Shen Zhengning quickly scanned the code and returned the phone to him, showing a speechless expression. "Let's not bring up the dark past, shall we?"

His profile picture was a simple landscape photo. Yuan Hang accepted the request, saved the contact, and sighed, shaking his head at his words: "If you call that a dark past, then what was I? A forest ape climbing a tree?"

Shen Zhengning corrected him: "The first step from ape to man is getting down from the trees."

Yuan Hang: "..."

Ding Sheng coughed quietly behind him to save his dignity: "Brother Yuan, I've turned on the body cam, okay?"

"Okay, let's get down to business."

Yuan Hang sat back down across the conference table and asked seriously: "Shen Zhengning, right? What's your relationship with Ye Tongsheng? What kind of person do you think he is?"

Shen Zhengning sat up a little straighter and answered formally: "Yes, I'm an engineer in the R&D Department. Ye Tongsheng is a colleague from our Information Security Department. Our work overlaps, but not much. A week ago, when he was on vacation abroad, he asked me to help handle some work matters. He brought me back a souvenir after he returned. That's the extent of our relationship."

"I don't really understand your specific jobs, but you said you're not in the same department, so why did he ask you for help?"

"The task he needed help with wasn't difficult, just a bit time-consuming. Maybe the others weren't available."

"Not available?"

"Currently, the only ones working in his department are interns. Maybe he felt they weren't up to it? I also asked him why, but his answer was vague. Perhaps he just thought I was easy to talk to and wouldn't refuse."

Yuan Hang twirled his pen and asked while rubbing his chin: "You were willing to help him, which means you thought he was a decent guy?"

It was unclear what about that sentence struck Shen Zhengning, but a barely perceptible smile appeared on his face: "Is that what you think, Officer Yuan? Then I guess so."

Yuan Hang: "..."

Enduring his condemning gaze that seemed to say 'don't bully an honest man', Shen Zhengning explained in detail: "Ye Tongsheng is professionally competent and very organized. At work, he generally doesn't shift blame. If he can help, he will. He's usually polite and has a sense of propriety. He handles social situations very thoughtfully. In his personal life, I've never heard any messy gossip or scandals about him. Based on my interactions with him, he should be considered a good person."

Yuan Hang "Mmm'd" and nodded: "Did you notice anything unusual about Ye Tongsheng recently? Did he ever show any negative emotions, or express any suicidal thoughts?"

"Suicide?"

It was as if Shen Zhengning gently tested the words between his teeth, trying to feel them out. He leaned back, rested his elbows on the chair's armrests, and interlocked his ten long, well-defined fingers—a classic thinking posture.

"What came to mind?"

"I'm thinking about how to phrase it," Shen Zhengning said. "I'm afraid my personal, subjective judgment might affect the narration of the facts."

"Many people at our company say things like 'living is so tiring,' 'I might as well die,' or 'I don't want to work, I hope the world ends' whenever they have to pull all-nighters and work overtime. But who can tell which of those are jokes, and which are true feelings spoken under the guise of a joke?"

"Based solely on my usual observations, I didn't see any suicidal tendencies in Ye Tongsheng. But that social media post before the incident obviously adds significant weight to another possibility."

Yuan Hang silently took notes, noticing Shen Zhengning's wording, which was so circumspect it almost became a complex sentence. He knew Shen Zhengning was trying his best not to let his subjective inferences interfere with the police statement, so he didn't press further and changed the subject: "Do you know about the information leak that happened with the software your company developed?"

"I do," Shen Zhengning replied. "The company called a meeting with some employees to look into it. The main people in charge were President Gao and the information security team. I wasn't involved in the follow-up, but I heard they didn't find anything, and the matter was eventually dropped. The company leadership had a huge problem with the Information Security Department because of this. Two people have already resigned, which is also why Ye Tongsheng couldn't find anyone to help him the other day."

"How did other colleagues comment on this matter?" Yuan Hang asked. "Were there any rumors or gossip?"

"Even if there were, it was just talk about how Ye Tongsheng had a good relationship with the leadership, which was why he could keep his footing even after the team made such a huge mistake... He wouldn't have committed suicide because of words like that, right? After all, in the workplace, that level of rumor is basically a kind of... uh, backhanded compliment?"

