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Dezi arranged to meet Zhao Ke'er again, this time at the same KFC as before. Zhao Ke'er quickly agreed, even skipping class to come. In her own words, as long as she could find the killer of Zhao Kaifang, she would rush back even if she were on Mars.
Seeing Zhao Ke'er looking worn out, we could all feel the deep friendship she had for Zhao Kaifang. I couldn't help but wonder if Zhao Ke'er truly understood what kind of person Zhao Kaifang was. If she didn't know about the chaotic events surrounding Zhao Kaifang outside of school, that would be understandable. But if she did know and still considered her the best friend, then she must have a very different perspective on their relationship.
Juan Juan and Dezi sat at one table while I faced Zhao Ke'er at another. She said to me, "Officer Shao, whatever you need me for this time, I will tell you everything! But I don't have much time; I have another class to attend soon."
I nodded, looking at Zhao Ke'er, momentarily unsure of how to respond. After a brief pause for thought, I asked her, "Zhao Ke'er, do you really understand what kind of person Zhao Kaifang is?"
Zhao Ke'er tilted her head in confusion, clearly not grasping the meaning behind my question. She shrugged and replied, "What kind of person is Zhao Kaifang? Well, she's a bit aloof and doesn't have many friends. But once you get to know her better, you'll see that she's actually a great person. She's beautiful and does well in school, often ranking among the top students; otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten into Lanzhong University."
"Mm." I nodded and continued, "I'm not talking about what you see on the surface. In other words, I'm asking if you think Zhao Kaifang is a good person or someone whose values clash with yours."
Zhao Ke'er seemed to sense something was off; she straightened up and said seriously, "Officer Shao, if there's something you need to say, just say it directly. I've told you before that you can ask me anything about Zhao Kaifang. As long as we can catch the killer, nothing else matters. Zhao Kaifang is my best friend; do you understand that feeling?"
I nodded heavily; I completely understood her feelings. It was like my relationship with Captain Shi or with Dezi Mary—a bond where one could trust the other with their life or most important possessions.
With that thought in mind, I decided not to beat around the bush any longer. I got straight to the point: "You know that Zhao Kaifang had an abortion before. But what you might not know is that this wasn't her first abortion. She had her first abortion when she was fifteen years old, and over the next seven years, she had a total of twelve abortions."
"What did you say?" Zhao Ke'er stared at me wide-eyed.
I sighed and continued, "I'm not mistaken; you're not misunderstanding me. Over the past seven years, Zhao Kaifang has had twelve abortions. By the time she was in junior high school, she had already undergone three abortions. During high school and vacations combined, she had eight more abortions and then one after entering university."
"You should be unaware of these things," I said seriously as I looked into Zhao Ke'er's eyes.
Zhao Ke'er stared blankly at me with hollow eyes as if her soul had been drained away. She gripped her drink bottle tightly; it was already deformed from her grip. In disbelief, she said, "No way! That's impossible! Zhao Kaifang can't be that kind of person! She's someone who keeps herself pure! She's a good person! There's no way I wouldn't have known about this during high school!"
I completely understood her feelings; it was like telling me that Dezi was an undercover agent for Zhao Mingkun—I simply wouldn't believe it or accept it. But there's a saying: what you see of a person is merely what they want you to see.
Even those closest to us have their secrets—things they cannot share with others—and that's normal. However, it's rare for someone like Zhao Kaifang to keep such a tight lid on things from Zhao Ke'er. At that moment, it felt like Zhao Ke'er’s bubble had been burst; something within her shattered.
Taking a deep breath, I told Zhao Ke'er gently but firmly: "It's true; we haven't made any mistakes. Through specific means, we've uncovered detailed records of her medical history."
"Why, why?" Zhao Ke'er still couldn't believe it, tears streaming down her face as she said, "How could she have deceived me for so long? I didn't notice anything at all. But now that I think about it, she did often take leave during high school. Could it have been during those times that she..."
Zhao Ke'er gently wiped the tears from her face. To outsiders, this might seem overly dramatic. However, if one could put themselves in her shoes, they would understand that this was a perfectly normal human emotion. Love, friendship, and familial bonds are among the most fundamental feelings for humans, and friendship is incredibly important to everyone.
Especially for someone like her, who had few friends and valued quality over quantity.
I sighed and said, "Perhaps it's precisely because she was your best friend that she didn't want you to know about her troubles. She wanted to maintain a beautiful image in front of you. Now that Zhao Kaifang has been killed by Killer, we may have uncovered many of her hidden sides, but she was still your friend, wasn't she?"
