Xiao Haiyang gave a start. "What did you say?"
Fei Du held him back. "You heard? Who did you hear from? I don't remember us making the murderer's identity public."
"It's… At the public security bureau, there was a lady who asked me if while we were outside I'd seen a man around forty years old. She said he looked very strange, with a very long chin, as though it had been padded, with his eyes kind of crooked, very fierce-looking."
That had been a routine inquiry. To determine whether the children who'd run away had seen Lu Guosheng, they had described his facial features to them without telling them who he was; if he'd seemed familiar, they had given them a photograph and a sketch.
Evidently, this young lady had her own guesses.
"I didn't leave the hotel when we were outside, and I didn't see that person." Wang Xiao hesitated somewhat. "But… I'm not sure."
"No problem." Fei Du softened his voice. "Go ahead and tell us. Even if there's a misunderstanding, it's not serious."
"We have every Sunday off and can go home. My parents don't rest on the weekend, and they're afraid of wasting my time, so they don't let me come home. That day, the other students had either gone home or gone out together to have fun. I was studying by myself in the classroom. I went to the bathroom midway, and when I was about to leave, I heard some people come in. It was Liang Youjing and those other girls." Wang Xiao paused. "I…I was afraid there'd be trouble if I ran into them, so I hid in the stall until they left.
"They thought there was no one there and talked a little. I heard Liang Youjing say, 'What does that friend of Wei Wenchuan's do? He's so weird. He came and sat for five minutes and didn't even drink water. He wouldn't even take off his gloves.'"
Xiao Haiyang's eyelids twitched—not drinking on a public occasion and not taking off your gloves likely meant you were worried about leaving behind fingerprints and DNA.
Wang Xiao continued, "Another girl said, 'I don't think he can be anyone important. He looks ferocious, and he's wall-eyed. He's pretty scary."
Fei Du gravely asked, "Do you remember when this happened?"
"I do. It was the beginning of November," Wang Xiao said. "It would have been the first weekend of November. It was Wei Wenchuan's birthday, and he invited some people. All the people he hangs out with went."
"Was Feng Bin there, too?" Fei Du said.
"He was. They used to be on pretty good terms."
Lu Guosheng, who had disappeared fifteen years ago, had turned up at a middle school birthday party; no matter how you thought about it, it sounded inconceivable. In the 327 case, the other two suspects had been in it for the money; only Lu Guosheng had been in it for the pleasure of killing and playing with the bodies. An out-and-out psychopath like that wouldn't have given Wei Wenchuan a second look even if he'd been his own son.
Wang Xiao said he'd been wearing gloves and wouldn't drink anything, so what had he been there for? It sounded like he'd gone to recognize an assassination target!
The mysterious individual 'go ask shatov' had already been in contact with Feng Bin at the time, and the daring boy had started planning a sensational rebellion and revelation, not knowing that he was already being watched.
"Where was this?" Fei Du said. "Do you know?"
"I don't know, they didn't say."
Xiao Haiyang frowned.
But then, Wang Xiao thought about it and added, "I heard a girl say something like, 'That restaurant's Buddha Jumps Over the Wall wasn't a traditional one. There was baby bok choy in it. It was hilarious.' Liang Youjing has always liked Wei Wenchuan a lot. She got angry when she heard this and told her not to talk blindly about things she didn't understand, and she said that they'd made a modified dish that was adjusted to be better for your health or something…"
"Got it, Beiyuan's Longyun Center." On hearing the words "baby bok choy," Fei Du already understood. "Thank you, you've been a great help."
The curtain of 204 was pulled open, and a hand wiped away the fog on the window. The girl's white, haggard face appeared and looked out at them through the cage-like anti-burglary grid. Her features could be called pretty and delicate, but the look in her eyes was gloomy, and her expression was somewhat cowering. Living in perpetual constraint and suffering had left a layer of ash over the girl; it wasn't at all pleasing to the eye.
There was stillness over the phone. The girl was silent for a good while, but she didn't seem about to end the call, as though she had something else to say.
Xiao Haiyang was at first burning with impatience, wishing to take wing, fly back to the City Bureau, and turn this Longyun Center upside down. But perhaps he was influenced by Fei Du's patience; he looked up at Wang Xiao, and his roiling emotions slowly calmed down. His mind wandered, and he remember many things.
He remembered fourteen years ago, all the malicious gossip the neighbors had talked when they'd pointed to Gu Zhao's empty apartment, remembered his young self picking up half a brick to fight them over it…though he didn't have the makings of a hero, and every time he'd tried to fight back, he'd been knocked over to the ground and trampled by a foot on his back.
The two men stood in the winter wind that could freeze a person in place, each wearing one earbud, waiting for the imprisoned Rapunzel to let down her hair.
