Chapter 91 Something's Wrong
Sun Suisui's house is three or four meters away from Zhao Tianshan's house. The walls of both houses are not high, only about one meter high.
“When it rains, it’s impossible to walk around here.” Sun Suisui directed the Cherokee to drive to her backyard, looking worriedly at the increasingly heavy rain and said, “Sigh, I don’t know if the Peach Blossom Festival can still be held.”
"Boss was right, he predicted it would rain and it really did." Lu Ye got out of the car first and took out a police raincoat and rain boots from the trunk. He put them on himself while standing by the car, and then opened another raincoat for Chen Zhenzhu to crawl inside.
"Be careful." Lu Ye saw the mountain of garbage piled up at Zhao Tianshan's house. Dirty water flowed from the shared dirt road after the rain, and a sour smell permeated the air.
“Let’s go around this way, my house is just ahead.” Sun Suisui shook off the rain-soaked wild vegetables and walked ahead, saying, “That’s Zhao Tianshan’s house over there. His son is in poor health. Originally, Zhao Tianshan was the main worker in the family. After he died, his son collected garbage everywhere. His daughter-in-law is lazy, but she is known for being very filial. The village committee gives her fifty yuan a month for subsistence allowance, which is all spent by Old Lady Zhao.”
"What is Zhao Tianshan's wife doing at home?" Chen Zhenzhu walked through the dirty water to Sun Suisui's backyard.
"That place is dirty, let's wash it." Sun Suisui picked up the plastic hose from the ground and let them rinse it on their rain boots. She replied, "Old Mrs. Zhao is paralyzed on one side and can't do anything while lying on the kang (heated brick bed). All she does all day is drink and curse. It's a good thing she curses, otherwise her daughter-in-law wouldn't be out helping to collect garbage. She used to sleep at home all day. If you ask me, a couple needs to be hardworking to make a good living. If one person is lazy, the whole family will be dragged down. Besides, there's a paralyzed mother-in-law, so their family has a lot of burdens."
Sun Suisui went through the back door, put away her raincoat, and called out into the house, "Second Aunt, the city officials have arrived."
After Sun Suisui finished calling out, a woman in her fifties came out of the kang room carrying a winnowing basket and said, "I'll cook some dishes for you right away. You're used to eating big fish and meat in the city, so come and try some farm food. Please don't mind."
Shen Zhenzhu hadn't planned to eat here, but since it was lunchtime and Sun Suisui and her second aunt were so hospitable, she agreed to come and learn more about Zhao Tianshan's situation.
“I grew up with my second aunt when I was little, she’s about the same age as my mother. Leaders, please don’t be shy, come and sit on the kang. It’s damp inside when it rains, and it’ll be more comfortable with the kang heated.” Sun Suisui spread a quilt on the kang and laughed, “This way you won’t get your bottoms burned. You’ve come at an inopportune time today, the village cadres have all gone up the mountain to protect the peach blossoms, so that the rain won’t damage them and make it difficult to hold the ‘Peach Blossom Festival’ at the end of the month.”
The head of the kang (heated brick bed) was reserved for "VIPs." At Sun Suisui's invitation, Chen Zhenzhu and the others took off their rain boots and sat on the heated kang. After a while, they moved to the end of the kang. Soon after, Lu Ye and Zhao Qiqi, who were sitting at the head of the kang, also moved to the end.
My butt really can't take it anymore, it'll be cooked if I don't move soon.
“It’s alright, we’re mainly handling a case, we don’t need any special treatment,” Shen Zhenzhu said to Sun Suisui. “We’re sorry to have troubled you.”
Sun Suisui has an oval face and willow-leaf eyebrows. After entering the house, she put her hair up, looking simple and down-to-earth. Her dark red skin gives her a healthy and powerful look.
"When do they usually come back from collecting garbage?" Lu Ye inquired.
Sun Suisui said, "It's still early. Sometimes it's at night, and sometimes the calls are from far away, so we don't get back until the middle of the night. If it weren't for the old woman being paralyzed in bed and cursing people all the time, I would have advised you to talk to her. But there's really nothing nice to say to her."
The damp spring rain was dried by the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), and a feeling of drowsiness swept over me.
While waiting for her meal, Chen Zhenzhu unknowingly slumped down and fell asleep by the kang cabinet.
When she woke up, Lu Ye and Zhao Qiqi had already finished eating and were discussing the case at the kang table.
"Auntie is keeping your food warm in the pot. Wash your face, and I'll bring it over." Lu Ye shuffled outside in his slippers.
