CH 137

“Li Jingtian deeply loves Song Shengsheng,” Lin Chen said calmly.

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a dead silence. A breeze blew up the curtains by the window, as if it were the sigh of the owner of the house.

After a long time, Xing Conglian asked slowly, “What did you say?”

“I said love.” Lin Chen looked into Xing Conglian’s deep eyes as he said it.

Just saying it made it sound so strange, so Lin Chen had to pause for a bit before he continued, “That kind of love, of course, can’t be called love. It can only be labeled as desire made of dirty emotions. You see, many people in the world can say ‘I love you’, but how many can call it love given what he has done to the other person?”

“No, this dance is a bit too fast. Li Jingtian is deeply in love with Song Shengsheng? Why do you say that?”

“I told you, that’s not love.”

“Okay, so what’s this dirty desire?” Xing Conglian took the initiative to correct his statement.

“Actually, as far as the fairy tale <The Nightingale and The Rose> is concerned, Song Shengsheng’s and Li Jingtian’s completely different attitudes towards it reflect their different psychological states. For example, Song Shengsheng loves this story very much. Although I have never heard Song Shengsheng explain his opinions on it, I can see the most superficial point in his love for this story. He agrees with Wilde’s spiritual appeal as an aesthetic. If we have to use the perspective of psychoanalysis, the nightingale itself is the embodiment of Song Shengsheng. He lives and dies for love. He’s not afraid of love and can even sacrifice his life for it. He appreciates the tragic complex. He lives wildly and unrestrained. This is Song Shengsheng…” Lin Chen stood up straight and looked at Xing Conglian. “So, when you see that bouquet of roses and the dead nightingale’s corpse, what do you think is Li Jingtian’s view of this fairy tale?”

“Li Jingtian probably thinks Song Shengsheng, the nightingale, is a moron,” Xing Conglian stressed each word. “No matter how beautiful things are, what’s the use? Aren’t you just being played by me?”

Xing Conglian was extremely blunt. Lin Chen nodded and continued, “Though psychoanalysis is generally related to sex, it’s appropriate to use it here to analyze Li Jingtian’s psychology. Have you ever wondered why the nightingale was stabbed to death by the rhizomes of the roses instead of being burned to death and suffering by other crueler methods?”

When Xing Conglian heard what Lin Chen said, he immediately made a grim expression. Obviously, he had thought of the metaphor.

“In psychoanalytic theory, such sharp blades and slender objects will be regarded as symbols of a sexual organ. If that bouquet of roses is really Li Jingtian’s masterpiece, then Song Shengsheng is the stupid nightingale in Li Jingtian’s mind. Analyze in turn what Li Jingtian’s desire for Song Shengsheng is, and the mystery should be clear, right?”

When he finished speaking, the room was so silent again that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.

Since Wang Chao was present, Lin Chen couldn’t elaborate.

He was able to make these inferences all because of what Li Jingtian said when he raped Xu Ran.

Li Jingtian said: “Song Shengsheng is a masochist, and he loved him so much that he even volunteered to go to jail for him.”

For a personality disordered patient like Li Jingtian, the facts he expounded could only be facts that came from his distorted mind and weren’t really objective facts.

Therefore, after restoring Li Jingtian’s delusions, all Lin Chen could see was Li Jingtian’s extraordinary love for Song Shengsheng. For a person with antisocial personality disorder like Li Jingtian, he couldn’t correctly understand such emotions. He admired Song Shengsheng, wanted to vent his desires on him, and he had to vent those desires. The key problem was that he actually fantasized that Song Shengsheng loved him. Didn’t this sound ridiculous?

“Captain… Is this topic forbidden to those under 18? Should I recuse myself?” In the end, Wang Chao trembled as he spoke.

“I recall that you’re already an adult,” Xing Conglian said coldly.

“But, it’s terrible. I’m already about to be hurt by his perverted energy.” Wang Chao rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and said, “So Li Jingtian is chaotic evil1, while Song Shengsheng is chaotic good2. Li Jingtian likes Song Shengsheng to death, and because he can’t have him, he could only destroy him?”

1Comes from Dungeons & Dragons. Someone who’s chaotic evil has no respect for rules, other people’s lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They place a high value on personal freedom but have little regard for the lives or freedoms of other people. 

2Someone who is chaotic good does what is necessary to bring about change for the better, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well.

“Although I don’t know what you’re talking about, that should be the case. While debatable, Li Jingtian’s feelings for Song Shengsheng are very complicated or extremely antagonistic. Li Jingtian’s own personality defects make him unable to understand his emotions for Song Shengsheng. At the same time, don’t forget that Li Jingtian is a patient with performance personality disorder. Going back nine years, Song Shengsheng—who was so dazzling and attracted almost everyone’s attention—was also the object of his extreme hatred.” Lin Chen took a deep breath and continued, “Extreme love is intertwined with extreme hatred. Normal people can’t stand it, let alone Li Jingtian?”

“So, did Li Jingtian choose to destroy Song Shengsheng?” Xing Conglian asked.

