Chapter Seventy-Nine Folder
The person in the photo is naturally Xiang Kun. This photo was taken by the archery instructor when the four of them went archery together, after they brought the equipment from the archery range.
The document contains a variety of detailed information about Xiang Kun, categorized into different sections.
It even includes separate records of the information speculated after each meeting or WeChat conversation with Xiang Kun, organized by time.
Xiang Kun's earlier guess was correct. On the night she played cards at Tang Baona's house, Xia Libing recognized him as the stranger she had made eye contact with several times at the coffee shop.
However, it is clear that this document was created after the card game at Tang Baona's house, because the content related to the coffee shop, although earlier in time, was placed after the card game.
Xia Libing scrolled to the back of the document and wrote the date in a new cell: 2019/9/1.
Enter the content in the following cell, and in the corresponding cell below, add an analysis in the form of a question:
1. My judgment of my opponents' hidden cards and intentions at the card table has improved significantly since the last time I played Dou Dizhu;
1-1. Compared to the last game, you now know more about me, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, so it's easier to make judgments?
1-2, Are you better at playing Texas Hold'em than Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game)?
1-3, I've read quite a few psychology-related books recently, and I've applied them to my card games?
Are there any unknown cheating methods in questions 1-4?
2. He clearly wanted to win more than last time, but remained very calm at the table, showing almost no change when given good or bad hands;
2-1, because he knows he can win the game regardless of whether he gets a good or bad hand in a single round, so he doesn't care?
2-2, He knew I was observing him, so he deliberately suppressed his emotional fluctuations so I wouldn't notice?
3. He cooks and shares dishes with his neighbors. Judging from the neighbors' expressions, they genuinely thought the two dishes were delicious. Based on my previous judgment of his personality, he must have a certain level of confidence in his cooking skills to share them with others.
3-1, is he deliberately trying to improve his relationship with his neighbors?
3-2, Spicy rabbit and braised rabbit don't seem like dishes he'd like to eat. Why did you choose to make these two dishes?
3-3, Why rabbit meat and not other more common meats?
4. The kitchen had a wide variety of seasonings, but they were used very little. There was a lack of many corresponding kitchen utensils and tableware; there wasn't even a rice cooker or a pressure cooker. The existing kitchen utensils were also very new, clearly purchased after the move. He said he had just started learning to cook, and he probably wasn't lying.
4-1, What prompted him to start learning to cook?
5. Three meat rabbits are kept in the kitchen;
5-1. Why doesn't he just buy pre-processed rabbit meat, but instead raises rabbits at home?
6,...
After finishing the document, Xia Libing looked at the questions she had listed for a while, then opened another folder full of pictures and clicked on the pictures inside.
Browsing through the images, you can see that these are screenshots of detailed content from Weibo or WeChat Moments.
They all have one thing in common: they are content posted by Xiang Kun, or posted by others, that is related to Xiang Kun.
Xiang Kun's Weibo nickname is "Qiankun Great Emperor" (乾坤大帝), and there is no information such as his location, age, or alma mater. He only has a signature that says "1+1=10".
Xia Libing discovered the "Qiankun Great Emperor" tag on Chang Bin's Weibo through a group photo of roommates wearing graduation gowns posted in 2012. This led her to Xiang Kun's Weibo.
Xiang Kun's last Weibo update was in 2012, which was also a group photo of his roommates in graduation gowns. After that, there were no updates, not even likes or reposts.
The content published before 2012 was either discussions and predictions about new technologies, such as VR, AR, or machine learning and neural networks.
It's either jokes that IT guys like, such as "Keyboard not found, please press F1 to continue...", or "A programmer bought 1 kilogram of meat at a butcher shop, weighed it at home, and angrily ran back to the butcher shop to say: 'It's 24 grams short...'", or "How to become rich using object-oriented programming? Answer: Inheritance."
They either argue with complete strangers about various topics, such as "I have Java in my left hand and C++ in my right, why should I learn Python?" or "Pro Evolution Soccer is 100 times more fun than FIFA".
Without a doubt, this content basically represents Xiang Kun during his university years.
Xia Libing believes that he was just as confident back then as he is now, but he was more of a reckless young man, which is very different from the personality of Xiang Kun that she has analyzed and interpreted now.
Most of those WeChat Moments screenshots came from Xiang Kun, and a small portion came from Chang Bin.
Xiang Kun his WeChat Moments. Most of his posts are forwarded articles on cutting-edge technologies, related industry news, or photos from company events such as annual meetings and team building activities. He doesn't post anything private, or his posts are only visible to a select group of people.