Chen Zhenzhu rubbed her numb face vigorously and asked Zhao Qiqi, "How long have I been asleep? Has the neighbor come back yet?"
Zhao Qiqi said, "It's only been an hour, how could they be back so quickly? Sister Sun and Auntie also went up the mountain. They heard that we needed to cover the peach blossoms with plastic sheeting, so the whole village was mobilized."
Chen Zhenzhu sat up, looking at the incessant drizzle outside with a worried expression: "This kind of rain is really unbearable."
Thump thump thump—
Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on the back door. It sounded more like someone was coming to cause trouble than visiting.
Lu Ye first handed the large bowl to Chen Zhenzhu, placed chopsticks on it, and said, "I'll go take a look."
Shen Zhenzhu saw that the dish included deep-fried small river fish, pickled wild garlic, and stir-fried shepherd's purse with eggs, along with blanched dandelion greens drizzled with soybean paste. It truly was authentic farm-style food.
Chen Zhenzhu was so hungry that her stomach was practically sticking to her back. She ate a couple of bites of the crispy fried river fish, which was only the size of her little finger. She could even chew on the fish bones.
"Your Honor, please help my son! He's been missing for over three years, and I, this old man, am utterly helpless!" An aged voice came from outside. The old man, leaning on a cane, had no tears left in his cloudy, white eyes. He kept repeating, "My son has been missing for over three years, and I can't find him."
Lu Ye invited him into the room with the heated brick bed, helped him sit on the armchair opposite the heated brick bed, and said to Shen Zhenzhu, "You eat first, I'll ask about the situation."
Another missing person case?
"Hmm!" Shen Zhenzhu kept her head down and ate her rice frantically, her mouth bulging as she chewed continuously.
"Grandpa, what's your son's name? Have you reported him missing?" Lu Ye called out to the old man.
The old man rubbed his ears and yelled at him, "I'm not deaf!"
Lu Ye tilted his head back and rubbed his ears: "Okay, go ahead."
Zhao Qiqi silently took out her notebook and started taking notes.
"My son has been missing for more than three years. I tell people he's lost, but no one believes me." The old man repeated this over and over again, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and sighed, "My son has been missing for more than three years."
Lu Ye sat down next to him and patiently asked, "Have you reported it to the police?"
The old man said, "They all say he didn't lose anything and won't let me report it to the police!"
Shen Zhenzhu looked up suddenly. Was this the 26th victim, or a case of a lone disappearance?
If this is the 26th victim, then the situation couldn't be worse. There might even be a 27th, 28th, 29th... victim.
Shen Zhenzhu shivered and stopped rummaging through the large bowl.
They were clearly thinking the same thing. Lu Ye asked seriously, "Who told you that your son couldn't possibly be missing and wouldn't let you report it to the police?"
The old man suddenly choked on his own saliva, coughing violently several times before saying, "It's the village committee! The village committee won't let me report this to the police! They're all in cahoots, the worst of the worst bastards!"
"How could you say that?!" Aunt Sun Suisui, who had come down from the mountain to take care of the city cadres, was furious when she heard the old man complaining.
Lu Ye stood up and offered her the chair. She waved her hand, put her hands on her hips, and said to the old man, "Your son is a good-for-nothing. He steals chickens and dogs everywhere. Later, when there was a crackdown and they wanted to arrest him, he and two other people ran away because they were afraid of being executed! Everyone in the village knows about this. Why are you making it sound like the whole village is persecuting you?"
Because Sun Suisui was a village committee member, her second aunt was particularly disgusted by the old man's words, fearing that if the city leaders heard about it, they would dismiss Sun Suisui from her position as a village cadre on the spot.
"Did the other two contact their families after they left? Did they say where they went or where they worked?" Chen Zhenzhu asked, putting down her large bowl.
Sun Suisui's second aunt stammered, "They ran away because they were afraid of being shot. How could they contact their families? They would rather no one find them."
"How can so many people be missing?" Zhao Qiqi couldn't help but ask, "Don't you all care?"
Unlike her sister Sun Suisui, who spoke tactfully, Aunt Sun Suisui bluntly said, "It would be better if people like that died!"
"I wish you were dead!" The old man stomped his cane hard, and when he finished stomping the shiny cane, he was about to hit Aunt Sun Suisui.
Chen Zhenzhu, without even putting on her shoes, jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) to stop him: "Grandpa, please don't be angry. Don't get sick from anger."
