I'm in high school, is my dating system working correctly?

"Hey, isn't this Xiao Cheng?"

The police station on this street near the cotton mill was a small place. When He Youwu, who was on duty, saw the familiar girl, he smiled and greeted her.

Then I saw Lu Yu behind me.

They immediately became alert.

Early romance? Accidental sexual encounter? Running away with a baby?

In the years I've been a beat cop, I've seen all sorts of bizarre things, but I never expected that my worst fears would still come true.

"Uncle He, we're here to report a crime."

See? It's gotten to the point where they've called the police. You have to believe what kids are like these days!

Whoops!

He Youwu slapped his thigh.

"Minimum three years"

"what?"

Cheng Bailu didn't understand what He Youwu was talking about. Why were they so close to sentencing?

"Come on, student, sit down."

He Youwu glared at Lu Yu.

Lu Yu didn't know where this unwarranted serious attitude came from, so he obediently sat down.

"Name."

"Lu Yu".

"How many months?"

"? Me... I'm seventeen."

"She's only seventeen! How could you do that to her?!"

He Youwu couldn't hold back any longer.

"?"

Lu Yu looked at Cheng Bailu beside him with a puzzled expression, and the two wondered if they had entered the house the wrong way.

"Young people can just date and hold hands, but they need to be more restrained, you know? Now look what's happened, someone's died, how are we going to clean this up?"

He Youwu seriously triggered the first attack.

Upon hearing this...

Cheng Bailu and Lu Yu were stunned at first, and after they realized what was happening, they both choked. To ease the embarrassment, they cleared their throats with red faces.

"No, Uncle He, we are... friends."

The girl paused mid-sentence, carefully choosing her words.

"Oh, now we're friends."

Who knows what the future holds?

"We're here to report something; we think we just saw a wanted criminal."

Lu Yu quickly explained.

"the wanted?"

Professional ethics immediately alerted He Youwu.

"Yes, I saw the wanted poster online before, and it looked very familiar today. Also, when he called, he mentioned something about a gang or a scam."

Lu Yuzhang spoke fluently and casually.

"Really?"

He Youwu glanced at Cheng Bailu beside him.

"Yes, really."

She nodded.

"A group scam?"

He Youwu did indeed receive a relevant notification.

"We are indeed investigating a telecom fraud gang recently. This gang specifically targets retired elderly people and laid-off workers in the factory area, and has swindled a lot of people out of their savings."

He used the computer to access a publicly available wanted website.

"Take a look at these people and see if they look familiar."

Lu Yu and Cheng Bailu peeked over.

At a glance, the two recognized the masked man.

There was no way around it; the blond guy was just too obvious.

You're wanted by the police, and you still have that outlandish hairstyle? Aren't you afraid of dying?

At this moment, Cheng Bailu suddenly paused, then pointed to another person.

"Hey, I saw that person too."

Lu Yu and He Youwu looked over, and the girl pursed her lips.

"Just now, uh, this person wearing a mask glared at the customer next to him while buying cigarettes, and he was talking louder on the phone. The customer who was glared at was this person."

Is it open?

Lu Yu didn't have much of an impression of the second person; he was too focused on the masked man.

"Both of these men had actually contact with the victims' downlines, which is why they were caught on surveillance footage. Do you know where they ended up?"

"exist......"

Although Lu Yu knew which building, floor, and room number, he couldn't really say what the neighborhood was called.

"It's the residential complex at No. 9, Mianfang Third Road, Building 6."

Cheng Bailu wasn't lying to Lu Yu; she was indeed familiar with this area.

"We think he went up to the third floor, to the room on the right-hand side of the stairs."

Lu Yu added.

He Youwu glanced at the two people who were singing in unison, told them to wait a moment, and then went back to his office to make a phone call.

A moment later, he came out.

"We've already notified our superiors, and they should send someone over soon."

After saying that, He Youwu seemed to remember something and reminded him.

"By the way, if you successfully make the arrest, there might be a reward afterwards, but you'd better not tell anyone, because this is a criminal gang, and there's no guarantee that others won't retaliate against the informant."

The two looked at each other and nodded.

It's like having a secret that belongs only to the two of us.

"It's getting late, you should go back now. We should have the results by tomorrow at the latest."

As He Youwu spoke, indifferent and cold words appeared in Lu Yu's vision.

You have successfully claimed your reward. Keep up the good work and embrace a wonderful life!

Lu Yu knew that those two guys were doomed in Jie's time.

*

As Cheng Bailu walked out of the police station, she looked back once more.

"Those people actually cheated the retired elderly people in the factory, it's outrageous!"

She puffed out her cheeks slightly.

Although the people who were deceived were those who had questioned her father and given her mother the cold shoulder, the girl was still indignant about their current situation.

One thing at a time, Cheng Bailu is a good classmate who knows how to keep things separate.

"That uncle just said there's a bonus, I wonder how much I can get, so I said I'd have good luck today."

