Little Liu’s face flushed red in an instant. She stammered a defense. “What are you talking about? Someone like me… I wouldn’t dare have any real ideas… It’s just that Captain Yan is so amazing and so handsome—who doesn’t have a little fantasy about a guy like that? Even you, Sun Lei. Dare you say you didn’t feel something when you first got here?”
Sun Lei pondered for a moment, then shook her head with a silly grin. “Nope.”
Little Liu clearly didn’t buy it. “Liar.”
Bai Yiyi was thinking the exact same thing. Sending coffee every day with such enthusiasm, and not a single thought stirring inside?
Sun Lei rolled her eyes in an utterly unladylike fashion. “Why would I lie to you? Put it this way: would you fall for your high school dean?”
Little Liu paused to recall the dean’s bloated frame and gleaming bald pate, then compared it to Captain Yan’s chiseled features, broad shoulders, and mile-long legs. She answered honestly. “If the dean looked like Captain Yan, sure, I’d go for it.”
Bai Yiyi ran the same mental exercise and nodded to himself in silent agreement.
Sun Lei, on the other hand, shuddered visibly. “Not me. When I first joined the bureau, Captain Yan’s grim-reaper face gave me full-on PTSD. I was ten times more obedient around him than I ever was with my own dad. No way could I handle a boyfriend that strict—I’d be under his thumb for life.”
Having trashed ex-crushes, Sun Lei moved on to gossiping about the latest prospect.
“You haven’t heard yet, have you? The girl meeting Captain Yan today is Su Xiao. She’s pushing six feet tall—a total supermodel build. She used to play for the national youth women’s volleyball team until injuries forced her out. She knocked out her college degree in three years flat.
What a personality—bright, bubbly, top-shelf character and poise. If she weren’t so tall, the guys chasing her would stretch from one end of the moat to the other. Mark my words: she’s deputy detachment captain material. Captain Yan’s got no escape this time!”
Little Liu finished her gossip snack with satisfaction and gave it a thumbs-up. “Sun Lei, your intel network is unreal. How do you know all this?”
Sun Lei just laughed, keeping her cards close. It wasn’t about intel prowess—the girl was an old middle school classmate of hers.
On her way back from dropping off evidence at the prosecutor’s office, they’d bumped into each other at the gate. Turns out Su Xiao was there to meet her man, bold as brass about grabbing lunch and checking out a blind date setup. Old classmates reuniting? They’d have to catch up properly sometime.
Bai Yiyi, meanwhile, felt a sour twist in his gut. Compared to her, he didn’t just lose out on gender—he fell short everywhere else. And as a guy, he was even shorter than this girl. It was a big, fat disaster.
After teasing the birdie and swapping a bit more girl talk, the two criminal investigators from the squad headed off for their lunch breaks. Bai Yiyi perched on the windowsill, every second dragging like an hour.
Where was his owner…?
Did lunch have to take this long?
Were they hitting it off so well they couldn’t bear to part?
The more he thought, the more tangled it got. A couple days ago, he could blame his wings for acting on their own. Now, he couldn’t even be bothered with excuses. He reviewed the flight paths from before and the restaurants near city HQ.
With a leap from the second-floor window, Bai Yiyi vaulted over the wall and shot away.
High noon in summer—the hottest part of the day. The asphalt seemed ready to melt under the blistering sun. He paused briefly to scout and yelped, scorching his feet. He launched skyward again.
Luck was with him. At the third restaurant, he spotted them from afar, seated by the window.
His man-god went without saying—arrow-straight posture he’d recognize anywhere, even turned to ash. The girl across from him drew a long, appraising stare from head to toe.
She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, but she had that enduring, classy appeal Sun Lei raved about. Dressed casually in a tee and wide-leg jeans, she radiated approachable girl-next-door charm that completely offset her imposing height.
His usually taciturn owner was actually leading the conversation. Too far for words through the glass, but their expressions screamed easy rapport—smiles all around.
Bai Yiyi felt like a lemon on the verge of bursting. One squeeze, and the acid juice could flood the whole street.
He watched a while longer. They finished eating, left the restaurant one behind the other, then fell into step side by side—heading right toward his perch.
Bai Yiyi ducked behind the roadside flower bed, letting the thick foliage swallow him whole.
What he didn’t know was that Yan Tuo had clocked him ages ago. A casual glance out the restaurant window had done it. Now, that splash of white amid the greenery stood out like a beacon.
