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墨書 Inktalez
The villagers around us watched as we were driven out, their faces barely containing laughter, though they dared not laugh out loud. I noticed a big guy whose face had turned purple from holding back his amusement; he seemed unbothered by the risk of suffocating himself. I took a few hearty bites of the steamed bun in my hand; even in anger, I needed to fill my stomach.
Zhao Mingkun shook his head, half-amused and half-annoyed. "What time is it, and you can still eat?"
I shrugged. "I can't let someone else's rudeness starve me."
At that moment, an elderly woman stepped out from the crowd of onlookers. She looked to be in her seventies or eighties, with a head full of white hair and a face lined with wrinkles. Leaning on a cane, she slowly approached us and spoke in a slow, dry voice. "Are you two police officers? I am Old Lady Huang. If you don’t mind, come to my house for something to eat; look at how hungry this young man is."
After a long night of running around, by morning I was truly starving, so I agreed.
Back at Old Lady Huang's home, she began preparing breakfast for us while sitting on the heated bed and chatting with us. During our conversation, I learned that Old Lady Huang's husband had passed away decades ago, and she had no children to speak of; she lived alone most of the time. Despite her age, she was quite spry and managed to take care of herself; she was the oldest person in Daimian Village.
As the rice soup bubbled on the stove, Old Lady Huang brought out some meat sauce and several steamed buns.
"My family receives a basic living allowance," Old Lady Huang said. "I'm nearly at death's door myself and don't use much each month. You two should eat more."
Her words stood in stark contrast to what Lu Zhiqiu's mother had said earlier. Now I believed that Lu Zhiqiu's parents could indeed create a scene on a construction site just to get back a million yuan. They probably also collected quite a bit of insurance money from Hu Pei; what Zhang had said might really be true.
I couldn't help but exclaim, "Old lady, those two old folks from the Lu family seem really formidable! They kicked me out before I even had a bite to eat! All I did was mention Lu Zhiqiu's name."
Upon hearing Lu Zhiqiu's name, Old Lady Huang shook her head repeatedly with a sigh.
"That girl... I've watched her grow up," Old Lady Huang said.
"I thought you didn't live near them; it's quite far away," I remarked, puzzled.
Old Lady Huang handed me a bowl of rice soup while she slowly sipped from her own. "Lu Zhiqiu's father is named Lu Fengwei, and her mother is Guo Gai Mei. Don’t let their age fool you; they are deeply traditional at heart. Their family has always favored sons over daughters. When they had their first child—a daughter named Lu Zhiqiu—they almost discarded her."
As if recalling past events, Old Lady Huang animatedly shared the story.
"This incident became known throughout Daimian Village," she continued. "You can tell those two are not easy to deal with. Especially Guo Gai Mei—her tongue is sharper than anyone else's. The Lu family already favored sons; Guo Gai Mei was even worse, acting as if she weren't a woman herself. Eventually, they realized abandoning a child was illegal and decided against it!"
I nodded thoughtfully. "So how much older is the brother compared to her? A good ten years?"
Old Lady Huang scoffed lightly. "Lu Fengwei heard some folk remedy that promised him a son but required ten years of dedication. So for ten years, Lu Fengwei and Guo Gai Mei tried every method they could think of to have a boy. By that time, Lu Zhiqiu was already in high school when their son Lu Xiangyang was finally born."
“Lu Xiangyang was spoiled beyond measure from the moment he was born,” Old Lady Huang continued. “The family already favored boys over girls, and now with a son, it was even worse. Originally, Guo Gai Mei didn’t want her daughter to go to school, but since she was underage and couldn’t work, Lu Zhiqiu did well in school. Not only did she not cost any money, but she also brought money home, which made Guo Gai Mei relent.”
I took a big sip of rice soup and asked while eating my steamed bun, “What kind of person is Lu Zhiqiu?”
“Good! Good! Very good!” Old Lady Huang gave a thumbs up, repeating the word “good” three times. “This child, Lu Zhiqiu, has always been kind-hearted. Every time she was bullied, she never held a grudge. And when she saw others being bullied, she would step in to help. There were mischievous kids in the village who loved to pick on others, but Lu Zhiqiu never got angry and often helped her friends.”
I nodded; I had heard similar things from Lu Zhiqiu’s former counselor. Lu Zhiqiu even sponsored a girl from a poor family. It seemed that Lu Zhiqiu had always been this kind-hearted.
“My old partner passed away early, leaving me childless and lonely. Sometimes I enjoy inviting those kids in to sit with me; I give them some snacks, and they keep me company,” Old Lady Huang said, a smile breaking through the wrinkles on her face. “Back then, Lu Zhiqiu often came to play at my house. She was such a clever and lovely girl—pretty too! And she was really considerate; she often helped me massage my legs and clean my house.”
