Chapter 132 Suspicion
Yang Wenjing fell into memories of the past.
"My dad is very good to me and often takes me out to play. I remember one time on Children's Day, I participated in a dance performance in my class. The teacher required us to wear a dress, but I never liked to wear skirts. I searched through the closet at home and could only find a short skirt. My dad took me to the department store without saying a word and bought me a dress. The dress cost eight yuan, which was very expensive. After we came back, my mom complained to my dad for a long time. He just sat on the sofa and listened to my mom's nagging, without saying a word, and quietly winked at me. At that time, I felt that my dad really loved me, and I was the happiest child in the world."
As she spoke, Yang Wenjing's voice became more choked with sobs.
Xia Mufan raised his hand and patted Yang Wenjing's arm: "Recall carefully what happened before and after your father disappeared, and let's work together to find him."
In Yang Wenjing's narration, a story that happened fourteen years ago quietly unfolds.
Yang Jiawei is a native of Hui City. After graduating from high school, he went through the recruitment process and entered the city's flour mill. Because he was quick-witted and eloquent, he was promoted to salesperson and often traveled to purchase raw materials and contact sales channels.
Yang Wenjing's mother Kang Ping is an ordinary female worker in a flour mill. She is hardworking, frugal, kind and gentle. She had to have her uterus removed due to heavy bleeding when she gave birth to Yang Wenjing, so Yang Wenjing was the only daughter in the family.
There was no family planning in that era, and every family of the flour mill employees had three or four children, so Yang Wenjing was very special. However, Yang Jiawei did not have the idea of favoring boys over girls. Instead, he treated Yang Wenjing as his own precious child and doted on her as much as possible. Yang Wenjing, who grew up in such an environment, is bold, confident and cheerful, and her family lives a happy and beautiful life.
But something unexpected happened when Yang Wenjing was sixteen years old.
Yang Wenjing remembers it very clearly. It was summer vacation at that time, and after this summer vacation she would be in her second year of high school. She has good grades, especially in mathematics. The major she most wants to study is finance, and she is confident that she will enter the business world and make a lot of money in the future.
Yang Wenjing was not happy about Yang Jiawei's business trip. Because her father had originally promised to accompany her to watch two "Shaolin Temple" movies during the summer vacation, but now the cinema has finally re-screened the movie and her father is about to leave. Who knows if the movie will still be shown when her father comes back?
The release of the 1982 Kung Fu movie "Shaolin Temple" became the most popular event in Hui City that summer. Every household rushed to the cinema with their families to watch the movie. Yang Wenjing was not satisfied after watching it once, she wanted to watch it a second and third time.
Yang Wenjing pouted and sulked. Yang Jiawei coaxed her for a long time, saying that he would buy his daughter the most fashionable electronic watch in the south and would try to come back as soon as possible. He would take his daughter to the movies as soon as he got home. Only then did Yang Wenjing become happy again. She looked at her father seriously and said, "Then come back early. I'll wait for you to come back and watch Shaolin Temple with me."
Speaking of this, the melody of the movie's interlude "Shepherd's Song" seemed to ring in Yang Wenjing's ears.
"The sun rises over the Songshan Pass, the morning bell startles the birds, and the stream in the forest gurgles..."
Yang Wenjing's eyes were filled with longing: "My father is a very open-minded and optimistic person. After watching Shaolin Temple with him, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night. I kept shouting that I wanted to go to Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts. My father didn't criticize me, but asked me to take him with me when I went to learn martial arts. He also fetched a rolling pin from the kitchen and played with it. His postures were so ugly, like a monkey. My mother and I almost died of laughter."
Hearing this, Xia Mufan and Gu Shaoqi looked at each other.
The movie "Shaolin Temple" is very famous. It created a miracle of 160 million box office with a ticket price of only one cent. However, these are not the main points and have nothing to do with the case. It is obvious that Yang Wenjing has gone off topic.
However, the memories of youth are so beautiful that people cannot bear to interrupt them.
Fortunately, Yang Wenjing did not stay in the memories for too long and continued to talk about the case.
Before leaving for Huancheng, Yang Jiawei invited Cai Chi, who was traveling with him, to his home. Kang Ping prepared a large table of dishes, and the two of them drank and chatted happily together.
Cai Chi is an experienced driver in the factory. His wife has a rural household registration and does some tailoring work at home to supplement the family income. They have three sons, one is in the first grade of junior high school, one is in the fourth grade of elementary school, and the other is in the second grade. It is said that teenagers eat the poor. Compared with Yang Jiawei, a dual-income family, Cai Chi's family conditions are much worse. Apart from anything else, both of them lived in the same tube-shaped building allocated by their work units, but Yang Jiawei's family of three lived comfortably, while Cai's family of five seemed cramped and crowded.
Cai Chi ate while expressing his envy for Yang Jiawei. Yang Jiawei had a high EQ and said as he toasted, "Your three sons will all be part of the labor force when they grow up. How wonderful!"
Cai Chi shook his head, looking bitter: "Having three sons sounds great, but it's hard to raise them. Food, clothing, and daily necessities, which one doesn't cost money? I'm the only one working in our family, and there are five mouths to feed. Sigh!"
Hearing this, Xia Mufan's heart moved, and he asked, "What kind of person is Cai Chi? Doesn't anyone in the factory suspect that he absconded with the money? How are his family members now?"
