"Why's there so much traffic?"
"Driver, could I just ask, have you been waiting in this line for an hour?"
"An hour? Nearly half my life! I hear there's a security check up ahead."
"A security check going into the city, and a security check leaving the city, too. Is the government crazy? Are they trying to turn the highway into a parking lot and collect parking fees?"
The drivers stuck in traffic at the highway toll gate got out of their cars one by one to look around, cries of discontent rising everywhere.
"They're inspecting IDs and licenses up ahead," the woman in the passenger's seat said in a low voice.
Su Cheng gave a heavy affirmative, his hands slipping gently on the steering wheel, wiping the sweat off his palms. He'd put on a wig and a hat, pasted up the corners of his eyes, and stuck on fake whiskers. He looked like a slovenly, vulgar old man. He had faith that this appearance, which had nothing in common with the normally rather tasteful "President Su," would make it difficult to recognize him. It shouldn't be hard to slip out of the city.
But unfortunately, he'd been pressed for time and hadn't had time to make a fake ID. And now he was looking down the barrel of a gun.
The greater part of the people in Yan City were leaving during these few days. The city was an empty ghost town, but the highway was jammed up into a pot of porridge. Su Cheng had thought at first that it was only the traffic caused by too many people. By the time he'd worked out that there was a security check up ahead, it had been impossible to turn around and flee. Front and back, left and right, the cars were nearly rubbing shoulders. All the drivers were glaring like tigers, looking out for others trying to cut in line. Unless he abandoned his car, escape was impossible.
But Su Cheng had always lived like a prince. Normally he worried when he walked a few steps that he'd damage the soles of his shoes. Seeing all the surveillance cameras around, the police covering the area, he looked down at his own ornamental legs and really didn't have the courage to open the car door.
"It's all right." Su Cheng forced a smile at his mistress and said, consoling himself, "These kinds of security checks usually only inspect trucks and passenger vehicles. A private car will get through quickly. Don't worry."
The woman looked askance at him. The old man's vulgar appearance was already repulsive; if you added in idiocy, he was simply so hateful he made you want to destroy him out of humanitarian interest.—Security checks were usually only for coming into the city. If they were being so strict about leaving the city, there was clearly something abnormal.
The woman grabbed Su Cheng's arm. "Come on, we're getting out."
"O-out?" Su Cheng looked left and right. Just then, the car in front moved a few meters forward like a snail. Seeing the car next to them about to cut in line, the cars behind honked their horns. Like the totally worthless A Dou9, Su Cheng vacillated for a moment, then slowly pressed on the gas pedal and followed.
"We can't," he said, believing himself to be in the right. "That would be too obvious. What do we do if someone stops us? And if we leave the car here, how will we travel?"
Behind her sunglasses, the woman rolled her eyes. Then she took the sunglasses off and stuck them into her bag, pulled out a makeup remover wipe, and quickly cleaned the lipstick and eyeshadow off her face. She tangled up her hair, then reached into the backseat and fished up a pillow, wrapped it in her scarf, and stuck it into her clothes. As Su Cheng looked on, dumbstruck, in the blink of an eye she went from a tidy and graceful beauty to a dejected "pregnant woman."
"The security check may be to catch you." The woman bit her tongue, managing to bite back the word "idiot." She grabbed Su Cheng. "Come with me!"
Su Cheng had no definite views. At a loss, he could only trail after her.
Everyone had been waiting in line together and shuffling their way forward perfectly well when suddenly some people ditched their car midway. The temper of the driver behind rose to the sky. He pressed down on his horn and prepared to curse. But before he could open his mouth, he saw that one of the people who'd gotten out of the car was a pregnant woman. The "pregnant woman"'s face was pale. She smiled very apologetically at him. The driver had to swallow down the swear words that had come to his mouth, wrathfully slamming on the horn.
Su Cheng's back was soaked through by cold sweat. His moist hand clutched the woman's wrist, making her feel somewhat nauseated.
Perhaps because this old man hadn't been accumulating merit, his luck really wasn't any good. As soon as he got out of the car, the road ahead inexplicably cleared, and the originally paralyzed car in front drove a dozen meters at once. A car in the next lane immediately jumped the line without any hesitation. The drivers behind Su Cheng would have loved nothing better than to knock the obstruction into the atmosphere; the sounds of their horns reverberated in waves to the sky.
At last, this attracted the notice of one of the security personnel.
Su Cheng was too irresolute. As if suffering from procrastination disease, he'd been unable to come to a decision. When he'd been yanked out of the car by the woman, they'd already been very close to the toll gate. A security officer who'd just been relieved by his colleague was startled by the rising and falling car horns. He looked up and saw an "old man" pulling a "pregnant woman," staggering through traffic.
Slow-moving traffic was still traffic. It was still hazardous. The security officer immediately chased after them. "Why did you suddenly get out of your car? Do you need help with something?"
Su Cheng quivered at being suddenly stopped by a security officer. All of his pores instantly opened and his soul nearly evaporated out of them. His spinal column stiffened into a stone. But the woman, resourceful in an emergency, suddenly hugged her belly and squatted down, realistic pain on her face. She didn't speak, only groaned mournfully.
