NOS Chapter 46
by VolareThe snakeheads who were trading at the Forest Farm Ranger Station, including the one suspected to be “Ai Hua,” totaled four. Under a coordinated effort, all were successfully apprehended.
With police lights flashing, the suspects were escorted onto the vehicles, and the overturned minivan on the roadside was lifted by a crane. Yu Chunming stood guard nearby until the traffic police arrived to tow the vehicle away, then turned back to the SUV that was nearly totaled.
Meng Changqing was quietly confessing his mistake to Guan Yao. He glanced at Yu Chunming, and sensing that he wouldn’t get any “assistance” from him, his tone became even more earnest: “Master, I didn’t think so much at the time, I just rushed forward instinctively. I really didn’t mean to act like a hero.”
Guan Yao stared at him without a word, his face stern.
“Master…” Meng Changqing pouted, putting on a pitiful look, as if about to cry.
Yu Chunming chuckled inwardly. He tapped the kid on the head and teased, “Save the tears, your master is an old criminal investigator. Do you think he can be fooled by this?”
Meng Changqing’s expression stiffened, and he lowered his head.
He had indeed done wrong, but fortunately, there were no adverse consequences. Apart from one driver from the suspects’ side being injured and a Forest Farm Police Station vehicle needing repairs, there were no significant losses. Most importantly, all the involved snakeheads were caught.
Meng Changqing felt somewhat wronged. He said softly, “Master, if you were in the car, wouldn’t you have rammed it?”
Guan Yao narrowed his eyes: “Are you asking me?”
“No, I just want to know, if it were you, Master, what would you have done…” Meng Changqing tried hard to defend himself.
Yu Chunming answered at this moment: “I would.”
Guan Yao raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him.
Yu Chunming said, “I would. If I were in the car, I would have rammed it.”
Meng Changqing’s eyes lit up instantly, but Yu Chunming’s next sentence followed immediately: “But after the ramming, my master would definitely scold me terribly, then make me write a three-thousand-word self-criticism, and make me read it aloud with genuine emotion in front of the entire team at the general meeting.”
Meng Changqing’s expression froze, and he fell silent.
Guan Yao laughed, he patted Meng Changqing on the shoulder and said, “Did you hear that? Three-thousand-word self-criticism, read aloud in front of the entire station at next Monday’s general meeting.”
“I…”
The two ignored the kid’s pleas for mercy, turned and left, leaving Meng Changqing alone, crestfallen, standing in the wind.
Thirty minutes later, outside the interrogation room of the Forest Farm Police Station, Wang Zhen arrived after hearing the news.
He first peered inside, then turned to size up Meng Changqing: “This kid’s the one who drove the car and rammed them?”
Guan Yao pursed his lips and didn’t answer.
Wang Zhen was amused by his expression: “Hard to believe he’s your apprentice. That reckless energy, just like Chunming.”
Yu Chunming was walking over from outside with some materials. He glanced at Wang Zhen and asked coolly, “Did you tell Deputy Director Yu about that matter?”
Wang Zhen immediately put away his grinning teeth. He stretched his shoulders and nodded to Guan Yao: “Let’s go, you come with me. Let’s interrogate that ghost from thirty-three years ago.”
The “ghost” Wang Zhen was referring to was “Ai Hua,” no, this person was now called “Wu Jiao,” from Fanggang, Baishan, and fifty-five years old this year, one year “older” than Ai Hua.
Sitting across from this “Wu Jiao,” Wang Zhen scrutinized the photo repeatedly, frowning, for dozens of times. He clicked his tongue and sighed: “I have to say, Chunming’s eyesight is good. I’ve been looking at it for a long time before I could see the resemblance.”
Guan Yao raised the corner of his mouth. He leaned out from behind the computer and showed the person his police ID: “Do you know why you’re here at the police station today?”
The person looked composed, without the slightest hint of nervousness: “I don’t know.”
“Don’t know?” Wang Zhen feigned shock. He asked, “Don’t you know what you’ve done?”
“I don’t know,” the person answered confidently.
Guan Yao raised an eyebrow and typed this line of text verbatim.
Wang Zhen chuckled: “Looks like you’re a tough nut to crack. Helping those who defecting North Koreans to run south, you’ve trained yourself well, haven’t you?”
The person raised his chin and began to remain silent.
Wang Zhen was right. This “snakehead” from the border town of Baishan was a professional broker for North Korean defectors. The Baishan police had just sent his relevant information to the task force. Six years ago, this person had been imprisoned for taking money from North Korean defectors and helping them find embassies.
“You know,” Wang Zhen closed the file and sighed, “you have hands and feet, why not do something good? Why do you have to do this kind of work?”
The person still refused to speak.
“You’re called Wu Jiao, right?” Wang Zhen looked at Guan Yao, “Married, with a son. Your son is studying in Huacheng now. The tuition for his studies… is it all paid for by those North Korean defectors?”
