Chapter 45: White Misr in the Woods 10
The missing puzzle piece added a layer of conspiracy to what was originally a happy and innocent Dorothy’s birthday party. But there was also good news. Around noon, the investigation team sent over sixteen pages of information. Based on the motorcycle club list provided by Bo Siyu, they had conducted multiple investigations and, after a great deal of effort, finally found the person who had given Jiajia the puzzle back then.
“So it was a club from Jiangcheng,” Qing Gang said, flipping through a couple of pages. “No wonder it was so hard to find.”
The investigation team had asked the local clubs, who then asked their friends, and so on. The search spread wider and wider. The keywords from over a decade ago—Qingquan Mountain, a little girl with intellectual disabilities, a Wizard of Oz puzzle, a birthday—all combined, finally brought out a participant in the event from Jiangcheng, 300 kilometers away. His name was Zheng Yang, and like Zhou Huanchang, he also ran several motorcycle shops.
“During that time, we followed the club to Jincheng for a competition. After it was over, we went to Qingquan Mountain to have some fun for a few days,” Zheng Yang recalled. “Meeting that little girl was quite a coincidence. There were seven of us at the time. We originally wanted to take a shortcut to Taohua Peak, but we weren’t familiar with the roads and accidentally ended up in the Nanping Road area. Since we were already lost, and it was lunchtime, we decided to get something to eat before heading back.”
Qingquan Mountain at that time was not like it is now. There were very few restaurants. The group parked their bikes and searched for a long time, but in the end, they only managed to buy some instant food and drinks from a small shop. When they returned to get their bikes, they saw a little girl carefully touching one of the motorcycles with her hands, her face full of novelty and surprise.
“She was so cute. Thin, with big eyes, dressed in puffy clothes, and she smiled like a little doll. Even I, who don’t like kids, was melted,” Zheng Yang said. “When she saw us, she seemed very scared, turned to run, but accidentally fell.”
At that time, there were two female riders in the team. They hurried forward to pick her up, patted the dirt off her, and gave her a lollipop. After teasing her a bit, they realized that the little girl couldn’t speak and her reactions were a bit slow.
“Do you like motorcycles?” Faced with a special child, the female rider’s heart softened even more. She gently touched her face.
The little girl obediently nodded.
The female rider originally wanted to take her for a ride, but was stopped by Zheng Yang. They were in an unfamiliar place, and if something happened, it would be troublesome. Moreover, the child didn’t look well and was coughing constantly. So he squatted down and asked, “Little sister, where do you live? It’s getting late. Big brothers and sisters will take you back.”
The little girl, eating her candy, pointed with her hand. Only then did the group discover a beautiful three-story house hidden behind the parking lot. They took her home. The back door of the house was open. Next to it was a small table with some colored paper and crayons scattered on it. There were drawings of birthday cakes and candles, and the words “12.29, let’s look forward to the cutest little princess Jiajia turning ten.”
“It was late October at that time, and we had to come back to Qingquan Mountain at the end of December. So we made an agreement with Jiajia to celebrate her birthday together. It just so happened that Old Song had a box of puzzles in his car. Although it was a bit big, we didn’t have anything else to give. Old Song said the puzzle had fairy tales and animals, so a little girl should like it. Even if she couldn’t put it together, it would be fun to just play with the pieces.”
Jiajia did indeed like it very much. She had no strength and couldn’t hold the box. She simply pressed her entire cheek against it, rubbing and smiling like a little puppy. She was innocent and cute, which made the riders all take out their phones to take pictures of her. They stayed and played for a while longer, telling her the story of The Wizard of Oz on the box, saying she was like Dorothy, and even drew a few pictures with her. Zheng Yang said, “One of the female riders, called Sister Niu, was rich and kind-hearted. We saw that she seemed to particularly like Jiajia, so we joked about just putting her in a pink burlap sack and taking her away. But our voices were a bit loud and were heard by Jiajia’s guardian. It should have been her nanny or aunt. She rushed out of the yard in a hurry, picked up the child, and went back into the yard.”
“She really thought we were human traffickers, with a fierce look on her face,” Zheng Yang said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “So Sister Niu quickly followed in to explain. At this time, an old man, maybe the grandfather? Hearing the commotion, also ran down the stairs, asking what happened with a wary look on his face.”
“It’s nothing, a misunderstanding,” Sister Niu said, briefly explaining the whole thing and then taking out her business card from her pocket and handing it over with both hands. The grandfather took the business card and glanced at it, his expression still suspicious. At this moment, Jiajia actively broke free from the nanny and ran over, opening her arms to hug Sister Niu, looking at her grandfather timidly with her big eyes.