Yang Wenjing said: "Uncle Cai is a simple and honest man, who works hard and doesn't talk much. But if anyone asks him for help, he will always help. Everyone in the factory knows that he is a good person. His wife Zou Hong is from the countryside. She has a gentle personality and smiles at everyone. She is very skillful and makes clothes that are both fit and beautiful. She often takes on some work at home, but the fees are quite low, and she only makes a dozen yuan a month."
Yang Wenjing sighed, "After Uncle Cai disappeared, his family fell into extreme suffering. My father disappeared with Uncle Cai, and they had a good relationship. How could they not be suspected? His family, like mine, was investigated for a long time. People in the factory pointed fingers behind their backs, saying that the two of them absconded with the money. My mother was an employee of the flour mill, so she could continue to live in the old house. Aunt Zou was different. She had a rural hukou. Half a year after Uncle Cai disappeared, the factory leaders asked her to vacate her house. She moved out of the flour mill with her three children and never came back."
Xia Mufan asked: "You have never had any contact with Cai Chi's family again?"
Yang Wenjing shook her head. "I was young at the time and didn't know anything, so I didn't keep any contact information. Later, when I reopened the old case, I tried to find Zou Hong, but there was no news."
Thinking of the past, Yang Wenjing's eyes dimmed. In the past, the two families talked and laughed together. Every time the three sons of the Cai family saw her, they would call her Sister Wenjing affectionately. Most of the clothes they wore since they were young were made by Aunt Zou. I wonder where they all went. Is Aunt Zou still making clothes? Did your three younger brothers continue their studies? Are the four of them, mother and children, living a good life?
Xia Mufan asked: "Is there a possibility that Cai Chi colluded with others to kill your father and then absconded with the money? Maybe this Uncle Cai later got in touch with his wife and children and fled far away."
Yang Wenjing's face turned pale, and she said firmly: "Impossible!"
When the police came to take a statement, Yang Wenjing and her mother both thought that Cai Chi was not that kind of person. Although Cai Chi's family had a hard time with his third child, the five of them had a good relationship. Why would he give up his good life just to covet the money?
Yang Wenjing said: "My mother and I believe in my father, and we also believe in Uncle Cai."
Xia Mufan drank a sip of lemonade, looked at Yang Wenjing and said, "It's not that I don't trust your judgment, but I will remain skeptical of anyone before there is clear evidence."
Yang Wenjing is also from the public security system and has participated in the detection of countless murders. She certainly understands what Xia Mufan means: "It's okay, just keep your doubts. Over time, my thinking may become rigid, and I need some new ideas. Just tell me what you think, I won't be angry, and I won't mind."
Xia Mufan said, "Okay, let's put aside our suspicion of Cai Chi for now. What was your father and Cai Chi's itinerary like after they arrived in Huancheng?"
Yang Wenjing said: "Huancheng is not too big, but because it was just established, there are many construction sites and workers, and the demand for flour is huge, so the price has also risen. My father has been doing sales all year round. After learning about this, he went to Huancheng twice and contacted several snack shops and restaurants. After confirming the price and quantity, he and Uncle Cai drove a small truck to transport two tons of flour from the factory, intending to open up sales in the south."
"Well, then?" Xia Mufan listened carefully, took out a small notebook, and wrote down some key information from time to time, "Please tell me all the information you can remember. The more details the better."
Yang Wenjing nodded and continued to tell the facts she learned from the police.
Yang Jiawei and Cai Chi drove to Huancheng.
Huancheng belongs to Guangdong Province and is very close to the provincial capital Yangcheng. They set out at six in the morning on August 15th, arrived the next afternoon, and stayed in a hotel called Bafang.
At around five o'clock in the afternoon on August 16, Yang Jiawei made a long-distance call back to the factory from the post office, informing the factory that he had arrived in Huancheng, checked into a hotel, and planned to rest for a night before contacting the seller.
On the afternoon of August 18, Yang Jiawei called the factory again and said that the flour had been sold out and most of the payment should be received before the 20th, but one restaurant said that there was insufficient cash in the account and the payment would have to be delayed until the 23rd. The factory’s finance department also knew that it was not easy to collect payment for goods, so they asked them to stay in Huancheng for a few days and come back after receiving the payment.
By the 23rd, Yang Jiawei had not contacted the factory yet, which made the financial staff a little anxious.
By the 24th, there was still no news, and the factory leaders began to panic.
On the 25th, the factory called the police. People from the Hui City Public Security Bureau contacted the Huancheng Public Security Bureau and came to the Bafang Hotel mentioned by Yang Jiawei. They found a small truck transporting flour in the parking lot, but Cai Chi and Yang Jiawei were nowhere to be seen.
Bafang Hotel is a medium-sized hotel in Huancheng. The boss Zhang Hongtu is a local. When Huancheng was established as a city in 1980, he converted his three-story self-built house into a hotel.
The hotel is close to the provincial road and has a large parking lot. In addition, Zhang Hongtu's service is thoughtful and enthusiastic, and the meals he prepares take the drivers' tastes into full consideration, so the business has always been good. Many drivers traveling from the south to the north choose to stay at the Bafang Hotel.
Xia Mufan heard the clue: "Do you suspect that your father's disappearance is related to Zhang Hongtu?"
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