CH 108

Seeing that the teenager was about to reach the edge of shame and indignation, Lin Chen eased off and gave a soft cough. The captain of the police criminal division, who was originally resting on one hand, sat straight up in an instant and switched from teasing children to normal work mode.

“What does nightclub news have to do with Li Jingtian?” Xing Conglian asked.

Probably after watching so much dog-blooded gossip, Wang Chao’s tone became mysterious, as if he was about to reveal juicy details that would shock an entire town. “Don’t you remember what Li Jingtian said while on stage?”

Hearing this, Lin Cheng slightly recalled what Li Jingtian said on stage.

It was something like: “Something has happened recently. Thank you for your support…”

Then he said: “I just want to say you’re free to judge right or wrong.”

Anyone would know the underlying suggestions of these words. Behind such implications was an obviously more complicated story.

“Why did he say that?” Lin Chen asked.

“Because he’s involved in this!” Wang Chao whispered.

The teenager gave him a look saying “beg me to tell you” to Xing Conglian. The two had a staredown and both stopped talking at the same time.

In fact, Lin Chen had guessed that if Li Jingtian didn’t want to hype his popularity because of the downturn in his career, then he probably had encountered some incident in the entertainment circle, such as cheating or some kind of scandal, and urgently needed to create some accident to divert the public’s attention and garner sympathy.

As expected, seeing that neither of them was reacting, Wang Chao became depressed. “Don’t you want to ask me what kind of case it is?”

Lin Chen saw Xing Conglian wink at him as if he were saying, “Does this kid want me to beat him?”

He had to sigh and ask, “What kind of case is it?”

Before Lin Chen’s voice fell, Wang Chao suddenly shouted, “Li Jingitan is suspected of rape, shit!”

“Wait…” Xing Conglian interrupted. “Li Jingtian is suspected of rape?”

“Yes, yes, fuck Captain. This is so bloody. I have never seen such a dog-blooded story in my life!” As he said this, Wang Chao crossed his legs and showed a look of “beg me” again.

This was such obvious teasing that Xing Conglian couldn’t help but smack the boy as expected. “Don’t keep us in suspense!”

Because of the gossip, the boy’s eyes lit up, and he didn’t care that he had just been smacked by his boss. “Here’s the thing. Two weeks ago, on a dark and windy night, a ragged woman rushed to the police station. Her face was bruised, and she was naked. An experienced police officer could tell immediately what had happened! Soon, the girl was brought into the police station lounge while the policewoman brought her a cup of hot water and a blanket. The girl seemed to be in a post-traumatic state and couldn’t speak coherently. Under careful persuasion by the policewoman, the girl finally spoke!” The teenager paused at this point, then continued with cadence, “The girl said that she was raped by someone, and the person who raped her was Li Jingtian, a well-known singer who was holding a tour in the local area!”

When Wang Chao said this, he slapped the table lightly. His description was so lifelike that it was like they were watching a live broadcast.

Lin Chen didn’t know why this kid was so interested in telling this kind of story. He glanced at Xing Conglian, who could only pat his forehead as if signaling to him saying, “Don’t look at me. I have nothing to do with it”.

Lin Chen also felt helpless, but he didn’t interrupt him and instead asked cooperatively, “Then what?”

“Then, it’s the highlight of the main show!”

As he said this, Wang Chao snapped his finger, which was a usual gesture to ask for a drink in a bar. Lin Chen saw the blue veins on Xing Conglian’s temple about to pop out.

He then glanced at the waitress behind the bar. The girl with the ponytail was engrossed in listening to the story. At this moment, when she heard the finger snap, she shivered and then took out a glass knowingly. After a while, she poured lemonade for Mr. Xiao Wang, who was telling the story, and brought it over.

After pouring the drink, the waitress returned to the position where she had just stood and propped her chin up. She took out some potato chips as if she were looking forward to the continuation.

Presumably this was information that could be found casually online and didn’t involve any secrets, so Lin Chen and Xing Conglian didn’t stop Wang Chao from continuing his story.

Accompanied by the sound of crackling potato chips, Wang Chao took a sip of his drink. Xing Conglian couldn’t stand it any longer and smacked him on the back of his head again.

The teenager who was just violently smacked almost choked on his drink and coughed. “Comrade Lao Xing, judging by your attitude, do you not want to hear the rest of the story, huh?”

Truly, there were those who just had a death wish.

Xing Conglian didn’t even move his hands. He just turned his face and gently pressed out the cigarette butt.

Wang Chao quickly shut up, and his expression turned cold. He quickly continued. “When the local police heard this, it became a big case—perhaps even huge. According to the process, they checked on the girl with a rape test kit, and the result came back quickly. The girl did undergo violent intercourse and had signs of tearing, but… In the rape test, the presence of semen wasn’t detected on the girl’s body, so the suspect most likely used a condom.”