“Does baby like them?” The grandfather’s attitude softened.
Jiajia nodded vigorously.
Sister Niu patted the child’s head and said with a smile, “I’m so sorry. My friend speaks without thinking and caused this misunderstanding. How about this, we have to come back to Qingquan Mountain several more times during this period. We’ll bring you some of our own white tea as an apology then.”
“You’re too kind,” the grandfather said, reaching out to call Jiajia back to his side.
“Then it’s settled. We’ll come together in December to celebrate Jiajia’s birthday,” Sister Niu said, bending down. “Now, say goodbye to big sister.”
The little girl waved, watching her big rider friends leave.
The investigator asked, “Did you only see her this once?”
Zheng Yang nodded, “Only this once. Actually, Sister Niu has a lot of medical resources. When we were playing with Jiajia at the door, we were still discussing whether to help this child, with each of us donating a little. But then we saw her grandfather. He was hale and hearty, refined and elegant, wearing a Loro Piana jacket and a Hermes belt buckle with diamonds. He was not a poor person at all.”
“You didn’t chat a little more at the time?”
“No. We were treated as human traffickers, and the guardian was obviously wary. What was there to talk about? Plus, we still had to go up the mountain to test the bikes, so we left first.”
After returning to Jiangcheng, the seven riders did not forget their promise to Jiajia and even prepared new gifts to give the little girl a grand birthday celebration. But when they came back to Qingquan Mountain later, 129 Nanping Road was already empty. They asked the neighbors, but they were all clueless and no one could say for sure.
This was the complete story of the riders about Jiajia.
Zhuang Ningyu said, “The drawings we saw earlier on the third-floor corridor, only the handwriting of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion, and the Scarecrow were the newest. This also corresponds to what Zheng Yang said, because Jiajia only came into contact with and liked The Wizard of Oz before her birthday. She probably cherished this rare friendship very much, which is why she believed their praise and believed that she was the brave Dorothy in the fairy tale.”
The information of the seven riders had been sorted out. Those who could afford to play with motorcycles together were not in a bad financial situation. Not just Sister Niu, the other six also had some status. Among them, that Old Song ran a chain of cultural and creative stores. The Wizard of Oz puzzle was a sample made by his factory. Later, because the estimated sales were not good, they didn’t produce it in large quantities. The two sample boxes on the car, the opened one was thrown away, and the unopened one was given to Jiajia.
Most of the photos taken back then were kept by the riders. Zhuang Ningyu flipped through them one by one. This time, the pixel quality was much higher. The little girl, who was drawing, was surrounded by a group of riders, smiling happily. But her health was indeed not good. Even wearing a thick down jacket, you could see that she was very thin, her face pale and sickly. He zoomed in on one of the photos and tilted his head to look at the crooked words on the paper—12.29, let’s look forward to the cutest little princess Jiajia turning ten.
Yi Ke, who was concentrating on his work, was so captivated by this sudden tilt of the head that his natural soul and reason all left home, and then were slapped back by Zhuang Ningyu with a folder.
Thwack!
In the next room, Qing Gang lowered his voice. “Sis, don’t you think that since Captain Zhuang was transferred to the Dispute Resolution Department, his temper has become much more irritable? He never used to violently beat us before.”
“Captain Zhuang still doesn’t violently beat us now,” Zhong Mu said, propping up her chin with one hand, revealing the truth of the universe. “He only violently beats Xiao Yi.”
Yi Ke rubbed his head and obediently switched back to work mode, leaning over to look at the words. “As expected of a retired teacher. This could almost be called calligraphy.”
The brushstrokes were free and unrestrained. Even with children’s crayons, he had written with a very beautiful and elegant charm. Zhuang Ningyu said, “At this level, one would generally not be satisfied with just writing at home. Moreover, according to Zheng Yang’s description, he was a rich man. There must have been many who praised and requested his calligraphy. Send it to the investigation team and have them check with the local calligraphy associations in Jincheng.”
“Okay,” Yi Ke said. “I’ll arrange it right away.”
The whole morning, the nanny was busy in the third-floor corridor. Zhuang Ningyu couldn’t find a chance to go to 301. Today, it was He Yu and Zhou Huanchang’s turn to prepare lunch in the kitchen—as long as the nanny couldn’t see, it was generally fine. In the dining room, Li Hao asked his girlfriend, “Why did you let Boss Zhou cook? Didn’t you say you were going to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes for everyone at noon? I was waiting to taste your cooking.”
