S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 94

Love Murderer 01 – Cocktail and Lady in Red

---

During late autumn in S City, it gradually became dry and cold. The trees along the streets began to drop their leaves, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of them. The maple trees in the flowerbeds were all red, but all of the other trees were yellow.

Across the street from a large auditorium in the center of S City, there is a bar that is only open during the day, which is rare.

The cocktails in this bar seem to be well-known throughout S City. Because of the fruity drinks with very low alcohol content, exquisite western pastries, and an elegant store environment, the bar attracts many young couples.

In a seat by the window, there was a woman in red, who was very beautiful.

Different from the innocent and cute little girls who go in and out, this woman wearing a red dress has a very good figure, is dignified and sexy, has big black wavy hair, a fair face, and charming facial features; she had all the charms of a mature woman. Although she was sitting in a very inconspicuous corner, she attracted the attention of many people, especially the men who came in and out. They didn’t necessarily have any thoughts about her, but simply admired such a beauty.

The woman held a tall red glass in her hand, and the red liquid in it was bloody and rich. It was the signature cocktail of this bar — a Bloody Mary. In a way that is difficult to describe, the wine gives off a feeling of matching this woman perfectly.

Ignoring the admiration and gazes from all around, the woman seemed to be in a daze with her wine glass, her eyes looking at the direction of the bar.

Following her gaze, there was a young man sitting in front of the bar. A closer look makes it easy to understand why the woman stared at him so madly; he was a very attractive man.

It was a handsome yet somewhat evil looking man, with slightly longer hair, which he styled casually. Dressed in white, he was wearing a white jacket and white jeans. He seemed to be quite leisurely, as if passing the time. In one hand, he held the bar menu which he was reading, and in the other, there was a glass of a mint drink with a little tequila.

The blue liquid in the transparent wine glass reflected the simple and generous platinum ring on his ring finger, which made people sigh. Good men, most of them already have partners.

The bartender was standing behind the bar. He shook the cocktail shaker in his hand, then poured a beautiful rainbow cocktail into a tall glass, and handed it to a hot-looking woman with a charming smile. It's a pity that the woman's eyes were on the white-clothed man next to her, and she didn't pay attention to the bartender's hospitality at all.

After dismissing the guest, the bartender wiped the counter with a rag, walked to the bar with his hands on his hips, and said to the white-clothed man, “I say, Captain Bai, I am a good citizen now, why don't you let me go? Why must you come to the bar and steal my limelight?”

It was Bai Yutang who was drinking at the bar. They had the day off, so he accompanied Zhan Zhao on his trip into the city. Zhan Zhao went to the auditorium to listen to a speech by a world-class psychologist. Bai Yutang really didn’t understand that kind of scripture, truths that are obviously simple must be spoken in a way that humans can’t understand. In his opinion, scholars and experts have language barriers with everyone else.

Bai Yutang left first and told Zhan Zhao that he would wait for him in the bar. Later in the evening, he and Zhan Zhao had plans. Today is Zhan Zhao’s birthday. In other words, tomorrow is his birthday. Bai Yutang is going to order a cake and buy a bottle of good wine. At 12 o’clock in the evening, the two will go back and spend their birthdays together. This has been their habit for many years, and the two have spent their birthdays together since childhood. This bar has the best cake baker and the best wines.

The bartender in front of him was Su Min. He used to be a gangster that followed a drug dealer. Zhao Hu’s past undercover work destroyed his boss’ drug cartel. After Su Min spent half a year in prison, he had no source of livelihood after he was released. Seeing that he was about to go down the same path again, Zhao Hu, who had a friendship with him from before, wanted to lend him money to start a small business. However, Zhao Hu's abilities were limited. Eventually, Bai Yutang found out, and together with Zhan Zhao, he collected some money for him. Su Min and a friend used the money to open up a bar together. Because one of them has knowledge on wine, the other was good with cakes, and both of them were diligent, their business was soon booming. Later, Su Min paid back all the money, and he now seems to be a small boss. The people from SCI sometimes come to patronize his establishment.

Bai Yutang looked up at Su Min, who was standing in front of the bar complaining, pointed his finger at a square matcha cake on the menu, and asked, “Which wine goes best with this cake?”

Su Min put his chin in his hands and said, “Well, it's great with a Fantastic Leman. Are you sure you want this matcha?” (Angel: Fantastic Leman is a beautiful blue cocktail.)

