Back in the village, Xie Wuming asked where the Li family lived. Their home was in a different alley from the Yi family’s. News that officers from the provincial authorities had arrived had spread to every household. The moment Xie Wuming reached the Li family’s gate, they all watched her with hostile eyes.
“Which of you is Li Jiangbao? Come out for a moment,” Xie Wuming called directly.
A thin man in his thirties pushed his way out. His hair was disheveled and resembled straw. “What do you want?” he asked impatiently.
“I’d like to ask about Mei Rui.” At the mention of her name, the Li family seemed to freeze. No one said a word. Li Jiangbao’s face looked particularly ugly. “M-Mei Rui? She doesn’t live here.”
“Weren’t the two of you living together of your own free will, after falling in love? She even had children with you. Why isn’t she living with you?”
“She left, didn’t she? Go ask her!” Li Jiangbao tried to make a run for it, but Xu Chuan blocked him. “We’re investigating a case. Please cooperate.”
Li Jiangbao shoved Xu Chuan, but although Xu Chuan wasn’t particularly tall, he was strong. Li Jiangbao couldn’t budge him.
Xie Wuming said, “If you cooperate, we can talk here. If you don’t, we’ll have to invite you to Gezi Town for a chat.”
Wen Wu approached. After all, he belonged to the Mobile Unit. When he worked with his teammates, he seemed like everyone’s little brother, but when he operated alone, his bearing instantly became that of the one in charge. His cool gaze swept across the villagers, and even those bristling for a fight stepped back.
People could sense danger, and Li Jiangbao knew this officer was not someone to provoke.
“Fine, I’ll cooperate!” Li Jiangbao retreated into the courtyard and sat on a stool. “Mei Rui went back with her parents years ago! Her family’s affairs are none of my business. Besides, we settled all this at the police station back then. She lived with me voluntarily. Nobody forced her!” He looked at the local officer. “You remember that, don’t you? You even took our statements.”
The local officer nodded. The matter was frustrating to remember. They had wanted to investigate, but Mei Rui had insisted through tears that she had not been trafficked and that she and Li Jiangbao had fallen in love of their own free will.
“How did you meet?” Xie Wuming asked.
Li Jiangbao’s account was much the same as the original police statement. He stressed that he had rescued Mei Rui and that she had been so grateful that she herself proposed having his children to repay him.
Xie Wuming listened patiently, then asked, “If you were so happy together, why did Mei Rui go back?”
“She had parents to look after. She’s their only daughter.” As Li Jiangbao spoke, a young boy ran over. “Dad, are you talking about Mom?”
Xie Wuming gestured toward the boy with her chin. “Your son with Mei Rui?”
Li Jiangbao seemed reluctant to let the child near the police and had a relative carry him away. The little boy waved his hands. “Mom! I want Mom!”
“Mei Rui never came back to visit her son?”
Li Jiangbao lowered his head. “It’s too far. Transport’s inconvenient. We just left it at that.”
“Do you still keep in touch? Your son misses his mother. Surely your daughter misses her father too?”
“Whatever,” Li Jiangbao said irritably. “She’s just a money-losing burden anyway.”
“Because your daughter is a burden, you didn’t mind Mei Rui taking her away?”
Li Jiangbao raked his hands through his hair. “That’s not what I meant. Hey, what exactly are you trying to ask? If you’re looking for Mei Rui, you’ve come to the wrong place!”
“My colleagues will look for Mei Rui. I came to see you about more than the two of you. I’d also like to know what Mei Rui’s relationship with Zhu Yi was like.”
Li Jiangbao’s hunched back snapped upright. “Zhu Yi?”
“You remember her. Good. Four years ago, she came to Yuanshu Township with a group of law interns to help people in need. Mei Rui must have been someone she paid particular attention to, wasn’t she?”
Li Jiangbao sprang to his feet so abruptly that his stool overturned.
“Don’t get so worked up. I’m not going to spell out what your relationship with Mei Rui really was, but you know perfectly well,” Xie Wuming said. “Mei Rui’s parents came to Gezi Town after Zhu Yi moved into the Yi household. I don’t believe the timing was a coincidence.”