Hearing this, Lin Chen frowned. This was a tragic story about a poor girl who was bullied by a big star, yet the teenager had a sense of interest on his face when he was telling the gossip. He thought, considering Wang Chao’s conscience, to treat a rape case with such an attitude, there had to be a reversal to this story.

Sure enough, Wang Chao snapped his finger and continued, “The victim was so pitiful, and it was confirmed she had undergone violent intercourse. Even if the police wanted to suppress this matter, they couldn’t, so they could only quickly set up a task force to solve the rape case. They immediately sealed off the crime scene where the girl said the events took place…”

“And the crime scene?”

“Is the hotel that Li Jingtian was staying in!”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian said, “That’s not good.”

“How is that not good?” Wang Chao asked rhetorically.

Lin Chen thought for a bit and answered, “The hotel will have surveillance records. If Li Jingtian wanted to do something to someone, he wouldn’t choose a place where it’s easy to leave evidence.”

“A’Chen, you’re so smart!” Wang Chao clapped his hands lightly, like a suckup but giving sincere praise. “But it’s still true. The victim also said that she was raped in the presidential suite where Li Jingtian was staying in!”

“So did the local police go?”

“Yes!” Wang Chao nodded. “And there was no need to apply for a private search warrant for hotel rooms, so a group of heavily armed police rushed into Li Jingtian’s suite carelessly. It was said that when they rushed in, Li Jingtian was taking a shower, and his manager was also in the room. Apparently, when she saw the police, the manager’s face turned green!” Wang Chao quickly digressed. “By the way, did you know that Li Jingtian’s agent is a very beautiful woman?”

“Why do we need to know about this kind of shit?” Xing Conglian said impatiently.

“Hey, Captain, you don’t understand,” Wang Chao said as he shook his head. “I’ll show you the picture of that girl and Li Jingtian’s manager. You’ll understand…” As he said this, he really started looking for photos while he kept talking. “Anyway, it’s said that when Li Jingtian was taken to the police station, he was still wearing a bathrobe!”

Wang Chao tapped on the touchpad and placed the laptop across the table. On the screen were two women; one was pictured on the right and the other one the left.

The one on the left side was the victim who accused Li Jingtian of rape, while the one on the right was a photo of Li Jingtian’s beautiful manager.

Although the description may not be appropriate, compared with the dignified and beautiful lady on the right, the victim on the left seemed…

Lin Chen searched for the appropriate words in his heart. It was like the gap between the brilliance of the sun and the moon and the light of fireflies.

In fact, the victim wasn’t ugly, but her skin was dark, and she looked dry and thin. Her hair was of poor-quality blonde and was curly. She had painted her eyes with heavy eyeliner that looked particularly enchanting. Just from the face alone, Lin Chen could sense a strong smell of wind and dust*.

*Term used to generally describe women who look promiscuous (like a prostitute/whore/slut).

“Get it now?” Wang Chao said with emotion. “Facing such a beautiful manager every day, compared to that, is she really that great in bed? Li Jingtian must have a really special taste. Otherwise, how could he?”

“Continue and don’t comment,” Lin Chen reminded.

Wang Chao was obedient this time. He didn’t continue the topic of “taste” and got back to the story. “Since the victim said Li Jingtian’s hotel room was the crime scene, of course the police started searching, but…” Wang Chao spread his hands. “There was no evidence. There was no hair, body fluids, or other evidence of the victim. In short, there was nothing.”

“Has the room been cleaned?” Xing Conglian asked.

“No. The hotel had no cleaning records, and the cleaners said they hadn’t cleaned it.”

“What about the surveillance?” Xing Conglian asked again.

“The surveillance video…” Wang Chao sighed. “The surveillance video within 24 hours shows that the victim has never been to Li Jingtian’s hotel room at all. He is also staying in the presidential suite, so all entryways to the floor have to be swiped to enter. It’s not like anyone can just show up there.”

Hearing this, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian both remained silent.

“It’s fucking weird, right?” Wang Chao sighed with emotion and started going off again. “Speaking of this, Li Jingitan is pretty pitiful. Just when he was taken to the police station to assist in the investigation, someone leaked the news. A large group of reporters squatted at the door of the police station waiting for him and took a lot of embarrassing photos of him in a bathrobe.”

The teenager had long been dissatisfied with telling stories, so he conveniently pulled up all the photos taken by the reporter at the time.

In the photo, the originally light and elegant singer was handcuffed with both hands and brought to the police station. His hair was still wet, and he was wearing just a pair of simple slippers. He lowered his head desperately and tried to close his eyes. Even so, he couldn’t avoid the flashing lights from the cameras of the reporters.

