Chapter 128 Xueer

◎Endless hope rose in Mu Gang's heart◎

Zhao Xiangwan, Ji Zhao and Zhu Kang returned to Xing City Public Security Bureau, and Xu Songling was beaming with joy.

First, once Ji Zhao's portrait painting skills were confirmed, the bureau could immediately start investigating several missing children cases that had been dormant for many years.

Second, Wei Liangfu from Yao City used to show off whenever he saw Xu Songling, but this time he couldn't stop praising Zhao Xiangwan and Ji Zhao, and was completely convinced.

Double happiness.

Although he was happy, Xu Songling did not forget his work.

The Xing City Public Security Bureau designated December this year as the Anti-child Trafficking Month. It sorted out all child trafficking cases, conducted a city-wide investigation, and assigned the task of finding missing children to the serious crime team.

The simulated portrait room where Ji Zhao worked became the busiest place in the Municipal Bureau.

The parents who received the phone call from the Public Security Bureau were overjoyed. They came to Ji Zhao with photos of their children and chattered about their children's personality, temper, hobbies, physical condition, etc. before they went missing. Ji Zhao then drew the child's current appearance based on their description.

The serious crime unit took these portraits and reissued a warrant to conduct a nationwide search and comparison.

The parents who lost their children looked at the pictures of their children who had grown up and burst into tears: "The child has grown up and become a big child. Where are you, child? Where on earth are you?"

They looked at Ji Zhao as if he were a god. Although the child was not found, for these parents who have experienced the pain of loss, a portrait can comfort their anxious hearts a little.

Every day, Ji Zhao works like a high-speed computer, listening, pondering, calculating, drawing, and finalizing.

Now, his life is very fulfilling and busy every day.

The looks from those parents made him feel needed and gave him a sense of mission. At this moment, he finally understood what was driving Zhao Xiangwan to keep working hard and never complain even when it was hard.

Ji Jinmao was very pleased to know that his son had joined the police system and played an important role in the missing child case. Zhou Fangxi personally brought a nanny to the house to help his grandson and future granddaughter-in-law with logistics and solve Zhao Xiangwan's worries.

The other major crime teams reopened old cases very smoothly, but Zhao Xiangwan's team encountered difficulties.

The case is a long time ago. The person who reported the case was Mu Gang, who reported it five years ago, on June 1, 1990. The missing child is a girl. She was five years old when she went missing. Now she is ten years old, so she must have changed a lot.

The contact person on the report form was Mu Gang, and the phone number left was the office number of a lighting factory. After calling, we found out that Mu Gang had already resigned and his whereabouts were unknown.

Zhao Xiangwan and Zhu Kang went to the address left five years ago, but found that the house was empty and another family had moved in. The new tenant was a new employee of the lighting factory, who did not know Mu Gang and knew nothing about him.

It's winter now, and it's chilly.

It's a rare day with sunshine today, and a few old men and women are sitting downstairs in the old dormitory of the lighting factory, basking in the sun.

Zhao Xiangwan walked over to them to inquire about Mu Gang's news.

As expected, the old people knew a lot. When they heard that they were looking for Mu Gang, they all shook their heads and sighed.

"Oh, it's so pitiful. Ever since the child was lost, the family has been looking for him like crazy, pasting photos of the child everywhere. Mu Gang used to be a driver in our unit's fleet, and had a good job, but he quit his job to look for his child and started driving a taxi. He would ask everyone he met if they had seen the child. Later, he seemed to have received many complaints from passengers, and he couldn't drive a taxi, so he rode an electric tricycle to do some small business. He would go wherever he heard there was news. I don't know how much money he wasted."

"As soon as Mu Gang quit his job, he had to vacate the house that was allocated to him by the company. His wife had a big fight with him and they divorced. I heard that his wife was fine. She remarried and had a son, and gradually forgot the pain she had suffered. But Mu Gang was like a madman. He refused to listen to anyone's advice and insisted on getting his daughter back."

