February 3rd, 11:23 AM, Yi’an County.
After lab testing by Hu Yuan, a DNA profile was successfully extracted from the biological evidence collected at the crime scene.
However, this case occurred in 1994. At that time, as a small county town, Yi’an County had neither the corresponding DNA testing equipment nor did the investigators have the awareness of using DNA to solve crimes. Therefore, none of the suspects questioned and visited back then had left DNA evidence at the police station.
A search of the DNA in the national database yielded no matching results.
“Although we’ve found a clue, the case seems to have hit a standstill again.”
Hu Yuan, wearing a white lab coat, stood by the window. The county police station building was rather old, and the wooden window frame had rotted from years of rain, becoming a home for a colony of ants.
The ants formed a sesame-seed-sprinkled path on the window frame. A crumb of a steamed bun, likely dropped by someone careless, was being preciously lifted by them, balanced on their heads, and relayed back to their nest.
They moved quickly. In an instant, the crumb was at the entrance of the hole. Just as the last ant was about to enter, a finger blocked the opening.
The disoriented ant climbed onto her hand.
She was observing the shiny black ant when suddenly, Yuan Yue’s voice sounded from behind her:
“It’s true the station doesn’t have these DNA files. But there might be a way to find it.”
“Oh?”
Hu Yuan turned around, asking with interest. She flicked her hand lightly, and the ant on her nail was thrown to the ground.
With concrete evidence of selling obscene and pornographic pictures and videos, Chen Jianying was immediately brought back to the police station. Along with him came his home computer’s main unit, camera memory cards, and other electronic storage devices.
It was a completely unannounced raid. Chen Jianying was stunned to see the police in his home. By the time he was brought to the police station and seated in the interrogation room, he was still wearing a pair of house slippers, shivering from the cold.
When the police asked him:
“Do you know what crime you’ve committed?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve committed any crime,” Chen Jianying’s tone was still quite firm.
“No crime?” The interrogator sneered. “Think again carefully. What kind of photography do you usually shoot? Where do you upload them? Who are the models?”
Outside the interrogation room, Ji Xun had already obtained all the chat records from Chen Jianying’s messaging apps.
He flipped to the part belonging to Lian Panpan and fell into thought.
“What’s wrong?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“It’s a bit strange,” Ji Xun said. “I originally thought Lian Panpan met Chen Jianying after she got into cosplay, but the chat records prove otherwise.”
On Weibo, Lian Panpan’s earliest post showing interest in cosplay was on February 17, 2015; their earliest WeChat chat record was from February 13, 2015.
This meant they knew each other first, and Lian Panpan got into cosplay later.
“Then…” Ji Xun muttered to himself, “how exactly did they meet?”
He took out his phone and called Bei Jia.
During yesterday’s visit, he had not only eaten Bei Jia’s cookies but also gotten her phone number, which came in handy now.
“Sister Bei Jia, it’s me. I suddenly thought of something about Panpan and wanted to ask you. Last winter break, was Panpan playing at home or traveling?… Oh, she went to a tutoring center? She was at the tutoring center for the entire winter break? You were also picking her up and dropping her off by car then? I see, thank you.”
He hung up the phone.
“Being picked up and dropped off by car first rules out meeting on the way to and from school. Lian Panpan spent a large amount of time at the tutoring center, so maybe they met there. At the same time, we can’t rule out that Lian Panpan went out to buy bubble tea or lunch during her lunch break and met Chen Jianying—I’m very curious about the answer. Tell me how they met after the interrogation is over.”
He said the last sentence to Huo Ranyin, only to realize that Huo Ranyin was talking to someone else.
The person who came to find Huo Ranyin was the bespectacled officer from his team.
Although he was in the criminal investigation team, his computer skills were truly solid. In the less than half an hour since Chen Jianying had been brought in, he had already turned Chen Jianying’s computer data inside out. He was pushing up his glasses while reporting to Huo Ranyin:
“Captain Huo, I found seven or eight pornographic videos similar to Lian Panpan’s on his computer.”
“Are they all of Lian Panpan?” Huo Ranyin frowned slightly.
“No, they’re of different girls. These girls are all very young, looking about the same age as Lian Panpan,” the bespectacled officer said. “I’m currently recovering his computer’s deleted files, but it’s still uncertain if I can recover more content.”
“This is enough for now. Make a copy of the evidence and confirm the identities of the girls in the videos.”
Huo Ranyin said, and after dismissing the officer, he turned back to Ji Xun. “I’ll send you the interrogation record later.”
This was in response to Ji Xun’s earlier request. Although he was talking to someone else, Huo Ranyin hadn’t ignored Ji Xun’s voice.