The old lady’s smile seemed to bloom like a flower. “When her brother wasn’t around, she wasn’t favored at home and would often come to see me. Sometimes I couldn’t stand her parents’ behavior; Kori Chiu didn’t matter; as their child, she should understand filial piety.”
Old Lady Huang shook her head with a sigh. “Hearing that makes me embarrassed for Lu Fengwei.”
It was clear that Lu Zhiqiu had a kind heart and never held grudges against those who hurt her. In fact, she could even help those people. Thinking about it, Lu Zhiqiu truly had a good nature.
The old lady’s smile faded as she slowly continued, “At that time, my legs were still nimble, and since I lived alone, I raised some dogs and cats. Every time Lu Zhiqiu came over, she would help me feed them. I remember she loved dogs the most; she would hold them tightly and never want to let go.”
“I like dogs too,” I replied.
Old Lady Huang chuckled and went on, “Later on, one of the dogs got sick. Lu Zhiqiu took care of it day and night without rest. But that dog was as old as I am—an old dog—and eventually passed away. Lu Zhiqiu cried so much that her eyes were swollen; she just couldn’t bear to see life and death.”
As she spoke, tears began to fall from the old lady’s eyes. “But good people have short lives; the one who couldn’t bear to see life and death left us too soon. I remember during high school, she could only come back once a week but always made time to visit me. Later on, she got into a prestigious university, and the village even gave her ten thousand yuan as support. But how could such a good person just disappear?”
After hearing Old Lady Huang's words, I felt deeply moved and didn’t know what to say for a long time. When we talked about Lu Zhiqiu with her counselor earlier, it was similar to what Old Lady Huang said—Lu Zhiqiu was kind-hearted, excelled in her studies, and was beautiful too. If she had been born into another family, she would have been truly rich and beautiful.
Zhao Mingkun sighed as well and finally asked, “What was the relationship like between Lu Zhiqiu and Lu Xiangyang?”
Old Lady Huang replied, “During summer vacation, Lu Zhiqiu often took her brother out to play. There was quite an age difference between them; naturally, it was Lu Zhiqiu taking care of her brother. Once she went to college, she sent money home every month and bought new clothes and toys for him whenever she returned.”
At this point, the old lady started wiping her tears again. “Sometimes she would buy me some food too. But every time I saw her return wearing the same old clothes that seemed like they had been worn for years... She would spare no expense for her brother or even for me; why wouldn’t she treat herself to something nice?”
“Later on,” Old Lady Huang continued, “I heard that Lu Zhiqiu had died—no one knew how it happened—but Lu Fengwei took a bunch of relatives to City afterward and returned driving a car. I heard from villagers that they went for money. But when they got the money back, they didn’t even bring back Lu Zhiqiu’s body.”
“What a sin!” Old Lady Huang sighed deeply. “In the end, I didn’t even get to see Lu Zhiqiu one last time. But later on, I did see Lu Xiangyang crying for his sister to come back so he could play with her again. At that time, he was only about ten years old; he didn’t understand what had happened but clearly loved his sister very much.”
Old Lady Huang finished the rice soup in her bowl and after a moment said, "Now that I think about it, Lu Zhiqiu has been dead for seven or eight years. Lu Fengwei bought a house and a car for his son in Dongxing City. His son is also studying in the city. I haven't had a proper conversation with him in years; he's not like his sister."
It seemed that unlike her family, Lu Xiangyang had a good relationship with his sister, and Lu Zhiqiu was very fond of her brother. Did the brother know some of the truths behind Lu Zhiqiu's death back then, which led him to seek revenge? But could a high school student commit such bizarre murders without leaving any traces at the scene?
This was something we still needed to investigate.
After a pause, Old Lady Huang asked us, "I heard Lu Xiangyang has gone missing recently; are you here to ask about that?"
I nodded and added, "We're also inquiring about Lu Zhiqiu from seven years ago. There were suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, and we need to clarify things."
"Exactly!" Old Lady Huang stood up excitedly. "We must get to the bottom of this. I heard that Lu Zhiqiu died under unclear circumstances. When someone dies without clarity, they can't be reincarnated, you know? Even in death, people deserve peace of mind. Officers, you must investigate thoroughly."
"Don't worry, Grandma," I assured her. "We will definitely get to the bottom of it."
"By the way!" I asked, "Grandma, I heard Lu Xiangyang went looking for a classmate named Wang Ang? Do you know anything about this?"
The old lady shook her head and said, "I don't know about that, but I do know they are all seniors at Dongxing City's First High School. If you're looking for Wang Ang, you might want to ask at the school; that's all I can tell you."
I glanced at Zhao Mingkun and then back at Old Lady Huang. "Alright then, we'll take our leave for now. We will investigate Lu Zhiqiu's case thoroughly and come back to inform you once we have answers."
"That's wonderful!" Old Lady Huang grasped my hand tightly. "There are still many kind people in this world. I have no other wishes in this life; I just want to know about this matter..."
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