“Then explain why Huo Yewei would have misunderstood you,” Ming Han said. “Well, he can’t hear you anymore, but if you can explain it clearly, it’ll make what you said earlier more believable.”
Shu Jun nearly sprang to his feet, his face turning red and then pale. After a moment, he slammed his fist on the table, looking utterly remorseful. “I wasn’t lying. I really did enter show business to keep him company. But you say the entertainment industry is a cesspool, and you’re right. The moment I got in, I was dazzled by it.”
Shu Jun admitted he was no innocent. What man, he asked, didn’t appreciate good-looking men and women? In the entertainment industry, someone like him, sitting on a mountain of gold with no need to worry about his reputation, was in his element. He didn’t even have to make the first move. Admirers would throw themselves at him.
He let it go to his head and sometimes neglected Huo Yewei. For the past six months, Huo had been angry with him, barely acknowledging him. Originally, after the banquet on the seventeenth, Huo was supposed to accompany him abroad for a vacation. But Huo had been giving him the cold shoulder. If Shu Jun hadn’t insisted that he attend, Huo wouldn’t even have shown his face.
Shu Jun thought Huo Yewei was becoming increasingly temperamental, so he deliberately ignored him at the banquet, surrounding himself with several attractive young men who had recently caught his eye. He didn’t notice when Huo left. By the time he went looking for him, the butler said Huo had been gone for ages.
Furious, Shu Jun smashed his phone. It wasn’t the first time Huo Yewei had stood him up. Every time, he made an excuse about work. But what work could there be this time? Shu Jun knew Huo’s schedule inside out, and he hadn’t taken any jobs over the New Year holiday.
When he learned Huo had returned to his villa at Weimo Mountain Resort, he decided that if Huo wasn’t going to show him any consideration, he wouldn’t extend any in return. He boarded his flight with a new lover and turned off his phone, paying no attention to what happened back home. Who could have imagined that when he woke up, Huo Yewei would be separated from him by life and death?
“I shouldn’t have treated him like that!” Shu Jun was losing control of himself, banging his forehead against the table. “I knew he’d been in a bad place lately! I shouldn’t have left him alone. If I’d insisted on taking him with me, how could anything have happened to him?”
“Am I misunderstanding something?” Ming Han asked. “You and Huo Yewei don’t sound like ordinary friends.”
Shu Jun froze and looked away. “Yes. He and I… we’ve been together for years.”
“You’re lovers?”
Shu Jun frowned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking deeply uncomfortable. “You could put it that way.”
“You could put it that way?” Ming Han scoffed. “You really get around. You’re in a relationship with one person and keep chasing others. No wonder Huo Yewei couldn’t stand you.”
“What did you say?” Shu Jun roared, enraged. “What do you know? He’s a man, and so am I! It’s not like we can get married! What’s wrong with me having a little fun on the side? He could do the same. Isn’t it enough that we know we’re the most important people in each other’s lives?”
Ming Han despised people like Shu Jun, and his words turned deliberately cutting. “If you’re so important to each other, why do you think he couldn’t bear to see you? Why would he rather stay alone and write music than spend New Year overseas with you?”
“You!” The veins on Shu Jun’s forehead bulged.
Ming Han gestured toward the chair. “Sit down. Planning to attack an officer again?”
Remembering how Ming Han had subdued him earlier, Shu Jun sat down reluctantly.
“I’m not interested in your shallow relationship,” Ming Han said. “Huo Yewei is dead. No matter how devoted you pretend to be now, he won’t see it.”
“I’m not pretending!” Shu Jun shouted.
“Instead of wasting your breath trying to outshout me, why don’t you answer my questions honestly?” Ming Han asked. “What’s your relationship with Lin Dong?”
Shu Jun’s expression changed. “You’ve found him? Was he really the killer?”
“Hmm? Do you have a lead?”
Shu Jun seemed to have already decided Lin Dong was responsible. “Isn’t it obvious? I’ve read the news online. The day before it happened, a Lin Dong fan attacked Old Huo. And she wasn’t just any fan. That no-name brand lake has had ties to Lin Dong for ages! I heard both the woman and Lin Dong are missing. If that isn’t fleeing from justice, what is? Go investigate lake. That shady little brand is no good!”
“Interesting. Huo Yewei, however, believed you were behind Lin Dong’s disappearance,” Ming Han said. “Since you haven’t been cut off from the internet, you must have seen that screenshot of their private messages. After leaving your banquet, Huo Yewei said with his own mouth that Lin Dong was already dead. He thought you might have gone after Lin Dong.”
