him a sidelong glance.

“That would be wonderful!” Yu Zheng was a very straightforward person. “I’d be honored to taste Captain Jiang’s cooking—I’m sure it’s excellent. Though Dr. Lu’s cooking is already delicious enough—mmm, absolutely flawless.”

After eating, Jiang Chengyi went outside to take a phone call.

Yu Zheng took a drink of water while watching Lu Yan over the rim of his glass. In truth, there weren’t many people in the world as fortunate as Jiang Chengyi. Cheng Zhou’s family was too extreme and perhaps not representative, but taking Dr. Lu as an example, even growing up in a broken family, she still developed a healthy personality. Human nature was too complex—even if he spent ten times more effort studying it, he feared he’d only scratch the surface in his lifetime.

“Dr. Lu, you and Captain Jiang are very similar, but your most striking common trait is that you both have such genuine humanity.”

Lu Yan smiled as she collected the dishes, accepting the compliment gracefully: “Dr. Yu is also a criminal psychologist with great humanity.”

At this moment, Jiang Chengyi returned and said to Yu Zheng: “Li Xiaolan indeed has liver cancer. She’s resting at home, but she’s entered the terminal stage and doesn’t have long to live.”

“Is that so?” Yu Zheng immediately became energized. “Any other discoveries?”

“After university graduation, Cheng Zhou never gave his mother living expenses or visited her, but this year he suddenly bought her a house, just before Li Xiaolan was diagnosed with liver cancer.”

Yu Zheng narrowed his eyes meaningfully: “Hmm, interesting. No doubt this house was Li Xiaolan’s wish, and Cheng Zhou fulfilled it.”

“Then why didn’t Cheng Zhou make his move?” Lu Yan expressed her confusion. “Because his mother is terminally ill?”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be that.” Yu Zheng shook his head. “In Cheng Zhou’s mind, there probably isn’t much concept of life and death. ‘Target selection—preparation—execution’ is his fixed pattern of operation. The reason he hasn’t made a move against the real Li Xiaolan yet, I think, is because he’s been preparing for this celebration. He’s been patient these past few years—what awaits Li Xiaolan might be an unprecedented ritual or an escalated crime method. But before he could implement it, something changed that suddenly made him feel disgusted, or temporarily lose interest in his target.”

Yu Zheng looked puzzled and thought for a long while before saying: “I somewhat understand, yet don’t quite understand. I think before Li Xiaolan was diagnosed with liver cancer, she had already lost a lot of weight, and by now, even more so. Perhaps her appearance is very different from when she was young. Unfortunately, without current photos of Li Xiaolan, we can’t verify my hypothesis.”

Jiang Chengyi and Lu Yan exchanged glances, their expressions strange: “Li Xiaolan is in great pain now, requiring large doses of painkillers to sleep. I suspect the morphine Cheng Zhou used to attack Liu Yujie might have come from her. There’s another strange thing—after learning of Li Xiaolan’s illness, Cheng Zhou started sending her large quantities of expensive health supplements almost every month.”

“Oh?” Yu Zheng seemed to have an epiphany and jumped off the bed, pacing back and forth. “Looking at this series of victims, Cheng Zhou’s target selection is almost rigorous, from weight to height, he has his measuring stick. We can imagine that the disease-deformed Li Xiaolan is no longer the real Li Xiaolan in his mind, but he wouldn’t give up his ideas. Especially after planning the ritual’s escalation, Li Xiaolan’s death would be a celebration for him. I wonder, could it be that he’s sending all these supplements to help Li Xiaolan quickly return to her original appearance?”

However, liver cancer patients only became increasingly emaciated, so Li Xiaolan never returned to being the Li Xiaolan in Cheng Zhou’s mind.

Yu Zheng added: “Of course, these are just my speculations.”

The third day was a weekend.

Jiang Chengyi was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt something like tiny ants crawling on his face—light and ticklish.

Still drowsy, he turned over to continue sleeping. However, that “ant” was persistent, not only quickly moving to his neck but also crawling down his spine, becoming increasingly ticklish.

“Stop it, Lu Yan.”

He heard soft laughter beside his ear, and his consciousness suddenly lightened, as if growing golden wings and flying to a distant place.

It seemed like a weekend afternoon when he and Lu Yan were studying in an empty classroom.

With exams approaching, he was doing practice papers while she reviewed her notes, surrounded by complete silence.

Whenever they studied together, she would make a three-point agreement with him: no one was allowed to disturb the other until they finished reviewing.

After completing one test paper, he wanted to take a break and glanced at her sideways, but she remained focused.

He pinched her fair earlobe, but she ignored him.

Finding it boring, he turned his chair around, leaned back, and prepared to take a nap.

The weather was too nice, the window frame warm from the sun, and it felt comfortable to rest his head against it. But the sunlight was too bright, piercing through even closed eyelids, so to sleep more soundly, he casually placed his book over his face.

He could hear the scratching sound of her pen writing on paper, and there was a faint fragrance of grass and trees from somewhere. After some time, just as he was about to doze off, he suddenly felt something crawling lightly on his chin.

He frowned slightly but remained still, sensing what was happening. After realizing what was causing it, he maintained his posture while unexpectedly reaching out to grab her wrist.

She tried to escape but couldn’t.

“Who’s disturbing whom now?” He removed the book and looked at her with an ambiguous smile.

She giggled: “I just wanted to tell you: wrong position, get up and sleep properly.”

His heart felt like it had been filled with strong wine. He pulled her into his arms with one swift movement.

“There, now the position is correct.”

Still, in the early stages of their relationship, she wasn’t used to such intimacy. Her face instantly turned red as she squirmed: “What if someone sees us?”

He thought her face looked like a ripe peach, becoming more adorable the longer he looked. He cupped her cheeks and took a bite, then sucked like drinking juice for a while before releasing her and saying: “From now on, whoever breaks the rules gets punished this way. Today you disturbed me, so I get to kiss you. Next time if I disturb you, you can kiss me back.”

She was both annoyed and amused, nodding repeatedly: “Jiang Chengyi, how come I never noticed you were such a rascal before?”

The sensation on his back became increasingly clear. Lu Yan’s voice was soft and playful: “Jiang Chengyi, you’ve slept all night, time to get up and use the bathroom.”

He reached back with his eyes closed.

She yelped “Ouch!” and tried to jump away.

But before she could escape, he pulled her onto the bed and pinned her beneath him.

“What are you up to so early in the morning?” he pretended to be angry.

She naturally wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders: “It’s already ten o’clock—you call that early? If you don’t get up now, the sun will be setting.”

Suddenly feeling something between them, she smiled mischievously and reached down, then feigned surprise: “Oh! It woke up before you did.”

“Ah.” He let her hold it as he looked down at her. “So you noticed it’s awake. It’s uncomfortable—can you help it?”

She didn’t speak, but her eyes were watery. She held his face and kissed down his neck, her actions carrying obvious implications.

His heart stirred, and he reached down to check, delighted, though still pretending to be stern: “Liar.”

“Liar?”

“Last night you said you couldn’t.”

“Last night I couldn’t,” she smiled. “But now I can.”

“So you woke me up just to tell me this?”

That must be it.

She wanted to deny it, but he didn’t give her the chance.

[The next intimate scene has been tastefully omitted while maintaining the story’s continuity]

By the time they emerged from the master bedroom, it was almost noon. There were water marks everywhere—on the floor, in the bathroom, on the sink.

As soon as they came out, Jiang Chengyi received a call from his mother.

She was very excited: “Chengyi, how is it going? Have you chosen your honeymoon destination yet?”