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墨書 Inktalez
"What is your name?" Old Shao asked the girl, looking at her. "Your age and occupation?"
The girl took off her scarf and replied to Shao the Elder, "My name is Wang Yedan. I am twenty-two years old, a local from Yuzhou City, and a student at Yuzhou University majoring in Financial Management. Recently, we've been busy with exams, so I returned home since there weren't many classes. Tonight, I saw a video on my social media of someone jumping off a building, and I realized... I realized that the person who jumped..."
"You know the person who jumped," Shao the Elder interjected.
"Yes," Wang Yedan said. "That person is Luben, and he is my classmate."
Old Shao pointed to a chair beside the desk and said, "Take a seat. Is Luben your boyfriend?"
Wang Yedan's expression changed noticeably; she looked a bit embarrassed. "No, he is not my boyfriend."
"Not your boyfriend?" Old Shao gently pushed a photo in front of Wang Yedan and said, "After Luben jumped, we found this photo in his wallet. Besides his ID, this was all that was left in his wallet."
Wang Yedan looked down at the photo in front of her.
"This photo is of you," Shao the Elder stated.
"That's right," Wang Yedan replied, her expression becoming somewhat uneasy. "This is indeed me, but I don't know how he got it."
"What do you mean?" Old Shao furrowed his brow. "From the angle of the photo, it looks like the person taking it was sitting directly across from you, right?"
Wang Yedan nodded, sitting stiffly in her chair. "That's true, but sitting across from me was my best friend, Wang Lin. We are in the same class. She took this photo; I just don't know why Luben had it."
Yuan Jun was thoroughly confused now; he leaned back in his chair with a military posture. "Wait a minute, what exactly is your relationship?"
"He was pursuing me," Wang Yedan explained. "To be precise, I have clearly rejected him."
"So he's your suitor? That's the most recent status of your relationship?" Jiang He leaned forward in his chair.
"Yes," Wang Yedan replied.
"Then this is strange," Jiang He said. "If it was just that kind of relationship, why did you come here? What does your connection to his death mean?"
Wang Yedan's face was filled with guilt as she spoke. "Things happened too suddenly. I don't even know how to explain it. To make sense of this, I might have to start from a year ago."
"Take your time," Old Shao said, picking up his tea cup. Yuan Jun reached down to lift the warm kettle from the ground and prepared tea for Old Shao.
"We have plenty of time," Old Shao remarked, watching the tea leaves float in the cup.
Wang Yedan nodded and leaned forward before continuing, "During the first half of my freshman year, probably after military training, Luben confessed to me. He wanted to be my boyfriend and asked if I would agree. At that time, I already had a boyfriend, so I clearly told him that I was in a relationship."
"But he didn't give up and kept buying me things," Wang Yedan said with a hint of helplessness on her face. "I rejected him every time and told him I had a boyfriend, but no matter what, even if I refused to accept his gifts, he would have the girls in our class bring them to me as if I had agreed to accept them. It always made me feel awkward."
"I generally returned any gifts that could be returned. For those I couldn't return, I bought him something of similar value as a gift in return. My intentions were pretty clear," Wang Yedan explained. "But it seemed he misunderstood me. Even after I repeatedly clarified my stance, he still thought that my returning gifts meant I liked him."
At that moment, Xu Yiman poured a cup of hot water for Wang Yedan. She accepted the disposable cup with thanks and continued, "Later on, due to some issues, I broke up with my boyfriend. After Luben found out about this news, he became even more persistent."
"From an outsider's perspective, he really treated me well. For example, he often bought me gifts, helped me highlight important study points for review, reserved seats for me in class, and would get me hot water when it was cold. If others saw it this way, they would think Luben liked them and would agree."
Wang Yedan said, "But I felt helpless. My family's situation isn't particularly good, but I've never lacked for food or clothing. You know the things Luben bought were just small items worth tens of yuan—like lollipops or snack packs—but I don't like those things. The cosmetics he gifted me were also just worth tens of yuan."