Li Jiangbao’s eyes shook. “Y-you…”
“I’m here to investigate why Zhu Yi died in your village.” Xie Wuming’s gaze sharpened. “I’ll find out what she did here and what she endured.”
Li Jiangbao backed away. Even Xu Chuan was startled. Sister Xie often gave him a hard time, but he had never seen her this stern. It was almost as though she were making a vow, both to herself and to the life that had long since been lost.
“Tell me now and I’ll count it as a useful lead.” Xie Wuming advanced a step. “Did Zhu Yi ever have contact with Mei Rui?”
Li Jiangbao collapsed onto the ground, staring up at her in terror. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Yi Lei standing at the courtyard entrance, watching him darkly.
At the Junan Municipal Bureau, Zhou Xia had finally calmed down.
“I’m not with the Junan police,” Chen Zheng said. “But a case I investigated in Nanshan City not long ago had some connection to a member of your mutual-aid group.”
Zhou Xia drew a sharp breath and leaned so far over the table that her face nearly struck Chen Zheng’s. “Is there news of Pingping? Is there…?”
“Hu Changquan has passed away,” Chen Zheng said.
Zhou Xia’s pupils contracted. Several seconds later, she slowly sank back into her seat. “Old Hu… Old Hu is dead? How did he die?”
“After he left Junan City, did he stop contacting the rest of you?”
Zhou Xia shook her head and gave a strange, staccato laugh. “Old Hu never liked working with us. He said if even the police couldn’t find them, how could we?” She wiped her eyes. “All he ever did was run away from things.”
“There’s another couple in your mutual-aid group who no longer live in Junan. Do you remember them?”
Zhou Xia’s sagging shoulders went rigid. “You mean Mei Feng and Li Ping?”
“Where did they take Mei Rui?”
Zhou Xia looked as though she had been struck with a club. “M-Mei Rui…”
“Mei Rui was found. What happened afterward?”
“But Mei Rui isn’t alive anymore!” Zhou Xia’s voice rose, trembling slightly.
“What do you mean, ‘isn’t alive anymore’?”
“She’s gone! She’s dead!”
“Dead?” In another interview room, Li Shu stared at Wang Wanjian. “How did she die?”
Wang Wanjian shifted uneasily. “Why are you asking about her? She’s been dead for years.”
“I’m the one asking the questions! How did Mei Rui die?”
“Suicide!” Zeng Hong shrieked. “She killed herself while holding that daughter of hers with the cleft lip!”
“When did it happen? Why did she take her own life?” Chen Zheng asked.
Zhou Xia’s eyes darted away. “Not long after she came back! I-I don’t know why. I’m not part of her family. Ask somebody else!”
All three mentioned Mei Rui’s suicide, yet none could explain why she had taken her own life. There was evasiveness in each of their accounts. As soon as Li Shu left the interview room, he swept down the corridor like a gust of wind. “Teacher Chen, this thing with Mei Rui…”
Chen Zheng was watching the recordings of Wang Wanjian’s and Zeng Hong’s interviews. “Captain Li, I need to visit Huyun Tea Factory.”
Li Shu understood. “All right. I’ll send people with you!”
Chen Zheng nodded. “We also need more officers at Weimo Mountain Resort. Keep searching.”
“Do you think there might be more victims to find?”
Chen Zheng looked grave. “I suspect this may be an act of revenge whose origins lie with Zhu Yi.”
Huyun Tea Factory and Junan Lake stood at opposite ends of the city. Early on the twenty-third, Chen Zheng hurried to the factory.
The factory had been established a long time ago. It once grew its own tea, but after the business crisis of previous years, Nanfeng Pharmaceutical had been spun off. The tea factory now bought tea for further processing and developed products aimed at young consumers. Most older workers were no longer needed and had retired before reaching retirement age. Fortunately, the factory had built extensive staff housing years earlier, and those with enough years of service did not have to worry about a place to live.
Quite a few elderly residents sat below the workers’ apartment buildings. When Chen Zheng asked about Mei Rui’s family, several women sighed. “Poor Mei Rui. Her parents had barely found her and brought her home before something happened to her!”
