Chapter 101 Ke Zhiwei

Chapter 101 Ke Zhiwei

Early in the morning, Professor Lin from the Marketing Department received a message from the dean. Frowning at the content of the text, he couldn’t understand how matters from the Management Department had once again dragged them into it.

However, since the school leadership demanded their full cooperation, Professor Lin didn’t dare argue. He could only follow instructions, ordering all students in his class to remain in the classroom and not leave for the time being. Additionally, he took Xie Shijie aside to an empty classroom.

An hour later.

"Xie Shijie?" Yue Lingchuan looked at the tall, thin young man with average-looking features sitting across from him, then glanced down at the information provided by Professor Lin. His expression was stern as he asked the question.

"Y-yes, that’s me." Xie Shijie swallowed nervously as he faced the group of serious-looking police officers. "O-Officer."

He licked his lips, his heart pounding with unease, and asked hesitantly, "Wh-what’s going on?"

Captain Yang’s calm gaze settled on him. Though his expression was neutral, it carried an inexplicable pressure. "What’s this about? You don’t know?"

Xie Shijie’s heart raced wildly. His thoughts were scrambled—part of him felt guilty about the posts he had made, while another part insisted it was just a few online comments. It couldn’t be that serious to warrant so many police officers coming for him?

"I-I don’t know..."

Shen Qingye glanced at him lightly, her tone indifferent. "The Zhou family is suspected of colluding with the police, intending to find a scapegoat to clear Zhou Yuanfeng’s name—that post was made by you, wasn’t it?"

Before she even finished speaking, Xie Shijie’s fingers clenched tightly. His eyes flickered with panic, his breath caught as he gritted his teeth. "Wh-what post? I don’t know what you’re talking about!"

Shen Qingye gave a quiet laugh. "In the posts you made, you revealed bits of your personal information. There were also people who know you in real life commenting on them—Xie Shijie, you think we’d haul you in with zero proof?"

"Do you still want to deny it?"

Xie Shijie’s face instantly paled. Before he could speak, Captain Yang slammed the table and snapped, "Xie Shijie! By spreading false statements online, you not only damaged Zhou Yuanfeng’s reputation but also caused significant financial losses to the Zhou family! Worse, you’ve severely tarnished the image of the police and created serious public backlash!"

"Xie Shijie, that’s libel. Do you understand that you’ve broken the law?!"

No matter how self-righteous Xie Shijie usually acted online, at his core, he was still a student who hasn’t graduated. Faced with the interrogation of seasoned detectives and the weight of legal consequences pressing down on him, he broke out in a cold sweat instantly. His mind went blank with panic, and any thought of resistance vanished. "I-I-I didn’t know! I had no idea!"

Stammering, he floundered, trying to explain, "I was just—just speculating! I was just shooting my mouth off! I never thought—never thought it’d turn out like this!"

"I really didn’t mean it like that, I was just—just..."

Tripping over his words, his face twisted in panic, he couldn’t believe that his offhand comments had led to such severe consequences.

"Just shooting your mouth off?" Yue Lingchuan sneered. "Shooting your mouth off means accusing officials and businessmen of colluding? Accusing the police of playing favorites with the law? Xie Shijie, is this behavior of yours driven by hatred for Zhou Yuanfeng—or a grudge against the cops and the system?"

His tone was light, but it made Xie Shijie’s eyes widen in alarm. Wildly waving his hands, he blurted out, "N-no, no! That’s not what I meant!"

"I-I…" He stammered for a long moment before finally blurting out, red-faced, "I’ve got nothing against the cops! I just—just—"

Gritting his teeth, he admitted, "I just couldn’t stand Zhou Yuanfeng, and in a dumb moment, I did this..."

Shen Qingye lifted her eyes to study him. "You couldn’t stand him?"

Xie Shijie clenched his jaw. "Yes."

Captain Yang asked, "Did you have any conflicts with him?"

Xie Shijie took a deep breath, forcing down the heat of shame on his face. "No..."

"W-we were both in the student council. I just thought he was too fake, acting all buddy-buddy with everyone. S-so I couldn’t stand him."

Captain Yang pressed, "So it was just personal dislike?"

Xie Shijie shut his eyes briefly: "Yes!"

Shen Qingye asked, "So what exactly did you do?"

Xie Shijie's face twitched: "Not much..." Seeing the grim expressions around him, he hurriedly added, "I just... posted some things online before. You guys must’ve seen them already. At most, I just talked about it with some classmates... But I swear I never actually hurt him!"

