Ping An downstairs was both surprised and delighted by his new discovery.
Upstairs, Mei Qian was equally surprised and delighted by the sudden arrival of a beauty.
"Deng! Deng! Deng!" The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs outside the room grew louder and louder.
"Squeak—" The room door opened.
"Sou—pa!" The sound of an arrow being loosed finally calmed the person under the covers.
Mei Qian, who had yanked off the covers and sat up, was first startled by the long arrow embedded in the wooden headboard. He turned his head and saw a dark figure standing in the doorway. Trembling, he reached for the table lamp and turned it on. In the light, he saw Ping An's dark face.
"Ping An! You... why are you back? Weren't you..." Mei Qian stammered, still huddled in the covers, unwilling to show his face.
"This is my home! I can come back whenever I want!" Ping An gritted his teeth, enunciating each word.
"Well, then you should have knocked, shouldn't you?" Mei Qian felt a palpable killing intent emanating from Ping An.
"I said, this is my home, I can be wherever I want!" Ping An drew his bow, an arrow nocked, aiming it at Mei Qian's—groin.
"What do you want?" Mei Qian asked, his tongue trembling.
"Did you do it?" Ping An asked, his face still cold.
"No! I haven't even had time to take off my underwear!" There was no need for explanation or thought; at that moment, the meaning of the word "do it" was obvious to anyone.
Then, with two sounds of "swoosh—pa," a long arrow landed precisely in front of Mei Qian's underwear, and he could feel the cold arrowhead pressing against his most private part.
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"Next time, I'll aim more accurately! Do you hear me!" Ping An put away his bow, walked to the bed, forcefully pulled out the two arrows from the bed, and then turned to leave.
"Ping An, why don't you turn yourself in with me! Stop messing around, the newly discovered evidence is in your favor!" Mei Qian shouted as he slowly regained his senses.
"Save it. By investigating in secret, I've uncovered a lot of useful things." Ping An poked his head back in from the doorway. "I came back tonight to find something new on your laptop—don't think about taking advantage of my absence—this is my home, and I have hundreds of cameras hidden in this house—I have a hundred ways to ruin your reputation, so don't challenge my patience or my bottom line!"
With that, Ping An withdrew his head, and his voice echoed from downstairs, his final words ringing out—"My family's reputation is spotless. If you want to marry An Jing, find a respectable person to come and propose. And prepare a dowry of one million, and after the wedding, you can do as you please..."
"Drip, drip, drip!" The clock on the wall inside the room ticked quietly.
"Is my brother gone?" An Jing's shy voice came from under the covers.
"Mm, he's gone." Mei Qian sat on the edge of the bed, hugging his knees, his head buried in his lap, looking as if he had been violated.
"Are you okay? I didn't know my brother would come back tonight." An Jing felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't expected her brother to stay after smashing the bottle. It was also her carelessness; her brother was usually so petty. In this situation, he definitely wouldn't have left without Mei Qian coming downstairs.
"Mm, I'm fine. I want to be alone for a while," Mei Qian said calmly.
"I'm sorry. Come into bed quickly. My brother is really gone now. Don't blame him; he just wasn't prepared," An Jing said gently, pulling back the covers. She felt incredibly sympathetic towards Mei Qian.
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"No, I want to sleep alone tonight." Mei Qian, trembling, got out of bed and slowly dressed himself, covering his lower half with his hands, and shuffled out of the room.
"Ah!—Ping An, go to hell!" An Jing's hysterical scream echoed from the room.
After a cold shower, Mei Qian finally felt like he was back to himself. He naturally didn't believe Ping An had installed hundreds of cameras in his house; the encounter had likely been a coincidence. However, he did believe Ping An's claim about looking for information on his laptop.
Opening his laptop, Mei Qian wiped his head with a towel and checked his recent browsing history. Indeed, his computer had been accessed, and the files he had viewed were surveillance videos.
Clicking on one of the surveillance videos, Mei Qian thought for a long time before realizing it was a video from the cold storage area beneath the supermarket where Niu Jian's head had been found. Why would Ping An be watching this video?
