They all did business at Weimo Mountain Resort, and the guesthouse owner had dealt with Liu Xun plenty of times, though they weren’t especially close. Xiao Dong was outgoing and got along with everyone. Once, passing by “lake,” the owner had seen Xiao Dong in the shop. Liu Xun was talking to her, and Xiao Dong was holding a gift set. He hadn’t thought much of it. Liu Xun sold perfumes; Xiao Dong was a young woman; it was hardly strange for a young woman to like perfume.
They couldn’t obtain Xiao Dong’s statement, but the trail was now fairly clear. Chen Zheng showed Liu Xun’s photograph to Zhou Xia. “Think carefully. Is this the woman who sold you wintersweet that day?”
At first Zhou Xia said the vendor’s face had been almost completely covered and there was no way she could have seen it properly. But the longer she studied the photograph, the more she said, “She looks like her! Her eyes really do look the same!”
Before questioning Liu Xun again, Chen Zheng held a short meeting with the task force. Several doubts remained. Mei Feng had ample reason to kill Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng, but did he truly have to kill Zhu Xiaodi? Why had Zhu Xiaodi and Dong Jing died in completely different ways? Could there be a second killer who murdered Dong Jing? Mei Feng might have killed Zhu Xiaodi because the young man happened upon Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng’s murders and needed to be silenced. Or Mei Feng might have been working with Liu Xun, who demanded he kill the interns who’d pushed Zhu Yi toward her death years earlier.
It was very likely Zhu Yi had been the legal adviser who once helped Liu Xun. Chen Zheng planned to ask Ming Han to visit Han Province University of Political Science and Law.
Chen Zheng studied Liu Xun’s photograph on the evidence wall. She’d done her best to conceal her tracks. Once Xiao Dong left the country, it became much harder to investigate. Mei Feng, meanwhile, had disappeared without a trace. Unlike Liu Xun, who wanted to preserve her life, Mei Feng had lost everything. His sole purpose in staying alive was to avenge his daughter and wife.
The light-truck driver had killed Li Ping, but Mei Feng understood the driver was innocent too. In his eyes, the people who had truly driven his family to ruin were the members of the mutual-aid group. Every one of them was vicious, ugly, and unforgivable. He must originally have planned to wipe them all out. After killing them, he might flee, surrender, or take his own life.
But Huo Yewei’s murder had disrupted his plan. Zhou Xia, Zeng Hong, and Wang Wanjian were still alive! So long as they remained alive, he would have to keep himself hidden and wait for another opportunity.
Unless…
He’d implicated someone else. Someone who’d helped him take revenge.
Chen Zheng had never met Mei Feng, but accounts from the tea factory workers had allowed him to picture a complicated, fully formed man. Mei Feng had once been generous and kind. In his youth, he and Li Ping had attended evening classes after work and held themselves to high standards. When Mei Rui disappeared, he hadn’t descended into the same ugly behavior as the others, but he’d never given up either.
Zhu Yi had helped his family, so he killed Zhu Xiaodi; perhaps he’d killed Dong Jing as well. But what about Liu Xun, who’d also helped him? Once the police began investigating her, would Mei Feng see it as destroying the rest of the young woman’s life?
“Officer Chen, you’ve come again.” Liu Xun was still busy in the workshop. Swathes of wintersweet bloomed in the garden, filling the air with their delicate scent.
“This time, you’ll need to come with me to the municipal bureau for a while,” Chen Zheng said.
Liu Xun frowned and removed her gloves. “Is there news of Qingqing?”
Chen Zheng glanced toward the flowering wintersweet. “It’s about Mei Feng.”
Liu Xun sounded displeased. “I thought I made myself clear last time. I only recommended him for the job. I didn’t know at the time that he’d come here to kill anyone.”
“But you appear to have played a part in his plan.” Chen Zheng looked straight into her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“The victims stayed at Shanshui House because they’d won a prize after buying wintersweet,” Chen Zheng said. “The woman who bought the flowers saw your photograph and said you looked very much like the seller.”
“How could that be?” Liu Xun said instinctively.
“Why couldn’t it?”
“She couldn’t even see…” Liu Xun suddenly stopped herself and looked away.