Sighing, Wang Yedan continued, "I definitely wouldn't dare put those cheap cosmetics on my face; I usually use products worth over five hundred yuan. But in his eyes, he thought he was treating me exceptionally well. You should understand what I mean; it's not that I look down on him, but our values are different—we're not on the same wavelength—which makes it hard for me to agree to him."
Xu Yiman nodded and said, "Sometimes that's indeed the case; one thinks they have given everything while the other sees those things as quite ordinary."
Wang Yedan looked gratefully at Xu Yiman and said, "But he's very immature; he just can't understand this point. If you take a girl who has never been on a carousel to an amusement park, she might be thrilled. But for a girl who feels nauseous from rides, going to an amusement park is torture."
"This went on for about a year; I was really fed up." Wang Yedan said. "I never expected he could persist for such a long time—he was quite shameless about it. Over the year, he gave me many things; anything that could be returned was sent back to him. For those that couldn't be returned, I bought him gifts worth even more than what he had given me."
"He's like a stubborn plaster, going around claiming that we're in a relationship, making my brother, who has feelings for me, not even consider me anymore. When I came home this time, he insisted on seeing me off. I didn't want him to, but he stubbornly followed me onto the bus."
Wang Yedan took a sip of her tea and said, "I don't want him to know where I live. After we get off, I want him to leave. He asked me what exactly I dislike about him so he could change."
Wang Yedan lowered her head. "Honestly, I really can't stand his clingy personality. Over the course of a year, I've grown more and more annoyed with him. Coincidentally, at that time, he said something to me. I was so angry that I snapped at him."
"What did you say?" Old Shao asked.
"I remember it clearly; at that moment, what I disliked most about him was that he was still alive. I hoped he could change." Wang Yedan looked at Shao the Elder. "It was around six in the evening when I said that. Afterward, he stopped bothering me and left."
"Until tonight when I saw our class group chat buzzing. Normally, we rarely chat in there, so I was curious and opened it up, only to find someone had posted a video."
At this point, Wang Yedan kept drinking water, visibly nervous.
"I don't know who filmed that video; it was shot really close up. I immediately recognized the clothes as those worn by Luben. Then the video shook a bit, and I clearly saw his face—it was Luben." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Oh right, I also saw several of you in the video."
"I was completely stunned. Just a few hours ago, I had seen him alive, and now just hours later... he became a corpse on the bus..."
Wang Yedan spoke haltingly. "I suddenly recalled our previous conversations. I don't know if my words pushed him to jump off the building or not, but after thinking it over carefully, I felt it was better to come here and clarify things myself. So I drove over."
Old Shao stroked his chin and looked at Wang Yedan. "Captain Liu, have someone take down her statement. After that, you can let Wang Yedan go. If what she says is true, don’t overthink it; this matter doesn’t involve you much. Once the statement is done, she can leave."
"Thank you," Wang Yedan nodded.
Watching Wang Yedan leave, Yuan Jun spoke up. "It seems like Wang Yedan is quite honest for coming to the police station herself over this. But just because of one sentence to take one's life? I wonder if Luben had issues or if there’s more to this story."
Old Shao frowned and said, "Once it involves the Criminal Consultant, things are never simple. It’s easy to verify whether Wang Yedan is lying; we just need to check the surveillance footage from that bus. However, even so, we can't arrest a girl just because of one sentence; otherwise, far too many people would end up in prison."
Old Shao blew on his tea. "What I'm more concerned about is what kind of waves the Criminal Consultant will stir up with this case."
Yuan Jun shrugged and said, "I'll go with Captain Liu and ask her which bus she took."
"Alright," Old Shao nodded.
At that moment, a wailing sound came from outside: "My son, what happened to you, my son!"
Old Shao glanced at the clock on the wall and remarked, "Aren't they supposed to take at least three hours to arrive? Why are they here now?"
"Not sure," Yuan Jun shook his head.
The group pushed open the office door and saw a middle-aged man and woman clutching Captain Liu's arm, crying, while Wang Yedan stood nearby in tears.
"Are you Luben's parents?" Old Shao asked.
The tearful middle-aged couple nodded.
"Let's identify the body first," Old Shao thought for a moment before saying, "You should see your son one last time."
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