With a sense of inquiry, Mei Qian stared intently at the screen.
"This man... could it be Wu An? What is he holding? Is he taking pictures with his phone? Is there something in the cabinet?" Mei Qian pondered deeply, staring at the computer.
"Who is the woman talking to Wu An?" By the end of the video, Mei Qian shared Ping An's confusion.
"Tomorrow, I'll need to reorganize these newly discovered clues," Mei Qian thought.
While Mei Qian was examining the new clues, Ping An had once again arrived at the third supermarket in Hechuan City. This supermarket was one of the few in the market that operated overnight, usually closing at midnight. Based on the woman finally discovered in the surveillance video, she was clearly working the night shift at the supermarket, and night shift employees generally maintained such a schedule and service. Therefore, with a hopeful attitude, Ping An returned to the supermarket.
It was already ten o'clock in the evening. Apart from customers who had just finished their late-night shopping, there were very few people in the supermarket. Ping An, wearing a hat, mingled in the deli section and quickly spotted a woman with a long braid.
Sitting in the supermarket's dining area, he casually ordered a bowl of porridge and a *guokui* (a type of flatbread). While subtly watching the woman with the long braid in the distance, Ping An pretended to be a diner eating his meal.
"It's highly likely that this woman really looks like the one in the video." He took out his phone, opened the surveillance video he had uploaded earlier, and compared them carefully. The more he looked, the more alike they seemed.
With less than two hours remaining until the end of the night shift, regardless of whether Mei Qian would take immediate action after viewing the video, Ping An was willing to take a risk and find a way to interact with this woman with the long braid.
At midnight, "farewell" music played in the supermarket, and the employees began packing up while ushering the few remaining customers out. Ping An, pretending to be working, had eaten a bowl of porridge, a *guokui*, and to delay his departure, he also ate a bowl of *malatang* (spicy hot pot), a portion of teppanyaki, and a bowl of lotus root soup. At this point, his stomach was feeling the strain, and he regretted eating so much. However, as the night shift finally ended, he quickly left the supermarket.
Half an hour later, the supermarket employees began leaving through the back door one by one. Ping An gritted his teeth, holding back the urge to relieve himself, and stared intently at the employees emerging from the back door. Finally, he saw the woman with the long braid leisurely cycling out.
"Excuse me, miss, please wait!" Ping An, clenching his legs, took a few difficult steps forward and stopped the woman with the long braid. As soon as he uttered a polite phrase, a "poof" sound escaped from below him.
"Oh, the restroom is to the left. You should go quickly!" The woman with the long braid, seeing Mei Qian's grimacing face and contorted legs, kindly pointed towards the restroom.
"No, no, I wanted to find you—uh!" Ping An gritted his teeth, forcing out a series of sounds from his throat.
"Oh, here, take this pack of tissues." The woman with the long braid was so understanding that Ping An felt like crying.
"Wu An! I mean, Wu An!" Ping An, with his last ounce of strength, uttered the name Wu An.
The woman with the long braid paused, suddenly shook off Ping An's hand, dropped her bicycle, and ran towards the street.
"You, wait!" Seeing the woman about to run, at the critical moment, Ping An gambled everything, abandoning all his dignity, and pulled the woman's hand without hesitation.
"Pfft!" The world fell silent. Ping An's contorted face calmed down. The woman with the long braid, who had been grabbed by the hand, turned back to ask what was happening, only to be overwhelmed by a, well, that smell.
"Ugh..." The woman with the long braid covered her nose, retching continuously. Her phoenix eyes were filled with terror, confusion, and a hint of disgust.
"Ma'am, please listen to me. I didn't want to meet you like this, but the situation is serious, and I need to talk to you. Don't worry, I won't harm you; I just want to find the killer of Wu An." Ping An, having calmed down, said with a thick skin and embarrassment.
"Who exactly are you?" The woman with the long braid was angry.