"I…I'm not pretty, I'm not good at school, and I don't get along with people," Wang Xiao said suddenly. "I'm a burden on my parents, making them run around in circles each day. They say that we still live in this place for my sake. They tell me every day to making a good showing. But I can't do it. I've spent so much of my family's money, and now I don't know even know whether I can continue attending school… Wouldn't it be better for someone like me to die?"
Fei Du said, "You…"
He'd only said one word when Xiao Haiyang interrupted him.
"My disposition was very strange when I was little," Xiao Haiyang said stiffly. He found Fei Du looking at him and grinned rather self-mockingly. "My disposition is still very strange now. Maybe it's innate. Others don't like hanging out with me, and I don't especially get along with my colleagues. When my parents got divorced, my dad pointed to me and said to my mom, 'You take this burden. I'll give you some more money…' I've always been useless. Look, I'm a police officer, and once on the way home I ran into a pickpocket and wanted to chase him. The upshot was that the pickpocket knocked me over, and I watched him make his getaway. But I still want to keep trying. The days ahead are so long. Perhaps one day it'll get better… Well, what if?"
Wang Xiao leaned against the window and cried.
"If one day you decide to make some people pay, no need to call 110. Call this number, and I'll come straight away to take you to the City Bureau." After exhorting her, Fei Du pushed Xiao Haiyang. "Come on."
Xiao Haiyang followed him quietly. When the car's heating had warmed his hands and feet, he finally worked up the courage to speak. "What…what should I do in my situation to be able to rejoin the team?"
Fei Du seemed to have his whole attention focused on the traffic situation up ahead.
Xiao Haiyang at once added nervously, "You said before that Captain Luo didn't tell people that I was suspended, so…so… You're so good at talking, could you…look at that self-examination for me and see what I did wrong?"
Fei Du smiled. "Does your boss normally like reading other people's self-examinations to amuse himself?"
Xiao Haiyang's face was blank.
The car drove through an intersection. Fei Du shook his head, took a work ID out of his pocket, and tossed it at the dumbfounded Xiao Haiyang.
Meanwhile, Luo Wenzhou was in front of the surveillance feed, watching Wei Wenchuan.
Perhaps he looked this way naturally or something; there was always a trace of an indescribable smile hanging on Wei Wenchuan's lips. Only fifteen or sixteen years old, and that seemingly painted-on smile didn't waver a bit when he was faced with two police officers questioning him by turns.
"Wei Wenchuan, someone gave evidence saying that you're the leader of a group at school and frequently incite others to bully their schoolmates, bringing about personal insults and bodily harm. Do you acknowledge it?"
Wei Wenchuan shrugged and raised his neat brows, spreading his hands. "What does a group mean? Jiejie, aren't there some colleagues you normally hang out with? If frequently spending time with my schoolmates is called being in a group, then aren't you in a clique with those colleagues you're on good terms with?"
Lang Qiao's face darkened. "You're being questioned here. Shut up. Talk nonsense again, and we'll detain you."
Her words, good for scaring small children, didn't touch Wei Wenchuan at all. The teenage boy smiled again. "Police officer-jiejie, you can't detain me without any reason, can you? As for 'personal insults' and 'bodily harm'—who did I insult? Who did I harm? Is there video and audio evidence showing that I insulted someone? Shouldn't there be a doctor's report for the condition of an injury?"
Tao Ran frowned, looking at Wei Wenchuan, who wasn't falling for any of this. "Wei Wenchuan, I hope you can correct your attitude. We have hard evidence to show that you're connected to a case of group sexual assault. Your family circumstances are excellent, your grades are also good, and your future prospects are great. I suppose you don't want to get a criminal record and go to prison for a few years?"
"Sexually assaulted who? Wang Xiao?" Wei Wenchuan covered his eyes. He was silent for a while, then, sneering, said, "Don't joke, officer. Please, take a look at me. Now look at Wang Xiao.—The way she is, if I touched a hair on her head, wouldn't I be the one getting the worst of it? Could you tell me what your so-called 'hard evidence' is? Did Wang Xiao herself say so? Heavens, ugly people really will do anything for attention."
"Don't put on your act here! What explanation do you have for installing a tracking device on your female schoolmate's cellphone?"
This time, Wei Wenchuan at last temporarily froze, disbelieving anger instantly rising on his face, as though he didn't dare to believe that Xia Xiaonan had had the guts to sell him out. Then he quickly calmed once again.
He leaned back, lowering his eyelids. "You mean Xiao Xiaonan? Yeah, I did that. Xia Xiaonan looks all right, I thought she'd do, so I had a bit of fun with her—anyway, I didn't violate her privacy. I wasn't spying on her. I installed the tracking device right in front of her face. If she didn't like it, she could have removed it herself. Even if she was a mental deficient, she could have just not used that phone, right? Are mutually consenting things also crimes?"
"Since you installed a tracking device on Xia Xiaonan's phone, why didn't you provide a lead when the teachers and the police were searching for them?"