Aunt Sun Suisui shouted, "Don't stop him! Let that crazy old man beat me to death! Every time cadres from the city come, he comes to make trouble, saying over and over again that your son is missing and that it would be good if that good-for-nothing scoundrel died! That way he won't be able to harass young women and wives in the village all day long!"
rogue?
Shen Zhenzhu immediately thought of Wu Jinzhong's entanglement with a "married woman." Another missing person related to "sex"?
"What's your son's name?" Shen Zhenzhu stood in the middle, spreading her arms to separate the two.
The old man, panting, said, "His name was Li Xianjin, and he was only 38 when he went missing!"
Sun Suisui's second aunt sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and said with a sneer, "An old bachelor, and he says he's 'only 38'? Bah!"
Shen Zhenzhu asked the old man, "What was the name of the man who disappeared with him? How old was he? Was he also a thug?"
The old man, his beard bristling and eyes wide, exclaimed, "How dare you speak to me like that!"
"Ouch!" Having accidentally let it slip, Shen Zhenzhu quickly covered her mouth, gripped the old man's cane tightly, and waved for Lu Ye to come forward.
Sun Suisui's second aunt chimed in, "They're thugs! Your son's the ringleader, and those two are his accomplices! Boss, don't ask him, he's not right in the head. Let me tell you, one's called Li Qi, 32 years old, and the other's called Li Dongfang, he should be 29. Anyway, we use the lunar calendar, so just underestimate their age by a year. The three of them have been together since they were little, and I bet they've moved to another place to prey on other girls. Since they're all going to get arrested anyway, you might as well let them get arrested!"
***
The old man argued back and forth with Sun Suisui's second aunt, while Chen Zhenzhu and the others tried to break up the fight and managed to get the missing person's information.
The old man was later "invited" away by the village committee officials. If he hadn't left, they would have kept repeating the same old things.
"Perhaps the number of missing people is far more than 25." Shen Zhenzhu sat cross-legged on the heated kang, while it was already dark outside.
No one from Zhao Tianshan's house next door had returned yet. Aunt Sun Suisui called out a few times from the doorway: "Old Zhao's wife, some leaders from the city want to ask you questions. Would you like them to have a chat with you?"
"Shut up to your ancestors for eight generations! Get out, all of you, get the hell away from me!" Old Zhao's wife, who was partially paralyzed, yelled at her back.
The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, so Chen Zhenzhu, Lu Ye, and Zhao Qiqi had no choice but to stay here for the night.
They lived in the north room, while Sun Suisui and her second aunt lived in the south room.
She closed the door and had a small meeting with the two of them. All three of them looked grim, realizing that the danger of this case had been far underestimated.
Ring ring ring - Ring ring ring -
"Director Liu? Why is he looking for me?" Lu Ye's pager went off. He was eating rice crackers when he saw this. He put down the rice crackers, picked up the mobile phone on the kang table, and dialed back casually.
Chen Zhenzhu rested her chin on her hand, staring blankly at the jumbled confession. Zhao Qiqi got down from the floor, scooped a ladle of water from the water vat, and brought it over: "Want some?"
Chen Zhenzhu gulped down half a ladle of water, her teeth chattering from the cold.
Zhao Qiqi said, "The water in the rural areas here is all groundwater. It's released once a week, and every household stores it in large water tanks. If you taste it carefully, it even has a sweet taste."
The pearl tea did indeed taste sweet; smacking my lips, I felt refreshed by the cool water.
"We've found a clue, but the person has been dead for over three years, and we haven't found another breakthrough yet." Lu Ye reported truthfully to Director Liu, "Yes, we're currently in Tuanjie Village under Hongmei County. According to the villagers' testimonies, there may be more missing persons whose cases haven't been filed... Don't worry, we will definitely do our best to solve the case and absolutely will not let Liancheng City Bureau down... Yes! Understood... Goodbye."
After hanging up the phone, he sighed and looked at Chen Zhenzhu with a deep gaze, saying, "Director Liu called to ask about the progress of the case. I reckon he didn't want to ask you directly for fear of putting pressure on you, so he asked me instead."
Seeing his resentful look, Chen Zhenzhu smiled, revealing dimples, and stuffed the rice crackers back into his hand: "Yes, thanks to you."
The wall clock in the room suddenly struck, its loud, deafening tolling echoing through the room.
Shen Zhenzhu glanced at the time; it was already 8:30 PM.
This small kang room was probably prepared for the young couple; the red and green kang mat was very festive. There were pictures of a boy and a girl on the wall, each holding a large carp.
The house was clean and tidy. If it weren't for the pungent smell of the garbage pile outside the window, it would be a decent place to stay.
