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墨書 Inktalez
The son of Qin Xiao and his wife was round and chubby, quite adorable, with sparkling eyes as he stood at the school gate waiting. The couple had already communicated with him over the phone, but even so, upon seeing my arrival, he appeared somewhat scared and restrained.
I noticed his name on the school badge: Qin Fen. It was a lovely name. Once in the car, he seemed a bit lost, not understanding why it wasn't his parents picking him up today but an unfamiliar uncle instead. I wasn't wearing a uniform nor driving a police car, which made me worry that he might think too much about it.
Even if his parents were murderers, we still needed to protect the innocent heart of a young child. At the same time, I pondered what would happen to this poor child if substantial evidence proved that his parents were indeed killers. Would his classmates bully him when they found out? What would his future hold?
Behind every case lies countless tearful eyes and broken hearts.
The atmosphere in the car was somewhat silent; Qin Fen sat in the back without daring to say a word. As I contemplated what my first words should be, I suddenly spotted a toy bear in the passenger seat. I had bought it to compare with Old Qin's teddy bear and had casually left it in the car, never expecting it would come in handy now.
I gently tossed the bear into his lap. Qin Fen appeared a bit excited; he squeezed it from side to side, but soon the excitement faded from his face. Confused, I asked, "What's wrong? Do you not like the bear...?" I thought it made sense; a boy around seven or eight years old wouldn't be interested in such childish things. But Qin Fen shook his head and cautiously said to me, "Uncle, this thing you bought is fake; you've been tricked!"
I couldn't see how a stuffed toy could be considered fake and replied, "How have I been tricked?"
Qin Fen turned the bear over to show me its back and pointed to a spot on it, saying earnestly, "If it were real, there should be three buttons hidden here: the first for recording, the second for playback, and the third for deleting..."
"Last time when Xiao Ming confessed to Xiao Hong in our class, he used this trick," Qin Fen said calmly. "Otherwise, Xiao Hong wouldn't have agreed to be his girlfriend..."
Hearing this sparked an image in my mind; perhaps the key to solving the case lay here. It turned out that within such a small toy bear was hidden something significant. Without considering Qin Fen's youthful feelings any further, I quickly called Li Bo and said, "Handle the paperwork immediately; we need to go back to Old Qin's house again. This might be our last hope!"
I hurriedly drove to Old Qin's home and asked Qin Fen to wait in the car while I went upstairs. To my surprise, Li Bo was already waiting for me there. He opened Old Qin's door without hesitation and rushed into the house. The teddy bear remained on the table untouched.
Following Qin Fen's instructions, I felt around on the bear's back and indeed found three protruding buttons that were not visible from the outside and quite small. If someone didn't know about them beforehand, they would be hard-pressed to find these hidden buttons.
I silently thought: "Old Qin, you still owe me a spicy hot pot meal. If you are sincere, you must bless me..."
After my silent plea, I pressed the middle button.
The truth of the case became clear; the built-in recorder inside the toy bear had captured what happened at that time. Combined with what Peeping Tom had witnessed, a scene unfolded before us:
It was early Friday morning around one o'clock when Old Qin suffered from a heart condition attack. He turned on the light to check but found that his drawer was empty of medication. At that moment, Old Qin felt extremely unwell; after coughing and calling out for some time, he finally woke up Qin Xiao and Wu Meiqin next door.
Wu Meiqin was the first to enter; Old Qin begged her to fetch him some medicine. However, Wu Meiqin refused and scolded him for being an old fool who was useless—earning just enough money each day for medication—and suggested he might as well die. Qin Xiao stood behind her without saying a word.
Old Qin struggled to breathe, choking on his daughter-in-law's words. Seeing his son still silent, he gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain as he clumsily climbed onto the table. In the process, he kicked a small teddy bear to the ground, its back hitting the floor and landing precisely on three buttons.
Since it was a newly bought teddy bear, there was no old information inside, so only the first button worked. The recording began, capturing the true words spoken by Qin Xiao and Wu Meiqin. Wu Meiqin continued to curse, saying, "Marrying your son is your son's good fortune. Look at him—he has no skills at all. Over thirty years old and still accomplished nothing. Truly, like father, like son. If I were you, I'd just jump off and end it all; what's the point of living?"
