Chapter Sixty-Eight

It was truly unexpected that the first person among You Xiaoyang’s inner circle—and perhaps the only one—to see through his two-faced nature turned out to be his accordion teacher.

"It seems your opinion of You Xiaoyang isn't very high," An Changpu said with a faint smile, secretly thinking that Cong Zhengping had a very sharp eye.

Cong Zhengping did not validate An Changpu’s remark. "I haven't passed any judgment on You Xiaoyang. I am simply speaking based on the facts. I teach the accordion, so I can only evaluate his performance in that regard; I have no standing to speak on other matters. When You Xiaoyang was about to enter middle school, I did subtly convey to his parents that there was no need for them to continue sending him to me for accordion lessons. However, his parents seemed to misunderstand my meaning, thinking I lacked the confidence to continue helping him improve, and they ended up offering me quite a bit of encouragement."

Reflecting on this, Cong Zhengping found it quite amusing and couldn't help but chuckle. It was evident that this veteran accordion teacher held considerable confidence—perhaps even a touch of arrogance—regarding his professional abilities.

"Do you feel that You Xiaoyang lacked talent and shouldn't have wasted time in this area?" Qin Ruonan asked.

Cong Zhengping shook his head. "That's not it. The boy had decent talent, but whether or not one achieves success isn't something that can be fulfilled by talent alone. I might offend those in the music industry by saying this, but instrumental music is different from vocal music. In vocal music, talent is crucial; things like timbre and pitch are hard to change significantly later on. But instrumental music is different. Talent in that area only means it's easier to get started and improve. If you want to achieve results, you have to rely on years of diligent practice! That requires real effort! Someone without talent can perform very well through hard work, while someone with talent who refuses to endure hardship will end up with nothing. You Xiaoyang had some talent, but he was flashy and lacked substance. He was lazy, loved to win awards and receive glory, but refused to put in the hard work. A child like that can only dabble for self-amusement; expecting him to achieve great success in this field is basically impossible."

"What led you to that conclusion about him?"

"His usual behavior. I taught him the accordion from the time he was in the first grade of primary school. For the first year, his father or mother would take turns accompanying him to lessons, so he managed to sit still. Later on, when his parents assumed he had mastered the basics and developed an interest, they stopped supervising him and let him come on his own. That’s when he started slacking off. Several times, he told me he needed to go to the restroom, but he wouldn't return for ages. When I went out to check, I’d find him watching the excitement over at the martial arts class!" Cong Zhengping shook his head helplessly. It was clear that You Xiaoyang’s lack of focus gave him a massive headache. As an old teacher who truly loved the accordion, he felt a certain frustration at seeing a gifted student refuse to apply himself. "Anyway, let's just put it this way: he spent so many years at the Children's Palace, and although he only studied the accordion with me, he ended up knowing more students and teachers there than I did! There were many outside staff members I couldn't even name who were incredibly familiar with him. Besides, as boys get older, they become harder to restrain. After he started middle school, he was supposed to come twice a week, but I noticed him wandering around the area far more often than that. There's a good chance he made other friends while supposedly attending his accordion lessons."

"Are you saying that besides the times he came here for his lessons, he would come to the Children's Palace at other times as well?" An Changpu was particularly sensitive to new information and clues.

Cong Zhengping replied ambiguously, "In any case, I have seen him near the Children's Palace. Whether he came to the vicinity to find someone or came specifically to the Children's Palace, I can't say for sure. I just saw him in the area when I was leaving work. He looked like he was waiting for someone. The first few times I ran into him, he would greet me, but later on, he would turn his head and hide as soon as he saw me from a distance. I suppose he was afraid I would tell his parents."

"In other words, you can confirm that he frequently appeared in this area, but you cannot confirm his purpose for being here or who he was meeting, correct?" Qin Ruonan confirmed once more.

Cong Zhengping nodded, acknowledging her summary.

"About when did you first notice this phenomenon?"

"Hard to say. It should have been within the last three months or so. I’m not sure if it happened before that; I didn't pay attention."

