Chapter 459 What a good movie material!
Chaoyang Branch, Beijing North.
"Can you please confirm, is this the suspect in the fraud case?"
A middle-aged policeman asked Meng Bai and Li Qin who were standing beside him outside the interrogation room.
Meng Bai looked into the room through the one-way glass, and saw a middle-aged man with half-white hair and a vicissitudes of life sitting on the "regret chair". A long and narrow scar passed through the right eye to the nose, and the right eye socket was sunken inward, obviously without an eyeball.
He raised his hand and scratched his scalp. His left hand had fewer little fingers and ring fingers than ordinary people, and the incision was smooth. With Meng Bai's limited basic knowledge of forensics, he knew at a glance that it was directly cut off by a sharp weapon.
"Ah!"
Li Qin exclaimed slightly, obviously the man's appearance was a little beyond her expectations.
But before she could get scared, she felt her hand being held by someone. She looked down and saw Meng Bai next to her, who was looking at her comfortingly at this time.
"Are you okay?"
"It's okay." Li Qin shook her head, "I just saw him suddenly and was a little scared."
Meng Bai smiled and stroked the back of her hand to comfort her, then looked at the police: "Sorry, police comrade, I have indeed forgotten what he looks like after so many years. And he is still... But I just read his transcript, the facts and details are all correct, it should be him."
"It's okay as long as the facts match, generally no one would accuse themselves of a crime." The police smiled, obviously expecting this statement.
After leaving the interrogation room, Li Qin took a cup of hot water and sat in the rest area, while Meng Bai chatted with the police.
"I really didn't expect that after so many years, our public security comrades could still catch him back."
"Well, in fact, it can't be considered that we caught him. To be precise, he should be considered to have surrendered himself."
The police obviously knew Meng Bai's identity, and his attitude was quite enthusiastic, and he introduced the situation to him.
"This suspect was transferred here by the police in southern Yunnan some time ago. He said he escaped from a park in northern Myanmar, ran for two days and two nights, crossed the border, and then went straight to the local police station to turn himself in and seek protection. The local police asked some questions and found out that the case he confessed to was from northern Beijing, so they contacted us to accept it."
"Running for two days and two nights?" Meng Bai recalled the skinny appearance of the suspect just now, and sighed: "It's true that people can burst out extraordinary potential in desperate situations."
"If you run over, you can live, but if you can't run over, you will die. You must have fought hard."
The police sighed: "In fact, according to his confession, the sentence is only about eight to ten years. As a result, he arranged for himself to be imprisoned, and not only did he end up half dead, but he still has to stay in prison when he comes back... Alas, if I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place."
"All causes and effects are predetermined. The path he chose can be regarded as a punishment for him."
Meng Bai also sighed, then thought about it and asked, "If it's convenient, can I talk to him for a few words?"
"That's fine, but according to regulations, we need to record the video and audio, and we have to be accompanied by a police officer."
"Of course, just follow our rules."
Meng Bai thanked him, then told Li Qin to wait for him.
"What do you want to talk to him about?" Li Qin asked curiously.
"It's nothing, actually. I just asked him about his experiences in recent years. It can be regarded as collecting materials." Meng Bai chuckled and said, "To be honest, the northern Myanmar park has been mentioned a lot in recent years, and I'm also curious about what the real situation is. Who knows, it's also a good subject." "
You're... quite dedicated."
"It's mainly because I'm curious, and I'd like to say thank you to him by the way."
"You thank him?" Li Qin blinked, "Why do you want to thank him?"
Meng Bai leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Of course I have to thank him. After all, if it weren't for him, how could I know Teacher Li."
Li Qin's heart warmed when she heard this. She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so she pretended to be disgusted and said, "Hey - you're so greasy!"
But after she finished speaking, she raised her hand to tidy up Meng Bai's clothes, and then said, "I'll wait for you here."
Meng Bai smiled, shook her hand, and then followed the police into the interrogation room.
"Long time no see, Producer Lin."
