Chapter 134

Fei Du called her back. The girl's timid voice came over the phone: "Hello…"

"It's me." Fei Du sat down next to the window. "You've decided to talk to me?"

Wang Xiao hesitated for quite a while, then with some difficulty quietly said, "What happened at school, I…I have evidence."

Fei Du leaned against the window sill with the office's heating pressing against his back. He didn't speak to ask what the evidence was. He made no sound, even keeping his breathing very low, quietly waiting for the girl to say it herself.

Like a dried-up tube of toothpaste, Wang Xiao had to squeeze her entire body between metal sheets, use all her strength to force out some words. "It's…clothes. Some clothes…from then. I didn't wash them…"

Fei Du sighed silently. "Where are you? I'll send someone to pick you up."

Wang Xiao answered in a voice like a mosquito's. "I'm waiting at home."

"Wang Xiao," Fei Du said warmly but firmly before she hung up the phone, "can you tell me why you suddenly came to this decision?"

Wang Xiao was silent for a while. "I'm going abroad."

One-Eye had known from the day he'd been brought in that there was no escape for him now. Even if he kept his mouth shut, the crimes he'd committed before were enough to get him an indefinite sentence at best, and there was no ceiling on the worst.

So he was fairly cooperative. There was no need to waste words to get him to talk to Luo Wenzhou.

"I didn't want to kill Lu Guosheng," One-Eye said. "Officer, you saw, I was bringing him food. We have rules there. If one person exposes the base, the people living in the same unit as him all get it in the neck. That's why they all hated Lu Guosheng. When they heard that he may have exposed us, without waiting to hear from above, they took it upon themselves to tie him up and were waiting to push him out to take the blame. But I'm different. I'm loyal. Am I that fucking type of person…"

"Then what type are you? The Virgin Mary?" Luo Wenzhou interrupted him coldly. "Don't give me that. If you talk crap again, I'll send you to eat lead."

One-Eye curled his lip. His shoulders fell. He hemmed and hawed, then frankly confessed, "…They promised they'd send me away."

Luo Wenzhou looked up. "Who are 'they?' Send you away where?"

"Get me out of the base." One-Eye sighed and quietly said, "Out of the country, or to some place no one would recognize me.—From what A13 said, I know there are lots of their people in the company. Don't ask me who their boss is. I didn't even know who my boss was until I got brought in. All these fucking 'important personages' are like mice. They hide themselves away. I'd had enough of living like that, anyway. Sometimes I thought that it wasn't any different from being brought in by you guys and sitting in jail. There was no telling when you'd have to go out and be someone's scapegoat."

Hearing this, Luo Wenzhou was temporarily bewildered—this wasn't much like his earlier guesses.

This mysterious third-party force was unscrupulous, even though judging from their aims of catching Lu Gousheng and revealing the base, it seemed that their goals were the same as those of the police. He'd thought they played a role of the "vigilante police" or "avenger" sort, and Xiao Haiyang had even brought up the suspicion that they had something to do with Gu Zhao, but from how it sounded now…they seemed more like they'd belonged to Wei Zhanhong's group, only later they'd had some internal strife.

Was it getting popular among crime syndicates now to use the police in their internal strife?

Luo Wenzhou followed up, "How did you arrange it?"

"They asked that if someone notified me to take care of Lu Guosheng, I had to do everything I could to preserve his life. As long as he had breath left in him, it was enough. It didn't matter whether he was crippled or seriously injured. When the time came, someone would come pick us up and take us to a safe place."

Luo Wenzhou immediately followed up, "Where was the safe place?"

Hearing this, One-Eye laughed. "Officer, when you take money to do something, whether you get the money first or you do it first depends on who's asking a favor from who. I was asking the favor here, and I had to do what they were asking me to be able to get the 'harvest.' Before that, they couldn't have trusted me, and they couldn't have told me where they were going to take me… Anyway, before I had time to do anything, you caught me. I even thought A13 was a police agent planted to mislead me.—Haha, now that I'm here, you could call this a safe place. At least I can sleep well here without guarding against being stabbed in the middle of the night."

When he'd finished questioning One-Eye and walked out, pondering deeply, Luo Wenzhou saw Fei Du waiting for him at the door.

"Wang Xiao is coming," Fei Du told him briefly.

Luo Wenzhou hadn't yet come around from the information One-Eye had revealed. He froze.

"I just called her parents and found a female police officer to accompany her," Fei Du said seriously. "But there's something very wrong here. When I left Wang Xiao my number in the first place, it was actually just to comfort her. Your experiences growing up and your family background mold your character. It's very hard to be impacted by a few words from an outsider, and even if you change, it's still a slow process. For a time you can't escape the shackles of your instinctive notions. A girl like Wang Xiao, lacking close relationships from the time she was little, accustomed to being overlooked, is very sensitive to other people's gazes. She's not the type to dare to step forward bravely in her own defense, especially when she hasn't healed from her trauma."

"So what's the reason?"

Fei Du frowned. "Wang Xiao told me that she's preparing to go abroad."

