Out of the three people that suffered an accident that night, one was dead, another one was half-dead, and only one survived. With some minor injuries on his body, Qin Cheng was in a state of coma for a couple of days. When he woke up, he was called for interrogation by the police. However, the more questions he answered, the more mysterious the matter became.
Jiang Ping was a veteran in handling major crimes. The criminal suspects, the people brought for interrogation, what is a lie and what is the truth, he was able to guess just by looking at those suspects’ eyes. However, this young man wearing a pair of glasses sitting in front of him said with such confidence that he was attacked for no reason, and was dragged by unknown forces…. This kind of strange force sounded like a lie, and yet, Jiang Ping wasn’t able to see any trace of a lie in his words.
Jiang Ping tapped his fingers lightly on his desk as he squinted at Qin Cheng. After a long pause, he asked again: “You said that Lin Hongxing knocked on your door in the middle of the night….because he wanted to ask you to go to find Jiang <sup>1</sup> Bo with him?”
Qin Cheng, who was sitting opposite Jiang Ping, nodded his head: “That’s correct.”
“At what hour did that happen?”
“That night, It was between seven or eight.”
“What were you doing at the time?”
“I was taking a shower.”
“And what did Lin Hongxing say when he came looking for you?”
Looking at the policeman in front of him, who couldn’t be older than thirty-something years old, Qin Cheng frowned and said: “He came knocking on my door at that time, he said that Jiang Bo hadn’t come back since the previous night. He was afraid that something bad might have happened to him, so he asked me to go with him to look for Jiang Bo.”
“And you knew where Jiang Bo was?”
Qin Cheng had just come out of the Hospital and his body’s fatigue hadn’t disappeared yet. Moreover, he was called for interrogation. After being asked these types of questions, Qin Cheng’s head began to hurt as he thought about what happened that night. It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t scared, but the headache mixed together with the irritability he was feeling just now. Qin Cheng took a deep breath and spoke in a hardened tone of voice: “These questions had been asked several times already, Officer. If there are no other questions, then I believe I’m free to leave?”
Jiang Ping also knew that the young man in front of him was actually really tired and not angry. He nodded to Qin Cheng and said: “Fine, one last question.” After he made sure Xiao-Lin, who was taking notes with the computer at his side, was still typing, Jiang Ping took a cup of tea and said: “You said that you were also trapped by an unknown force, then, how did you get rid of it?”
After hearing this question, Qin Cheng’s eyes flickered unconsciously. Subconsciously, he didn’t want the police to know the existence of the jade pendant, so in the end, Qin Cheng said: “I don’t know why. When I lost consciousness, that thing stopped moving.”
Without avoiding Jiang Ping’s eyes, Qin Cheng asked: “Can I leave now?”
Jiang Ping nodded: “Yes, thank you for your cooperation. You can leave now, we will contact you whenever there’s progress on the case.”
When Qin Cheng left, Xiao-Lin, who had been taking notes all this time, said: “The notes are like writing a horror novel! This weird force, it’s ridiculous, pure nonsense at first sight.” As she was packing up and preparing for the lunch break, Xiao-Lin asked Deputy Jiang Ping, as usual: “Ah! By the way, Deputy, how many truths do you think he said?”
After finishing drinking his tea, Jiang Ping said: “All his replies were true until the last one.”
“Just about that strange force?!” Xiao-Lin shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Then which of his statements was false?”
“The last answer.”
…
Finally, Qin Cheng got rid of the headache as soon as he left the police station. At that moment, Qin Cheng immediately saw his parents, as well as Professor Li Guoxian, standing in front of the police station. Not wanting to make his parents worry, Qin Cheng pulled off a smile and walked forward: “Dad, mom, Professor Li.”
Before his parents could ask, Qin Cheng spoke first: “Everything is fine, and I’ve finished answering all the questions. Mom, Dad, aren’t you planning to go back to work in Fujian today? Why are you both still here?”
“A-Cheng, are you really sure that you don’t want to come home with us for a couple of days? It will do you well to take a rest once in a while. Also, you’ve just been discharged from the Hospital….” Tang Lihua took her son’s hand, full of sadness: “If you stay here on your own, it will make us really worried…..”
“What’s there to worry about? I have my classmates and colleagues here with me. Besides, I still have work to do.” Qin Cheng didn’t exactly tell his parents what truly happened that night, he simply briefly explained to them that it was an accident. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to go home, to tell the truth, this was the moment when he wanted nothing more than to just leave and go back to the safety of his home. However, he was one of the parties involved in the accident. He was afraid that if he left just like that, his parents would get involved. It was better to let them leave this place as soon as possible: “Mom, you should go back home, when I’m free, I’ll go back and reunite with you.”
Li Guoxian, who was standing at their side, smiled and said: “Yes, the work is important after all. Qin Cheng is my favorite student, I’ll take good care of him. Both of you do not need to worry.”
Qin Cheng knew that there must be something urgent going on for Li Guoxian to come looking for him, which is why he was waiting for him outside the police station: “If Professor Li is here to help me, then nothing bad will happen.”
Looking at his parents, who were filled with sadness in front of him, Qin Cheng’s heart felt so sour that he sighed slightly: “Dad, mom, cancel the train tickets, I’ll buy you plane tickets instead. It’s hard to sit for so many hours when traveling by train, after all.”
“The plane tickets are more expensive than the train tickets. Besides, it’s not as if your father and I won’t have company while traveling, the two days of travel will pass in the blink of an eye. It’s fine, don’t waste money. Besides, you don’t even have that much money for your daily life!”
“A while ago, I got a reward for my research work, and I’m able to buy those plane tickets for you.” Qin Cheng said with a smile: “I have also saved a lot of money for the past two years as a graduate student. Don’t you already know that?”
“Let your son do his filial duty. This is a gesture of kindness.” After Li Guoxian, who was a senior Professor, spoke for him, Qin Cheng’s parents could only nod their heads helplessly.
Seeing that he wanted to see his parents off, Li Guoxian made an appointment with Qin Cheng and went back to X University first. After Qin Cheng bought his parents the plane tickets, he also bought some bags of regional food. After sending his parents on the plane, he went to take the bus back to the Campus.
However, when he finally reached the research lab, there were a good number of people already waiting for him there.
(๑ˊ͈ ॢꇴ ˋ͈)〜♡ ॰ॱ
Footnotes
<ol>To make it clear, Jiang Ping and Jiang Bo’s surnames are not the same character. <b>姜平</b> <b>Jiāng Píng</b> — <b>江波</b> <b>Jiāng Bō</b> . But they do sound the same.</ol>