"No one asked me," Wei Wenchuan said confidently, knowing he had justice on his side. "Anyway, what did it have to do with me?"
"But when Feng Bin was murdered, the murderer used the tracking device on her phone to follow them," Tao Ran said gravely. "What do you have to say about that?"
Wei Wenchuan's gaze didn't dodge away at all. He looked openly back at Tao Ran, a false smile emerging at the corners of his mouth. "First, have you caught the killer? Did the killer himself acknowledge that he used that tracking device to find Feng Bin? Second, even if he did, that tracking device is very crude. Anyone could have gone through the software to find her. Why are you saying it has to do with me? Third—you're saying that when Feng Bin died, Xia Xiaonan was with him? Then why did the murderer kill Feng Bin but not kill her? Doesn't that show there's a problem with her? Anyway, what does it have to do with me?"
Luo Wenzhou was at the end of his endurance and was just about to personally enter battle and take care of this little asshole when his phone rang.
"…Beiyuan's Longyun Center." His steps paused at once, his voice hardly leaving his throat. "Are you sure? No… Keep this a secret, don't come over here, and keep an eye on that dumbass Xiao Haiyang. We'll talk when I get home."
Luo Wenzhou hung up the phone. Standing in place, he could feel his heart thumping wildly. Alone, he paced two circles in the observation room and drank half a cup of tea in one gulp. By the time he picked up his walkie-talkie again, he had his expression under control.
"If he won't acknowledge it, hold him for a day. Some upbringing he's had." In a faintly angry voice, he said, "Find some guys to keep questioning him in turns. I still don't believe a little whelp would be up to this."
Half an hour later, Luo Wenzhou had called each of the Criminal Investigation Team's associated direct superiors to report on the work. He strolled into the corridor, and, seemingly aimlessly, raised his head and looked at a security camera in a corner. As though in provocation, he lit a cigarette towards it and slowly walked out.
"There are people there who have changed."—These were the most shocking words in Lao Yang's testament.
When they'd gone to arrest Zheng Kaifeng, because there had been a leak, Zheng Kaifeng had received word ahead of time and run away, and afterwards the person behind the scenes had had the opportunity to murder and silence. This time they absolutely couldn't alert the enemy.
Luo Wenzhou went outside, expressionlessly tapped his cigarette into a trash can, and turned his head to look back at the office building bearing the national emblem.
He had a sudden premonition that they were very close to the truth.
Xiao Haiyang sat cautiously in Luo Wenzhou's living room, exchanging a helpless look with Luo Yiguo.
Having woken from its drunken stupor, Luo Yiguo was bristling, circling around Xiao Haiyang in displeasure. Its big, fluffy tail touched Xiao Haiyang's pant leg. Master Cat majestically displayed its fangs, hissing at him.
Xiao Haiyang silently pulled his leg back, his posture becoming even more cautious. Luo Yiguo had verified its judgement that this was an easily-bullied human. It put on a look of arrogant disdain, jumped onto the coffee table, and sat up in a lump, throwing out its chest, maintaining an impenetrable watch on Xiao Haiyang.
Fei Du poured Xiao Haiyang a cup of tea. Taking advantage of Luo Wenzhou not being home, he also sneakily got into the liquor cabinet he'd scouted out yesterday, picking and choosing among the reasonably priced red wines. Finding one "general" sticking out among the ranks, he poured himself a glass.
Luo Yiguo smelled the wine, and its mood immediately changed. It trotted over to his feet, purring as it rubbed against his pant legs. Seeing that Fei Du wasn't intending to pay attention to it, Luo Yiguo couldn't resist reaching out its paws and attempting to grab his pant leg and climb up like it usually did to Luo Wenzhou.
Fei Du sipped some wine and looked down at the cat.
Luo Yiguo's half-outstretched paw froze in midair for a moment. Then it drew it back and obediently rolled itself into a furry ball, not daring to act rashly.
Xiao Haiyang was watching him. "Your cat is pretty well-behaved."
"It's Luo Wenzhou's," Fei Du said, pretending this was nothing out of the ordinary. "Though I've been feeding it lately."
Hearing this, the average person would have wondered why he'd been feeding Luo Wenzhou's cat, and asked in astonishment, "Are you living in Captain Luo's house?"
But Comrade Xiao Haiyang wasn't the average person. His mind was filled with Lu Guosheng; all his tossing and turning was about the wanted criminal, and he had no attention to spare for anything else. Fei Du had kidnapped him and brought him here, and he had no idea that he was currently sitting on the couch in Luo Wenzhou's house. He gave an "oh," disregarded Fei Du's veiled boast, and said in deadly earnest, "I've just been thinking. If the person Wang Xiao heard about was in fact Lu Guosheng, then why, when he normally takes care not to leave any traces of himself, would he leave his fingerprint the day he killed Feng Bin?"
Fei Du: "…"
Were all the police officers the City Bureau recruited this slow?