Chapter Eighteen: A Clue-Deep Sin(Moirae)

Chapter Eighteen: A Lead

The two of them asked the security supervisor at the telecommunications bureau to freeze the surveillance footage at the moment when the boy’s face could be seen relatively clearly, then had it printed out and went straight to the Eighth Middle School to look for him.

By the time they arrived, it was just before afternoon classes. A large crowd of students was streaming toward the school gate from every direction, boys and girls chattering and jostling together, most of them wearing the same school uniform as the boy in the surveillance video.

Qin Ruonan and An Changpu followed the tide of students into the school and went directly to the director of student affairs and moral education. After explaining who they were and why they had come, they thought that, given the sheer number of students they had just seen entering the gate, it would take a long time to find the boy in the footage. Unexpectedly, the director merely glanced at the printed surveillance image, frowned at once, and said, “Why him again?”

The director of student affairs and moral education at Eighth Middle School was a woman nearing retirement, with short hair cut to the ears. Silver strands at her temples were neatly pinned behind them with small clips. At a glance, she was the sort of person who was strong-willed and conservative in her thinking. She looked at the not-quite-clear printout, her brow knotting like a twisted cord, shaking her head repeatedly as though the person in the image were both familiar to her and a source of endless vexation.

“He’s definitely a student at Eighth Middle School, isn’t he?” An Changpu confirmed.

The director nodded, slapped the paper heavily onto her desk, startling both police officers. Then she came to herself and gave an apologetic smile, though the crease between her brows never loosened.

“Sorry, I lost my temper just now,” she explained to An Changpu and Qin Ruonan. “This student is indeed from our school. His name is Zhuang Quan, and he’s one of the troublemakers who gives us a headache. He should already be in the second year of high school, but because his grades are poor, he’s still stuck in the first year. What has he done this time?”

“You said ‘again’ just now. Has Zhuang Quan done something like this before?” Qin Ruonan did not answer immediately.

The director motioned for her to wait, got up, took Zhuang Quan’s file from the cabinet, and pushed it toward them. “See for yourselves.”

An Changpu and Qin Ruonan leaned in to look, and both could not help but understand the director’s helpless, exasperated expression.

Zhuang Quan really was a thoroughly troublesome youth. Practically every mistake a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old could or should not make, he had made.

In the files of other students his age, there was nothing but blank paper. In his, there was already enough misconduct to make a record.

From petty theft to group brawls, Zhuang Quan had thrown himself into every sort of disciplinary offense, and his high school life could be described as richly eventful.

“When you asked me what he had done before, I honestly didn’t know where to begin,” the director said, rubbing her temples. “He’s the classic case of someone who refuses to learn. He started a fight with seniors in the third year as soon as he entered school, taking on two or three of them alone, and ended up with a broken arm. He was in the hospital for a while. Then he started dating a girl from the same grade, got criticized by her homeroom teacher, and while on evening study, he ran over to her classroom and smashed the corridor windows to pieces.” She massaged her temples again. “At least half the white hairs on my head were probably caused by him.”

“You’re sure the person in the photo is Zhuang Quan? You won’t mistake him, will you?” Since a child’s reputation was at stake, An Changpu had to be careful as well.

The director glanced again and nodded with complete certainty. “Definitely. This brat is a regular here in the student affairs office. I could draw his face even with my eyes closed. A while ago he was involved in a group fight and injured someone badly enough that the family reported it to the police, and he spent many days in detention because of it. I could never mistake him for anyone else. Officer, what has he done this time?”

“He sold a mobile phone at a secondhand phone shop,” Qin Ruonan said, choosing her words carefully and not mentioning Fang Wan’s disappearance, only the phone. “We want to find him and ask him about the details.”

Hearing that, the director visibly relaxed, as though a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Looking at the clock, she said to them, “It doesn’t sound like anything too serious. All right, I’ll go get him. Please wait here for a moment.”

The old woman was gone for more than ten minutes before she returned in a huff.

“I knew it. That Zhuang Quan would never stay quietly in class!” she panted, whether from running up and down the stairs or from fury at yet again failing to locate him. “I’ve already called a few teachers to look in the billiard halls and game rooms nearby. Wait a little longer, and we’ll find him.”

An Changpu and Qin Ruonan agreed and continued waiting silently in the student affairs office. Nearly half an hour passed, and there was still no word. Even the director had begun to sit uneasily, checking her watch repeatedly and giving them apologetic smiles from time to time.

An Changpu and the others were not in a hurry to press her. But before long, a phone call shattered the waiting.