Zhao Ke'er stopped sobbing, slowly nodded her head, and then said, "I understand. If there’s anything you want to ask, go ahead."
I nodded and took out a file from my pocket—it was Zhao Kaifang's abortion records, detailing the dates of the procedures. I placed the paper in front of Zhao Ke'er and said, "This is the detailed abortion record. What we hope you can do now is tell us who Zhao Kaifang's boyfriends were during those time periods. Who could be the fathers of those lost children? Can you do that?"
Zhao Ke'er glanced at the time and nodded as she began to recall.
Zhao Ke'er slowly said, "I met Zhao Kaifang in high school. In our first year, we were in the same class; it was assigned by the school and was a science-oriented class. The following year, we were separated into arts and sciences classes again but ended up in the same liberal arts class. So our relationship was particularly good, and we even shared a dorm."
"Okay, so did Zhao Kaifang have any boyfriends in these two classes? Who were they?" I continued to ask.
Since some time had passed, Zhao Ke'er thought for a moment while looking at the dates on the file and said, "I'll list them in chronological order because Zhao Kaifang was very beautiful and did well academically; many people in our class liked her and pursued her. So over those three years, Zhao Kaifang indeed had quite a few boyfriends."
I nodded to encourage Zhao Ke'er to continue.
"Zhao Kaifang's first boyfriend was named Zhang Zhiyuan. I don't have much impression of him because we had just started high school—within a month or so after school began—Zhao Kaifang got together with Zhang Zhiyuan; he pursued her. They broke up soon after."
As Zhao Ke'er spoke, I signaled Dezi to take note of the name and send it to Mary. Mary had already pinpointed Zhao Kaifang's high school; with specific names, she could directly look up this person. Dezi shook his phone to indicate he would remember it and assured me not to worry.
"Zhang Zhiyuan was pretty ordinary—average academically with no notable personality traits—and most importantly, their time together was very short," Zhao Ke'er continued. "So I don't really know much about him. The second person was named Zhuang Peng; he was from a wealthy family and they were together for a long time."
"Until we were separated into different classes in our second year of high school; that's when Zhao Kaifang broke up with him," Zhao Ke'er said somewhat regretfully. "As for Zhuang Peng, he was quite nice—very generous and often gave us little gifts; he was also very considerate. I don't think he would be the one who got Kai Fang pregnant."
I nodded.
Zhao Ke'er took a sip of her drink and said, "The boyfriend she had later was someone she started dating in her sophomore and junior years, which means he was Zhao Kaifang's third boyfriend in high school. His name is Xiao Jingguang. He wasn't very good at studying and often ranked at the bottom of the class, but he was really handsome."
"It was like he walked out of a movie. At that time, many girls liked Xiao Jingguang," Zhao Ke'er said helplessly. "Zhao Kaifang was also captivated by his looks; she pursued him actively. They were together for quite a long time, probably over a year, but later for some unknown reason, Xiao Jingguang ended up with another girl from our class, and they broke up."
Zhao Ke'er seemed a bit angry. "I told her long ago that Xiao Jingguang wasn't a good guy, but Zhao Kaifang didn't listen. Sure enough, they broke up. After that, Zhao Kaifang didn't date anyone for several months. Then, towards the end of her senior year, she found another partner, but he wasn't from our class."
"His name is Qiang; I'm not familiar with him either," Zhao Ke'er recalled. "At that time, Qiang would often come with another boy to see Zhao Kaifang. At first, I couldn't even figure out who she was dating between the two of them. It seemed like Qiang had already stopped attending school. I don't know what happened afterward; they probably broke up when they went to college."
"That's just four people—no, five?" I asked, considering Zhao Kaifang's social life outside of school.
Zhao Ke'er nodded and said, "Yes, as far as I know, those are the only five people. I spent all three years of high school with her, so there shouldn't be anyone else. But I don't know if she dated any other boyfriends while she was on leave from school. Do you suspect that?"
"It's not impossible," I replied as I took back the file. "I will catch Killer."
[Unsolved Mystery] A mysterious group of 21st-century Airborne Troops appeared in North America, rescuing an Indian Red-Haired Beauty, enjoying the company of a Blue-Eyed Busty Blonde, dominating Wall Street, amassing wealth across America, and initiating the Han Ethnic Colonial Global Model.
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