“I heard she died by suicide. Why would she do that when she’d finally come home?”
A woman surnamed Jiao said she had worked as a measuring technician in Mei Feng’s workshop. She led Chen Zheng to an old apartment building. “Mei Feng’s family used to live here. We were neighbors for decades. If you ask me, that man had a terribly hard life!”
Auntie Jiao said she had been the matchmaker who brought Mei Feng and his wife Li Ping together. Both were kind people willing to work steadily and live honestly. After their marriage, they had Mei Rui. In primary school, the girl was the most popular in her class. Auntie Jiao’s son was her classmate and came home every day full of stories about Mei Rui. Auntie Jiao and her husband teased him. “All you ever do is watch little Mei, don’t you?”
“She’s pretty,” their son would mutter.
Because she was strikingly pretty and had grown up receiving praise, Mei Rui became frivolous after entering middle school. She lost interest in her studies and was always hanging around delinquents from inside and outside school. Mei Feng and Li Ping tried everything, including scolding and beating her, but Mei Rui continued doing as she pleased. The more they hit her, the more rebellious she became.
Auntie Jiao often heard shouting from the Mei home. Mei Rui looked down on her parents for spending their entire lives as poor factory workers. When Mei Feng urged her to study hard, she snapped, “You studied hard. Did it make you rich? I’m already sixteen, and I still have to squeeze into this dump with you! If you have no ability, don’t have children!”
Auntie Jiao had seen Mei Rui storm out and slam the door more times than she could count, but Li Ping always persuaded her to return. Then, during Mei Rui’s second year of senior high school, she quarreled with Mei Feng and never came home again.
The disappearance caused an uproar. Several other factory workers’ children had already vanished before Mei Rui, and everyone was watching their own children closely, terrified the same misfortune would strike them.
After Mei Rui disappeared, Mei Feng seemed like a different person. Formerly warm toward everyone, he now regarded people with suspicion, as though each had abducted his daughter. Li Ping retired early and devoted all her time to searching for Mei Rui.
Auntie Jiao remembered one particularly strange period. Mei Feng was distracted at work and nearly got caught in machinery. When walking around, he developed a habit of following other people’s children. He had even followed Auntie Jiao’s son. Frightened, she rushed over and shoved the almost lifeless-looking man away. “What are you doing?”
Mei Feng looked at her blankly, shook his head, and turned away.
“We all talked about it back then. We thought something was wrong with Mei Feng mentally, that because his own daughter was missing, he wanted to hurt other people’s children,” Auntie Jiao said. “People are selfish and jealous. They hate seeing others have what they don’t.”
Chen Zheng frowned slightly, picturing a hunched, gloomy father.
Auntie Jiao went on. If Mei Feng hadn’t needed money to survive, he would have resigned too. Those years were hardly a life for either of them. Fortunately, their efforts finally paid off. Four years ago, they managed to bring Mei Rui home, along with a granddaughter.
It was an extraordinary development. Everyone at the factory knew Mei Rui had been trafficked, but after her return, Mei Feng told everyone they met that she had not been sold. She had only gotten lost and then been rescued by kindhearted people.
Auntie Jiao sighed repeatedly. She understood Mei Feng completely. Having his daughter back was happiness enough. There was no need to reopen the past. Besides, Mei Rui had changed dramatically and struggled to communicate with others. She had clearly endured terrible suffering, so why tear away the covering that protected her shame? The child was probably not one Mei Rui had wanted to have, but what could anyone do? Once born, she was her own flesh and blood.
When Mei Rui first returned, Mei Feng and Li Ping finally smiled again. Mei Feng, who had never smoked, even began carrying cigarettes to hand out to people he met. Mei Rui’s daughter had the same lovely features her mother had possessed as a child. Unfortunately, she had been born with a cleft lip. Li Ping said Old Mei was preparing to take work away from home, and after Mei Rui had rested for a while, she would look for a suitable job too. They would save enough for the child’s surgery.
