Chapter 160 That outfit was too expensive, and in addition to its excellent workmanship and high-quality fabric, it was always worn by Han people...
That outfit was incredibly expensive, and given its excellent craftsmanship and high-quality fabric, it had long been a coveted item in the Hanfu (traditional Han clothing) community. After finding posts online, I traced the trail and discovered that only about 200 people had actually bought the dress. A quick search revealed a rather suspicious order number.
According to the seller's recollection, the deliveryman searched for a long time before finding the address and even specifically asked the seller to confirm if the address was correct. Only after the seller and buyer confirmed it did the deliveryman assure the courier that there were no problems. Later, the courier company complained that the place was a desolate, deserted area with a creepy atmosphere, and that the deliveryman wouldn't have bothered delivering it if it weren't for the high profit margin of this order.
Surprisingly, the delivery address was in the next city.
But even though it's in a neighboring city, the distance from its city center is farther than coming to their city center. The next day, Qiao Yanyu, along with Wang Yu and Li Xia, went to that place, and just as the deliveryman had described, it was eerily quiet.
How could it not feel eerie? Wang Yu also found some sacrificial items and residual yin energy inside the house. The yin energy matched that on the woman in the red wedding dress, but she wasn't found at the scene.
This made the matter even stranger, and at the same time, the Red Wedding Dress received even more attention from the Countermeasures Bureau. Because many clues couldn't be found, it was clear that the Red Wedding Dress actually had considerable connections to the Tonghuan Society. Furthermore, the photos of the Red Wedding Dress they discovered were found in that very house.
They were telling He Zhao about this in the Countermeasures Bureau's break room, eating the boxed lunches He Zhao had brought. Wang Yu spoke of it with great enthusiasm: "As soon as you go in, right in front of the door, there's a square table with incense on it, some fruits behind it, and then there's its black and white photo. It's definitely not some ghost that doesn't match up with its appearance in life. Except for one being without makeup and the other heavily made up, it's exactly the same. It's the real thing."
From this, it can be deduced that everything the woman in the red wedding dress said was a lie. He Zhao didn't understand why she would tell these lies, nor did he understand why she would go to such lengths to attract his attention.
Everything seemed strange, so Qiao Yanyu once again reminded He Zhao to be careful and to take Xiao Hei with him wherever he went. If he noticed anything amiss, he should stay home and not go anywhere. There was a magic array she had set up at home that could at least hold off ghosts for a while if they came.
He Zhao agreed.
Qiao Yanyu was genuinely worried because the fruits and vegetables offered to Hong Jiayi hadn't rotted. This meant that, for the short term, Hong Jiayi and the people from the Tonghuan Society were still active in that house. They only left the house when something seemed amiss.
In other words, their actions actually alerted the enemy.
Regardless, the case has now made further progress, which is good news for the countermeasures bureau. With just photos and some basic information, the colleagues in the information processing department can always find some clues.
But no one expected that before the Tonghuan Society could cause trouble for He Zhao, Jiu Qing had already detained him. On a beautiful, sunny day, just as He Zhao was about to take Xiao Hei out to buy groceries, the doorbell rang. He Zhao was startled, instinctively realizing that the person outside wasn't Qiao Yanyu.
She has the password, so she couldn't possibly ring the doorbell. That leaves only Wang Yu or Li Xia, but if they were coming, they would probably call him beforehand. Thinking it might be related to the group in the red wedding dress, He Zhao cautiously peered through the electronic peephole.
Outside... are Jiuqing and some investigators.
The face looked unfamiliar; He Zhao had never seen it before, and he suspected it was someone from the special investigation team.
The investigators' senses were very sharp; they seemed to have noticed that He Zhao was watching them through the electronic peephole. Jiu Qing showed a document to the peephole. The electronic peephole clearly displayed the contents to He Zhao, essentially asking her to cooperate with the investigation.
"That's the situation, He Zhao. On behalf of the Countermeasures Bureau, I hope you can open the door and cooperate with our investigation. Please rest assured, we will not take any action against you now, but there are some things we do need your cooperation on."
At first, Xiao Hei was baring its teeth, until it saw the document too. Xiao Hei was stunned. No matter how much it sided with He Zhao, it always belonged to the Countermeasures Bureau. Now it felt caught in the middle, torn between two sides.
But He Zhao didn't let it make things difficult for her; she knew that staying in her room in this situation was useless. She called Qiao Yanyu, but the call couldn't be connected. She could only leave a message before going out to face Jiu Qing.
Then, He Zhao was taken to the Countermeasures Bureau.
It wasn't her usual meeting room or lounge, but an interrogation room. She'd only been here once, when she'd made Lin Gao break down. Now, sitting in the chair being interrogated, she was genuinely surprised.
Sitting opposite He Zhao were Jiu Qing and an unfamiliar face. Jiu Qing winked at the person next to her. The person stood up and walked to the table in front of He Zhao. He Zhao looked up and met her gaze. After a while, nothing happened.
