Chapter 49

The days of my youth, whenever I look back on them, seem like white snowflakes in a morning snow storm, blown away from me in a flurry. - Lolita15

"You're going to have to put in some work, comrades. I'll reimburse you for midnight snacks and the ladies' facial masks. The ones who have wives and children, I'll send home letters of repentance in your place.—Even if we have to work all night, even if we have to dig all the way down in the old Su home, we must get to the bottom of this. I want to see that little girl Qu Tong, alive or dead." Having finished speaking into the walkie-talkie, Luo Wenzhou turned to Fei Du, who was watching him, full of interest. "Youngster, I feel you may be the reincarnation of a bearer of ill fortune. This birthday of yours has truly been happy and blessed. I can't take you all the way home. Should I call you a cab, or let you down at some hotel on the way to make do?"

Fei Du didn't answer. Apropos of nothing, he said instead, "What do you guys normally eat for a midnight snack when you're on duty?"

"Normally we eat luxurious set meals of illegally recycled cooking oil." Luo Wenzhou's expression was a little bitter. "An unreasonable person may sometimes eat something of a slightly higher grade, for example McDonald's."

Fei Du: "…"

"Nonsense." Luo Wenzhou turned the steering wheel in the direction of the City Bureau. Irritably, he said, "If they were all as hard to please as you, could I afford to reimburse them? There's a hotel up ahead, half a month's wages for one night. Should I stop?"

"I won't stay at that one," Fei Du said unhurriedly towards the bitterly oppressed public servant who had fried chicken to fill his hunger and illegally recycled cooking oil to assuage his thirst. "The incense in their lobby is too strong, and the bathrooms don't have tubs." Next, disregarding the surges of enmity he'd attracted, he directed, "Just drive on. There's a six-star service hotel near your bureau that I can make do with. I can stroll over there myself."

Luo Wenzhou: "…"

He resisted for an age but in the end couldn't hold back. "President Fei, from morning to night, all you do is play around and raise hell. You don't do any proper business. Is your family money enough to squander all your life? What'll you do when you've wasted the whole fortune? No one will even blow wind for you to drink. And you're all grown up now. After today…yesterday, if you go to the civil administration bureau, you can legally apply for a marriage certificate. Can't you be a little less high-maintenance?"

The elbow of Fei Du's uninjured arm rested against the car door; he didn't answer, only smiled with his chin in his hand.

Luo Wenzhou didn't know what there was to smile about; he got anxious at the sight of him. If he hadn't taken pity on his walking wounded status today, he would have nearly thrown this person out of the car.

After a while, Fei Du asked, "Are you sure you don't need me to keep helping?"

"Do you have a rank? Do you get paid?" In the end, Luo Wenzhou didn't make him walk. Still criticizing, he turned off onto an opposite side-road as he approached the City Bureau, driving towards a hotel building that could be called a local landmark. "What does this have to do with you?"

"I heard that the so-called 'accomplice' you arrested was accused by that savage little girl, and aside from that you have no other evidence, right?"

Luo Wenzhou, expressionlessly, said, "Ongoing investigations are confidential."

Before he'd finished, Fei Du was already evenly going on: "Oh, right, it was also that he had some connection to the serial kidnappings of little girls twenty years ago, so he seemed suspicious."

Luo Wenzhou secretly ground his teeth, internally plotting to get back and closely investigate just which bastard's mouth had been so unguarded.

"That is, you don't have evidence. The little girl isn't fully thirteen years old. Her IQ seems high, but her mental state can't be described as stable. How much credibility can her testimony have? The alibi of the man you arrested today was personally supplied by the police force. What if he persists in denials?" Fei Du spread his hand slightly. "And there's that little girl. You won't get anything out of her mouth. At any rate, you can't torture a confession out of her. Are you really planning to call in a specialist on children's criminal psychology this very night?"

Each word Fei Du spoke was true; all of these things were giving Luo Wenzhou a headache.

