Values
On Thursday morning, Shen Anxia asked for leave from her unit. Yang Zheng took Shen Anxia directly to the police station, where Kou Ke had already been summoned.
Shen Anxia saw Kou Ke through the glass door and asked the police officer, "Can I talk to her alone?"
Before the routine interrogation could even begin, the police officer looked at the young woman in front of him and said, "Okay, Ms. Shen, don't take too long. We need to go through the proper procedures in a bit."
"OK, thanks."
Then he turned to Yang Zheng and said, "Wait for me."
Pushing open the door, Shen Anxia walked in.
When Kou heard the door open, she reflexively looked up and saw that it was Shen Anxia, so she lowered her head again.
Shen Anxia walked to the other side of the long table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Koko didn't speak, but glanced at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room.
“There’s no need to look at the surveillance footage. The evidence is complete, and you have no way to refute it.” Shen Anxia spoke first, her voice as gentle yet powerful as ever. “Even just the call records are enough.”
Kou Ke lowered his head and remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.
Seeing her like this, Shen Anxia sighed.
After a long pause, Kou Ke looked up, her eyes filled with indignation. She accused Shen Anxia: "But if it weren't for you, the police would hardly suspect me based solely on the call records."
Shen Anxia agreed with this statement: "You're right."
Seemingly surprised that Shen Anxia had taken the blame, Kou Ke was taken aback for a moment. The guardedness in her eyes slowly dissipated, and the anger and coldness gradually disappeared, replaced by a sense of desolation. She asked, as if resigned to her fate, "There are so many people in our group, how did you come to suspect me?"
Shen Anxia chuckled and answered her seriously, "There are quite a few people, but only a few have conflicts of interest."
Kou Ke looked at Shen Anxia, waiting for her to continue.
"On the day of the Huahui commercial performance, only a handful of people were able to get exclusive interviews, which is not hard to guess."
"But how could you guess it was me? My tone of voice and the way I travel are just like Bai Yan's." Kou Ke was still puzzled.
"It's not difficult; anyone with a natural ear for music can tell."
Shen Anxia spoke in a normal tone, but to Kou Ke, it sounded like she was showing off and mocking him. She looked at Shen Anxia with disdain and resentment.
"You don't need to look at me like that. I'm just stating the facts. Of course, anyone who's watched Conan wouldn't use someone's voice or tone as basic evidence. As for Bai Yan's clothes—you're quite meticulous. You wore Bai Yan's clothes so that you could frame her if things went wrong in the future, and you were also afraid that the nearby surveillance cameras would capture it. But you overlooked one thing: hoodies come in summer and spring versions, and the outfit that Bai Yan wore, which clearly showed her identity, was a spring version, which is not something you should wear in this season."
"Wearing clothes out of season is just an attempt to cover up the truth."
"But I only realized it was really you after Bai Yan's makeup bag fell out."
Koko's confusion deepened: "Why?"
“You’re too hasty,” Shen Anxia said. “When you heard me say that the police found the video, you couldn’t wait to hint to me that Bai Yan had two phone cards. But Bai Yan didn’t think that someone would frame her. She thought that her family had put the phone card there. I had a feeling that something was wrong. When Bai Yan and I reviewed the situation that night, I realized that you not only wanted to prevent me from going on stage, but also wanted to smear Bai Yan’s reputation.”
"A recap?" Kou Ke narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, we met.” Shen Anxia recalled the scene of her meeting with Bai Yan that day.
Shen Anxia first sent a message to Bai Yan, asking her to make a phone call to her when no one was around.
Bai Yan already had doubts because of Shen Anxia's unusual behavior during the day. In fact, although she was aloof, she admired Shen Anxia. So when Shen Anxia said she would wait for her at the corner of the back door of the dormitory building and asked her to bring her hoodie and phone card to meet her, she did not refuse.
After packing her hoodie and SIM card into a tote bag, Bai Yan avoided the people in the dormitory and quietly went to the corner that Shen Anxia had mentioned. Sure enough, she saw Shen Anxia standing next to a car.
Shen Anxia opened the back door and let Bai Yan get in first, then she got in herself.
Yang Zheng drove off.
Shen Anxia didn't specifically introduce Yang Zheng, but Bai Yan realized that the person driving in front must be Shen Anxia's mysterious boyfriend. However, she wasn't a talkative person and pretended not to see him.
"I brought what you mentioned, so what do you want to say?" Bai Yan asked.
Shen Anxia took the handbag from Bai Yan, looked at the clothes, then opened the video on Yang Zheng's phone and handed it to Bai Yan.
Bai Yan took the phone with a puzzled look, looked at the screen, and said in a cold voice, "This person looks like me."
Shen Anxia turned her head to look at Bai Yan.
Bai Yan immediately denied it after saying that: "But it's not me. I don't have a bag like that, and I don't really like wearing the hoodie."
Shen Anxia chuckled and asked, "Who do you think it is?"
"You know it wasn't me?" Bai Yan got the answer from Shen Anxia's eyes and asked, "What video is this?"
“Your skin is so fair, you can’t wait to get some sun. We’re the same in that respect, so from the beginning, I had a feeling this person wasn’t you.” Shen Anxia looked at the scenery outside the car window. Yang Zheng drove the car to the milk tea shop she had mentioned earlier. She said to Bai Yan, “Let’s go to the shop and talk about it.”
