NOS Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Fish Cliff Island (6)

The day after Guan Yao returned, Songlan welcomed its first snowfall of the autumn and winter season. He left the hospital to go to the Municipal Bureau just as the snow was falling the heaviest.

Wang Zhen had stayed up for three whole nights. When Guan Yao arrived, he was already exhausted, his whole body limp and his eyes glazed over. After casually pointing to a spot for him to sit, he turned his head and began to snore.

“Officer Guan, hello.” Jiang An, the captain of the First Brigade of the Songlan Municipal Bureau Criminal Investigation Detachment, greeted him with a smile. “It’s better to meet you in person than to just hear about you. Captain Wang has been mentioning you to us every other day.”

“Hello, hello.” Guan Yao replied politely.

Jiang An was fair-skinned and had a scholarly air about him, but he was quite enthusiastic. He first brought tea and then water. After exchanging pleasantries for a while, he got to the point. He slowly opened his mouth and said, “Officer Guan, um… I heard from Captain Wang that you’ve been taking care of Chunming. How has he been lately?”

Logically speaking, since Yu Chunming had an accident in Za Mu Er and was sent back to Songlan for treatment, his former colleagues should have known about it. However, whether it was during the days Yu Huan was guarding him at the hospital or the days Guan Yao was there, not a single person came to visit.

Was Yu Chunming’s interpersonal relationship that bad? Guan Yao was truly a bit curious.

Jiang An knew that Guan Yao would see through his thoughts if he asked this question, so he immediately explained, “Officer Guan, don’t misunderstand. I really wanted to visit Chunming, but…”

“But you’re afraid he doesn’t want to see you.” Guan Yao thought of Yu Chunming’s attitude towards Wang Zhen and instantly understood.

Jiang An looked a little embarrassed. He tried very hard to say good things about his old colleague, “Chunming, he has a stubborn personality. After a conflict, it’s like he wants to break off all ties. I… I don’t dare to bother him when he’s not feeling well.”

“What about before?” Wang Zhen, who seemed to be asleep, suddenly asked. He swiveled his chair and slid over to the two of them, “Now you’re just offering excuses after the fact. What were you doing before?”

“Before…” Jiang An had a hard time saying it. “Wasn’t I just not finding the opportunity?”

“Opportunity? Looking for what opportunity?” Wang Zhen pretended to be serious. “You should learn from me, put aside your pride and plead. Chunming isn’t a high and mighty person. If you apologize, he’ll definitely forgive you.”

Guan Yao raised an eyebrow and glanced at Captain Wang, who had actually been looking for an opportunity for a long time.

Captain Wang smiled at him, “I’m not wrong, am I, Officer Guan?”

Guan Yao twitched the corner of his mouth: “No, no, you’re not wrong.”

On the other side, Jiang An was still struggling, “Captain Wang, how should I put aside my pride?”

“How should you put aside your pride? Of course…” Wang Zhen “of course” for a long time, but couldn’t “of course” come up with anything concrete. He waved his hand, “Oh well, just put aside your pride like that. Figure it out yourself. Let’s talk about the case first.”

Jiang An looked at Guan Yao blankly and asked in a low voice, “Officer Guan, have you offended Chunming before? How did you apologize?”

Guan Yao was equally blank: “I don’t know. He never gets angry with me.”

This earned him a big eye-roll from Captain Wang.

Fortunately, the men quickly started a case discussion, and the important matter of “how to apologize to Yu Chunming” was put aside for a decision after the meeting.

Wang Zhen took out the kinshipidentification report that he had commissioned a professional organization to do before going to Hua City: “This just came back this morning, it’s still hot. Take a look.”

Guan Yao took it and his eyes lit up: “So it’s confirmed?”

“Half-confirmed. We need to do further experiments.” Wang Zhen said, “I just notified Xu Wen’s sister to come to the bureau this morning to cooperate with the investigation. You two will take statements and make records at that time.”

“Yes.” Guan Yao responded.

