Chapter Sixteen: Missing Person Notice

Little Ma knew very little about the man of the house, Fang Da, and in her private heart she looked down on men who left home early and returned late. No matter how capable a man might be, she felt, if he spent his days dumping his wife and child to one side and leaving them unattended, then there was not much point to such a life.

Of course, these were only Little Ma’s grumbles. By her account, the mistress of the house, Xia Ying, took her husband’s habit of never being home in stride; one might even say she was perfectly unruffled by it. Little Ma said that sometimes when Fang Da came back early from entertaining clients on a Sunday, Xia Ying would even chide him for returning so soon.

When asked what Xia Ying usually did at home, Little Ma could only stammer and fail to give a clear answer. She said Xia Ying kept to her room with the door shut, rarely coming out. More than once she had heard Xia Ying laughing heartily inside, as though chatting with someone, but when Little Ma knocked and went in to clean, she found Xia Ying alone in the room, reading a magazine.

“She has a computer in her room, doesn’t she?” An Changpu asked.

“Yes. Every time I go in, she closes the computer, like she’s afraid someone will see. Once I knocked and pushed the door open right away, and she hurriedly shut the computer and even gave me a talking-to.” Little Ma sounded a little aggrieved.

Hearing this, Qin Ruonan jotted a few notes in her notebook.

During the investigation over the next few days, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan made several attempts to arrange a meeting with Xia Ying on the pretext of learning more about Fang Wan’s usual circumstances, but every time they were refused. The reason given was that Xia Ying was only a little over two months pregnant, and a few days earlier, because of emotional upheaval, she had nearly miscarried. She now needed peace and rest to protect the pregnancy and could not cooperate with the investigation.

Since the other side had said as much, the police naturally could not press the matter without sufficiently compelling grounds. Yet after several days of frantic, headless searching, Fang Wan was still nowhere to be found. By then, the child had been missing for more than ten days. Only after repeated requests and consultations from An Changpu and Qin Ruonan did the conflicted Fang Da finally agree to post missing-person notices and broadcast public appeals on radio and television.

“Should we wait a little longer? I’m afraid the elders at home won’t be able to bear the shock…” Fang Da said he would comply, but he still seemed unwilling to accept it.

Qin Ruonan found this rather unbelievable. Frowning at him, she asked, “The child has been missing this long. Aren’t you afraid something has happened to him? Don’t you think your worry is a little misplaced?”

Fang Da flushed red and said nothing. He stood up and left. A little later, he called to say he had already contacted the television station and was arranging to insert the missing-person notice during the prime time following the local news.

It was quitting time. Qin Ruonan checked the clock and said to An Changpu, “I want to go back to the fitness center where Fang Wan was last seen and take another look. What do you think?”

An Changpu did not reply. The smile on his face looked a little awkward. Just then, Tian Yang happened to hear Qin Ruonan’s words and immediately came over, asking, “The fitness center you’re talking about is the one over by Yaoguang Road, right? Then I’ll go with you. My place is not far from there anyway, and I’ve been meaning to sign up for a gym card or something lately.”

“Doesn’t the bureau have a gym? Why would you still…” Mo Dou began, not quite understanding, but before he could finish, Tian Yang shot him a glare, and the rest of the sentence died in his throat.

“In that case, perfect. You two go ahead! Tian Yang has been helping us gather leads lately anyway, and he knows the details of the case. I happen to have something to do tonight. If you find anything, let’s talk by phone later!” An Changpu looked as though he had been granted a reprieve. With a grateful pat to Tian Yang, he quickly packed up his things, grabbed his coat, and left.

“Then let’s go too,” Tian Yang said to Qin Ruonan.

Qin Ruonan followed him downstairs without a word and got into the car.

The car pulled out of the public security bureau gate. Qin Ruonan said to Tian Yang, “I know your home is on the way there. How about this: once you drop me near that fitness center, you can go home. I can handle it myself. There’s no reason for my partner to go on a blind date dinner and drag in some unrelated person to do the hard work.”

Tian Yang was first startled, then laughed. “Fair enough. If you couldn’t guess something so obvious, that really wouldn’t be like you at all. You know, Changpu has always been terribly awkward about these blind-date things, and he’s too embarrassed to say it outright. Once you mentioned you still had another place to investigate, he probably felt even more unable to admit he had a private appointment and leave you to run the case alone.”

“A man should marry when he comes of age. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Qin Ruonan said calmly.

Tian Yang stole a glance at her, unable to read any change in her expression. The words of comfort he had been about to offer instead caught in his throat, and in the end he said nothing.

When they arrived in front of the fitness center, Qin Ruonan declined Tian Yang’s offer to accompany her, saying she was only coming to look around and ask about a few unimportant details; there was no need for someone to stay with her. Tian Yang could not argue her out of it, so he gave up and drove off alone.

