Chapter 59: The Accordion Teacher

Chapter 59: The Accordion Teacher

They sat with Old Zhou for a while longer. As he had admitted, if they wanted to get the specific details of the case from years ago, reading the handwritten files he had privately compiled was far more efficient than asking him directly. However, perhaps the arrival of An Changpu and Qin Ruonan had stirred memories of his former days on the force; Old Zhou seemed quite excited and kept talking to them about the old case. It was only after the two officers repeatedly hinted that time was pressing that he realized the situation and hurriedly saw them out.

Afterward, they visited two other retired officers. Although they had retired a few years later than Old Zhou, they were equally haunted by the case. Perhaps this was a common ailment among police officers; just as a doctor who has spent a lifetime practicing medicine might feel regret over a single patient they failed to cure, leaving behind a cold case at the end of one's career was a deep, hidden pain.

Because they were enthusiastic about An Changpu and Qin Ruonan, they placed high hopes on them, wishing for them to catch the killer and finally vent the frustration they had been bottling up for years.

After a day of running around and obtaining the precious information compiled by Old Zhou, Qin Ruonan and An Changpu boarded the bus back in the evening. On the bus, they used the dim reading lights to roughly leaf through the materials. They discovered that the two cases from eight years ago were very similar to the one from two years ago, as well as the recent disappearances of Fang Wan and You Xiaoyang. The two boys who were victimized eight years ago were also between the ages of 11 and 15, had relatively little supervision at home, enjoyed a high degree of freedom, were gullible, easily tempted by small gains, and, importantly, were of the same slight, thin build as Fang Wan and You Xiaoyang.

Also, without exception, these two children—like the one from two years ago—showed signs of sexual assault before their deaths.

As for the online gaming aspect, Old Zhou’s files did not mention it. Calculating the timeline, online gaming was already prevalent eight years ago, so there was no generational gap. This left only two possibilities: either those two boys were not gamers, or Old Zhou, due to his age, had no understanding of or sensitivity toward the novel world of online gaming, and thus did not explore that connection.

Both An Changpu and Qin Ruonan leaned toward the latter.

Exhausted after a full day, they had been energetic enough to look through the files when they first boarded, but soon they both began to doze off. By the latter half of the journey, they were fast asleep. They only woke up when the bus exited the highway and entered the city of C, startled by the bright streetlights outside the window. By the time they stretched, the bus had reached the station.

As the bus slowly pulled into the stop, there appeared to be a familiar figure waiting in the distance. As they got closer, they realized it was Tao Yinyin. It was below freezing that night, and Tao Yinyin was wrapped in a long down coat, looking like she was swaddled in a thick quilt, with only her head and feet visible. She was standing on tiptoes, peering at the arriving bus. After a while, she spotted Qin Ruonan sitting by the window, and following that, she found An Changpu beside her. Her face lit up, and she waved her arms.

"Why are you here?" An Changpu asked, looking at Tao Yinyin with surprise as they stepped off the bus.

"To pick you up, of course! You’ve been working so hard on your business trip; it would be so miserable if there was no one here to meet you," Tao Yinyin replied.

An Changpu felt both amused and exasperated. He looked at his watch: "Look, it's ten o'clock at night. You running out at this hour—are you picking me up, or am I taking you home?"

"What a simple question! I’ll pick you up first so you can feel the warmth and care the moment you get off the bus, and then you can take me home as a reward for my efforts!" Tao Yinyin had an answer ready without a second thought.

After saying this, she blinked, looked at the slightly awkward Qin Ruonan standing to the side, and said in a dilemma, "Oh, I forgot about Sister Ruonan. She doesn't live in the same direction as me..."

Mid-sentence, she covered her mouth, looking slightly embarrassed and cautious as she asked, "I heard you and Changpu were in the same class, so you’re two years older than me. You won't be upset that I called you Sister Ruonan, right? Usually, women don't like being told they're old..."

"I don't mind," Qin Ruonan said coolly. "And I don't need a ride. The buses are still running at this hour. You two go ahead, I won't intrude."

