The world is never simply black and white.
The interrogation room door remained closed, and it was estimated that it would take quite some time. Outside the interrogation room, investigators in the task force's office area paced back and forth, their voices rising louder and louder, almost like an argument.
When Wen Dai emerged from the restroom after her incredible "magic trick," the other investigators, who had seen her embarrassing old photo on Cai Qi's phone, were utterly astonished.
The task force's office area at the end of the corridor was greeted by a breeze coming from the doorway. Long, untied hair occasionally bounced, and a baby face with a rosy blush was pretty and charming, with slightly upturned peach blossom eyes that added a touch of coquettishness.
A beautiful woman with red lips and fair skin walked in with a swagger, attracting a lot of attention. Wen Weiwei, who hadn't gone in to give her statement yet, was being tightly embraced by Cui Lin who had rushed over. It was unclear how long the two had been embracing and confiding in each other, but as soon as Wen Dai appeared, Wen Weiwei's gaze, which she had inadvertently glanced over, was fixed on her.
Immediately afterward, Cui Lin was gently pushed away by her daughter in her arms. Wen Weiwei involuntarily walked over and stood in front of this beauty. She couldn't hide her amazement and looked her up and down in surprise, exclaiming, "Sister Wen Dai, you are indeed so beautiful!"
Tiger Teeth and Dimples burst out first. Wen Dai's eyes were like crescent moons, her clear black pupils meeting hers. She raised her hand and waved it twice like she was tossing a handkerchief. "Oh dear, don't worry about appearances—so is my down-to-earth style really that bad?"
"She doesn't look as good as she does now, but she still feels very approachable, because my sister also said not to care about appearances!"
As expected of a girl, Wen Dai looked at Wen Weiwei, who was standing in front of her with sincere eyes, with a sense of relief, and raised her hand to shake Wen Weiwei's arm.
She then looked up at Cui Lin in another direction, and when their eyes met, she felt as if she had pierced through the tangled tears and grasped the complex emotions within.
But she couldn't unravel the complexities.
Cui Lin took out tissues from her bag and blew her nose and wiped away her tears. She threw the tissues into the trash can, walked up to Wen Dai with red eyes, put her arm around Wen Weiwei's shoulder, her firm demeanor breaking through her tears, and said solemnly, "I'm sorry, I will repay you, with all my might."
Perhaps the complexity doesn't need to be solved.
Wen Dai unconsciously hooked her little finger, lowered her eyelids, and then lifted them again in an instant. She curled the corners of her lips and said in a tone that only the two of them could understand, "Okay, then I'll thank Aunt Cui Lin in advance."
The composure on the surface was not what she truly felt inside. Wen Dai almost shouted in her heart, her excitement bubbling up in her chest, as she conveyed her thrill to the immortals behind her: "Look! I knew my efforts wouldn't be in vain, wouldn't be fruitless. When the dominoes fall, the events that follow won't necessarily be negative; perhaps they'll have a positive effect... Maybe those dominoes were meant to fall?"
“You’re right. You had the courage to go to a dangerous and unknown place despite our obstruction and lack of help. You showed your bravery and kindness, and you deserve to be rewarded.”
But in this world, many people's efforts, whether courageous or kind, go unrewarded—most people's sacrifices seem to be in vain.
Wen Dai didn't say it, but they would know the moment she thought of it.
Silence is the best answer, the only answer.
Reflections on life never last long. Next to be brought into the interrogation room were Wen Dai and Wen Weiwei; as for Chen Sizhe, he was just a driver who had accepted Wen Dai's request to pick them up, and there was no need for him to take up a spot in the interrogation room.
Ever since signing that damn cooperation contract with her and becoming her partner, he's been frequently drawn into worlds he wouldn't even glance at before. Chen Sizhe sat on the waiting chair, his long legs crossed in his suit trousers, his gleaming custom-made leather shoes gleaming in the light.
He crossed his arms, his chin slightly lowered, his eyes filled with deep thoughts.
What was his attitude towards metaphysics before? He would occasionally take some time to do good deeds, and taking two cases a month was considered a lot. After all, he charged eight thousand per hour for consultations, and he really looked down on the time-consuming and laborious rituals and divination cases.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, found the chat page with his master, and saw that the last message on the screen was from the other end.