Bai Yutang nodded, “I just need this.”

Su Min gave the menu to the guy behind him, and said, “Have Xiao Gao make a matcha cake! Tell him that Captain Bai wants it. He must do it with his heart, if he doesn’t use his heart, I’ll get shot.”

The guy smiled, took the order, and went to the kitchen. Su Min gave a drink to Bai Yutang. Seeing that many beautiful women were secretly watching him, he said with some dissatisfaction, “When you come, my limelight is robbed, they were originally my fans!”

Bai Yutang laughed and continued to drink his drink as he asked, “Can it be done in two hours?”

“It can... Why? You have to wait two hours for him?” Su Min smirked, “The kitty doesn’t worry about you waiting here for two hours? There are so many beauties.” (Angel: He actually called Zhan Zhao kitty (ᗒᗜᗕ)՛̵̖, he used 猫咪 instead of 猫)

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, “Don't forget to write on the cake.”

“Okay.” Su Min shrugged helplessly. "It’s the same every year.” As he spoke, someone asked for a drink, so he went to work.

Bai Yutang looked at his watch. It seemed as though he really had to wait two hours. He started thinking about whether to take the two hours to drive around and buy some birthday gifts for the cat.

“Are you alone?” A nice voice came from behind him.

Bai Yutang turned around and saw a woman in red standing on his left.

Seeing she was asking him, Bai Yutang nodded.

The woman smiled, “How boring is it to be alone? Would you like to sit together?”

Bai Yutang saw Su Min from a distance, with a narrow smile on his face, and looking a little helpless. He politely smiled at the woman, and pointed to the ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

The woman was slightly surprised, but she smiled without saying much, nodded to Bai Yutang, and left. Instead of returning to her seat, she walked straight out of the door and got into a red car on the side of the road.

She raised her eyes and looked out of the car window, and saw Bai Yutang sitting at the bar. He drank the drink in his hand, put money under his glass, said goodbye to Su Min, and walked out of the bar. She wanted to drive to the door, but his sight seemed to be attracted by a shop in front of him. He looked at the road, quickly ran across, and entered the shop with grace and vigor.

The woman drove the car forward curiously, turned her face to look at the shop, and saw that it was a small shop specializing in crystal crafts.

Bai Yutang walked to the counter to look at the numerous crystal crafts. Soon, he pointed to one of the crystal mice and said, “Help me wrap this mouse up.”

……

Walking out with a plastic bag filled with gifts in his hand, Bai Yutang glanced at the red sports car on the side of the road, walked over, and knocked on the window.

The woman rolled down the car window to look at him.

“Do you need help?” Bai Yutang asked her.

The woman shook her head, “I was just a little curious.”

Bai Yutang frowned slightly, turned around, and walked away slowly along the lively commercial street.

The woman drove the car to the other side of the street, stopped there and waited, watching the pedestrians on the street come and go.

After about an hour, the woman's eyes were again attracted by a figure that appeared in the distance.

She saw a man in a blue sweater hurriedly running out of the auditorium. He was a handsome man who was not inferior to Bai Yutang, and who was gentle and handsome. The blue sweater made the woman think of the mint-coloured drink that Bai Yutang had just drunk. It was almost the same blue, the blue of the sea... profound and clear. On the ring finger of his left hand, there was the same platinum ring.

Zhan Zhao hurriedly ran out of the auditorium. The speech was over, with only the last few closing statements remaining, but Zhan Zhao ran out first. Today's speech was very exciting, but he was still a little unable to concentrate when Bai Yutang was not by his side. He quickly rushed across the street and entered the bar, only to find that Bai Yutang was not there. He asked Su Min, who told that him that Bai Yutang said he would be back in a while, and that the cake was still there.

Zhan Zhao walked to the door and wanted to make a call with his cell phone, but he was attracted by a shop in front of him. He put away the phone and ran into the shop across the street.

The woman watched from a distance, drove her car closer to the shop, and saw that it was the crystal shop that Bai Yutang had just entered.

She saw Zhan Zhao look at the counter for a while before pointing to a crystal kitten, and saying, “This one, help me wrap it up!”

After a while, Zhan Zhao walked out with a plastic bag in his hand.

The woman raised her head and saw the end of the street from a distance. Bai Yutang wandered back slowly, holding his cell phone in one hand while dialing.

Zhan Zhao had just come out of the store, crossed the road, and dialed his phone at the same time...

