BXBX NOVEL Chapter 390 - A Mysterious Smile!
Chapter 390: A Mysterious Smile!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Why did he look and smile at her that way?
It puzzled Xiang Wan and she looked straight back at him.
Meng Chi squinted his eyes and his smile seemed deeper...
Xiang Wan was the type of girl whom most would find pretty.
A pair of beautiful clear, bright eyes; a slender, proportionate figure; an especially fair complexion wherein pores and blemishes seemed non-existent. She seldom put on make-up. Although her features were not sedulously beautiful after dolling up, she had a charming artistic vibe that the more one looked at her, the more they find her beautiful. She gave off a comfortable and healthy feeling as well. She had the look of the “first love” of many—she had long, smooth, beautiful hair, glowing like a piece of beautiful jade—gentle and delicate. She had a clean and refreshing demeanor; each angle of hers was not exaggerated. She looked natural and approachable...
Hence, since young, Xiang Wan always knew that she had good looks.
However, Meng Chi’s gaze was not one that seemed to have appreciated her attractiveness.
Neither was it that her looks ticked him in a certain way.
Rather it was a type of—a peculiar mocking gaze.
His gaze looked as if it were glued on her face without wavering.
Xiang Wan felt uncomfortable.
She looked away and glanced at Bai Muchuan.
He did not move, neither did he say anything.
When Meng Chi’s eyes withdrew away from Xiang Wan, Bai Muchuan called his name with no expression.
“We are the detectives in charge of the 121 case. We have several questions relating to the case that requires your assistance, please cooperate with us...”
Meng Chi knew that any organization would have a set of protocols to adhere to.
Although they were about to question him, he still had an imposing aura.
“Of course!”
Bai Muchuan was still the same. “We’ll verify your personal information first.”
“Sure.”
“Your name?”
“Meng Chi!”
“Age?”
...
After the verification of personal details, Bai Muchuan started to stare at him gloomily.
“Do you know why we brought you here?”
Meng Chi replied thereafter, “I don’t know.”
Bai Muchuan glanced at Quan Shaoteng, who proceeded to show the pictures of the corpse on screen for Meng Chi to have a look.
“Do you know this man?” Quan Shaoteng asked.
The pictures of the corpse were certainly hard for average people to see.
Meng Chi, however, looked at them for a while, furrowing his eyebrows in thought.
“I don’t think I know him!”
Bai Muchuan gave a reminder. “Please give a definite reply!”
Meng Chi cleared his throat and said affirmatively, “I don’t know him!”
Quan Shaoteng changed to another slide. This time, the slide showed several pictures. One of them was the white Daoist robe.
“Have you seen this before?”
The expression on Meng Chi’s face did not change. “I’m sorry, I’ve never seen it!”
Quan Shaoteng was always in charge of giving orders to his squad back when he was in Red Thorn. Although they appointed him as the Operations Captain in Serious Crime Division One, he felt that it was too tiring and frustrating to handle tasks that battle against wits. In just a few sentences, he had already lost patience and left Bai Muchuan to handle the questioning.
“Meng Chi!” Bai Muchuan asked, “Please give a detailed account about how Yu Ning got hurt.”
“About how Yu Ning got hurt?” Meng Chi slightly looked surprised.
This topic seemed to put him on the spot.
He adjusted himself to sit upright on the chair and seemed more serious than earlier.
“Must I say it?” he asked.
“You must.” Bai Muchuan’s sharp frosty line of sight met with his in mid-air for two seconds.
Such eye contact was often easier to peek into a person’s heart than words.
Meng Chi paused for a moment. “Can you keep this a secret?”
Bai Muchuan watched his ever-changing expression. “It’s our duty to do that—”
Meng Chi remained silent.
He had a troubled expression as he hesitated to speak...
A while later, he looked up slowly.
“If this matter got out, it will be detrimental to the film crew and the actors. I didn’t want to tell anyone about it either. However, since Detective Bai has specially invited me to talk about this, it must be related to the case... Hmm, cooperating with the police is what we citizens should do. I must fulfill my obligation...”
“Get to the point!” Bai Muchuan interrupted him impatiently.
“Yu Ning got hurt while exchanging blows with Ye Lun.”
Yu Ning got into a fight?
With Ye Lun!
Not to mention, both of them got hurt?
If that was the case, there would be bloodstains of the two of them!
This seemed to fit in the case seamlessly!
Xiang Wan pricked up her ears, and she felt tense and curious.
However, Bai Muchuan still looked as cool as usual. “Why did they get into a fight?”
Meng Chi let out a chuckle. “What else can it be? It’s always the same old things in this industry—fight for status, fight for resources, fight for more scenes... Yu Ning is the first male lead; Ye Lun is the third male lead. Nowadays, it’s hard to grasp what the audience wants to see...”
The questioning room went silent.
Nobody answered him.
Meng Chu paused for a while before continuing.
“Being the first male lead, Yu Ning naturally has the most scenes. Ye Lun, the third male lead, couldn’t be compared to him at all, but ever since we started shooting ‘The Grey List’, Ye Lun has been gaining a lot of popularity. Anything that had ‘Ye Lun’ on the topic, would quickly gain traffic and show up on hot news. That day, Ye Lun was eating a bowl of hot and sour rice noodles by the street and that quickly made headlines... No choice, for the sake of viewership, the film crew made adjustments to Ye Lun’s scenes.”
