“My surname is Gao, Gao Shuang. You can call me Sister Shuang,” the watermelon-red woman in the large fur coat said.
By this time, five minutes had passed since Gao Shuang discovered the young man in the trunk. The car was parked on the emergency lane by the roadside. The young man was wrapped in a blanket she had rummaged out of her luggage, but the blanket was clearly not warm enough. Exposed to the cold wind, the man, despite clutching the blanket tightly, continued to shiver.
“I—I’m so sorry. I secretly climbed in when you were changing your tire earlier. I’m not a bad person… My clothes and wallet were stolen in a robbery. Just give me a lift to the city… I’m very sorry. Please don’t be afraid. I truly am not a bad person…”
Gao Shuang wasn’t worried about encountering danger. Her long false-lashed eyes peered at the man from beneath her sunglasses, curiosity barely contained:
“What about your phone? Was that stolen too?”
The man, Mo Nai, nodded.
“I’m afraid we’re not heading in the same direction. How about this, I’ll call you a police car to take you home.”
“I’m not getting into a police car.” Mo Nai was startled. The blanket on his shoulder slipped down a good way. He simply gave up on covering himself, putting the blanket back in the car. “I won’t get in a police car. I’ll walk. Thank you for your help.”
Saying this, he didn’t forget to turn back and start gathering the fresh fruits and vegetables he had brought from the passenger seat.
Gao Shuang was both annoyed and amused by his actions. She slapped Mo Nai on the shoulder: “Alright, alright, no police car then. You’re so afraid of the police, could it be that you’re—”
Mo Nai’s body tensed up, and he clenched his fists.
“—a little kid who ran away from home?” the woman’s sweet voice came from behind.
“…” Mo Nai said, “I—I’m 28.”
“What?” Gao Shuang was shocked. “You’re 28? I thought you were 18! What skincare do you use, how do you take care of your skin? It’s so white, and there’s not a single wrinkle on your face?”
“Just like this: early to bed, early to rise, and no sun exposure,” Mo Nai said awkwardly. He emphasized again, “Don’t call the police!”
“I know, I know. Then I’ll call you a Didi (ride-share) to take you to the nearest city,” Gao Shuang said.
Mo Nai nodded dazedly. Mid-nod, he still hadn’t figured things out and asked worriedly: “Didi?”
“Yes, Didi.”
“What is Didi?”
“—Huh?”
Gao Shuang’s eyes widened in astonishment, but she soon realized that the man in front of her not only didn’t know what Didi was, but he seemed to be clueless about all new concepts. He didn’t know what Ofo was, what live streaming was, what homestays were, or what a power bank was—Oh my god, he didn’t even know what a power bank was!
Most absurdly, his impression of mobile phones was still stuck on the keypad-style phones.
“Oh My God, Didi (little brother), are you a caveman who just came down from the mountain today?”
However, the “little brother” just stared at her with rabbit-like eyes, looking confused: “I’m not. I know the song playing in your car is Jolin Tsai’s The Sun Never Sets.”
This made Gao Shuang… sigh, her heart softened.
Well, the little brother was handsome. After all, a girl loves beauty.
“How about this? Since you don’t have a destination, just ride with me for a bit, and you can get off when you feel like you’ve reached a convenient place.”
Mo Nai gratefully got into the car.
“But you can’t ride in my car for free,” Gao Shuang added. Her eyes rolled, and she had a new idea for teasing the “little puppy.” “Didi, what all can you do?”
“I can make milk tea, and shouzhuabing (hand-grabbed pancakes),” Mo Nai answered honestly. “I can also sew clothes.”
“Didi, you can do so many things!” Gao Shuang exclaimed. “It’s a shame we’re on the road; none of those seem useful right now.”
Just then, the golden sunlight shot into her eyes.
Mo Nai raised a hand to block the sun while sneezing and shrinking deeper into the blanket.
“Then… then I can also draw. I can draw a portrait for you.”
“I need to inspect the goods.”
“Huh?”
