Chapter 109 Psychological Warfare

Chapter 109: The Art of Manipulation

Shen Qingye drawled, "Perhaps you think your plan was a success?"

"From stealing the bracelet Qin Jiayu gave to Zhou Yuanfeng in the beginning, to spiking your roommate's water with sleeping pills, then kidnapping Qin Jiayu and framing Zhou Yuanfeng, and finally manipulating public opinion—you hid so thoroughly behind the scenes that no one ever suspected you."

"Even we, when we first took on the case, were on our guard, thinking it involved some corporate warfare or wealthy family secrets. We were prepared for a long battle." Her tone dripping with resignation. "Who would’ve thought it would turn out like this?"

Ke Zhiwei gave her a blank look, still expressionless, and then averted his gaze without a word.

Shen Qingye paid no mind to his attitude and continued calmly, "Are you smart? You’ve got that going for you. After all, you never openly clashed with Zhou Yuanfeng, so no one suspected you. During the police investigation, you even subtly redirected attention to Han Songlin, providing us with a 'suspect' and successfully delaying our progress. Even when controlling the narrative, you never stepped forward yourself—instead, you stayed hidden, manipulating Xie Shijie to act. You knew him well, didn’t you? That’s why you were aware of his dislike for Zhou Yuanfeng, how he’s always been a rabble-rouser who hates corruption. So, with just the right bait, he bit—hook, line, and sinker."

Ke Zhiwei remained silent.

Shen Qingye went on, "Looking at it this way, you’ve got some brains, I’ll give you that."

Yue Lingchuan, however, scoffed at this. "Brains? What’s brainy about him?"

"He arrogantly thought he had everything under control, but he didn’t expect one of the letters he wrote to Qin Jiayu to still be tucked inside her book, untouched. He thought writing with his left hand would make his handwriting completely unrecognizable, but to a handwriting expert, the so-called differences were laughably obvious. He believed spiking his roommates’ drinks would cover his tracks, but he didn’t account for Tang Hao being too busy to wash his cup for days—we easily extracted traces of alprazolam from it. He thought he was perfectly hidden in the shadows, but little did he know he’d become the prey."

Yue Lingchuan sneered. "Just amateur moves that crumble under pressure, yet he really thinks he’s some mastermind pulling the strings from behind."

Ke Zhiwei finally looked up at him, lips pressed tightly, his expression cold and dark.

Yue Lingchuan smirked mockingly, holding up two fingers. "Two days. Just two days."

"When we first got the case, I thought it was something major—finally a chance to flex my muscles after so much downtime. But in just two days, case closed, just like that."

He shook his head, almost disappointed. "I thought you’d be more capable. Turns out, you’re nothing special."

His tone laced with contempt, his gaze condescending, as if looking down on Ke Zhiwei with utter disdain.

Ke Zhiwei stared at him and seemed to see Zhou Yuanfeng in that moment—the same condescending glare, the same dismissive attitude.

The corner of his mouth twitched, his voice guttural with barely contained fury. "I should’ve just killed her. Then let’s see how smug you’d be now."

Yue Lingchuan lounged back in his chair, a smirk tugging at his mouth as he tilted his chin up. "But you didn’t."

Ke Zhiwei’s breathing grew ragged.

Her grin turned razor-sharp. "Let me guess—why didn’t you kill her? Was it overconfidence? Thinking you had everything under control, that the police would never find you, so it didn’t matter if she died sooner or later? Or… were you moved by what she said? Did you want to find some sense of validation in her?"

Ke Zhiwei’s glare burned into her. Shen Qingye, as if struck by a sudden thought, grinned even wider. "Oh, you don’t know yet, do you? Qin Jiayu has already told us everything—every word of your conversation."

She kept shaking her head, enunciating each word slowly. "It’s just… utterly ridiculous."

"Do you know what Qin Jiayu told us? She said she was just saying whatever came to mind in the moment—she was only trying to buy time. She never expected you’d actually believe it! —You actually believed her?!"

She tilted her head, feigning confusion. "Who’s that desperate to believe their own fantasy?"

"Who is Zhou Yuanfeng? The top student in his year, the student council president, the class monitor everyone admires. The golden boy of campus—handsome, tall, with a family background that’s among the best. What girl in her right mind would give him up for you?"

Ke Zhiwei’s chest heaved violently, but Shen Qingye ignored it. She kept shaking her head, as if the absurdity was too much to bear. "She was spouting lies even she didn’t buy—yet you fell for them?!"

"You believed her when she said she was with Zhou Yuanfeng just to get closer to you? That she fought with him because graduation was coming and she wouldn’t see you anymore, so she wanted to break up with him—"

Shen Qingye looked at him, her tone almost cheerful. "Pathetic, really."

"In all my years," she added, "but you? You take the delusional crown."

Ke Zhiwei finally snapped, his eyes red as he hissed fiercely, “Shut up!”

Shen Qingye’s smile deepened. “Shut up? Why should I? Are you afraid your ugliness and incompetence will be exposed for everyone to see? No wonder you couldn’t bring yourself to kill her—after all, if she were dead, who else would spout such nonsense to stroke your pathetic ego and desperate need to win?”

Ke Zhiwei pounded the table repeatedly. “Shut up! Shut up!”

“It’s not like that! It’s not!”

Ke Zhiwei struggled to stand, but the chair restrained him, sending him crashing back down.

“What’s so great about him? What’s so great? If it weren’t for his privileged background, how would he measure up to me?”