A few months later, Mei Rui did leave the apartment, but not to find a job. Carrying her crying, struggling daughter, she jumped from the rooftop. Auntie Jiao was playing mahjong downstairs. The two people landed less than three meters from her, and blood spread silently across the ground, thick and dark red, as though it had blocked out everyone’s hearing.
The screams shattered the silence. Tables and stools overturned as cries rose in successive waves.
An ambulance arrived, followed by a police car. The doctor took one look, shook his head, and said there was nothing they could do.
No one could have imagined that in less than half a year, the Mei family would experience such enormous joy and grief. This time, Mei Feng and Li Ping would never be able to bring their child home again.
Chen Zheng asked, “And Mei Feng and Li Ping are now…?”
Auntie Jiao shook her head. “I don’t know. Nobody does. They left a little more than a month after Mei Rui died.”
“I heard Mei Feng and Zhou Xia formed a mutual-aid group?”
Auntie Jiao nodded vigorously. She had helped look for the missing children too, but every family had its own troubles, and because her child was not missing, she could not spend every day with them. At this point, she seemed to have something more to say but held back.
“Did something happen between you? Some kind of falling-out?”
“No, no quarrel, just… oh!” Auntie Jiao said she had once been very close to Li Ping, but eventually noticed that Li Ping would take a different route whenever she saw her, especially when she was with her son. Had her own happiness caused Li Ping pain? Thinking so, Auntie Jiao gradually distanced herself too.
She added that Li Ping had never particularly liked Zhou Xia and Zeng Hong. Even when they were young, they had been aggressive women who used their gift for speaking to bully other workers. Yet now Li Ping spent every day with them. Perhaps they were the only people capable of understanding her.
“After Mei Rui came home, did the others, Zhou Xia and Zeng Hong for example, visit the Mei family often?”
Auntie Jiao’s eyes widened. “You’ve got that exactly right! I live in this building. I saw them coming to bother Mei Rui every day, and they were louder than we are playing mahjong!”
“What did they say to her?”
“What else? They asked whether she knew where their children had gone,” Auntie Jiao said. “They thought if the Mei family’s child had come back, there was no reason theirs couldn’t. Mei Rui had to tell them where their children were! It’s unreasonable, if you ask me. Even I, an outsider, knew Mei Rui had disappeared on her own and hadn’t spent much time with Xu Xinxin or Yan Ping. But all I could do was talk it over with my husband. They’d lost children, after all. We had to understand how they felt.”
Chen Zheng thought for a moment. “After Mei Rui came home, did anything particularly significant happen?”
“Wasn’t the biggest thing her jumping from the building with her child? Oh, it was dreadful. I couldn’t sleep for days.”
“What about before she jumped? Did Zhou Xia and the others have any conflicts with the Mei family?”
The retired workers discussed it. They hadn’t seen any overt confrontations, but there must have been some behind closed doors, especially given Zhou Xia’s temperament. If she saw that Mei Rui had returned, she would surely keep pestering her.
Chen Zheng also inquired about the families of Gong Xiaoyang and the others. He learned that the disappearances had shattered these families. Almost all the parents had divorced, and now lived alone.
He asked the detectives who had accompanied him to keep investigating at the tea factory, while he went to the nearby police station.
Chief Liu was very familiar with the tea factory disappearances, which had been a major incident at the time. He found the old interview records. “We concluded that Mei Rui’s case was probably separate. When Mei Feng and Li Ping brought her back, we immediately asked for the details, but Mei Feng refused to cooperate. He kept saying his daughter had wandered off and been rescued. After questioning him for a long time, we finally got the name Yuanshu Township. It’s far away and isolated. We went to Gezi Town and spoke with the local station, confirming the other missing children weren’t there.”
Chief Liu had explained the investigation fully to Zhou Xia and the others, but they refused to believe it. They even went to Gezi Town themselves and came back empty-handed. Still convinced the Mei family was hiding something, they kept turning up at their home to make trouble every few days.
Chief Liu could not help sighing. “They blamed us for failing to find their children, but missing-person cases aren’t easy to investigate. Teacher Chen, you know that better than anyone. Without a body, we couldn’t even obtain the investigative resources we needed. They didn’t trust us back then, and that’s why they started the mutual-aid group.”