“It takes a lot of time to look at the whole thing,” Ji Xun bargained, pinching a tiny bit of his index finger with his thumb. “I only need a little bit. Just tell me after you’ve read it.”
Huo Ranyin glanced at Ji Xun and said no more, which was considered an agreement.
Ji Xun was pleased and continued to scroll through Chen Jianying’s WeChat records. As he scrolled, his attention focused on the man’s social media feed.
“It’s still a bit strange…”
Huo Ranyin cast an inquisitive glance amidst his busy work. Someone else had come to report to him. Since Ji Xun sat down to look through the WeChat records, Huo Ranyin’s work hadn’t stopped. Too many things kept him busy; he didn’t have enough time and space to think and browse like Ji Xun.
“There are quite a few people leaving comments on Chen Jianying’s feed.”
As a photographer, Chen Jianying posted a set of photos almost every one or two days.
The photos weren’t fixed: there were cosplay photos, landscape photos, artistic photos, and of course, many photos of luxury bags, jewelry, cosmetics, and even afternoon tea at five-star hotels, all creating a sense of a refined life.
Every time he posted, many people would interact with him. Some of the interacting IDs, without even needing to click to see more information, could be identified as young girls’ IDs just from their names.
None of this was unusual. What was strange was that besides Chen Jianying replying to these comments, Lian Panpan also frequently appeared, replying and interacting.
Did Lian Panpan also know the friends Chen Jianying knew?
The interrogation in the room continued without a break.
Not everyone has such strong mental fortitude to talk glibly in a police interrogation room. Under the interrogator’s relentless pressure, Chen Jianying clearly began to panic and waver. Some of his answers were contradictory. Seeing the time was right, the interrogator slammed the memory card heavily on the table!
“Still not talking? Do we have to show you the videos you filmed one by one before you’re willing to tell the truth? How many girls have you harmed, and how much money have you made selling their videos! Still not telling the truth, still no sign of remorse. Your sentence will only be used as an example, and it will be severe!”
Chen Jianying’s whole body trembled.
His eyes darted around in their sockets in a panicked and helpless manner for a few seconds before finally fixing on the officer across from him.
The thirty-eight-year-old man drooped the corners of his eyes, pulled up his lips, and crinkled his face into a fawning and sycophantic smile at the officer:
“Officer, I’ll talk, I’ll talk. I’m not being uncooperative. Really, I haven’t profited from this. Lian Panpan and I are in a relationship, this is just our little kink… Today was also the first time I uploaded a video for money. It was a moment of foolishness. I’m willing to pay a fine, double, triple, five times, ten times, anything is fine. I sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize and repent.”
“You and Lian Panpan are in a relationship,” the interrogator sneered. “What about the other girls, are you in a relationship with them too? A man in his thirties or forties with eight or ten fourteen or fifteen-year-old girlfriends?”
“The others aren’t. The others are just ordinary customer relationships, really, customer relationships. I usually help them edit their photos. They sent me those videos and photos voluntarily.”
“They gave them to you voluntarily,” the interrogator’s voice rose an octave. “Do you think anyone would believe that?”
“Officer, don’t get the wrong idea. I usually charge these young girls very little for artistic photos. After a while, they think I’m a nice person and want to seduce me and have a little fling. Besides, they were all introduced by Panpan. They’re Panpan’s classmates. I have chat records to prove it.”
Chen Jianying smiled sheepishly.
“You know, they’re all acquaintances, a bunch of little flower buds sending you pictures. How could I not be tempted, how could I not save them? Officer, everyone was willing. As for Panpan’s video, it was my fault. I crossed a line. I deeply and thoroughly recognize my mistake and will definitely self-reflect.”
After he finished, he smiled again.
This time, his smile was cunning.
“But the other videos, I neither paid for them, nor did I distribute or profit from them. That’s not a crime, is it?”
February 3rd, 2:38 PM, Jiatong Water Company.
A call came to Bei Jia’s phone while she was at work. Bei Jia answered. It was from the police station, asking her to bring her daughter to the station now, and that her husband would also be there.
“I don’t have time now. I’m at work, and my daughter is at tutoring. Can we go later?”
But the officer on the phone was not accommodating, only telling her to hurry over before hanging up.
No manners at all!
Bei Jia pursed her lips, displeased.
Why couldn’t they have that officer named Ji Xun call? His words were so sweet, calling her “sister” right away.
But it was a summons from the police station, and she had no choice but to pack her things and ask her supervisor for leave. The supervisor was forty-five, and also had a daughter the same age as Panpan. When she came in to ask for leave, her expression was cool, and she only said one sentence:
“Taking leave again?”
“The police called, I have no choice.”
