Seizing Dreams

Ch93.1 – Premeditated

“After you go in, pay attention to what you say. They’re recording.” Huang Ting cautioned them only of this before opening the door and letting Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao in.

This was Yu Hao’s first time entering an interrogation room at a police station. Legally, Ou Qihang could be questioned here for 24 hours. There was only one table, a few chairs, and a lamp in the middle. The walls of the room looked both eerie and severe.

Ou Qihang also looked very haggard and on the verge of falling asleep as he sat at the table, yet he couldn’t lie down on the table. When he heard the noise, he suddenly raised his head and a ray of hope appeared in his eyes.

“I didn’t say I wanted to see you.” Ou Qihang said.

Huang Ting and another policeman stood at the side and asked Yu Hao, “Yu Hao, was he the person you encountered the night before yesterday?”

Yu Hao and Ou Qihang looked at each other. Ou Qihang smiled helplessly.

“Yes.” Yu Hao said to Huang Ting.

Huang Ting confirmed it with Zhou Sheng again. After he finished asking his questions, he left with the other policeman and closed the door behind him.

“I didn’t say I wanted to see you.” Ou Qihang said to Zhou Sheng.

“I’m here to be a bodyguard.” Zhou Sheng said, “Lest a rabid dog like you suddenly does something while you’re talking and bite my wife.”

Yu Hao, “……”

“You’re the rabid dog.” Ou Qihang retorted, and after a moment, he added, “Your skills aren’t bad.”

Yu Hao said, “Qihang, I hope you can live your life well, stop doing foolish things.”

Ou Qihang gazed at Yu Hao and said, “This isn’t something foolish. I thought you would be able to understand me, but looks like you think the same way as them.”

“Why did your father commit suicide?” Zhou Sheng said, “In the past half a year, have you properly thought about it?”

Ou Qihang looked at the surrounding walls, “I have. A lot of people must be listening in on us now ba.”

“Not a lot.” Zhou Sheng answered, “Do you think they would be stupid enough to let a whole group of policemen listen to us chat?”

Ou Qihang said, “When I went to see you that day, I had a lot of things I wanted to say to you. I wanted to ask you to help me.”

Zhou Sheng frowned slightly. Yu Hao looked up at Ou Qihang and asked, “Why me?”

“I’ve been inquiring about you guys for a long time.” Ou Qihang said softly, “The two of you saved a child who was sexually assaulted by her father, saved a teacher in your college who was a victim of domestic violence……the two of you picked up the money that my Dad hid in the reservoir, but didn’t take it for yourselves. I thought that if I told you the truth, you would stand up for me.”

“I thought that you must have some kind of superpower.” Ou Qihang leaned over slightly. The sound of Zhou Sheng fiddling about with the lighter stopped instantly; he raised a hand slightly, ready to protect Yu Hao.

“You’re overthinking it.” Yu Hao laughed bitterly, “What superpower? There was just no other choice.”

“Indeed.” Zhou Sheng said, “We saw injustice right in front of our eyes ma, so we would stand up for it once in awhile. But we won’t save you, you’re not worthy of redemption.”

Ou Qihang leaned back slightly and mocked, “Why?”

Zhou Sheng said coldly, “Because you injured an innocent journalist by causing her to sprain her ankle, and still haven’t asked about her situation so far.”

Ou Qihang was startled for a moment.

Yu Hao, “……”

Yu Hao thought that when Zhou Sheng got serious, his trash talking skill was practically maxed out.

“Of course, you can even throw away your own life.” Zhou Sheng continued, “And you don’t even care about your own mother, so how could you have anyone else in your eyes? Why would someone as strong as you need redemption? More like you should be the one redeeming us, right?”

Yu Hao had wanted to try starting from Ou Qihang’s father to accomplish their task, and do his best to guide him, but Zhou Sheng had taken the lead, so now he wasn’t really involved. He knows that Ou Qihang must be exhausted right now, his psychological defenses on the verge of disintegration and collapse. His inner world must be a chaotic turmoil filled with blustering gales and lightning now.