"Then... regarding You Xiaoyang coming to this area to meet someone, even if you can't be certain, don't you have even a vague impression? Have you never seen even a silhouette or something similar? Or, during class, did you never ask You Xiaoyang about it?" An Changpu felt a bit frustrated. He felt that they had reached a breakthrough, only for it to abruptly stop at the crucial moment; it was an unpleasant feeling.

"I am his accordion teacher, not his parent. I don't interfere with things outside of his accordion studies." Seemingly pressed too hard, Cong Zhengping began to grow impatient. "And I already told you, he started acting shifty whenever he saw me later on. Do you think I would have seen anything? I just got out of the hospital today and came here to cooperate with your investigation; it’s nothing more than a teacher’s duty. I will naturally provide you with any information I can, but I can't help with things I don't know."

Since the conversation had reached this point, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan were not so tactless as to miss the subtext behind Cong Zhengping's words—that he was insisting on cooperating while ill out of his own high moral character, and that they should be grateful without taking his cooperation for granted.

Seeing that he had already made his stance clear, An Changpu stood up, and Qin Ruonan quickly followed.

"Alright, in that case, we won't disturb you any further. Thank you for cooperating with our work today, Teacher Cong, and I hope you have a speedy recovery." An Changpu shook hands with Cong Zhengping solemnly. "Actually, if the nature of You Xiaoyang's case weren't so serious, we wouldn't have been so inconsiderate as to disturb your rest at such a critical moment. Finally, I have one last request: if you could find some time to recall anyone You Xiaoyang might have been in contact with, we would be most grateful. This case is a matter of life and death, and the burden on our shoulders is heavy."

After indirectly hinting at the severity of You Xiaoyang's disappearance to Cong Zhengping, An Changpu didn't linger. After thanking him once more along with Qin Ruonan, they departed. As they left, although Cong Zhengping didn't immediately respond, his demeanor suggested that he had attached more importance to You Xiaoyang's situation due to An Changpu's words, or at least he no longer displayed signs of impatience.

The fact that You Xiaoyang would often sneak off to hang around the Children's Palace when he was supposed to be studying the accordion was something An Changpu and Qin Ruonan took very seriously. Even though they hadn't obtained many details from Cong Zhengping, the distance from the Children's Palace to his school was not short, and the purpose of his frequent visits there was enough to warrant attention.

This was something Wu Donghai had never mentioned before, nor had they heard it from anyone else. Was You Xiaoyang sneaking off during his supposed evening study sessions to meet that mysterious, free-spending "coal boss" from the internet?

After leaving the Children's Palace, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan searched the surrounding area and found that there were no surveillance cameras in favorable positions. The closest monitoring device was a traffic camera at an intersection more than a hundred meters away.

Whether the resolution of that camera was sufficient remained to be seen, but to figure out who You Xiaoyang was dealing with or what he was doing in this area, a single intersection camera was clearly insufficient.

Qin Ruonan and An Changpu split up to canvass the nearby units and shops. They eventually discovered that a gold shop across the street, located several dozen meters away from the Children's Palace, had surveillance installed. Although it was inside the store, because it was placed near the entrance, it could capture the activity on the street through the glass door.

The manager of the gold shop couldn't guarantee whether their camera had captured any valuable footage over the past three or four months, but since any clue was better than none, An Changpu obtained permission to have the manager send any un-erased records to his email address.

Back at the Public Security Bureau, An Changpu began trying to spot You Xiaoyang in the footage. He copied his email username and password for Qin Ruonan so she could log in on her own computer and review the footage as well. Qin Ruonan silently took the information, but for a long while, there was no sound. When An Changpu looked over, he found that instead of watching the computer screen, she was staring down at the desk in a daze.

"What's wrong? What are you thinking about?" An Changpu asked.

"You'll know what I'm thinking when you see this," Qin Ruonan replied, not answering his question directly, but handing him the paper she had been doodling on.