As soon as he frowned, Luo Wenzhou subconsciously frowned along with him. When he noticed this, Luo Wenzhou pressed a finger to the center of Fei Du's brow, forcing his pinched-together brows to separate. He asked, "Where did her family get the money? Could it be the school or the parents of the students involved wanting to use money to keep the peace?"

Fei Du tipped his head back slightly from the push, a little helplessly, but his expression softened. "First take their hush money, then go to a public safety bureau to report them?"

"If it were me, that's what I'd do. Trick the asshole out of his money, then make him call me dad." Luo Wenzhou sloppily put an arm over Fei Du's shoulders and pushed him forward. "It's normal for Wang Xiao to want to change schools under the circumstances. The only problem is the money.—What about this makes you think there's something wrong?"

Fei Du lowered his voice and said into his ear, "I'd planned to cover the expense of going abroad to study for her. I'd already notified the foundation's people, but they didn't have time to get in contact with her."

Luo Wenzhou narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at Fei Du.

"Someone got there first—someone was closely watching this case and doing the same things that I was," Fei Du said almost inaudibly. "When you consider it, don't you think that the fundamental reason we were able to catch Lu Guosheng was that Wang Xiao mentioned that Lu Guosheng had met Wei Wenchuan at the Longyun Center on November sixth?"

If not for that important clue, Wei Wenchuan and Wei Zhanhong may have argued their way out.

If not for that clue, the police wouldn't even have found the Beehive, never mind tracing back from it to their base at the ecological park. By the time they'd slowly tracked down the clues, the maggots on Lu Guosheng's corpse would have turned into flies.

Of the students who had been at Wei Wenchuan's birthday feast that day, not one had known the details of Feng Bin's murder.

And the people who had been shown Lu Guosheng's picture and questioned because they'd run away with Feng Bin wouldn't have been invited to Wei Wenchuan's private gathering—these should have been two completely unrelated parallel lines, which had been tied together because of the words Wang Xiao had overheard in the bathroom, a probability like that of a comet hitting the earth.

Luo Wenzhou's steps paused. "Come on."

An hour later, Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du arrived at Yufen Middle School and went through a teacher to find the girls Wang Xiao had mentioned and question them.

Because of the earth-shaking scandal, the school had been forced to take a month-long vacation to be investigated and had only recently started up again. Quite a few students had changed schools, and their parents had collectively requested the school fees be returned. The formerly ostentatious and domineering Queen Bee Liang Youjing seemed to have become a different person. Her lips were dry and cracked, and she was wrapped in an ill-fitting uniform jacket, looking like an awkward country girl who'd put on a sack. The girl with the wind at her feet, doing her makeup as she walked through the corridor, seemed to have been only an illusion.

Luo Wenzhou didn't waste words. "On the day Wei Wenchuan invited you for lunch on his birthday, do you still remember what time you got back to school?"

The girls looked back at him in bewilderment. One of them got up her courage and said, "I don't think we did go back to school."

"Didn't we go to karaoke after?"

"Yeah, they brought wine, we got drunk and got rooms at the karaoke place."

The expression of the teacher next to them looked absolutely dreadful—their students had gone out to a place of entertainment, gotten drunk, and hadn't come back to school overnight, and the school hadn't done anything about it.

"The likelihood that Wang Xiao lied isn't great. It's not very realistic to make an ordinary little girl go fool the police. She may have been found out, but much more likely she would have exposed herself." After sending the dejected students away, Luo Wenzhou turned and said to the stiff-faced teacher on duty, "Could you contact the security room for me and see if the security camera records for the classroom building from November are still there?"

Normally the school's security camera records were preserved for fifty days; but since so much had happened lately, no one had dared to touch the backups that originally ought to have been deleted, keeping them for future reference. That day's records came to them very quickly. It had been a day off, and the whole classroom building had been empty. It was very quiet.

On camera, Wang Xiao came out of the classroom alone and went to the bathroom in the classroom building.

"Wait a minute," Fei Du suddenly said. "There's someone there."

The teacher on duty who was accompanying them nearly broke into gooseflesh all over at these words. She fixed her eyes on the footage and saw an out-of-the-way staircase entrance in the corner where a middle-aged woman with the look of a school custodian.

The teacher blurted out, "That…that doesn't look like one of the school's people!"

Luo Wenzhou said, "Are you sure?"

As though disclaiming responsibility, the teacher hastily said, "She really isn't one of ours. I patrol the classroom building daily and know all the staff. She's not one of them!"

They saw the middle-aged woman follow Wang Xiao to the bathroom. First she looked all around and saw that there was no one around; then she stuck her head into the bathroom and took a look, likely determining whether Wang Xiao was in one of the stalls. Then she took something out of her pocket and walked inside.

After about the time it would take to say a few sentences, the middle-aged woman came out of the bathroom, lowered the brim of her hat, and quickly left.

A good while later, Wang Xiao somewhat nervously came out of the bathroom, walking hesitatingly towards the classroom. She hung by the back door of the classroom, looking inside. When she'd determined there was no one there, she seemed to breath a sigh of relief, then opened the door and went inside.

