The Rich Kid in the Face

I quietly observed Ye Shiwen for a while and waited until he said he was tired and wanted a drink before speaking up. Interrupting someone is very impolite no matter what.

"Ye Shiwen, it looks like you injured your arm recently, right?" I asked.

Ye Shiwen was slightly startled and subconsciously pulled down the sleeve of his right arm. "Kid, you've got good eyes. I hurt it playing basketball."

Zhang Yan immediately fawned, "Handsome Ye, I didn't know you play basketball too. I loved watching Slam Dunk when I was little. Guys who can play basketball are so cool. You must be really good at it."

Ye Shiwen smiled. "I just play for fun. I've been playing since middle school. Layups and stuff are no big deal for me."

"Wow, layups!" Zhang Yan exclaimed. "I'd love to see that. You must look so cool!"

I laughed to myself and decided my goal of distracting them had been achieved. Of course I wasn't going to discuss poetry with him. I could only use my expertise.

Coroner and forensic scientists have to examine both corpses and living people's injuries, so I'm very knowledgeable about different types of wounds. The injury on his arm clearly wasn't caused by bumping into something.

I sneered, "That wound was caused by a chemical burn, right? What basketball team splashes sulfuric acid during games?"

Xia Mengmeng covered her mouth and chuckled while Ye Shiwen glared at me. "Hey bro, what do you study?"

"Applied electronics," I replied.

"Applied electronics?" Ye Shiwen said darkly, "An electronics student pretending to be Sherlock Holmes? Think you're some great detective?"

Wang Dali suddenly banged the table and laughed loudly, surprising everyone at the table. Wang Dali explained, "My buddy here loves reading detective novels."

I signaled him to keep quiet. The cases we've been involved in are confidential police information, so we can't discuss them openly.

Ye Shiwen arrogantly crossed his legs. "You like detective stories? Then show us what you've got."

"How should I show you?" I asked.

"Detectives in novels are good at observing, right?" Ye Shiwen said. "Observe me and let's see what tricks you've got."

I casually waved my hand. "There's nothing much to see. You're just a student."

Ye Shiwen coldly laughed. "I thought you were amazing. Gave up after a few sentences?"

I didn't want him looking down on me, so I activated my psychic eyes and looked him up and down. Luckily the lighting in the bar was dim, so my sudden eye color change didn't startle them.

"You're 1.75 meters tall, about 60 kg. Your right eye is 100 degrees more nearsighted than your left. You like playing games. You broke your right leg falling off a bike as a kid. You broke up with your girlfriend a month ago. You dated her for a long time. Your parents divorced and you live with your mother. Also, you should smoke less. I sense some issues with your lungs."

After I finished speaking, the two girls looked very surprised. Ye Shiwen suddenly stood up and pointed at me. "Who...who are you? Did you investigate my background?"

"Why would I investigate you? I'm not into guys," I replied.

Xia Mengmeng covered her mouth and laughed while Ye Shiwen turned pale. "Stop pretending to be psychic here. Even with great observational skills, how could you know my parents divorced and I just broke up?"

"So everything I said was right?" I asked.

Ye Shiwen didn't respond, so I had gotten it all correct. I casually waved my hand again. "Have a seat. I'll explain slowly."

In truth, observing his height, weight, past leg fracture - that's all basic ancient coroner knowledge. I just breezed through it to avoid exposing my identity. As for his breakup, it was simple. The chemical burn scar on his right arm was from tattoo removal, about a month old based on the depth.

From the vague outline, it looked like three characters - what three character tattoo would someone get on their arm? Most likely someone's name. But why remove it? So I concluded he must have broken up with his girlfriend a month ago, and it was a long-term relationship.

As for the divorce, I admit I cheated because he got a text from someone named "Stepdad" when happily chatting with Xia Mengmeng earlier. Of course, his biological father could also have passed away, but I took a 50/50 guess and luckily got it right.

