Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
When I pushed open the door, I suddenly thought of a segment from Guo Degang's crosstalk.
Yu Qian had gone out for a performance, and when he returned home, his house had collapsed, leaving only a security door standing. So, Yu Qian used his key to unlock the door and walked inside. As we opened the door, we found ourselves in an empty space; if it weren't for the surrounding walls, one might think they had just stepped out of a house.
We exchanged glances, not understanding what had happened. In front of us lay a large number of fallen beams and bricks; the entire house in the yard had collapsed. From the fallen wooden beams and bricks, it was clear that the beams had been burned through, and there were dark, charred marks on the bricks from smoke.
Such wooden structures are common in Yumu City. Compared to the reinforced concrete of big cities, houses like this can suffer devastating consequences in the event of a fire. The house before us had clearly experienced a significant blaze. Aside from the main gate still standing, everything else was a scene of wreckage and ruin.
"Is this the place?" The principal looked at the ruins in disbelief.
Wang Lulu nodded and said, "This is definitely the address, but what happened here?"
I furrowed my brow, thinking that this situation was likely far more complicated than it appeared. This family's house had burned down; their daughter had committed suicide, and now their parents were missing. Was it possible that on this New Year's Eve, all disasters were destined to befall this family? Were they fated to have a miserable year?
At that moment, Guan Zengbin had already walked up to the collapsed ruins. She stood atop the debris, occasionally pinching the ashes on the ground with her fingers. After a moment, she spoke: "It seems like some time has passed; this couldn't have happened just recently. If this girl chose to commit suicide today, where has she been living lately? Could it be near Rainbow Bridge?"
"Right," I asked Gu Chen, "didn't you check the surveillance footage? How did she get here?"
Gu Chen replied, "She indeed walked here."
I nodded and said, "It takes at least three hours to walk from here to Rainbow Bridge. If Fang Qi really came from here, there must be surveillance footage. Let's check; this matter is definitely not simple."
The principal scratched his head in confusion and then turned to Wang Lulu: "Are you sure it's here? What are her parents' names?"
I shook my head and said, "Leave this to us; Fang Qi's file should have all that information."
When we returned to City Bureau, we eagerly went to check Fang Qi's online records.
The surname Fang is not a common one; there are only two people named Fang Qi in the entire city. Once we learned Fang Qi's name and home address, we quickly found the rest of the information about him. According to the records, Fang Qi is sixteen years old and attends Yumu City Second High School. However, the details regarding his family situation revealed a shocking reality.
When Fang Qi was four years old, he was abducted by human traffickers and taken to a mountain village in Yumu City. The family that bought him later encountered issues when the foreman withheld wages from migrant workers. In desperation, his father climbed a utility pole to threaten suicide, but tragically, he was electrocuted halfway up.
Unable to bear the pressure, his mother also took her own life. From that point on, Fang Qi became an orphan. After being passed around among various caretakers, he was finally adopted, and his life stabilized. In the adoption records, we came across a familiar name—Hao Ren.
"Hao Ren?" Gu Chen clearly recognized the name and said, "Isn't he the security guard from Edge Internet Cafe? The one who wanted to open a martial arts school?"
Guan Zengbin replied, "What a coincidence! Let's take a look at the photo."
When we opened the photo, another coincidence struck us. This Hao Ren was indeed Fang Qi's adoptive father—the very same security guard from Edge Internet Cafe. According to Hao Ren's records, he had adopted more than just Fang Qi. At forty-four years old, his oldest child was already twenty and named Du Ziguo. The youngest child he adopted was only eight years old and named Wang An.
Hao Ren had adopted four children in total, with Fang Qi being one of them.
Seeing this information, Gu Chen remarked, "Hao Ren is truly a good person. I noticed that when he bravely caught a thief before; such people are rare nowadays. Many people turn a blind eye to these situations, thinking it's better not to get involved. There are plenty of onlookers when something happens, but once it's time to give a statement, they vanish..."
I sighed and said, "Sometimes it's not that people don't want to help; it's just that the cost of doing so is too high."
Gu Chen clearly disagreed with me and said, "As long as everyone stands up together, why should we fear retaliation from those people?"