With that, she nodded at An Changpu, said "see you tomorrow," and turned to leave alone.

After walking about ten meters, she couldn't help but stop and look back. In the distance, she saw An Changpu and Tao Yinyin had crossed the street and seemed to be waiting for a taxi. Tao Yinyin had her arm linked through An Changpu’s. Set against Tao Yinyin’s petite frame, An Changpu looked exceptionally tall. The two figures standing together looked perfectly harmonious to anyone who saw them.

Qin Ruonan sighed heavily, forced herself to turn away, and walked silently toward the bus stop.

The next morning, Tian Yang brought back news. By learning about You Xiaoyang’s daily routine, combined with the details provided earlier by An Changpu and Qin Ruonan regarding the accordion and the contest certificates found in his home, he discovered that the boy hadn't stopped learning the accordion after entering middle school. Because of the increased academic burden, he only took lessons twice a week at the C City Youth Palace.

Generally, middle schoolers like You Xiaoyang wouldn't choose to study at the Youth Palace, preferring private music classes instead. However, You Xiaoyang’s parents said he had been following the same teacher since he was young. The teacher knew You Xiaoyang’s strengths and weaknesses well and provided excellent guidance, leading to many competition wins, so they never switched.

Tian Yang immediately contacted the accordion teacher. Unfortunately, the teacher was elderly and in poor health; a recent cold had turned into a severe cough and a lung infection, and he was currently hospitalized. The teacher was quite cooperative, saying over the phone that if time was pressing, he didn't mind the police coming to the hospital to ask about You Xiaoyang. However, he was coughing so violently during the short call that he eventually had to hand the phone to his wife. The teacher’s wife quietly begged Tian Yang, saying he would be discharged in two days and, unless it was absolutely critical, she hoped they could let the patient rest until then.

At the time, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan were away on their business trip. Since they were the leads on the case, Tian Yang couldn't make a unilateral decision without consulting them, so he agreed to the request and planned to wait for their return.

Qin Ruonan was of the opinion that there was no need to rush to disturb the hospitalized teacher. They still had the lead regarding the game-boosting employer to pursue, and that person might be a more important source of information—or perhaps even a key part of the entire case.

An Changpu had no objections to Qin Ruonan’s decision. After they carefully reviewed the materials from Old Zhou with Tian Yang, they left the comparison of the cases to him, while they began to investigate elsewhere, trying to dig out the identity of the employer behind You Xiaoyang’s game-boosting activities.

"I wanted to call you last night to see if you’d made it home, but by the time I dropped off Tao Yinyin and got home myself, it was already past eleven. I was afraid you’d be asleep, so I didn't want to disturb you." After running around all morning, An Changpu finally found a moment to chat with Qin Ruonan about something other than work during lunch.

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm an iron-willed woman; I'm not that fragile." Qin Ruonan offered a forced smile. Although An Changpu’s concern warmed her heart, it also reminded her of the previous night, stirring up a sense of melancholy.

An Changpu frowned at her joking tone.

"Stop using that self-deprecating tone. It sounds strange. You're a young woman; always branding yourself as indestructible hurts the self-esteem of the men around you. It doesn't even give them a chance to be your protector," he said.

"I'm not exactly a delicate flower, anyway," Qin Ruonan said, checking her watch and signaling the waiter for the bill. "Besides, even if it hurt your self-esteem, it wouldn't be by much. You've already found a girl who can inspire that protective instinct in you, so you don't need to worry about that."

An Changpu blinked, stunned, unable to find an answer.

"Alright, a leopard cannot change its spots. I've been this way for over twenty years, and now I can only make minor adjustments; I can't undergo a major transformation. Come on, let's get back to business!" Qin Ruonan didn't give him a chance to rack his brain for a retort. She paid the bill, wiped her mouth, and went outside to wait for him.

An Changpu sighed and stood up to follow. Looking at Qin Ruonan waiting by the car, he thought about how hard it had been to move from their initial hostility to their current harmony—perhaps even something better than simple harmony. Yet, whenever he tried to make their relationship closer, she would subtly push him away.

He suddenly felt he didn't understand this girl at all.