My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

Jiang Miaomiao struggled to lift her eyes, and her eyeball, which was so swollen that it was barely a slit, moved with difficulty and landed on Su Xiaoyue's face, lingering for about two seconds.

Then she lowered her head, as if she didn't recognize her, tucked her chin into her collar, and curled up an inch towards the back of the chair.

"Jiang Miaomiao." Su Xiaoyue's voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the empty interrogation room. "Look at me."

Jiang Miaomiao didn't move. Her greasy hair hung down, covering half of her face, revealing only the corner of her mouth with a dark red scab and the bluish-purple bruise on her cheekbone.

Her fingers were twisted together under the table, her knuckles stained with obvious blood.

"Whether you did it or not, you know the answer in your heart."

Su Xiaoyue placed the file folder on the table with a dull thud. "With the trial approaching, what's the meaning of your nonsense?"

Jiang Miaomiao's eyelashes trembled.

Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only managed to squeeze out a muffled, heavily nasal sentence:

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"I'm asking you what you mean!" Su Xiaoyue's voice suddenly rose half an octave, her hand slamming on the edge of the table, her body leaning slightly forward. "You signed a confession, and now you're changing your story, saying Jiang Yi ordered you to do it. Where's your conscience?"

Jiang Miaomiao flinched as if whipped by the sound, but she kept her head down, her voice leaking out from between her chin and collar, muffled and intermittent:

"I didn't do it... I didn't do it... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

It's always the same two sentences, over and over again.

Su Xiaoyue stared at her for a few seconds, her breathing gradually becoming heavier.

Her fingers curled up on the table, her knuckles pressing against the dark brown document bag, leaving a shallow dent.

"Jiang Miaomiao." Her voice was lower than before, but each word seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, "Do you know how much your brother has done for you?"

Jiang Miaomiao lowered her head even further.

"He was arrested and taken to the police station, locked in an interrogation room all night, and forced to sign a confession he never did. Did you see the injuries on his face? Did you see him with a fever of 39 degrees Celsius in the hospital?"

Jiang Miaomiao's shoulders began to tremble.

"He could have ignored you."

Su Xiaoyue's voice trembled slightly with barely suppressed anger. "He could have betrayed you and gotten himself out of there cleanly. But he didn't. He helped you."

"What are you doing? You're framing him. You ingrate!"

The interrogation room was silent for a few seconds.

The only sounds were the faint hum of the fluorescent light tubes and Jiang Miaomiao's increasingly heavy breathing.

Then she finally raised her head.

The face looked particularly haggard under the pale light, the eyelids were so swollen that they could barely open, and the scab at the corner of the mouth cracked open as he spoke, oozing a drop of dark red blood.

Her lips trembled, and her eyes were full of tears, but she couldn't utter a single word.

"sorry……"

That was still all she said.

Su Xiaoyue suddenly stood up.

The chair legs scraped against the cement floor with a harsh screech. She walked around the table and took a step toward Jiang Miaomiao.

Li Zhenghua jumped up from the recording chair almost simultaneously and grabbed her arm.

"Miss Su! Calm down!"

Su Xiaoyue was stopped by him, her body leaning slightly forward, her fingers clenched into fists, her knuckles turning white.

She looked at Jiang Miaomiao from less than a meter away, her chest heaving violently.

Jiang Miaomiao huddled in the chair, hugging her shoulders, looking like a trembling prey cornered against a wall.

She didn't avoid Su Xiaoyue's gaze, but there was nothing in those eyes, only an emptiness that had been repeatedly washed away, leaving nothing behind.

"Your brother protected you so much," Su Xiaoyue's voice trembled, "and this is how you treat him?"

Jiang Miaomiao's lips moved again, and she said the same thing: "I'm sorry..."

Su Xiaoyue closed her eyes, forcefully shook off Li Zhenghua's hand, and turned to walk towards the door.

The moment she stepped out of the interrogation room, the cold air in the corridor hit her in the face. She stood against the wall for two seconds, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.

Li Zhenghua followed her out, turned around and closed the door behind him. The iron door made a dull, metallic clanging sound as it closed.

The motion-sensor lights in the corridor turned on because of their appearance, and a stark white light poured down from above.

Su Xiaoyue leaned against the wall for a few seconds, waiting for the sour feeling that surged from the bottom of her stomach and almost made her lose control to slowly subside before she straightened up and looked at Director Zhao, who had been standing at the end of the corridor.

"Director Zhao," Li Zhenghua spoke first, his tone regaining its usual businesslike calm, "Who has visited Jiang Miaomiao recently?"

Director Zhao's gaze drifted slightly.

The movement was so subtle that it would have been almost unnoticed if Li Zhenghua hadn't been watching him intently.

"Not many people," Director Zhao coughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just your lawyers will be visiting, that's all."

"Where did she get her injury?"

Li Zhenghua questioned.

"I bumped into it by accident."

Director Zhao's gaze drifted again, and then he said nothing more.

Li Zhenghua looked at him for a few seconds, then nodded slightly and didn't ask any further questions.

"We'll be going now, Director Zhao. Thank you for your hard work today."

Director Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly, "Alright, alright, take care."

Su Xiaoyue didn't speak, but followed Li Zhenghua through the corridor and out of the glass doors of the hall. The afternoon sun hit her face hard, and she squinted.

As Li Zhenghua reached the edge of the parking lot, he slowed his pace, turned to look at Su Xiaoyue, and lowered his voice:

"Miss Su, he's lying."

Su Xiaoyue paused for a moment.

"Jiang Miaomiao's condition is not right."

Li Zhenghua's tone was very certain.

"She was afraid. But that fear wasn't directed at you, nor at the case. She was repeating the same few phrases over and over, as if she'd been instructed on how to do something."

"Someone saw her in court and gave her some instructions."

Su Xiaoyue stood at the edge of the road, her fingers clenching in her trench coat pocket. "Is Director Zhao lying?"

"His eyes darted around, and his speech was marked by noticeable pauses and corrections."

Li Zhenghua paused.

"I've seen this expression countless times in my over twenty years in this industry. He must be hiding something. Someone must have come by today or yesterday."

Su Xiaoyue remained silent for a few seconds.

Who do you think it is?

Li Zhenghua did not answer directly, but he looked at Su Xiaoyue's expression.

"I have no evidence for this," he said cautiously. "But the timing of her recantation is too coincidental. It happened right during the review period... If someone is pushing things along, it must be someone who knows the case's progress very well."

Su Xiaoyue clenched her fists tightly in her pocket.

"Xia Anmian."

The name came to her almost reflexively.

"I'm going to find her."

Li Zhenghua stopped Su Xiaoyue: "Miss Su, even if it really is her, she won't admit it if you go to her now."

Su Xiaoyue did not speak.

"Moreover," Li Zhenghua said, lowering his voice further.

"If it really was her, the fact that she was able to arrange for someone to see Jiang Miaomiao means she has a deeper level of control over this matter than we imagined. If you rush to find her now, you'll only alert her."

Su Xiaoyue stood by the roadside, the afternoon wind blowing the hem of her trench coat. She gazed at the bustling intersection in the distance for a long time.

Then she spoke up: "What should we do?"

"Bring Jiang Yi here," Li Zhenghua said. "If Jiang Miaomiao has any conscience left, the only person who can get her to agree is her brother."

Su Xiaoyue's fingers loosened in her pocket, then clenched again, then loosened again.

She looked down, took out her phone, scrolled to Jiang Yi's number, paused her fingertip on the screen for a moment, and then pressed the dial button.