Guan Zengbin interrupted our conversation and said, "It's already past two o'clock. If we want to find this Hao Ren, we'll have to wait until morning."
"I just had Mary gather basic information about Hao Ren and his adopted children," Guan Zengbin told us. "With this information, we might be able to uncover why Hao Ren's home was burned down and why Fang Qi committed suicide."
With that, Guan Zengbin printed out a document: "This document contains basic information about Hao Ren and his four adopted children."
I received the information and looked around.
Hao Ren is forty-four years old this year and lives at No. 5 Taishan Temple Hutong. At forty-four, Hao Ren is still unmarried but has adopted four children. He adopted these four children many years ago, with the first one being taken in when he was just twenty-two. Since then, Hao Ren gradually adopted three more children.
The information shows that Hao Ren treats these adopted children as his own, teaching them martial arts.
The first child Hao Ren adopted is named Du Ziguo. He has been by Hao Ren's side for over twenty years and has learned all of Hao Ren's skills. When Hao Ren was young and poor, Du Ziguo could not attend school. Therefore, the records indicate that Du Ziguo started working early on and has been employed at an auto repair shop.
The second child adopted by Hao Ren is Zhao Li, who just turned eighteen and has been with Hao Ren for a long time. Currently, Zhao Li is attending university in another city and is doing well academically. Every year, Zhao Li receives a national scholarship, so there’s no need for Hao Ren to worry about tuition fees.
The third adopted child is Fang Qi, who is sixteen years old and a first-year high school student. Fang Qi also performs well in studies and is a boarding student. He is quiet and doesn’t have many friends; his only close friend is Mo Yu. However, for some unknown reason, Fang Qi committed suicide.
The fourth child adopted by Hao Ren is Wang An, who is eight years old and in the second grade. Currently, Hao Ren is primarily focused on Wang An’s needs since the other children are mostly independent now.
The first three children are close in age and grew up together, while Wang An was adopted when the others were already busy with school or work. Therefore, Wang An grew up alone, and Hao Ren seems to have a particular fondness for him.
I frowned as I looked at the names on the list and said, “It’s getting late now; we should find these people first thing tomorrow morning. It’s already New Year’s Day; those in school are on break, and those working are also off. But where have they gone since their house burned down?”
“I think we need to check out Edge Internet Cafe,” I suggested. “We might learn something from the boss.”
A night passed without conversation.
Early the next morning, we found the address of Edge Internet Cafe. When we arrived, surprisingly, the internet cafe was still open for business. After walking in, we didn’t see Hao Ren anywhere. We approached the cafe's boss and learned that they had recently changed security personnel.
And we also uncovered a story.
More than two months ago, Hao Ren had sent three thieves into the detention center. After about ten days, the three of them were released. Since then, the Edge Internet Cafe had not known a moment of peace. Once they were out, they sought revenge on Hao Ren. Knowing that Hao Ren was the security guard at the Edge Internet Cafe, they took to throwing excrement at the cafe's windows every night.
It was like a toad on the back of a foot—annoying but not harmful.
Calling the police was futile; the culprits vanished without a trace. Asking for help was also pointless, as these three had plenty of acquaintances in this circle. Ignoring it wasn’t an option either, as the filthy windows scared away customers. Their demands were simple: Hao Ren could no longer work at the internet cafe.
The cafe's boss could only seek to keep the peace and, about a month ago, dismissed Hao Ren.
However, after Hao Ren was let go, the three thieves came to taunt him, believing they had triumphed. They did this deliberately to see Hao Ren’s frustrated reaction. Unfortunately for them, Hao Ren remained unfazed; he simply collected his final paycheck and left.
Feeling insulted, the thieves declared that this matter was far from over and vowed to continue making life difficult for Hao Ren.
Moreover, the boss revealed that the thieves had inquired about Hao Ren's home address. To prevent them from bothering him further, he disclosed Hao Ren's address to them.
After that, the boss never contacted Hao Ren again and had no idea where he had gone.
The phone number given by the boss matched the one Wang Lulu knew, yet no one answered when called.
The boss said, "When those three left, I overheard something."
"What was it?" I asked.
The boss glanced around cautiously, seemingly fed up with the trio. "One of them said that as long as they knew his home address, they would definitely tear it down."
Comment 0 Comment Count