The group seemed to have been founded by Zhou Xia and Mei Feng. The tea factory was struggling at the time, but the workers’ union allocated some funding. They traveled around contacting other parents of missing children, yet refused to share what they learned with the police, believing the police and human traffickers were working together. The group remained united and stable over the years and helped around a dozen families recover their children. But not one of the seven children who had vanished from the tea factory was found.
Mei Rui’s return fractured the group. Her mental state was unstable, and she could not cope with outsiders, yet Zhou Xia and the others insisted on blocking the Mei family’s doorway. Mei Feng even called the police. The two sides got into a full-fledged fight at the station, and Gong Xiaoyang punched Mei Feng hard enough to break his glasses. Police mediation did no good. Within days they were back at the Mei home.
“Your officers attended the scene when Mei Rui jumped from the building, didn’t they? What caused it?”
In truth, Chen Zheng hardly needed Chief Liu to answer. He had already worked it out.
“She was a poor, unfortunate child,” Chief Liu said bitterly. “If she’d been able to return and live a peaceful life, it would never have come to this.” Mei Feng and Li Ping refused to discuss her experiences, which must have been deeply painful. Meanwhile, members of the mutual-aid group harassed her day and night, even bringing parents they had once helped to the apartment. Every time Mei Rui showed herself, people crowded around her.
Her daughter was another source of anguish. For a wealthy family, corrective surgery for a cleft lip might be manageable, but for the Meis, the cost was overwhelming. Before the jump, Li Ping had even been hospitalized from exhaustion. That might have been the final straw.
That day, Mei Feng had gone to the hospital to bring Li Ping food. There was no one else at home, and Mei Rui jumped, leaving only a note: “Dad, Mom, I’m sorry.”
Chen Zheng’s throat felt dry. “Do you know where Mei Feng and Li Ping moved?”
Chief Liu shook his head. “I didn’t learn they’d moved until much later. People at the factory thought they’d gone back to Mei Feng’s hometown, but I checked. They never went there.”
Leaving the station, Chen Zheng began drawing a line between the clues. In Mei Feng and Li Ping’s minds, Zhou Xia and the others might very well be the people who had cost them the lives of their daughter and granddaughter. Their unreasonableness and jealousy had driven Mei Rui toward death, and the couple could regard their wrongdoing as far worse than Li Jiangbao’s in Yuanshu Township.
Now five members of the mutual-aid group had gathered at Weimo Mountain Resort for the New Year. Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng were missing. Could Mei Feng and Li Ping be seeking revenge for Mei Rui?
When Zhou Xia and the others were first questioned, they said nothing at all about their missing children. Was it because they didn’t trust the police, or because they felt guilty over Mei Rui’s death?
But who had killed Dong Jing? Zhu Xiaodi had still not been found.
Zhu Yi and Mei Rui had crossed paths in Yuanshu Village. One had died there forever, while the other had been rescued, only to choose to die after returning home.
Now some of the interns who had known Zhu Yi were dead, while others were missing. Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng had disappeared too. If the Huo Yewei case had never happened, the number of missing people might well have grown.
At that moment, the Huo Yewei investigation made new progress.
Two sets of suspicious footprints had been found in Huo Yewei’s home. One had long since been identified as Liu Qing’s. The second remained uncertain. When Ming Han first examined it, he’d thought it resembled the tread of the sneakers at Lin Dong’s home. Now forensic comparison established that it came from the limited-edition sneakers Lin Dong had been wearing when he disappeared. Given his conflict with Huo Yewei, Lin Dong might have been at the scene.
In Luocheng, Ming Han handed Huo Xiling the DNA test report. Huo Xiling did not look at it. Her face betrayed almost no grief over losing her son. Yet if she hadn’t cherished Huo Yewei, a son who had never once called her “Mom,” why would she have hidden his existence so thoroughly?
Ming Han noticed complicated emotions moving deep in her eyes. She clenched her teeth, doing her best to conceal them.
“You had no motive to kill Huo Yewei,” Ming Han said. “But you might be the reason he was murdered.”