"Name."
"Li Xuan."
"The ID number is..." the young policeman opposite reported a string of numbers.
"right."
"Do you know Zhao Jizhe?"
"I know him." Li Xuan frowned, having a bad feeling in his heart, "Can you tell me what happened first?"
"Now I'm asking you, answer my question, what is your relationship with Zhao Jizhe?"
Li Xuan looked at him for two seconds and did not answer.
"say!"
"What? Am I convicted now?" Li Xuan asked coldly, "That's impossible. I think at least you don't have any evidence of my crime. Of course, a good citizen like me who abides by the law will never do anything illegal. I think I should be questioned instead of interrogated now?"
Li Xuan leaned back on his chair with his hands crossed, and reminded calmly: "You didn't issue me a "Notice of Inquiry" and went directly to my company. This should not be in line with your procedures, right? I can let it go if you rashly come to my door and cause adverse effects on my reputation, but I think I have the right to know why I am here. Officer, I have cooperated very well."
The young policeman was somewhat unconvinced and wanted to argue, but the policeman next to him gently pulled his elbow and said something. He glanced at Li Xuan, snorted and went out. After a while, a gray-haired man came in.
"Officer Zhang." The man next to him called him.
He nodded, took the transcript and glanced at it, and said kindly, "Young man, you are very experienced."
"Ordinary citizens can better protect their rights and interests if they master some basic legal knowledge."
"It's good to have this awareness." The police officer named Zhang pulled out a chair and sat down. "This is what happened. Xiao Xia might have been in a hurry and didn't explain it clearly. At 4:27 this afternoon, near the central square, at the intersection of Boyang Road and Yanhui Road, a man named Zhao Jizhe injured someone with a knife and then fled..."
"What's the name of the injured person?" Li Xuan interrupted him and frowned, "Li Mingge?"
The policeman shook his head: "Mr. Li was only slightly injured, but his wife, Shu Xin, was more seriously injured."
Li Xuan felt his brain go blank for a moment, and his Adam's apple moved slightly: "When I was brought here just now, they said it was a case of intentional homicide. Shu Xin..."
"The victim is still in hospital," said Officer Zhang, looking serious. "But the crime scene was very brutal. He was stabbed fourteen times in succession. Witnesses also said that the suspect used very violent language during the attack. It is more appropriate to initially classify it as intentional homicide."
When Chu Tianheng and Song Wen arrived with their lawyers, Li Xuan's questioning had already ended.
"Are you okay?" As soon as they saw Li Xuan, several people hurried forward.
"It's okay." Li Xuan turned around and shook hands with Officer Zhang. "If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."
"Okay. Thank you for your cooperation. Xiao Xia and the others were a little too impatient today. After all, the case happened in the crowded area of the central square, and it was close to the Spring Festival. The social impact is very bad. The victim's family has also been accusing you and their emotions are very intense."
He remembered that the victim and Li Xuan were adopted, and paused: "Of course, he has no evidence, we will definitely investigate it. In short, in a desperate situation, out of the desire to comfort the victim and to get to the bottom of the case as soon as possible, we came directly to his house. Please forgive me if there is anything inappropriate."
Li Xuan pulled the corner of his mouth reluctantly and nodded: "I know, I understand."
"If there is any new progress in the next few days, we will continue to contact you. I hope you will not leave City N in the near future." Officer Zhang gestured for him to leave his contact information. "If you know the whereabouts of Zhao Jizhe, please report to us as soon as possible."
Li Xuan was silent for a moment: "I will."
After coming out of the police station and briefly explaining the situation to Chu Tianheng and Song Wen, Li Xuan went straight home. Sheng Min was preparing a midnight snack, chicken soup wontons for tonight. When he opened the kitchen door, he could smell the rich aroma of yam and chestnuts.
Li Xuan slowly walked over and hugged him from behind. Sheng Min was startled, but then he laughed: "It's early today."
Feeling Li Xuan's cold hand, she held it to her lips and breathed softly: "Why is it so cold?"
His gentle eyebrows and eyes were indescribably beautiful under the light, and the white steam rising from the side left fine water droplets on the glass, a beautiful picture of human life.
"Sheng Min." Li Xuan felt his heart, which had been numb from the cold, finally start beating again. He called his name and took a deep breath. "In the afternoon, Zhao Jizhe stabbed Shu Xin."
After eating half a bowl of wontons, his body gradually warmed up, and Sheng Min added another bowl of soup for him.
"Shu Xin, is the injury serious?"
"It should be. He's still being rescued, and I don't know the specific situation." Li Xuan lowered his eyes and stirred the chestnuts at the bottom of the bowl with a spoon.
