1166 I Want to Make You Stay 44

"I'm not wearing any underwear."

"You're not wearing any? Wouldn't the tissues fall off, then?" Pointing at the bathroom, An Xiaoning continued, "Ms. Wang, please let me verify for myself if you've really gotten your period before I ask you any further questions."

"You…" The young woman did not expect that she would actually make such a request. She raised her voice and questioned sternly, "Are you trying to throw your weight around and bully me?"

"I'm not trying to bully you. If I were, I wouldn't be debating with you right here and right now. Please cooperate with me, Ms. Wang. That would be better for all of us," said An Xiaoning, who had kept her cool.

"Fine, I'll let you check, no big deal." The young woman then entered the bathroom while An Xiaoning followed closely behind and closed the door after her.

She removed her pants to reveal a crimson stain on the tissue paper.

However, the blood had already dried up. Usually, when a woman is on her period…

An Xiaoning handed her two pieces of tissue and said, "Give it a wipe."

It was obvious what she had meant.

The young woman proceeded accordingly.

An Xiaoning stared at her and gibed while smiling, "Seems like your period is fake. Ms. Wang, that's not how you frame someone. You have to make it realistic to be convincing enough."

The young woman turned red before turning pale. She retorted, "Can't my period be lighter than normal? Can't I be at the end of my cycle?"

"Who are you trying to fool? Come out."

An Xiaoning had long guessed the situation. After exiting the bathroom, she said to the police officer, "Her period is not actually here. In that case, could her accusation be false too? Where's that necklace?"

The police officer retrieved the necklace from a paper bag and handed it to An Xiaoning.

After scrutinizing the necklace, An Xiaoning questioned the young woman, "May I ask, where did you buy this necklace from?"

"A jewelry store in C City."

"You traveled to B City alone with such an expensive necklace. Weren't you afraid of being robbed or abducted along the way? Ms. Wang, did you purchase this necklace yourself or was it a gift from someone else?"

"It was a gift from my boyfriend."

"What does your boyfriend do? Which corporation does he own?" An Xiaoning questioned.

"There's no need for you to know."

"Of course there is a need for me to know. If I don't know what he does for a living, how would I know if he can afford this necklace or not?"

"He's the CEO of the Zhou Corporation. Will that do?"

"The Zhou Corporation? I'm acquaintances with CEO Zhou. Mrs. Zhou is already in her forties. I must call CEO Zhou to ask him if he had bought his wife such an expensive necklace too."

Realizing that An Xiaoning had sounded her out, the young woman immediately barked, "Your artiste is the one who has stolen my necklace, please get your facts right and understand the situation!"

"Don't worry, we'll find out very soon if my artiste has really stolen your necklace or if you had framed her. If she had really taken your necklace, I'll send her to the police station immediately. If it turns out that you had framed her…" An Xiaoning continued in a cold voice, "Not only am I going to hand you over to the police, I'm also going to make you compensate my artiste for smearing her, tarnishing her reputation, and wasting her time and energy! You'd better answer my question. Since your period is not here, why did you lie to Erlan? Answer me."

"Like I said, I could very well be at the end of my cycle!"

"Drop the act. Would you like me to send you to the gynecologist for a thorough checkup and verify if you had really gotten your period or not?"

"Fine, even if my period is fake… it's an undeniable fact that she had taken my necklace!" the young woman hollered, clearly growing more and more flustered.

An Xiaoning reiterated, "Don't change the subject. I'm asking you, why did you borrow Erlan's clothes when you didn't even get your period? What was your motive? Answer my question first."

The police officer chimed in, "Yeah, why did you do that?"

She opened her mouth slightly, seemingly racking her brains for an answer.

"I… I actually… just wanted to get closer to an actress…"

Having already seen through her lie, An Xiaoning sneered, "Are you convinced by your own reason?"

"I'm telling the truth…"

"The truth? You said that you had really gotten your period too. Forget it, I hate wasting time on such issues. Since the police are here, why don't I try hypnotizing you?"

"Hypnotize? You know how to hypnotize others?" the young woman asked in astonishment.

"Of course I do. I'll get someone to record the entire process of you coming clean about who made you do it, what your motive was, and whether you're really innocent or not…"

"I don't want to be hypnotized!" the young woman refused vehemently, knowing clearly the purpose of the hypnosis.

"You don't want to? There must be a closure for this matter. Now that my artiste, Erlan, has been accused of stealing and that the news have already been exposed, we must get to the bottom of the truth!"

"What right do you have to hypnotize others?"

"Ms. Wang, stop digressing. We'll find out the truth once we hypnotize you."

"…"

The young woman was at a sudden loss for words. Things had turned out differently from what she had imagined.

She did not expect that An Xiaoning would arrive so soon.

She snatched the necklace away from An Xiaoning's hand and said, "Shall we just forget about this? I won't pursue the matter any further."

Noticing that she was about to leave, An Xiaoning immediately stopped her and said, "You're trying to leave? You were the one who started this, you can't just end it whenever you'd please."

"What more do you want, then? I've already said that I won't be pursuing this matter."

"You won't be pursuing it? You were clearly the one who had framed my artiste intentionally. Who are you to put an end to it just like that? I'm not letting you off that easy," An Xiaoning said with a scoff.

Pangs of panic engulfed the young woman, and she continued to feign ignorance while remaining silent.

Although there seemed to be no other solution, the police would not allow her to keep mum.

"Ms. Wang, if you refuse to speak, we'll have no choice but to bring you back with us. We'll detain you until you choose to speak up."

"This is actually… just a misunderstanding," she said, chuckling wryly. Everything made sense.

"A misunderstanding? When I came in just now, you were so smug and arrogant while accusing my artiste of stealing your necklace. And yet you now claim that it's a misunderstanding? Do you take this place for a playground?"