Indeed, in such a situation, what kind of encounter could a woman traveling alone have? Robbery? Rape? Molestation? What was Ping An's situation? A self-inflicted biochemical attack triggering a mental-level disgust "passive" effect?
"My name is Ping An! Have you heard of me?" Ping An, now somewhat incoherent, within these few seconds, wished he could knock this silly woman unconscious and drag her back to explain slowly.
"Ping An? You're that, that reporter, Reporter Ping An?" The woman with the long braid still held her hand over her nose, but the tone of disgust finally disappeared.
"Yes, I am Ping An. Here is my ID. You can take a look." Ping An pulled out his reporter's ID. As he was about to hand it over, he noticed she had no intention of taking it, so he sighed and opened the ID to prove his identity.
"Oh, so you saw what I mailed you and came to find me?" The woman with the long braid thought for a moment and said. "That's not right. I mailed it anonymously; how did you find me?"
"What? Ma'am, you mailed me something? What was it? Where did you mail it?" Ping An asked, frowning.
"To your unit! Wu An gave me some information before his accident, saying that if anything happened to him, I should mail it to you." The woman with the long braid lowered her hand from her nose and said with some sadness.
"I haven't been to the unit for a while, so I didn't receive it," Ping An said. "Ma'am, can I talk to you privately?"
"Like this... talk?" The woman with the long braid looked him up and down and said.
"Of course not. It's just that the situation is serious, and I need to know some things about Wu An." Ping An glanced around and said. "If it's convenient for you, Ma'am, I can rent a room nearby."
"Rent a room... Never mind. Follow me; my place is nearby." The woman with the long braid said, frowning.
It turned out that this woman with the long braid was Wu An's elder sister, named Wu Ping, aged 47. This brother and sister were the children of a wealthy businessman from another province. In the 1990s, during the national "strike hard" campaign, Wu An's father was sentenced to death for ties to organized crime. Wu An was only a child at the time and did not understand the harsh realities of life. After his father was executed, his mother also fell ill and passed away. Their vast fortune was plundered by relatives, and some people in society also threatened revenge.
Seeing their lives declining day by day, and more importantly, the trouble their father had stirred up in earlier years now threatening to harm the siblings, the eighteen-year-old Wu Ping had no choice but to take a job at the Hechuan City slaughterhouse and bring her fourteen-year-old brother, Wu An, to live a simple but quiet life.
When they first arrived in Hechuan, the Wu Ping siblings didn't even have a place to live. Wu Ping's monthly salary of 60 yuan barely supported her brother. Education became a luxury. Fourteen-year-old Wu An, who had been a good student, dropped out of school. His sister worked during the day, and he collected trash. During that time, he was often bullied, and gradually, Wu An became tough. By the age of eighteen, he had become a notorious local hoodlum.
Wu Ping's current residence was a two-bedroom second-hand apartment she had purchased ten years ago. The apartment was not large but was clean. At Wu Ping's request, Ping An first took a shower. He lingered in the bathroom awkwardly until Gao Da, who was groggy with sleep, arrived with a change of clothes, after which he changed into clean attire.
"Ma'am, tonight, tonight was really embarrassing. I didn't expect that the food at your supermarket, that, that..." Ping An said sheepishly, sitting in the simple living room and watching Wu Ping boil water and serve tea.
"It's okay. The food at the supermarket has never been very fresh, especially at night. Generally, if we can sell it, we do; if not, we throw it in the trash." Wu Ping poured two cups of hot water and served them to Ping An and Gao Da.
"Hehe, Ma'am, are you living alone now? Do you have children?" Ping An began with pleasantries.
"No, I'm divorced. My ex-husband used to hit me a lot. Wu An couldn't stand it and beat him up badly, causing him to be hospitalized. Wu An also went to reform school for two years. I couldn't bear it anymore and got divorced. Children... alas, I wasn't destined to have any. My life has been a muddle," Wu Ping said sadly.
