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墨書 Inktalez
During these events, Wang Guihua did not shed a tear; she displayed a woman's strength. Twenty years of marriage had been nothing but torment for her. It took Wang Guihua two decades to find liberation, yet there were still so many others like her. Would they ever find their freedom?
Wang Guihua took a deep breath, pushing all her emotions aside. She spoke, "Well, it's been twenty years, and we are getting divorced. It's all in the past now. I am forty-two this year; I married him when I was twenty. There has been no love between us for these twenty years, only suffering."
Xu Yiman couldn't help but sigh. At thirty, she was still alone. She had tried to seek companionship, but her age and profession made others shy away from her. Sometimes Xu Yiman wondered what marriage truly was—was it about settling for a life alone or waiting for the right person to appear?
"Did Li Erdan agree to it?" Old Shao had lost interest in matters of love.
"Yes," Wang Guihua replied, somewhat surprised. "I used to think that someone like Li Erdan would never agree to a divorce. In the mind of a man with such traditional views, divorce is akin to losing a spouse. I was prepared for a confrontation and had even hired a lawyer."
Wang Guihua filled everyone's cups with water. "But for some reason, Li Erdan agreed to the divorce and didn't want any of the assets—essentially leaving with nothing. His daughter stayed with her mother, and there was no custody battle."
Old Shao stroked his chin thoughtfully; this was indeed interesting. Logically, the house belonged to Li Erdan's parents and was in their name. Even if they divorced, Li Erdan could have claimed it back. Yet he did not do so and even chose to give up his child—that was quite unusual.
Old Shao asked, "Was there anything unusual during the five years after Li Erdan went to the crematorium?"
Upon hearing Old Shao's question, Wang Guihua nodded vigorously as if riding waves. "Ever since he stopped driving trucks, he applied for jobs everywhere but was rejected because people thought he lacked education and was too old. I advised him to open a repair shop and hire a couple of workers, but he refused; he came from the village and didn’t know how to run a business."
Wang Guihua continued to ponder aloud, "After staying home for about a month, he finally found work as a hearse driver. I thought that job seemed ominous and not good for him, but he took it anyway and stuck with it for five years. However, after about a year, he started acting strangely—sometimes locking himself in his room without doing anything."
"This continued for quite some time; when he got home from work, he would hide in his room and wouldn’t let us know what he was doing." Wang Guihua recalled those days with a hint of fear in her eyes. "I thought if he wanted to be like that, fine by me; I welcomed the peace. But then his temper worsened; he would lash out at me and Weiwei for no reason. Now that he's gone, I feel like life has finally improved."
Wang Guihua said, "Although I didn’t earn as much as he did before, all his money was his own—I never spent a cent of it. Now I'm studying to become a language teacher in Dragon City; I don’t earn much, but it's enough to provide Weiwei with a good life. As for Weiwei not having a father... well, having such a father is more of a misfortune for her."
Old Shao remained noncommittal as he gazed at the Teddy Bear.
"Anyway, I can no longer tolerate everything he has done, so I got a divorce," Wang Guihua said. "As a people's teacher, I know that any legitimate profession in this world deserves our respect, but I truly feel that ever since Li Erdan became a Hearse Driver, he has turned gloomy and seems almost lifeless."
"Alright." Old Shao stood up and said, "Then we will stop our investigation here for now. If we discover anything, please call 110 directly. If we find something, we won't hesitate to bother you again; I hope you understand."
Wang Guihua replied, "It's up to you. If you have more questions for me, just come to my house. It's almost noon, and I need to pick up my daughter from school."
Yuan Jun asked, "Since Li Erdan has been spending so much time with the dead, could it have triggered his Necrophilia? Otherwise, it might be that the couple hasn't had intimate relations for a long time, and Li Erdan must find some way to release his urges. Or perhaps someone has put a curse on him."
Xu Yiman shrugged and said, "There's no such thing as a curse. I think Li Erdan is inherently a potential Necrophilia patient. However, such patients usually develop this tendency from a very young age. It's quite rare for someone like Li Erdan, who is over forty, to suddenly exhibit such behavior; he likely had prior contact with corpses."
"Prior?" Jiang He asked. "Are you referring to when he was driving the truck?"
Xu Yiman shook her head. "I just mentioned that casually; I can't be sure."