Wang Chao flipped through the photos. One by one, they appeared before Lin Chen’s eyes. The singer in the photos looked embarrassed, miserable, and even ashamed. All his privacy was forced to be disclosed to the public. At that moment, he had lost all human dignity.

Lin Chen thought that if Li Jingtian’s fans saw these photos, he didn’t know how heartbroken they would be. He then understood why there would be so many fans who would frantically support their idol in the mall today.

“It’s miserable, right?” Wang Chao sighed. “Not only this, but did you know that just when Li Jingtian was taken to the police station in a bathrobe, a bed photo of Li Jingtian and the girl also circulated on the internet at the same time. Think about it. What kind of setup is this?”

“Was it planted?” Lin Chen paused. He felt something indescribable as he asked, “Was the bed photo fake?”

“Well, it is a dog-blooded story. I just analyzed the bed photo and confirmed it. It is indeed fake. There are obvious signs of photoshop!”

Xing Conglian suddenly raised his head. “So, is it true that someone has designs to frame Li Jingtian?”

“I don’t know if it’s framed or not, but it’s true that Li Jingtian is pretty miserable.”

“Just keep talking, and don’t make too much emotional evaluation. That’s meaningless. What we want are facts and evidence,” Xing Conglian reminded.

“The truth is, there is no evidence…” Wang Chao took a sip of his drink again. He looked back at the young waitress standing behind the bar and said to them, “You guys, there are so many capable people on the internet that can easily tell this photo is photoshopped. Of course it was quickly analyzed and determined to be fake. Li Jingtian’s fans were originally confused, but now that the fake photo incident came out, they blew up! Then, they began to target the girl who accused Li Jingtian of rape.”

“Wait!” Xing Conglian interrupted. “Shouldn’t the victim’s information be kept secret?”

“It stands to reason that it should, but I don’t know who leaked it. It’s very likely that the doctor or nurse who did the rape kit test did it. Anyway, the result and the girl’s personal information were put online.” As Wang Chao spoke, he started getting excited again. “The power of netizens is truly great. Among Li Jingtian’s millions of ‘Tian Fans’ all over the world, they can easily suss the girl out within minutes. Guess what that girl does?”

“Wandering warbler*?” Xing Conglian asked.

*[Liu ying] (流莺) Term used to refer to sex workers/prostitutes.

The so-called “wandering warbler” was an alias for prostitutes and referred to those who had no fixed place of residence. They would run around or stand in the street to solicit customers. Some would look for work in hotels.

“Damn, Captain. Why do you know everything?” Wang Chao was taken aback. “You seem quite experienced.”

Wang Chao didn’t realize what he had just said until he finished speaking. Before Xing Conglian could smack him again, he hugged Xing Conglian’s thigh and said, “Captain, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I withdraw that sentence. Although you’ve been a single dog for thousands of years, you wouldn’t recruit prostitutes. Though to be honest, I’m quite concerned about how you solve your personal physiological problems. Do you want me to send you something good tonight, huh?”

The teenager blinked as he spoke.

When Lin Chen heard this, he glanced at Xing Conglian. In fact, he was also very interested in knowing about this issue.

Xing Conglian coughed lightly and switched the topic. “Is there any evidence that the victim is indeed a wandering warbler?”

Before Lin Chen had time to savor Xing Conglian’s reaction, he suddenly realized what the “wandering warbler” that Xing Conglian was referring to meant.

Roses and warbler…

At that moment, Lin Chen felt cold all over.

He raised his eyes and saw Xing Conglian look at him with a solemn gaze and shake his head.

What Xing Conglian meant was: “Don’t say it in front of Wang Chao.”

Lin Chen knew and stabilized his breath and tried to control the chill all over his body.

Xing Conglian had a grave look as he said, “Just because she’s a wandering warbler doesn’t mean Li Jingtian didn’t commit rape.”

“Captain, of course you’re right to say that, but don’t you know how powerful fans are? They quickly pulled out the report.”

“The one that you were reading to us just now?”

“Correct.” Wang Chao nodded. “I really don’t know how they were able to find it. In short, the lace underwear you just saw in the picture was actually the picture in the report. The reporter who reported that incident also attached a picture of him lying in a nightclub. In the photo…”

“There happens to be the victim?”

“That’s right.”

“For fear of polluting your pure hearts, let me briefly tell you about the content of that report. A long time ago, there was a reporter who was very idle. He would go to local nightclubs with a very impure intentions. I mean, everyone knows why he would go to that kind of place… shit. I don’t know which newspaper would publish this kind of vulgar report, but anyway, in that report, he wrote a lot of strange things that are popular in nightclubs—they’re generally related to sexual abuse. In short, it was very, very weird. Among the different types of ‘plays’, one of them was rape play. The report also said that some of the current guests especially like to play the game of pretend rape, so they would ask the wandering warblers to…”

Xing Conglian said, “The fans saw this report, so they found the reporter who reported on the incident at the time, which indirectly proved that the ‘victim’ had provided guests with this special sex service, right?”

