Chapter 18

Meanwhile, when Qin Shaocheng arrived, Fa Xiao [1] led him by the shoulder into the hotel’s entrance. Qin Shaocheng glanced back at the crowd from afar as he listened to the deafening roar of the sirens.

“What are you looking at?” Fa Xiao looked back. “Tsk. The cops have captured some criminals in the street.”

Qin Shaocheng smiled and asked his friend about how he had been lately. They chatted as they walked towards a private box.

After three rounds of drinking, there was a knock on the box’s door.

The hotel manager came in with a smile. He walked towards Fa Xiao and whispered something into his ear. Fa Xiao’s face changed. He immediately pulled Qin Shaocheng out of the box as he shouted to the other people inside: “Something came up! We’ll be back in a bit! Just wait for us here!”

Qin Shaocheng rubbed his forehead. “What happened?”

“A bunch of paparazzi are bombarding you here!” Fa Xiao grabbed Qin Shaocheng’s arm as he followed the manager to the kitchen aisle of the hotel, towards the back exit. “Jiang Yishan has just been arrested and is now in the police station. He turned himself in!”

Qin Shaocheng instantly sobered up.

When Wang Deshun rushed up to grab Jiang Yishan’s neck, he was pressed onto the ground by policemen who were dressed in civilian clothes.

Jiang Yishan was also restrained. As a cop twisted his arm and pressed him against the car door, he choked on the drug that was in his mouth and he couldn’t speak. After being taken into the police car, he gasped and told the comrade in civilian clothes that he had swallowed the drug and it was now stuck.

Before going to the police station, they had to go to the hospital to take out the evidence and the drug cartridge.

Jiang Yishan was very calm along the way, and he didn’t struggle when he was taken into the interrogation room. The concrete walls, the iron chair under his butt, and the metal handcuffs around his wrists were extremely cold. He sat up straight and stared calmly at the interrogator across him. The video record button was pressed, completely capturing him. Jiang Yishan glanced at the camera then looked away.

“Name?”

“Jiang Yishan.”

“Age?”

“Twenty-four.”

“Occupation?”

“Actor.”

“At 19:55 today, you reported the suspect Wang Deshun of using illegal drugs with your mobile phone number 139XXXX4151. Wang Deshun threatened you to use it to frame the victim Qin Shaocheng. You said that you were held hostage and could not report to the police. You ask to have a police officer call you. You connected at 19:59.”

“Yes.” Jiang Yishan nodded.

“You can tell us what happened.”

“On the fourth night of the beginning of the year, in City A, Wang Deshun contacted me through my assistant Zhang Guang. He asked me to go to the Yuan Lai Yuan private restaurant at twenty o’clock and to meet him in the Magnolia box. He drove a Jaguar with the license plate number A17524H. He came to me and asked me how I was. I told him I had no money, and that I wanted to participate in informal roadshows so I can continue to earn. However, he advised me not to go. He wanted to take advantage of my ‘homesexual’ scandal and use it to frame Qin Shaocheng. He didn’t elaborate, so I didn’t agree.”

Jiang Yishan recounted everything word for word, as if he had written a draft in his heart and and recited it thousands of times. His speech was neither fast nor slow; every word was clearly articulated. He didn’t even need the interrogator to tell him to repeat it for the camera.

“The next day, he sent my assistant several roadshows and I went to them. However, the performance was cancelled because the onlooking reporters kept asking me personal questions. I went back to his Letian Film and Television company under Wang Deshun’s arrangements. He told me that I couldn’t pick up any other jobs because of my gay love affair scandal with Qin Shaocheng. He continued to persuade me to use my scandal to discredit Qin Shaocheng’s reputation. He also told me that he had a big boss, surnamed Zhang, in City B. Wang Deshun came to after listening to his arrangements.

“They promised me that if I could do this, they would give me eight million yuan. Spreading rumors about me on the internet would also be beneficial. They’ll make it come out that the series of negative news about me were all what Qin Shaocheng ordered me to do. Afterwards, they want me to admit in front of the public media that Qin Shaocheng was my financial sponsor. I accepted it because I was short on money. They immediately deposited a thirty percent down payment in four installments into the CCB [2] card under my name. I don’t remember the card number.

“Then they took me to City B and locked me in a villa, restricting my freedom and all means of communication. First, they spread some fake news on the internet, guiding the public to say that I was involved with several investors and producers for my own benefit. They fabricated that I had unfaithful relationships with many gay men, making the public believe that I was a kept lover. Wang Deshun arranged some people in advance near the hotel to secretly take indecent photos of me and the victim, Qin Shaocheng. This would be used to slander my relationship with him.

“Wang Deshun also asked me to give a drug to the victim. He said that the drug was only a stimulant. I was afraid of using drugs and I wanted to back out, but I didn’t have the freedom to do so. I kept pretending that I was willing to cooperate so that he would relax his vigilance against me. At nineteen o’clock, Wang Deshun took me to the hotel to find the victim. I got my mobile phone and searched for the information I needed on the internet. I immediately turned to the police and surrendered. Because I was afraid that Wang Deshun would destroy the evidence after I called the police, I swallowed the drug cartridge.”

The interrogator asked: “The victim you mentioned refers to Qin Shaocheng, a grandson of Qin Yu, the director of Zhifeng group?”

“Yes.”

“Why does the suspect Wang Deshun need you to slander the victim?”

“Because I have a homosexuality scandal. They said that I was the best negative resource available. When I slander Qin Shaocheng’s reputation, the victim will lose credibility and internal support in the company’s next group meeting.”

“What is the relationship between you and the victim?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Do you have any connection with the victim?”

“No.” Jiang Yishan looked at the camera. His face was expressionless, but the blood under his skin was boiling. “I don’t know him.”