“She couldn’t see the seller’s face clearly. Is that what you wanted to say? But how do you know she couldn’t see it? Because you know the woman who sold the wintersweet was wearing a hat and mask?”
Liu Xun sucked in a breath. “I…”
“We’ll treat her identification as a reference, not definitive proof. We’ll keep investigating everything else we can, like the surveillance footage.” Chen Zheng gestured toward the police car outside the garden. “Ms. Liu, you’re under considerable suspicion. Come with us to the municipal bureau, cooperate, and help us clear your name as soon as possible.”
Liu Xun’s expression darkened. Chen Zheng could see resistance in her eyes, but he had a detention authorization in hand. A few minutes later, she slowly exhaled, lowered her head, and walked toward the police car.
After Liu Xun was driven away, Zheng Feilong emerged from the wintersweet garden. With a gloomy expression he watched the departing car and muttered, “Useless fool. Can’t get a single thing done right.”
At the Junan Municipal Bureau interrogation room, Director Li Zhi took a seat across from Liu Xun. She looked past his shoulder, and when she withdrew her gaze, her brows drew together.
“Who are you looking for?” Li Zhi asked.
Liu Xun said nothing.
“You thought Officer Chen would come? He went out on fieldwork after bringing you here. He’s investigating how you obtained the land back then.”
Liu Xun sat bolt upright, lost in thought.
Li Zhi didn’t press her. He was only following Chen Zheng’s plan, putting in a token appearance in the interrogation room. Soon the police would release a statement to the media: significant progress had been made in the case, and a deputy bureau chief had personally questioned the person in charge of “lake.”
Before that, however, independent media creators had already filmed Liu Xun entering a police car. People following the Weimo Mountain Resort murders were speculating about whether she was the culprit. Some more imaginative netizens even claimed Huo Yewei must have been murdered by Lin Dong using Liu Qing as his instrument, then that Lin Dong had ordered Liu Xun to kill several innocent tourists to divert police and public attention.
Li Zhi got up to leave, but Liu Xun suddenly called after him. He turned around and smiled. “Ms. Liu, something you’d like to tell me?”
Liu Xun looked deeply unsettled. “What are you planning?”
Li Zhi was a veteran detective who’d spent half his life matching wits with suspects. “I’ll ask you again. Did you arrange for Zhou Xia to win that prize?”
Liu Xun’s hands clutched her trousers tightly. “You…”
“Yes?”
“Have you found my sister?”
“Are you trying to bargain with me?” Li Zhi asked.
Liu Xun drew a deep breath. “Promise you’ll find my sister, and I’ll tell you!”
Li Zhi’s expression turned stern. “Young lady, I’m not making any deals with you. Huo Yewei was murdered and Liu Qing is missing. Finding out the truth is our duty as criminal investigators. Even if you say nothing, we’ll still do our jobs.”
The interrogation-room door closed before Liu Xun’s eyes. Her expression was one of extraordinary pain, as though she were struggling to endure something.
At Chen Zheng’s request, Ming Han found time to visit Han Province University of Political Science and Law. Many teachers still remembered Zhu Yi. From her first year, her talent had been impossible to overlook, and that didn’t just mean her academic ability. She was passionate about providing legal aid.
University rules prohibited students from taking part in formal legal assistance before their third year, for the protection of both the students and the people seeking help. But Zhu Yi quietly took on cases anyway, offering advice when she could. When something exceeded her abilities, she did her best to persuade senior students to help.
One of her former senior schoolmates had stayed on as a lecturer. She recalled that in Zhu Yi’s second year, a very young woman had come seeking help. The woman’s older brother had died, and their family’s old home was being redeveloped into a scenic attraction, with supposedly “generous” compensation. But the generosity was superficial. Accept the money, and the land would be gone. It wasn’t generating income then, but who knew what the future held? The young woman couldn’t decide whether to stand her ground, so she went to Zhu Yi for advice. Zhu Yi even made a trip to Junan City and consulted her senior. The lecturer remembered the case but couldn’t recall its details.
Ming Han shared the findings with Chen Zheng.
The developer of Weimo Mountain Resort was a well-known real-estate conglomerate in Han Province. Chen Zheng met with Manager Zhao, who’d overseen the original project, and asked about its earliest demolition and relocation plans.