Wang Chao said, “More than that. The victim not only provided it just once, but do you know how she became a ‘wandering warbler’? In fact, she originally had a nightclub job. However, in the last nightclub she worked at, she accused one of the customers of raping her, so she was driven away…”

Hearing this, Lin Chen suddenly raised his head. When the matter fell here, it seemed to become clear.

A dusty wandering warbler that was repeated offender of false accusations who used a fake photo without any evidence accusing a singer with an excellent reputation of raping her…

Anyone with common sense would know how to evaluate this matter.

As Wang Chao spoke, he hooked his fingers at him and Xing Conglian and motioned for them to come closer. He lowered his voice and whispered, “A’Chen, Captain, let me tell you. I went through the files later. The wandering warbler confessed after being exposed by the fans. She was afraid that the police wouldn’t believe her, so she lied and said that she was raped by Li Jingtian in his presidential suite. The real place of the crime was actually in a club, but the club she was talking about is an exclusive club in the area. The police felt that it was impossible for a wandering warbler like her to enter such a prestigious place, so…”

“So the local police didn’t go to that club to investigate, right?”

“Who would believe such an incoherent statement? After knowing that her statement was false, the police quickly dismissed the case.”

Lin Chen lowered his eyes. Although he would not make a subjective judgment based on the identity of the victim, in this rape case, the possibility of Li Jingtian being falsely accused was too great. Even if he subjectively wanted to sympathize with the girl, all the objective evidence pointed to: Li Jingtian is the real victim.

Lin Chen didn’t know what to say. At this moment, Xing Conglian suddenly asked, “Can you find out what city the crime took place in?”

“Captain, you should be familiar with it. It’s in Fengchun.”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian’s face sank. “Based on my understanding of the police in Fengchun, they won’t stop a final investigation if the victim revises their statement. What’s going on?”

Hearing what he said, Lin Chen suddenly remembered what Huang Ze had told him. Xing Conglian had a brief resume, and his first entry was being parachuted into Fengchun.

Come to think of it, if it was a team that had been associated with Xing Conglian, it was unlikely they would refuse to continue their investigation just because the victim had changed their statement.

Wang Chao secretly glanced at Xing Conglian and then said, “Captain, you may not know, but Li Jingtian’s identity is actually a bit complicated.”

“Identity?” As Xing Conglian spoke, Lin Chen felt him glance at him. “He’s not some kind of heir to some big family, right? There doesn’t seem to be a surname ‘Li’ in the four elite families.”

Lin Chen understood Xing Conglian well. In fact, he wasn’t obsessed with whether the girl framed Li Jingtian or not. What he cared about was whether his former colleagues did their best to investigate the case.

Wang Chao winked at Xing Conglian, as if he were hinting at something. “Speaking of which, it would be simpler if it was one of the elites. Li Jingtian’s identity involves diplomatic issues. Hey, why don’t you know anything? Li Jingitan isn’t a singer from China. He’s from Xinni.”

When the matter came here, Lin Chen felt that he really couldn’t keep up. Why did this matter involve Li Jingtian’s status as an international friend?

However, he also roughly understood the difficulties of the Hongjing police. Even ordinary people would give in slightly when they encountered foreigners. What was more, the evidence that Li Jingtian was framed was so obvious that if they didn’t let him go, not only would Li Jingtian’s fanatical fans be dissatisfied, but once it was handled carelessly, it would cause a diplomatic incident.

“Are foreigners so powerful?” Xing Conglian asked in an unpleasant tone.

Wang Chao gave his boss a look of paranoia and said speechlessly, “Fuck, of course you don’t care!” He couldn’t help but complain. “But did you know that Li Jingtian’s grandfather used to be the ambassador of Xinni? You should know this.”

“Li Lao?” Xing Conglian was surprised. “Li Jingtian is Li Lao’s grandson?”

“That’s right.” Wang Chao spread his hands. “This can be regarded as a famous family. You see, even with this identity, Li Jingtian didn’t hype himself. In fact, I think he’s pretty low-key. Look, with this kind of personality and identity, I also think it’s impossible he would rape a wandering warbler!”

The teenager seemed to have concluded his summary statement.

He breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to raise his cup when he heard Xing Conglian say, “Then we should continue to investigate.”

Hearing this, Wang Chao suddenly lay down on the table and banged his head repeatedly against it. It seemed that he was unable to communicate with his boss, which made things quite suffocating.