Film and Television: My Cheat Code is AI

The next day at noon, Ji Jie, Zhang Yang, and Tian Rui arrived at the 18th floor on time. Liao Jiangqun opened the door. This time, she was wearing a plain-colored house shirt and her hair was casually tied up. She was less wary than yesterday, but her indifferent attitude was still there.

After entering, the group sat down in the living room. The house wasn't large, but it was very clean. A white porcelain tea set was on the coffee table, and Liao Jiangqun poured a cup for each of them, his movements unhurried. Ji Jie made a few small talk, asking how long the house had been renovated and whether it smelled of fresh air. Liao Jiangqun answered each question briefly, without initiating any new conversation.

After chatting for a few minutes, Liao Jiangqun put down her teacup and spoke first, her tone as if stating a fact: "I didn't have time to commit the crime." She looked up at Ji Jie, "I went to my girlfriend's house on the 25th floor to watch DVDs from 11:30 pm until 1 am before I went home. I didn't leave in between."

Ji Jie, holding her teacup, casually asked, "What movie were you watching?"

Liao Jiangqun's lips twitched, as if he were giving a faint smile: "A Japanese idol drama, 'Beautiful Life'."

"Is it good?" Ji Jie asked casually, her tone revealing no particular preference, as if two neighbors were chatting about last night's TV series.

Liao Jiangqun glanced at her and said, "You can borrow it from my girlfriend; maybe she'll give it to you."

Ji Jie laughed, put down her teacup, and readily said, "That's great! I'll use your name to come upstairs and borrow it later." She stood up, her gaze sweeping around the room, as if she'd just noticed the renovations. "You just renovated this place, didn't you?"

Liao Jiangqun nodded: "Yes."

Ji Jie took two steps towards the door, then turned back, as if suddenly remembering something, and casually asked, "I heard your wedding is on the 18th of this month?"

Liao Jiangqun did not evade the question; his tone remained calm, even adding a touch of politeness: "Yes. If you have time, I would like to invite you to my wedding."

Ji Jie smiled and said, "I'll definitely go when I have time."

"See you later."

Liao Jiangqun escorted them to the door, and after the door closed, the hallway became quiet.

After holding it in for a while, Tian Rui lowered her voice and said to Ji Jie in the hallway, "She just blurted out her friend from the 25th floor like that? Isn't she afraid we'll be at odds?"

Zhang Yang added, "That's exactly the effect she wanted. Having someone else testify for her is more effective than her saying a hundred words herself."

Ji Jie didn't stop walking, and pointed upwards: "Then let's go up and have a chat."

The three of them stopped taking the stairs and pressed the elevator button to go up to the 25th floor. There were only the three of them in the elevator car. Ji Jie straightened her collar in the reflection of the car wall and said, "When we get there, I'll go in alone. You guys wait outside. I'm going to borrow some DVDs, not to investigate a case."

Upon reaching the 25th floor, they found Liao Jiangqun's friend's apartment. Ji Jie knocked on the door alone, while Zhang Yang and Tian Rui retreated to the corner of the stairwell to wait.

The woman who opened the door was in her early thirties, with a round face and a cheerful demeanor. Upon hearing that Ji Jie was Liao Jiangqun's friend, she became incredibly enthusiastic, grabbing Ji Jie's hand and ushering her inside. Ji Jie didn't show any identification, simply saying that Jiangqun had recommended the film and she wanted to borrow it to watch.

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend happily rummaged through the TV cabinet and pulled out a disc, handing it to Ji Jie: "You're Jiangqun's friend, so you're my friend too. Here, this disc is pretty good."

Ji Jie took the disc, flipped through the cover, and casually steered the conversation back to the night of the incident: "Were you the only two watching it together that night?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend waved her hand: "No, my husband was there too, the three of us watched it together." She pulled Ji Jie to sit down, pointed to the disc and said, "This is an original VCD, the quality is really good, there are two episodes on this disc."

Ji Jie smiled and asked again, "Did Jiang Qun go outside while watching the movie?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Going out? I don't think so." She turned and called into the house, "Honey, did Jiangqun go out the day we watched the movie at our house?"

Her husband came out of the house, still holding the remote control, and after a moment's recollection, said, "I think I went out once between episodes."

Ji Jie then turned her gaze to him: "Approximately how long has she been gone?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend's husband thought for a moment and said, "It'll only be three or four minutes at most. She'll be back before the second episode's opening credits are even over."

Upon hearing this, Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend also remembered and clapped her hands: "Right, right, right, back then you wanted to fast forward, and I said wait for her, and you even said you were sleepy and wanted to go to bed. We were talking when she came back. This movie, including the opening and ending credits, is at most three and a half minutes long. Hey, this movie is really good, you'll see when you watch it."

