Chapter 20: The Children Are Missing
The three of them walked and ran all the way to the residential area opposite Pu Zhong, and found the home of the store owner Chen Guohu near the national highway.
Chen Guohu's home is in a corner, with only two bungalows. Some of the tiles on the roof are obviously damaged. If it rains, it will probably leak. There are a lot of weeds and some broken stones growing at the door. If the door is not half open, people will think that no one lives there.
When I opened the door, I saw an old woman eating. On the dark table stood a plate of fermented bean curd and a small cabbage.
The creaking sound of the door opening startled the old woman. She looked up at them, her expression unchanged, and continued eating with her head down, as if nothing had happened and as if they did not exist at all.
"Where is Chen Guohu? Where is he?" the man asked anxiously.
"How would I know?" The old woman replied with five words and continued eating her meal.
"He is your son, how could you not know? Do you want to protect him? I tell you, you don't have to cover up for him. If you don't tell us, we will call the police and they will arrest him!" Qin Yanlin was very excited.
But the old man didn't even look at him and continued to eat quietly.
No matter how the three tried to persuade, scold or beg, the old man did not speak again, but ate in silence, chewing and swallowing slowly, one mouthful at a time.
"You raised a son like this, and you still have the nerve to eat!" The man was so angry that he wanted to overturn the table, but in the end he just waved his hand and pointed at the old man angrily.
The old man was obviously stunned, then put down his chopsticks, neither spoke nor moved, just sat there blankly, like a statue.
Deng Xiuzhen looked at the old man in front of her, and a sense of sadness welled up in her heart. She pulled Tan Yanlin and said, "Let's go and call the police."
The man saw the old man sitting there in a daze, pursed his lips, turned around silently and followed Deng Xiuzhen and the others.
Deng Xiuzhen looked back and saw the old man still motionless, with tears streaming down his face.
With a sigh, Deng Xiuzhen and the other two ran to the police station again.
"Your case is an economic dispute. You should find the Economic Investigation Section." said He Xiaohai, the police officer who received them, and told them where the Economic Investigation Section was.
I found the Economic Investigation Department and they explained the situation as detailed as possible.
"We are looking for Chen Guohu. He not only sold this shop to your two businesses, but also to two other businesses." After listening to their story, police officer Zhang Dongliang said.
"What? He sold it to two families? Why didn't you arrest him earlier? Let them cheat us again?" The man was a little excited.
"This economic case is difficult to investigate and collect evidence, and we cannot arrest people at will... Moreover, they are relatives of Chen Guohu. They only came to report the case a little before you, and they came because they could not negotiate with Chen Guohu." Zhang Dongliang explained patiently.
"Can we get our money back?" Tan Yanlin asked.
"According to the law, he should return the money to you." Zhang Dongliang glanced at them, sighed slightly, but said nothing more.
He didn't say it, but the three of them knew that they probably couldn't get the money back. Someone who could do such a thing couldn't be a good person. Maybe their money had been squandered by Chen Guohu.
Seeing the three people's lifeless backs, Zhang Guodong couldn't help but stop them and said: "Remember to buy houses and stores in the future and ask them to give you the original sales contract. It is best to go directly to the Housing Authority for filing. If the procedures are complete, you will not be deceived."
The three thanked him and left.
"Let's find Chen Guohu in the next few days to see if we can get his money back. If not, the other two buyers should show up. Then we'll discuss what to do. The most important thing is to prevent Chen Guohu from selling again. If there are more buyers, the loss will be even greater." The man looked very annoyed, but he was also a sensible person.
This makes a lot of sense, and Deng Xiuzhen and Tan Yanlin also agree.
The three of them discussed it and decided to go to Chen Guohu again in the afternoon. If they couldn't get the money, they would first get the purchase contract from him to prevent him from selling again. They also changed the door lock of the store to prevent Chen Guohu from bringing people to open the door.
Finally, they bought a few packs of cigarettes and gave them to the people working in the shop next door, asking them to help watch the place. Apart from the three of them, no one else was allowed in.
After everything was arranged, everyone went home.
Deng Xiuzhen and Qin Yanlin were both full of thoughts and walked back with heavy steps.
After years of hard work, I saved up 80,000 yuan. My sister-in-law and her friends extorted money from me, but she didn't get any. I spent 1,100 yuan.
Qin Wenyu ran around all by himself, rented a car twice to find him, and thanked others, which cost him another thousand. He spent 20,000 to buy a house. He spent nearly 2,000 to buy household expenses, find someone to help his child transfer to another school, and was defrauded of 52,000 when buying a store. Now he has very little left.
If I don't make money quickly, I'm afraid I won't even have money to eat.
But how do you make money? It is always easier to spend money than to make money.
It was already one o'clock when I got home, but I didn't see anyone when I entered the door. Normally, the children should have gone home by now.
Deng Xiuzhen started to cook, and Qin Yanlin went out to look for the child. He called out to the door but no one answered. Qin Yanlin went all the way to the school, but he didn't see the child. Thinking that he might have missed him, he returned home.
"Yanlin, where are the children? Talk to them and tell them to go home after school and don't run around." Deng Xiuzhen heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen and thought that Qin Yanlin had come back with the children.
"The children haven't come back yet?" Qin Yanlin paused.
When their eyes met, the two felt something was wrong: children could be naughty occasionally, but except for the time when Qin Wenyu sneaked out, they had never not returned home after school.
Not caring about the uncooked food in the pot, they quickly turned off the fire, closed the door, and went out to look for the child.
It was still early for the afternoon class and the school gate was closed. When the security guard heard that three children were missing, he immediately called to report the situation.
The school took this matter very seriously and soon the principal, the dean of studies, and the three children’s class teachers and teachers all arrived.
The teachers all said that the children were in class in the morning, there were no special circumstances, and the children did not show any abnormalities.
If something happened on campus, it is impossible for them to be completely unaware of it, so there is nothing wrong on campus.
If they are not in the school, then they are outside the school. Teachers actively participate in the search and ask students and parents to see if anyone has seen them.
After a large number of interviews, a girl finally said that she had seen Wenxin after school. She said that Qin Wenxin, a girl and a little boy followed a woman into a van.
They were talking and laughing at the time. She thought it was Wenxin's parents picking them up from school and she was very envious.
The child was picked up, and the teachers and school leaders breathed a sigh of relief.
Deng Xiuzhen and Qin Yanlin were even more worried: they didn't have many acquaintances in the city, let alone anyone who drove a van.
Liu Xiaozhen!
Deng Xiuzhen suddenly thought of someone. If there was any woman in the city who was familiar with the child, it was only Liu Xiaozhen for now.
The two men didn't even have time to say hello before turning around and quickly heading towards Pu Zhong.
But no matter how hard they knocked, no one answered. Thinking of what Song Qinghua had said before, that he had a stall in Puzhong, the two of them searched every store and stall in Puzhong, but found nothing.
I went to school again with a fluke mentality, but the children did not come back.
The two stood on the street at a loss, not knowing what to do. They had to find someone, but where could they find him?
This city is not big, but it is so difficult to find three children, let alone just the two of them.
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