As the plane drifted through the clouds, Xiang Wan fell into a slumber.Someone nudged her elbow lightly and she woke up with a startle.
It was the girl beside her.
Xiang Wan raised her eyebrows. "Yes?"
The girl"s eyes beneath the lens were flas.h.i.+ng as she looked at Xiang Wan.
"Are you a web novelist?"
The question was out of the blue—she was quite shocked.
"Eh… How did you know?"
The girl had a slight smile on her face. Her eyes looked up and down at Xiang Wan. "Well, I"m a reader at Wen Quan Book Treasury!"
She continued to talk without waiting for Xiang Wan to reply, "I saw your picture at Wen Quan"s forum. You are Xiang Gongzi Wan, right? The Author who wrote "Murder The Dream Guy"?"
"…"
Xiang Wan kept quiet.
She did not admit nor did she deny.
That girl seemed to be very excited and looked at Xiang Wan with her pair of clear eyes.
"Actually, I"ve already noticed you when you got on the plane earlier, but I wasn"t so sure, either… Earlier on, I observed you for a long time, and I couldn"t hold back myself to ask you about it. Xiang Gongzi, I"ve read your book before…"
Xiang Wan felt a little embarra.s.sed to meet a reader who has read her book.
She smiled a little shyly. "Yes, I"m Xiang Gongzi Wan."
"Wah!" The girl exclaimed in a restrained tone. It seemed as she was thrilled to meet her. "I really like your book! May I have an autograph?"
Xiang Wan had been a web novelist for quite a long time, but she had never encountered a situation where a fan asked for her autograph.
Looking into the girl"s innocent eyes, she could not refuse her request.
"Alright."
The girl looked down, took out a notebook from her bag, and a pen she was carrying before handing them to her.
"Thank you!"
Xiang Wan noticed the first few pages of the notebook contained notes.
It was quite obvious the girl was still a student…
Xiang Wan took the pen and signed on the notebook.
Next, she returned the notebook with a smile.
After the girl kept the notebook carefully, she started to chit chat with Xiang Wan.
The girl talked about some gossip in Wen Quan Book Treasury. Xiang Wan felt awkward about it as she did not want to talk about such a topic with a reader. Nevertheless, as the saying goes: one does not hit a smiling person. Basically, Xiang Wan just responded with a few words.
After about five or six minutes of the awkward conversation, the girl suddenly frowned.
"Oh no…"
Xiang Wan looked at her, puzzled. "What"s the matter?"
The girl whispered while lowering her head slightly, "My bra seems to have hooked onto my top. I tried to pull it but couldn"t…"
Xiang Wan raised her eyebrows in shock. "…"
The girl tried to put an arm behind her back and appeared to be fidgeting on her seat with an uncomfortable expression.
On the other side of her seat separated by the aisle was a gentleman.
That gentleman saw the fidgeting from the corner of his eyes and looked over.
The girl lowered her head and was more even more embarra.s.sed. "Xiang Gongzi, will you help me out?"
Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
"Help me undo that," said the girl, "I"m worried my top will be ruined and embarra.s.s myself…"
Well, it was definitely not appropriate to do that in public.
The girl pointed at the toilet not too far away and silently mouthed at Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan found it hard to refuse.
When girls were outside by themselves and encountered such situations, it was similar to having their period come without notice and had no sanitary napkins. Xiang Wan felt that they were women and should help each other out. Moreover, that girl was also her reader.
The two of them entered the toilet and locked the door.
The girl was wearing a white knitted top. Xiang Wan lifted up the girl"s top from behind.
True enough, a thread of the white knitted top got entangled with the bra hook.
She carefully helped the girl undo the entangle.
She smiled. "Done!"
The girl heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you… Oh no!"
Xiang Wan was nodding her head when she appeared a little stunned.
At the same time, the girl also let out a cry of shock.
"Gosh, what should I do?"
As she said so, she opened the tap and tried to wipe her top with her wet hands before getting even more agitated.
"Ahhhhhhh! Oh no, oh no… this is really bad."
She was exclaiming in anxiety as she tried to wipe the stains away with her wet hands. The ink stains on her white top start to disperse in blots upon contact of water.
The nice white knitted top was now in a terrible state.
"Oh my G.o.d! The ink from my pen must have leaked earlier onto my hand and I didn"t notice it at all…"
Xiang Wan heaved a sigh.. "…"
The girl looked at the ink stains on her chest.
"What should I do? Ah! I"m dying! How will I go out in this mess?"
The girl did not wear thick clothing in the first place. With the wet and dark stains on her white top, she really looked like a mess.