Sheng Min pursed his lips and said, "Li Mingge thinks that you were the one who ordered Zhao Jizhe?"
"He may not really think so. It's just that Shu Xin was injured, and he was anxious, so he must be making random accusations." Li Xuan saw it clearly, "Besides, I am involved with both of them. Even if he doesn't identify me, it's normal for the police to find me. You don't have to worry."
Sheng Min sighed softly, and Li Xuan whispered, "It's okay."
"What should we do next?" Sheng Min held his hand.
"No big deal. If you want to ask me questions, I'll go."
Li Xuan stood up, walked around the table, sat next to Sheng Min and held his shoulders: "Tomorrow morning, I will ask the senior to send the laptop over. I will be at home these few days. Please tell the theater not to go to rehearsal for the time being and accompany me."
"Should I accompany you, or should you accompany me?" Sheng Min frowned and looked at him, "Are you afraid that Zhao Jizhe will come to cause trouble for me?"
"It's all the same... I don't know what else he will do. Before he is arrested, I will stay with you so you can rest assured." Li Xuan touched his face, "Okay?"
Sheng Min hummed, thought about it and asked him again: "I will call Director Yin later to ask for leave. If Zhao Jizhe is arrested, you..."
Li Xuan didn't answer for a moment, and drank the rest of the soup in silence. He stood up and went into the kitchen, putting the dishes in the sink. After a long time, he spoke slowly without much hesitation: "I won't care about him anymore. No matter why he went crazy and killed Shu Xin, maybe he thought it was for me, I don't admit it... So I don't feel guilty, because this whole thing has nothing to do with me."
He rested his hands on the kitchen counter, lowered his head slightly, and showed no emotion on his face. "For me, there will never be such nonsense as 'I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me'. If I don't like someone, I will solve it myself. Anyone else who uses my name and says that they are doing it for me has nothing to do with me. As for what Li Mingge thinks, it's up to him."
The voice was very soft and the tone was extremely calm. He turned on the faucet, quickly washed the dishes, and put them in the cupboard. It looked like nothing was wrong, but Sheng Min knew that was not the case, at least not completely.
He looked at Li Xuan's tall and straight back, and suddenly an indescribable feeling of sadness welled up in his heart.
It was still a sleepless night, and Li Xuan did not fall asleep all night. Sheng Min heard Li Xuan's gentle breathing, and although he was still motionless, he knew that Li Xuan was not asleep, so he turned sideways and hugged him tightly, leaning on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
"I told you it's okay." Li Xuan said in a gentle tone, "I just have a little insomnia, you don't have to worry."
"I'm not worried about this matter, I'm just worried about you." Sheng Min stroked his temples with her fingertips, "Are you worried about Shu Xin?"
This time, Li Xuan's reaction was a beat slower. He saw the moonlight falling on Sheng Min's silk pajamas, like the Milky Way flowing in the dark night. He was silent for a long time: "It's not that I'm worried. I wanted to go to the hospital to see her, but I didn't think it was necessary... The police showed me the photos of the scene... Sheng Min, I've seen much more blood than this, but she is a woman, a patient, and the more innocent person in the whole thing."
"Are you sad about this?" Sheng Min asked in a low voice.
Li Xuan hugged him lovingly, lowered his head slightly, kissed his hair, and answered irrelevantly: "I don't blame myself, really. But it doesn't mean that I think she deserved it."
No one spoke for a while. Sheng Min had no way to comfort him because he knew Li Xuan didn't need it. He could only touch his eyes gently and said, "Go to sleep."
Li Xuan agreed very quietly, but no one felt sleepy for a long time. When it was almost dawn, Sheng Min could not hold on any longer and had just closed his eyes when a shrill ringtone rang out.
As soon as he moved, Li Xuan had already taken the phone. The faint sunlight coming through the curtains illuminated his stern features. The voice on the other end of the receiver could be heard faintly, but it was not clear.
"Okay, I got it. I'll be there right away." Li Xuan put down his phone, got up and got dressed.
"What's wrong?" Sheng Min asked.
Li Xuan turned around and paused for a second: "Zhao Jizhe went to the police station to surrender himself."
Zhao Jizhe confessed to the crime.
Although the circumstances were serious, the facts were complete and the logic was clear. Although the lawyer representing Li Mingge insisted that Li Xuan was closely related to the incident, he was unable to provide any substantive evidence. The clues the police had also showed that Li Xuan was not suspected of instigating or hiring a killer.