The timing was much the same as her last visit: the after-work rush. Because different offices let out at slightly different times, some people were already exercising inside, and a few were still at the front desk asking about membership.

With her previous experience, Qin Ruonan quickly found the owner of the fitness center. He still remembered her. Seeing her return, he hurried over to ask whether there had been any progress. When she gave a negative answer, he sighed in sympathy.

“I’ve got a son too—he’s in the first year of high school. If anything happened to my boy, our whole family wouldn’t be able to go on living,” the owner said with a long face. He was probably also feeling very pessimistic about the child’s situation after hearing that Fang Wan had been missing for ten days with no news. “So what brings you here today?”

“I’d like to learn about the social backgrounds of your regular members,” Qin Ruonan said.

The owner understood at once and said no more. He nodded and told her, “Then come with me.”

Once they were in the office, the fitness center owner pulled up the membership records on the computer and let Qin Ruonan look them over. Just so happened that in order to balance member usage of the gym, the center had previously kept statistics on the times members came to exercise. This made Qin Ruonan’s work easier, allowing her to focus on the kinds of members who came during the period when Fang Wan had been taking classes there.

After reviewing the many member records, Qin Ruonan discovered that since the fitness center charged midrange prices, its members came from every walk of life and every social stratum. The age range was also broad: from retired workers in their sixties and seventies to school students in their teens.

During the time when Fang Wan attended classes there, the gym was relatively sparsely populated. Most of the people there were retirees and some university students with freer schedules. Of course, there were also quite a few members who had not introduced their occupations, or who were listed as “freelancers.”

After noting these details, Qin Ruonan made a few simple records of her own, then asked about the schedule of elementary school classes held there for physical education. After that, she thanked the owner and left the office with him.

“How much is your monthly pass?” Qin Ruonan asked.

The owner froze, realizing she might be thinking of coming by to observe the situation in the near future. He immediately waved a hand generously. “If you need to come, then just come. If it’s for work, what card do you need to buy?”

“I can’t take advantage of you,” Qin Ruonan insisted.

The two of them pushed the matter back and forth politely for a long while, but in the end the owner still refused to take money for a membership card for Qin Ruonan.

“If in the future you think our place is good and want to buy a long-term gym membership, then I’ll accept it. Right now, though, you’re here for work, and I’m a father too—I also want a result as soon as possible. Let’s call it mutual help!”

Afterward, Qin Ruonan did not leave at once. As more and more people gradually filled the fitness center, and after she had finished speaking with the owner, she was already dressed in very casual clothes, with sneakers on her feet, and wandered around upstairs and downstairs to have a look. She did not draw anyone’s attention.

People who came to the gym to work out were not always truly there for exercise alone. Qin Ruonan looked around and soon encountered two young girls who came over and said they thought her legs were long and slim, and asked if she had any secret for shaping them. Qin Ruonan, with some difficulty, shared a little of her usual exercise experience.

After that, she noticed several young men hurrying to the outside of one classroom, lazily lifting dumbbells with little enthusiasm, and then a few more people drifted over, exchanging glances and grinning from time to time.

Qin Ruonan went over as well to see what was going on, only to discover that a dance class was being held in the room. The one leading the class at the front was none other than Zhuixiou, the woman she had dealt with once before.

The thin glass wall of the classroom could not block the music inside. As a graceful, classically tinged song rose up, Zhuixiou began teaching the many female students below her the dance steps with methodical precision. Every lift of the hand, every rise of the foot, carried a softness and a feminine allure unique to women. Her movements were crisp and exact, never dragging, and even Qin Ruonan, who knew nothing whatsoever about dance, found it a feast for the eyes.

It was obvious that these gym-goers gathered in front of the classroom, putting up a false front for the real thing, were all there for the eye candy.

Gradually, the female students inside began to notice the gazes from outside the glass wall. Now and then someone would glance over here, frown, and after a while the music stopped abruptly. Zhuixiou walked to the door, reached up, and pulled down the large cloth curtain hanging at one side of the glass wall to cover it. When she saw Qin Ruonan, she paused, smiled at her, nodded, and then sealed off the curtain so thoroughly that not a sliver could be seen through.

Soon the music started up again inside. The young people outside the glass wall, having lost their “view,” gradually drifted away. Qin Ruonan glanced at the time and saw it was already late, so she decided to head home.

As she was leaving the gym, she ran into the tall Zhang Lei. He still remembered that she had come with An Changpu to investigate, and showed Qin Ruonan great enthusiasm. After a bit of polite conversation, Qin Ruonan said goodbye. Zhang Lei escorted her to the door and repeatedly asked her to pass along a message to An Changpu: when they had time, he wanted to exchange pointers on sanda techniques.

[Running a fever, so the update is late. Please forgive me.]