If they still had the Golden Crow Wheel, then what would Ou Qihang’s inner world be like? Would such a cold-blooded person still hope for sunlight to befall him?

“I’m not strong.” Ou Qihang suddenly said, “I’m very weak, otherwise why would I resort to this sort of method to fight?”

The interrogation room lapsed into a momentary silence. Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao both looked at Ou Qihang. At this time, Yu Hao felt that Ou Qihang was about to open up, purely based on his intuition.

Zhou Sheng said, “This is the last hour I’ll give you. Act as if there’s no recording here ba, explain the whole matter clearly, get your bail pending trial, then go home to spend time with your mother. It’s up to you whether you want to talk or not. If you don’t want to, we’ll leave; my temper isn’t as good as Yu Hao’s.”

Ou Qihang’s brows furrowed slightly.

“My father was a good man all his life.” Ou Qihang said.

When he heard this, Yu Hao thought, he’s finally talking.

“He was honest for many years.” Ou Qihang said, “My family didn’t have much money, and we could barely be considered middle-class ba. I don’t know why he accepted that sum of money; I’m guessing that he might have wanted to send me abroad to further my studies, or it could have been for some other……”

“One day last year, he drove me to my taekwondo class.” Ou Qihang was immersed in his memories, “I saw that black plastic bag in the trunk.”

“The one we found.” Zhou Sheng said.

“Yes.” Ou Qihang said, “At that time, he was cleaning the windows in front, and I only glanced at it once. I could vaguely guess that it was cash, but I didn’t ask. After a few days, I went home to pick up an exercise book, and when I was about to go back to school, a guest came to our house.”

Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao slowly raised their index fingers at the same time and gently tapped in front of them. Ou Qihang understood, then nodded.

“I don’t know who that person was.” Ou Qihang said, “But I heard him promise my Dad that all his worries would be solved.”

Yu Hao’s breathing stopped.

“Then he asked if everything was handled properly.” Ou Qihang said, “My Dad answered and said that he had handled it. At first, I thought it was weird, and after a few days, I heard my parents discussing something at the dinner table and knew that someone from the top had come down to investigate……I didn’t link it to that matter at first. After I returned to school that day, I couldn’t really concentrate on class either……at 4.50, I received the news that my Dad had jumped off a building.”

“Un.” Zhou Sheng said calmly.

“That was the antecedent.” Ou Qihang said, “He took bribes when approving land and committed suicide. I think when the guest promised him that ‘all his worries could be solved’, he meant to take care of me and my mother ba? But I didn’t want to let them off just like that. The investigation team took away his suicide note and didn’t let me see it. The stolen money couldn’t be found, and its amount couldn’t be determined either, so it was even less possible to trace its source. Half a month later, I saw the news about you guys picking up the money in the reservoir……”

Yu Hao, “……”

“He went there to fish before.” Ou Qihang said, “So I thought it must be that sum of money.”

“You’re very patient.” Zhou Sheng said.

Ou Qihang said, “I kept waiting at first, waiting and hoping that this matter would continue. But very soon, there was no more news. I called the newspaper office to ask about the follow-up. They said that for the time being they weren’t clear, and that I had to ask the police station. Later on, I wrote an anonymous letter of allegation to them, but received no reply.”

Ou Qihang shrugged, “It was as if this matter never happened and had completely sunk into the abyss. I’ve always been wondering about what I had to do in order to make everyone continue paying attention to this matter. But I knew that I couldn’t alert the snake either, otherwise, if I couldn’t blow it up enough, I would be immediately restrained.”

“During the New Year, my mother asked me to take my cousin to the amusement park to have fun.” Ou Qihang said, “After we finished playing paintball, I happened to see you, and saw your nametag — Yu Hao.”

Yu Hao said, “But I didn’t notice you.”

