Hotel's breakfast Hall.
The farmhouse owner couple, and four boys and girls who came after hearing the news were sitting in the hall in pairs at three round tables. Several criminal policemen were guarding the entrance and exit. Their faces were expressionless and cold, and their sharp eyes swept across everyone's uneasy faces.
Tan Shuang secretly raised her eyes and looked at Wang Ke, who was sitting at another table not far away, who was also looking at her with concern.
"..." Tan Shuang glanced at the police officers in front of the hall and shook her head slightly.
Wang Ke carefully retracted his gaze.
"Tan Shuang…" Zhen Tongtong whispered, "I'm afraid…"
In the suffocating silence of the room, her subtle voice was particularly frightening. Tan Shuang immediately grabbed her cold hand and stopped her from speaking. Then she took out her phone and hurriedly typed a few words: "Don't be afraid, it'll be alright!"
There were two packs of tears in Zhen Tongtong's eyes.
Tan Shuang continued to type under her aggrieved gaze: "This is all Shen Xiaoqi's fault. When he comes back, we must knock him down and teach him a lesson!"
Zhen Tongtong felt that her hand was being clenched even tighter. She pursed her lips, nodded to her best friend, and then looked carefully to her side.
Another boy beside Wang Ke, Wu Zixiang, was casting a comforting and encouraging look at her.
At the moment when the dark tide was surging in the hall, voices and sounds of footsteps came from outside the door. Everyone looked anxiously at the same time — the criminal policemen who were guarding the gate immediately turned around: "Vice-Captain Yan!"
Yan Xie put his left hand in his trouser pocket, waved his right hand that was holding the plastic bag, then hooked Jiang Ting's shoulder and walked into the hall.
"Hey, this police officer!" "Leader!"
Before he had time to speak, the boss and his wife had already stood up, and the grievances that had been blocked by the criminal police in their heart finally found a vent: "We don't know anything!" "We just do Homestay, what kind of student or what kidnapping, it really has nothing to do with us!" "Police officer, please believe us!…"
Yan Xie's dark eyes stared into their eyes, pressing them down with one hand.
The action was full of pressure, and the argument between the boss and his wife became less and less, and soon they closed their mouths reluctantly.
"Accommodation registration information is incomplete, the fire protection is not up to standard, and the surveillance cameras are missing." Yan Xie's voice was smooth, "The Bureau of Industry and Commerce will talk to you."
The boss and his wife were immediately anxious and kept shouting their disapproval. The conflict had forced Yan Xie to shove them out of the room. The two criminal policemen hurriedly "helped" them out.
The arguments and pleas gradually faded away, and the breakfast room returned to dead silence. The four teenagers exchanged uneasy glances with each other. Suddenly, Yan Xie said lightly, "What are you looking at?"
A few of them immediately lowered their eyes and no one said a word.
Only Wang Ke glanced up furtively, and when he met Yan Xie's sharp gaze, he immediately lowered his head like he got an electric shock.
"Tan Shuang," Yan Xie said slowly.
Tan Shuang's body was slightly stiff.
"Wang Ke."
Wang Ke was uneasy.
"Wu Zixiang."
Another tall boy beside Wang Ke dared not speak.
"Zhen Tongtong."
The girl with tears in her eyes shuddered and almost jumped up.
In the silence that was tense to the limit, Yan Xie was like a wolf who broke into a rabbit's den. After admiring the horror of the boys and girls, he said slowly, "There is one less person here."
"Shen Xiaoqi will be back…" Tan Shuang said in a trembling voice at the round table.
"Really?" Yan Xie said indifferently and dropped a bomb: "—then, what about the girl who was taken away by Shen Xiaoqi?"
Boom!
The quiet-loud noise exploded in the air, everyone's heart stopped beating, and Tan Shuang's cold sweat immediately dripped down!
Yan Xie seemed to be unaware of their pale faces. With a thud, he threw the plastic bag in his hand on the table, took out the pink hair curling iron from the bag, and shook it coldly: "Tan Shuang, Zhen Tongtong, the day before yesterday, you two don't sleep in the same room at night, did you?"
