Chapter 44: Missing Case

Zhou Yi is actually very conflicted about his grandfather's affairs.

On the one hand, he wanted his uncle and aunt to receive the legal sanctions they deserved, because he was the only one who knew how serious the consequences of this incident were.

But on the other hand, he needed to consider his grandfather's own thoughts.

Firstly, if the grandfather of the person involved deliberately concealed the truth, then the crime of intentional injury could not be established, and even if Zhou Yi was a policeman, he would be helpless.

Secondly, if the second uncle is really sent to prison, can the old man bear it psychologically? How will other family members view his behavior of "sacrificing relatives for the sake of justice"?

But just because grandpa doesn't pursue the matter doesn't mean that my second uncle's family can rest easy. Nothing is so easy in this world.

"Hey, what are the grandfather and grandson talking about?" Zhang Qiuxia walked into the ward holding a few red tangerines.

"Just chatting casually." Zhou Yi stood up with a smile and gave the only chair to his mother.

"Come, eat oranges." Zhang Qiuxia smiled and stuffed two oranges into her son's hands.

"Where did the oranges come from?"

"The old lady in bed 14 next door gave it to me. It's so sweet."

Zhou Yi burst out laughing. His mother liked two things the most: knitting and gossiping.

No matter where they go or who they are, Zhang Qiuxia can chat with them enthusiastically in just five minutes, and can even tell you all about the love, hate, and vengeance of three generations of their family.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but sigh that his mother was quite gifted.

"Oh, by the way, Zhou Yi, do you guys care about missing people?"

"Missing?" Zhou Yi was stunned.

"The son of the old lady in bed 14 said he went out to work and hasn't called home for almost two months. The old lady suspects that her son is missing." Zhang Qiuxia said, and at the same time repeated what she had heard about the situation in bed 14's home.

"Mom, there are standards for filing a case of disappearance. It's not that you think someone is missing, but that's not the case." Zhou Yi said helplessly.

This is not something Zhou Yi said casually. There are indeed restrictions on filing a missing person case.

The most common case in which the police open a missing persons case is when a minor under the age of fourteen is missing for more than forty-eight hours.

Then there are witnesses who prove that the missing person has been assaulted, or there are obvious signs of assault at the scene of the disappearance. These two situations will basically be investigated as criminal cases.

The remaining case is when someone disappears for no reason for more than three months. In that case, interested parties can go to the public security bureau to report the case.

However, this situation will generally be treated as an ordinary missing person case and not as a criminal case.

In fact, the number of missing people in the country every year is quite alarming, and the highest proportion of them are children and women, because these two groups are the main targets of human trafficking.

The main reasons for the disappearance of adult men are that they were either lured abroad to work illegally or commit fraud, or they were murdered.

Even before Zhou Yi was reborn, with surveillance cameras everywhere and a nationwide network of systems, there were still many missing people.

Not to mention the blind and deaf 1990s. For routine missing persons reports, all the police could do was to contact the public security system of the place where the missing person was last seen to find out the situation.

Moreover, with the reform and opening up and the market economy, a large number of people began to move across the country. Many migrant workers could not even read and write, and it was easy for them to lose contact with their families.

Zhou Yi once saw a mentally ill homeless man who was actually a migrant worker who had been missing for fifteen years.

Seeing his mother didn't say anything, Zhou Yi could only say, "How about you ask the old lady to report the case to our police station, and I'll give them a call and ask them to help investigate?"

At this time, the mother murmured shyly, "I've already told everyone that my son is a criminal police officer in the Municipal Bureau."

Well, Zhou Yi finally knew what was going on.

It seems that Comrade Zhang Qiuxia is showing off her son. No wonder she has to take on a job for herself.

The bragging has already been spread out, so no matter what, it will be embarrassing.

Zhou Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he also understood that the biggest boast for parents is that their children are successful.

"Okay, okay, Comrade Zhang Qiuxia, how about this? I'll go with you to the old lady in bed 14 next door to find out more about her situation first, okay?"

His mother rolled her eyes at him, but an uncontrollable smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"That's more like it. Wait a minute, I'll get two apples over there. I just ate a couple of oranges over there, I feel really bad about that."

…

In the next ward, before Zhou Yiren entered, Zhang Qiuxia, who had entered first, called out, "Sister Niu, my son is here."

"Oh, this guy looks really energetic."

"Sister Zhang, this is your son. He's really great."

"Have you got a wife, young man?"

There are four beds in this ward. Apparently, Zhang Qiuxia is already "acquaintance" with them. They all started praising the patient. Although Zhang Qiuxia didn't say anything, her back straightened up noticeably.

On the middle bed, there was an old lady in her sixties with more white hair than black hair. She had her eyes closed to rest, but she opened her eyes when she heard the sound.

"Oh, sister, I'm really sorry to bother you."

"Hey, don't be polite. My son is a police officer serving the people. This is his job." Zhang Qiuxia turned around and said, "Zhou Yi, ask, ask."

As he spoke, he pulled the stool next to the bed over and asked Zhou Yi to sit on it.

Zhou Yi smiled helplessly, but since he was here, he might as well listen.

Sister Niu began to talk about her own family affairs. As expected, she had the chatty style of an old lady, talking about this and that. Sometimes she talked about how much grievance she had suffered since marrying into the Li family, and sometimes she talked about how the roof of the Wang family next door was higher than hers and would bring bad luck to her.

Zhou Yi was in a state of confusion as he listened, but Zhang Qiuxia and the others were listening with great interest. He didn't know where his mother got a bag of melon seeds from, and they were cracking them enthusiastically with a few aunties.

Zhou Yi had no choice but to take the initiative to ask guiding questions.

This sister Niu's son is called Li Youqiang. He is 42 years old this year, which should be the age of 40, but Li Youqiang has not been working properly for many years.

He used to work in an agricultural machinery factory, but was fired for fighting. Since then, he has had no proper job and has been living on odd jobs. He works for three days and rests for two days, and his wife always quarrels with him because of this.

According to Sister Niu, her daughter-in-law is snobbish and looks down on her son.

This time, after the daughter-in-law had a quarrel with Li Youqiang, she took her grandson back to her parents' home.

Seeing that Sister Niu was still blaming her daughter-in-law for not being sensible, Zhang Qiuxia couldn't help but say, "Sister Niu, this can't be blamed on your daughter-in-law. Your son is also somewhat responsible. As the old saying goes, a man is your mother's mother, and you need clothes and food. It's not a good idea for your son to not have a proper job."

Sister Niu sighed deeply, "Well, who says it isn't true? That's why my son was so upset this time and said he wants to go out and work."

Zhou Yi had already lost his patience, but Sister Niu's next words suddenly made his sensitive nerves jump. The old policeman's alertness made him realize that something was wrong!

"He originally said that he would be back in a month at most after going to work in another place. He also said that he could earn 10,000 yuan this time. But it has been two months and there is no news at all." Sister Niu said with a sad face.