“And they fought over this?” Quan Shaoteng broke into laughter. “How can famous celebrities be so narrow-minded?”
“I don’t know the details of how it all started...” said Meng Chi, “but it was not Yu Ning who started the fight!”
“Oh? Please recount the situation straight to the point!”
“I was not there when it happened. I only heard about how it started because of a packed lunch.”
An incident that caused them to bleed was because of a packed lunch?
Quan Shaoteng raised an eyebrow. “More details!”
Meng Chi glanced at him. “The meals provided by the film crew are according to the rank of the celebrity. The better the rank, the better the food.”
They got it now!
The difference in treatment was everywhere.
Quan Shaoteng couldn’t help sneering. “The problem lies with you, CEO Meng. You shouldn’t be so stingy.”
Meng Chi replied casually, “There are more than a hundred people in a film crew.”
“I see,” said Quan Shaoteng, “continue!”
Meng Chi did so. “Yu Ning is a modest and laid back person, but Ye Lun... you might already know. As he made a name for himself when he was a child, he got arrogant and threw his weight about... He entered a low phase in his life for the past few years and managed to revive his career because of ‘The Grey List’. As if it worried him that nobody knew his popularity... that day, when he noticed that his set lunch differed from Yu Ning’s, he started to make rude remarks at him. He provoked him and even started the fight!”
The packed lunch was the triggering point.
The real cause of the fight between the two was simply because of their long-standing feud.
Nonetheless, Xiang Wan felt that—Meng Chi’s words were too subjective.
“CEO Meng,” Bai Muchuan smiled. “It’s obvious that your words seemed to carry your own emotions and preferences, am I wrong?”
He was also thinking the same thing as Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan couldn’t help but peek at him as she was feeling sweet inside.
A smile appeared on Meng Chi’s face. “I’m sure Detective Bai can understand this? It’s the same with your subordinates. You will certainly prefer some over the rest, right?”
Bai Muchuan kept quiet.
However, that did not mean he accepted such an assumption.
“Yu Ning never stirred up trouble for the company,” continued Meng Chi, “he would listen to the company’s arrangements for promotions and shows, and he was never late. He got along well with everyone and had a good character. Ye Lun is the direct opposite of him. The company has been cleaning up all the mess he has created. If you’re in my shoes, will you be sick of doing all this all the time? Take for instance, the case that happened at ‘The Palace’ in Jin City. Detective Bai should know that the company spent great efforts to get him out of that fix...”
After pausing for a while, he revealed a smile with a mysterious vibe.
“Captain Bai, do you think what I’ve said is reasonable?”
It was reasonable.
Bai Muchuan looked at him intently. “When they were fighting, who else was there?”
Meng Chi contemplated for a moment. “When I saw them, it was already the next day after the incident and they’ve got their wounds treated already. The reason I brought Yu Ning to Xi City is because the facilities in Nanmu are rather backward, and his wound seemed a little infected. At the same time, I can also bring Xie Wanwan back... Since I was not present during their fight, I do not know about such details.”
Bai Muchuan nodded. “Can you provide a list of people present with them during that time?”
Meng Chi smiled. “I can get my assistant to pass you the list.”
“Thank you!”
Bai Muchuan thanked him with a poker face.
After that, silence took over.
That kind of environment was not a good place for chit chatting.
After asking what they should ask, there was nothing else they could say.
However, Bai Muchuan did not end the questioning right away. Instead, he started to flip through the dossier...
Time drifted.
Meng Chi’s eyes gradually showed a glimmer of scrutiny.
He seemed to be in thought.
That look of his was complicated.
“Captain Bai, are you suspecting me?”
“Why do you say that?” Bai Muchuan lifted his head and looked at him seriously with his eyes narrowed.
“I can feel the emotions you have towards me!”
A smile started to show up on Meng Chi’s face. “My sixth sense also tells me that you don’t really like me.”
Bai Muchuan put down the document, tapping his fingers along the table with a half-smile on his face.
“Oh, so you wanted me to like you?”
Meng Chi seemed dazed for a moment.
The next moment, he showed another smile.
“Detective Bai is very humorous!’
“You too.” Bai Muchuan “retaliated” quickly. After that, he looked deeply at Meng Chi. “That’s all for today,” he said, “however, their interrogation is not over yet, so we have to inconvenience CEO Meng to sit here for a while!”
Meng Chi remained silent.
Nobody would want to sit inside a questioning room with nothing to do.
There were only a chair and a table in there.
Not to mention, that chair was fixed to the ground.
He couldn’t move it or shift it to anywhere he liked...
Meng Chi leaned back against the chair and stared at Bai Muchuan, his body was slightly stiff.
“How long do I have to wait? Don’t tell me you want to keep me here for 24 hours?”
Twenty-four hours was the legalized time limit.
The police had the right to keep him in there for 24 hours.
Meng Chi’s expression was one of disbelief and shock. “Captain Bai, I’m a busy man. There’s a lot of work to do. I’m only here to cooperate with the investigation. You can’t do this to me...”
“My apologies, CEO Meng,” Bai Muchuan did not seem like he was apologetic at all. “We’re only following the protocol!”
After that, he provided no more explanation. He put away the documents properly and got up from the seat as he smiled at Meng Chi politely. Yet that smile of his seemed to give off a mysterious bad vibe at the same time.
“I’ll get going now. CEO Meng, please rest here for a moment.”