Meng Bai sat down on the chair opposite him, and looked at the police beside him who indicated that they could start. He smiled and said, "Oh, no, I saw in the transcript that your family name is Zhang Wen, so I should call you Producer Zhang."
Zhang Wen raised his head and looked at Meng Bai with his remaining eye: "You, who are you?"
"My name is Meng Bai. I sold a script to you seven years ago. Do you remember?"
Meng Bai thought that the other party wanted to recall it, but he didn't expect that Zhang Wen was just slightly stunned, and then nodded and said, "So it's you... Indeed, it's been a long time no see, Mr. Meng."
After he said this, Meng Bai became confused. Listening to the other party's tone, it seemed as if he had just seen him not long ago.
"You still know me?"
"I know a little bit." Zhang Wen smiled bitterly. "When we were doing online fraud, we would contact some pirated video platforms to add links. We often saw your name in some popular TV dramas in the mainland. Some of them happened to have the female star named Li Qin, so I have been wondering if it was you."
"You are quite good at guessing."
"That place is too depressing. I can only imagine like this to ensure that I don't go crazy."
Meng Bai took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, glanced at the policeman next to him, and saw that the other party nodded silently, so he took out a cigarette and handed it to Zhang Wen.
"Hu——"
Exhaling a puff of smoke, Zhang Wen looked at the cigarette in his hand and shook his head: "This cigarette is not as good as the one over there."
"I don't smoke, I bought it casually and gave it to you." Meng Bai handed over the rest of the whole pack, "I heard that this thing is hard currency there, and you can exchange it for something else if you don't smoke it."
Zhang Wen looked at him in surprise: "What are you... going to do?"
"Nothing, I just want to ask about your experience in the past few years and the details of the situation over there."
"Why are you asking this?"
"I'm a screenwriter and I like to collect this kind of fresh material." Meng Bai said calmly.
Zhang Wen glanced at him, his lips moved, and after a long time he uttered: "You... are really dedicated!"
"It's just professionalism." Meng Bai said: "So, can you introduce me to it?"
"What's the benefit of telling you?"
Meng Bai spread his hands: "You escaped from there and should be penniless now. I don't know what the situation is like at home. If your parents are still alive, they are quite old. I don't know if they can wait until you come out."
Zhang Wen was silent.
"I can send some money to your parents as labor fees for collecting materials." Meng Bai said.
Zhang Wen was puzzled: "Why don't you give it to me directly?"
"If I give it to you, it will be used as personal assets to compensate the victims who were deceived."
Meng Bai glanced at the policeman next to him. The other party smiled and said nothing, which was considered as tacit agreement.
Zhang Wen thought for a moment and said, "How much will you pay?"
"Fifty thousand."
"Haha." Zhang Wen snorted and laughed, "Fifty thousand is also considered money?"
"Making money is definitely not as fast as cheating money." Meng Bai didn't care about his attitude, "It's just to collect materials. It's just convenient to ask you. If you don't want to, forget it."
"Wait." Zhang Wen shouted, then sighed, "Okay, fifty thousand is fifty thousand, but you have to keep your word."
"Don't worry, the police uncle is recording it. I don't need your ten thousand yuan."
"Okay."
Zhang Wen began to talk about his experience in the past. After he cheated Li Qin, he fled abroad, but not long after, he lost everything because of gambling.
He was penniless and had no way out. He had no connections in the local area and could only do odd jobs. While working, he was deceived by a man who claimed to be a fellow villager and wanted to go to northern Myanmar to make a fortune. As a result, he found out that the place was an electronic fraud park.
At first, he was quite happy, thinking that he had experience and this was considered a "professional counterpart". Moreover, according to the introduction of the supervisor who took over, the commission for each order was quite high, and if he cheated diligently for a few years, he might really make a fortune.
But the reality was not as good as he thought. In the past, he was a "personal entrepreneur" and earned money if he could cheat, and it was fine if he couldn't. Now it is different. He works for others and has KPI assessments every month. Once the performance does not meet the standard, he will be beaten at the least, and tortured in various ways, and the intensity of the torture is getting higher and higher.