“Also,” Wang Zhen tapped the table and asked Jiang An, “Weren’t you and Old Zeng from the Jiang Wen Branch the ones who were responsible for investigating Yang Xiaowei?”

“Yes, and Officer Zhang from Changmin Road Police Station.” Jiang An replied.

“Then after you finish taking a statement from Xu Wen’s sister this morning, remember to summon Yang Xiaowei to the bureau for further questioning.” Wang Zhen instructed, then yawned and stretched, “Alright, that’s all for now. I’m going home to change clothes, take a shower, and get some sleep. You guys… seize the time.”

The Xu Wen’s sister that Wang Zhen mentioned was named Xu Qian. She had just turned fifty this year and was currently living in Songlan with her daughter.

Like her brother, Xu Qian also had a round face. When she smiled, there were two deep dimples on the corners of her mouth. However, as she had aged, her skin had become loose, and it was now difficult to see how similar this face was to Xu Wen’s when he was young.

Sitting in the conference room of the Songlan Municipal Bureau, Xu Qian sighed softly and said, “Actually, I suspected more than thirty years ago that my brother wasn’t dead, but at the time, they all said I was crazy, no one believed me.”

“You suspected that Xu Wen wasn’t dead more than thirty years ago?” Jiang An was a little surprised. “Why?”

Xu Qian’s eyes were a little dazed. She recalled, “When the 9.24 fire happened, I was sent to He Cheng Textile Institute for further study. By the time I heard about it, the fire had already burned people to a crisp. After I received the news, I rushed home as fast as I could. It was on the way that I met a person who looked very much like my brother’s friend.”

“Friend?” Guan Yao immediately asked, “Which friend? Can you still name him?”

Xu Qian nodded, “It was Qian Guowei. I remember it very clearly.”

“What was the specific situation? Describe it.” Jiang An said.

Xu Qian thought carefully for a moment and then replied, “At the time, I was at the He Cheng Railway Station, taking the train to Za Mu Er that departed around 3:00 PM. There were a lot of people on the platform, and they knocked off my purse that I was carrying. I had to go back to find it. At that time, there happened to be a train heading south stopping at the station. When I went back to find my purse, I looked up and saw a person sitting by the window of that train. That person looked exactly like Qian Guowei.”

“Are you sure?” Guan Yao asked.

“I’m sure, there’s no mistake. That train was about to leave, and I was so anxious that I chased after it and shouted, wanting to ask him how my brother was, whether they had found him or not. Because of this, I lost my purse and missed my train.” Xu Qian sighed, “But when I got home, I found out that not only was my brother missing, but Qian Guowei was also missing. When I told them who I had seen at the He Cheng Railway Station, no one believed me. They all said I was too sad and had hallucinations. Later, it just ended like that. Now that I think about it, at the time, I felt that if Qian Guowei was still alive, then my brother must also be alive, but unfortunately…”

Speaking of this, Xu Qian hurriedly asked, “Did you find that Wang Xinsheng that you mentioned earlier?”

Jiang An looked at Guan Yao and didn’t give a definitive answer: “Wang Xinsheng has been missing for more than a year. It’s very difficult for us to find him right now, so we also hope that you can cooperate well.”

“Cooperate, I’ll definitely cooperate!” Xu Qian quickly replied.

The heating in the conference room was very hot, and Jiang An was sweating all over. Just as he was taking off his clothes, Guan Yao took out He Wang’s photo and handed it to Xu Qian: “Take a look first. Do you recognize who this person is?”

Xu Qian took the photo and frowned as she looked at it for a long time. Suddenly, she gasped, “Eh, this person looks… a bit like, a bit like Qian Guowei!”

“Where does he look like him? Tell me specifically.” Guan Yao said.

Xu Qian pointed to He Wang’s eyes and brow bones in the photo and said, “This is the most similar. Qian Guowei’s eyes looked like this, his nose bridge was high, and his brow bones were also high. And then, the color of these eyes… was particularly light, like, like…”

“Like a Russian actor.” Guan Yao interjected.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Xu Qian smiled, “That’s what we all said about him back then.”