Manager Zhao said Liu Xun had nearly ruined the deal. The compensation approved by the group was already extremely generous, and many residents had accepted the money and moved. But Liu Xun insisted on negotiating a “partnership.” At first he’d been disdainful. What could this girl possibly offer him? Then she brought in a “consultant,” barely in her twenties, who spoke with reason and precision.
Their request was clear. Liu Xun wouldn’t move away, but she also wouldn’t obstruct the resort’s construction. She only asked for a parcel of land within the development where she could operate independently, with no interference from the resort. In exchange, she guaranteed her business wouldn’t undermine the overall development plan.
Zhao hadn’t believed Liu Xun could make a success of it, but without settling with her, the project couldn’t go ahead. In a big corporation, time was money. He stressed that he hadn’t been afraid of Liu Xun. He’d merely been impressed by the ability of her young consultant, who might be useful to him one day. They therefore signed a contract, allowing “lake” and Weimo Mountain Resort to develop side by side.
Manager Zhao was rather pleased with how things had turned out. “lake” had become one of the resort’s main attractions, though the Huo Yewei case had cast a shadow over its future.
Chen Zheng asked who the consultant had been. Zhao couldn’t remember her name, but remembered she was from Han Province University of Political Science and Law. Chen Zheng showed him Zhu Yi’s photograph, and Zhao nodded repeatedly. “That’s the young lady! Remarkable. The young really are formidable.”
Dark clouds churned above Junan Lake, and rain unusually heavy for winter poured onto its surface. Farmed fish crowded near the top of the water. A person in a black raincoat arrived at the fish farms’ rear entrance. His face was concealed. He stood in the wind and rain for a long time, turning away several times but never quite managing to leave.
He seemed to be caught in a terrible struggle. There were things he still had to do. The people who had taken his daughter’s life were still alive in this world. He had to stay hidden until he’d killed every one of them.
But if he remained in hiding that long, a girl about his daughter’s age would have her life destroyed. She’d helped him, and he’d pushed her toward the abyss.
How was he any different from the people who’d pushed his daughter over the cliff?
He took another hesitant step toward the fish farms. At that moment, headlights lit up from every direction, piercing the rain like swords. Instinctively he raised a hand to shield his eyes. Through the blurred curtain of rain, he saw armed police converging on him.
Slowly, Mei Feng raised his hands in the downpour. His callused fingers trembled uncontrollably. His old eyes were full of unwillingness, and his voice was rough and low. “I’ve come to turn myself in.”
From down the municipal bureau corridor, Liu Xun saw Mei Feng being escorted into an interrogation room and couldn’t help calling, “Uncle Mei!”
Mei Feng stopped when he heard her voice, but didn’t turn to look, as though he didn’t know her at all.
Mei Feng was sixty. Although deep creases lined his weary face, he somehow looked as though he still had strength left to spend. He didn’t dare grow old, because his enemies weren’t dead yet. He raised his head and silently regarded Chen Zheng.
Chen Zheng addressed him by the name people had used at the tea factory. “Boss Mei.”
Mei Feng froze and gave a bitter smile. “I was never a boss. What kind of boss ends up like me?”
“You said you came to surrender,” Chen Zheng said. “Did you kill Gong Xiaoyang, Lu Feng, and Zhu Xiaodi?”
Mei Feng straightened his back, his hands clenching into fists. “Yes.”
“Because of your daughter, Mei Rui?”
At the sound of Mei Rui’s name, the muscles in Mei Feng’s face trembled. A father’s anguish gathered and spread through the deep lines of his face. After a moment, a hoarse reply came. “Yes.”
Although Chen Zheng had already inferred much of the truth, he still needed an actual statement from the suspect. “After you and Li Ping brought Mei Rui back from Gezi Town, what exactly happened?”
Mei Feng was silent at first, then described a predicament even more desperate than Zeng Hong and the others had admitted: a bloody tragedy told from the victim’s perspective.