The person dismissed Wang Zhen’s probing questions: “I said I don’t know anything.”
“Oh dear, don’t know anything…” Wang Zhen shook his head, “What’s the point of keeping silent, you people? You see, you were caught red-handed trading with our local snakeheads with 500,000 yuan, not only illegally possessing firearms, but also preparing to illegally cross the border. Even if you don’t say a word, we can still transfer you to the Procuratorate with zero confession.”
The person’s mouth twitched slightly, but he still refused to speak.
Wang Zhen leaned back and spread his arms: “Alright, if you don’t want to talk, we’ll just wait it out. Anyway, the evidence is conclusive, so don’t think that we’ll let you go after twenty-four hours. You went in for a stint six years ago, and now we can send you in for another stint.”
After speaking, Wang Zhen patted Guan Yao: “Let’s go, let him wait here.”
Of course, putting on a confident act was just for show. As soon as they were out the door, Wang Zhen immediately grimaced.
He hissed and his face contorted: “How did we run into such a tough customer?”
Guan Yao walked to the next room, looked at Yu Chunming and Meng Changqing still struggling with one of the smaller snakeheads, turned around, and said to Wang Zhen: “How about… we bring Ai Hua’s mother over?”
“Who?” Wang Zhen’s forehead jumped.
“Ai Hua’s mother,” Guan Yao said, “I’ve seen the interview records between Chunming and Ai Hua’s mother, Ai Xiuhong. There are some strange things in there.”
“Strange? What’s strange?” Wang Zhen asked.
Guan Yao pondered for a moment and replied: “This Ai Xiuhong… always firmly believes that her son is not dead, but she seems mentally normal. Her speech and demeanor are extremely organized, without any symptoms of delirium. It’s impossible for her to believe that someone who has been declared dead for more than thirty years is still alive. So I suspect that if ‘Wu Jiao’ is ‘Ai Hua,’ then he should have been in contact with his mother, Ai Xiuhong, all these years. Even if there’s no explicit contact, Ai Xiuhong must have received some information that made her suspicious.”
Wang Zhen stroked the mole on his chin, thinking seriously.
Guan Yao continued: “Although we can’t arbitrarily assume that Wu Jiao is Ai Hua, DNA testing won’t lie. Ai Xiuhong is still alive. She is Ai Hua’s biological mother.”
Wang Zhen carefully instructed: “No problem, once the person arrives, don’t jump to conclusions before the DNA test, to avoid any unexpected twists.”
“Yes,” Guan Yao replied.
On the other side, the small snakehead, who wasn’t very tough to begin with, had already given in, explaining everything from beginning to end.
It turned out that Wu Jiao’s trip to Za Mu Er this time was indeed because he had taken a big job. However, the jobs he had taken in the past were from North Korean defectors, but this time, the customer requested to go from the Far East.
The Far East is not an easy place to go, after all, it’s separated by the Black Water River. The river hasn’t frozen over yet, so to cross the border, one can only follow the fishing boats that go down the river. This isn’t a reliable method, and it’s very easy to be discovered by the border inspection and defense.
“Do you know who Wu Jiao planned to transport out?” Yu Chunming asked.
The small snakehead sitting in the interrogation chair shook his head solemnly: “There are also rules in our line of work, we can’t randomly inquire about our customers’ information. Who exactly he wanted to transport, we… no one knows.”
Yu Chunming asked again: “How many times have you met Wu Jiao?”
“We contacted online once, and offline… we only met this time.” The small snakehead seemed to answer honestly, but in reality, his words contained hidden meanings.
“Online?” Yu Chunming looked at him, “How did you meet online?”
The small snakehead made up a story: “We’re all in this line of work, we connect with each other, and we got to know each other over time…”
“That’s not right, is it?” Yu Chunming sized him up. “This Wu Jiao used to only deal with North Korean defectors, his business went south. Your local Za Mu Er snakeheads all go north. How did you meet?”
“This…” The small snakehead continued to make up stories, “Defectors, some defectors also go north…”
“Defectors also go north,” Yu Chunming was amused by this statement. “What country is to our north? You’ve lived on the border since you were kids, don’t you know? Stop making up stories here.”
“No, we really…”
“Also, from what I know, the snakeheads along the Black Water River are basically local fishermen. They not only have a boat at home, but also have a fishing license issued by the government. When you’re not caught, you pretend to be good citizens. When you’re caught, you go in for a year and a half, and then you come out and continue doing this work. Some families even pass it down from generation to generation. This is a ‘local industry.’ Are you willing to share a piece of the pie with someone who does the North Korean defector business?” Yu Chunming chuckled.