All of tonight's operations lacked the support of real evidence. If they hadn't rescued Chenchen in the end, having relied solely on Luo Wenzhou acting on his own initiative, shooting first and asking permission later, he'd have been in for it the next day.

He'd already driven up to the ground floor of the hotel. Surplus cold air assaulted the senses, carrying the scent of the lobby's chill and serene incense, refreshing to the heart and mind.

Though it was the small hours of the morning, there was still a doorman on duty who energetically stepped up to welcome the guest.

Fei Du got out of the car and was about to go when he suddenly remembered something and turned back. He leaned down and knocked on the window of Luo Wenzhou's car, then pulled open the driver's side door.

"I left my phone," he said. "Could you pass it to me?"

Luo Wenzhou gave an "okay" and picked the phone up from the passenger's seat. He was about to pass it over, but Fei Du, seeming unable to wait, reached out his hand to take it.

His shirt, disheveled from the car accident, hung down loosely. From Luo Wenzhou's point of view, he could just see into his drooping collar. His chest was a little thin, but, displayed under a set of clearly defined collarbones, it had a sense of restrained power. He hadn't purposefully sprayed himself with cologne today, but this person's degenerate flesh had absorbed all the world's essences; from his collar came a faint, almost undetectable masculine scent, vanishing without a trace before it could be clearly considered.

Reaching out his arm to take the phone, Fei Du almost brushed against him; after this near contact, his finger, by accident or by design, touched Luo Wenzhou as he grabbed his phone.

Luo Wenzhou: "…"

In the middle of the night, for a young and vigorous man, interested in men and having no fixed partner, under the infinite stress of work, to be taken by surprise by this sort of provocation was no less tragic than for a person who had been fasting for three days to see a late-night online ad for a Michelin restaurant.

"I should still be here in the morning. Come find me if you need me." Fei Du straightened as if nothing had happened, sticking the pestilential phone in his pocket. "I can talk to the girl for you. While I'm not an expert in troubled young people, I have a considerable wealth of experience being a troubled young person."

Mentally and physically exhausted, Luo Wenzhou waved his hand. "Go away already."

When Fei Du had really gone away, Luo Wenzhou stopped his car by the side of the road and smoked two cigarettes in a row before he had finally recovered from his awkward half-hard condition. He started the car and went back to the City Bureau, his heart full of vicissitudes in spite of himself.

When an ordinary person was busy with studies or work, he could still resolve his personal problems by the "blind date" method; matters were much less convenient for those with niche interests.

When he'd just graduated, Young Lord Luo had, like Fei Du, fooled around all over for a few years. Later he'd found that while dissolution was easy, finding a suitable person was very hard. Moreover, he'd found that so-called "enchantment" was a four-step process: first infatuation, then habituation, then insipidness, and finally a revulsion of taste. Adding in his increasing stress at work taking away his attention, Luo Wenzhou had slowly evolved an "elderly" lifestyle of going to and from work, coming home, and petting the cat.

But while his mentality was "elderly," his body was after all still young; an enormous contradiction had arisen between his physiological and mental states. Luo Wenzhou had the perturbed thought that if he carried on like this, one day he just might take a shine to Luo Yiguo's big fluffy tail.

He irascibly floored the gas pedal. The car groaned and gave a bound, charging towards the brightly lit City Bureau.

"Captain Luo, Xu Wenchao's been arrested. He's in an interrogation room, and Su Luozhan is in another. Xiao Lang is watching her. Are you planning…"

Before the words were spoken, Luo Wenzhou's hurried steps had halted. He'd seen a stooped figure in the corridor.

"Uncle Guo?"

Guo Heng pinched out the end of his cigarette and slowly stood, striving to straighten his back…but it still wouldn't straighten.

Luo Wenzhou said, "Why would you be…"

"Did you come to see me today because you're investigating the old case again?" Guo Heng looked at him with a scorching gaze. "That's right, isn't it? My daughter… You haven't found her after all these years. I heard you've just brought a girl back, still living, is that true? Have you arrested the suspect? Is there a hope that you can clear up what happened to Feifei? Aside from Wu Guangchuan, was there also an accomplice?"