Zhen Tongtong's face lost all blood, and she looked at Wu Zixiang reflexively!
——Her reaction was so fast that it was too late to hide, and then everyone knew it was over.
"It looks like we have a young couple," Yan Xie paused, then turned to Wang Ke and Tan Shuang meaningfully:
"Or, in fact, two couples."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"Uncle Yan, please don't tell my dad!"
Tan Shuang and Wang Ke's voices sounded at the same time, harsh and pleading, in sharp contrast with each other, creating a satirical comedy effect.
Yan Xie felt helpless and couldn't help smiling slightly. He didn't know why he turned his head to look at Jiang Ting. It happened that Jiang Ting also sighed and looked over. The two looked at each other and seemed to hear each other say in their hearts: Now these little brats…
Yan Xie didn't know if this was called a connection of minds, but his ears warmed slightly, and he turned his head with a cough.
"There is nothing between us, don't talk nonsense!" Tan Shuang angrily glared at Wang Ke and Yan Xie. She squeezed her hand almost to the point of breaking: "There is nothing between us. You police are so amazing? You can just say anything about people?! We just…"
"You two didn't sleep in the same room, so you might be able to deny it. But they probably won't be able to." Yan Xie raised his chin to Wu Zixiang and teased, "A man dares to act daringly, but he is not considered a man if he slept without recognizing the account; what do you think?"
Zhen Tongtong, who was beside him, was trembling and was about to pass out. Wu Zixiang's face was flushed, and he was speechless. After a while, he said, "…How did you know?"
This was the acknowledgment.
Yan Xie unwrapped the hair curling iron, pulled out a long curly hair from the gap, and showed it to Tan Shuang and Zhen Tongtong in turn: "You two have short hair and a straight ponytail, even if you use a curling iron, the ends are not damaged caused by repeated perming and dyeing. What's more, there are obviously three different types of hair on the floor, bathroom, and bed of the girl's room. One of which has the same characteristics as this long hair, indicating that the owner of the curling iron is at least in this double room and stayed there overnight."
"And there are a few inconspicuous lipstick prints on the pillow in your room. In addition, I found a few straight black hairs that were embossed with rubber bands in the middle. It must be from your little girlfriend." Yan Xie turned to Wu Zixiang and raised one of his eyebrows: "Based on the observation, I have personally dug out the trash can for a long time. The only thing worthy of praise is that at least your safety measures are in place. After all, at this age…"
Wu Zixiang blushed: "Stop talking!"
Yan Xie hummed from his nose.
The breakfast room fell into silence, only the boys gasping and the girls sobbing could be heard.
"Why are you crying?" Yan Xie folded his arms, and with a hint of playfulness in his tone, he said: "Afraid that the school and your parents will know about you? It's nothing, you're teenagers and it's mutual. Just don't delay your studies. Compare to this, waiting until you can't find a partner in your thirties is more worth worrying about. Today, the police uncle is here to investigate the kidnapping case. As long as Shen Xiaoqi and the girl come back safely, the police car of the Municipal Public Security Bureau will be withdrawn immediately, and no one will know who slept in which bed at night the day before yesterday."
The sobbing gradually stopped, Yan Xie looked at the hesitant faces of the students one by one, and emphasized:
"Can you talk now?"
In the long-dead silence, a thin and weak voice finally leaked out like breaking the ice: "Bu Wei she…"
Immediately afterward, Zhen Tongtong's babbling was interrupted bluntly by Tan Shuang:
"Bu Wei got lost when she was picking up firewood, and Shen Xiaoqi went to find her, so she didn't come back all night."
As soon as these words came out, the surroundings fell into silence again. Zhen Tongtong seemed to have been greatly frightened and hurriedly lowered her head and did not dare to speak, while Wang Ke swallowed his saliva.
"Oh?" Yan Xie looked at Tan Shuang's hands coldly. Before he could say anything more, he was suddenly interrupted by a clear and calm voice behind him:
"Those scratches on the inside of your hand may still contain Bu Wei's DNA. Do you dare to go to the city bureau for an examination?"
Snapped! Tan Shuang covered her hands and her expression changed.