Then Su Cheng came around half a beat late. "I'm sorry, Comrade Police Officer, my wife just said in the car that her belly hurt, we didn't think we'd be sitting in traffic so long… There's really nothing we can do, could I ask you to…"
The security officer was alarmed. "Don't make her squat in the road. Hurry and pick her up. I'll call you an ambulance."
Then he ran off. The woman who'd been squatting on the ground grabbed Su Cheng, pulling and pushing him away. In this plight, Su Cheng no longer had attention to spare for his pampered, precious body. His steps were as fast as flight as he followed the woman to the side of the road. The two of them jumped over the guard rail and came down off the highway, charging into the little woods of a green belt.
The security officer, who'd hastily found a colleague to help him carry the pregnant woman, quickly returned to the scene and was surprised to find that they were gone. When the elder he'd called over had heard the whole story, his expression suddenly turned severe. A moment later, a heap of official business vehicles drove out of the tiny highway security check and started a blanket search in all directions.
Human voices, the sounds of cars, even the barking of police dogs searching for traces constantly drew nearer. Surrounded on all sides, Su Cheng really couldn't keep running. He stumbled, releasing the woman's hand, briefly and fretfully saying, "I said we shouldn't have run! We wouldn't necessarily have been found out if we'd driven through, and now what? We've been exposed! We don't even have a means of transportation. Are you trying to tire me to death?"
The woman had no attention to spare for him.
Su Cheng grabbed her shoulder. "What do we do now, huh? Tell me what we…"
Just then, someone behind him suddenly said, "Is that Mr. Su?"
Su Cheng trembled and turned his head in bewilderment. A man wearing the uniform of a toll booth worker was standing behind him, looking at him with a conspicuous smile. "Our boss knows you've run into trouble. He didn't avoid your calls on purpose, he was only worried the police were already monitoring you. In the interests of prudence, it had to be this way. He told me to come help you. We must protect your safety. Please come with me."
Su Cheng stared blankly. Then a happy expression appeared on his face. He pushed aside the woman's hand tugging at him from behind and went up as though he'd seen a relative. "Yes, yes, I called many times, and he never picked up. How did you find me? Listen to me, the police have found me, now…"
The man looked at him and smiled, cultured and refined. Gloved hands extended from the sleeves of his uniform, falling on Su Cheng's shoulders.
The woman's pupils contracted. Not batting an eyelash, she quietly called, "President Su!"
"What?" Su Cheng said impatiently.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of cold light. A switchblade had appeared in the gloved man's hand. With Su Cheng entirely unwary, it stabbed right at his chest!
H Town, a small town in T Province—
This place was five hours' drive from Yan City. It wasn't especially far, but because of the traffic leaving the city, Luo Wenzhou and the others had travelled all day, setting out at dawn and arriving when the golden crow had sunk into the west.
It overlooked the sea and backed against mountains, warm in winter and cool in summer. There were plentiful natural hot springs in the mountains. It was especially busy in winter. Because of the development of the tourism industry over the last few years, the unknown little place had changed its face and become filled with the air of modernity.
The hotel hadn't been reserved in advance; it was really very tight. Fortunately they'd brought along Zhou Huaijin—though the Zhou family's fortunes had declined, even a scrawny camel is bigger than a horse, after all. With Young Master Zhou acting as host, Luo Wenzhou, bringing along a few criminal police officers and Lu Jia, checked into a hot springs villa hotel, purportedly with a six-star rating, temporarily booking a detached little villa to stop over at.
"Yang Bo and his mother lived in what used to be a village, called Yang Village. It was at the foot of the mountains, supposedly pretty unenlightened. Later the hot springs on the mountain were developed, and the place became a resort. All the villagers were relocated." Xiao Haiyang, who'd been dispatched to contact the local public security personnel, returned carrying a stack of photocopied old materials. He bit off half a bun in one bite. "But, first because there weren't many villagers in Yang Village, and second because most of them demanded payment, very few of them accepted the arrangements. Those were moved to the west city district. I asked for the addresses and contact information."
"Come on," said Luo Wenzhou.
They'd been moving without rest since dawn, taking it in turns to drive and rest. Arriving in H Town, they bolted a simple meal and unrelentingly set off once more, but the outcome wasn't what they could have wished.
Over a decade had passed. Everything had changed. Among the few addresses Xiao Haiyang had found, the families had either moved long ago, or else the old people had passed away and the young ones were clueless. Even their memories of life in the village when they'd been little were blurry.
They made a round of visits and came up empty. Zhou Huaijin felt his hastily-eaten dinner sticking in his stomach, weighing heavily without going down. It was rather unendurable. He couldn't resist smiling wryly at Luo Wenzhou. "I thought your usual work was waving around a gun and bellowing 'Don't move!' at evildoers. How come it's all running errands?"