Shu Jun’s eyes widened, and he went rigid in his chair. Over the next half minute, he opened his mouth several times but could not bring himself to speak. Ming Han rested his chin on his hand and watched the spectacle of his changing expressions with interest.
“I haven’t laid a finger on Lin Dong. I don’t even know where he is,” Shu Jun finally said. “I admit I was interested in him. He… he’s exactly my type in every way. I really wanted to have some fun with him.”
Shu Jun treated the entertainment world as his private hunting ground and rarely failed to catch the people he pursued. Famous stars or small-time actors, if he wanted someone, he could usually find a way to get them. He supplied opportunities; they supplied their bodies. A mutually beneficial arrangement. But he didn’t go after just anyone. He avoided people already attached and those from powerful families like Huo Yewei’s. He chose beauties from ordinary backgrounds. Once they tired of one another, they parted on decent terms. Huo Yewei alone was his “official partner.”
Huo Yewei cared most about his career and generally turned a blind eye to Shu Jun’s philandering. That left Shu Jun feeling aggrieved. He loved Huo deeply, yet Huo seemed not to care who caught his eye next. So Shu Jun became even more outrageous, determined to make Huo jealous and prove he cared.
It appeared he had succeeded.
Years ago, Huo Yewei had humiliated Lin Dong on a variety show. That was when Shu Jun first learned his name, but he had no interest in that miserable-looking young man at the time. He thought Huo had been right to insult him.
Later Lin Dong grew more popular, until he became a breakout star, and Shu Jun finally took notice. Lin Dong’s rise coincided with Huo Yewei’s declining career. People frequently compared them. Huo Xiling wanted to use Huo Yewei to generate attention, so she ordered his team to make an issue of Lin Dong. Huo was emotional and came to regard Lin Dong as his sworn rival, competing with him over everything.
Driven by a cruel sense of amusement, Shu Jun began approaching Lin Dong. He wanted Huo Yewei to see him pursue his rival. At last Huo reacted, flying into a temper whenever Lin Dong was mentioned and giving Shu Jun the cold shoulder.
Encouraged by the result, Shu Jun pursued Lin Dong even more openly. But unlike the celebrities he’d toyed with before, Lin Dong was completely unmoved by his status as the eldest son of the Shu family. He gave Shu Jun an even colder reception than Huo Yewei did. Shu Jun was astonished and even more interested. He became determined to have Lin Dong.
“Did you ever tell Huo Yewei you’d kill Lin Dong?” Ming Han asked.
Shu Jun almost tore his hair out. “I only said that for him to hear! I wanted to provoke him!”
After the scandal at Yunxiang Entertainment, Shu Jun heard that Lin Dong had lost his protection and that his bodyguards had apparently been withdrawn. He arranged for someone to tell Huo Yewei that he intended to seize the opportunity, capture Lin Dong, take him abroad, and use him until he was dead.
“Do you really have no idea where Lin Dong is?” Ming Han asked.
“I looked for him, but I couldn’t find him.” Shu Jun gritted his teeth. “Did he kill Old Huo or not? If he did, I’ll…”
“Drop the tough-guy act when you’re talking to me,” Ming Han warned. “Who are you trying to intimidate?”
Shu Jun glared at him furiously, but after a moment, he abandoned the empty bravado.
“Since you know the Huo family so well, I have a few more questions,” Ming Han said. “Leaving Lin Dong aside, who do you think might have wanted Huo Yewei dead?”
“That old witch, obviously!” Shu Jun said. “Old Huo grew up without a mother. For all we know, she killed her too! As long as Old Huo was alive, he’d eventually be entitled to a share of the family fortune. She wants to leave Weihai Technology to her own bastards!”
“Huo Xiling? Isn’t she unmarried? Does she have children? And what happened to Huo Yewei’s mother?”
Shu Jun gave an ugly laugh. “Who says you have to be married to have children? Officer Ming, you’re seriously underestimating that old witch. She keeps a whole group of male escorts. I know of at least two illegitimate children. Surrogacy, of course. With enough money, she can have as many as she wants without giving birth herself. That’s why I call them bastards!”
Ming Han considered this. “Huo Yewei’s father is still alive, isn’t he? Couldn’t he protect his son at all?”
