Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)-Chapter 187: A Condition

"Hmm?" Tak Jung-Hwa once again feigned surprise and exclaimed, "Did you only realize it now? I thought you knew it all along..."

However, Little Guo clearly did not appreciate his effort to thaw the tension in the air. He took a step backward, more reflex than deliberate. His beautiful oceanic eyes sized Tak Jung-Hwa from head to toe as though he was contemplating his chance of success if they were to have a fight right there and then. Alas, it was futile. He knew that he would not stand a chance. Tak Jung-Hwa might be wearing a loose and woolen shirt, yet nothing could hide the broadness of his shoulders and the sharp muscle lines on his exposed arms. Compared to this man, he was as skinny as a stick.

Little Guo averted his gaze expressionlessly. "Aren’t you here for Cui Yan?"

So, Master Cui was indeed Cui Yan...

All this time, even though Tak Jung-Hwa was already 90% certain, there was still a ten percent lingering doubt on the back of his mind that he might have gotten it wrong. That Master Cui was just someone who had the same surname as Cui Yan; someone who was totally unrelated to the clues they were chasing after. But now that Little Guo said it out loud, Tak Jung-Hwa’s conjecture was finally confirmed.

One more thing, it seemed like the master-disciple relationship was also fake.

Tak Jung-Hwa was aware of Little Guo’s attempt to draw his attention away from his deceased brother by throwing Cui Yan out, but he did not point it out. "That’s right," he said. "We are looking for Cui Yan. Do you happen to know where he has gone to?"

Little Guo hesitated for a second before shaking his head. "...We don’t need to tell each other where we’re going. We have our own privacy and business."

Tak Jung-Hwa made a curious noise. "Then, what kind of privacy and business are you having here?"

As expected, once Tak Jung-Hwa tried to poke into his personal matters, he would instantly clamp his mouth shut and stubbornly keep silent. He let out a light chuckle. Goodness... why was it so fun to tease this little guy? Shaking his head, he lifted both hands in a helpless manner. "Alright, alright, I won’t tease you anymore. Let’s talk about Cui Yan, shall we? Can you tell me what you know about him?"

"I told you," he stressed heavily. "We respect each other’s privacy. I won’t intervene with his business and vice versa. I am actually not familiar with him at all."

"Really?" Tak Jung-Hwa rubbed his chin. The obscure smile on his face was as if saying ’I don’t believe you’ in capital letters, making Little Guo’s forehead throbbed in annoyance. "You really don’t know anything about him? At all? What he was up to these past few days, where he is staying and..." his smile faded a bit and his eyes gained a serious light. "...whether he knows that we’re coming?"

Little Guo scoffed in disdain. "Why would he know that you guys are coming? He is not exactly the smartest person in the room."

O–kay, that utterly disgusted look could not be faked for sure. For now, Tak Jung-Hwa could only cross the possibility that Cui Yan was deliberately hiding from them. Judging from Little Guo’s reaction, Cui Yan might be quite a... dumbass? Yes, that’s right. It was the word.

Tak Jung-Hwa could not help but frown. Little Guo did not seem like he was lying, but... did he really not know anything about Cui Yan? Or had Tak Jung-Hwa misread him and he was actually a smart little liar? His mind spun rapidly as he came up with a few alternative ways to peel the truth out of Little Guo’s mouth. But before he could try them out, he heard the young man murmur under his breath,

"I do know of a location..."

Tak Jung-Hwa snapped his eyes up. "What location?"

Struggle was apparent in Little Guo’s eyes as he hesitated whether to tell Tak Jung-Hwa or not. On the other hand, Tak Jung-Hwa was not in a hurry. He did not try to cajole him either. Instead, he stood there in a casual posture as if he could wait until the end of the time for Little Guo to make up his mind. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"I can tell you. But..." Little Guo peered up at him carefully. "...I have a condition."

Tak Jung-Hwa warmly gestured for him to speak.

"I can tell you where I last saw Cui Yan, but I don’t want to be involved in whatever you guys are going to do. You can just take it as you have heard it from a random stranger on the street. One more thing, don’t involve my brother in this matter as well."

Tak Jung-Hwa was slightly amused. For some reason, he had a hunch that Little Guo’s real condition lay in his last sentence. No matter what, he was unwilling to have the police dig into his brother’s life, wasn’t he?

What a touching brotherhood, Tak Jung-Hwa thought.

But too bad, he had been determined to track down XIU and dig out what had happened seven years ago. He would not leave a single stone unturned, whether they were witnesses, victims or perpetrators. And if Little Guo’s deceased brother indeed had something to do with Xuanlong, then there would come a day when Tak Jung-Hwa had to investigate him.

But for now...

"Okay," he raised his hand and ruffled the little guy’s soft and fluffy hair. "I accept your condition." He did not mind delaying it for some time. This trail of clues about Cui Yan was equally important, he needed to see it to the end to know where it would bring him.

Little Guo swatted the man’s paw away with nary an expression on his face, prompting another burst of soft chuckles from Tak Jung-Hwa.

Next, he told Tak Jung-Hwa the location of an apartment in Jiangnan Road. A few days ago, he was struck with another bout of insomnia and chose to take a stroll outside. Coincidentally, he caught sight of Cui Yan striding into the apartment, his back flustered and hurried. He had stopped and stared for a while, but in the end, he chose to turn away because he did not want to be implicated in whatever Cui Yan was up to.

"Got it," Tak Jung-Hwa flashed a bright smile. "Thank you so much for your cooperation, little guy."

Just in time, he heard the other officers calling out from the corridor behind, "Ge, Little Guo? Where have you guys gone to? Ge, is your stomachache really that bad?!"

Tak Jung-Hwa couldn’t resist a laugh. He had really forgotten about this excuse. "Coming!" he raised his voice to answer.

The group reconvened in the temple and Tak Jung-Hwa gave them a signal to go outside first and talk. The officers nodded in understanding and then they bid farewell to Little Guo. No one brought up the topic of putting down their name and phone number for Master Cui anymore.

"Ah, that’s right," Tak Jung-Hwa recalled something and turned to look at Little Guo just as he was stepping out of Mingguang temple. "I have been meaning to ask... why do you keep looking at my face? Am I that handsome?" He patted his cheek with a quizzical face.

It was not like he was not aware of his own good looks, but compared to Little Guo, he was really lacking quite a bit. This little guy’s appearance was really exquisite, just like a delicate jade doll that was carved to perfection. He had a mixture of Eastern and Western features that made him look exotic. If Tak Jung-Hwa had a face like his, he would definitely think that everyone else was beneath him.

Little Guo stared at him expressionlessly, it was truly unknown what kind of curses he was spitting inside his mind. Or perhaps he might even be concocting a plan to murder this shameless guy. "Nothing," he uttered. "You just reminded me of someone."