"The kidnapper is so hateful! Mu Xue'er is such a lovely child, she is really as lovely as Bai Xue, she calls everyone she sees, she is so well-behaved, everyone in our yard, young and old, likes her very much. Don't say that Mu Gang is reluctant to part with the child, anyone who has such a beautiful daughter would also be reluctant to part with her."

"It was useless for his wife to scold him. She blamed him for not taking good care of the child. Mu Gang also blamed himself. She said that day was Children's Day and Mu Gang took a special leave to take the child to the park. Who knew there would be so many people? Who knew the kidnapper would target Xue'er? Alas! I can only say that the kidnapper is too hateful and the police are too incompetent."

Zhao Xiangwan exchanged glances with Zhu Kang, not minding their accusations against the police, and asked, "Then do you know where Mu Gang lives now?"

An old lady pointed to the small store at the end of the alley and said, "Go ask there. Mu Gang posted missing person notices everywhere, and the phone number he left at the beginning was the public phone number of the small store. The owner of the store, Mr. Huang, is a good man, so help him write down all the information."

Zhao Xiangwan and Zhu Kang thanked them and went to the canteen.

This small shop was originally the west end of the first floor of the dormitory building of the lighting factory. A door was opened on the west gable and it became the storefront. The storefront was very small, just a small room filled with things, doing some neighborhood business. There was a pay phone on the counter, and people often came to make calls.

A frail old man with gray hair was dozing off in a worn-out armchair. Hearing the noise, he slowly raised his head, looked at the tall Zhao Xiangwan in front of him, and asked slowly, "Girl, what do you want to buy?"

Zhao Xiangwan showed his police ID: "Hello, I want to ask you about someone."

The old man was in a good mood. He grinned, revealing a few missing teeth. "Oh, the police. Who are you looking for?"

Zhao Xiangwan said: "Mu Gang."

The old man said "Oh" but didn't stand up. He raised his hand and pointed to the brick wall next to the store: "There it is. Look for yourself."

Only then did Zhao Xiangwan notice that the brick wall was covered with various small advertisements, among which were three missing person notices.

When I got closer, I saw that the missing person notices were already rusty from the sun and rain, and the words and pictures on them were a little blurry. The latest one should have been posted last week, and the date was probably written on it to distinguish it, November 28, 1995.

The latest missing person notice has a photo of Mu Xueer when she was five years old. Because it is a black and white photo, the lines are not clear after processing and printing. But the chubby little face, big round eyes, long eyelashes, straight nose, and two dimples when she smiles make her lively, cute, and innocent, which makes people happy at first sight.

The words on the missing person notice are all in bold, and look very thick, dark, and large, making people feel heartbroken after reading it.

"My baby Muxueer is lost. She went missing on June 1, 1990. She is now ten years old."

"Big eyes, long eyelashes, two dimples, very fair skin, a small black mole behind the left ear, and a crescent-shaped scar on the right wrist."

"I beg all kindhearted people, if you see a child with similar features, please contact Mu Gang, pager number: XXXXX, I will reward you handsomely."

The final signature is, Sad Dad: Mu Gang.

Zhao Xiangwan took out a small notebook, wrote down Mu Gang's pager number, and walked back to the old man: "I'm calling you."

The old man nodded: "One dollar."

Zhu Kang handed the old man a dollar, and Zhao Xiangwan called the paging station: "Please call XXXXX and have him call back."

While waiting for Mu Gang to call back, Zhao Xiangwan asked the old man, "Uncle, are you familiar with Mu Gang?"

The old man nodded again: "Yes, I know him from the time he came to work at the lighting factory. He was a good guy, but unfortunately, he had a bad fate. When his child was lost, his soul was lost too."

Zhao Xiangwan asked: "Still no news about Mu Xueer? No one has seen her?"

Although the police have issued a warrant for cooperation, the coverage of the postings is limited. Mu Gang posted so many posters at such a high frequency and clearly marked a high reward, maybe there will be some important clues?

The old man sighed, "At first he left the phone number I have here. After he posted it, the phone never stopped calling. One person said where he saw the person, another said whose house he was staying at. Each one of them made his claims very convincing. When Mu Gang came over, they asked for money before they were willing to take him to see the person. But...none of them was right. They were all scammers."