“Huo Yancheng?” Shu Jun’s expression was full of contempt. “He’s just a tool the Huo family used to produce a child. The fact that Huo Xiling hasn’t killed him is generous enough.”
“Did he marry into the Huo family?”
“Of course he did. There used to be people in the Huo family with the power to keep Huo Xiling in check, but every one of them met with trouble. How do you think she ended up controlling the entire family?” Shu Jun proceeded to reveal little-known details of the family’s private affairs.
Huo Xiling came from a collateral branch of the Huo family. In her immediate family there were three daughters: an older sister, Huo Xiling in the middle, and a younger sister. Forceful by nature, Huo Xiling had been raised almost as though she were a son. But she was still a woman. Her sisters both found men they could control and married them into the family.
Shu Jun knew little about the eldest sister. She appeared to have lost interest in family affairs long ago and emigrated with her husband and children. Huo Xiling’s younger sister, Huo Xiyun, Huo Yewei’s mother, was completely aligned with Huo Xiling. She married Xie Yancheng, the man Huo Xiling selected for her, and after the wedding Xie changed his surname to Huo.
A few years after Huo Yewei’s birth, Huo Xiyun fell ill and died. Huo Yancheng wanted for nothing materially, but had no authority to question Huo Xiling’s plans for Huo Yewei. Huo Yewei feared his aunt. Everyone in the family feared the old witch.
As he grew older, Huo Yewei felt increasingly endangered. It wasn’t that he had no desire for power. If he hadn’t entered show business, he would surely have held a senior position at Weihai Technology by now. From that perspective, turning him into a celebrity had been Huo Xiling’s way of cutting off his chance to interfere in the company’s affairs.
More than once, he had told Shu Jun that Huo Xiyun’s death was suspicious. If someone had killed her, that person could only have been Huo Xiling. In recent years, Huo Yewei had come to feel that his own life was under threat. He was the Huo family’s only legitimate heir, while Huo Xiling’s illegitimate children had no recognized status. She would take that status from him for them.
Ming Han was growing confused. “Huo Xiyun’s death was suspicious? Huo Yewei only suspected something? He never investigated it privately?”
“Old Huo barely knew Huo Xiyun,” Shu Jun said.
Ming Han frowned. The scandals of this wealthy family seemed to be snowballing.
Shu Jun explained that because Huo Yewei was a son, he was considered extraordinarily precious. The Huo elders thought Huo Xiyun too young and inexperienced to raise him, so they handed him over to Huo Xiling. Huo Yewei spent little time with Huo Xiyun, and their bond was weak.
As Huo Yewei remembered it, Huo Xiyun had always been polite toward him. She wasn’t particularly robust, but her health wasn’t poor either. She shouldn’t have suddenly fallen ill. Huo Xiling had benefited most from her death. Yet his affection for Huo Xiyun had never been strong enough to make him devote himself to investigating her. Decades later, his suspicion remained nothing more than suspicion.
Ming Han considered where to take the investigation next and asked who in the entertainment industry might have wanted to harm Huo Yewei. Shu Jun avoided the question and swore that if he found the killer, he’d make that person wish they were dead.
Ming Han escorted the emotionally volatile Shu Jun out of the municipal bureau and warned him plainly that the police would be watching his movements closely until the case was solved. “You’d better not disappear on me.”
Shu Jun snorted unhappily. “Right back at you. If you can’t find the murderer, I’ll turn up here every day! I’m staying in Junan City. And if Lin Dong killed Old Huo, don’t even think of protecting him!”
Ming Han called him back. “One more thing. You said lake was no good. What did you mean?”
Shu Jun snorted. “Using the name of a drug for a perfume. What kind of rotten marketing stunt is that?”
Ming Han frowned. “A drug?”
But Shu Jun couldn’t explain properly. “One of their perfumes! It was called something like Ke-something-as. I can’t remember!”
Ming Han searched the internet using a few keywords. There really had been such an incident.
The brand lake had once promoted a perfume called Kelan’as, but withdrew it before its official launch because the name allegedly resembled that of a narcotic found in Latin America. Liu Xun promptly issued a sincere apology, explaining that neither she nor her team had ever heard of the drug and that it was pure coincidence. The entire run of Kelan’as perfume was destroyed, and lake had no further scandals. Since the brand was relatively obscure, the controversy never became big news.
Ming Han was still considering this when Li Shu hurried over. “Bro Ming, there you are. Teacher Chen asked me yesterday about the missing-children case at Huyun Tea Factory. The sub-bureau was handling it. I’ve just received word that Zhou Xia and the others are parents of the missing children.”
