I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Can You Find the Exact Same Version of This Shirt…?

“Since you were unaware and didn’t participate in subsequent transactions or actions, the penalty can be waived. However, a verbal warning is unavoidable.”

The uniformed officer recorded the details on the computer while sternly lecturing the young man across from him. Looking at the case file, he couldn’t help but click his tongue at the transaction amount. “Also, your awareness against fraud needs improvement. You spent 50,000 yuan on a few blurry photos? Weren’t you afraid of being scammed?”

As a middle-aged man, he understood young people less and less these days, especially these celebrity-obsessed kids. This was already the third group; they had sent off a few others in the morning—all minors using their parents’ money to pay paparazzi to stalk and illegally collect private information on stars.

A few older fans had even gathered to try and sneak into a celebrity’s home, only to be caught red-handed by the owner. To share the fruits of their obsessive labor, they had created a group chat, which allowed the police to follow the trail and pull everyone involved out of the shadows.

“Did your family know you spent so much money on this?” the officer glanced at the youth, who sat silently with his head bowed. He worried that the boy might have misappropriated his parents’ money like the kids earlier.

Qi Xu picked at the edge of the bandage on his finger. Hearing this, he looked up and instinctively glanced at a woman wearing sunglasses standing nearby. He shook his head, then nodded.

They didn’t know before, but they certainly did now.

The woman seemed to sense his gaze and looked over. Her face was expressionless, and her fingertips tapped away on her phone. Qi Xu pouted and turned his head away, feeling a bit aggrieved. He hadn’t expected that buying a few photos on a whim would lead to such trouble.

Having never done anything rebellious in his life, this was Qi Xu’s first time at a police station. The curious and probing looks from people around him were overwhelming, making him drop his head even lower.

Seeing that Qi Xu remained silent, the officer assumed he was frightened and softened his tone: “It’s not that you can’t follow celebrities, but you need to be rational and moderate, right?”

Qi Xu nodded in agreement. Seeing his sincere attitude in admitting his mistake, the officer didn’t press him further. Once Qi Xu signed the papers and collected his ID, he left immediately.

Outside the hall, the woman in sunglasses was already waiting for him by a fan palm tree. Qi Xu walked over. She was on a call, so he pursed his lips and stood beside her.

She glanced at him and quickly finished her conversation. Hanging up, she slid her sunglasses up, crossed her arms, and stared at Qi Xu with sharp eyes. One face was stern, the other was downcast; the scene was so chilly that passersby couldn’t help but look.

After a long moment, the woman’s lips twitched. She finally couldn’t hold it and burst out laughing. “Your first time in a place like this—how does it feel, kid?” She reached out and pinched Qi Xu’s cheek.

Qi Xu covered his face and pouted, wanting to say it felt terrible. Then he remembered something and tugged her sleeve, whispering, “Mom, don’t send the photos you just took to anyone.”

Ning Yingshuang’s hand paused. “Ah… you should have said that sooner.”

Qi Xu had a bad feeling. Sure enough, he pulled out his phone to find the family group chat in a state of explosion. At the very top was a photo of him sitting in front of the officer, being scolded.

“…” Qi Xu gave his mother a resentful look. He knew she hadn’t been up to any good with her phone earlier.

Qi Xu had received a call from his mother the moment he stepped into the station, and it hadn’t taken long for her to realize something was wrong. In less than half an hour, Ning Yingshuang had arrived in her high heels. Instead of coming forward to claim him, she had sat in a corner and watched.

“I just thought it was a very meaningful moment,” Ning Yingshuang said, clearly enjoying the drama. Instead of guilt, she laughed with a bit of schadenfreude. “It’s okay. Your father was taken in when he was 16. You’re better than your father.”

Qi Xu was still unhappy. “Then why didn’t you come and get lectured with me?”

Ning Yingshuang pursed her red lips and brushed her hair back. “The police here include old classmates of mine. I couldn’t interfere with them upholding the law.”

Qi Xu: “…” She clearly could have saved him from this public execution; she had come specifically to watch the show.

“But what happened to your face and hand?”

Qi Xu touched his cheek instinctively and told the truth: “I fell.”

“So careless. Your father will nag you when he sees it,” Ning Yingshuang, who usually took a hands-off approach to parenting, didn’t worry as much as Qi Xu’s father. “I’m going to say hi to a friend. Go wait for me in the car.”

Qi Xu nodded, took the car keys, and headed to the parking lot. Sitting in the car, he thought about the information he had gotten from the officer.

Chi Hui seemed to have been targeted by a group of obsessive fans lately, and things had gotten quite serious. The man who sold him the photos was a paparazzi hired to stalk him. Qi Xu had been found because that man had added him to a “sasaeng” group chat.

Qi Xu checked his phone and found the group was gone; the owner had likely disbanded it once they were caught. He leaned back and checked his messages. Aside from his sister’s merciless mockery and his father’s nagging in the family group, there was a message from the housekeeper. She asked how to handle the blood-stained clothes on his nightstand.

Qi Xu messaged her back: “Don’t touch those. I’ll handle them myself when I get back.” Since he had gone through the trouble of keeping them to earn Simp Points, it was better if he washed them himself.

After replying, Qi Xu refreshed his chats with Xie Chengyan and Jiang Yingshen. Silence. No new messages. He wondered if the medicine he gave Xie Chengyan had worked. He had noticed that the items he left at the neighbor’s door last night were gone.