Just as everyone was about to find a restaurant for lunch, news came from Captain Liu. According to his investigation, there was a sponge factory near the crematorium where a female worker had gone missing. After comparing photographs, it was discovered that the missing worker was indeed the person found hidden in the crematorium.
The deceased was named Zhu Liang, twenty-three years old, an ordinary female worker at the Sponge Factory. Four days ago, she left her dormitory and never returned. Due to the monotonous and laborious work at the Sponge Factory, people assumed that this young girl couldn't handle the pressure and had run away.
Later, someone tried to call Zhu Liang, but she didn't answer; no one knew where she had gone. Eventually, her dormitory mates reported her missing to the police, who accepted the case. Captain Liu compared photos and discovered that the missing Zhu Liang was the body that had been disemboweled; he immediately informed Old Shao.
Shao the Elder remarked, "Sponge Factory... Sponge Factory... It seems we need to trace where the sponge inside that corpse came from."
With no time for lunch, they headed straight to the Sponge Factory.
This Sponge Factory was a public-private partnership aimed at alleviating unemployment issues by training many middle-aged women. Most of the young girls working there were naive girls who had come from rural villages seeking employment.
A female worker's salary is two thousand five hundred yuan, which is considered below average in Dragon City.
Old Shao was currently sitting in the office of the Sponge Factory's leadership, reviewing Zhu Liang's file. Zhu Liang came from a mountain village near Jingzhong City, had a junior high school education, and had previously worked in the fields with her parents. Later, she followed her aunt to work in the city, where her aunt arranged for her to take over her position at the Sponge Factory. After that, no one knew where she went.
"What kind of person is Zhu Liang?" asked Shao the Elder.
Director Wang of the Sponge Factory had brought in Sister Ma, who lived in the same dormitory as Zhu Liang. Sister Ma was in her forties and had her own home in Dragon City. However, since her child was already in high school and boarding, she preferred not to go home and instead lived in the dormitory, returning home once a week.
Sister Ma said to everyone, "Zhu Liang is just like I was when I was young—she's a very simple girl from the village. She works hard and doesn’t talk much; she's quite shy. If you ask her to help with something, she will definitely do it without any complaints."
"She’s the youngest in our dormitory, and we take good care of her," Sister Ma continued. "Many people are even trying to introduce her to someone. She's so shy about it that she wants to see if her parents agree first. Some people think she left because she couldn't handle the pressure, but I don’t think so. She has been here for over half a year; if she wanted to leave, she would have done so long ago."
Old Shao asked, "What do you think happened? Why did she suddenly disappear?"
Sister Ma replied, "Well, I'm not too sure. It definitely wasn't because she was too tired. I feel like maybe someone at the factory was gossiping, and since she's sensitive, she might have decided to leave."
"Gossip?" Old Shao asked.
Sister Ma nodded. "Yes, the labor force in sponge manufacturing isn't that large; otherwise, how could there be so many women working here? With so many women around, they tend to chat about personal matters—this and that—and some have sharp tongues. If they find you annoying, they won’t hesitate to make you cry."
"Did Zhu Liang show any unusual reactions before she left?" Old Shao asked again.
Sister Ma shook her head. "I'm not really sure about that. But it seemed like she had something on her mind lately; I suspect she might be in a relationship."
Old Shao nodded and said, "In that case, let’s go check out the sponge while we talk."
"Director Wang said at that moment, 'I see you haven't eaten yet. Let's have a meal first; our cafeteria is quite good, offering great food at reasonable prices.'
As he spoke, several stomachs began to rumble. Old Shao looked around at everyone and smiled, 'Alright then, let's eat first and talk afterward.'
The cafeteria at the Sponge Factory was quite large. Upon entering, they saw various food options available at different counters.
Along the way, many people greeted Director Wang, who responded with a cheerful smile.
'This place is like a small society,' Director Wang remarked. 'You can find anything you want to eat. Today, it's on me, so everyone can eat their fill!'
Before Director Wang could finish his sentence, a voice interrupted from nearby: 'Damn it, are you targeting me? Is this food meant for someone else?'
'What do you mean? If you don't want to eat it, then don't!' another voice chimed in.
Everyone turned toward the source of the commotion and saw two women arguing at one of the counters.
One was a worker serving food behind the glass window, holding a ladle and weighing over two hundred pounds. The other was an older woman standing outside, likely around fifty years old."
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