“Another lead has come in. Someone said they saw Fang Wan being kept in a house!” An Changpu said softly to Qin Ruonan after hanging up.

“How reliable is this one?”

“Much more reliable than the last. An old woman called from her home landline and said she saw it with her own eyes, exactly as described in the missing-person notice.”

“Then let’s go take a look first.”

They told the director they had other business to handle and needed to leave for a while, leaving their contact information behind. The director, full of apology, escorted them downstairs and promised that once Zhuang Quan was found, she would contact them at once.

So they left Eighth Middle School, and An Changpu drove Qin Ruonan straight to the outskirts of the city.

The address where Fang Wan was reportedly seen was much closer than the false report from that morning, though in a different direction, out in the suburban countryside. When they got there, they found a flat expanse of houses. Though it was still early winter and no snow had fallen, the leaves and the vegetation on the ground had already withered. Dust was being blown about by the wind, giving the air a gray, stale taste. On windy days it was enough to sting the eyes.

Qin Ruonan got out of the car, half-covering her face with her hand against the dust, and looked around. Then, turning to An Changpu after him, she asked with some puzzlement, “From here to Fang Wan’s home, even by car it’s over forty minutes. Why would the child appear around here? Do Fang Da or Qian Yuling have relatives nearby?”

“No. I confirmed that on the phone just now. And the whole way over, I was thinking the same thing. At such a distance, if Fang Wan had hidden himself with relatives or friends, that would make sense. But his family has no relatives living around here, and the private school he attends is practically an aristocratic school. None of the students there would be living in a place like this. If he was kidnapped, then keeping the child for all these days without demanding ransom from his family doesn’t make sense either. Unless the kidnapping had some other purpose.”

An Changpu was puzzled as well.

But since they were already here, wild speculation was useless. It was better to find the old woman who had provided the lead first.

Finding her house was not difficult. Although there were many residents in this area, the alleys were laid out in a neat grid, orderly and easy to navigate. Following the address left on the phone, An Changpu soon found the informant’s home and knocked. An old woman with a head full of permed white curls peered out through the door. Seeing strangers, she frowned and asked, “Who are you looking for?”

An Changpu showed his police ID. The old woman immediately understood. She opened the door at once and hurriedly pulled him and Qin Ruonan into the courtyard, lowering her voice in a secretive whisper. “Officers, you’ve finally come! The child you’re looking for is in my neighbor’s house!”

“Don’t be anxious, speak slowly,” Qin Ruonan said, seeing how agitated the old woman was. “Now that we’re here, could you tell us how you discovered it?”

“I saw it on the evening news last night, and then I saw the report about the missing child. This morning I went out to buy breakfast, and when I passed Old Zhang’s place, I heard a child crying inside, and an adult shouting at the child. They never have children at home! It’s only the old couple, and they don’t have any children themselves, so there can’t possibly be a grandson or granddaughter or anything like that. And then, just as it happened, the old lady from the Zhang family came out. The moment she saw me passing by and heard the child crying in their house, she immediately went back inside and shut the door! Doesn’t that sound very suspicious?”

“Any other evidence?”

“Of course! Otherwise why wouldn’t I have called the police first thing this morning? I felt uneasy all day, and every so often I found excuses to go out and take a look. And sure enough, around noon I saw it with my own eyes! The old lady from the Zhang family was dragging a child along! The child was wearing exactly the same clothes as in your missing-person notice! He was about this tall too!” She gestured at about rib height. “The child clearly didn’t want to go with her, but she just grabbed him and dragged him forward. He was struggling so hard that his waist was showing! I’m certain there’s something wrong with that family! The child must be the one you’re looking for! Let me tell you, that old Zhang woman’s family is nothing to mess with. Their old man is never seen during the day, but as soon as it starts getting dark, he heads out. Tell me, what kind of decent person is always running around at night like a rat, sleeping by day and roaming by night? I say there’s definitely something fishy going on!”

The old woman spoke with unwavering certainty. Qin Ruonan and An Changpu showed her Fang Wan’s photograph for identification, and she firmly insisted it was the same child she had seen being forcibly dragged into the Zhang house that very day.

Seeing how certain she was, An Changpu and Qin Ruonan did not dare delay.

“Auntie, show us where the Zhang family lives. We’ll go have a look,” An Changpu said.

“Come on then! I’ll take you there!” The old woman waved a hand and strode out with righteous conviction.

On the fourth day of fever, wishing for luck and hoping the fever breaks soon.

Chapter Eighteen: A Lead

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