“Not even a ‘thank you,'” Qi Xu muttered, not reflecting at all on the fact that he had caused more trouble than he provided help yesterday. Fortunately, the chaos had been productive—his Simp Points had significantly increased.

Qi Xu tossed his phone aside and was about to check his System stats when he heard a familiar voice. It was getting closer, carrying a specific tone. He looked out the window. Through the rearview mirror, he saw a portly middle-aged man walking while talking on the phone. He stopped by a white SUV behind Qi Xu.

It was the uncle who gave him bread outside the fan meeting venue—Chi Hui’s manager. Qi Xu quietly cracked the window.

“Fine, keep an eye out and let me know if there’s someone suitable,” Xu Changshu said with a grim expression. “We definitely need to change his living arrangements. Luckily nothing major happened this time, just a sprained wrist, but future activities will have to be delayed.”

Being at a distance, Qi Xu could only catch bits of it, but Chi Hui seemed to be injured. Before he could hear more, a tall figure appeared in the mirror. As the figure approached, Qi Xu confirmed it was indeed Chi Hui. He was wearing a black mask, and his wrist was indeed bandaged.

Qi Xu wondered why he was here, but then realized it wasn’t strange given that he was the victim of the case that brought Qi Xu here today.

Xu Changshu glanced at him, said a few more words, hung up, and opened the car door. “I’ve asked someone to find a new assistant for you. Move to a different house for a few days and rest up.”

Chi Hui leaned into the car and frowned. “No need to find anyone. I can manage.”

Xu Changshu pointed at his wrist. “The doctor said while there’s no fracture, you need to rest—unless you don’t plan on doing music anymore.” Knowing this was his weakness, Chi Hui shut his mouth.

“If you’re not used to it, we’ll find a temporary one to look after you. If you’re still unhappy later, it’s not too late to change,” Xu Changshu said as he walked around to the driver’s side. Once the door shut, their conversation was cut off.

The car started and left the parking lot. Qi Xu watched it go, blinking slowly. They seemed to be looking for a new personal assistant.

Ten minutes later, Ning Yingshuang returned. Not wanting to face his sister’s mockery, Qi Xu refused to go home. He had dinner with his mother and then returned to his new apartment.

When he got home, the housekeeper had already left. Qi Xu slumped on the sofa for a while before remembering he had work to do. He jumped up and ran into the bedroom, bringing out the white hoodie.

The mud and bloodstains had dried and looked difficult to clean. Qi Xu found a clean basin and soaked the clothes in water. With one hand injured, he could only clumsily scrub with the other.

As the water turned murky, Qi Xu felt he was doing a good job. He grew strangely confident. “Hmm, maybe I could interview to be Chi Hui’s assistant?”

There was no one in the quiet house to answer him, so he affirmed himself: “I think I can.”

Two seconds after his burst of confidence, he grew tired of scrubbing and simply threw the soaking wet clothes into the washing machine. It was a washer-dryer combo, so he didn’t need to worry about it. He could take it out tomorrow. Qi Xu snuggled into his blankets contentedly.

Before sleeping, he harassed Jiang Yingshen: “Senior, what time are you coming tomorrow?”

Five minutes later, a reply came: “1:30 PM.”

…

However, when he took the clothes out the next day, Qi Xu discovered a problem.

Because the bloodstains had dried for too long and hadn’t been soaked long enough, a faint reddish mark remained on the cleaned and dried hoodie. Based on the shape, it was likely from his own fingers when he had grabbed Jiang Yingshen’s collar in a panic. The fingerprint marks were quite obvious.

“…” Qi Xu checked the time. Jiang Yingshen was arriving in less than two hours.

He quickly grabbed his phone and searched for ways to remove bloodstains from white clothes. The top-rated method was to use bleach (84 Disinfectant) directly. Qi Xu dashed into the bathroom and found an unopened bottle from the cabinet.

He laid the hoodie flat on the coffee table, opened the bottle, and poured some on the bloodstain. In an instant, the red mark vanished before his eyes. Qi Xu was delighted and poured it along all the marks.

However, when he went to rinse the clothes in water, he noticed the fabric where the disinfectant had landed felt strange. He lifted the shirt up to the light, and his eyes widened.

“!”

The fabric in that area looked as if it had been corroded; it was very thin, and light passed through it easily. He went back to the tutorial. At the very end, there was a note: The disinfectant must be diluted 100 times before use.

“!!!” Qi Xu scrambled to the sink to rinse it, trying to save it. He scrubbed the fabric twice to get the disinfectant out, but the corroded fibers couldn’t take any force. Before he could scrub a third time, a hole tore right through the middle.

The tap was still running, and the stream of water passed perfectly through the hole into the sink. Qi Xu stared at the hole, frozen. “…”

It took a long time to snap out of his shock. Perhaps because the timing was so perfect, he remembered a joke he had seen online:

—What should I do if I accidentally kill my boss’s goldfish? —Text the boss and ask where he bought the fish.

Qi Xu pursed his lips and silently took out his phone. He wasn’t stupid enough to ask the owner of the clothes directly. Instead, he took a photo of the hoodie and sent it to Su Hang.

“Can you find the exact same version of this shirt?”