An Changpu took it and saw the names Fang Wan and You Xiaoyang written side-by-side, along with their activity ranges before they disappeared. For similar cases from two years ago and eight years ago, Qin Ruonan had drawn two heavy circles over the locations where the incidents occurred.

Looking at these simple, known facts, An Changpu's brain raced. Soon, he began to understand what Qin Ruonan was contemplating.

"Coincidences exist, but when a coincidence happens over and over again, it can no longer be called a coincidence," Qin Ruonan said, seeing from An Changpu's expression that he had understood her meaning.

"So, we have to verify whether this coincidence is truly a coincidence," An Changpu replied, echoing her tone like a tongue-twister. "By the way, the senior we visited earlier, Old Zhou, his son-in-law is a police officer. We can ask him for help in looking into this."

"It seems that the steps we tried to skip to save time and energy are ones we cannot avoid after all."

"You mean..." He hesitated, not stating his guess directly.

"I mean, I'm afraid we can't avoid taking a long trip this time!" Qin Ruonan said resolutely.

Just as he had suspected, An Changpu nodded and stood up to head toward Cheng Feng's office. "Alright, I'll go ask for permission right now."

That evening, because they had received approval to travel the next day, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan were told to leave early to rest. They were to depart first thing the next morning, and the task of screening the surveillance footage was naturally handed over to others.

An Changpu had invited Tao Yinyin out for a meal because she had previously asked him to watch a movie she really wanted to see. An Changpu had been afraid he wouldn't be able to leave work on time, so she had rescheduled for a late-night showing, saying that if they didn't watch it soon, it would be pulled from theaters. Since a young woman had been so accommodating, An Changpu felt it would be wrong to refuse again.

However, the late-night movie date was clearly no longer possible, and a dinner apology from An Changpu took its place.

Tao Yinyin hadn't expected An Changpu to suddenly invite her for dinner and was surprised when she received his call. However, she quickly agreed, saying she might need a bit more time because she was unprepared and didn't want to show up looking disheveled, so she might need to go home and tidy up after work.

Although to An Changpu this was meaningless—he didn't mind, nor did he understand, the so-called fashion and matching of young women, unable to tell if earrings suited a face shape or if a jacket matched the shoes—respecting a lady's wishes when it didn't violate his principles was his standard code of conduct. Thus, he agreed to pick her up later.

"Ah? You're going on a business trip again?!" Upon hearing that the movie date had to be canceled, a look of disappointment inevitably appeared on Tao Yinyin's carefully made-up, pretty face. "How long will you be gone this time?"

"The destination is a bit further away, and the duration depends on how smoothly things go." An Changpu couldn't give an exact date; the nature of his work was full of variables, and rather than making up a number, it was better to simply not say.

Tao Yinyin pouted, resting her chin on her hands, seemingly having lost her appetite for the food in front of her due to the unpleasant news.

"Who are you going with? Your partner again?" she asked.

An Changpu nodded. "Yes, the two of us are primarily responsible for this case, so we definitely have to go together."

"That's great. She spends more time with you than I do; I'm jealous!" Tao Yinyin said with a giggle, though there was no real hint of jealousy in her tone; it sounded like she was just making a casual joke.

An Changpu suddenly didn't know how to respond, so he remained silent.

"You know, your job is so busy, always running around without a stable schedule, and you don't even have fixed days off. Do you ever have a sense of crisis?" After a while, Tao Yinyin asked again.

"What kind of crisis?" An Changpu was confused by her question.

"About me, of course! Aren't you afraid that when you're too busy to pay attention to me, I'll go find other handsome guys?" After saying this, Tao Yinyin burst into laughter herself and waved her hand. "Just kidding! Just kidding! You mustn't take it seriously! Otherwise, I'd be more wronged than Dou E!"

With that, she raised her drink. "Back to business, I wish you a smooth trip! I'll throw a welcome-back dinner for you when you return!"

An Changpu also raised his glass and clinked it with hers. The crisp sound of the two glasses colliding was quickly drowned out by the lively atmosphere around them.