Ji Jie smiled and said, "Yes, I've heard of this movie." She put the disc in her bag and then asked, "Do you know what Jiang Qun is doing out there?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend thought for a moment, "I'm not sure what she was doing, it seems like she went out to make a phone call." She glanced at Ji Jie, lowered her voice, as if sharing a little secret, "She was definitely going out to call her boyfriend."

Ji Jie nodded, then asked, "When she came back, did you notice anything unusual?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend shook her head: "It seems like nothing's wrong, right?" She looked at her husband.

Her husband thought about it seriously for a moment and added, "She seems a little out of breath."

Ji Jie glanced at him, noted the detail, stood up and said, "Then I'll be going now, I'll take this disc with me."

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend waved her hand generously: "Just keep it and look at it, you don't need to return it."

"Thank you."

After Ji Jie came out, she gently closed the door. Zhang Yang and Tian Rui came up from the stairwell, but before they could ask what had happened, Ji Jie held up three fingers and whispered, "Three and a half minutes."

Zhang Yang asked, "What three and a half minutes?"

As Ji Jie walked towards the stairwell, she said, "She said the opening and closing credits of the second episode combined are at most three and a half minutes. If Liao Jiangqun went out to commit the crime during that time, that's about the window of opportunity." She stopped, turned to look at Zhang Yang and Tian Rui, and said, "The three of us, running down the stairs from the 25th floor to the 13th floor, pushing the person down, and then running back up—it has to be done within three and a half minutes. Can we do it?"

"Huh?" Tian Rui and Zhang Yang uttered this syllable almost simultaneously.

Ji Jie was already looking down at her watch, her finger on the stopwatch button: "Let's go."

Zhang Yang was the first to react, turning around and rushing towards the stairwell. He dashed down the stairs, his footsteps echoing loudly. When he reached the 13th floor, he braked suddenly, made a pushing motion towards the elevator entrance, then turned and ran back up. When he reached the 25th floor again, he was bent over, panting heavily.

Ji Jie stopped the watch, glanced at it, and showed him the face: "This isn't good either, it's already four and a half minutes."

Zhang Yang, hands on his knees, was panting and could barely speak: "This...is this a mission that can be completed?"

Tian Rui was exhausted just watching him run around. When it was her turn, she managed to run one round trip and came back to squat on the ground, unable to catch her breath and waving her hands, unable to speak.

Ji Jie shoved her bag into Zhang Yang's hand, set her watch, took a deep breath, and rushed down. She was clearly faster than Zhang Yang, her footsteps quick and even, but she was panting heavily when she came back, her forehead covered in sweat. She stopped her watch and glanced at it; she was still past her time limit.

Just then, the door to the apartment on the 25th floor opened. Zhang Yang reacted quickly, grabbing Tian Rui and pulling her behind a fire hydrant in the stairwell. Ji Jie was about to go downstairs, but it was too late. Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend came out holding a dress, saw her at a glance, and said in surprise, "Hey, why are you back again?"

Ji Jie was panting heavily. Her mind raced, and she pulled the disc out of her bag, holding it up as she said, "This... I've already seen this, so I was thinking of returning it to you."

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend chuckled, "You didn't need to run like that, look how out of breath you are."

Ji Jie bent down, leaning against the wall with one hand, her gaze falling on the dress in her hand—black, made of a very soft material. Ji Jie, panting, pointed at it: "You...go do the laundry?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend glanced down at the dress in her hand and smiled: "No, this is Jiangqun's. She looked especially beautiful in it that night, so I wanted to come over and have one made for myself."

Ji Jie lowered her hand from the wall, slowly walked up to her, looked down at the dress in her hand, and gently lifted a corner, the fabric sliding between her fingertips: "Was this the dress Liao Jiangqun wore that night?"

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend nodded and smiled, "Yes, it seems a bit tight on me, and it's even a little difficult to walk."

Ji Jie put the dress down, smiled, and said in a calm tone, "Well, I'm going downstairs anyway, I'll return this dress to her on the way."

Liao Jiangqun's girlfriend readily agreed, "Okay then, please thank her for me."

Ji Jie took the bag containing the dress, turned and walked towards the stairwell. Just as she turned the corner, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She answered it; it was a feedback from the traffic police regarding the information they had investigated.

"Sister Ji, we've found the owner of Liao Jiangqun's car."

"Who is it?"

"His name is Dong Yinglu, from Qianfeng Science and Technology Park, a computer technology company."

Zhang Yang and Tian Rui tiptoed out from behind the fire hydrant. Ji Jie closed her phone, shook the bag containing her dress, glanced at her watch, and said, "Let's go to Qianfeng Science and Technology Park."