Mei Rui had indeed been trafficked to Yuanshu Township. At this point, Mei Feng stopped lying to the police. He admitted that when he and Li Ping reached the Li family, they’d originally intended to have Li Jiangbao and his family sent to prison. But Mei Rui dropped to her knees and begged them not to. She said Li Jiangbao was her husband, that his family treated her well, and, most importantly, that he was the father of her two children. If he went to prison, what would people think of her children?
Li Ping was the first to waver. Her only wish throughout those missing years had been to find her daughter. Now that they’d finally reunited, she was beside herself with joy and emotion. How could she force Mei Rui to do something she didn’t want?
Mei Feng didn’t want to let emotion dictate his decisions. The Li family had broken the law. There might be many other girls like Mei Rui trafficked into Yuanshu Township and Gezi Town. In all his years with the mutual-aid group, he’d met countless families who’d lost daughters. He couldn’t simply stand by.
But how had Mei Rui responded? She looked at him as though he were a stranger, not her father, backing away until she was almost hiding behind Li Jiangbao. “I was wrong! I never should have told you I was here! I’m not going back with you! You were always telling me what to do before, and even after all these years, you’re still doing it! Leave! This is my home. I don’t know you!”
Her words struck Li Ping like a bolt from the blue. She sobbed and embraced Mei Rui. “Rui’er, how could you say that? Mom loves you! We won’t call the police. Whatever you say, we’ll do!”
Mei Feng panicked too. Since Mei Rui disappeared, he’d spent every day reproaching himself for being too strict. He’d read extensively about relationships between fathers and daughters. Bewildered, he wondered how he’d made the same mistake again. Why was he pushing his daughter?
Li Ping pulled him aside to calm down while Mei Rui watched from a distance. The couple quickly decided the most important thing was to bring their daughter home. Mei Rui already had two children, so she was undeniably bound to the detestable Li family in ways that couldn’t simply be severed. She’d suffered so much over the years. At the very least, they wanted her future to be easy.
The two sides agreed on what to tell the officers. Mei Rui’s son would remain in Yuanshu Township, while Mei Rui would return home with her daughter. Before leaving, Mei Feng privately warned Li Jiangbao to mind his conduct and never contact them again.
Mei Feng had believed the worst was over. Instead, the real suffering began when they returned to the tea factory. He looked at Chen Zheng with a bitter smile. “I should have left her in Yuanshu Township. She already belonged to the Li family. I shouldn’t have forcibly changed her fate.”
After the mutual-aid group formed, Mei Feng and Li Ping became two of its most active members. Over the years they helped several other families. Whenever a child was found, they felt joy and also loss. Why wasn’t it Mei Rui who’d come back? But the reunited families were relatively distant acquaintances, not people from the tea factory, so the sting never lasted long.
Later, Mei Feng increasingly felt the group was no help in finding their children. Regular gatherings had become mostly opportunities to console each other. The bereaved workers had established a delicate balance among themselves. If one family’s child was ever found, that balance would break.
Mei Feng knew the group couldn’t be relied upon, so he began searching on his own more often. Four years earlier, Li Ping suddenly received an anonymous message. The sender said their daughter Mei Rui had been trafficked to Yuanshu Township in Gezi Town and had already given birth to two children.
The couple had never even heard of that place, but they couldn’t ignore any lead about their daughter. They set off immediately and did indeed find Mei Rui.
After bringing Mei Rui home, Mei Feng tried to thank the person who’d sent the message but could never find the sender. At the time, Mei Rui was in poor psychological condition. He and Li Ping had their hands full caring for her around the clock.
Workers from the tea factory came to congratulate them. Only the people in the mutual-aid group looked at the family strangely. Zhou Xia led the demands to know where Mei Rui had been found. Because of what they’d promised the Li family, Mei Feng didn’t explain. Gong Xiaoyang erupted, accusing him of hiding their children to save his own daughter. A fight broke out in the family’s home, terrifying their little granddaughter into tears. Police arrived and took Gong Xiaoyang and the others away, but they clung to Mei Rui like maggots.
Rumors about Mei Rui soon swept the factory. People claimed that after disappearing, she’d become a prostitute, kept by a wealthy man, and that only when she was older and no one wanted her anymore had she dragged her child back home. Others said Mei Rui knew where the other missing children were and what had happened to them, but the Mei family had been paid to keep quiet.