Judging from his WeChat Moments, in 2014 and 2015, Xiang Kun would often add his own comments and opinions when forwarding industry articles. However, in the following years, this almost completely disappeared, and no text expressing his personal opinions could be seen on his WeChat Moments.
According to Xia Libing's assessment, Xiang Kun edges had been worn down after starting work, and he seemed to have lost the energy and willingness to express his own opinions.
However, this personality is somewhat different from what I've observed in him recently.
These discrepancies likely reflect the changes that occurred after he lost his job.
Xia Libing scrolled three photos side by side on the screen. On the left was a group photo of the four of them going to the archery range a few days ago. In the middle was a group photo taken at Xiang Kun's former company's annual meeting last year. On the right was a group photo of Xiang Kun and his college roommates, including Chang Bin, wearing graduation gowns.
She zoomed in on Xiang Kun in several photos, centering them, and then compared them.
In college, Xiang Kun had a somewhat arrogant and lazy look in his eyes, with an air of "I know I'm right, but I disdain arguing with others."
Last year, Xiang Kun's eyes were filled with fatigue and absent-mindedness, brimming with impatience, as if asking, "Why am I wasting my time here?"
A few days ago, Xiang Kun had a calm and composed look in his eyes, exuding a sense of confidence and tranquility. At the same time, he seemed to be observing the camera, as if he were "looking at" himself outside the photo.
It's normal for things to change after six or seven years of working, from university. The gap between reality and ideals, the pressure of mortgage payments and work, will definitely have some impact on Xiang Kun's personality.
But what happened to Xiang Kun after he lost his job? Was it because he was freed from the heavy burden of work and started exercising that his overall demeanor and mental state changed?
That seems to be the case.
However, Xia Libing had investigated and found that Xiang Kun's previous company had only gone bankrupt in July of this year, and he had only become unemployed in July.
Judging from Xiang Kun's current physique and the photo from last year's annual meeting, it's impossible that he only started working out after losing his job. He must have been consistently and intensely exercising for at least six months. This seems to explain why he is so controlling and attentive to his diet—only by combining diet planning with physical training can such a significant change in the body occur in a short period of time.
In other words, Xiang Kun's turning point should not be unemployment, but something earlier, and the timeframe should not be much later than their company's annual meeting.
As she was thinking, her phone vibrated. Xia Libing glanced at it and saw that it was WeChat message from Xiang Kun.
"What flavors do you like? Sweet, spicy, salty, or sour? Name your three favorite dishes."
Xia Libing was slightly taken aback, somewhat puzzled as to why Xiang Kun would ask such a question. But then she remembered that Tang Baona had already "gotten" a meal from him today, so was he here to investigate their tastes? Why was he being so serious?
She thought for a moment and replied, "Sweet; crispy pork knuckle, smoked goose, Napoleon cake."
Xiang Kun gave an OK sign, then asked, "What about your cousin and Nana? What are their tastes like?"
"Just ask them directly."
"Well, I'll ask them too, but I'd also like to hear your opinion, since you're relatively more objective."
Xia Libing replied, "They're not picky eaters; they can eat anything."
"..."
After ending her brief chat with Xiang Kun, Xia Libing opened the document that previously contained Xiang Kun's photo and added a few paragraphs.
She then closed Xiang Kun's document and opened two other documents with different numbers. In the upper left corner of each of these documents, there was a headshot of Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, respectively.
However, this time she didn't write as much as she had in Xiang Kun's document before; she only added less than ten words to each one.
My phone vibrated again; the caller ID showed "Mom."
After Xia Libing answered the call, she greeted her mother and then told her about the trivial things that happened that day, such as going to a friend's house to play cards with her cousin and what they ate for dinner. Her tone was calm, neither excited nor impatient, as if she were simply narrating an objective experience without much emotional expression.
Finally, before hanging up, Xia Libing said, "Don't worry, I'm doing very well. You forgot, I'm a doctor myself now. You and Dad should have both spoken to Dr. Li on the phone, and she said everything was fine, right?"
"Okay, I'll take good care of myself. It must be just getting light where you are, right? Are you getting ready to go to the company? I'm about to get some rest too."
"When you return to China next month, I should be going to Haixi Province. If you have time then, you can come and visit me."
"Good morning."
After hanging up the phone, Xia Libing, with her eyes slightly narrowed, sat in front of the computer for a while, then woke up the automatically dimmed screen, opened the previous folder, and clicked on Xiang Kun's document.