Case Files 013

Chapter 154: Wang An

Du Zigui too had gone missing. The boss of the repair shop could not have been less happy to see us. Then again no one wanted a visit from the police, especially on the first day of New Year, that was highly inauspicious. Then again, we were there for a job, we couldn't just leave on account of superstition. When we asked about Du Zigui, the boss at Si Tong Repair Factory told us that the young man had already quitted a month and a half ago.

Based on the boss' testimony, Du Zigui was a very down-to-earth young man and a good worker. He never complained about anything. But for some unknown reason, Du Zigui decided to quit more than a month ago. The boss said Du Zigui made the decision to leave after 3 young men came to find him at the shop.

The boss did try to persuade Du Zigui to stay on the account of him being a good employee but Du Zigui had made up his mind.

"3 young men?" Guan Zhenglin took out the picture of the 3 thieves when she heard that. "Are these them?"

The boss nodded after he saw the picture. "Yes."

"Do you know where they have gone after that?" I asked.

"No idea." The boss answered.

As Gu Chen started the engine, he said, "A month and a half ago, that was around the time the 3 bastards were released from detention. Looks like they came straight for Du Zigui after their release. If you ask me, they were going after Hao Ren's entire family. These young men are truly scum of the earth."

I tapped my watch lightly and commented, "If that's the case, I believe both Zhao Xiaoli and Wang An would have been harassed by the trio as well, but where are these people now? Hao Ren is missing, Du Zigui is missing, what about Zhao Xiaoli and Wang An? Would they be missing too?"

The group was silent. I said, "We should go and find Wang An. Which school does he attend? We should contact his class teacher." I had to admit that Sister Mary had done a great job. The files that she compiled had everything. After we contacted the headmaster of Wang An's primary school, the headmaster gave us a phone number. The number belonged to Wang An's class teacher, an experienced teacher in her 50s.

When we called the number and asked about Wang An, Teacher Zhao answered honestly that Wang An was currently at her home. On the phone, Teacher Zhao told us that about a month ago, Hao Ren left her with 3000 RMB and asked her to help take care of Wang An for a few days.

Teacher Zhao was confused. She asked Hao Ren why he was leaving since it was only a few more days until the lunar new year, so the whole family should celebrate the holiday together. Hao Ren didn't answer and only shook his head. Hao Ren was about 10 years younger than Teacher Zhao and the latter saw herself as a big sister to Hao Ren. She knew that Hao Ren had adopted many children and that was an impressive feat. In the end, she agreed to help him.

Looks like our lead now was a young boy. When we arrived at Teacher Zhao's neighbourhood, we noticed the neighbourhood's street was dominated' by a group of kids. The group of children had joss-sticks and their pockets were bulging with firecrackers. They held the firecracker, lit it up and then threw it before it exploded. They were having such fun. Among the group of kids, there was a young man who stood out. Like the rest of the kids, he was happily playing with firecrackers.

The young man wore suspenders over a sweater, the sweater was furry and dark. Through the sleeves, we noticed that he didn't wear anything underneath. It was quite unusual for a man to just be wearing a sweater in winter but then again, he was quite large in size, so he probably didn't feel the cold. From the young man's expression and demeanor, he appeared to be mentally challenged.

At that moment, one of the kids got the naughty idea to throw a firecracker at the young man. With a pop, a hole appeared on the young man's sweater. The rest of the kids soon followed suit. They lit up the firecrackers and tossed them at the young man and it crackled everywhere. This was a harrowing thing to see. The 3 of us immediately jumped out of the car.

The young man jumped around to evade the firecrackers but there were too many of them. He bounced around in desperation and then he tripped and fell to the ground. He started to cry like a kid. One of the kids started to sing, "The fat dummy is crying again, the fat dummy is crying again." The ditty got the young man to cry harder and the other kids to laugh harder.

At that moment, a boy ran out from one of the buildings. He carried a stick with him. As he ran towards the young man, he shouted, "Don't you people dare run! I'm going to teach you a lesson for bullying! Stand right there!"