Lu Yu then discussed the bounty.

"Well, according to Uncle He, it's probably two or three thousand at most."

Cheng Bailu's expression brightened somewhat.

One is happy to catch criminals, and the other is joyful to receive a windfall.

Lu Yu was also quite happy. This round made up for the math Olympiad prize money he had previously taken from Cheng Bailu. Her family's situation was indeed not easy.

"Thinking about it this way, I also won a prize at the supermarket last time. It seems like being with you really does make me lucky."

He said casually, making a joke.

"Well……"

Although Cheng Bailu knew that Lu Yu meant "to go with you", she still felt a little nervous when she heard this expression.

The police station was not far from Cheng Bailu's residential area, and the two quickly arrived at the intersection.

"See you tomorrow."

Cheng Bailu pinched the bracelet in her sleeve, then waved her hand.

"Okay, goodbye."

Seeing her slowly turn around, Lu Yu called out again.

"By the way, I usually take the 6:43 train to the cotton mill station in the morning."

The dim streetlights turned on just in time, illuminating the girl whose steps had suddenly stopped.

She turned around, looking at Lu Yu with a mixture of panic and surprise.

"Um."

She nodded before gracefully departing.

My steps became much lighter without me even realizing it.

*

night.

After helping her mother tidy up and doing housework, Cheng Bailu returned to her desk after washing up.

She had already finished most of her homework at school, and she spent her evenings doing extra practice.

She spread out the "53" workbook she had already completed, brushed aside the strands of hair that were still damp with moisture that had fallen beside her ear, and picked up her pen.

She wore a pilling light blue cotton nightgown, and her fair feet tapped lightly on the ground in old sandals as she pondered.

After working for a while, she glanced at her phone, picked it up, opened a chat window, pursed her lips, and finally returned to the home screen.

Wearing cheap headphones that required an adapter to connect to her phone, Cheng Bailu did not open the practice software to do English listening exercises as usual.

Instead, by some strange twist of fate, he downloaded the music app that Lu Yu used from the app store that came with his phone.

Her phone doesn't have much storage space, but fortunately, she rarely takes photos, so there's still some spare.

She found the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" that she listened to after school and clicked to play it.

The sacred a cappella chant began, and the girl closed her eyes, listening quietly.

What came to mind was not the intense life, love, and death described in the lyrics.

Instead, it was the profile of the boy sitting next to me on the bus in the evening, bathed in the glow of the setting sun.

buzzing-

The sudden vibration of her phone caught her off guard, and she slammed her old notebook onto the table with a dull thud.

Slightly guilty, she picked it up, but the message notification on the screensaver made Cheng Bailu's fingers tremble slightly.

[Lu Yu]: What kind of good breakfast is there near the cotton mill?

She quickly unlocked the screen and started typing on her phone.

[White Dew]: The glutinous rice chicken is quite delicious, as are the three-delicacy bean curd sheets, fried dough sticks, hot and sour soup, and noodles. It's best to eat them on the spot.

[Lu Yu]: Sticky rice chicken, the machine tool factory here doesn't have that.

Cheng Bailu blinked when she saw the message.

A subtle premonition rose in her heart.

Could this be some kind of implied meaning?

So, the girl tapped the screen.

[White Dew]: I'll buy some tomorrow and let you try it on the train.

[Lu Yu]: Okay.

"Well……"

Cheng Bailu rarely chatted aimlessly with others like this. Looking at Lu Yu's message, she felt she should reply with something, but didn't know how to start a conversation.

As her cool and pretty face showed a conflicted expression, her phone vibrated again.

[Lu Yu]: You treat me to a meal, consider it payment for keeping me company tonight.

"!!!"

In an instant, Cheng Bailu's ears turned bright red. She immediately turned her phone away and buried her face in her arms, as if worried that the gods above her might see her moment of shyness.

"How did he know...?"

It was as if her secret had been discovered by the person she most wanted to keep hidden from her, causing chaos and confusion.

It was as if those unspoken wishes had been seen and fulfilled, filling them with joy.

She spent the whole day agonizing over the cost of online chat services, trying to figure out how to naturally strike up a conversation with the guys around her that evening. In the end, she decided to keep this wish to herself and not tell anyone!

On the bus, sitting next to Lu Yu, she kept wanting to speak up, imagining herself chatting with Lu Yu naturally and openly, like Zhou Qianyun, without having to worry about anyone's gaze.

No one likes being alone; they just don't want to be disappointed.

The difficult years have lasted too long; she dares not say those two words, much less think about them. She only hopes to maintain the relationship in the present with simple words.

The boy has so much light and warmth; she only needs a little bit, and that will be enough.

After a long while, the girl, her cheeks burning, gave a response.

She sent out the cat emojis she had saved that afternoon, then pursed her lips and typed a message to send it.

[Bai Lu]: Then you have to... talk until I'm satisfied.

*

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