nostalgia
G City, at the reconstruction project site of Shuguang Welfare Home.
"Ms. He, I'm an investigator from the FBI. I'm here to investigate a case. Please cooperate with me." The investigator showed his ID to the elderly woman who was supervising the construction site in front of him.
He Yue froze in place for a moment after hearing this. After three seconds, she remembered to confirm the identity of the person who came. She took out her glasses from her bag and put them on her nose.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, staring at the ID card presented by the visitor, and fine wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes.
"Didn't the previous case already be closed?" He Yue's gaze shifted from the documents to the agent's face. His tired eyes and furrowed brows were filled with fear of the disaster.
"It's not that case." The investigator had already learned about what happened at the welfare home last year and understood He Yue's feelings. "I'm here to investigate a man named 'Zhou Min'. I wonder if you have any impression of him?"
A trace of vigilance flashed through He Yue's heart, and she slowly said, "What kind of case is it?"
"I'm sorry, I can't reveal too much information about this case." The investigator picked up his phone and pulled out a briefing on Zhou Min he had found. He then asked, "The information says Zhou Min lived in the Shuguang Welfare Home fifteen years ago. Do you have any recollection of this?"
"Yes, you know, most of the children sent to the orphanage are physically disabled. She is one of the few healthy children." He Yue said as she took off her glasses and hung them on the breast pocket of her shirt. "She is a kind child."
As she spoke, her gaze shifted to the lower left, indicating she was lost in thought. The investigator observed He Yue's demeanor as she answered the question and continued, "She disappeared after being adopted fifteen years ago. Do you have any recollection of her adoptive parents?"
He Yue pursed her lips and said bitterly, "Of course I have an impression of her. She was a very kind and gentle woman. Before the adoption, we also verified the information submitted. Everything showed that she was a qualified adopter. At that time, we all thought that Xiao Min would finally have a happy ending after all the hardships..."
"According to regulations, we are supposed to conduct our first home visit three months after each child is adopted. But when I went to the house according to the address, I found that the house was empty. The neighbors also said that they had not seen Xiao Min and the woman for at least a month."
He Yue sighed deeply: "I was the one who reported the case at that time."
The investigator had learned about this when she first looked through Zhou Min's file. She had seen many serious cases before, but when she saw the pictures of the scene of the disappearance case fifteen years ago, she couldn't help but be shocked.
One photo shows a small, clean room with bright windows illuminated by natural light, and the other shows the floor covered with mottled fluorescent light after the lights were turned off and the blood test reagent was sprayed.
It wasn't all Zhou Min's blood, but most of it was Zhou Min's blood.
This is no longer a simple missing person case, but a serious case of child abuse, or even a possible homicide.
However, City G is the most prosperous city in the Federation, with many vicious incidents occurring every day. The Investigation Bureau was already short-staffed, not to mention that almost the entire bureau was preoccupied with another case with a greater impact - the kidnapping of the only daughter of the chairman of Zhou Group.
Chairman Zhou once said that as long as the real culprit of the kidnapping case is not caught, he will continue to put pressure on the investigation agency.
The investigation agency could not spare any more energy to care about the life and death of an orphan, and the case was hastily closed as an ordinary missing person case.
He Yue was the only one who was still brooding over Zhou Min's disappearance. Whenever she had a free moment, she would go to the Investigation Bureau to request a reopening of the investigation. Eventually, the investigator's supervisor came forward and reluctantly told He Yue that the woman's identity information was fabricated and she was proficient in counter-investigation techniques. The personnel responsible for the case had done their best.
What this means is that the kind child can no longer be found.
The investigator had only been employed for a few years, but her boss had personally experienced Chairman Zhou's wrath. So much so that when discussing this matter with her recently, they could only mutter quietly behind closed doors, "Her precious daughter had already escaped unharmed. So what? It's a waste of our manpower and resources... well, it's a waste anyway."
The investigator remained silent. The Investigation Bureau's grandest office building, with its foundation stone clearly inscribed, was completed ten years ago, and the investor was the Zhou Group. Clearly, the Investigation Bureau benefited greatly from the Zhou Group back then.
The young investigator didn't care about what she was saying and cursed herself, she was just standing up for the innocent child.
After a moment of indignation, the investigator calmed down and glanced at the inquiry procedures prepared by the logistics department... What a ridiculous question! The investigator, who assumed Zhou Min had been murdered, was speechless. If she hadn't been holding the recorder in her hand, she would have definitely skipped this question.
But she continued to ask businesslike questions: "Did you see Zhou Min again after that?"
Sure enough, the investigator saw He Yue's expression change from sadness to anger.
After taking a few deep breaths, He Yue raised her eyes and looked directly at the investigator, saying helplessly, "No, I haven't seen her again."
-
"Xiao Min, someone from the Investigation Bureau came to me today to ask about you."
Seeing this message, Zhou Min almost threw his phone away.
I just got off work on Friday, and seeing the words "Investigation Bureau" is so unlucky.
Zhou Min calmed down and replied patiently, "Teacher Xiao He, what is the Investigation Bureau investigating?"