At that moment, Old Qin had already opened the window, one leg dangling outside.
Seeing this, Wu Meiqin laughed instead: "Jump! If you have the guts, just jump! If you do, our family will finally have peace. You old fool—after so many years of illness, why haven't you died yet? I really wish I could push you down!"
Old Qin, who had been coughing continuously, suddenly stopped. With a trembling voice, he asked his son his final question: "Son, do you think this old man should die?"
Qin Xiao paused for a moment. Under Wu Meiqin's watchful gaze, he slowly replied, "Go ahead and jump." His voice was slow and soft but felt like a heavy stone pressing down on Old Qin's back. His legs bent further before he suddenly straightened them and jumped out with a thud.
Qin Xiao said, "What do we do now?"
Wu Meiqin replied, "Just pretend we didn't see anything. Tomorrow morning, we'll act like we discovered his body by accident while sleeping!"
With a loud click, the light turned off again. The teddy bear continued recording in silence. We don't know if they managed to sleep that night; all I know is that Wu Meiqin truly had no feelings left, while Qin Xiao was undeniably unfilial.
Wu Meiqin spent money lavishly but wouldn't even pull a curtain for the old man's room. Meanwhile, Old Qin—who wouldn't dare spend five dollars on cigarettes—bought an authentic teddy bear toy for his grandson for hundreds of dollars. If either of these things hadn't happened, perhaps we would have remained oblivious forever to what transpired that night.
Li Bo asked me, "Didn’t the neighbors hear such a loud argument?"
I smiled bitterly and shook my head without answering.
Qin Xiao and Wu Meiqin were charged with intentional homicide and handed over to the prosecutor's office; how they were tried was no longer our concern as criminal investigators. Old Qin's funeral took place at the City Public Security Bureau. This security guard who had watched over the entrance for a lifetime was laid to rest under the gaze of countless aging or young detectives.
Li the Tiger's eyes turned red; I couldn't tell what he was thinking. After a long pause, he finally spoke: "Salute!" Those two simple words carried an indescribable depth of emotion. My own eyes began to well up; to hide it, I quickly lit a Yellow Crane Tower cigarette and put it in my mouth.
The rising smoke stung my eyes and tears flowed uncontrollably.
I pulled out two more cigarettes, lit them up as well, then walked to an unnoticed roadside where I dug three small holes in the hard ground and placed the cigarettes inside. Standing up slowly and facing eastward, I bowed deeply with precision. I said, "This is a place prepared for heroes; you always wanted to be a police officer—now you've finally fulfilled that wish."
As I finished speaking, wisps of blue smoke drifted gently into the air.
The case of Old Qin came to a close. I sat in the archive room, watching the intern girl busily working away. Suddenly, I thought that perhaps this was enough; even if I couldn't join the Special Investigation Team, so what? Catching the Killer for the deceased and revealing the truth was precisely what we should be doing.
The intern girl turned to me and said, "Brother Shao, you are my idol, really!"
This time, I surprisingly lacked the mood to chat with her. My mind drifted back to the last day I saw the Chubby Kid, Qin Fen:
His parents had been taken away, and Qin Fen was sitting on a worn-out bench in the neighborhood, waiting for his Aunt to pick him up. His heavy backpack remained slung over his shoulders, and in his hands was a Toy Bear. This bear was genuine; we had deleted some of its content.
He instinctively pressed the second playback button, and a sweet voice came out: "You have to do your best tomorrow too!"
The voice recording was done by the intern girl. Qin Fen didn't expect someone had recorded a message inside; a happy smile appeared on his face but quickly faded. Then he looked around, pressed the first button, leaned closer to the bear, and whispered something.
Qin Fen's Aunt appeared before him. He slowly walked up to her, and she pinched his cheek before taking his hand and leaving. The bear was left on the bench. I walked over and pressed the second button again; Qin Fen's small voice came through:
"I will do my best tomorrow too."
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