Chapter 193 Rice Soup
Hearing that Xia Mufan was willing to help her, Chi Juxiang stood up excitedly, bent her knees and was about to kneel down.
Xia Mufan hurried forward, holding Chi Juxiang's elbow and helping her up: "Old man, we are police officers, this is our job."
Chi Juxiang's voice trembled a little: "I know you are a good person. As long as you are willing to help me, you will definitely be able to find my Qiaomei back."
Xia Mufan helped the old man sit down on the sofa: "Old man, where did you hear my name? Now that I have agreed to help, you can't hide it anymore, right?"
Chi Juxiang said embarrassedly: "Every three months I go to the provincial capital to find the police on duty to ask if there is any news about my granddaughter. They all recognize me. When I came today, I met Officer Xiao, and he told me quietly. He said you are very good at finding people. As long as we find you, there is hope."
Sun Xianbing responded quickly: "Did Xiao Yuanfeng say that?"
Chi Juxiang said: "I only know his last name is Xiao, and he has big eyes and looks very energetic."
Yu Jing said: "That must be Xiao Yuanfeng."
They have not been in the Municipal Bureau for long and know only a limited number of people. Not many people know that Xia Mufan is good at finding people, and Xiao Yuanfeng is one of them.
After making it clear that no one had set this up intentionally, Xia Mufan breathed a sigh of relief.
Chi Juxiang looked up at Xia Muchan, her eyes full of expectation: "The comrades at the police station in our town are very responsible. When they didn't find Qiaomei in the town, they went to the county town to look for her. Later they said that my Qiaomei was abducted, so they came to the provincial capital to ask the police for help. They asked me to go home and wait for news, saying that they would tell me as soon as they found Qiaomei, but I couldn't stay at home."
"I am old and I don't know how long I can live. If one day the police rescue Qiaomei, or my Qiaomei comes back by herself, and she returns to the village to find that I am dead, she must be very sad, right? What I fear most is that one day I will die in the house, and then no one will miss Qiaomei anymore. I go to the town, county, and provincial capital every three months. I want to tell the police comrades that Qiaomei is remembered by someone."
Chi Juxiang's concern for Qiaomei made Xia Mufan's eyes feel hot and his chest felt stuffy.
If Qiaomei was abducted by a kidnapper, where could we find her after five years? If Qiaomei was sold to a remote mountain village, is there any way to get her back?
Xia Mufan asked Chi Juxiang: "Do you have a cat or dog at home?"
Chi Juxiang said: "We do have a cat at home, but no dog. When Qiaomei was 10 years old, she brought this cat home and named it Mitang."
Xia Mufan asked: "Tao Nianqiao likes cats?"
Speaking of Qiaomei, whom she had raised, Chi Juxiang's longing for her was as endless as the winter drizzle, which made her heart ache.
"I like it, very much. There were many mice in the old house, so we kept cats. When Qiaomei was eight or nine years old, the old cat died and she cried for a long time. She refused to keep a cat for more than a year. Later, the mice in the house became too noisy, so she brought another one home. This kitten was skinny when it first came, and Qiaomei fed it little by little with rice soup. She treated it like her darling and would hug the cat before going to bed at night."
"Every time Qiaomei comes home from school, Mitang will follow her everywhere. When Qiaomei recites a text, it squats in the corner to listen; when Qiaomei does her homework, it lies on the table to watch; when Qiaomei cooks, it waits by the stove."
"Mi Tang always pestered Qiao Mei. That day, Qiao Mei didn't come back, so he barked under the eaves for two days. The sound he made was terrible. Later, he ran away, and I didn't care about him. More than half a month later, Mi Tang came back limping, squatted at my feet and kept barking. Then he squatted at the entrance of the village every day, waiting for Qiao Mei to come back."
When Xia Mufan heard this, a glimmer of hope rose in his heart. Is it possible that this cat went to town to find Qiaomei? If this is the case, it may provide us with some new clues.
After learning some basic information from Chi Juxiang, Xia Mufan said, "Old man, please go back and wait for news. We will go to the village tomorrow to find out the situation."
When Chi Juxiang heard "go back and wait for news", she felt a little uneasy and kept reminding him: "Then you must come. I will wait for you at home after I go back. I won't go anywhere. You must remember to come."
Xia Mushi knew what she was worried about. During the five years of searching for Tao Nianqiao, Chi Juxiang heard the police tell her countless times to "go back and wait for news", but she waited and waited for five years and there was no news.
Xia Mufan comforted him, "Don't worry, after we finish dealing with the procedural matters, we will go to the village to investigate as soon as possible and will definitely come."
Chi Juxiang felt relieved at this. She stood up tremblingly and left the reception room with many thanks.
Xia Mufan gathered all the information together. He held it in his arms and raised it towards Sun Xianbing and Yu Jing: "Let's go! Let's go to the office."
Sun Xianbing and Yu Jing followed Xia Mufan to the special operations team office, asking questions as they walked.
"Captain Xia, have you decided to take this case?"
"Yes."
"I heard from Chief Jia that the police station in the county took this case very seriously and spent a long time investigating. They got a clear picture of Tao Nianqiao's whereabouts on the day she disappeared. Tao Nianqiao disappeared after Tao Dazhuang left his rice noodle shop. Not many people in the county knew Tao Nianqiao, so her disappearance did not attract anyone's attention. In the end, it was determined to be trafficking, and it was speculated that Tao Nianqiao was taken away by a kidnapping gang, which should have a car."