"The investigator asked about things that happened fifteen years ago and asked if I had seen you since then. I said no."
It wasn't a lie, as He Yue never met Zhou Min again.
After Zhou Min left the organization, she had been secretly donating to the welfare home. Of course, the money she donated at that time was all the hard-earned money she earned from odd jobs, and the money she donated was legal and compliant.
She saw what happened at the welfare home last year on the news, and immediately called the director’s phone number that she had found online.
After dialing the number, Zhou Min felt very familiar with the voice on the other end of the phone. It was the voice that he could hear every night during his childhood, gently reading stories.
Just a simple "Hello" was enough to pry open a crack in Zhou Min's hard shell that had been tempered through thousands of times. Years of grievances suddenly turned into tears. She tried her best to suppress her sobs and responded with a hoarse voice: "Hello."
"Is it Xiao Min?"
The person on the other end of the phone spoke in a normal tone, but Zhou Min cried even harder. He even forgot what he had planned at the beginning and just kept sobbing and repeating, "Teacher Xiao He..."
Later, Zhou Min realized that her voice had long been different from that in her childhood, and He Yue did not recognize her at that time.
However, over the past decade or so, He Yue hoped that every unfamiliar phone call she received was from Zhou Min. She always had the belief in her heart that the child who used to say good night to her sweetly every day must still be alive and well in this world.
Those golden eyes are He Yue’s obsession.
When he was a child, Zhou Min was much more sensible than what he should be at that age.
She used her frail frame to carry Zhou Yi, who had difficulty walking, out to bask in the sun. When Zhou Yue couldn't hear her clearly, she would gesture and make her happy. She also cared for other children who weren't in very good health.
Even when other children said her eyes were scary, she never showed any dissatisfaction to them and always smiled.
Zhou Min's only flaw wasn't really a flaw in He Yue's eyes. She seemed to have endless energy, constantly busy with everything, so she was the hungriest. It was only at the dinner table that she'd be seen wolfing down her food like a little animal.
So, after realizing that the person sobbing and calling her on the other end of the phone was most likely Zhou Min, He Yue's eyes suddenly turned red. After the crying gradually subsided, she spoke in a gentle voice: "Xiao Min, have you had enough to eat all these years?"
Zhou Min cried even more and hung up the phone in a hurry. While wiping away tears, he replied via text message: "Teacher Xiao He, I have been doing well these years. You don't have to worry."
Then he made up a happy experience for himself, "escaping from abuse, being adopted by a kind-hearted person, and going abroad to live a good life together."
He Yue obviously didn't believe it. If she was really living well, why would she cry so loudly on the phone?
"Oh, Teacher Xiao He, I just missed you so much just now." Zhou Min remembered to add this sentence after wiping away his tears.
In order to show that he was living a really good life and to help the welfare home overcome its difficulties, Zhou Min asked his former colleagues to scrape together some money, deposited it into an anonymous account, and asked someone to give it to He Yue, the current director of the welfare home, and left a message saying that if the welfare home needed any help, they could just ask.
Anyway, those colleagues may not live to see the day when Zhou Min pays back the money, so Zhou Min will just consider it as giving back to society on behalf of those criminals.
At that time, the welfare home encountered a major accident and was in urgent need of money. He Yue was busy every day to raise funds and forgot to eat and sleep. The money from Zhou Min was like a timely help and relieved the pressure temporarily.
But it's only temporary.
Later, Chen Shu asked Zhou Min why he returned to his old job. Zhou Min was too lazy to make excuses for himself and just joked that it was because of nostalgia. What else could it be?
Back to the present, Zhou Min was wondering why the people from the Investigation Bureau suddenly came to investigate him.
To find a child who's been missing for fifteen years? Hahaha, this joke is hilarious.
Was that negligence on her part? That shouldn't be the case. After she'd eliminated a target, she'd personally process any remaining biological data before handing it off to the cleanup agency. With this double guarantee, the investigation agency shouldn't be able to uncover anything.
Could it be that Zhou Qiting had begun to secretly investigate him? That didn't make sense either. Putting aside the credibility of the young lady's promise, if she truly knew she was Zhou Min, why would she start her investigation at the orphanage?
After thinking hard, Zhou Min came up with a possibility. She raised her right hand and checked carefully to confirm whether there were any wounds on her hand that she had not noticed after beating someone the day before yesterday.
No.
Zhou Min was also sure that Huang Peiyi did not reveal her information to Party A, otherwise the Investigation Bureau would not have started the investigation from the welfare home, but would have directly arrested her at her home.
But this matter involved a third party, which raised the greatest doubts, so she decided to ask Huang Peiyi about it.
But before he could pick up his regular phone, his work phone vibrated. It was a message from He Yue:
"Xiao Min, when you were little, you refused to speak out even when you were wronged, and you always kept it to yourself. But you didn't know that sadness would flow from your eyes and into the hearts of everyone who cared about you.
If you encounter any problems, you can tell me. Don’t try to handle it alone like before. Even if I can’t help you with some things, I can at least help you share some of your bad emotions.
In my heart, you have always been a kind child, and I will always believe in you."
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