In addition, Song Wen was worried that Li Mingge would use shady tactics to make him suffer, so he arranged for his own lawyer to come and assist him early in the morning. After taking care of everything, the process went smoothly and the so-called suspicion was naturally cleared quickly.
"There's another reason why I called you here today." Officer Zhang pointed to the female police officer next to him. "This is our colleague in charge of intellectual property rights. Zhao Jizhe mentioned in his confession that he stole your mobile hard drive at the instigation of Li Mingge, which contained "A Corner"..."
Officer Zhang is a bit old and probably hasn't heard of this game. He flipped through the information and confirmed, "Yes, all the update information and internal data of "One Corner" were stolen and used in the subsequent updates of "Nothingness Island". Is this true?"
Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, then pursed his lips and said, "Yes."
The two police officers exchanged glances, and the female police officer said, "Okay, then this will be treated as an independent case and will be followed up by our department. The suspect has already voluntarily provided some evidence, and we need your active cooperation."
"Of course." Li Xuan nodded slightly.
"I have a question I want to confirm." The policewoman opened the transcript, "According to the confession, the theft occurred two months ago, on November 26th. Why didn't you report it to the police station at that time?"
Li Xuan was silent for a moment. "My adoptive father, Li Mingge, has been targeting my company because he is unwilling to terminate our adoption relationship. Yuanyi is a start-up company and does not have as much capital as him. I am also afraid that I will not get a fair judgment after reporting the case, which will waste time. So I put more energy into developing new games to recover the losses and did not choose to report the case."
"is that so?"
"Yes." Li Xuan nodded with a sincere expression. "I didn't trust the judicial system enough at the time and didn't report the case immediately. It was my mistake. Now that the police are willing to intervene in the investigation, we will definitely cooperate."
The lawyer at the side promptly took over the conversation: "Officer, since my client has been proven to have nothing to do with this criminal case, can he go back and rest first? We will sort out the relevant evidence related to the intellectual property case and submit it as soon as possible."
When I entered the police station, the sun was still hidden behind the fog. When I walked out, it was already dark.
"Thank you for your hard work today, Lawyer Liang."
"That's not right, Mr. Li. We should be loyal to our master. Mr. Song pays a large sum of legal fees to our firm every year. We certainly can't let him waste this money."
Lawyer Liang adjusted his glasses and said, "I mainly handle criminal cases. Intellectual property is not my specialty. I will arrange for my partner to go to Yuanyi tomorrow to help organize evidence of the infringement of "Nothingness Island". Is it convenient for you?"
"It's convenient." Li Xuan nodded, "Thank you for taking care of this matter."
"It's my duty, Mr. Li, you are too polite. Now I am entrusted by Mr. Song to do things for you. I think it will be a short time for Yuanyi to grow stronger. If you need legal support at that time, I hope Mr. Li will consider us."
"must."
Thanks to Zhao Jizhe's voluntary confession and the chat records between him and Li Mingge's secretary Zhou Qi as evidence, the police successfully retrieved the channel package provided by "Void Island" to the software store and found that it copied and used the source code of "One Corner".
Probably to avoid risks, "Void Island" added invalid codes and modified some variable parameters. However, after removing the invalid characters, the police conducted a comparison and found that the identical parts still accounted for as high as 80%, and the evidence was conclusive.
A week after Zhao Jizhe surrendered, the legal representative of the company that produced "Nothingness Island" was arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement. At the same time, "Nothingness Island" was also ordered to be removed from all platforms.
Although the revenue flow of "Yi Yu" is still far from its original peak, it is obvious that it is growing day by day.
The whole company was no longer in the dark, and was filled with a peaceful atmosphere.
When Li Xuan entered the company in the morning, he saw Chu Tianheng flipping through the calendar at the front desk.
“Waiting for the Spring Festival holiday?”
"How come you walked without making any sound? You scared me." Chu Tianheng turned around, "I woke up this morning and saw that the daffodils I raised had sprouted. It turns out that it's almost the beginning of spring, and it's warmer than before."
He shook his head and sighed, "This winter is really too long."
"Is Song Wen here?"
"I'm here. I'm waiting for you in the conference room with my lawyer."
Song Wen and his lawyer came here today, mainly because of the "Island of Nothingness" issue.
"The legal representative was released on bail yesterday. Li Mingge has been very cautious. The arrangements for Zhao Jizhe to steal the hard drive and the initial contact with Wang Tian were all handled by his secretary Zhou Qi. They also used some connections to make the arrangements. The whole thing is now being handled by Zhou Qi."
The lawyer pressed the remote control pen, and the overall progress and context of the case appeared on the screen.