Shen Qingye scoffed. “He’s handsome, charismatic, and capable, yet in your words, it all boils down to his family? Fine, even if we exclude his background—you both attended the same school, the same class, even shared a dorm. That’s a level playing field, isn’t it? And yet? Zhou Yuanfeng was always top of the year. What about you? Were you even in the top three? Or the top five?”

She let out a derisive laugh. “Sorry, but I honestly didn’t even notice you!”

For someone like Ke Zhiwei, being called unnoticeable was the cruelest blow. He shook his head frantically. “No, no, no! The only reason he had such good grades was because his family was rich—rich enough to get a head start! Without that, what’s the difference between him and me? None!”

Yue Lingchuan couldn’t help but laugh. “So everyone better than you is just privileged? What about the others ahead of you? Were they all born into wealth too?”

“Attributing others’ success to their background is just an excuse losers make to justify their own incompetence!”

Ke Zhiwei’s eyes burned with fury. “You’re lying!”

Yue Lingchuan kept pushing relentlessly. “Am I? Even if you had Zhou Yuanfeng’s background, could you match his academic performance? Could you launch a successful venture like him? Could you manage a class—or even the entire student council—so well that everyone respected you?”

“No classmate disliked him. Everyone spoke of him with admiration. And you? Ke Zhiwei, what part did you play in your class?”

“You envy Zhou Yuanfeng for being better than you. You refuse to acknowledge his abilities. You didn’t even have the courage to pursue a girl openly—just resorted to crude, harassing letters to reveal your ugly truth.”

Yue Lingchuan looked at him with disdain. “You’re nothing but a sewer rat, afraid of the light.”

Ke Zhiwei was teetering on the edge of madness, screaming, “I’m not! I’m not!”

“Zhou Yuanfeng was just putting on an act! He knew how to manipulate people—he wasn’t that great at all!”

His eyes bloodshot, rationality long gone, he raved uncontrollably. “It’s all his fault! All his fault! If it weren’t for him, I could’ve been a class representative instead of losing the position to one of his lackeys! If it weren’t for him, I would’ve gotten the first-class scholarship too! If it weren’t for him, Qin Jiayu would’ve liked me!”

Slouched in the chair, he clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth ached, his nails biting into his palms as if numb to the pain.

He wasn’t wrong…

He wasn’t wrong!

Before college, Ke Zhiwei had been his family’s pride, his class’s pride, even his school’s pride.

In that impoverished nowhere village where even one college student a year was rare, Ke Zhiwei’s outstanding grades made him the teachers’ and principal’s favorite. Everyone indulged him; the school’s resources were all his. At home, he was treated like royalty.

And in the end, he got into Pingjiang University of Finance and Economics.

But college life was nothing like he imagined.

Once the center of attention, Ke Zhiwei faded into mediocrity, becoming ordinary. The grades he took pride in were now merely middling in this class.

No one noticed him. No one cared.

Ke Zhiwei couldn’t adjust. He was used to being the focus, to everyone’s gaze. But here, he was too unremarkable, with nothing to make him stand out.

Most of his classmates weren’t all from wealthy backgrounds, but they were still far more privileged than Ke Zhiwei, who came from a nowhere village. Their polished manners and effortless conversations left him feeling utterly out of his depth.

He had no idea what they were talking about, like he just didn't fit in with them at all.

Anxious and tormented inside, he longed to return to his high school days, yet he had no clue how to draw the attention of these "golden children" onto himself.

It was around this time that his roommate's behavior stood out to him even more.

Zhou Yuanfeng, with his handsome looks, outgoing personality, and affluent background, had quickly clicked with the entire class shortly after the semester began. Whenever he appeared, he became the center of attention, as if everyone had something to say to him.

Ke Zhiwei watched from the sidelines—first with envy, then slowly, gradually, a bitter jealousy started growing inside him.

Why did Zhou Yuanfeng get to be the one everyone adored, even earning the favor of students from other classes and teachers alike?

Was it just because of his family background? Just because he had money?

Ke Zhiwei became obsessed with watching him, noticing how he breezed through each day without a care; how a single piece of his clothing could cost as much as Ke Zhiwei’s monthly living expenses, or how a pair of his shoes might equal his family’s earnings for an entire year; how he laughed and joked around, frequently treating classmates and roommates to meals—all while Ke Zhiwei's resentment kept growing.

Why did Zhou Yuanfeng thrive effortlessly while he was stuck wearing thrift store clothes and eating ramen noodles?

Unwilling to accept this, Ke Zhiwei tried to emulate Zhou Yuanfeng, attempting to build relationships with others in the class. Yet, they didn't give him the same warm reception. He also wanted to run for a class committee position to secure some standing, but the girl who competed against Zhou for class president lost and ended up taking the study committee role he had wanted, leaving him out in the cold. He even fought hard for the first-class scholarship to ease his family’s burden, but Zhou—who clearly didn’t need the money—insisted on competing for it.

Even the girl he'd finally worked up the nerve to like—Zhou Yuanfeng had to take her too.

With so many people adoring him, so many beautiful girls around, why did Zhou have to go after Qin Jiayu—the one Ke Zhiwei had chosen?

He hadn’t dared to aim for the pretty, well-off girls, so he deliberately picked Qin Jiayu—average-looking, from an average family—completely ordinary. Yet why did even she have to be taken by Zhou Yuanfeng?

Years of accumulated resentment deepened Ke Zhiwei’s hatred for Zhou. Even when Zhou treated everyone to meals at high-end restaurants, Ke Zhiwei couldn’t help suspecting it was a deliberate attempt to humiliate him, to mock him. The clothes and shoes Zhou occasionally gave him just felt like hand-me-downs meant to rub it in.

But the final breaking point came this year.