[Wasn't there only a transfer and no other messages? Looks like your partner is quite special; she actually managed to persuade you to contact me for help. Or perhaps you're just curious yourself. Did her dream seem familiar? I bet you've already figured out some of the clues.]
Before he could put his phone away, a series of hurried and heavy footsteps rushed into his ears, as if the ground itself was vibrating.
Lifting my eyelids, I saw mud-covered military cloth shoes. Moving my gaze upwards, I saw pure black pencil pants. The relatively fitted pants hugged legs that looked like upside-down carrots. There were four such legs: two thick carrots and two thin carrots.
The old woman, panting, stood at the entrance of the Chizheng Office. Her clothes were clean and of decent quality, but they were extremely wrinkled, probably because they had been stored in the closet for a long time and were not worn often. They were also definitely not ironed.
The old man next to her was dressed exactly like her, except that he changed the color of his shirt.
Carrying a black backpack, the elderly woman hesitated, seemingly afraid to go inside. The investigators inside appeared to be busy with their own tasks and had no time to pay attention to her.
As a result, Chen Sizhe became the lucky one chosen by the old lady.
She walked up to Chen Sizhe, carrying a black backpack. Her gaze lingered cautiously on the man's face for a moment before she handed him the backpack. She remembered this man; he was the one who had been with the girl when they left the village.
"This...this is that girl's bag."
Luckily, she didn't get tongue-tied. The old lady opened her mouth meaningfully, and seeing that Chen Sizhe didn't reach out to take it but was staring at her, she almost wanted to just shove the backpack into his arms and run away.
But they are in the Righteous Place now, and this is the Righteous Place!
If he wanted to report her, it would only take a shout; if she dared to run, she would probably be caught by the investigators halfway there.
Just as the old lady was mourning her and the old man's fate, Chen Sizhe finally moved his arm and took the backpack back with his outstretched hand, but at the same time, his mouth opened.
"..."
When I stepped out of the interrogation room, there wasn't a trace of morning white in the sky, not even a thin layer of white.
With her mouth dry, Wen Dai took the water cup handed to her by a male investigator. She drank the water in one gulp and threw the cup into the trash can, then smiled and politely said "thank you" to the investigator.
The photos she posted in the middle of the night have clearly become a well-known dark chapter in her life.
It was probably because of the major new developments in the city's case that he was in the mood to joke. He teased, "No wonder everyone says that makeup is an evil art. I really can't reconcile the person in the photo on Cai Qi's phone with the person in the photo."
If you can't bring yourself to do it, just forget about it. Wouldn't it be better to let bygones be bygones?
Wen Dai was inwardly bitter but outwardly smiling. She scratched her head and said, "Who says otherwise?" After brushing off that, she clutched her stomach, which had been empty all day and had been constantly making its presence felt in the interrogation room, and rushed over to Chen Sizhe, who was still waiting for her.
"Are you still waiting? I thought you left a long time ago. You're right, you're really very cooperative. So please, be a good person and come have dinner with me. Let's hurry up and go home as soon as possible."
For Wen Dai, it was still quite embarrassing to take the initiative to invite him, because she could even guess what this guy who couldn't utter a good word would say, which would nothing more than accuse her of having a crush on him and harboring ulterior motives towards him.
So Wen Dai, who considered herself very clever, chose the sandwich language technique, only this sandwich was a bit too tightly packed.
But what are lawyers good at? What qualities must a lawyer possess to become a top partner at a law firm like Chen Sizhe?
When going to court, lawyers usually need to quickly find loopholes in the opposing lawyer's arguments and exploit them within a very short time.
"If you want to have dinner with me, just say so. We've been working together for almost a year, and no matter how much you try to hide your feelings for me, it won't change anything... I knew you had ulterior motives towards me."
She knew he would say that.
but……
Chen Sizhe stood up and shoved the black backpack into Wen Dai's arms. Noticing the woman's surprised look, he said coldly, "Someone delivered it. It should be your aunt and uncle."
Clutching her backpack in a daze, Wen Dai touched the zipper. Actually, she had always been a detail-oriented person; when she took the things out of the bag and zipped it up, she had paid special attention to the zipper's position.
Although the old woman and the old man betrayed her halfway through their conspiracy and even joined forces with the human traffickers to stab her, they did not touch her bag.