“You have to let me see how well you draw before I can confidently entrust my beauty to you. Here—” Gao Shuang opened a game and handed her phone to Mo Nai. “Draw my character in the game first, and make sure she looks beautiful. If anyone contacts you in the game, ignore all the female characters—they’re all jealous of my beauty and wealth; they’re just sourpusses. If it’s a male character, tell me, they might be my little boyfriends. Sigh, though they probably won’t contact me. Ex-boyfriends are worse than dogs, and each of them is worse than a dog…”
She wasn’t asking for anything excessive. After giving her instructions, she happily drove off. Less than five minutes later, a voice beside her said, “It’s done.” She turned her head, and a gasp immediately escaped her red lips.
“Oh my god, are you an art major? How did you draw so fast and so well!”
Mo Nai just smiled shyly.
“Seeing how talented you are, Didi, I feel assured entrusting my beauty to you.”
The large sunglasses were finally removed.
But she wasn’t beautiful, nor was she young. She was just a wealthy, flamboyantly dressed, somewhat stout middle-aged woman.
“Although my kid is already in elementary school, speaking of my kid… sigh, forget it, let’s not talk about him.” She stressed again, “But Didi, you absolutely cannot draw my wrinkles! You must capture the essence of my stunning beauty, that wild, soaring feeling, the same temperament as my name… You must draw a Q-version (chibi style), understand?”
Mo Nai was very compliant, nodding repeatedly. To draw her, his eyes kept glancing over at her.
Gao Shuang felt ticklish under his gaze and asked to make conversation: “Didi, do you really not have anywhere to go? If not, Sister will take you traveling.”
“I do.”
“Where?” Gao Shuang asked again, but Mo Nai just lowered his head.
“We’re so familiar now, is there anything you can’t tell me? Sigh, fine, Sister won’t pressure you. Then do you know what Sister is going to do on this trip? Sister is going to do something only adults can do.”
“What is it?”
“Sister is going to kill—someone!”
The song on the car’s internal loop reached its finale. The cheerful melody, combined with Gao Shuang’s voice, filled the air with a sense of merriment.
Returning to the Police Investigation.
The prison Mo Nai was serving in was in the adjacent Liucheng. A major event like a prison break required a massive response, and if the man wasn’t caught within 24 hours, many people would be demoted. Except for essential personnel, the entire correctional area where he was housed had been mobilized. Local criminal police and armed police were jointly handling the case, and checkpoints on nearby roads were staffed with armed inspectors, instructed to shoot on sight if there was any suspicious movement.
The investigators found the abandoned vehicle at 5:30 a.m. Huo Ranyin naturally received the news then, assisting the Liucheng Public Security Bureau as the local jurisdiction head for the capture.
Ji Xun, unexpectedly learning the true time Huo Ranyin received the case, clicked his tongue and glanced at Huo Ranyin: Still claiming you didn’t specifically stake out for me!
Huo Ranyin maintained a serious expression, but it was visibly apparent that the previously relaxed man had a hint of tension.
Ji Xun secretly suppressed a laugh, saying nothing in front of Tan Mingjiu and the others, but privately opened his phone and sent Huo Ranyin’s WeChat account a dozen different smiling emojis, passive-aggressively mocking the “petty-minded hypocrite” from all angles.
And then—there was nothing else.
They got into the car and joined the search team.
The area where the vehicle was abandoned was mountainous. Searching the mountains relies heavily on luck. Everyone present was prepared to go sleepless for several days. Tan Mingjiu carried a box of instant noodles directly from the office:
“We have seafood, rattan pepper, braised beef, tomato chicken shred, and old vat pickled vegetable noodles! Everything you could want!”
No one paid attention to him.
Ji Xun even rolled his eyes at him before winding up his window.
Anyone who has lived on instant noodles knows the dark side of them.
The highway section on the morning of the second day of the New Year was at least not crowded. Amidst the roaring police cars, Huo Ranyin’s private car was interspersed. Inside, Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin were chatting about the case:
“He served ten years. With only eleven months left, what happened to make him want to escape? Has the prison checked? Did any suspicious people visit him in that period?”
The prison had checked, and the situation was explained in the notification.
“Two months ago, Mo Nai’s aunt visited him in prison to inform him of his mother’s death. The comparison results of his uniform fabric show that the earliest batch was also around two months ago, so the authorities suspect his mother’s death is the reason.”
“That’s a bit strange.”
“What’s strange?”