Lin Chen said, “His destruction of Song Shengsheng is just a result—a result that we’re seeing now—of his love and hate for Song Shengsheng. This is the beginning of everything, and the process of this beginning and the result are what we need to deduce.”

“In between this ‘process’, there’s something that makes Mu Zhuo flustered, which is the evidence we are looking for,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen nodded.

“It’s back to square one, A’Chen. What the hell is this evidence?” Wang Chao scratched his head.

Lin Chen patted him reassuringly and said, “You asked me just now if what Li Jingtian thought was off topic. Of course it’s not. Once you understand Li Jingtian’s feelings for Song Shengsheng, everything he did to Song Shengsheng will become traceable.”

“For example, Li Jingtian joined forces with Mu Zhuo to frame Song Shengsheng.” Wang Chao asked, “Can you see anything there?”

“Let’s put it this way. If Song Shengsheng is innocent, why did his semen appear in Mu Zhuo’s body? In other words, where did this semen come from?”

“This topic has become banned again, A’Chen,” Wang Chao said timidly.

“Look. Fact one, Mu Zhuo conspired with Li Jingtian to frame Song Shengsheng. Fact two, Li Jingtian loves Song Shengsheng to death. So, would Li Jingtian really let Song Shengsheng touch Mu Zhuo?”

“It couldn’t be that Li Jingtian got Song Shengsheng’s sperm by himself, right?” Wang Chao asked tentatively. “Shit, Li Jingtian’s a pervert. He didn’t really hurt Song Shengsheng, right?”

“I have a question for you. Do you know when Li Jingtian and Song Shengsheng met?”

“Eh?” Wang Chao was taken aback.

Lin Chen no longer tried to be vague. “It took three years from Li Jingtian joining CA Entertainment to Song Shengsheng’s case. Among the information you compiled for me, the ‘Fengchun Festival Gala’ in August 2005 published a picture of the two of them attending the same event. In the photo, even if they met in August 2005, there is still more than a year between August 2005 and Song Shengsheng’s case in 2007. Is it possible for a person like Li Jingtian to endure his desires without being able to vent for more than a year?”

Wang Chao was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth wide but couldn’t say a word.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian, who was looking at him with eyes full of unspeakable sadness. Obviously, like him, Xing Conglian remembered the letter.

Li Jingtian said to Xu Ran: The Song Shengsheng you like was also fucked by me like this. He likes it very much. He’s dirtier than you.

Apart from Li Jingtian’s saying that Song Shengsheng liked it, the other information he revealed may be true. Song Shengsheng should have suffered cruel and inhumane torture that no one knew about.

So the question was, how could Li Jingtian control Song Shengsheng?

“What one person can threaten and control over another person is always what they think is the most important thing. The problem is, since Song Shengsheng loves Wilde, he’s most likely not afraid of death. What is he afraid of?” Xing Conglian asked.

“He’s afraid of losing his love forever,” Lin Chen said.

“Could it be that there’s someone Song Shengsheng loves deeply, and Li Jingtian used that person to threaten him? This seems to be getting more and more complicated. The story between A, B, and C suddenly has a D?”

“D always existed.” Lin Chen slowly walked to the photo wall behind the sofa, raised his head slightly, and looked at the dusty photo frames in front of him.

After a while, he knelt on the sofa and wiped one of the photos little by little with the back of his hand.

There weren’t two people in the photo, but many.

The photo was faded and turned yellow due to age. It was probably a fan meeting or concert by Song Shengsheng. The dark background was densely covered with many fluorescent green lights, like a sea of stars in the night sky. In the middle of the picture was a young girl who had her eyes closed. The girl’s eyelashes were long, and a tear hung from the corner of her eye.

This was the picture.

“The fans?” Xing Conglian asked.

“It’s the fans,” Lin Chen said.

Song Shengsheng was so unrestrained. He always maintained relationships with those supermodels and actresses that transcended ordinary people, so it seemed difficult for him to fall in love with someone, but he agreed with Wilde’s tragic view of love; he agreed with his unswerving love until death. This seemed contradictory, but when Lin Chen saw the entire photo wall, he suddenly felt relieved.

Although he didn’t know what chaotic good was, Song Shengsheng was probably this type.

Pursuing freedom, hating restraints, and acting in accordance with one’s own moral principles; it was a combination of a free spirit with a good heart. This was Song Shengsheng, the Song Shengsheng that was a stark contrast to Li Jingtian.

“Could it be that Li Jingtian has a sex tape of Song Shengsheng or some dark history that he can’t talk about? Li Jingtian threatened to make it public, so Song Shengsheng succumbed because he’s afraid it will hurt his fans. Is that what we’re looking for, right?”

Lin Chen nodded.

Xing Conglian pondered for a moment, looking very calm. “Assuming there is such a thing, it should be in Li Jingtian’s hands. Where are we going to find it?”

“Of course, we’re going to Li Jingtian to find it,” Lin Chen said lightly.