While He Zhao was somewhat surprised, the person suddenly said, "Team leader, no, hypnosis has no effect on it at all."
—Oh wow, so they were hypnotizing me.
He Zhao then realized what was happening, but she hadn't expected that the investigator's magic would be completely ineffective against her. At that moment, the system popped up again, proudly stating: "Host, please rest assured, the system has the highest authority to interpret your soul; no mental attack will be effective."
Thank you so much!
What the system said actually gave He Zhao quite a headache. The system held the ultimate authority over his soul, and it didn't sound like anything good. The only saving grace was that at least he wouldn't be hypnotized for now.
Jiu Qing glanced at He Zhao, then at the other person, nodded, and dismissed them. She looked at He Zhao without looking at him directly, but her eyes clearly conveyed: You still claim to be an ordinary person?
He Zhao smiled but ignored him.
Instead, she changed the subject: "You said you hope I will cooperate, but what do you want me to cooperate with?"
Jiuqing remained silent for a moment, then took a document from the table in front of her and placed it in front of He Zhao. He Zhao knew what the document was at a glance. It was likely a site investigation report about the house that Qiao Yanyu and the others had visited, the one connected to the red wedding dress.
He Zhao recognized it immediately because the opening scene was exactly the same situation Qiao Yanyu and the others had mentioned: a square table, incense and candles, and a black-and-white photograph. However, as he scrolled down, He Zhao noticed something amiss. Jiu Qing's report contained an additional photograph of the scene.
They discovered a hidden Ang, and something extra had come out of it. It looked like a secret letter, the contents of which were related to He Zhao. It didn't contain any specific information, just vague and ambiguous things, but it inevitably led one to suspect that He Zhao was connected to the Tonghuan Society.
To be honest, this is a really clumsy attempt to frame someone.
"Big sister, you don't just assume I'm involved because of these things, do you?! This is so clumsy, anyone can see something's wrong. What era are we living in? Communicating by letter? Everyone uses a cell phone these days!"
Jiuqing explained, "This is a photo after being restored using magic. What we actually found was an incense burner with only some letter fragments inside. If it weren't restored using magic, it would be impossible to read what was written on it. Moreover... these letters were also encrypted with magic; otherwise, it would be impossible to restore them with magic."
"For people like us, encrypted magical letters are much more useful than cell phones. Cell phones can be monitored using special technologies, but these encrypted letters cannot be discovered unless the physical object is found."
"..." He Zhao was speechless.
But she still felt something was off, because Qiao Yanyu and Wang Yu hadn't told her about this before. Their initial intelligence should have been gathered at that house even before Jiu Qing. They didn't have it when they arrived, but Jiu Qing did when she did; there was definitely something fishy going on.
He Zhao absolutely trusted Qiao Yanyu and the others; they wouldn't possibly leave something so important, especially one that concerned him, undisclosed. He also didn't believe their search hadn't been thorough enough, causing them to miss this detail. While it might be possible for Wang Yu alone to overlook this clue, with Li Xia and, more importantly, Qiao Yanyu involved, it was impossible for them to miss it.
Therefore, there's only one possibility: after they left but before Jiu Qing went, someone from the Tonghuan Society went in again and framed her. He Zhao doesn't know what they're doing, but she guesses it's mostly because of Hong Jiayi. Because she guessed Hong Jiayi's identity and sabotaged her, Hong Jiayi framed He Zhao.
This also explains why Tonghuan Club, despite absconding, left behind photos of a woman in a red wedding dress. Only by mixing truth and falsehood can such a mixture of events create enough credibility to make people doubt He Zhao.
What a despicable bastard!
He Zhao continued, "But can't you see how blatant this framing is? They know that Hong Jiayi has been exposed, so they're risking letting you trace it back to Hong Jiayi to throw mud at me. They're trying to divert your attention!"
Jiu Qing looked at He Zhao, still displaying her characteristically detached manner: "What you said, I've thought about too. But the problem is, who's whose smokescreen?" Jiu Qing's words almost caused He Zhao's mind to go blank. She didn't understand Jiu Qing's meaning at all, but Jiu Qing didn't care and continued to explain.
"If they wanted to use you as a smokescreen for Red Wedding Dress, they would have simply prevented Red Wedding Dress from being exposed in the first place. But if they wanted Red Wedding Dress to be a smokescreen for you, then everything makes sense. Red Wedding Dress first appeared when you and Wang Yu were present, and then it exposed a lot of problems, which attracted our attention. Even these classified documents seem to be framing you."
“He Zhao, people aren’t that stupid. They won’t believe something that’s obviously a frame-up. But if we think about it the other way around, what if they’re using this clumsy trick to protect you? The red wedding dress is a smokescreen; you’re the one they want to protect.”
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