"Wang Xiao didn't lie." Fei Du paused the video at the moment she was pressed to the glass looking into the classroom. "She really did hear the voices of the girls who had bullied her. Look here, she was worried about running into them in the classroom. That's why she did that.—It must have been a rather high-quality recording and broadcasting device."

Luo Wenzhou took out his phone and sent a picture of the middle-aged woman to his colleagues. "Investigate this person's identity."

At this time, Tao Ran had already very efficiently taken someone to go to South Bend County.

South Bend was clearly a later-developing area in Yan City's environs. There were still many low shacks and shantytowns. It was just in the process of changing its face, and everything had been torn down into a mess. The roads were full of potholes. A civil policeman from the South Bend police station came out to greet them, very enthusiastically leading the way. "This Yin Chao's family still lives here, though he moved away long ago. I just asked around for a general picture. He didn't even come back when their own house was demolished. His little brother Yin Ping brought in his letter of authorization to collect the money."

Tao Ran hadn't expected to find a trace of Old Cinder so easily. He hurriedly asked, "So has he always been in contact with his brother?"

"No," the civil policeman said. "Sir, just you figure, I got your phone call this morning and went to ask them. This Yin Ping was vague and evasive, and I thought something was off. I pushed him some more, and found out that the letter of authorization was a forgery, so he could keep the money from the demolition of the house all to himself! Hey, drive slower up ahead, the road's being repaired… It used to be that if they tore down your house, a whole family could pass their days happily based on their crappy house, but now—well, parents aren't parents, children aren't children, brothers and sisters are the same, scuffling every day over a bit of fucking money. Lately when we've been dispatched it hasn't been for anything else, it's all conflicts produced by this… It's right up ahead."

Yin Ping's family had just moved out of their old home and were living in a temporary rental apartment. The three members of the family lived together. The lighting in the home was poor, and it seemed there wasn't even any heat. It felt like a chilly and damp ice house. Yin Ping was Old Cinder Yin Chao's identical twin brother. He was also fifty-six years old and worked tending a boiler. His thin face was drawn out long, and there was an extra decade of creases on it. He had an unspeakable air of gloominess.

As soon as Tao Ran saw him, he froze—the records of Old Cinder left behind in the City Bureau were from over a decade ago, but Tao Ran could still see the similarities between his features and those of the old man in front of him; they really were identical twins. Having a shameful deed on his conscience, Yin Ping cowered when he opened the door and saw the police. He hurried to order his wife, as gloomy as him, to bring tea.

"Now you've been found out, you know you're in trouble? How come you didn't think of that when you forged your brother's signature?" The civil policeman's face was harsh. "You broke the law, do you understand?"

Yin Ping's head drooped. He didn't dare to make a sound. There was a pair of filthy wool gloves on his hands, which lay on his knees, uneasily twisting the fabric of his pants.

"We haven't come here primarily to investigate that question." Tao Ran softened his voice and put his work ID on the table.

Yin Ping's gaze passed over his ID, and even his movements twisting his pants stopped. He went stiff all over, for some reason afraid.

"Your brother Yin Chao was an important witness in one of our cases," Tao Ran said. "We're looking for him. Do you have his contact information?"

Yin Ping's chin was nearly touching his chest. He gently shook his head.

The South Bend police officer said, "Do you not have it, or do you not dare to get it out? You have the guts to hog family property, but you don't have the guts to talk to your brother, isn't that right? Your type of…"

Tao Ran waved a hand to interrupt him. "Yin Ping, when was the last time you contacted Yin Chao?"

Yin Ping raised his eyelids and looked at him. Then he quickly dodged Tao Ran's gaze. He stammered for a long time. "About ten years ago… My brother said he'd offended someone in Yan City and had to leave. At first my old mother was alive, and he sent money back often. About eight or nine…ten years ago, my old mother died, and we couldn't contact him. So I…I went to the last place he'd sent money from to look for him."

"Where was this?"

"T Province," Yin Ping said. "I asked around everywhere and searched for half a month before I found him. He looked like he had some money and was comfortable. He wasn't willing to come back, saying his enemy was too powerful and they'd kill him if he returned to Yan City. I…I didn't know where this enemy of his had come from, anyway. I lost my temper, said, 'If you don't come back, it's as though my old mother never gave birth to you! You're an unfilial scoundrel who's forgotten his roots! Sooner or later you'll meet retribution!'"

At the beginning, Yin Ping had been careful. By the time he came to the last sentence, he must have stirred up his anger. The veins at the corners of his forehead stood out, and he began to shout hoarsely.

Tao Ran paused. Without true feeling, it really wouldn't be possible to put on such a lifelike performance. "So you didn't contact him again afterwards?"

"Why should I contact him? He didn't belong to our family anymore. What qualifications did he have to take a share in our family's things?" With his neck straight, Yin Ping raised his head and looked at the civil policeman who had spoken before. "I didn't break the law, I didn't do anything wrong!"