Shen Qingye shot Yue Lingchuan a look at his frantic explanation. Her fingers flexed as she pushed further, "Yesterday, when we came to investigate at the school, our scope was limited to the School of Management. How’d you find out?"

Xie Shijie froze for a moment before quickly replying, "I had no idea at first! My roommate mentioned it!"

"Who’s your roommate?" Shen Qingye asked.

Yue Lingchuan narrowed his eyes. "Pan Yingzhuo? He said last night that he overheard people talking about it while eating, so he mentioned it to us when he got back. That’s when I went online and posted that thread..."

They all looked at each other and immediately went to track down Pan Yingzhuo.

·

Pan Yingzhuo was a slightly chubby young man with rather delicate features, clearly clueless why the cops wanted him.

Under questioning, he just looked baffled:

"Oh, right, I did mention it to Old Xie about the School of Management thing. What about it?"

"How’d I know? I overheard someone at the cafeteria during dinner."

"Nah, I don’t even know the guy! I just happened to be eating nearby when he mentioned it. Honestly, I didn’t even notice him at first, but then he brought up Zhou Yuanfeng’s name, and that caught my attention."

"...Because that whole mess blew up around campus. And I’m not even into gossip, but... Out of curiosity, I listened a bit more..."

"Hold up!" Yue Lingchuan interrupted sharply, as if recalling something. "You’re saying Zhou Yuanfeng’s alleged involvement in the kidnapping was already widely discussed at your school?"

Pan Yingzhuo nodded. "Yeah."

Yue Lingchuan frowned. "When did you first hear about it?"

Pan Yingzhuo thought for a moment. "Yesterday... no, the day before. Yeah, the day before yesterday, in the morning, I think. The police came to investigate then, and by noon, people were already talking about it on the school forum. Zhou Yuanfeng’s pretty well-known around here, and since it involved his girlfriend, everyone was curious."

Shen Qingye asked, "Did you spot the cops when they showed up the day before yesterday?"

Pan Yingzhuo hesitated. "Uh... nah."

Shen Qingye glanced at Captain Yang, who also shook his head. "That day, I came with the officers from Linzhou. No cruisers, no badges—nothing."

In other words, they hadn’t revealed their identities as police. So aside from the school’s internal staff, outsiders shouldn’t have known.

Shen Qingye’s face fell as she returned to the earlier topic. "You said you didn’t know that person?"

Pan Yingzhuo shook his head. "No."

He paused. "Didn’t look like he was from our program..."

Their department was newly established with few students, and Pan Yingzhuo was sociable—while he didn’t know every male student, he recognized most faces.

"Besides, from what he said, he sounded like he was from the School of Management."

Shen Qingye took a deep breath before asking, "Any idea who he was chatting with?"

Pan Yingzhuo shook his head. "He wasn't talking to anyone. It seemed like he was on a phone call."

"There was no one across from him."

Everyone froze. *Not talking to anyone? A phone call?*

Was it really a call, or—

"Or was he deliberately putting on an act, saying it for him to hear?" Yue Lingchuan voiced her thoughts.

Shen Qingye took a deep breath, keeping herself composed.

So, unless something unexpected happened, this was all likely planned by that person.

He had deliberately pretended to be on a call while eating, subtly dropping the information to Pan Yingzhuo, banking on him sharing it with his roommate later. Then, he played on Xie Shijie's feelings toward Zhou Yuanfeng to achieve his goal.

The other party clearly knew Xie Shijie well!

And this method... seemed oddly familiar...

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. The three names Brother Niu had mentioned earlier popped into her head, and Shen Qingye finally grasped the thought that had been interrupted that morning—

"Ke Zhiwei!"

She and Yue Lingchuan spoke in unison.

Without stopping to explain to Yue Lingchuan, Shen Qingye pulled out the stack of student profiles Teacher He had given them the day before, flipped to Ke Zhiwei's page, and shoved it in front of Pan Yingzhuo. Pointing at the photo, she asked urgently, "Look, was this the person you saw in the cafeteria last night?"

Pan Yingzhuo lowered his gaze, hesitating for a long moment before saying uncertainly, "There's some resemblance..."

"I was sitting beside him, so I only saw him from the side, but I think it was probably him..."

Bingo!

Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan exchanged a glance, both now more convinced of their suspicions.

She turned to Captain Yang's team and explained, "When we came here to investigate yesterday, Ke Zhiwei was the first one to suggest Han Songlin was suspicious."

"Because of his words, we later zeroed in on Han Songlin!"

And what a perfect parallel this tactic bore to what was happening now?