There were fifty or sixty people crammed into the reading room, a huge crowd dressed in black. Seven or eight photographers were frantically snapping pictures with their cameras. The central air conditioning was blowing cold air with all its might, but to little effect.
The passionate fans were shocked by the sudden news, exchanging confused glances, not knowing what to do.
Jian Jing changed to a different standing position—her feet hurt after running around in high heels today—and calmly grabbed the microphone to answer: "There were indeed some unexpected incidents during the signing event, but regarding the questions you asked, I'm afraid I can't disclose anything to the public without permission from the police."
"Is it that you can't disclose, or you don't want to disclose?" the reporter persisted stubbornly.
Jian Jing said, "Cooperating with the police is every citizen's duty."
"Yes. However," he stressed, "I heard the victim was your reader, and today is also your signing event. Does this mean there is some hidden story?"
Jian Jing glanced at Kang Mu Cheng.
He shook his head.
"Without the police's permission, I can't answer your questions," Jian Jing turned the tables. "Mr. Reporter, are you trying to incite me to violate regulations?"
The reporter laughed, "My professional ethics require me to bring the truth to the public. Ms. Jian, you keep talking about needing the police's permission, but did you really report this to the police? From what I know, you and Jin Wu Publishing suppressed the news and did not inform the police, so of course there would be no permission."
Keeping secrets can be understandable, but covering up news...that seems suspicious. Many people whispered to each other, casting doubtful looks at Jian Jing.
However, Jian Jing did not show any panic or fluster.
She thoughtfully scanned a few faces: "The words 'from what I know' are not evidence."
"I need to protect my sources," the reporter slyly smiled, "To avoid retaliation from you. After all, revealing the truth also put a lot of pressure on them."
"Unfounded accusations. To correct me, you need at least a witness." She shook her head, looking helpless. "Without even a witness..."
"Since Ms. Jian refuses to admit it, then dare you report this to the police in front of everyone?" This move was too clever, and Kang Mu Cheng's expression changed instantly.
He understood these reporters too well. They didn't care whether she reported this or not. As long as they could lead her by the nose, they would win. Or rather, if this scene did not end soon, the signing event would be considered a failure.
Kang Mu Cheng suppressed his anger and prepared to go on stage to answer instead of Jian Jing.
Jian Jing noticed his move and gestured for him to stop.
"There is no need for that."
"Why not?" The reporter revealed a victorious smile.
"Still need to ask? Duplicate reporting would waste resources," an icy voice suddenly rang out from the entrance. Everyone looked towards the voice and only saw a crisp police uniform and a pair of long legs.
Ji Feng strode onto the stage and snatched the microphone from Jian Jing's hand: "Do you know how many alarm calls the command center receives every day? Making one more meaningless call may occupy the lifeline of another person."
The well-informed reporter was not intimidated by him: "Who are you, sir? The person in charge of the bookstore? Jian Jing's agent?"
"Criminal Investigation Division of Heping City Police Department, Ji Feng." Ji Feng flashed his police ID and looked at the reporter expressionlessly.
The reporter was visibly startled, but he reacted quickly and immediately asked, "From what I know, the corpse was discovered two hours ago. Why are the police only arriving now?"
"According to regulations, the response time for non-emergency cases is 3 hours. We received the report around 8 o'clock, and now it's 10:20. It's not overtime," Ji Feng said indifferently. "Of course, there is another reason."
The reporter took the bait, "What reason?"
"With the help of Ms. Jian Jing, we have identified the suspect early, and now, the suspect has already surrendered and confessed to the crime." Compared to the reporter's ambiguous "it is said" and "I heard", Ji Feng's words were undoubtedly more definite and powerful, loud and clear.
There was an uproar at the scene. Cameras and mobile phones were frantically clicking away.
Having rendered his service, Ji Feng solemnly extended his hand to Jian Jing: "On behalf of the police, I express my gratitude for your help."
Jian Jing cooperated by extending her hand and shaking his: "I'm just fulfilling my own duty."
After a slight pause, she lowered her voice, "Surrendered?"
"I'll tell you outside," Ji Feng made a look at her.
She understood, said a few more words for the sake of appearance, and then brought the lottery draw time forward in order to slip away.
The two went to a secluded place to talk.
"It counts as surrender," Ji Feng was frank. "If she didn't surrender soon, she would have died."
Jian Jing was startled, and then deeply regretted, "Ah, Lu WeiGuo!"
"Just thought of it now?" Ji Feng rolled his eyes. "When I heard you say you knew the killer's identity and was going to talk to her, I guessed something might happen. Fortunately I came in time, otherwise a good thing would have turned bad, and you would have got into trouble."
Jian Jing smiled bitterly.
If Lu WeiGuo had sought revenge on Manager Sun, and a bloodbath occurred at the signing event, the result would still have been terrible.
"I really have to thank you for helping me out," she sincerely said.
"No need for that. I should be the one thanking you," Ji Feng laughed. "Sun Bing was already thinking of fleeing. If it were a few hours later, she might have escaped. I would have had to go through a lot of trouble to get a warrant and find people to chase after her. You were able to resolve the case at the first moment, which helped a lot."
Jian Jing couldn't help but lift the corners of her lips. The stale air in her chest dissipated, and her whole body felt refreshed.
She realized she was gradually falling in love with this feeling—it was as intoxicating as the delight of being surrounded by fans earlier.
However, she was still calm with her mind in control. She remained composed and asked, "Why did Manager Sun kill?"
There was no need to conceal this. Ji Feng readily told her the whole story.
Earlier last year, Sun Bing was preparing for her wedding. But the bride price was taken away by her parents, and there was a shortfall in the wedding banquet fees. The groom's family was unable to accept this and asked them to break up.