In the old man's turbid eyes, the flames described by the Venerable Yang seemed to have been rekindled, making it hard to look directly at him.

Luo Wenzhou didn't know what to say. He could only awkwardly muddle out, "We'll do our very best."

Having said it, he greased his steps and hurriedly ran off; when he had gone far, he could still feel Guo Heng watching him go, eyes about to burn through his back.

In the interrogation room, Xu Wenchao, called before the throne twice in one day, having gone from "assisting in the investigation" to "suspect," arrested in his residence in the middle of the night, was looking very bad. His face was wan from missing sleep, and there was stubble at the corners of his mouth.

His manner didn't seem so polite now. All ten fingers were laced together, laid on his legs; there was an inexpressible strain on his pale face.

"I didn't." Xu Wenchao's tone was helpless and blameless, but his words were sharp. "I'll say it again, I didn't kidnap any little girls, and I didn't kill anyone. You've seen my vehicle location record, illegally followed and spied on me. I'd like to ask, if I may, having encroached upon a person's fundamental rights to this extent, what evidence have you found that I've killed someone?"

The criminal policeman interrogating him coldly said, "Su Luozhan kidnapped a girl at her school, maltreated her and attempted to murder her. At the crime scene, she called your number twice. In front of everyone, she accused you of being her accomplice. What else do you have to quibble about?"

Xu Wenchao leaned back in his chair and used his unique gentle voice to say, "A phone call and the words of a child, and suddenly I'm a murderer. I think I've understood today what's meant by, 'If you're determined to hang someone, you can always find a pretext.'"

"Why would Su Luozhan call you, and why would she make a false accusation against you?"

Xu Wenchao paused and calmly raised his eyes. Watching on the surveillance feed, Luo Wenzhou got a clear look at his expression and had a sudden surge of foreboding—this person was too calm, too confident, wholly without a hint of panic, as if he held some unknown trump card.

"Because her mom and I were in a romantic relationship," said Xu Wenchao. "Yes, I didn't say so when I was here this afternoon…because I was afraid it would cause trouble.—I've loved Su Xiaolan since I was little, but she didn't love me. She'd rather have lived in abject misery than have me. Only when she learned she didn't have long to live did she selfishly afford me a bit of warmth as alms. But I shed tears of gratitude for it, even wanted to marry her… If not for the fact that she didn't make it that long, I'd be Su Luozhan's stepfather now. Because we don't have a legal relationship, it's very difficult for me to take the child in to raise her. I've had to slowly think of a way, meanwhile doing everything in my power to materially support her. She'd call me if she ever needed anything. That's very normal."

"But you didn't pick up."

"I didn't pick up because I'd discovered that I was being spied on," Xu Wenchao said blandly. "Even if it hadn't been her on the phone, only some package delivery service or real estate marketer, I still wouldn't have picked up. Officer, I suppose that under the severe press of public rights, I'm still entitled to maintain some last bit of freedom?"

"So you're saying that Su Luozhan falsely accused you?"

"I don't know why the child said that. If it's true, then I'm very grieved. Her mom always rather neglected her. Comparatively speaking, I feel myself qualified for the responsibilities of a stepfather. The girl's upbringing was free, and her conduct really was somewhat overboard. I disciplined her. Perhaps she feels a little rebellious towards me." At this point, Xu Wenchao paused slightly. "Or perhaps she didn't know what she was saying at all. There was someone prompting her."

The criminal policeman smacked the table. "None of that bullshit! The surviving victim testified that after Su Luozhan called you, she said, 'If he won't come, I'll do it myself.' The old Su family residence has been kept clean by hourly workers hired by you, and the water and electricity bills have been paid out of your bank account! What were you doing maintaining an old house that was about to be torn down? It clearly shows you were up to something unspeakable! If we hadn't been keeping an eye on you today, the kidnapped girl may not have lived to see tomorrow's sun!"