Yan Xie immediately glared at Jiang Ting, with protest written all over his eyes: I found it first!
Jiang Ting showed him a seemingly blank and innocent expression.
"I didn't hurt her, you are talking nonsense…" Tan Shuang's voice was already shaking: "I didn't, really didn't…"
"Let me guess what happened."
Yan Xie stepped forward, pulled out a chair, and sat opposite Tan Shuang. His two sturdy long legs naturally separated.
"Two young couples were traveling with another pair of lonely men and women, and there was a high probability that they want to match them up. Shen Xiaoqi may be in unrequited love with Bu Wei, or the two were interested in each other and had not explained it clearly. So you promised to borrow this opportunity to travel and help him create an opportunity for him and Bu Wei to be alone."
Tan Shuang's eyes seemed to freeze, not even turning.
"Let me guess how the injury on your hand was formed." Yan Xie stared at her with interest and undisguised anger in his tone: "I heard that you held a bonfire party last night, so it should be when picking up firewood. You lured Bu Wei to a hidden place in the mountains and forests, knocked her out, and then let Shen Xiaoqi commit the crime…"
"I didn't!" Tan Shuang was hysterical: "No, it's not like that!"
"You think that being underage is a shield for coordinated crimes. But, as long as you are fourteen years old, you must pay relative to the crimes of intentional homicide, intentional injury, death, rape, robbery, drug trafficking, explosion, and poisoning. That is to say, if anything happens to this little girl Bu Wei…"
"Nonsense! This is all slander! Nonsense!!" Tan Shuang went completely crazy. She grabbed the water glass and splashed it on Yan Xie's face: "Shut up!"
With a crisp sound, her hand was caught in the air, and half a glass of water splashed on the table.
Yan Xie raised his head.
——It was Jiang Ting.
Jiang Ting's fingers were long and slender, with distinct joints. Looking up along the arm, his complexion was snow-white, his eyebrows were black, and his eyelashes were hanging down like raven wings, making Yan Xie's heart flutter.
"Tan Shuang," Jiang Ting looked unusually soft and calm compared to the blushing little girl: "You may not think so, but if Shen Xiaoqi is serious about it, or even if Shen Xiaoqi and Bu Wei are in love with each other, you will be considered guilty afterward. Do you understand?"
Tan Shuang struggled hard, but the fingers of the handsome young man in front of her were extremely stable and strong so that she couldn't break free no matter what, and after a while, she finally cried out aggressively:
"I didn't, I didn't commit a crime…"
"You didn't want to, but the crime of rape in the law is very biased towards the victim. As long as the woman is willing to identify, the biological material can form a complete chain of evidence. Even if the woman is actually willing when the incident occurs, it will not be proved because of her subjective will. While men are more easily convicted."
Jiang Ting paused for a while, looked down at Tan Shuang's dazed and wet eyes, and said, "Maybe Shen Xiaoqi and Bu Wei, who don't know what's going on outside, are in love with each other. But When they came back and Bu Wei found that things had been messed up all over the city, and even the Municipal Public Security Bureau was disturbed. What would she say to the school, parents, relatives, friends, and classmates?"
"Even if she is not a victim. As long as she says the three words 'I am forced', Shen Xiaoqi and you will be finished." Jiang Ting's tone was soft, but every word was clear and cold: " You have a wound on your hand, and you are extremely resistant to our investigation. We will not let you go. It is easier for us to convict you than crushing an ant."
Jiang Ting took the water cup out of her hand. He did not put it back on the table but handed it to Yan Xie gently.
"..." Tan Shuang's face was so red that it was about to drip blood just now turned completely pale, and her lips moved. But she only made a sound that even she couldn't hear: "I… I didn't commit a crime… "
Not far away, Wang Ke suddenly stood up: "Tan Shuang!"
Tan Shuang looked at him at a loss, as if he had found the backbone.
"It's alright, speak up!" Wang Ke said loudly, "You'll be fine if you cooperate with the investigation!"
Jiang Ting and Yan Xie looked at each other and saw that the girl's psychological defense collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye. She burst into tears and cried for almost half a minute before she stretched out her palms, revealing two scratches:
"I, I didn't hurt her… I wanted to save her!"