Chu Feifei leaned close to his ear and whispered. Li Hao listened with a shocked expression. “Really? You… that’s impossible, right?”
“What’s impossible?” Zhuang Ningyu walked into the dining room, followed by Yi Ke and Zhong Mu. Chu Feifei stretched her neck to look outside. Seeing that the two in the kitchen were still busy, she whispered her report, “Captain Zhuang, I have a major discovery. Boss Zhou and Xiao He, they probably knew each other before!”
“What’s the reason?” Zhuang Ningyu pulled out a chair.
“I found out that Xiao He’s phone lock screen password is 520625, which means ‘I love 0625.’ Boss Zhou’s birthday is June 25th,” Chu Feifei said, playing Sherlock Holmes for the first time in her life, analyzing with great confidence. “And I secretly watched them. They were chatting so naturally in the kitchen. Xiao He’s personality is so shy. If she wasn’t familiar with Boss Zhou, how could they be talking and laughing in such a small space?”
“Although it makes some sense,” Yi Ke said, “that phone is mine, and I set the lock screen password. Xiao He’s own phone was lost outside the rule zone.”
Ms. Chu’s detective career suffered a painful Waterloo. All her reasoning just now was in vain. Li Hao quickly came to his girlfriend’s defense. “Brother Yi, what a coincidence. Your girlfriend and Boss Zhou have the same birthday?”
Zhuang Ningyu gave a warning glance. Yi Ke got the hint and didn’t bring up the dreamy Mary Sue who could cry stars again, just simply replied, “No, his birthday is in July.”
Zhuang Ningyu, whose birthday was at the end of July: “…”
Li Hao looked at him with admiration. His wife’s birthday is in July, yet you still dare to set your phone password to ‘love June 25th’? Being rich is awesome!
Yi Ke patiently explained to this illiterate person, “June 25, 1952, the birthday of the great Spanish architect Gaudí.”
Li Hao: “…”
Great. He originally just wanted to ease his girlfriend’s embarrassment, but now he had made himself embarrassed as well! He “hehe” laughed dryly and took the initiative to confess, “My password isn’t Feifei’s birthday either. It’s 190424, the global premiere date of Avengers: Endgame. We men should have our own hobbies, we can’t revolve around them all the time, right, Brother Yi?”
Yi Ke replied, “I don’t know. My wife likes Gaudí.”
Zhuang Ningyu, who had been to Barcelona five times in one year at his peak: “…”
Li Hao propped up his head with one hand. Flattery was so hard. He might as well die.
Fortunately, He Yu, carrying a dish, descended like an angel in time, restoring the atmosphere at the dining table to normal. Zhou Huanchang seemed to be a good cook as well. He even specially made a steamed egg custard for He Yu, saying it was for her hard work in cooking for everyone these past two days.
Chu Feifei looked at Zhuang Ningyu, a doubt once again arising in her heart. Even if the phone password was a misunderstanding, how could one explain this extra care now? A grown man making steamed egg custard for a woman of the opposite sex—was there really nothing going on between them? Captain Zhuang, what do you think?
But the next moment, Zhou Huanchang placed a bowl of steamed egg in front of her and Zhong Mu as well.
Chu Feifei: They are innocent!
Zhuang Ningyu hadn’t told everyone about the missing puzzle piece yet, so this meal was very relaxed and happy, especially for Li Hao, who was already naively making plans with his friends for a meal in a few days, arranging for lobster, sea cucumber, and abalone, and even booking a top-tier Western restaurant.
“Is this the one you went to with my sister last time?” Yi Ke turned his head and asked in a low voice, “Was it good?”
Zhuang Ningyu was awakened to a painful memory. “Not good. It took half a day to saw through one dish.”
Yi Ke, rested his head on the table and laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
Zhou Huanchang was obviously much more composed than the others. He moved a chair to sit next to Zhuang Ningyu and lowered his voice, “Captain Zhuang, can I ask about the progress of the puzzle?”
“It’s not a big problem,” Zhuang Ningyu said with a smile. “Let’s eat first. We’ll talk after the meal.”
These words clearly had a deeper meaning. Zhou Huanchang’s heart immediately filled with unease, and his eyes quickly swept over everyone at the table.
After the meal, Zhuang Ningyu called Zhou Huanchang to his room and said bluntly, “The puzzle is missing a piece.”
