original sin
Xia'an Hospital
Chen An learned from the front desk where Liu Hanxiao's grandmother was staying. He walked up the stairs to the inpatient department on the fourth floor. It suddenly became much colder. He looked up at the room number. It was a four-person room. Sitting at the far edge was Liu Hanxiao's grandmother, Liu Xiuying.
His entrance startled the dozing nurse, who stood up in a panic, "Who are you looking for?"
Chen An said, "Liu Xiuying."
She pointed to the old man who was sleeping at the edge, "Here."
Chen An had no intention of disturbing the old man's recuperation, so he called the nurse out and said, "I'm a police officer, here to find out something."
"Oh..." When ordinary people hear that it's the police, they will subconsciously get nervous, let alone uneducated country people. She pinched the corner of her clothes with her sweaty hands and said in a trembling voice, "Hello, police comrade."
Chen An sat on the chair outside with her. "Don't be nervous. What's your name?"
"My last name is Peng, Peng Fang."
Chen An nodded, "Auntie Peng, are you responsible for taking care of Liu Xiuying?"
"yes."
Chen An said, "Was it her son who invited her?"
"No," Peng Fang said, "I was invited by her granddaughter."
Chen An asked, "Liu Hanxiao?"
"Yes." Peng Fang continued, "The old lady is quite pitiful. Her son doesn't care about her at all. She's had her fracture for half a month, and she only had surgery last week, and Liu Hanxiao paid for it."
Chen An was very confused. Where did Liu Hanxiao, a high school student, get so much money?
Chen An asked, "The surgery isn't cheap, is it?"
Peng Fang said, "Yes, it seemed like it cost 50,000 or 60,000 yuan, but her granddaughter paid it all off in one lump sum, and she also hired me to take care of her."
Chen An said, "Then do you know where her money comes from?"
Peng Fang recalled, "She said it was a school scholarship. I heard Xiaoxiao has excellent grades and goes to school in the county. She's smart and filial, and comes back to see her grandmother every now and then." She smiled as she spoke, "Oh, I wish my grandchildren could be as filial as me when I'm old."
There was a noise in the ward. Peng Fang stood up and pushed open the door. She saw Liu Xiuying had woken up and was turning over. She immediately walked over and communicated with her in dialect, asking her what she wanted to do.
From their scattered conversation, Chen An could vaguely understand that Liu Xiuying was asking Liu Hanxiao, and she kept shouting, "Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao."
Tormented by illness, her chaotic eyes darted around the ward, finally landing on Chen An. She smiled and called out to him, "Have you seen Xiaoxiao?"
He seemed to feel Liu Xiuying's pain at this glance. She was in her seventies or eighties and still had to suffer this. Chen An walked over and bent down to talk to her. "Xiaoxiao is in school. She will come to see you after school."
"Okay, okay." Liu Xiuying heard it clearly and said happily, "Study hard. Xiaoxiao is very good at studying."
Peng Fang agreed with her and said, "Yes, she will come when she gets admitted to university."
Judging from her tone, she probably didn't know that Liu Hanxiao was already dead.
Chen An turned and left the ward.
He had to find out the cause of Liu Hanxiao's death no matter what.
He called Xiao Liu, "Xiao Liu, check if Liu Hanxiao has her own bank card, and if anyone has transferred money to her recently."
"good."
On the way out of Xia'an Town, Chen An learned a tricky piece of news that someone had gone missing from No. 1 Middle School again.
When he rushed back to the Public Security Bureau, Xie Hongfei gave him a brief account of the situation. "The missing girl's name is Qu Mengting, a sophomore in high school. Her mother only learned of her disappearance when she returned from a business trip."
On Saturday, April 27th, No. 1 Middle School implemented the long and short week system. There were two days of vacation this week. When Qu Mengting returned home, her parents were not at home. She had long been accustomed to staying at home alone. She opened the refrigerator door, took out a bag of noodles, and quickly solved her dinner with an egg.
Qu Mengting comes from a well-off family, but the price of this is that her parents don't spend time with her. After her grandfather passed away, she received even less care, and it was common for her not to receive a phone call for ten days or half a month. So she developed another hobby - chasing stars.
Her room was filled with all sorts of posters and postcards. Chen An picked up a framed photo on the table. It was a photo of the girl and a performer on stage, probably from a concert.
Her favorite group is called R&E, a girl group. In addition to group photos, there are also many autographs, which must have cost a lot of money.
Outside the door, Qu Mengting's mother was still wailing, "She's usually very well-behaved and obedient. She never does anything I tell her to do. This time, I was out discussing business with her father, and when I finally came back, she disappeared!" Compared to Liu Hanxiao's mother, Qu Mengting's mother cared about her daughter much more. She grabbed the police officer's hand and said excitedly, "Comrade police officer, you must find my daughter!"
Xu Jie comforted her and said, "Don't worry, we will do our best."
Chen An asked Qu's mother, "Does Qu Mengting like to chase stars?"