Aunt Sun Suisui makes flatbread outside, and in the evening she eats flatbread rolled with potatoes, bean sprouts, and dried tofu strips.
Chen Zhenzhu enjoys a relaxed and healthy lifestyle.
"You filthy whore! You still know how to come back? You're not allowed in my house!" A furious roar accompanied by lightning and thunder outside the window startled Shen Zhenzhu.
Zhao Qiqi rushed to the window and vaguely saw an old woman in a wheelchair coming out of the next room through the rain. She yelled and brandished a kitchen knife to prevent the woman from entering.
Lu Ye opened the door and called over Sun Suisui's second aunt. Pointing in their direction, he said, "Could that be Old Lady Zhao? Are those the man and woman her son and daughter-in-law?"
Aunt Sun Suisui looked over there with a dark face, spat on the ground and said, "Who else could it be but her? That old hag is wailing here every day! The government even provided her with a wheelchair, which makes it even easier for her to come out and curse in the streets!"
Zhao Qiqi stood by the window listening to Old Lady Zhao's tirade, which was so offensive that he thought for a moment, then closed the window and said, "I see that her son and daughter-in-law are completely dumbfounded by her scolding. They're standing in the rain, too scared to even go inside. Shall we go over now or wait a bit?"
Aunt Sun Suisui stopped them, saying, "They must have brought back a lot of garbage. There are too many lice and fleas in there. If you're going to wait, wait until the rain stops. Otherwise, if you slip and fall in, it'll be no different than falling into a cesspool! Anyway, they've already come back and they won't be leaving until tomorrow morning. You have plenty of time to go. Why do you have to rush there now?"
Lu Ye advised Shen Zhenzhu, "Auntie is right. Old Lady Zhao is in the middle of her rant. If we rush over there, we'll definitely get scolded too. Besides, we didn't bring any change of clothes, so it's inconvenient for us."
After thinking for a moment, Chen Zhenzhu said, "Then let's wait until the rain stops."
They waited all night.
Shen Zhenzhu fell asleep fully clothed, her head bobbing up to the sounds of Zhao's wife's cursing. Originally, Lu Ye and Zhao Qiqi planned to sleep with her head down and feet up, but Shen Zhenzhu really disliked their big feet, so the three of them slept side by side on the kang, which felt like a kind of camaraderie among revolutionary comrades.
"You slut, your underwear doesn't even have elastic, you can't walk past any man! How could I have let you into my home back then!"
Early in the morning, Chen Zhenzhu woke up again to the sound of Zhao's wife's cursing. She didn't know how she fell asleep, but when she woke up, she was lying across the kang (a heated brick bed).
Lu Ye had laid a military overcoat on the floor; it was probably from the trunk of a Cherokee. Zhao Qiqi sat in a chair, glancing listlessly at Chen Zhenzhu, who had woken up with disheveled hair, her head swung like a little lion's.
"Sister Pearl, did you sleep well? Oh, you must have slept well, that's great." Before Chen Zhenzhu could answer, Zhao Qiqi had already answered to herself.
Shen Zhenzhu frantically combed her hair with her fingers, trying to maintain her dignified and imposing image as Sister Pearl. However, the little hammer in her sleep yesterday was even more formidable than when she was awake.
She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. For the first ten minutes, they slept soundly. After ten minutes, Zhao Qiqi saw her great-grandmother.
"My great-grandmother asked me, 'Why are you here?' I lifted my shirt to show her, and oh, my abs have been flattened by a hammer." After Zhao Qiqi finished speaking, Lu Ye almost spat out his food.
Shen Zhenzhu hunched her shoulders, thinking to herself, "I knew I was capable, but I never expected to be so capable in my dream."
"Didn't you see me? She had her arm around my neck. I even dreamt that a water ghost was trying to drag me back to the afterlife." Lu Ye finished speaking, then concluded, "Sister Pearl is still too competitive; she even wants to spar with us in her dreams. If we ever date, hehe..."
Zhao Qiqi chuckled, leaving everything unsaid.
Poor future brother-in-law!
If it weren't for the large bags under their eyes, Chen Zhenzhu would have punched them again.
After making corn porridge and a large pot of freshly made sauerkraut buns, Aunt Sun Suisui left. She was going to check on the peach trees on her contracted land on the mountain.
The drizzling spring rain finally stopped, and the sewage flowed into small streams in the ruts of the dirt road. After being washed overnight, the sour smell was much less after opening the window.
"She really knows how to curse. At least it proves her son and daughter-in-law didn't starve her." Lu Ye took the bowls and chopsticks to the large iron pot to wash them clean, wiped his hands, and said, "In the past?"