Xu Wenchao shook his head. "What's the causal relationship between maintaining an old residence and kidnap and murder? Following your logic, I suppose all the crimes that take place within the scope of the city are the responsibility of the city government?"

"Didn't he say he'd had his brain damaged by a fever?" Luo Wenzhou raised his brows in astonishment. "This looks pretty quick-witted to me. Can being a stupid cunt be intermittent?"

"Captain Luo, if he continues to deny it, and we don't have evidence, are we going to have to give him a lie detector test?"

"Go look into his bank accounts, credit cards, vehicles and properties under his name… Take his photograph to all the large car rental agencies and ask around. There's also his personal relationships; he may have been driving a borrowed car when he committed the crime. The fact that there's nothing wrong with his driving history for the day Qu Tong was kidnapped shows that he didn't drive a car under his own name. I don't believe that he has the ability to hide an entire four-wheeled vehicle…"

While Luo Wenzhou was still speaking, the criminal policeman inside the interrogation room said, "I'll ask you again, where were you on the night of the twenty-seventh?"

"At home, reading a book." Xu Wenchao's expression didn't flicker. "I'm a freelancer. I don't go to work every day. Reading at home is very normal."

"If you were at home reading, then what did you rent a car for?"

This was a bluff.

If the car Xu Wenchao had driven that day in West Ridge hadn't been his own, then whether he'd borrowed it from an acquaintance or had a personal car registered under someone else's name, there would be traces to follow; it would be easy to investigate. The best choice would have been for him to go to an irregularly managed rental agency and rent a car; there were some unregistered companies that were purely illegally operated, very well hidden. This was Xu Wenchao's most likely method.

Luo Wenzhou closed his mouth, crossed his arms over his chest, and focused, waiting for Xu Wenchao's excuse.

But Xu Wenchao unflappably raised his brows in seemingly sincere astonishment. "Officer, what are you talking about?"

"On the evening of the twenty-seventh, you followed a school bus that set out from West Ridge, waiting for an opportunity to act against one of the eleven girls on the bus. You happened to witness the school bus being hijacked. In the process, a girl called Qu Tong jumped out of the bus and ran into you and Su Luozhan. She trusted you, asked for your help, and got into your car. She didn't know she was delivering herself to her ruin at your beastly hands!"

Xu Wenchao sneered. "That's simply…"

The interrogating criminal policeman sternly interrupted his defense. "The security cameras around the museum caught your car's license plate number. What else have you got to quibble about?"

"Officer," Xu Wenchao asked coldly, "could you tell me at what time on the twenty-seventh this happened?"

The interrogating policeman coldly said, "You don't know yourself?"

"I really don't know." Xu Wenchao lightly raised his hands and shook his head. "All right, since you're determined to trap me, it seems you won't tell me the exact time, but I have to say a few words for myself. If this crime occurred during the first half of the night, I'm afraid I wouldn't have had time to go over there. You've seen where my house is located. Driving to this West Ridge you're talking about would take at least three hours…and that's not considering traffic and poor weather conditions. Around 8:30 on the night of the twenty-seventh, I ordered take-out at home. The order number and delivery time are recorded. If I'm lucky, the delivery person will remember me."

Luo Wenzhou's heart gave a thump; he found that his premonition had come true.

"I advise you to verify it as fast as possible and clear my name." Xu Wenchao looked down at his watch. "It seems I'll be spending the night at a public security bureau. Can you tell me when I can ask for a lawyer? Oh, right, also, although I still don't clearly understand what Su Luozhan is meant to have done, she's still little, after all. Can you officers go easy on her? If necessary, I'm willing to bear the responsibility of acting as her guardian."

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Author's Note:

(15) Original quote: The days of my youth, as I look back on them, seem to fly away from me in a flurry of pale repetitive scraps like those morning snow storms of used tissue paper that a train passenger sees whirling in the wake of the observation car.

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