When Qu's mother was mentioned, she suddenly became furious. "Yes! It's because of idol-chasing! She even abandoned her parents! She became disobedient because of idol-chasing. I just don't understand. She was so obedient and sensible when she was little, but just because of a few words from that idol, she turns around and doesn't even listen to us!"
"Calm down for a moment and think carefully about whether Qu Mengting mentioned where she was going to see a concert or meet her idol."
Mother Qu seemed to be enlightened. "That's right! She knew that her father and I were against her fandom, so she went fandom without telling us! It must be like this, she must be!" After the sudden realization, she became even more furious. "That damn girl doesn't even want to study! Her father and I raised her up! And now she's fandom-chasing! She's really asking for her life!"
Chen An asked Xiao Liu to check the recent activities of the girl group, but the answer he got could not confirm Qu Mengting's whereabouts.
This girl group will not have any activities in the next month, so where did Qu Mengting go?
Xu Jie calmed down the out-of-control Qu's mother and tried to get more information. Chen An left the community and drove to No. 1 Middle School.
The police were investigating on both ends. Chen An answered the phone in the car. Xiao Liu said that Qu Mengting got on the No. 3 bus at the gate of her community on April 27, and then disappeared like Liu Hanxiao.
Chen An frowned and said, "Check the routes of the two buses to see if there are any overlaps."
Xiao Liu exclaimed, "There are two bus routes that pass through the old city where there are no surveillance cameras."
Chen An had a vague guess, "Check if there were any suspicious vehicles entering or leaving the old city between April 18th and April 28th."
Xiao Liu said, "Got it."
After hanging up the phone, Chen An parked the car. A police officer was already taking Qu Mengting's statement in her class. He was standing under the banyan tree when someone suddenly rushed up from behind and said, "Brother!"
Chen An said, "Aren't you going to class?"
Jiang Li was carrying a shoulder bag and looked like she had just arrived at the school. "Me? I'm fine."
It was quite funny to ask the top student in the grade whether he was skipping classes or not. Chen An didn't say anything and just sat on the stone bench with him. "Do you know Qu Mengting?"
It was just a casual question, but I thought Jiang Li actually knew it.
"I know. I saw her when I was working."
Chen An was puzzled. "That restaurant?"
Jiang Li nodded, "Yeah." He continued, "She often skips classes, but she doesn't go out with people from school, she hangs out with gangsters."
Chen An smelled something unusual, "Thugs?"
Jiang Lishen thought for a moment, "She seems to have a boyfriend."
Chen An said, "Boyfriend? How do you know?"
Jiang Li scratched his head. "Actually... I guessed. They had barbecue a few times at the place where I worked. She was the only girl at the table, and she acted intimately with one of the guys. He must be her boyfriend."
Chen An then asked, "Do you know his name?"
Jiang Li shook his head, "I don't know, why would I know a gangster?"
You're right, students who get involved with gangsters will always get into trouble inadvertently.
Chen An knew what was going on. He rubbed Jiang Li's head vigorously and said, "Go back to class quickly."
Jiang Li covered his head and said "Oh" aggrievedly. The next second, he stood up and rubbed Chen An's head, then ran away with a smile before Chen An could react.
Chen An smiled and said, "No respect for elders or younger ones."
Back at the bureau, Xie Hongfei brought him the report from the Trace Examination Department. "Captain Chen, we've found half a fingerprint on the tiles on the east side of the abandoned teaching building where Liu Hanxiao died."
With fingerprints, the suspect can be quickly identified. In the rainy spring, the scene is almost destroyed, and it is not easy to extract fingerprints.
Starting from the two missing girls cases in the Municipal Bureau, to his desperate pursuit of Liu Hanxiao in Changping County, these mysteries shrouded him like a fog. Now Chen An finally saw a glimmer of hope.
Xie Hongfei said, "After comparison, this half fingerprint belongs to He Lili, a student in the art class of No. 2 Middle School. She has been taken back to the police station."
Chen An was about to say he was going to interrogate He Lili, but then he thought about Qu Mengting's disappearance. Xie Hongfei seemed to see what he was thinking. "Captain Chen, you're exhausted. I heard you started investigating the missing girl case at the Municipal Bureau. It's been over a month now, right? Even the strongest person can't withstand such high-intensity operations. Go ahead and investigate whatever you want. After all, I'm the head of the criminal investigation team. Cases like Qu Mengting don't require the elite personnel of your Municipal Bureau."
Chen An knew what he meant and punched him lightly in the chest with his fist. "What's the point of being elite or not? Thanks."
Before interrogating He Lili, Chen An told Xie Hongfei what Jiang Li had told him. After they had exchanged the information, he pushed open the door of the interrogation room.
He Lili looked around the room uneasily, her hands tightly clasped together. Seeing him come in, she swallowed twice unconsciously, "Uncle police officer, I really don't know anything."
Chen An sat down in front of her with no expression on his face. The two of them sat facing each other in silence.
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