第二章

Xiaoman was organizing materials in her room when suddenly a sound came from downstairs.

First there was the sound of something hitting the floor, followed by Jia Shu's laughter. Then Chen Weian called from downstairs, 'Jia Shu! Why is Doubao wearing my shirt?'

Xiaoman couldn't help laughing. She shut down the computer and went downstairs to take a look.

The living room was in chaos. Jia Shu was running in front, and the family dog Doubao was wearing Chen Weian's floral shirt, following behind. Chen Weian was still in his work suit, also chasing after them. Finally, Jia Shu and Chen Weian collapsed on the sofa, and Doubao jumped next to them.

Xiaoman sat down next to them. Chen Weian, while taking off Doubao's shirt, asked her, 'How is your project going?'

'Still researching,' Xiaoman said. 'I went to the Shen family this morning.'

Chen Weian paused. 'Did you see Shen Rui?'

'Yes, I saw him. He wasn't available to talk today, but he said I could go again on Friday.'

Jia Shu frowned. 'If it were me, I wouldn't go to the Shen family.'

Xiaoman glanced at him. 'The Shen family didn't do anything wrong.'

Chen Weian also said, 'Jia Shu, you can't blame Shen Rui and his parents just because of what Shen Ran did.'

Jia Shu wanted to retort, but Xiaoman picked up a cushion and threw it at him. They all started messing around again. Mom was out for the evening, and Chen Weian promised to order pizza. Xiaoman laughed for a while, but her mind was still on Bai Anning's case.

Before dinner, she returned to her room and continued reading old news.

After Bai Anning disappeared, the police quickly started looking into people around her. Xiaoman first found two names: Qiao Chuchu and He Man. They were Bai Anning's best friends. On the first weekend after Bai Anning's disappearance, they also helped the police repost messages searching for Bai Anning.

The police must have also questioned Shen Ran early on.

Shen Ran was Bai Anning's boyfriend at the time, also in his final year at Qingshi Middle School. On the night Bai Anning disappeared, he said he was at He Mingxuan's house with four friends: Fang Na, Jiang Lei, Sun Mina, and He Mingxuan.

According to the initial account, Shen Ran left He Mingxuan's house around 12:15 a.m. and walked home. His father, Shen Guoqiang, said Shen Ran arrived home around 12:50 a.m. This timeline seemed plausible because the walk between the two houses took about half an hour.

The police initially confirmed this account.

Then, things changed on Tuesday.

That morning, Fang Na, He Mingxuan, Jiang Lei, and Sun Mina contacted the police from school. They admitted that they had lied before. Shen Ran did not leave at 12:15. He actually left He Mingxuan's house around 10:30 p.m.

This time was important.

The last time Bai Anning was seen by her sister was also around 10:30 p.m. At 10:40, her car left the vicinity of her home. If Shen Ran left his friend's house at 10:30, he would have had time to go find Bai Anning.

From that moment on, Shen Ran became the prime suspect.

But the police couldn't find him. He wasn't at school, he wasn't at home, and he wasn't answering his phone. Later, everyone learned that he had sent a text message to his father that morning. The media later called that message a 'confession text.'

That evening, the police found Shen Ran in the woods.

He was already dead.

The police believed he had committed suicide.

The next day, the police found Bai Anning's car. A few days later, they released several key pieces of evidence.

Bai Anning's phone was found on Shen Ran's body.

There was Bai Anning's blood under Shen Ran's fingernails.

There was also blood in Bai Anning's car. And Shen Ran's fingerprints were inside the car.

These pieces of evidence quickly led the townspeople to accept a conclusion: Shen Ran killed Bai Anning and then killed himself.

But Bai Anning's body was never found.

Later, the police closed the case. Officials said that if Shen Ran were still alive, the evidence would have been sufficient to prosecute him. Afterwards, Bai Anning was legally declared dead.

In Qingshi Town, that was how the matter ended.

But the more Xiaoman read, the more uneasy she felt.

Shen Ran was dead, so there was no trial. Everyone only saw the final conclusion, but few questioned whether there were problems in between.

Xiaoman closed the news page.

She knew that next she had to clarify one thing.

Why did the four friends lie for Shen Ran in the first place?