Eight years earlier, the first missing child from the tea factory community was Gong Yu, seventeen. His father was Gong Xiaoyang, who was now missing from Weimo Mountain Resort.
Gong Yu had been born prematurely and had below-average intellectual ability, but he was not an idiot. He listened to his parents. Through his connections, Gong Xiaoyang had arranged for the boy to begin working at the tea factory early. Then one day, Gong Yu failed to come home. When his father went to the factory to ask about him, he learned the boy hadn’t shown up for work that morning.
The next missing child was Xu Xinxin, also seventeen, whose mother was Zeng Hong. After Xu Xinxin disappeared, Zeng Hong divorced her husband. Xu Xinxin attended Junan No. 5 High School near the factory, an unremarkable school attended by most of the factory workers’ children. One weekend, she said she was going into the city center to buy clothes with her classmate Yan Ping. Neither came home.
Yan Ping was Zhou Xia’s daughter. She and Xu Xinxin had been in the same class since childhood and remained inseparable even after they were placed in different classes in high school.
About a week after Xu Xinxin and Yan Ping disappeared, three more teenagers vanished: Lu Xiwei, daughter of Lu Feng; Wang Shixun, son of Wang Wanjian; and Hu Mingyu, son of Hu Changquan. They all knew one another and were seventeen. The internet cafés they frequented offered no trace of them.
Another half month passed before the final disappearance. This time it was Mei Rui, seventeen-year-old daughter of factory worker Mei Feng.
With so many children suddenly missing, the entire Huyun Tea Factory community was on edge. Rumors spread that criminals were taking advantage of management chaos as the factory neared bankruptcy. Parents began keeping their children under close watch; some even forbade them from attending school. Nearby schools were equally alarmed, refusing entry to all outsiders.
More than a month went by without another disappearance. Only then did the atmosphere ease a little. The local police station investigated first but made no progress. The sub-bureau took over and found no leads either.
To find their children, Zhou Xia and the others formed a mutual-help group, and fellow factory workers enthusiastically joined the search. But as time passed, everyone had their own troubles, especially with the factory’s business in difficulty. Interest waned until only the grieving parents continued looking.
Ming Han frowned. All the missing children had been minors, but older teenagers. Human traffickers usually targeted small children who were easier to control. Why had this group been taken?
And Hu Changquan had left Junan City in despair, only to die because of Zhao Zhi’s actions. For the moment, Ming Han set him aside. What about the others? Were the disappearances of Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng connected to their children’s disappearances?
“Mei Feng didn’t come to Weimo Mountain Resort with the others,” Ming Han said. “Where is he now?”
Li Shu hadn’t worked the original case and didn’t know. “I’ll ask again.”
Ming Han nodded. “Captain Li, what was this about Huyun Tea Factory going bankrupt?”
Li Shu was a local and knew some of the history. As a time-honored Han Province enterprise, Huyun Tea Factory had failed to adapt to changing trends. Its performance had declined steadily beginning around ten years earlier. In an attempt to save itself, it spun off a pharmaceutical business called Nanfeng Pharmaceutical Factory.
Workers who had enjoyed secure jobs for most of their lives initially opposed the pharmaceutical venture, believing it would only accelerate the tea factory’s collapse. When the seven children disappeared, the factory was at its most turbulent. The workers neglected their jobs and fought bitterly in rival factions.
Fortunately, the factory’s leadership turned out to be capable. After the pharmaceutical plant was spun off, the tea factory began reforming and gradually recovered from the brink of collapse.
An enormous volume of clues had arrived all at once. Ming Han watched the sun sink toward the horizon, turbulent emotions shifting in his eyes.
Meanwhile, after more than five hours of jolting travel, Chen Zheng arrived in Yuanshu Township with Wen Wu and two officers from the Junan Municipal Bureau. Occasionally they passed villagers with baskets on their backs and children with faces as dark as charcoal running and chasing each other. The arrival of outsiders attracted most of the villagers’ attention. People leaned out from their courtyards to see who had come.
Chen Zheng saw wariness and anticipation in their eyes. He couldn’t tell what made them wary, but the anticipation was easy to guess. A charity probably came through regularly to distribute assistance. The villagers had mistaken them for charity workers.
“Who’re you looking for?” an old man shouted. His accent was so strong it was difficult to understand.