Shen Anxia and Bai Yan sat down in the corner and each ordered their favorite drinks. Yang Gang sat two tables away from them. From this position, he couldn't hear their conversation, but he could see what was going on with them.
"Your boyfriend?" Bai Yan looked at the person who had been silent but had been by her side the whole time.
"Um."
"It's truly mysterious. Seeing is believing." Bai Yan's casual comment was a compliment, though not particularly warm or cold.
"Thank you." Shen Anxia thanked Bai Yan and then told her the whole story of the kidnapping.
Bai Yan's usually aloof face rarely showed such an incredulous look.
"So, this was a deliberate kidnapping to frame me?" Bai Yan asked in shock.
Shen Anxia nodded: "Killing two birds with one stone. This way, my life might turn gray, while you'll be stigmatized and expelled from the group."
"So, who is this person who wants to kill two birds with one stone?" Bai Yan asked.
Shen Anxia didn't answer Bai Yan directly. She said, "That's why I called you out. We need to split up. Let's not try this phone card ourselves. Let's take it to the police station. I'll take care of it tonight. You need to go back and check the surveillance footage. There are no cameras in the changing room, but there are outside. That's the strongest evidence. The time frame is roughly between when we left the cafeteria at noon and when we changed clothes after get off work. Remember to be careful to avoid any unexpected trouble."
“Okay,” Bai Yan glanced at her watch. “There are still two hours before closing time. If I find any clues, we can contact each other via WeChat.”
"good."
Yang Zheng and Shen Anxia took Bai Yan back, and then returned to the police station, handing over the two items that could be considered evidence. The investigators inserted a SIM card, which was indeed the one used to call the kidnappers. Meanwhile, Bai Yan watched the video at three times the speed and found a clear video of Kou Ke returning to the dressing room during a break from dance rehearsals.
Apart from that, no one else entered the locker room during the time Shen Anxia mentioned.
Coming out of her reverie, Shen Anxia said to Kou Ke, "Your comment about Bai Yan having two SIM cards but not two cell phones seemed unintentional, but to me it was too deliberate. You're practically begging me to think that Bai Yan is the mastermind, but I've never suspected her."
Kou Ke scoffed.
Shen Anxia continued, "I just don't understand, why me? I've never done anything to hurt you, there shouldn't be such a deep grudge between us, and you actually want to ruin my life."
"I didn't mean to ruin you!" Kou Ke roared, tears welling up in her eyes. She slammed her hand on the table and stood up, looking down at Shen Anxia. She shouted as if to defend herself, "I just didn't want you to participate in that performance. That way, someone would have to temporarily fill your spot. I'll try my best, and maybe I'll have a chance. I never expected these people to suddenly want to rape or even kill me!"
Koko's voice gradually lowered as she repeated, "I just don't want you to participate in Friday's performance. That way, the media will reschedule the interviews, I'll have more screen time, and my boyfriend will get more attention in my interviews."
Yang Zheng had been sitting in the corridor, watching Shen Anxia and her colleagues through the glass door. When the person slammed their hand on the table and stood up, Yang Zheng reflexively stood up and tried to push the door open. Only when he saw the person sit back down did Yang Zheng breathe a sigh of relief and sit back down as well.
Kou Ke burst into tears, but Shen Anxia did not soften her heart. She pressed on, "But why me? There are so many outstanding people in our group. I just can't understand why it's just because my interview was a little longer?"
Kou Ke's defenses had been breached. Her eyes were lifeless as she said, "Because you don't live in the dorms, you have more opportunities to strike. I originally wanted to target Bai Yan, but she, Chang Yun, and Liu Qin all live in the dorms, and I couldn't wait that long; Fang Qiqi doesn't live in the dorms, but her father is a high-ranking government official, so I didn't dare to make a move on her. And you…"
Kou Ke paused for a moment, then looked at Shen Anxia and said, "I didn't dare to make a move against you at first, after all, there were rumors that your boyfriend was also in the municipal government. It wasn't until half a month ago when I saw your boyfriend pick you up, but the first letter of his license plate was from Yi'an, that I realized that all the rumors had been unfounded."
I realized I had suffered from living away from home.
"Then why did you frame Bai Yan?" Shen Anxia didn't intend to mention anything about Yang Zheng to Kou Ke, and continued to ask.
Kou Ke wiped her face with her hand, her eyes filled with malice as she said angrily, "I hate her. She always acts so high and mighty. My boyfriend and I were about to get engaged, but when he came to see my performance, he saw Bai Yan and unilaterally canceled the engagement party. Later, he simply broke up with me, all because of that bitch Bai Yan!"
“That’s your boyfriend’s fault. He’s fickle. What did Bai Yan do wrong?” Shen Anxia was speechless at Kou Ke’s logic. She couldn’t help but speak up for Bai Yan. “Bai Yan is aloof and doesn’t like socializing, but she sits in the top position by her own merit. She has the right to be arrogant. Moreover, her personality is like that. She doesn’t look down on anyone or deliberately attract anyone.”
"I love him so much!" Kou Ke roared, "It doesn't matter if he's fickle! But he broke up with me to pursue Bai Yan! If it weren't for Bai Yan, this wouldn't have happened!"
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