Not only that, the commission for each order is indeed not low, but the money they earn can only be spent in the park. Eating and sleeping cost money, and the price is several times higher than outside.
After a year, almost all the money earned was returned, and it really achieved "earn money in the park, spend it in the park, and want to take it home after parting."
Zhang Wen worked there for two years, and gradually found that he was just working for nothing, so he had the idea of escaping. But he was far away in a foreign country and unfamiliar with the surroundings, and he was caught and brought back within two hours every time he escaped.
He escaped three times in total over the years, and as a result, he lost two fingers and an eye.
Until this year, because of the flu, a large number of infected people appeared in the park and had to be isolated for treatment. As a result, there were not enough people to watch over them.
Zhang Wen fully absorbed the experience of the previous three times and finally waited for the right time. He was determined to die outside even if he failed, and with some of the surrounding maps that he had memorized in bits and pieces over the years, he ran straight north and did not dare to rest for a moment.
After running for two days, he rushed in when he saw the police station written in Chinese and the familiar blue and white paint scheme. In order to get attention, he shouted that he wanted to turn himself in, and then he was arrested.
"To be honest, I never thought in my life that I would be so happy when I was handcuffed one day." Zhang Wen took a puff of the cigarette in his hand, shook his head and sighed.
Meng Bai glanced at the recording on his mobile phone and sighed as well.
It's true that even with such a straightforward description of his experience, it is very story-telling. Add a few more details and it will be a standard crime movie.
Meng Bai chatted for nearly an hour before he finished. When he came out, the police officer who was accompanying him reminded him, "Mr. Meng, we just talked about specific case information, and I hope you don't spread it."
"Don't worry, I understand the rules. This is just a reserve material."
"That's good." The police smiled, thought for a while and said, "Mr. Meng, are you asking these questions because you want to make a TV series on this type of subject matter?"
"Maybe, it's hard to say now." Meng Bai said, "Why, can't you mention this?"
"No, no, what I mean is, if Mr. Meng wants to shoot a work on a similar subject, you can ask us if you need any information."
"This..."
"It's like this. In the past few years, the number of victims involved in online fraud has increased, and the amount of losses has also increased. In fact, our public security department has been promoting anti-fraud in various ways. Everyone loves to watch this film and television drama, and your company's drama, Mr. Meng, is even more popular. So we thought that if we can make a work on this aspect, it may be very helpful for anti-fraud publicity." The police said frankly.
"Now that you mention it, it suddenly becomes valuable." Meng Bai smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will contact you if you need anything."
"Okay, I'm sorry for the trouble today. I'll take you out."
...
After saying goodbye to the police uncles and walking out of the police station, Meng Bai pulled Li Qin into his car.
"What are you doing? I have to go back later." Li Qin said insincerely.
"Are uncles and aunts not leaving yet?"
"You have to be quarantined if you go back, so why not stay here?"
"It doesn't matter, just say you have work and you have to live outside for the next two days."
Meng Bai put his arm around Li Qin's waist and let her lean on him.
Feeling the familiar breath, Li Qin bit her lips lightly and looked up at the man with watery eyes.
Affected by the flu and her parents, the two have not seen each other much during this period. Although they often make video calls, the feeling of being separated by the screen and actual contact is completely different.
Listening to the slight panting beside him, Meng Bai knew that the girl was in love. Without much nonsense, he stepped on the accelerator and drove straight to his courtyard villa.
Although Beijing North was not closed, everyone cooperated to stay at home. The journey was smooth and it didn't take long to get back to the villa in Manhe, Beijing.
After entering the gate and walking around the yard, as soon as he entered the first floor, Meng Bai pressed Li Qin against the French glass window and kissed her.
Li Qin was not to be outdone. She reached out to take off the man's clothes, then untied her own and threw them on the ground beside her.
There was no need to go back to the bedroom. Anyway, there were only the two of them in the whole villa, so they started fighting directly on the sofa in the living room on the first floor.