Chen Zheng was about to answer when Wen Wu stepped forward and spoke to the man in the local dialect. Once the man learned they were looking for Yi Lei, he smacked his lips, openly looked Chen Zheng up and down, muttered a few words, and pointed toward a path to the east.
On the way to the Yi residence, Chen Zheng asked what the old man had said. Wen Wu replied, “Filthy insults, nothing worth hearing. People here can be vicious when they swear. He thought we were going to give the Yi family money, and he resented it.” Then he added, “Bro Chen, you shouldn’t have to hear those things.”
“Did Ming Han tell you that?” Chen Zheng asked.
Wen Wu looked at him and shook his head.
“Then you’re looking out for me on your own? Why shouldn’t I hear them?”
Wen Wu was younger even than Ming Han but seemed steadier. He was quiet and attentive. “You grew up in a very good environment,” he said earnestly.
Chen Zheng smiled. “So you think I can’t take a few swearwords? I’ve even cursed out Bird myself.”
Wen Wu blinked, then nodded gently.
“Thank you for being considerate, Officer Xiao Wen,” Chen Zheng said.
“Mm.” Wen Wu blushed.
“By the way, how do you know the local dialect?” Chen Zheng asked.
“I lived in Gezi Town for a while when I was little. The dialect there is similar.”
Chen Zheng understood. Yuanshu Township fell under Gezi Town’s jurisdiction. Gezi wasn’t well-off. Wen Wu must have endured a difficult journey to leave it behind and become part of the Mobile Unit.
Before long they reached Yi Lei’s house. Like the other homes in Yuanshu Township, it was a simple courtyard with an old one-story building. The gate stood open, revealing chickens and ducks penned inside. A small child was crying in the house. An elderly woman hurried into the yard. Seeing the visitors, she asked, “What do you want?”
Wen Wu asked, “Where’s Zhu Yi? I’m looking for Zhu Yi.”
The moment she heard Zhu Yi’s name, the woman looked as though she’d seen a ghost. She dropped the winnowing basket in her hands and ran toward the house. Startled chickens scattered in every direction, kicking up clouds of dust.
Chen Zheng immediately followed. The woman tried to shut the door, but he’d already braced it with one hand. With the other, he produced his identification. “Police. What are you hiding from?”
She understood the word “police” and looked even more terrified. Chen Zheng pushed the door fully open. The room was dimly lit. A child of two or three was squirming in a baby seat. Footsteps came from the inner room, and a young woman pulled aside the curtain and emerged. Chen Zheng had seen Zhu Yi’s photograph. This wasn’t her.
“Mom, what’s going on? Who are they?” the young woman asked warily.
Chen Zheng motioned for Wen Wu to ask. After a few words from Wen Wu, the old woman slapped her thighs and sank to the floor, wailing. Chen Zheng caught several key words in the local dialect.
Zhu Yi was already dead.
The child burst into louder cries, and the house descended into chaos. Several villagers appeared in the courtyard to watch. The men stared threateningly at Chen Zheng and Wen Wu. The old woman sat on the floor, slapping her thighs and making a scene. “Bullying people! Coming here to bully an old woman!”
The two municipal detectives hurried over and showed their identification. A villager holding a shovel reluctantly lowered it. More villagers poured into the courtyard, forming several layers around the house. Chen Zheng had visited remote communities before. He recognized those wary, frightened eyes.
“Where’s your son Yi Lei?” he asked.
Two women helped the old woman to her feet. She sat muttering and groaning. Someone answered for her that Yi Lei was at work and they’d already sent for him.
“What happened to Zhu Yi?” Chen Zheng asked.
At the question, the old woman began wailing afresh. The villagers exchanged looks. Some shook their heads, while others looked almost gleeful.
“Why even bring her up? Wasn’t that woman a disgrace to our village?” said the young woman from the inner room, pulling an expressive face.
“A disgrace?” Chen Zheng asked. “How did a lawyer bring shame on your village? And who are you?”
The old woman wept. “Aqiong, stop talking! You’ll offend people!”
The villagers explained over one another that Aqiong was the daughter-in-law the Yi family had married in the previous year. She came from a neighboring village and was especially filial, far better than the previous one.
Chen Zheng observed Aqiong. Her padded coat was neither new nor completely worn out. There was something rather pinched and petty about her looks and manner, but her hair and skin showed she was genuinely young, barely in her early twenties.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached outside. Someone shouted, “Leizi! Leizi’s back! Quick, there’s trouble at your house!”