Zhu Kang gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it!" Providing false information and asking for money was another second time of harm to Mu Gang. These people were so wicked.

The old man looked up at Zhu Kang and said, "Young man, you are kind-hearted. Don't you know that there are many bad people in this world, people die for money and birds die for food."

Zhao Xiangwan asked: "Are you sure it's all fake news?"

The old man shook his head and sighed as he said, "They are all fake! None of them are true, they are all scams. Poor Mu Gang, all the money in the family was used to look for the child. He didn't want to eat or wear anything, so he bought a small tricycle and drove around the streets, hoping to run into Xue'er one day. Last month, he just came back from Q Province, and a bastard said that the person was in a mountain ravine in Q Province, tricked him over, and cheated him out of 600 yuan. In order to save those few hundred yuan, he worked hard for a year to transport passengers and goods. These people... their consciences have been eaten by dogs~"

Zhao Xiangwan frowned slightly, feeling very unhappy.

She had never handled a missing child case before. This was her first time handling the case today. When she heard that Mu Gang had spent all his family's money looking for his child, and had been cheated out of all his money and was living a miserable life, the same distress she had felt when she saw the missing person notice became even stronger.

Those damn kidnappers, they kidnapped a child, destroyed the child’s future, and destroyed a family!

A human-powered tricycle came running from a distance.

騎車的男人身材壯實、個子中等，頭發零亂、胡子拉碴，穿一件打着補丁的深藍色棉襖，腳上一雙破破爛爛的解放鞋。

男人一臉的興奮，飛快地踩蹬着腳踏板，人還沒到，洪亮的嗓子已經響了起來：“老黃，你找我啊，是不是有消息了？”

老黃從椅中站起，指了指趙向晚和祝康：“警察找你。”

穆剛聽到警察二字，立馬垮下了臉。

他停下車，走到趙向晚面前：“什麽事？”

趙向晚問：“穆剛？”

穆剛擡手擦了一下臉上的汗：“是，是我。”

【警察真有意思，讓我回電話，打電話不要錢？看到傳呼上的回電是老黃這裏的，以為有消息，活都不接了，直奔這裏，唉！白歡喜。】

【警察有屁用！丢了孩子讓他們找，他們一會要填這個表，一會要提供那個消息，裝模作樣地派幾個人去車站轉轉，就算完成任務。】

【剛丢雪兒的那兩年，我恨不得天天往派出所跑，可是有用嗎？沒有用！他們總說讓我等消息，讓我等消息，可是消息呢？】

趙向晚聽到穆剛的心裏話，沉吟不語。

五年的案子她并不清楚，應該是由轄區派出所轉到公安局的，派出所的工作是不是有失誤她不知道，但兒童失蹤案的确有偵查上的難點。

為什麽兒童失蹤案立案迅速，但偵破難度大呢？

一來因為城市人口流動大，往往家長報案時，人販子已經把孩子帶到別處。除非立刻封鎖現場，在所有對外交通樞紐進行布控，才能把孩子留在市內。這樣一來，運用的警力恐怕上千，哪個派出所、公安局能夠出動這麽多人？

二來，因為兒童體型小，缺乏自我保護能力，被人販子抱在手上，如果下點安眠藥，根本不會引起路人注意。

瑤市的兒童失蹤案的破獲，是集全市警力，全面布控人流密集之地，抓出一個團夥之後，才能帶出一串。

像胡蝶歸案之後，供出董婆婆，再從董婆婆那裏，就能解救出一大批被拐兒童。

說不定，那邊會有一點消息？

想到這裏，趙向晚對穆剛說：“我們公安局開展失蹤兒童案件調查，穆雪兒丢失一案現在由我們重案一組接手，希望我們一起努力，早點把你女兒找回來。”

穆剛內心那已經熄滅的火苗，再一次燃了起來：“重案組接手我家雪兒的案子？你們真的願意幫我找孩子？”不管怎麽樣，警察願意主動幫忙，這對被騙無數次、早已山窮水盡的穆剛而言，那真是雪中送炭啊。