Xia Mufan seemed to be thinking: "A trafficking gang with vehicles, five years later, not a single gang member has been arrested?"
Sun Xianbing carefully recalled the contents of the file: "In the past few years, Xing City has made great efforts to crack down on cases of abducting women and children. We have also taken down several criminal gangs and rescued dozens of abducted women, but we have not found the whereabouts of Tao Nianqiao."
Yu Jing raised a possibility: "Is it possible that Tao Nianqiao was not abducted by a kidnapper, but was taken away by someone she knew?"
Xia Mufan turned his head and looked at Yu Jing: "Why do you say that?"
Yu Jing said, "I used the process of elimination. Think about it. Several trafficking gangs have been busted in the city, and the gang members confessed a lot of information about abducted women, but none of them mentioned Tao Nianqiao. There are only two possibilities: first, the criminal gang that abducted Tao Nianqiao has not been caught yet, and second, the person who took Tao Nianqiao away was not a kidnapper at all, but an acquaintance."
Sun Xianbing frowned. "Apart from her father, who else does Tao Nianqiao know in the county? Could it be that Tao Dazhuang took her daughter away? That's impossible. Tao Dazhuang originally had the custody of Tao Nianqiao. If Tao Dazhuang wanted to send his daughter to work in a factory, he could just take her away. Why did he make her disappear?"
Yu Jing reminded him: "Isn't her stepmother Yuan Qionghua also an acquaintance?"
Sun Xianbing took a breath, "Not really, is it? Her stepmother had just given birth to her little son and was still at home nursing the child, so she probably didn't have time to commit the crime. Tao Nianqiao went to see her father on a whim that day and didn't tell him in advance, so her stepmother couldn't have planned and arranged for someone to kidnap her. Besides, Tao Dazhuang had been leaving Tao Nianqiao in the countryside without caring about her, and her existence didn't bother her stepmother in any way, so she had no motive to commit the crime."
Yu Jing agreed with Sun Xianbing's analysis: "If he wasn't an acquaintance, then he was a passerby? He saw a little girl alone, so he quietly took her away. But in this case, it's hard to say whether she is dead or alive."
When it came to the uncertainty of life and death, all three of them fell silent.
When they arrived at the office, Xia Mufan assigned tasks to Sun Xianbing and Yu Jing, one to sort out the timeline of Tao Nianqiao's disappearance, and the other to sort out her social relationships.
Next, Xia Mufan picked up the phone and called Fang Chu.
Fang Chu's laughter came from the other end of the phone: "Xiao Xia, you don't want to rest even on the weekend?"
Xia Mushi briefly described what happened to him when he met Chi Juxiang and expressed his willingness to take the case.
Director Fang hesitated for a moment: "Xiao Xia, the reason why I handed over the two missing cases of Fan Lingwei and Shu Lan to you is because they have been found, so the pressure on you to solve the case is not that great. But this case of a missing girl is different. First, the family members are paying close attention to her. Second, she has been missing for five years, and many clues have been lost. It is very difficult to solve the case. Have you thought about it?"
Xia Mufan nodded without hesitation: "Yes, I have thought about it. Director Fang, you told me that the reason for establishing the special action team is to deal with unsolved and suspicious cases. Fifteen-year-old Tao Nianqiao originally had unlimited potential, but because of her disappearance, her dream of studying was shattered, which is a pity. Now this case has been unsolved for five years and is gathering dust on the file shelf of the Archives Department. Isn't it time for us to solve it? If we give up the investigation because the case is difficult, it really goes against the original intention of establishing the special action team."
Fang Yuan understood Xia Mufan's personality. Once she made up her mind, few people could change her. Thinking of her ability, Fang Yuan's tone became serious: "Many people in our bureau know about this case. If you take it over, I hope you can get to the bottom of it and solve the case as soon as possible."
Xia Mufan responded: "Yes!"
Fang Yuan said, "I'm afraid you'll have to travel a lot for this case. Let me send your team a five-seater jeep. If you need anything else, just let me know."
The team is going to be equipped with a car so soon? Xia Mufan was very happy: "Thank you, Director Fang."
After hanging up the phone, Xia Mufan looked at Yu Jing and said, "Dayu, our team has been provided with a car."
When he heard about the car, Yu Jing, who loves cars like his life, immediately became excited: "That's great!"
Sun Xianbing asked, "Captain Xia, has Director Fang agreed to let us take over this missing persons case?"
Xia Mushige smiled: "Yes, we will start to get busy soon."
Sun Xianbing was recording the timeline of Tao Nianqiao's disappearance on the whiteboard. When he heard that he was going to be busy, he immediately put down the marker in his hand and said, "Then I'll call Xiaoyu and Weiguo to work overtime?"
Thinking of Chi Juxiang's expectant eyes, Xia Mufan nodded: "Okay, then call them back. This missing case may take a long time, we have to race against time. Tao Nianqiao has been missing for five years, and Chi Juxiang has been thinking about her all the time during these five years. The sooner we find Tao Nianqiao, the less suffering she will suffer."
In this way, all members of the special operations team started working overtime on weekends.
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