"Oh my dear lady, you mustn't say that! Good men are still out there. While you still have half a lifetime, find another good one. Age-wise, it can be a bit older—oh, the important thing is that he knows how to cherish you! A good life is still yours!" Gao Da, who had been sitting nearby, had not taken his eyes off Wu Ping since entering the apartment. Wu Ping, although 47 years old, was well-preserved, with a melon-seed face, phoenix eyes, thick black braids, a figure that was neither too thin nor too fat, and not too tall or too short. Especially hearing her soft and sweet voice, old Gao Da wished he could divorce his wife immediately.
Ping An was very displeased with Gao Da's selfish behavior that disregarded revolutionary friendship and the cause of solving the case. He kicked him hard under the table.
"What Grandpa says is right, but I fear I don't have that fate. Little Anzi, wasn't he..." Wu Ping choked up and began to cry.
"Don't call me Grandpa. I'm only 56 this year; call me Big Brother!" Gao Da gently patted Wu Ping's back and comforted her. "Don't worry, I arranged for Ping An to contact you today because of Wu An's case. Don't be sad, little sister. We will help you get justice for your brother."
"Uncle Gao Da, that's not right. Aren't you 59?" Ping An squinted at Gao Da.
"By traditional Chinese reckoning, by traditional Chinese reckoning!" Gao Da replied perfunctorily.
"Uncle Gao Da, that's not right. I hired you with 10,000 yuan! How did it become you arranging me?" Ping An tilted his head and asked.
"Money or not, it was just Uncle joking with you. Do you think Uncle is short of money? After returning from the army, I did business for several years. I have a house within the Third Ring Road in the city, a three-story building in the village, and over 200,000 yuan in savings in the bank, for when I get sick. But my body, having been a special forces soldier, is remarkably healthy. I don't know when I'll need it. My sons are filial and always urge me to find a companion. I've been idle these past few years, and if I could find someone like you, little sister, I wouldn't be fooling around with Ping An!" The more Gao Da spoke, the brighter his forehead became, and Ping An was almost choked to death by the old man's spittle.
"Ma'am, let's talk about serious matters!" Ping An felt that tonight's investigation, hard-won, was about to turn into Gao Da's twilight romance meeting, and he steered the conversation back on track.
"Ma'am, when Wu An had his accident, why didn't you go to the police station as a family member?" Ping An asked. "Wu An's household registration had never been established in Hechuan, so the police had always assumed Wu An lived alone with no relatives."
"Little Anzi had offended many people in recent years. He told me years ago that even if he died and was taken to the police station, I couldn't identify the body. He was afraid that if anyone knew I was his sister, they would seek revenge." Wu Ping said that for the past five years, Wu An had been living outside and rarely contacted her, so almost no one knew of their sibling relationship.
"Ma'am, can you tell me about Wu An's situation in recent years?" Ping An asked.
"Wu An used to drive a taxi, then a ride-sharing car, and gradually earned some money. Although he still didn't have a place to live, he could at least ensure his food and drink," Wu Ping said. About two years ago, Wu An mentioned that he was working for a boss named Chen... Rong. The boss asked him to make four or five trips out of town each month, and for each trip, he paid 1,500 yuan. Combined with occasional passengers, he could earn over ten thousand yuan a month.
Seeing her brother's life becoming "prosperous," Wu Ping, as the elder sister, was happy. However, it wasn't long before she was unhappy because one time, Wu An, drunk, stayed overnight at his sister's place and accidentally let slip something.
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"Drug trafficking! That's a capital offense!" Wu Ping said, wiping away tears. "Being a bit tough or even ruthless for survival is understandable, but drug trafficking is a path of no return."
Under Wu Ping's "threat of death," Wu An went to the Narcotics Division of the Hechuan District Public Security Bureau alone and reported himself. However, the anti-drug police asked Wu An to "atone for his sins and redeem himself by meritorious service" by continuing to "infiltrate" the drug circles and deliver intelligence on time.
"Atonement by meritorious service" was originally a good thing, perhaps reducing his prison sentence. However, Wu An's "undercover" operation turned out to be long-term. Wu An discussed with his sister, thinking of exposing the entire gang at once. But the anti-drug police wanted him to "calm down," saying that catching drug dealers required "taking it slow" and not letting Wu An "expose everything," and still asked him to submit intelligence regularly.
