第三章

In the afternoon, Xiaoman received a message from Jiajia.

It wasn't good news: Wang Tao was going to break up with Jiajia.

Before going out, Xiaoman bought a big bar of chocolate. When she arrived at Jiajia's door, she saw Kexin also coming. Kexin brought tissues, potato chips, and face masks.

Jiajia was hiding under the covers, only a bit of her hair showing. Xiaoman and Kexin coaxed her for a while, then handed her the chocolate, and she finally sat up.

“He broke up with me by text message,” Jiajia said tearfully.

Kexin took Jiajia's phone away. “You’re not allowed to look at your phone today.”

Xiaoman said, “You could have found someone better. Wang Tao can’t even speak clearly.”

Jiajia finally cracked a smile.

The three of them watched a movie for a while. Jiajia slowly calmed down. She worried that she might end up caught between Xiaoman and Kexin. Kexin directly said that the three of them were all friends, and no one was superfluous.

Xiaoman and Kexin had known each other the longest. Kexin's home was like a second home to Xiaoman. Kexin's father, Teacher Fang, was Xiaoman's history teacher, and Fang Na was Kexin's older sister.

Later in the conversation, Kexin asked Xiaoman, “Did you go see Shen Rui?”

“Yes,” Xiaoman said. “I’m going to see him again tomorrow.”

Jiajia sat up. “You’re going to the Shen family again? What will people think if they see you?”

Xiaoman said, “I don’t care.”

Kexin mentioned Fang Na again. Xiaoman wanted to ask Fang Na about what happened that night with Shen Ran.

Kexin said, “She’ll agree, but you need to ask gently. Shen Ran was a very good friend of hers. She still feels sad about it.”

Xiaoman nodded. “I understand.”

After returning home, Xiaoman continued to investigate the case.

She knew she had a problem: she really wanted to prove Shen Ran innocent. This way of thinking was dangerous, because once people have their own answer, they easily only look at information that supports themselves.

So she decided to contact someone completely opposite.

Feng Li was a reporter for the Qingshi Evening News. He had reported on the Bai Anning case and had always believed Shen Ran was guilty. Xiaoman didn’t like his articles because he always directly called Shen Ran a murderer. But precisely because of that, she wanted to hear his side.

Feng Li answered the phone quickly.

He told Xiaoman that the police at the time believed Bai Anning was not killed in the car. The police focused on the bloodstains in the trunk, believing she was first killed somewhere else, her body put into the trunk, then taken to another place.

According to the police's theory, after Shen Ran left He Mingxuan's house that night, he encountered Bai Anning on the road. The two might have gotten into the car together. Then Shen Ran took her to a quiet place, killed her, and disposed of the body. Finally, he abandoned the car in Luojia Alley and walked back to his home on Guihua Lane.

This version sounded plausible.

But as Feng Li spoke, Xiaoman became increasingly uncomfortable. Not only did he believe Shen Ran was guilty, he spoke with such certainty, as if all doubts were unimportant. He also mentioned Shen Ran's family background, thinking it could explain why Shen Ran would harm Bai Anning.

Xiaoman couldn't listen anymore.

“Shen Ran has not been tried,” she said. “You can't just call him a murderer.”

Feng Li didn't care. He said everyone knew what Shen Ran had done.

The two argued more and more stiffly. Finally, Feng Li dropped a piece of information Xiaoman had never seen before.

He said that the police had found a threatening note in Bai Anning's school locker. Someone had threatened her on the note.

Xiaoman immediately became interested.

This information had not appeared in the news she had read. Nor had it appeared in the police's public statements. It might be important, or it might just be Feng Li talking nonsense. But Xiaoman decided to remember it for now. When she later asked Bai Anning's friends, maybe she could use it.

After hanging up, Xiaoman reorganized the police's theory.

If Shen Ran left He Mingxuan's house at 10:30 p.m., and Bai Anning left home around the same time, then they might have encountered each other near Wutong Road. There were a few quiet side roads there, and places to park.

Bai Anning's car was later abandoned in Luojia Alley. Walking back from Luojia Alley to Shen Ran's home took about eighteen minutes. Calculating this way, if the two met around 10:45, Shen Ran would have roughly over an hour to handle everything.

Time-wise, it was not entirely impossible.

But Xiaoman still felt something was off.

If the two had arranged to meet, why had the police never mentioned phone calls or texts? If they had already agreed at school, why didn't Bai Anning simply go to He Mingxuan's house to pick up Shen Ran?

This question still had no answer.