“Oh, I thought it was something about your daughter.”
Bei Jia offered a few placating smiles, got the leave slip, and the moment she turned to leave, she straightened her neck, her expression proud, like a swan.
So passive-aggressive, what’s she so proud of? You work overtime every day and take care of your job, but you probably don’t even know when your daughter is sick or what she scored on her exams.
She let out a soft snort and went to the underground garage to get her car.
She looked down on these “career women” who only knew how to work, but she also looked down on those “housewives” who only revolved around pots and pans. Society’s expectations for women were indeed high, but there was nothing to be done about it.
If you can’t change it, you can only adapt.
A woman should be like her, able to balance family and raise a child, while also having a foothold in society and not being abandoned by it.
As she sat in the driver’s seat, she saw in the rearview mirror that the laugh lines at the corners of her mouth had deepened. Even using ten-thousand-yuan skincare products every day was useless.
She raised a hand to touch them and sighed deeply.
Time waits for no one. Raising a child every day, how could you not get old? Fortunately, Panpan was somewhat of a credit to her, just too unstable. She’s in her third year of junior high now. Once she gets into a good high school, I’ll push her a bit more, endure for three years, and get her into a good university. Then my task will be done.
Lian Dazhang had been poisoned these past two days and was staying at home. Life was actually a lot easier. He would help with the cooking and mopping the floor. The poisoning was actually quite good. It didn’t harm his body, and he could help with chores, much better than that creepy man from the TV drama yesterday. Actually, earning so much money is meaningless. Didn’t he almost die from poisoning?
In the future, I’ll have to make him take on less work and go to the temple to pray more. The family has enough money now. Once our daughter gets into a good school, gets a good job, and marries into a good family, my life’s worries will be over, and I won’t have to live for my daughter anymore.
She reversed the car out of the parking space, her thoughts continuing to drift aimlessly.
I wonder if taking leave today will delay her classes. I’ll have to talk to the teacher later and ask her to find some time to go over it with Panpan again. Her studies can’t be delayed…
…
When Bei Jia brought Lian Panpan to the police station and met up with her husband, Lian Dazhang, the girl still had a sleepy, indifferent look on her face. She sat in a chair, one hand propping up her cheek, her head nodding as she dozed off.
Bei Jia was a little anxious. She didn’t want a poisoning that hadn’t caused too many consequences to take up much time. After all, life had to go on, and there were so many things to do every day:
“Officer, we’re here. Is there anything that can be resolved quickly?”
“There is something, it’s about your daughter. We need the parents’ cooperation.”
This time, it was Huo Ranyin who came over personally.
He had Bei Jia sit next to her daughter and then questioned Lian Panpan:
“Do you know Chen Jianying?”
…
When the mother sitting next to her daughter finally understood what had happened, her orderly world spiraled out of control. She let out a shriek comparable to a train whistle, and she herself didn’t even know what sound she was making.
In a silent world where she could no longer seem to hear, she kept talking to herself:
She picked up and dropped off her daughter every day; she slept with her daughter; she supervised her daughter’s studies and life at all times.
She cared for her, looked after her, and was never absent for a headache or fever.
But it seemed whatever she said was useless. Those nauseating, incredibly humiliating images and videos of physical entanglement wrapped around her eyes and ears, impossible to wipe away.
It was too disgusting, truly too disgusting.
How could a man and a woman do such disgusting things.
Bei Jia turned to look at her daughter. That beautiful face, seven parts similar to her own, suddenly looked completely unfamiliar. The only recognizable thing was that she looked just like the girl in those disgusting images.
Too disgusting.
Bei Jia couldn’t help but raise her hand, wanting to slap the strange girl in front of her, to drive the filth from her face.
This was blocked by Huo Ranyin, who was prepared. Huo Ranyin held Bei Jia’s hand firmly, his tone as gentle as possible:
“Please sit down, don’t get agitated.”
But Bei Jia couldn’t listen. She couldn’t help but be agitated. This absurd world twisted her face, and she screamed hoarsely:
“Did I not give you enough to eat or wear? Are you crazy! What on earth were you thinking! How will you face the world in the future! How can you be so shameless!!!”
This time, Lian Panpan was finally wide awake.
She was indeed flustered for a moment, but only for a moment.
After that moment, she was already like a victor, like a proud swan, standing up, raising her neck and the corners of her mouth high, ruthless and indifferent.
“I did sneak out every night to fool around with men. I did film those videos. So what? Don’t say I’ve lost face. Am I really the one who’s losing face? I think my naked body is very pretty, very beautiful, and I’m happy to see others become infatuated and lose their composure over it. It’s you guys who are unhappy, right? It’s you guys who feel ashamed, right? What you’ve always been maintaining is just your own face, isn’t it—yet you ridiculously tell me every day that this is my face, my future. If my future perfectly matches your imagination, is it your future or my future?”
