Chapter 126: Suspicious Voices (3) |
After learning the truth, Tang Jinxia couldn’t help but complain a little about Ji Cheng, feeling that she had been screwed over by him.
Wei Hongbo then explained to her that the criminals had targeted Shen Qing first, then staged the Paradise Beverages ad incident. If the brand Shen Qing endorsed had not been Paradise, there would still have been a high chance this would have happened.
Since Ji Cheng helped the police, Wei Hongbo naturally felt obliged to speak up for him.
Although the Guide Light Society’s choice of Paradise Group as a target was not accidental, at least there was no question of one party framing the other. Both Shen Qing and Paradise Group were hunting targets of the Guide Light Society.
Shen Qing fell silent for a long time, then said to Tang Jinxia, Auntie, we decided to cooperate ourselves, so it’s not fair to blame Director Ji. Besides, thinking back over the whole process, I do feel I was heavily influenced by the teacher.
Tang Jinxia considered this carefully and agreed it made sense, then transferred her resentment to Zhou Huai and told Shen Qing bluntly, stop calling him teacher, he’s a criminal!
Wei Hongbo’s second visit aimed to figure out Zhou Huai’s true intentions toward Shen Qing. He asked the two of them to think carefully again, to see if they could find any clues related to him, or any overlooked details.
Over the past day, the expert team had attempted multiple “Dream Fishing” tries on both Zhou Huai and William Finch based on the information Shen Qing provided, but they never found any dream narrative content related to this aspect.
Therefore the task force suspected that their subconscious firewalls might be working, and that Zhou Huai’s approach to Shen Qing had already involved the Guide Light Society’s core secrets.
Wei Hongbo asked, have you never suspected Zhou Huai’s motives for approaching you?
Shen Qing said she had some suspicions, but she thought she was probably overthinking it.
When a girl encounters a male approaching her, she will inevitably guess a little about romantic intentions, but Zhou Huai clearly had no such thoughts.
They had never discussed personal feelings; even when they occasionally ate together, it was in the school canteen. Who pursues a girl like that?
When they first met, Shen Qing was still a senior in her fourth year; back then Zhou Huai couldn’t have known she would become a star.
Shen Qing only began publicly releasing works in her fifth year, which gave her some recognition. The composition program at Yuecheng Conservatory of Music is a five-year course.
If he had contacted her early to cultivate a promising talent, one might expect him to propose collaborations or paid guidance after she became famous, but Zhou Huai never mentioned such things.
After this round of conversation, Wei Hongbo didn’t gain anything substantive. However, he became more certain that Zhou Huai had planned in advance; his motives were definitely not simple. There are people who seek neither fame nor profit, but the Guide Light Society’s members were clearly not among them.
Campus life is a relatively simple environment—teachers guide students, or senior students mentor juniors, and often no material interests are involved.
Zhou Huai contacted Shen Qing at a very opportune time, so he or the Guide Light Society must have noticed her before then.
Following that line of thought, Wei Hongbo asked about Shen Qing’s college experiences. Sure enough, he learned she had won some composition awards while studying. They were not major prizes, but enough to show her talent and put her on some people’s radar.
When he saw there was nothing more to ask, Wei Hongbo prepared to break off and return.
Tang Jinxia got anxious at once and hurriedly reminded Wei Hongbo that Shen Qing’s spiritual contamination issue had not yet been resolved.
Wei Hongbo told her that because similar cases were common, the police would arrange diagnosis and treatment in a grouped session on Monday. He reassured them that Shen Qing was only a suspected case now, not necessarily infected, so they should not panic too much.
Tang Jinxia grew even more anxious. Shen Qing was a celebrity; being grouped with others could spark gossip and harm her career trajectory.
Furthermore, recalling that Shen Qing had been acting strangely recently and wanted to write songs in a new style, Tang Jinxia had almost decided her niece had been spiritually contaminated. That suggestion about the new style had been proposed by that damned Zhou Huai.
Hearing Tang Jinxia’s concerns, Wei Hongbo thought they had a point and said he would report back to leadership and try to arrange a separate diagnosis for them.
...
Wei Hongsi received a call from Yu Zhen. When he heard Shen Qing wanted to be diagnosed tonight, he agreed.
It was just one person, it would not take long, and didn’t require a large team. One or two people assisting him would be enough.
He happened to be encountering some problems with instrument performance and could, in passing, consult this expert, Shen Qing.
Arranging diagnosis and treatment for those roughly one hundred and forty people at the police’s request required the task force to negotiate with the company. Director Shi said he would contact Zhiwei’s leadership in the afternoon to discuss the cooperation.
Wei Hongsi didn’t know which leader Director Shi would contact, but the actual execution still fell on their project team. They could begin the work first; it did not have to wait for a signed agreement.
Still, following protocol, Wei Hongsi reported to Gu Shiming on WD to notify him.
Gu Shiming had no objections and replied, “I know about this, go ahead and arrange it. You went to the police station again today, right?”
Wei Hongsi: “Yes, the task force leaders said they will come to the company tomorrow morning.”
Gu Shiming replied: “Okay, noted.” He didn’t ask further.
Wei Hongsi could roughly guess what the task force leaders would want to discuss when they came.
Besides discussing the commission, they would likely brief company leadership on relevant case details. Because CMS and President Xia were involved, some information needed to be learned from the company, and some content might become new directions for dream interpretation.
The previous official investigative team had not focused on this. The fact that President Xia had been controlled by the Guide Light Society was only discovered by the task force that morning.
Although Wei Hongsi knew these things, he could not speak about them.
However, these developments were likely related to the shareholder meeting Director Dai was about to convene. For Director Dai, this might be good news.
After reporting to his superior, Wei Hongsi thought about who could assist him and felt Yuan Zhenhui would be suitable, so he messaged him: can you spare half an hour tonight to help me handle something, around 7:30?
Yuan Zhenhui quickly replied: “No problem!”
Looking at the reply, Wei Hongsi couldn’t help but think: for Yuan Zhenhui, even after changing teams he still had to do the work and inevitably overtime. So what matters most to him? Perhaps a fair workplace environment.