The battle lasted until the evening.
When the lights came on, Meng Bai lay in the rocking chair, looking at the stars in the sky outside through the French windows.
Li Qin curled up on him like a kitten, with her cheek resting on his chest, her face full of peace and afterglow of the war.
"Have you gained weight recently?"
"Yes, I've been eating well and sleeping well at home, and I've gained almost ten pounds." Li Qin said, her mouth pursed, and she opened one eye to look at Meng Bai: "Do you dislike me?"
"How could that be." Meng Bai raised his hand to hug her, "I've told you many times that you should grow some flesh, it's so comfortable to hug you."
"Tsk, I'm afraid you would rather the flesh grow to where it should grow?"
"If you say so... well, it does seem to be a little bigger."
Li Qin felt like she was being caught and played with by a big hand, but she was in the aftermath time, so she just hummed and didn't bother to care about him.
After lying quietly for a long time, she felt that her brain had finally recovered, and then she remembered what happened during the day.
"I didn't expect that after so many years, the person could be caught back."
"Yes, it's a pity that your 600,000 can't be recovered. But it's okay, I also recharged you a lot of billions, which is considered compensation." Meng Bai said with a smile.
It took Li Qin a moment to realize what "many billions" meant. She pinched him lightly and asked, "Do you really want to make his experience into a drama?"
"From the perspective of the story, it's actually quite exciting, and I have a lot of ideas. But we'll have to talk about it later. Anyway, I don't have much time recently and I've been busy."
"I know, it's your talent show, right?"
Li Qin suddenly became interested and moved up twice: "I've been watching your promotional video and theme song these days, and I think it's quite interesting."
"Why, you want to participate too?"
"Forget about participating, just take a look."
Li Qin has participated in fewer and fewer variety shows in recent years. Except for the promotion of new dramas or movies, she has basically not taken
on other variety shows. As for the reason, one is that she has been taking turns to join the crew of several projects in the past year or so, and she has no time at all. Another reason is that she accepted Meng Bai's advice and gradually developed into an orthodox actor to avoid appearing in too many variety shows that would affect the perception of future roles.
"By the way, do you know that Zhang Yuqi is my senior sister." Li Qin said, "Not like Xiaotian, she is a real senior sister, and she is also from our opera school."
"Really?" Meng Bai really didn't know, "I haven't heard you mention it before?"
"It's just a school, we are not very familiar with each other, and basically have no intersection." Li Qin said.
"Is that so? I was thinking of keeping her till the end for your sake, but since we're not familiar with each other, forget it. She can rely on herself."
"By the way, I didn't watch it carefully. How do you eliminate contestants?"
"The number of votes. Every paying user of Hengyou gets three votes a day, and newly registered paying users within three months get two extra votes. Then quarterly users get one extra vote, half-year users get two extra votes, and annual users get three extra votes. In the end, the top seven contestants with the most votes will form a group."
"Isn't this just urging fans to open new accounts to pay annual fees so they can vote more?"
"Yeah, that's why it is said that talent shows are the best projects to make money and attract new members."
"Tsk tsk, what a wicked platform and you, the black-hearted boss."
"Well, you can't say that. Between us and the fans, it's a one-sided fight."
Meng Bai said, "Do you think these fans don't know that this is purely a money-making exercise? They know it very well. But what they want is the sense of participation in deciding the fate of their own sister, and the sense of superiority that the one I supported was chosen and yours was not."
"Fan economy, to put it bluntly, is an emotional value. We provide emotions, and fans provide value. Each one gets what he needs, and everyone has a bright future."
Li Qin wrinkled her nose: "It feels like you are talking about some twisted theories."
"Whether it's twisted or not, anyway, this is the truth."
Meng Bai said, holding her with both hands facing him: "Or I'll give you a chance to see if you can teach me a lesson as a black-hearted capitalist."
Li Qin smiled softly: "Okay, then let you, a black-hearted boss, see how powerful I am... Well, let me down first."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