She smiled, flicking her hair.
She had no idea how similar her expression at this moment was to her mother’s when facing her supervisor.
“Oh, by the way, stop showing off to others how much you’ve done for me. It’s quite disgusting.”
Lian Panpan took out the small box of pills from her schoolbag pocket and threw it at their feet.
The pink pill box broke open, and the pills inside scattered all over the floor.
“Birth control pills. Didn’t I tell you long ago? I said I had painful periods, that ibuprofen didn’t work, and I needed to take birth control pills to relieve it so I wouldn’t fall behind in my studies. Then I got a high score on that monthly exam, you were very happy, and you never suspected me of taking birth control pills again. If this is caring, isn’t this kind of care a little too half-hearted?”
The scattered pills were like sharp points piercing Bei Jia’s anger. Bei Jia let out an uncontrollable sob. She sat down on the floor in humiliation and a daze, repeating one sentence over and over:
“You’re crazy! You’re not my daughter, you’re crazy! I don’t have a daughter like you, get lost! Never appear in front of me again in this lifetime!”
This did not elicit any sympathy from her daughter.
“Mom—”
The girl called out in a sickly sweet voice.
“You’re so easy to fool.”
Huo Ranyin bent down to help Bei Jia up, settled her in a seat, handed her a glass of water and a tissue, and at the same time beckoned Wen Yangyang over. As a woman, Wen Yangyang could better empathize and comfort Bei Jia at this time.
Then he turned to Lian Panpan.
Lian Panpan pouted. “Is the police uncle going to lecture me too?”
Huo Ranyin did not lecture. “You knew Chen Jianying was filming your nude photos and videos, but did you know that he was uploading these photos and videos to foreign websites and profiting from them? Many people have seen your private photos, and you have no idea who has seen them, how they are being used, commented on, and spread, or how wide the scope of transmission is.”
Lian Panpan was taken aback.
Huo Ranyin: “According to you, he usually buys you a lot of things. The money for these purchases very likely came from selling your videos. Did you know this or not? If you knew, you are also suspected of distributing and selling obscene materials. If you didn’t know, you were being used by someone else for their own gain.”
The rebelliousness on Lian Panpan’s face faded considerably. She looked thoughtful and bit her lip.
Huo Ranyin: “Chen Jianying’s computer also contains many nude photos and videos of other girls your age. He said you introduced these girls to him to have their pictures taken—”
“Enough.”
A voice suddenly interjected from the side. It was Lian Dazhang.
Ji Xun stood in the corner, watching this scene.
Ever since Huo Ranyin started narrating what happened with Lian Panpan, Bei Jia had gone from disbelief to rage, to collapse. Her emotions had twisted and burned repeatedly in a short time, finally leaving her completely dejected and dispirited.
Lian Dazhang was not like that.
Lian Dazhang had been standing by the window, chain-smoking. In a short time, he had already smoked half a pack. A whole circle of cigarette butts had fallen at his feet. He was completely enveloped in smoke, and his eyes were red from it.
Finally, he took a step forward and stood in front of Lian Panpan.
That cautious, slick demeanor vanished from him.
He was like a father, like a mountain, shielding his daughter.
“Do not try to induce a confession from a 15-year-old girl. I am now her lawyer. If you have anything to say, you can communicate directly with me. The police currently have no evidence to prove that my client is suspected of prostitution or organizing prostitution. I hope the police can have some empathy when dealing with a fifteen-year-old girl.”
His eyes were bloodshot, but he was unusually calm.
“My daughter, she’s only fifteen. She was momentarily foolish. This is our fault as parents.”
At that moment, very abruptly, upon hearing her father admit fault, tears instantly appeared in Lian Panpan’s eyes. The floodgates holding back her tears seemed to have suddenly failed. Liquid seeped out uncontrollably. She clumsily raised her hand to wipe her eyes, but the more she wiped, the more tears fell.
She suddenly flew into a rage, yelling at Lian Dazhang:
“What are you doing now? You never cared about me in the past, and now you suddenly start? Did my crime trigger some work-related nerve in you, making you react reflexively? Let me tell you, I don’t need it. Although my mom is fake, easy to fool, and loves to feel sorry for herself, she at least did things. But you, you did nothing! I hate her, but I look down on you!”
Lian Dazhang turned to look at his daughter.
At this moment, he was gentle, tolerant, and full of love.
He loved his daughter, the continuation of his life.
“Panpan, don’t be afraid. Dad won’t let anything happen to you. It’s Dad’s fault.”