Guan Yao understood. He pushed the photo away and continued to ask, “Were you very familiar with Qian Guowei when you were young? What were his social connections in Za Mu Er?”

Xu Qian shook her head: “I was studying outside most of the time, and I wasn’t familiar with Qian Guowei. I only saw him occasionally during vacations. He was the type who was relatively popular with girls, but he wasn’t honest. I heard that there was that actress from the Linchang literary troupe, Jiang Min…”

Xu Qian couldn’t continue.

“Understood, understood.” Guan Yao raised his hand.

“Also,” Xu Qian didn’t finish speaking. She said with some indignation, “I heard my brother talk about something. He said that Qian Guowei had bullied a young girl at the No. 2 Timber Factory, not only ruining her job, but also causing… causing that girl to almost hang herself!”

“Is there such a thing?” Jiang An, who didn’t know much about Za Mu Er and the No. 2 Timber Factory, said in surprise.

“Of course there is,” Xu Qian said angrily, “That kind of scum, my brother actually enjoyed hanging around with him everywhere. In my opinion, if my brother hadn’t been following Qian Guowei’s ass every day, would he, would he have had that accident?”

She was exactly right, Guan Yao thought in his heart.

He sighed and continued from where she left off, “Do you know what that girl who was almost hanged by Qian Guowei… was named?”

“Her name was, her name was…” Xu Qian didn’t remember very well. She said, “I just remember she was called something ‘Lihua’…”

“Lihua?” Guan Yao typed these two words with some suspicion.

Were there any female employees at the No. 2 Factory whose names contained “Lihua”?

Guan Yao and Yu Chunming had turned the roster upside down before, but they hadn’t found a “Lihua.” Perhaps Xu Qian just misremembered, or perhaps she had mixed up Qian Guowei’s “deeds.” After all, this person was unruly and unyielding. Jiang Min had said before that he had “ruined” many young girls.

“Alright, that’s basically it.” Jiang An said after Guan Yao finished recording, “You can go back and think about whether you’ve received any suspicious information in the past, or remittances from strangers. If you have, contact us in a timely manner.”

Xu Qian agreed immediately.

After she left, Jiang An casually picked up the photo that Guan Yao had put aside and looked at it. “A Russian actor, you know, he really looks like one. But I think he looks more like that, that masked ranger, what’s his name?”

Guan Yao looked up and thought for a long time, but couldn’t remember.

Jiang An said again, “When Chunming first joined the team, Captain Wang said he looked like him. I just can’t remember what his name was. The older generation liked to watch that movie…”

“Chunming is better looking.” Guan Yao said without hesitation.

Jiang An didn’t suspect anything. He nodded, “Chunming is definitely better looking.”

The two were just chatting casually, but Guan Yao suddenly paused. He raised his head, his expression slightly stern: “Strange, Xu Qian can recognize that He Wang looks very much like Qian Guowei after all these years, but why can’t Jiang Min recognize him? Logically speaking, Jiang Min should be more familiar with Qian Guowei.”

This matter was indeed strange. Back at the Linchang Police Station, Yu Chunming and Wang Zhen had put the photo in front of Jiang Min’s face, but Jiang Min had been able to deny it firmly. Why was this?

Guan Yao became suspicious. He put down the information in his hand and said to Jiang An, “I’ll trouble you with the matter of questioning Yang Xiaowei. I’m afraid I have to hurry back to the hospital. There’s something I need to confirm with Chunming.”

Guan Yao wasn’t present when Jiang Min identified the photo, but according to Yu Chunming, after she saw the photo, she had said very definitely that He Wang wasn’t Qian Guowei.

Could the reason why Jiang Min was so certain be that—

In the thirty-three years since Qian Guowei disappeared, she had seen this person again, and when she saw him again, Qian Guowei didn’t look like He Wang?

