Bai Qianmo explained, "I ran into Lei Zi at the Beijing TV station a couple of days ago. He accidentally broke my phone. He took me to this guy's phone shop to get it repaired. The whole process took about half an hour. During that time, my phone was in this guy's hands. The time was 12:23 PM. He returned the phone to me at 12:57 PM. Officer, why don't you check the time of my chat with Lei Zi on WeChat to see if it matches?"

The police opened the chat history: "The chat started at 12:36 and ended at 12:50."

Bai Qianmo raised an eyebrow: "During this time, the phone was with the owner of the repair shop, so I brought it with me."

Gou Si took a drag of his cigarette and glanced at the repair shop owner, who trembled in fright.

The shop owner choked up and said, "Officer, I... to tell you the truth, it was Lei who approached me. He said he was pursuing a girl, but she already had a boyfriend, so he wanted to create some ambiguous WeChat messages and then secretly send them to the girl's boyfriend. Once the girl's boyfriend broke up with her, he would have a chance. I really didn't know that this was related to a kidnapping case. Officer, I was innocently implicated."

The lead police officer said coldly, "Tell me the whole story of how you committed the crime in detail."

The repair shop owner recounted the incident in detail: "When Lei Zi brought this girl to the shop to get her phone repaired, he had her sit in the rest area to rest while Lei Zi and I chatted behind the counter. It was during this time that I opened her WeChat account, added Lei Zi, and then sent her pre-arranged messages in the form of a chat. After the chat ended, I secretly deleted Lei Zi from her phone. That's how the whole process went."

The police officer asked coldly, "Lei Zi, is what the shop owner said true?"

Lei Zi's face was ashen, but he merely curled his lips into a faint, mocking snort: "That's right, it was indeed me who framed Bai Qianmo. I've been eyeing her for a long time, but with her excellent qualities, how could she possibly be interested in me? So I came up with this way to ruin her reputation. Once she's in jail, no matter how beautiful she is, she'll still have a criminal record. Only then will I have a chance to pursue her."

After saying this, Lei Zi looked at Bai Qianmo with deep affection: "I'm sorry, I was too selfish, but I really love you."

Bai Qianmo couldn't help but applaud Lei Zi: "You can pull off such a sentimental plot so easily. It's a real shame you're not an actor. It's just a pity you met me. The person you want to protect is here now. Do you want to meet her?"

Lei Zi's expression changed immediately, and his brows furrowed tightly.

Outside the hall, Gou Si's men shoved a young woman into the room.

Upon seeing the newcomer, Lei Zi suddenly began to struggle violently: "Impossible, this is impossible, how could you be here? Didn't you leave?"

Several police officers immediately subdued him.

Man Xueni looked miserable: "I wanted to leave too! I was about to board the plane when these people brought me here. Lei Zi, did you betray me?"

She was just one step away from leaving this hellish place and starting a new life abroad, but that one step caused her to fall from heaven to hell in an instant.

Lei Zi's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse with a hint of despair: "Xue Ni, how could I betray you? Why didn't you leave sooner? Now... now I can't protect you anymore."

Old Bai was completely baffled: "Qianmo, what exactly is going on?"

Bai Qianmo looked at Bai Xiruo with a cool gaze: "Grandpa, why don't you let Bai Xiruo speak? She should know better than me."

"Bai Qianmo, what nonsense are you talking about?" Han Songyan shouted angrily.

Bai Xiruo's face was cold and dark, her pair of black eyes fixed on Bai Qianmo.

Beneath those seemingly calm eyes, a raging storm was brewing.

A bone-chilling coldness crept up from the soles of her feet, and Bai Xiruo trembled slightly. How could this be? How could Man Xueni have been captured and brought back?

She had clearly planned everything perfectly. As long as Man Xueni left, Lei Zi's kidnapping attempt failed, and he turned himself in, Bai Qianmo would undoubtedly be the culprit.

But the current developments have completely exceeded her control.