Feng Ru (39)

To this claim, the woman in a blue uniform replied while going to the door, "Uhh, sorry. The pieces of evidence against you are solid. Your crazy acts yesterday are witnessed by more than fifty people."

"N-no, that's..."

"But don't worry, Tang Lan. No matter what, you'll at least be allowed to get yourself a lawyer. Depending on his skill, your sentence will be lightened, but what I'm sure of is that you'll stay behind the bars for a few years. After all, regardless of your drug test result, those bigshots you offended will make sure you'll at least get sentenced for attempted murders."

Such scary words said with both gloating and disdain, how could Tang Lan accept them? She made a ruckus and cried for justice. "I, I already said it's not me! I was knocked out when I went to the restroom and when I woke up, I'm already here! How could an unconscious girl do all of that! Can't you guys put more effort in your investigations?!"

"She's awake?" That familiar baritone voice came from the doorway.

"Yeah. Come in, Officer Gu, Chief Zhou. Let's just get this done already."

"G-Gu Feng..." Tang Lan momentarily fell silent seeing him walking inside the room.

A couple of moments later, she began wriggling in her seat again, begging him to release her there. Unfortunately, the male lead was a rigid person who would never disobey or procedure, not even for his own relatives.

Criminals and suspects were not allowed to be untied before and during the interrogation. Maybe love would be able to force him to go against that. But sadly right now, he held no romantic affection for Tang Lan. In his eyes, she was only a good friend and a little sister. A very disappointing one at that. 

"I heard she's an accomplished author and is quite a rich one. Let her contact somebody to get her a lawyer then. After that, take her to her prison cell." The pudgy senior officer who came in with the male lead declared after asking Tang Lan a few questions. 

Hearing that, Song Wuying scoffed on the side. "Quite the accomplished author, huh? I checked and there's actually a huge problem with her account. Her books are still there, but the contents are changed and tampered with by somebody, probably a jealous relative or close friend." The policewoman clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Oh. I suggest then when the visitor comes, asked her or him to lend his or her phone to this girl so she can check what happened. Of course, there will be some papers to be signed to allow devices like that to be brought inside. But in my opinion, it's very important for her to check why there are several plagiarism reports suddenly filed against her," said Chief Zhou.

"W-what are you saying?" The dejected Tang Lan raised her head and exclaimed in alarm. "What plagiarism? I never copy from other authors! Everything's my original!"

She took pride in her writing which she produced through shedding blood and sweat. Her writing style and process were also very distinct to her. How could there be any chance of it being similar to any other works?

"Feel free to believe whatever. I'm just saying this out of kindness. Anyway, I also heard your contractor is terminating the contracts for your books. Xiao Ying, why don't you just show her the news? A single article should not take too long to be read, no?"

Though annoyed, Song Wuying did as her immediate superior said. 

Not long after, Tang Lan's gaze turned unfocused, having difficulty processing everything she had read. Coldness enveloped her whole body. It was like she suddenly got thrown into and trapped in a freezing lake. She felt so alone and helpless. What exactly was going on? Why was the world suddenly so against her? 

She couldn't believe and accept everything since she had a feeling none of these should be happening to her!

"G-Gu Feng..." Her voice weakly trailed off as she looked up to the tall man personally escorting her out of the interrogation room.

"..." The man shook his head.

More than half an hour later, all procedures were completed. That's what Song Wuying and the others said. In the end, she was to be jailed. And she was too muddle-headed to protest if this was the sentence she should get because her mind still couldn't extricate itself from the talk she had with her cousin.

It was confirmed that her novels turned into someone else, four directly copied word by word from other popular authors, three swapped out with amateur works. Her fans were still defending her online, but their support proved futile since all the contracts for her books got forcefully terminated. 

"Why... Why are these suddenly happening to me?" Even she didn't know how many times this question escaped out of her mouth. 

"Tang Lan, your fans who followed your books closely are more than a million and are still defending you on the internet. It's quite a sensation online. Aside from this, your name alone, actually, is good enough to arouse media attention. But for some reason, none of those people dared to write about your case. They are afraid." Before leaving, her cousin said this to her. 

She cried. feeling heartbroken and scared. Right now, she was forced to march. She knew where this narrow hallway would lead her so, of course, if possible, she wouldn't take even a single step forward. But Song Wuying who appeared irritated at her kept on pushing her. 

"Gu Feng... Can't you plead for me?" She looked at him using her pitiful and watery eyes. 

Her beauty was still there despite her swollen lips and face. Her current looks, plus her pitiable voice, would easily tug on anybody's heart. She was like a small cute animal whimpering its grievances for being bullied. Despite this though, the male lead only gave her a brief glance, looking away almost immediately after.

There was something weighing on his mind which caused his attitude towards the female lead to become colder than usual. 

'If the photos sent to me by that anonymous person are real, it means I actually never know the real her. That I, a proud agent of justice, has been treating a criminal like my sister for almost six months...' Gu Feng let a scowl showed on his face. 

Tang Lan didn't know any of his thoughts, only that he ignored her. Seeing the lack of comforting words or actions from the person she loved, she felt like her heart was free-falling into a bottomless chasm. Her mind turned blank, and when she came back to her senses, Song Wuying had already pushed her inside a cell.

'T-this...'

"Oooh, a newcomer. Welcome! Welcome!" A plump woman with many tattoos all over her face smiled at her. The others also gave her a look, ranging from sinister to malicious. 

Scared by the appearances and look of the people inside, she grabbed the bars and started crying and shouting madly at Gu Feng, 

"Hey, let me out! I beg you! Y-you're all detaining the wrong person! Gu Feng, Song Wuying, I know you're all doing this due to the pressure from the top! But I swear, It's not me who beat those people up! Someone impersonated me! Please! I, I beg you, Gu Feng. Believe me!!!"

She kept shouting the same lines over and over again, but the two people who brought her there was getting further and further away. 

"I, I should be the one filing cases for the bruises and wounds in my body! Why, why am I being treated like this?!" Seeing the back of those two acquaintances of her disappearing from her sight, her eyes couldn't help turning red. 

She could no longer yell again since those scary tattooed women inside began to beat her up for being so noisy. Almost half an hour passed before they left her alone, crying, badly wounded, and looking so unbearably miserable. 

Reminded of the pain she went through from the kicks and punches she received, extreme anger wormed into her heart. She was trembling in both anger, fear, and desire for vengeance as she crawled away from the laughing she-devils.

"Gu Feng ignored my pleas... That Song b*tch laughed mockingly at me... My writing career is dying... And I've turned into a punching bag by these ugly and smelly female prisoners..."

"I-It's all that man's fault... It's all, H-He Chen's fault! He must have planned all of this to retaliate against me for rejecting him over and over again! Damn him!! Why can't he just die? I hate him! I hate him so much! I'll make him pay for this! I want him to die!!! I'll make sure he dies!!!"

Madness and malice slowly crept into her lackluster eyes. A second later, even as she cried and curled into a ball there, her mind was thinking of plans in order to escape from the prison and take revenge against He Chen...