“Let’s go.” Shen Zhenzhu said energetically, “Be polite when you speak later. Brother Aqi, do you know what you want to ask? If you do, then ask.”
When faced with the opportunity to learn, Zhao Qiqi nodded and said, "I know. Please fill in any gaps in my knowledge."
"Okay," Chen Zhenzhu said decisively.
They arrived at the perfect time; Zhao Tianshan's family was having dinner.
The daughter-in-law sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) serving Old Lady Zhao, patiently feeding her spoonful by spoonful. The oily scrambled eggs with scallions served with rice looked quite appetizing.
Although Old Lady Zhao had been bedridden for many years due to hemiplegia, she was indeed well taken care of. She had a double chin and a roll of fat around her stomach when she sat up. Her voice was loud and clear, not at all like someone who was paralyzed; rather, it sounded like someone who was a bandit leader.
When someone came to inquire about Zhao Tianshan's past, Zhao's wife, contrary to her usual behavior, focused on eating, as if she wanted to conserve her energy so she could continue scolding her daughter-in-law after she was full.
“My father was confused for a moment. He is a very honest man.” Zhao Tianshan’s son was thin and small, and looked a little congenitally weak. His cheeks were sculpted, his hair was yellow, and his eyes were honest.
He sat alone at the table eating a steamed bun with pickled vegetable shreds, while his wife's bowl also contained only steamed buns and pickled vegetable shreds.
He honestly said, "My mother wasn't paralyzed yet at that time, but she got so angry when she came back that she had a stroke and became paralyzed. My father died at the head of the kang (a heated brick bed), and my mother had a stroke at the foot of the kang."
Recalling the past, he wiped away tears and said, "Life was so hard, so miserable. It's a pity my parents gave birth to me; they didn't enjoy any happiness, they only suffered. I regret it now. I should have stopped my mother from causing trouble back then; maybe our family would be better off now. I'm just useless..."
"Did your dad tell you where he found the insurance policy?" Zhao Qiqi asked seriously. "Think about it carefully."
“Our family has no land. My dad sells groceries. Later, he saw that collecting scraps could make money, so he started collecting scraps. When I grew up, I also started collecting scraps and scavenging. Maybe he saw something mixed in with the scraps and did something wrong in a moment of impulse. Because of him, our family has been unable to hold our heads high for the past few years.”
While Zhao Qiqi was asking questions, Shen Zhenzhu listened and looked around Zhao Tianshan's house.
The four walls were covered with newspapers and messy clippings, and the tables and chairs were all mismatched, looking like they had been salvaged.
The garbage mountain in the yard reeked of a foul stench. Even though it was sorted into metal, plastic, foam, and cardboard, it was still a mess.
After finishing her meal, Old Lady Zhao immediately started complaining that she needed to urinate. Her daughter-in-law quickly said to Chen Zhenzhu and the others, "Could you please say this outside? My mother is inconvenient."
The daughter-in-law spoke softly and gently, carrying a natural scent of soapberry. Her hair was jet black, styled in the old-fashioned two braids. Despite her advanced age, she seemed to have lived a life of submissiveness for too long, her eyes filled with a timidity that evoked a protective instinct in others.
Although Old Lady Zhao insulted her, her husband seemed to treat her well; her spring clothes were new, and there were red leather shoes in the corner.
The air was already thick with the stench of excrement, proving she wasn't lying. But when she tried to explain, Old Lady Zhao became even more agitated, yelling, "You filthy hussy, you flirt with every man you see! Did you eat my food for free? Get over here right now and wipe my shit and pee!"
Shen Zhenzhu gave Old Lady Zhao a deep look, then beckoned, and Zhao Qiqi and Lu Ye also went outside.
"What kind of life is this?" Lu Ye couldn't help but complain, covering his nose. "If I were her, I would have gotten a divorce."
"Shh, her man is coming out." Zhao Qiqi also saw the woman's beautiful face. In her thirties, she still had a charming appearance, the kind of woman men liked the most.
Shen Zhenzhu turned around and saw the woman's fearful expression as she closed the door; she was indeed very afraid of her mother-in-law. Standing at the door, Zhao Qiqi was still talking to the man, while knocking and banging sounds came from inside the house.
Old Lady Zhao could move her hands, and the sound, coupled with the insults, made Chen Zhenzhu's brows furrow even deeper.
Something's not right.
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Author's Note: Pearl: Let me think about it.
***
See you tomorrow, there's a red envelope!
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