Wen Dai recalled the old man sitting on the back of a tricycle, head down, seemingly lost in thought, before she left the village; and the domineering old woman leading several proud cows as she stood under the tree by the bamboo, pondering her next move, climbing up the slope.
Were they inherently bad? We can't be too general. The old man who was lost in his own world with his head down back then actually had the desire to be a hero and to do things for the law enforcement officers; he longed to be a member of the fight for justice.
The old woman who was willing to give her a ride and express her disgust for the human trafficking village, and the old woman who provided her with costumes and props as cover, were also truly on the same side as her.
The world is not simply black and white; it is never just black and white.
"Sigh." Wen Dai let out a soft sigh, turned her backpack around and slung it over her shoulder, put her hands back in her trench coat pockets, and lowered her head to hide her expression.
Chen Sizhe, who was walking in front of her, turned around and glanced at her. A little further ahead, the dim night enveloped him, but when he looked back at Wen Dai, the light from the Chizheng Office shone on his face again.
Her delicate features were outlined, and those Cupid lips, which are often used as templates by plastic surgery clinics, were parted: "I said some things to them in my own presumption, and I'm not sure if you'll have a small chance of reacting, so I'm repeating them to you now."
As Chen Sizhe took the backpack from the old woman, he saw through the guilt and fear that the two people in front of him were trying to hide. Perhaps it was the experience he had gained from working in the legal profession over the years, but he not only understood their feelings, but he could even guess that this matter would be something they would remember for the rest of their lives.
It's common for older people to reminisce about the past. They pick out the mistakes they made in the past, and those who are willing to lend a helping hand, especially, tend to magnify their own errors, perhaps even criticizing themselves in moments of silence.
"Your willingness to help her at the beginning shows that you had a kind heart; I know nothing about what happened later, but I guess there were some conditions or threats that you couldn't refuse. Humans are contradictory, and people should accept their own contradictions. Don't put yourself in a dead end because of one mistake. I'm talking about a moral dead end."
The old lady and the old man immediately teared up after he said those words. The old man didn't show his emotions very outwardly, but he just hid his face.
The old woman couldn't hold back her tears, which fell right in front of him. She wiped her tears with her rough hands, covered her face, and sobbed, "There's nothing I can do, I really have no choice. My parents are still in that village. People like them—they kill without blinking an eye, they dare to traffic people, and if someone doesn't obey, they'll bury them alive, beat them to death... they do all sorts of things. How could I dare to refuse? I have no choice!"
At that time, Chen Sizhe's response was to express that he understood and to ask people to leave, citing that he had other things to do.
He had no time to listen to strangers complaining to him, nor did he have the energy to take responsibility for their emotions.
"The reason I was able to say those things to them when they brought the bags over is because I was so deeply influenced by you, subtly and gradually... Ha."
He scoffed lightly, not turning to look at Wen Dai walking behind him, his pace neither slow nor slow. "It's just based on my personal speculation that you're likely to express this to them, so I'm saying this. If I'm wrong, or if you think I'm acting on my own..."
“No, I won’t,” Wen Dai interrupted him decisively.
She jogged forward a couple of steps, having to stretch her legs to keep up with Chen Sizhe, who was 1.9 meters tall and had the advantage of long legs; her legs were still trying their best to keep up.
She tilted her chin up to look at him. It was a little difficult to see his eyes clearly in the blurry night, but it didn't matter.
"You guessed right. If they happened to run into me when they came, I would have said those things. But my reaction would have been different. Instead of making excuses, I would have told them directly that no one is obligated to bear their negative emotions and offer them comfort; besides, I am someone who has been hurt by them. What if I hadn't managed to escape from there, or what if something had happened to me?"
"To be honest, Chen Sizhe, you understand me quite well. But there are so many different kinds of people. There's something you haven't seen, which is that I'm not a saint."
“Dinner these days shouldn’t be called dinner anymore, how about we go get some late-night snacks? It’s so late, how about we go to a street food stall? You’ve probably never eaten anything like that before, let’s go.” Her tone suddenly changed, and she brazenly grabbed his arm, dragging him toward the Cullinan on the side of the road outside the detention center.
The sudden soft, warm sensation against his arm made Chen Sizhe's heart soften for a moment; in that instant, he even thought about premature ventricular contractions. Perhaps he should have regular checkups.
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