趙向晚點頭：“請你相信我們。”

穆剛眼裏迸射出極亮的光芒：“好好好，你們重案組的警察真好，比派出所那群人強多了！”

祝康在一旁咳嗽了一聲：“這個，咱們不比較啊。”

穆剛看了他一眼，連連點頭：“行，不比、不比。你們說，要我做什麽？”

趙向晚說：“帶上穆雪兒的照片，我們一起到局裏去一趟吧。”

穆剛立馬從棉襖左上方的口袋裏掏出幾張照片，一把塞進趙向晚的手裏：“有有有，照片我有。五年不見了，我怕見到雪兒也認不得，随身帶着呢。”

照片邊緣已經摸得有些泛黃，帶着穆剛的體溫。

彩色照片上的穆雪兒，肌膚玉雪晶瑩，粉嫩如花。

其中有一家三口的合照，雪兒依偎在母親懷抱，母女倆很像。

三個人一起來到市局，徑直去尋季昭。

季昭見到趙向晚帶外人過來，立刻明了，把手上所有事情都推掉，很熟練地在畫架上鋪下素描紙。

季昭朝趙向晚伸出手。

【照片。】

趙向晚遞過去三張照片。

季昭一張一張将照片掃過，放在一旁。

【你讓他說說，孩子現在多大？有什麽生活習慣？身體狀況怎麽樣？脾氣性格如何？有沒有特別喜歡的東西？】

趙向晚将季昭的話複述了一遍，聽得穆剛一頭霧水，模拟畫像是什麽他并不太清楚，畫個像還要知道這些東西嗎？不過事關孩子，他不敢怠慢，認認真真地開始講起穆雪兒的一切。

“她是個很乖的小孩，從小就聽話，愛笑，不愛哭。”

“還在襁褓之中的時候，她就愛幹淨，要尿尿的時候呢，她就脖子左右轉動着，嘴裏發出嗚嗚的聲音。要拉臭臭的時候，她就脹紅着臉，腦袋一拱一拱的，嘴裏發出嗯嗯的聲音。”

“長大一點之後，她什麽事情都想要自己做，自己穿襪子、自己穿鞋子、自己穿衣服，每天把自己收拾得幹幹淨淨的。”

“我媽媽去世得早，我爸身體也不好，雪兒外公外婆那邊孩子多，也沒辦法帶她，所以雪兒是我一手帶大的。她身體挺好，沒生過什麽病，就是四歲多的時候吧，在幼兒園摔過一跤，右手手腕那裏磕出了血，留了塊月牙形的疤，不知道現在十歲了，那塊疤還在不在。”

“她長得像她媽媽，不像我。我是個粗漢子，可是她媽媽卻是個嬌氣美人，瓜子臉、大眼睛、長睫毛、櫻桃嘴。”

“她喜歡吃花生，小時候不敢給她吃多了，怕卡氣管。後來長大一點了，才給她剝了吃。要是放開來，她一次能吃一斤花生，我笑她是只小松鼠……”

說到這裏，穆剛終于壓抑不住內心的苦楚，一個大男人在畫像室裏哭得稀裏嘩啦的：“嗚嗚嗚，雪兒啊，你在哪裏？爸爸好想你。”

穆剛在那裏哭，季昭開始畫。

趙向晚沒有勸慰穆剛。

他的思念，也需要有一個宣洩的渠道，就讓他痛痛快快哭一場吧。

半個小時之後，季昭停下筆。

畫紙上，一個十歲的小女孩屈膝坐在角落，臉上帶着惶然之色。

胖乎乎的臉蛋，已經清瘦了許多，露出尖尖的小下巴。

大眼睛、長睫毛、挺翹的鼻子、玲珑的小嘴，活脫脫一個美人胚子。

紮兩條小辮子，頭發蓬松，額前散亂着一些碎發，她的眼睛裏閃動着淚光。

女孩子雖然穿着破舊，但衣領扣得整整齊齊，褲子、襪子、鞋子都幹幹淨淨。她的腳邊，有一只爬過去的老鼠。

唉呀，這張照片讓趙向晚看着心裏難受極了。

趙向晚湊近季昭：“就，不能畫個喜慶點的嗎？”