"The Void Island side currently hopes to reach a private settlement with us. Their lawyer has contacted me. This is the compensation plan they have offered."
In the densely packed proposal on an entire page of PPT, only the compensation amount marked in red stands out.
"This is just a small amount of money?" Song Wen took a look and sneered, "Are you sending away beggars? Tell them that if they don't reconcile, I will sue them to the end."
Li Xuan smiled and said, "Mr. Song thinks the money is too little, so why not let them bleed a little more and feel the pain."
"Are you willing to reconcile?" All eyes in the conference room were focused on him. After all, everyone, including Chu Tianheng, believed that Li Xuan was probably the person in the entire company who was least willing to accept negotiation.
"The current legal representative is just a puppet, someone I have never met. Even if he spends his life in prison, it has nothing to do with me. I don't have that much time to waste with them. It's meaningless. It's more practical to take the money."
Li Xuan stood up slowly, picked up a pen and wrote a number on the whiteboard, which made the lawyer gasp.
"Let's talk according to this number."
"Mr. Li." The lawyer smiled awkwardly, "... According to the current domestic game intellectual property cases, it is generally..."
"Don't be ordinary, and don't rely on any precedents." Li Xuan threw the pen back into the pen holder. "My property rights are worth much more than this, but the people in Yuanxin don't know the value of it. Do they think their reputation is worth it?"
Hearing this, several people's eyes lit up. Li Xuan said calmly, "This is not the first time that Yuanxin has plagiarized. It has always been relatively covert, and there has not been any major public opinion over the years. This time they took Li Mingge's money, and they couldn't even do a good job as a ghostwriter, and they had to plagiarize and change the skin. If this despicable thing is publicized, tomorrow's stock price will definitely look good."
He curled his lips, took the cup and drank a sip of water: "Now you are trying to fool people with these little tricks, but you still can't hit the weak spot. Do you think you can get away with it with a shell company in front of you?"
The ceramic cup was placed on the table with a crisp sound: "How can such a good thing happen? We have been walking by the river for too long. It is time to go in the water."
"Oh, you really are." Song Wen couldn't help but clap his hands, "I think it's okay. If we can really get back such a sum of money, it would be more worthwhile than letting them go to jail."
"That's good as long as Mr. Song has no objection."
"No objection, no objection. I've said it before, the company's affairs are up to you to decide, and I won't interfere too much."
Li Xuan smiled and said, "Senior, please put your other work on hold for the time being. Start working with the lawyers today to collect the materials on Yuanxin's technical support for "Nothingness Island"."
"Okay." Chu Tianheng was already making plans on his laptop while listening, and said with great joy, "I originally had some of these materials here, they were sorted by Bo Yuan before, and when he left, he handed them all over to me..."
This came out smoothly, but he felt something was wrong when he was halfway through, so he stopped and pursed his lips: "I'll finish it as soon as possible."
The lawyer didn't understand the ins and outs of this and stood there in embarrassment.
Song Wen coughed: "I don't know, Xiao Qi is now..."
"Mr. Song." Li Xuan didn't even raise his eyes. "I have plans. Let's talk about work today."
Song Wen smiled bitterly: "Okay, okay, let's talk about work. What are you going to arrange for me?"
"Just wait." Li Xuan turned to the lawyer and said, "We can throw a few rounds at the other party today. Release the evidence slowly, and disclose some online when necessary to put some pressure on them. But don't push them too hard. Just keep them going. A dull knife hurts when it cuts flesh."
"Okay, Mr. Li."
"You are more familiar with negotiation skills than I am. I am an amateur." Li Xuan raised his hand and pressed his temple. "I know the amount is difficult, but they must learn this lesson to serve as a warning to others. Otherwise, if one Yuanxin fails, there will be another one who dares to jump out and become accomplices."
He seemed particularly serious when talking about business, and his throat trembled slightly as he spoke: "Mr. Song paid the salary, and everyone has done their best. I will give the bonus. In short, everything will trouble the lawyer."
"Okay, Mr. Li, since you've spoken and pointed out the direction, we will definitely do our best." The lawyer put away the documents on the table and said, "If there's nothing else, I'll go prepare the materials first."
Chu Tianheng stood up and said, "I'll go over there too. There will be new character portraits coming out today. Can you keep an eye on them for me?"
Li Xuan nodded: "I will hold the art group meeting this afternoon. You just need to focus on cooperating with the lawyers recently."
When he went out, he heard the lawyer sighing with Chu Tianheng: "Your President Li is really not an ordinary person."
"If he were an ordinary person, his company would have gone bankrupt eight hundred times."