Afterwards, the two took their phones away from their ears and looked at them... They seemed a little puzzled, as if wondering why the line was busy? Looking up again, Bai Yutang saw Zhan Zhao at the entrance of the bar not far away, and Zhan Zhao saw Bai Yutang walking towards him.

“Xiao Bai.”

“Cat.”

The two men almost spoke in unison. Bai Yutang’s cold expression changed to a sunny smile, and he ran over.

Zhan Zhao put away his cell phone and waited for him with a smile.

Bai Yutang, who ran up to Zhan Zhao, took out a box of snacks from the plastic bag in his hand. From a distance, it seemed to be toothpick beef or takoyaki. Zhan Zhao took it and inserted one into his mouth. As he did, he also stuffed one into Bai Yutang's mouth, and the two of them walked into the bar together. (Angel: Toothpick beef are small pieces of beef that are individually placed on toothpicks to make them easy to eat.)

After entering the bar, the two sat down and ordered another drink. Su Min gave them two drinks in the same style glass, one blue drink and one white drink.

The two drinks were orange cocktails with a hint of floral fragrance, the blue one was called Perfect No. 10, and the white one was called Classic No. 10, and together, they have a nice name —Valentine's Day.

The woman lowered her head and smiled, then put on her red sunglasses, and drove away.

In the bar, Bai Yutang glanced back at the red sports car driving away, and frowned slightly.

“What's wrong?” Zhan Zhao asked him.

“Nothing, the woman in that car is just weird.” Bai Yutang said indifferently.

“Hmm...” Zhan Zhao leaned towards him with one hand on his chin, “Is Captain Bai's charm unstoppable?”

Bai Yutang looked at him with a smile, “That’s not it, you know that best.”

“Go away you two, I think the air is turning pink!” Su Min packed the cake and wine, and put it in front of the two of them, thinking to himself that Bai Yutang alone is enough, now that Zhan Zhao is here, it’s just wonderful, all of the beauties treat him like air.

Carrying the cake and wine, Bai Yutang bid farewell to Su Min and left with Zhan Zhao.

After getting in the car, Bai Yutang started the car and asked Zhan Zhao, “What would you like to do? Where do you go next to kill time?”

“Well, I want to eat seafood, or go to a bookstore... or go to the movies.” Zhan Zhao smiled, “I want to see Ratatouille.”

Bai Yutang couldn't laugh or cry. Just as he was about to drive away, his phone rang.

“No way.” Bai Yutang reached for his phone. Zhan Zhao watched nervously, and saw the caller ID — Bao Zheng.

Bai Yutang raised his eyebrows, and look at Zhan Zhao, “Seafood, the bookstore, and watching that rat king seem to all be gone.” (Angel: In Mandarin, Ratatouille is 料理鼠王. The last two characters translate to rat king.)

Zhan Zhao wrinkled his nose, a little dissatisfied.

Bai Yutang answered the phone, “Bao Sir?”

……

“Okay, we’ll go over immediately.” Bai Yutang put down his phone and looked at Zhan Zhao, “There is another case.”

Zhan Zhao sighed, “Couldn't the world be peaceful for one day on our birthday?”

“That is too demanding.” Bai Yutang laughed, handing him the plastic bag in his hand, “Present.”

Zhan Zhao took the plastic bag and handed him one of his own.

The two took out identical blue and white checkered paper wrapped boxes from the bags, glanced at each other, and opened them... The same white box... Then opened again, and took out a roll of bubble wrap... Reaching in again, they take out a delicate black iron box... Look at each other, they opened them... Bai Yutang took out a crystal cat, and Zhan Zhao took out a crystal mouse.

The two stopped looking at each other, and just raised the corners of their mouths, laughing weakly.

Zhan Zhao reached out and took the crystal cat from Bai Yutang's hand, and put it on the dashboard in front of the windshield together with the crystal mouse in his hand.

Zhan Zhao's slight feeling of loss recovered instantly, and he said, “Let's go.”

Bai Yutang smiled and drove away to the scene of the crime.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

And the new case starts! I didn't have a chance to fully edit this chapter yesterday, as I was too distracted spending all of my money on ONEUS albums and photocards (Definitely don't regret that spending) I didn't want to upload an unedited chapter, so instead, I will upload two chapters today.

I love that Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang bought each other the exact same gifts, they are so cute. ♥♥

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: May 17, 2021