季昭搖頭。

【她是被拐，這五年一定受過很多罪。】

【她愛幹淨，哪怕是在最肮髒的環境裏，也會努力讓自己幹淨整潔。】

【她很溫順，又漂亮，這樣的孩子……容易吃苦。】

趙向晚知道季昭的話都是對的，但情感上她有點受不了。

同為女性，看着一個這麽漂亮的女孩子落在拐子手裏，要承受不該她這個年齡承受的苦楚，趙向晚心裏很不是滋味。

“你，你把那只老鼠擦了去。”

季昭依她所言，把那只肮髒角落爬過去的真老鼠，改成了一只用白色手絹編成的布老鼠。

畫面終于多了一點童趣。

那令人難受的頹敗感，也随之降低了許多。

畫稿完成，趴在桌上哀哀哭泣的穆剛終于停歇下來，不好意思地接過祝康遞來的紙巾擤了擤鼻涕，擦幹淚水：“畫好了嗎？”

季昭将畫像遞給他。

穆剛接過畫像一看，眼淚又流了下來。

祝康提醒他：“喂，你別弄髒了畫像，這是要發協查令的。”

穆剛趕緊擡起衣袖擦了擦眼淚，幹嚎了起來：“我的雪兒，這就是我的雪兒！我的雪兒，長大了。”

他站起身，将畫像小心翼翼地放在桌上，撲通一聲跪在地上，竟然磕起頭來：“你們是神仙，你們能畫出雪兒五年後的樣子，那你們一定知道雪兒在哪裏！我求求你們，求求你們，去救救她啊，我的雪兒，受苦了！”

趙向晚把他扶起：“先別急，你聽我說。”

穆剛挺壯實的一個漢子，現在為了孩子，又是哭又是磕頭的，搞得一屋子的人都心酸起來。

祝康說：“我們既然把你找過來，就是要幫你。最後能不能找到，我們也不敢打包票，但人多力量大嘛。你一個人找，肯定沒有大家一起找效率高，是不是？”

趙向晚對穆剛說：“畫像畫好了，雪兒現在的模樣和小時候有很大的區別，尋人啓事上的照片可以更新了，是不是？”

穆剛連連點頭：“是是是。”

趙向晚說：“我們一方面發尋人啓事，另一方面審訊省內幾起拐賣案的主犯，看看他們是否見過雪兒。只要有一線希望，我們一定要把雪兒找回來。”

穆剛點頭如搗蒜：“是是是。”

趙向晚問：“我在報案記錄裏看到你曾說過，當時公園很多人，一個老太太被人擠倒了，摔在地上直叫喚，所以你彎下腰把她扶起來，然後雪兒就不見了，是不是？”

Mu Gang: "Yes, yes. If it wasn't for helping the old lady, I wouldn't have let go of Xue'er's hand. If I hadn't let go of Xue'er's hand, she wouldn't have gotten lost. Xue'er's mother scolds me every day for this, scolding me for bullying good people, not being able to distinguish the serious from the serious, and scolding me for being crazy and not caring about strangers."

Zhao Xiangwan asked: "Do you still remember what that old lady looked like?"

Mu Gang nodded heavily: "Remember!"

Zhu Kang asked: "It's been five years, do you still remember it?"

Mu Gang gritted his teeth and said, "After I called the police and returned home, I felt something was not right. Why did that old lady fall down in front of me and keep grabbing my pants? She must be the kidnapper's accomplice! I tried my best to remember her and memorize her every night. I wanted to remember her appearance firmly in my mind so that I could recognize her at a glance when I saw her in a crowd."

Zhao Xiangwan said: "Just remember it, this is also an important clue. You said he painted it, so hurry up and simulate the portrait."

Endless hope arose in Mu Gang's heart.