As they walked further away, the voices could no longer be heard. Song Wen knocked on the table and said, "Come on, what are you going to arrange for me? Li Xuan, it's really unreasonable for you not to give me some salary."
"I can give you some more shares."
"real?"
"Fake."
Song Wen laughed twice: "I don't dare to ask for your shares now. I think the company will not need my investment soon. If I don't coax you, you will kick me out tomorrow if you find that you are being taken advantage of..."
"There is such a risk." Li Xuan glanced at his phone. Sheng Min sent him a message saying that today was a dress rehearsal and would probably end late.
He motioned to Song Wen to wait for a moment and walked aside to answer a call.
"What time?... No problem, I'll pick you up... What do you want to eat tonight? I'll have someone book a restaurant..."
Song Wen heard his gentle tone when he was on the phone, and when he put down the phone, he immediately gave him a teasing look: "Why do you have two faces... 'I'll pick you up'..."
"Let's talk business." Li Xuan interrupted him.
"Okay, then I have something to tell you first." Song Wen restrained his expression, "Lawyer Liang told me that the investigation of Zhao Jizhe's case has been completed, and the prosecution opinion has been sent to the procuratorate... Shu Xin should have been rescued and is still in the intensive care unit. It is estimated that her life is not in danger, but I heard that she was diagnosed with other problems. The hospital is tight-lipped and it is not important. Anyway, he is now charged with attempted murder, and Li Mingge will definitely demand severe punishment..."
He paused, and Li Xuan's expression showed no emotion, so he continued: "But I think he probably hates you more."
Li Xuan sneered.
"Don't take it lightly." Song Wen walked over to sit next to Li Xuan and hesitated for a moment. "Did Lawyer Liang tell you? ... Zhao Jizhe's confession."
"Yes."
According to the information obtained by the lawyer from the police, Zhao Jizhe confessed that he had been following Li Mingge with a knife for more than half a month before the murder, of course, for revenge. But because of fear, he could not make up his mind. What finally drove him to do it was that during the tracking process, he heard that Li Mingge arranged for someone to try to remove the updated version of "One Corner" that had just been launched... ... In excitement, he wanted to kill Li Mingge, but he didn't expect Shu Xin to suddenly rush out and block him...
"We can find out about these things, and Li Mingge must know more about them. It's inevitable... Speaking of which, wouldn't it be bad if we killed Yuan Xin? What if they go to Li Mingge to argue with him, and then they'll take their anger out on you."
"That's not what you said ten minutes ago."
"You just made me lose my temper." Song Wen touched his forehead, "I calmed down for a while."
"He hates me for more than these few things. Am I afraid of his revenge and so I won't do anything?" Li Xuan said lightly, "But this is what I want to tell you. Senior, you should take charge of the affairs of 'Void Island'. I will focus more on the updates of 'One Corner' and new games this month. You still need to keep an eye on Li Mingge."
"Don't worry about that. I don't have anything else to do recently, so I'll focus on you first." Song Wen paused, "Company matters are actually easy to deal with. The main thing is that you should pay more attention to yourself. I'm worried that if he finds trouble with you personally, it will be more difficult to deal with."
In the following days, some news came in sporadically. Shu Xin had not been discharged from the hospital. Zhao Jizhe asked to see Li Xuan many times in the detention center, but of course he was rejected...
All in all, it was not very important news, except that Li Mingge's revenge had not yet appeared.
"I'm looking forward to something now. I'm going to have PTSD if I keep waiting like this every day." Song Wen couldn't help but complain.
The sword of Damocles fell a week later, but not in the way anyone expected.
When Sheng Min woke up that morning, Li Xuan was not around, but half of the bed was still warm.
After calling the name twice without hearing any response, he put on his pajamas and went out. He saw Li Xuan standing at the door, seemingly talking to someone.
At first, Sheng Min didn't see the figure outside the door, and the voices were not loud, so he couldn't hear clearly. Just as he was walking slowly towards them in confusion, Li Xuan suddenly raised his voice.
"Impossible." His tone was calm, but cold.
Sheng Min was startled and quickly quickened his pace, and saw that it was Li Mingge standing outside the door.
"Don't do this useless work." Li Xuan said.
The entrance blocked half of his shadow, and the two people at the door didn't notice him for a moment.
Li Mingge's expression was painful and patient. He did not refute, nor was he angry. The next second, he actually knelt down straight.
"I beg you." Sheng Min was surprised to hear Li Mingge say to Li Xuan, "I beg you to save her."
The author has something to say:
The description of the judgment on source code plagiarism was based on actual domestic precedents, so I would like to clarify this.