The girl looked bitter and suddenly looked up. "Xiang Gongzi, can I borrow your scarf?… I"ll return to you after we touched down and got back my luggage… Is that okay? I need to cover up the stains, or I don"t even dare to step outside."
Xiang Wan liked silk scarfs a lot. Although she was not rich, she had great taste in choosing the right scarf to wear. The autumn season was also a great time to wear scarves around her neck.
On that day, she was wearing a silk scarf around her neck.
However, this silk scarf was one of those she really liked. She had especially worn it to meet Bai Muchuan and hence, she was not that willing…
Looking at her hesitant face, the girl started to tear up while pulling at her top.
"Xiang Gongzi, please… please… it"s too shameful to go out like this…"
In this world, not many people would be so concerned about strangers.
If someone"s clothes were dirty, most people would just take a glance and would not keep staring at the stranger.
However, young girls tend to care more about such things as they had a strong sense of self-esteem.
Sigh! Xiang Wan removed the scarf from her neck and pa.s.sed it to her. "Take it then."
She was her reader who had a docile and innocent look. That made it impossible for Xiang Wan to refuse her request and could only take this as an unlucky incident.
After she handed the scarf to the girl, she left the toilet.
The girl was still inside the toilet handling her clothes.
When Xiang Wan got back to her seat, she thought about her scarf and felt heartache toward it.
She turned to look outside the window and did not think too much about it.
However, when she waited for quite some time and the girl never came back to her seat, she was perplexed…
She was preparing to go check her out when there was suddenly a commotion coming from the toilet. It seemed someone was kicking the door frantically from inside…
It was suddenly quiet inside the cabin.
No one spoke a word. Everyone was looking toward the direction of the toilet.
A stewardess walked over and knocked on the door. "Is there anyone inside?"
Xiang Wan wanted to go over, but the kicking sounds from the toilet got worse.
The stewardess opened the door to the toilet and gave a scream when she saw what was inside!
Everyone started to feel anxious and was worried about the scream.
n.o.body knew what was going on.
Soon, the security officers on the plane rushed over. Several stewardesses blocked the way to the toilet and were a.s.suring pa.s.sengers not to be worried, urging them to stay in their seats. They also disallowed anyone from going near the toilet…
Hence, Xiang Wan had to stay on her seat.
After a while, the girl came out with the support of the stewardess and was covered with a blanket. However, she did not return to her seat. Instead, she was taken directly toward the direction of the first cla.s.s cabin…
Xiang Wan was stunned by that sight.
At this time, the Chief Steward brought two security officers and politely invited her over.
"Miss, there"s something we wanted to ask you. Please come with us."
The three of them were very polite.
Looking at the smiles on their faces, Xiang Wan hesitated a little before getting up and following them.
Immediately after that, there was an announcement by the cabin crew apologizing to everyone that due to an emergency, their flight would have to make a landing at Xi City instead. They hoped to seek the understanding and cooperation of all pa.s.sengers to a.s.sist the airport police in their investigations when they got off the plane.
The pa.s.sengers started to talk amongst themselves.
Everyone was guessing the incident must have something to do with the girl at the toilet. However, as to what exactly had happened, no one knew.
Forty minutes later, the airplane landed at the airport of Xi City.
Xiang Wan was being escorted by two security officers and was the first to alight the plane.
There were several police cars and an ambulance not too far away from the airplane. A group of police officers was waiting for her.
The girl, who was rescued from the toilet in the aircraft, was brought into the long-awaited ambulance.
Until now, Xiang Wan had no idea what had happened. She only knew she was being held by the airport police.
The security officers told her she was suspected to be involved in a case of causing bodily harm to another with intent.
In other words, she was held for investigation.
…
From the beginning till the end, Xiang Wan did not suffer from any ill-treatment.
The stewardesses, the Chief Steward, and the security officers were all very polite to her. When she got off the airplane and saw the group of police officers, her heart was already in her mouth.
Xiang Wan was being taken to the airport police station.
She was very familiar with the environment of the police stations. She was brought there with the purpose of "a.s.sisting in the investigation", but there was actually a difference in the type of room she was being brought to.
For the general public, witnesses and people involved in the case, they would be brought to the interview room. The layout of such a room was just like a simple and ordinary office which would not give people that creepy, scary sense of tension.
The other type was the interrogation room—for suspects. As long as one walked in there, from the layout to the atmosphere, one would feel an immense amount of pressure.
Right now, Xiang Wan was sitting inside the interrogation room.
…