Sun Bing loved her boyfriend dearly and refused to break up. In order to raise money, she set her sights on public funds. In April, Lu Xue was transferred to the Procurement Department. Through traces of clues, she discovered Sun Bing's actions and secretly collected evidence.
On the day of the incident, Sun Bing was caught red-handed by Lu Xue. She pleaded with Lu Xue to let her off, but Lu Xue wanted to use this incident to overthrow her competitor and add chips for her own promotion and raise. So she refused.
The two got into an argument and shoved each other. Lu Xue fell down. Her right arm was in a cast and she couldn't steady herself. When she threw her head back, she hit the edge of the table and unfortunately lost her life.
Sun Bing didn't dare to call an ambulance and was even more afraid of the truth coming out, losing her future and happiness. So she steeled her heart, cut off the power and turned off the surveillance, dragged the corpse to the flower bed, and buried it overnight.
After that, she forged a resignation letter to create the illusion that Lu Xue had resigned and got away with it.
For the past year, she was worried every moment that the truth would come out. Especially to conceal the smell of the rotting corpse, she had poured chemicals into the flower bed, causing the planted grass and trees to die quickly, almost being discovered.
She had no choice but to replace them overnight with similar species and changed the soil, barely covering it up.
Even today, there were still many employees in the bookstore who thought she had bought a lot of gardening supplies because she liked planting flowers.
[Quest: Skeleton Incident at Signing Event (Completed)]
[Quest Reward: 20 points of basic courage]
[Note: Courage points can be used to draw cards (ordinary). Each draw consumes 5 points]
*
With the case solved, the signing event still had to go on.
The readers were very enthusiastic, with the long line of people queueing all the way to the stairs. At first, Jian Jing still had the energy to chat with readers for a bit, but later she became numb, and didn't even recognize her own name "Jian Jing" anymore.
She mechanically signed her name while her mind wandered.
It seemed like something had been overlooked.
What was it?
"Ms. Jian, a reader sent you flowers," the event planner smiled and handed her the roses. "He was too shy to come up and asked me to pass them to you."
Jian Jing looked up, taking the chance to stretch her sore neck, "Alright, thanks for the trouble."
The moment her hand touched the bouquet, drops of water splashed onto the back of her hand. Trickles of bright red liquid oozed down the stems, drawing sinister patterns on her skin.
The planner was stunned for a moment, horror in her eyes.
"Your hand!" The reader beside her screamed first, "What is this?"
"Looks like paint." Jian Jing was also surprised by how calm she was. She joked with them, "It seems this reader was tricked by the merchant unintentionally. But the value of a gift does not lie in its price. Let's keep this secret for him."
As she spoke, she hid the bouquet under the long table. With the velvet cloth covering it, nothing could be seen.
The turmoil quickly subsided.
Jian Jing resumed signing very calmly, with no abnormality. Only after the signing event ended did she take out the rose bouquet from under the table to examine carefully.
It was a bouquet of white roses, but someone had dyed it red with blood.
The dried bloodstains congealed on the petals, beautifully sinister and disgustingly bloody. Wedged in the center of the bouquet was a stiff card with the words:
"Sweetheart, I will come find you again."
Above the word "you" was a drawn heart.
It looked exactly the same as what she had seen on the poster at the door this morning.
It gave her a sickening feeling. Jian Jing grabbed some tissues and vigorously wiped her fingers, as if wanting to scrub away the sticky feeling adhering to her skin.
"What's going on?" Kang Mu Cheng saw the roses at a glance and frowned in disgust, "What is this thing?"
The planner knew she was at fault and awkwardly said, "I met someone downstairs who said he was Ms. Jian's reader and asked me to help pass the flowers to her."
The roses were wrapped very nicely in glassine, she did not notice anything wrong at the time. Who knew that after a few steps, blood would drip out.
"Don't blame her, the flowers were made very well," Jian Jing thought aloud. "Is the store manager here? I want to look at the surveillance recordings from this morning again."
She had helped the bookstore resolve Lu Xue's case, so the store manager was naturally willing to do her a personal favor.
Jian Jing asked to check the surveillance near the entrance around 7am.
The earliest footage showed the events manager opening the door at 6:47am. At 6:55am, a one-foot-long black shadow appeared on the floor at the entrance, but no person was captured.
The other party avoided the camera and went to the billboard, where he drew a heart with a marker.
The surveillance camera didn't capture the person, only a hand.
The left hand, judging by the bone structure, seemed to be male. There was a "乄" shaped scar on the back of the hand.
"Is this the person who gave you the flowers?" Jian Jing asked the planner.
The planner shook her head: "I didn't notice. He was wearing a mask and holding the flowers, so I didn't get a good look."
"Don't accept things from strangers so easily in the future," Kang Mu Cheng admonished. "Today it was flowers, who knows what it might be next time."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kang," the planner said as she clasped her hands together anxiously. "I didn't mean to. I'm really sorry."
"Let this be the last time," Kang Mu Cheng said indifferently. He asked Jian Jing, "Should we call the police?"
Jian Jing lowered her head and sent a message on WeChat: "No need. It was just a bouquet, not even a prank. The police won't even take the case."
Kang Mu Cheng was silent for a moment before asking, "Are you really not..." He stopped himself mid-sentence.
"Really not what?"
"Nothing." Kang Mu Cheng looked away, staring at the roses. "If we call the police, they might increase security if they think you're in danger. I think we should go down to the station."
Jian Jing pondered for a while before saying, "Let's wait a little longer."
"Wait for what?"
"Lu WeiGuo's testimony."
Kang Mu Cheng looked surprised.
"If it's just a stalker or some anti-fan who hates me, there's no need to worry too much," Jian Jing said, tapping the table with her fingers. "But if it's not..."
Then it's a bit creepy.