"Who said all we do is run errands? We also have to attend interminable meetings and write interminable reports." In the piercing wind, Luo Wenzhou stubbed out his cigarette butt on a garbage can. His expression was calm, but he was also impatient, unable to resist taking out his pack of cigarettes again.
"Hey," Lu Jia couldn't resist calling to him, "Luo-xiong, I think that's about enough. Your fuming capacity is about to catch up with an airplane's exhaust."
Luo Wenzhou smiled indolently and didn't respond, putting another cigarette in his mouth, thinking, "What's it to you?"
Lu Jia said, "President Fei hates it when people are always smoking in the office. If you normally smoke like this, hasn't he said anything about it to you?"
Luo Wenzhou paused, expressionlessly put the cigarette away, and waved. "Come on. The last family."
At the house the last family from Yang Village had moved to, a young man in his twenties answered the door. Xiao Haiyang verified his address. "Excuse me, does Yang Yaozong's family live here?"
"Yes, that's my dad." The man looked at him doubtfully. "Excuse me, you people are…"
"Police." After working all night to no avail, when he finally saw a bit of hope, Xiao Haiyang's eyes lit up, and he promptly displayed his credentials. "We're investigating a case. One of the people involved used to live in Yang Village. We're looking for someone who can answer some questions, could I ask whether your father…"
"Not very likely. My dad's been sick for a couple of years, here—" The man pointed at his own temple. "He's a bit dull-witted."
When they came in and had a look, they learned that the old man wasn't "a bit dull-witted."
The skinny and wizened old man sat on the couch, snatching a tangerine from a small child a year or two old. The child couldn't speak clearly, and neither could the old man. After a moment, the child, unable to snatch the tangerine back, began to wail. Not admitting defeat, the old man also opened his mouth and followed suit with great sincerity. The old one and the young one each occupied one end of the couch, competing in funereal wails, making enough noise to shake the sky. A young woman, probably the daughter-in-law, inured to this, brought out a small bench for the guests without looking up.
They felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in their faces.
Luo Wenzhou asked the old man's son, "Could you tell me whether you remember when you were living in Yang Village, was there a person called Zhuo Yingchun?"
The man thought about it, clearly eager to help, but shook his head. "I don't think I've heard of them."
Given his age, it was only normal for him not remember things from so long ago. Luo Wenzhou wasn't surprised at all, only very disappointed. He'd left Yan City for a day, and there was no telling whether another major event would occur. Another day closer to the last night of the year, and he was still at a total loss, without any leads.
"Captain Luo?" said Xiao Haiyang.
"Let's go." Luo Wenzhou shook his head. "We'll find some other…"
Just then, the senile old man who'd been competing in crying with the child suddenly said, "Xiao Hua'ao!"
"Dad, what did you say?"
The senile old man's snot and tears hadn't dried yet. He opened his mouth, lacking in teeth, and, as if entertaining himself, said indistinctly, dribbling saliva, "Zhuo… Xiao Hua'ao!"
His son stared. "Oh, you're talking about Xiao Hua'ao!"
Luo Wenzhou's steps paused at once.
"So it's Xiao Hua'ao you're asking about," the son said, rather taken aback. "Sorry, I didn't know what her formal name was.—She had a son about the same age as me, right?"
"Yes," Xiao Haiyang said, "called Yang Bo!"
"I don't know what his formal name was," the man said. "We didn't use formal names when we were little.—'Xiao Hua'ao' was pretty well-known back then. She came from out of town. We weren't developed back then, there was still human trafficking; she was bought. At first they gave her to a cripple for a wife. Then a few days after the marriage, the cripple died, and she became a widow. The family thought they couldn't have spent the money for nothing, so the elders made a decision and gave her in marriage to a cousin of the cripple. I remember the person she married afterwards was one of the first batch to drive a car to haul goods. He didn't talk much, only kept his head down and made money. The family was pretty well off. Xiao Hua'ao was always very brightly dressed. Everyone in the village liked to gossip about her behind her back and gave her that nickname10.—Later her second man died, too. There was a fuss about the relocation. It was a pretty big deal. Everyone said she was a jinx on her husband. Then she took her son and moved away somewhere."
Xiao Haiyang quickly asked, "Do you know where she was kidnapped from?"
"She wasn't kidnapped," the man said, "she was bought. When I was little, I heard the old people say that the human traffickers had connections and got orphans from the city, without any roots or relations, not at all good-looking, so if one went missing no one would go searching, but they were definitely clean… Though those were all the corrupt customs from over twenty years ago, it must all be gone now, don't misunderstand."
"Do you know where the orphans came from?"
"How would I know?" The man smiled. "This is all what I heard. Though I remember Xiao Hua'ao spoke Mandarin very well, not like the locals. There was a rumor that said she'd grown up in Yan City."
Orphans, human traffickers, the girl Su Hui sold abroad… Why choose an ordinary woman like Yang Bo's mother Zhuo Yingchun as a contact?
In an instant, it seemed there was a lead coming together!
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Author's Note:
(9) Three Kingdoms era emperor, famous for being incompetent.
(10) Xiao Hua'ao (小花袄) means little floral jacket.