"On September 25th, the Mid-Autumn Festival, did you have any contact with Ye Tongsheng?"

"No." Shen Zhengning shook his head firmly. "We usually discussed work matters at the company and rarely chatted privately. I only saw his social media post the next day at work when I overheard other colleagues talking about it. I heard he didn't come in and wondered if something had happened, but I didn't rashly contact him. It wasn't until the news came out yesterday that I learned he had passed away."

He lowered his head and took a deep breath. After all, the departure of a familiar, living person had a much greater psychological impact than one could imagine. In his youth, Shen Zhengning had been proud of his insight and was even given the presumptuous nickname "Sherlock Holmes". But after leaving the simple environment of the ivory tower, he gradually realized that his cleverness was nothing special. Reality was far crueler than fiction, and seeing the truth didn't change anything, just like an arm can't out-twist a thigh.

"Okay, no more questions for now. Thank you for your cooperation. Go ahead and call the next person in." Yuan Hang tapped his phone, which was face down on the table, signaling to contact him on WeChat if anything came up. Shen Zhengning caught his glance, stood up, nodded to everyone in the room, and turned to leave.

The interviews lasted the entire morning. The testimonies of the relevant personnel were largely the same: they all said Ye Tongsheng was a low-key, humble, and capable young man. That "I'm sorry" social media post was so powerful that everyone who mentioned him lamented with regret: How could such a fine person just kill himself like that?

Yuan Hang put away his notebook, dissuaded Gao Qihui and the others who wanted to escort them all the way downstairs, and drove back to the station to continue sorting through the case.

The continuous questioning had tired his brain out. He slumped in the passenger seat, his eyes vacant. As Ding Sheng drove onto the bridge, he chatted casually: "Brother Yuan, is that Shen Zhengning the acquaintance you mentioned? How come you two don't even have each other on WeChat?"

"He's my high school classmate. We lost touch after graduation. I do have his QQ account, but no one uses that anymore."

"So it's been ten years since you've seen each other," Ding Sheng said. "But from the way you two acted, how should I put it, it felt like you were quite familiar."

Yuan Hang let out a short laugh. The comment scratched a deeply hidden itch, stirring up some memories that weren't exactly fun, but were very dramatic: "Actually, we weren't that close in high school. Shen Zhengning was the kind of good student that teachers love, and I was an ignorant slacker and punk. But him... how do I put it, he's really amazing..."

Years ago.

On a quiet autumn morning, a heaven-shattering roar suddenly erupted from an office in the school building: "I'll f..., say that again if you f-ing dare?!"

"Yuan Hang!" The head teacher, Li Yunqing, yanked back the out-of-control Yuan Hang like he was a mad dog that had broken its leash, and shouted sharply to stop him, "If you have something to say, say it properly! Watch your mouth!"

The young Yuan Hang was in the middle of a growth spurt, so thin his clothes hung off him. His face was tanned dark, and his pupils were also jet-black. Pushed behind the head teacher, he remained defiant, glaring at the father and son before him with eyes wide in fury, like an angry, snarling black dog: "Zhao Jingze, you just wait, this isn't f-ing over!"

The male parent also raised his voice impolitely: "Teacher Li, it's not my place to say, but look at this student of yours, spouting vulgarities, refusing to be disciplined! He cornered our Zhao Jingze on the way home from school and stole his tutoring fees. What is this kind of behavior? This is robbery! This is school bullying! I was already giving him enough face by not calling the police directly, and this is his attitude? Threatening and intimidating my child right in front of me?"

The other teachers in the office silently watched the situation unfold. The dean of students stood beside the head teacher with a grim face, creating what looked like a joint tribunal: "Student Yuan Hang, if you think there's a problem with what they're saying, you can prove you didn't do it. The school will give you a chance to explain. Our goal is to solve the problem, not just get angry. If you act like this, you'll be in the wrong even if you're in the right."