Zhou Huanchang wasn’t mentally prepared. He was stunned for a moment before saying in disbelief, “How can it be missing a piece?”
“According to the information submitted by the investigation team so far, this box of puzzles was brand new and sealed when it was handed over to Jiajia by the previous owner. It should have been lost during the process of opening the box,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “So our task for the next few days is not only to do the puzzle but also to find the puzzle piece.”
“Where are we supposed to find it?” Zhou Huanchang was terrified. “A thin puzzle piece, you have to fumble for a long time even if it’s in your pocket, let alone finding it without any clues. Why wasn’t this mentioned in the rules at all?”
“The rules this time are formulated entirely from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl, which is Jiajia. She probably doesn’t even know that a piece of the puzzle is missing,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “So it’s up to us adults to figure something out.”
Zhou Huanchang’s expression didn’t look like he could think of anything, but his mood was still stable. He just said he would try his best to brainstorm.
Chu Feifei and Li Hao couldn’t be stable. After being called to 202 and hearing that a puzzle piece was missing, the young couple were petrified on the spot. When they left, their legs were still trembling. The lobster restaurant seemed to have become distant again.
As for He Yu, besides being surprised, she actually proposed the same idea as Zhuang Ningyu, asking, “Can we make a fake one ourselves?”
“It’s easy to make one piece, but we don’t know if a fake one can trigger the game rules,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “It’s best to find the original one.”
“But where are we supposed to find it?” He Yu held her water cup, thought for a while, then gritted her teeth and suggested, “I’ll go and look in the rooms on the third floor again. Not just 301, but the other three rooms as well. There might be clues.”
“The colored lights on the third floor will be hung up soon. The nanny will leave the corridor then,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Don’t act rashly for now. Listen to my arrangements.”
He Yu nodded, “Okay.” She looked around and asked again, “Where’s Brother Yi?”
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head, “I don’t know.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Ke opened the door with his arm, holding a pile of apples and oranges.
What a domestic and handsome guy.
After He Yu left, the fruit tea started to “gurgle” and boil again. In this fresh, sweet fragrance, Zhuang Ningyu asked, “How did it go?”
Yi Ke handed him the things in his hand and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Mission accomplished one hundred percent.”
Zhuang Ningyu ignored his smug bragging and took out the memory card to insert it into the computer. Yi Ke sat next to him and extended his hand again, whining, “Look, I’m injured.”
A bloody gash ran across the web between his thumb and index finger. Zhuang Ningyu frowned, “Go bandage it yourself.”
Yi Ke didn’t want to bandage it and even tried to rest his chin on his shoulder again. But the next moment, Qing Gang pushed open the bathroom door and walked over. Zhuang Ningyu scrambled to hold the computer that was about to fall off the table. Yi Ke wanted to help him but forgot he had a wound on his hand. To make matters worse, he got hit again, and his pretense of being miserable turned into real misery.
Qing Gang was startled, thinking he had been cut by the edge of the computer at some strange angle, and quickly found a first-aid kit. Zhuang Ningyu disinfected Yi Ke’s wound with iodine, applied hemostatic medicine, and finally wrapped it with a bandage, circle by circle. His movements were gentle and meticulous, his fingers slender and cool. From Yi Ke’s angle, he could just see his eyelashes, the tip of his nose, his slightly upturned lips, and, Qing Gang’s extremely concerned gaze.
He took a deep breath and repeated for the third time, “Brother, I’m really fine. Please go back.”
Qing Gang was unmoved. Go back where? Look at you, you’re bleeding all over the place.
Yi Ke: So angry.
Zhuang Ningyu asked, “Does it hurt?”
Yi Ke said aggrievedly, “It hurts.”
Qing Gang’s burly body trembled. Why did you suddenly make such a cutesy, high-pitched sound?
Yi Ke couldn’t take it anymore and, with a push and a pull, sent the person back to 201. He originally wanted to go back to 202 to continue his act, but Zhuang Ningyu had already started checking the video. He had to put away his inappropriate thoughts and pull up a chair to sit down.
“Be more careful next time,” Zhuang Ningyu said, looking at the computer and typing. “Don’t get the wound wet. Change the medicine again tonight.”
He’s concerned about me! Yi Ke instantly left his chair and happily sat next to him.
Zhuang Ningyu stopped what he was doing and turned to look at him. “Aren’t your taking an inch and wanting a mile a little too much?”
Yi Ke actually felt that he was acting like someone with skin hunger, not at all composed. But, he said in a low voice, “I like you.”