Seeing the boy, the kids dispersed, carrying the mocking song with them, "Kid orphan, big dummy and an old maid in the family~ Kid orphan, big dummy and an old maid in the family~" The group of kids ran past our car and down the distance. Gu Chen initially wanted to teach these kids a lesson but he was startled by the cruelty in these kids' words. He stood there wordlessly. The words felt chillier due to the fact that they came from the lips of young children. They were supposed to be innocent and pure kids, but the words they said were cruel and venomous.

The group of us made way to the young man. The boy dropped the stick to the ground and went to help the young man up from the ground. The boy ruffled the man's hair and said in a consoling tone, "Those are bad kids. I told you not to play with them anymore, why didn't you listen. Are you hurt?"

The young man rubbed the tears from his eyes and said, "But it's because you don't want to play with me. I didn't want to play alone. So I came to play with them. But they all call me a dummy, they always bully me. Tell me, am I a dummy?"

The boy frowned and said seriously, "Guo Feng, you are not a dummy. You just haven't found someone who can appreciate your brilliance, you are definitely not a dummy, understood?"

"But why would they call me dummy then?" Guo Feng retorted.

The boy was stumped but he still said with patience. "Pinky swear that you're not a dummy." Then he quickly changed the subject, "I'll buy some candy for you, do you want that?"

Guo Feng immediately smiled when he heard that. "Yes, yes, I want candy!" Guo Feng stood up, held the boy's hand and walked towards the nearby shop. I noticed that the boy had bruises on his face like he had been beaten up.

Guan Zhenglin moved to accost them. She asked Guo Feng and the boy, "Little boy, you were so brave earlier, what's your name?"

The boy didn't answer but it was Guo Feng who said, "Big sister, you're so pretty."

"Thank you," Guan Zhenglin smiled kindly. The boy regarded Guan Zhenglin and the 2 of us with alertness. Guan Zhenglin knew the boy had caution around us so she explained, "Big sister is not with the bad guy. Do you know a boy by the name of Wang An"

The boy frowned and asked, "What do you need from Wang An?"

Guan Zhenglin naturally wouldn't discuss the case with a random boy so she said, "Big sister has something to discuss with him. And in the future, if anyone dares to bully you, tell this big brother over there, he will help you." Guan Zhenglin pointed at Gu Chen.

I looked at the boy and said, "You're Wang An, aren't you? We're here to ask about your father."

"Wait, you're Wang An?" Guan Zhenglin gasped in surprise.

I looked at Wang An and said, "Those who hold a pen often will have calluses around their middle finger. With the heavy homework kids have to deal with these days, it's not surprising to find those calluses among children, but if the child also has calluses between the thumb and the index finger, it can only mean that the boy has been studying martial arts since he was young. If you look at the same part on Gu Chen's hands, you'll see that he too has thick callus at that part."

Wang An regarded me with surprise, clearly not expecting me to know his identity just from his hands.

"This is not something that can be faked." I told Wang An, "Your father Hao Ren studied martial arts since he was young, so he must have required the same of you. Don't worry, we are not bad people, we're the police."

"Uncle Police! Sister Police!" Guo Feng clapped his hands. Wang An nodded, he was no longer that careful around us. I continued, "I have already called Teacher Zhao earlier. Usually we wouldn't have come to someone your age to discuss a case but you are our only option now. Your big sister, Zhao Xiaoli, do you know where she is now?"

Wang An's eyes drooped with sadness. "I don't know, a month ago Actually, Guo Feng is Teacher Zhao's son, why don't you come with me? We'll discuss this further at her house." We nodded and followed behind Wang An.

Along the way, Wang An told us, "Father has left me here for more than a month already even though he said he'd come fetch me after new year. But now there's not even a phone call and our calls to him went unanswered. I just called yesterday and his phone was off. And now the police are here, something bad must have happened." Then Wang An stopped, he turned to look at us and asked, "Sir, what exactly happened to my father?"

I sighed and told the precocious Wang An, "We wish you could tell us that. To tell you the truth, after we failed to find your father, we realized your big brother, Du Zigui, had gone missing too."

Wang An nodded. "Before I was sent here, my big brother was already missing. Father mentioned that a few times. I have no idea where my sisters, Zhao Xiaoli and Fang Xiao Qi are. It feels like I have been abandoned all over again."

Looking at the boy, I revealed slowly, "Your sister, Fang Xiao Qi has committed suicide"

"My sister has committed suicide?"