“If his mother was hanging on, anxiously waiting to see her son and refusing to die, then it would be logically sound for Mo Nai to escape in a moment of agitation to see her. But the person is already dead… What’s the difference between visiting her grave a few months early or a few months later?” Ji Xun said.
“People can do anything under extreme agitation.”
“Agitated for a full two months?”
“This is the biggest change Mo Nai experienced since he secretly began making the uniform. Besides this, his movement trajectory was no different than usual.”
“Of course,” Ji Xun shrugged, indicating understanding. “It’s the most likely possibility. Even if that possibility makes the suspect look a bit stupid.”
As they talked, the car reached the destination. The vehicle in front turned, leaving the national highway and entering a mountain road.
The road suddenly became bumpy. Huo Ranyin slowed the car, following the car ahead at a snail’s pace. Suddenly, the car in front stopped, and Tan Mingjiu poked his head out and yelled back.
Huo Ranyin lowered the window.
A gust of cold wind abruptly blew in, causing Ji Xun to immediately sneeze twice, shrinking into the fur collar of his parka.
Tan Mingjiu, who was unaffected, merely stated that the road ahead was complex, and their four cars would split up into two directions.
Ji Xun rode the bumpy car for a bit longer, then, unable to endure it anymore, he slapped Huo Ranyin’s shoulder: “Don’t drive any further. Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Out of the mountain, to the crime scene—the place where the car was abandoned.”
“Ji Xun, just say you find the mountain cold.”
“Is this about the cold?” It absolutely was about the cold, but it didn’t stop Ji Xun from arguing convincingly: “It’s one thing for Tan Mingjiu, a local, to know his way around the mountain, but you’re an outsider who’s only been here for less than two months, operating blindly. You almost drove into a ditch following Tan Mingjiu’s car just now. What role can you play here? Be a search tool? A dog would be much more efficient than you.”
“Ji Xun,” Huo Ranyin said with the greatest patience he could muster, “Do you know what road rage is?”
“I know how to analyze where Mo Nai actually went,” Ji Xun replied calmly.
Huo Ranyin immediately made a U-turn without another word.
This man is too direct!
They drove back to the abandoned car’s location. The car was still there, untouched, and since the police had already inspected it, there was no one guarding it.
Ji Xun got into the car, sneezed softly, and rubbed his nose while operating the dashboard.
Huo Ranyin reminded him: “Don’t contaminate the scene.”
“Oh come on, Captain Huo, do you really think this is a murder scene full of doubts?” Ji Xun said. Even as he spoke, he had already checked everything he wanted to see.
“He didn’t engage the handbrake. The navigation screen is paused on the input page, with only the letter ‘J’ entered. Hmm… he doesn’t seem very familiar with using it.”
“You mean he’s unfamiliar with cars.”
“Yes, unfamiliar with cars, and likely unfamiliar with the road conditions. How did he drive here without navigation? I recall the route on the dashcam recording you have was quite winding, not a straight shot. In any case, we probably need to retrace his route to understand his thoughts while driving and figure out where he was going. By the way, where is his mother’s home?”
“Jiuxia County.”
Liucheng wasn’t far from Ning City. Huo Ranyin first drove quickly in a straight line to the vicinity of Liucheng Prison, and then slowed down, following the route Mo Nai had taken.
The start was a drive that switched between main roads and small paths, with very confusing direction, generally heading southeast. Mo Nai drove fastest during this segment. Ji Xun noted down the road signs a few times on a piece of paper, then shook his head and said, “This is likely him driving randomly right after leaving prison, thinking he’s counter-tracking. It has no value.”
Next, Mo Nai drove near a small town, then drove through scattered old villages, and finally got onto the national highway.
They hadn’t even driven back to the abandoned car yet when Ji Xun made Huo Ranyin pull over.
He pointed to the white paper, where the direction of Jiashi City had been circled twice, and said: “Strange. Jiuxia County is in Jiashi City. Both of the small villages he passed through have an old road that explicitly points towards there. No matter how lost he was, he wouldn’t get lost twice, would he?”
Huo Ranyin’s brow furrowed.
“It seems the most likely answer is not the real answer. The question before us now becomes: If Mo Nai isn’t going to Jiuxia to see his mother, where does he want to go?” Ji Xun asked, full of interest.