“You were performing for the children at the time by trying to eat peanuts with a blindfold.” Ou Qihang smiled, “So of course you didn’t see me. I had read all the news and its contents in detail. The news said that the student who didn’t pocket the money was a college student, and worked at the amusement park during the New Year. I thought that you matched that description.”

Zhou Sheng said, “So you went to great lengths to get Yu Hao’s number.”

“Yes.” Ou Qihang said, “Because once I saw you, Zhou Sheng, I thought you weren’t someone to be trifled with, while Yu Hao on the other hand seemed more likely to be willing to help me.”

Yu Hao said, “There was a slight error in your judgement.”

“No.” Ou Qihang said, “There was no error, never mind……I……perhaps it was intuition ba? I thought you liked guys and thought that you could be interested in guys of my type. But school was about to start soon, my mother kept a very close watch on me, and I also suspected that someone was monitoring us. So throughout the semester, I was very careful to lie low and wait for the dust to settle.”

Ou Qihang made several subconscious movements with his long and slender fingers, like a spinning motion.

“It was only when summer vacation was about to end,” Ou Qihang continued, “that I thought I had a chance. I began asking around about you, and coincidentally had an online in-game friend who studied at your college and told me a lot of the gossip surrounding you. At that time I thought of using my little life as a price to pay and blow the whole thing up. Fool you first, then get you to help me post some comments on the internet to say that the police station had embezzled the money.”

“But I don’t know why, when I talked to you, I didn’t want to implicate you.” Ou Qihang said with slight regret, “If I did, I definitely would’ve caused you to get badly hurt, and why do that?”

“Did you already plan to commit suicide back then?” Yu Hao asked.

Ou Qihang nodded seriously, “Public outcry needs to be brewed and fermented; it’ll start through you, by mentioning the police embezzlement of the 1.2 million to serve as preheating. Half a month later, I would act as I did yesterday.

I took advantage of my evening self-study time to sneak out of school and followed Xiao Yujun, then took her laptop away. There must be a lot of pictures on her laptop regarding that bag of money that weren’t released on the news at that time. After getting the photos, I sent them to five of my online friends.

Then I told them to pay attention to my desk mate’s Weibo. Once my photos were uploaded, they would immediately screenshot them, and attach them to the message I had prepared beforehand, as well as the certificate of my mental health assessment, the photos of the money, and the recording of their conversation in the living room that day……”

Yu Hao, “……”

Zhou Sheng, “!!!”

“Upload them all at the same time.” Ou Qihang revealed a sad smile, “That’s the entire process. Yu Hao, I once wanted to ask you for help with two things: the first was to publish a post condemning the police station on my behalf, and the second was that after my death——” When he spoke to this point, Ou Qihang hesitated for a short moment.

Yu Hao, “To monitor the discussion on Weibo and major forums for you, and ensure that everyone wouldn’t forget everything you traded your life for, is that right? Why did you do that? Did you ever consider your father? If your father was still alive……”

Ou Qihang nodded.

“He would definitely wish for me to be well.” Ou Qihang said, “I know what you want to say, but I won’t. Can’t I have my own views? I want revenge. I don’t care, my Dad chose to die by himself to protect my Mum and I; he’s guilty for taking bribes, I don’t deny that. Why can’t I choose to screw the rest of the officials over? Those who are dead can’t be brought back to life, but I can take revenge—— RE, VENGE!”

Yu Hao watched Ou Qihang quietly.

“What are the names of your online friends?” Zhou Sheng had a hunch that this matter could be a bit troublesome now, “Can you get the information back? Aren’t you afraid that those friends of yours would upload them ahead of time?”

“Of course not, do I look that stupid? I compressed all the data and set a password for them.” Ou Qihang smiled calmly, “Before jumping down, I would send the password to one of my desk mate’s alternative WeChat accounts, and then get my desk mate to send out the password in a WeChat text. But now, as you wished, I’m the only one who knows the password.”