The so-called intelligence was selling people! Under the instruction of the anti-drug police, Wu An was forced to betray some small figures involved in drug trafficking every few months. Over time, some people became suspicious. If Wu An hadn't had a notorious reputation, Chen Nairong's gang would have found him and beaten him to death. After some time, Wu An told his sister that he had realized that the so-called anti-drug police didn't want to "eradicate the entire nest" but only wanted to "maintain a steady flow" and claim bonuses for their tasks. They didn't care about his life or death.
Wu An wanted to quit and was unwilling to provide intelligence at the risk of his life, but the anti-drug police used his "betrayal" to their advantage, asking Wu An, "Do you believe that everyone in Hechuan knows you are an informant? In that case, you might not even find your body."
Wu An was terrified. He couldn't quit the drug dealers' circle! If he surrendered, he would be treated as a long-term "cash cow" by the police! If he ran, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to escape and would be hunted by both the underworld and the authorities. Thus, Wu An spent a year in constant anxiety.
"I can't believe there are such scoundrels in the police force!" Ping An said fiercely.
"Yes, although Wu An was overbearing, he was also timid. He couldn't afford to offend the drug dealers, nor could he afford to offend the police. He lived in constant fear every day," Wu Ping said. She had advised Wu An to report them officially and take a gamble! But Wu An used Niu Jian's case as an example, saying that Niu Jian was also a significant figure, yet he was still harmed by his own son.
"What? Ma'am, you know Niu Jian too?" Ping An said. "To be honest, I found you after watching a video. The video was from the evening of September 9th. Wu An was at the locker at the back of the supermarket where you work, picking up something, and then you appeared."
"Oh, that time. I remember that day Little Anzi said his boss told him to pick up something from the locker. He was being mysterious, and I was worried to death, so I kept watch for him. But he only took out a few pages of paper, took some photos, and then left," Wu Ping said.
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"Do you know how he opened the locker that day? Do you know the content of those few pages of paper?" Ping An thought, finally getting to the crucial point.
"Heh, I really don't know how he opened the locker. I thought the locker used facial recognition, and unless he locked it himself, no one else could open it. But Little Anzi locked it himself and then couldn't find it, spending a long time before finding it," Wu Ping said. As for the few pages of paper, they seemed to be printed images. She didn't ask for details. Later, Wu An also printed out the pictures he had taken on his phone, saying that if anything happened to him, he would mail these to Ping An.
"Where are those things?" Ping An asked anxiously.
"They've already been mailed to you!" Wu Ping said.
"Are there any left at home?" Ping An asked.
"I thought about it just now; there's nothing left at home," Wu Ping said.
It seemed he would have to make a trip to the unit! Ping An picked up the tea on the table and took a big gulp, calculating in his mind that, regardless of anything else, today's gains were comparable to the most he had gained since the case began. Both Niu Jian and Wu An had such tragic backstories.
"Ma'am, I have one more question. You just said that Niu Jian was killed by his own son. What about that?" Ping An said.
"Wu An told me that Niu Jian died a terrible death. Who knows what happened; I didn't ask further," Wu Ping said.
"Mm, Ma'am, one last question, among the police officers who dealt with Wu An, was there one named Su Xia?" Ping An asked after much deliberation.
"Yes! But Officer Su is a good person. He and Captain Hao Gang from the anti-drug team once met Wu An. I heard Wu An say that Hao Gang threatened him to 'obey,' but Officer Su quietly advised my younger brother to commit a minor offense, and then have the police from another district arrest him, and then confess everything in another district. This would ensure his safety during detention," Wu Ping said. She hoped Little Anzi would try it, but he was afraid.
"Oh, so Su Xia knows everything Wu An did and what the anti-drug team did?" Ping An asked persistently.
"You could say that, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to my younger brother together for intelligence," Wu Ping said affirmatively.