The pair strolled on, chatting away, on track to pass the bed without a clue.
Then Yan Tuo halted abruptly, pivoted, and crouched down. Amusement laced his voice. “…Tangyuan, playing hide-and-seek?”
Su Xiao crouched beside him, eyes alight with curiosity. “Big Brother Yan, is this the Tangyuan you mentioned? It found its way here? What a cute little crested canary.”
Big Brother Yan? Already that chummy?
Bai Yiyi felt another little sting.
A dark corner of his mind stirred. What if he faked sick like the other day—would his owner cut the date short in worry, cradling him home?
Maybe he willed it too hard, because his vision swam with sudden dizziness.
He gritted his beak, squeezed his eyes shut, and toppled.
A familiar palm shot out to catch him. But the fingers prodding him felt slimmer and softer than usual.
With Yan Tuo’s hand as a base, Su Xiao gently turned the canary over, inspecting it thoroughly before reassuring him. “Probably heatstroke. Birds’ feathers insulate too well—heat doesn’t dissipate easily. Flying that far in the midday blaze could do it.”
Yan Tuo had never heard of birds getting heatstroke. He asked cautiously, “What should I do?”
Su Xiao replied, “Lots of fresh water. If you can, mix ten drops of medicine into mung bean soup and give a little. If it’s inconvenient, I can take it to my shop and look after it?”
Bai Yiyi snapped alert. Right—girl ran a pet store. No doubt an expert on critter ills.
Good thing the heatstroke bit had some basis, or faking in front of a pro would’ve been mortifying.
Yan Tuo mulled it over. Imposing on a first meeting felt off, so he politely declined, pocketed Tangyuan after thanks, and they parted ways.
Back at the bureau, he coaxed the white birdie with water, then dampened a tissue to wipe down its feathers for cooling.
Afternoon shift loomed when the eager matchmaker—impatient red thread—finally rang.
Just checking progress, how her cousin liked the girl.
Truth be told, Yan Tuo felt nothing special—like meeting a friendly neighbor girl. Lunch chatter turned to Tangyuan, loosening his tongue. He even picked her brain on pet care. All in all, pleasant.
But his childhood friend’s words from before echoed: no deep knowledge, no guarantee of a match. So he answered straight.
“Let’s see how it goes. Who knows what she thinks.”
Frustrated Cupid Yu Lian perked up. Sounded promising!
She gushed praise nonstop. Su Xiao this, perfect wife material. Her cousin that, handsome stud, loyal as they come—who wouldn’t want him?
She hyped them sky-high as the ultimate pair, no earthly rivals.
Bai Yiyi retreated to his coconut shell, tuning it out. Heartbreak brewed; he wallowed in massive disappointment.
The mood lingered all afternoon. He zombie-shuffled home after Yan Tuo, surfed the net mindlessly, watched the routine bath and bed. Sleep? Not a wink.
Pining for his owner. Pining for his two months of weirdness.
To Yan Tuo, he was just a fluke intruder—an existence not meant to be known.
But him? Pathetic. First fake-sick was to bail him out. Second? Pure jealousy, sabotaging a date.
On reflection, Su Xiao left a great impression—gentle, thorough checkup screamed kind heart. She wouldn’t disgrace his man-god.
The ache eased; reason reasserted. Bai Yiyi decided: silently bless them. Sweet love, smooth life and career.
Knot untied, burden lifted, bodily senses returned.
The birdman hadn’t eaten since noon—famished enough to gulp a whole ox.
No more dry kibble. He craved hot, soupy comfort. Post-breakup solace? Binge away.
He checked the time. It was already 3 a.m.—the dead of night when his owner slept most soundly.
Bai Yiyi spent his points to shift back into human form. In the pitch-black kitchen, he groped around to whip up a cup of instant noodles, snagged a bottle of beer, and darted back to the bathroom to satisfy his growling stomach.
Eating while standing would be no fun at all. He flipped down the toilet lid and squatted fully atop it, balancing the noodle cup on his knees like a tiny table. Cupping it in his hands, he dove in with loud slurps.
Panting and huffing, he was savoring every bite when the door suddenly flew open.
A tall figure filled the doorway. Eyes still hazy with sleep sharpened instantly into wary clarity.
Their gazes met. Time seemed to freeze solid—perhaps only a second passed, yet it dragged on like ten thousand years.
Bai Yiyi heard his owner ask slowly,
“…Who are you?”
~~~