...….
The police car was bumping into the mountains and forests. The dense trees in early summer scraped the glass and made a constant crackling sound.
"Send a technical team to Shen's house to get the computer, and restore QQ chat, web browsing, and search history. Call up all the phone bills in the past three months, and check them one by one; WeChat, Taobao, and Alipay should be the main focus. When, how, and what kind of car Shen Xiaoqi rented, you must tell me the details within two hours, act fast!"
Yan Xie hung up the phone, looked at the passenger seat, and met Jiang Ting's line of sight.
"?" Yan Xie raised his eyebrows slightly.
Jiang Ting gestured to the back seat slightly, his meaning was obvious: Do you believe her?
Yan Xie thought for a moment and nodded.
——According to Tan Shuang's explanation and Wang Ke and others' supplements, the incident could be roughly summed up as follows: These daring 15- or 16-year-old girls and boys, in order to help Shen Xiaoqi pursue the girl he loves, planned an extremely daring activity.
First, Shen Xiaoqi came forward to organize this camping trip. The reason why Tianzong Mountain was chosen was that there were few people in the scenic spot and the registration of farmhouses and hotels was not strict, so it was more convenient to carry out follow-up actions. Then according to the original plan, in the evening of the second day after arriving, the students deliberately dispersed to prepare for the bonfire party, and Tan Shuang took Bu Wei to pick up wood. Of course, what everyone tacitly knew was that Shen Xiaoqi secretly followed them.
Tan Shuang was walking seven or eight steps in front of her. Originally planning to lead Bu Wei to the depths of the maze-like forest, and then sneak away when she was not prepared. Bu Wei, who would lost in the forest, when she'll saw the sky getting darker and darker, she would naturally panic. Then Shen Xiaoqi would come out and pretend to find her after untold hardships, like a knight who had fallen from the sky, and he would definitely be able to gain the princess' gratitude and heart with ease.
In order to implement this plan smoothly, Shen Xiaoqi even ordered a bouquet of gifts and a car to wait outside the scenic spot in advance. He secretly told Wang Ke that if he could confess to Bu Wei smoothly, he would take her down the mountain and leave that night. Otherwise, he would be laughed at by Tan Shuang and the others when he would return to the farmhouse, and Bu Wei would ignore him. As for the follow-up, whether to go to a nearby small hotel to enjoy the two-person world, or whether the two little kids find an Internet cafe for the night, was up to the situation.
The idea was very great, and the progress seemed to be going smoothly, but there was only one harmless little mistake — Tan Shuang lead Bu Wei to the depths of the forest, and before she had time to slip away, Bu Wei suddenly fell into the tree ditch with a swoosh. The scratch on Shuang's hand was caused when she was struggling to pull her.
"Don't be afraid, stay here first. I'll call the boys to save you!"
Bu Wei stared at the ground full of insects and ants: "Then hurry up!"
Tan Shuang hurried back to the woods and found Shen Xiaoqi.
As soon as Shen Xiaoqi heard about this situation, it was like God helped him, he immediately set off with a flashlight in high spirits. Tan Shuang, who was not at ease, followed him until it was confirmed that Shen Xiaoqi successfully pulled Bu Wei up. Her whole heart fell back into her stomach then she followed the sign left by Shen Xiaoqi all the way back to the farmhouse.
The puppy love guerrillas never thought about the possibility of this incident being exposed. So when the parents of the Shen family came to the door in the middle of the night, their first reaction was to deny it. Even the next day, when the Municipal Public Security Bureau arrived, these daring students refused to confess, thinking that Shen Xiaoqi and Bu Wei were comfortably nesting in an Internet cafe, and the so-called kidnapping was just an ordinary phone scam or a trick played by adults.
Yan Xie expressed shock at their astonishing innocence, stupidity, and actions, and asked them if they knew how much danger lurked in this primitive mountain and old forest, and how many snakes, ants, poisonous insects, and wild animals appeared in the middle of the night. The two were fifteen or sixteen years old. How many kinds of fancy death possibilities were there for two fifteen or sixteen-year-old children?
When these questions were asked, these little greenhouse flowers just shook their heads with innocent big eyes.