Ye Shiwen's face kept paleing and reddening. He bit his lip and said, "Cheap tricks!"

I laughed and drank some of my drink. Ye Shiwen glared at me. "Stop staring at me."

"Scared already?" I couldn't help laughing.

"As if I'd be scared of you," Ye Shiwen lit another cigarette and started smoking.

I said, "Hey, could you smoke outside? There are two ladies here."

Ye Shiwen looked embarrassed and went outside.

Zhang Yan excitedly asked me to observe her too. Zhang Yan's strong perfume was giving me a headache, so I didn't really want to talk to her. But to help Wang Dali's chances, I reluctantly made some small talk to humor her. Zhang Yan kept nodding and calling me detective.

After my meddling, the situation had changed. Wang Dali chatted with Xia Mengmeng for a bit. Xia seemed like a very quiet girl who politely listened when others spoke to her. I watched their interactions, and my sense was that she was a girl who kept her inner self very closed off. I wondered if Wang Dali had a chance.

But I had done all I could.

Around 9 pm, Wang Dali suggested going to a KTV. He's usually a mic hog, and his Jay Chou impressions are uncanny, which is one of his strengths. But Xia said, "It's too late today. Next time."

Zhang Yan kept urging, "Xia, let's go sing. We haven't gone in so long."

After I embarrassed him earlier, Ye Shiwen had been quiet. Was I going to have to sacrifice my dignity and distract crazy Zhang Yan so Wang Dali could get some alone time with Xia?

But then Ye Shiwen suddenly said, "The KTVs near school aren't great. Let's go to the city KTV. I have a car, I'll drive you all."

Zhang Yan's eyes lit up. "Handsome Ye, you have a car too!"

"So, wanna go?" Ye Shiwen asked.

"Yes, yes!" Zhang Yan nodded repeatedly.

The two of them tag teamed and settled the KTV plan. I suddenly felt they were very well-matched. Ye Shiwen was obsessed with face, and Zhang Yan kept stroking his ego.

Xia reluctantly agreed, so I had no choice but to go too. We got into Ye Shiwen's BMW - he must have a rich stepdad.

To help give Wang Dali a chance, I quickly grabbed shotgun so they could sit in the back together. Ye Shiwen gave me a nasty look and deliberately blew smoke at me the whole ride. The sacrifices I'm making tonight are huge!

On the drive, Ye Shiwen muttered to me, "Dude, you've already got a girlfriend. Why mess around in other people's business?"

"I'm not messing around. I just like singing, what's wrong with that?" I replied.

"Humph!" Ye Shiwen sneered. "Don't think it's just Wang Dali who can call in reinforcements. Do you know who my friends are? Some are gangsters, some run nightclubs, some deal ecstasy. Know your place. Wang Dali isn't on my level at all. I don't even want to compete with a loser like him."

"Oh really? If my friends came, they could probably arrest all of your friends," I said with a faint smile.

Ye Shiwen guffawed. "Keep boasting without any proof! You're just a student. What cops could you possibly know?"

I said, "Okay, next time I'll boast with more preparation."

"Pfft, keep pretending!" Ye Shiwen clearly didn't believe me.

"I do know police officers," I stated.

"Haha, if you know even one cop, I'll call you dad," Ye Shiwen challenged.

"Deal!" I readily agreed.

Ye Shiwen's expression changed drastically, likely realizing I might actually know a couple officers and he'd lose face. So he quickly added, "Don't you dare bring out some uncle who's just a patrol officer. We had a verbal agreement. Patrol police and traffic police don't count!"

“I don't actually know any police officers or traffic police, only criminal police,” I explained.

Ye Shiwen laughed heartily, “You claim to know criminal police? How pretentious!”

Of course I was just speaking loosely, I wouldn't actually call Huang Xiaotao over just to show off to a rich playboy I just met. But what I absolutely didn't expect was that I would actually see her that night...