Li Yunqing stood in front of Yuan Hang, facing the parent, and tried to soothe him as gently as possible: "Mr. Zhao, please don't be anxious. I understand how you feel. You care about your child, and as teachers, we can't let any student be wronged. Both boys are here, so let's sort out what happened. Jingze said that last Monday after school, Yuan Hang cornered him in an alley downstairs in the Xinghai Community near the school and stole his tutoring fees, a total of five hundred yuan, is that right? Why didn't you tell your family or a teacher at the time?"

Zhao Jingze met Yuan Hang's reddened eyes and quickly looked away, answering in a hoarse, low voice: "I promised him I wouldn't tell..."

The male parent added from the side: "He was afraid of retaliation, so he didn't dare tell his family, and he didn't dare go to tutoring. It was his tutoring teacher who called me and said my child hadn't been to class. We had to ask him for a long time before he would tell the truth."

Li Yunqing: "Yuan Hang, are you involved in what he's talking about? Where were you last Monday after school?"

Yuan Hang didn't answer, but stared fixedly at Zhao Jingze: "Last Monday after school, downstairs at Xinghai Community?"

Zhao Jingze said: "Right. I saw you."

The two sides suddenly fell into a strange, silent standoff. Li Yunqing felt something was odd, but the male parent said impatiently: "Just say whether you did it or not. Did you steal Zhao Jingze's money?"

Yuan Hang abruptly closed his mouth. Although his entire body was trembling slightly, as if a great force was rampaging inside him, he still clenched his jaw and didn't say a word.

His silence at this moment was tantamount to a wordless admission. Li Yunqing became a little anxious: "Yuan Hang, speak up, was it you?"

The male parent's patience completely ran out. He crossed his arms and sneered coldly: "Forget it. I don't think you need to ask anymore, teacher. This is a guilty conscience. I've heard about this Yuan Hang from your class from Zhao Jingze. I don't care if his family is poor or what, poverty is no excuse for a lack of integrity. If he doesn't learn his lesson now, he'll become a menace to society when he grows up! The school must discipline him, transfer him out of this class. Keeping a student like this is a threat to the other students! I don't believe other parents wouldn't come to the school to cause a scene if they knew about this."

The dean of students had seen plenty of parents who made such wild statements, and his tone was watertight: "Mr. Zhao, please calm down. If this matter is true, the school will absolutely not tolerate it and will handle it seriously according to the regulations."

"Yuan Hang," Li Yunqing turned and grabbed his wrist, forcing him to face her. "Did you take Zhao Jingze's money? Is there some kind of misunderstanding? Or do you have some difficulty you can't speak of? Tell me the truth!"

"What misunderstanding? Would our Zhao Jingze lie and frame him for no reason?" the male parent questioned with dissatisfaction. "Teacher Li, he's already tacitly admitted it himself. Are you still trying to find excuses for him? Oh, just because he's pitiful, because his family is poor, he can do whatever he wants and bully other students?"

Yuan Hang's jaw was clenched tight, his eyes were bloodshot, and he stared hatefully at the father and son. Li Yunqing gave the dean a pleading look and explained carefully, "Mr. Zhao, I am their teacher, I won't favor anyone. But this isn't a small matter; it concerns the child's future, so I have to ask clearly. Suppose someone accused Zhao Jingze of robbery today, we couldn't just conclude he did it if he remained silent, don't you think that's reasonable?"

The male parent scoffed: "What do you mean? If he refuses to speak today, he gets away with it? What, so my child just deserves to be wronged?"

Li Yunqing said, her head aching: "Please don't misunderstand, I'm not..."

"Excuse me."

The "knock, knock" was so coincidental and ill-timed. Everyone looked toward the door at once. Shen Zhengning, holding a stack of test papers, met the numerous gazes and walked calmly into the office: "Teacher Li, I'm here to hand in the homework."

"Ah, okay, just put it there for now." Li Yunqing was in no mood to care about homework and gestured casually at her desk.

Shen Zhengning's gaze quickly swept over the two opposing sides. He placed the test papers on Li Yunqing's desk and started walking back the way he came, as if nothing was wrong. As he passed Zhao Jingze, he suddenly asked out of the blue: "Leyuan Internet Cafe?"