This conjecture made Guan Yao break out in a cold sweat. After all, even with Yang Xiaowei’s determination to have plastic surgery, it was impossible to completely change one’s original appearance and become a completely different person. What’s more, with Xu Qian’s testimony, Qian Guowei was clearly He Wang, so what was Jiang Min’s basis for saying that he wasn’t?

Yu Chunming also didn’t understand. He leaned against the headboard, his brow furrowed: “That night in Beilin Village, He Wang played the fool, making me mistakenly believe that he was being chased, but in reality, he led me into a trap that he had set up. This person is meticulous in his thinking and ruthless in his methods. He will do anything to achieve his goals. If he wanted to go back to see Jiang Min, to be cautious, perhaps he really wouldn’t show up in person.”

“My guess makes sense, right?” Guan Yao asked.

“It does make sense.” Yu Chunming nodded, “The police station called yesterday afternoon and said that they had re-checked the cell phone number of the person who reported the crime that night and found that the phone card used to contact Ai Hua by He Wang before belonged to the same type of disposable, unregistered phone card. This proved that He Wang, that is, Qian Guowei, was indeed the person who reported the crime. Unfortunately, Director Zhang didn’t know much about the case and couldn’t recognize his voice.”

“I heard about this too. Moreover, that Feina and the others determined that the van found under the third fork in the Daan Highway didn’t belong to the suspect. The hair on the car came from a local villager. It was what people used to go into the mountains to buy goods.” Guan Yao sighed silently, “No one in the task force can say for sure what He Wang’s purpose was in reporting the crime, or what his purpose was in luring you over there. However, after they surveyed the scene, they did find two completely different sets of footprints in that uninhabited hunter’s hut. The forensics team is currently comparing them to see if they match the footprints left by the suspect outside the driving school and in the San Kuang Family Compound. If they match, it may indicate that ‘Yi Jun’ was really in Beilin Village at the time, but he slipped away before the police arrived.”

Speaking of this, Guan Yao cleared his throat: “By the way, Captain Wang also talked about the fact that the suspect sent you a letter before last night.”

Yu Chunming raised an eyebrow and looked at Guan Yao: “Wang Zhen said… the ‘suspect’ sent me a letter?”

“Yes, Ge Xiaopei he…” Guan Yao paused, then smiled, “Captain Wang didn’t tell you that there is likely to be a major conflict of interest between Ge Xiaopei and the suspect?”

“No.” Yu Chunming replied with a straight face.

Guan Yao couldn’t help laughing: “When Captain Wang was in Hua City, he said he was going to come back and question you. Did he question you?”

“I didn’t even see his shadow.” Yu Chunming said coldly.

“I knew it,” Guan Yao laughed, “This morning, your old colleague Jiang An also…”

“Don’t mention Jiang An to me.” Yu Chunming interrupted Guan Yao impatiently.

Guan Yao touched his nose. He hesitated for a moment, probably hesitating, but finally asked, “Chunming, what unpleasant things did you have with those colleagues in the Criminal Investigation Team?”

Yu Chunming had said that as long as Guan Yao asked, he would definitely answer.

But now, he regretted it.

“Nothing unpleasant, it’s all in the past.” Yu Chunming said perfunctorily.

But Guan Yao pursued relentlessly: “You don’t look like it’s all in the past. Tell me, maybe if you tell me, it will really be in the past.”

Yu Chunming looked at Guan Yao.

This person was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at him with sincere eyes. Due to the days of running around, that originally handsome face had been stained with a little wind and frost, and even a few fine lines had been added to the corners of his eyes for no reason.

But it was this face that overlapped with the teenager Guan Yao in an instant, making Yu Chunming feel as if he had returned to a certain afternoon when he was lying asleep on his desk, and when he woke up, he saw the teenager sitting beside him still focused on studying.

The setting sun was not scorching, but gave people a hint of warmth, which made Yu Chunming suddenly feel a warmth in his heart.

He said, “Because of that letter, Wang Zhen scolded me for being unscrupulous and opportunistic, and said… that my despicable and dirty character was the same as my mother’s back then.”