As for the crime proposed by Jiang Ting, these students shouted their grievances. According to Tan Shuang, Bu Wei had revealed to her several times that she had a crush on Shen Xiaoqi. It was just because the girl was naturally shy and afraid that her puppy love would be discovered by the teacher, she didn't dare to pierce that layer of window paper. If it wasn't to help the two of them, why would a few teenagers who just passed the high school entrance examination wish to run around the world? Why would they come all the way to this ghostly place where even birds don't lay eggs?
Yan Xie drove the car with one hand, took out the water bottle with the other hand, and handed it to the passenger seat: "Drink?"
Jiang Ting shook his head to indicate that he was not thirsty. Then he took the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and handed it back to Yan Xie.
"Oh, so considerate." Yan Xie mumbled and took a few sips of water. Jiang Ting tightened the cap and put it back in the glove box.
From the back seat of the car, Wang Ke whispered comforting words to Tan Shuang in a low voice. The tough girl seemed to have instantly changed into a puddle of water and had been babbling for more than half an hour.
"Uncle Yan," Wang Ke probed his head carefully: "Is there any water?"
Yan Xie snorted, took out a bottle of unopened mineral water, and handed it over.
Wang Ke hurriedly thanked him and gave it to his little girlfriend who was seriously dehydrated, and asked with a guilty conscience, "Uncle Yan…"
Yan Xie ignored him.
"…Will you tell my dad?" Wang Ke finally summoned up the courage to ask.
"Tell him what? Hurry up to save money for a betrothal gift for your future daughter-in-law?"
Wang Ke didn't dare to make a sound.
Yan Xie rolled his eyes, "I didn't even dare to watch porn when I was in high school, but you guys are good. You dare to play so big when the milk taste is not dry." As he spoke, he turned the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes. The front suddenly became brighter and the car suddenly stopped with a bang on the bumpy road.
Not far in front of them, the police car was parked in the middle of the open space, and more than a dozen criminal policemen walked through the woods with their police dogs.
—The pit where Bu Wei fell was found.
"Brother Yan!" Ma Xiang rushed down from the police car, his face was red and he couldn't even wipe his sweat: "We notified the school and the parents of the other students are rushing to Tianzong Mountain! Bu Wei's information is here! The little girl's household registration information has also been found. Her parents died when she was a child, and her guardian is her uncle. We are trying to get in touch with him!"
Yan Xie got off the car and asked, "What is this?"
"Bu Wei's information." Ma Xiang finally took a breath and shook his tablet: "I want to say, it's no wonder Shen Xiaoqi dares to play so big. Judging from the household registration photos, this girl is really…"
He couldn't think of an adjective, so he shook his head and made a simple statement in one sentence: "It's a shame she's not a star."
Yan Xie took the tablet from Ma Xiang's hand, and the first impression was: She is really beautiful.
But also unusually rigid.
Most of the ID photos indeed were the same, but Bu Wei's avatar was a little duller than ordinary people's. If you want to use an analogy, it was like a beautiful portrait painted with a fine brush on a light blue background. The facial features were shockingly beautiful. Far more beautiful than the ID photos of many celebrities that have been exposed, but there was no expression at all.
Yan Xie looked at it for a moment and glanced sideways.
Jiang Ting was slowly getting out of the car, pressing his fragile cervical spine, squinting and turning his head. With this action, the sunlight leaking from the shade of the tree flowed between his jet-black hair, glowing them with a little bit of golden light.
Suddenly an untimely thought flashed through Yan Xie's mind: The police flower still looks good.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Ting asked lazily.
"..." Yan Xie immediately retracted his gaze, grunted perfunctorily in his throat, and pretended to seriously look at the household registration information.
On the tablet screen, the girl stared straight at Yan Xie. Her phoenix eyes were like they were drawn from an ink pen. Yan Xie couldn't help staring at her for a while, wondering if it was because of psychological effects, and suddenly felt a little weird.
He closed his eyes and opened them again after a few seconds, sure it wasn't an illusion.
This amazingly beautiful little girl, just a photo, gave him a strange feeling that cannot be described in words.