The small snakehead knew that he couldn’t hide it from this knowledgeable policeman, so he had to soften his tone: “Police officer, I’m just trying to make a living, I really don’t have any big ambitions. I, I was about to retire, but a friend came to my door, and I couldn’t do this business again.”
“A friend?” Yu Chunming tilted his head.
The small snakehead immediately replied: “I’m telling the truth, police officer. I knew that customer that Wu Jiao brought with him before.”
This made Yu Chunming quickly raise his eyes: “Didn’t you just claim that no one knew the ‘customer’s’ information?”
“That…” The small snakehead pondered, “They don’t know, but… I know.”
According to this person’s confession, he had gotten in touch with this “customer” brought by Wu Jiao more than a year ago, but at that time, it wasn’t the “customer” himself who wanted to cross the border, but the “customer’s” friend, a middle-aged man named Wang Xinsheng.
“That deal didn’t go through in the end, I had already collected the deposit, and he was a really nice guy, he didn’t ask for it back, so I felt like I owed him a favor.” This small snakehead said, “Then just last week, this person contacted me again, saying he wanted to ask me to think of a way to get him out. I figured I’d just meet him, we’re all so familiar online, but then he said it wasn’t convenient for him, so he sent his friend who knew this business, that’s the one we met today.”
“Then do you know what this person’s name is?” Yu Chunming asked.
“I’m not too clear about the name, but his online name is H166.” The small snakehead gave the answer immediately.
Yu Chunming hurried into the conference room. Na Fei had already retrieved the communication records between him and “H166” from the small snakehead’s phone.
“The content basically matches the confession. Now it depends on where the broadband operator can find the IP address of this account. It’s a pity that this software doesn’t require real-name registration, otherwise we wouldn’t need to put in so much effort.” Na Fei pushed the computer in front of everyone.
“Check last year’s first. The suspect said that this ‘H166’ contacted him for a man named Wang Xinsheng in April of last year. See where the IP address of the account was at that time.” Yu Chunming said.
Before long, the operator retrieved the IP address of the “H166” online account in April of last year. To everyone’s surprise, the address was in Songlan, more specifically, near the South Mansion Neighborhood in the Southern Zhou District of Songlan.
Who lives in the South Mansion Neighborhood?
He Wang.
If the previous tracking of the person who moved He Wang’s account was just a desperate attempt, then now, this small snakehead’s confession and the exact IP address can directly prove that He Wang is now in Za Mu Er. The “tenant” in the Three Mines Family Compound who took the money, switched clothes with an innocent passerby, and fooled both the police and another suspect, must be He Wang.
And now, another major clue has emerged, that is, He Wang, a person closely related to the murderer and victim of the Mopan Mountain dismemberment case, and the Songlan 6.13 dismemberment case last year, knows Ai Hua, or rather, knows the survivor of the 9.24 fire thirty-three years ago.
So, who is he?
Ai Hua’s mother, Ai Xiuhong, had arrived at the Forest Farm Police Station. She was supported by Na Fei and sat in the office on the second floor.
“Auntie, have some hot water first,” Na Fei called out kindly.
Ai Xiuhong was a little flustered. She held the water cup and stared blankly at the police officers who were busy around her: “You said you found someone who might be Ai Hua?”
“Don’t get excited, Auntie,” Na Fei sat down beside her, “We can’t be sure yet, so we need to ask you for more details.”
Ai Xiuhong’s eyes were a little red, and she said in a low voice: “Ai Hua, Ai Hua has been dead for more than thirty years, you… you must have made a mistake, right?”
This statement was completely different from her answer at home. Na Fei raised her head, her expression a little uncertain.
“Auntie, take a look, does this person look like your son.” At this time, Wang Zhen had walked over with a photo of Wu Jiao.
Guan Yao, sitting on the other side, touched the tip of his nose. He saw a trace of fear in Ai Xiuhong’s expression.
But this weathered old woman was still relatively calm. She straightened her body and solemnly took the photo. Then, everyone heard her say: “Ai Hua, this, this is not Ai Hua.”
“Not Ai Hua?” Wang Zhen asked loudly, “Auntie, are you sure it’s not him?”
“I’m sure!” Ai Xiuhong nodded heavily.
Hearing this, the few people were not surprised at all. Yu Chunming opened his mouth and said: “Auntie, take another good look, you can’t fake this. If you think it looks like him, we can take you to meet him.”
“Meet, meet…” Ai Xiuhong’s hands trembled, and tears were also hovering in her eyes, but she still insisted, “Ai Hua has been gone for so many years, if he really were still alive, why wouldn’t he come back? This can’t be Ai Hua, this, this doesn’t look like Ai Hua at all…”
As she spoke, Ai Xiuhong’s tears fell in a continuous stream, but Yu Chunming took the cotton swab and test tube without any expression and placed them in front of her: “Auntie, don’t be sad. As long as we do the DNA test, we’ll know if he’s Ai Hua in a few hours.”