[12/05, 15:31, Haijing City]
Based on the map of Haijing City sent by Lin Heyu, Yi Shi found No. 234 Hongfu Avenue. Comparing it with the current map of Haijing in his hand, he discovered that this was indeed a newly constructed road, expanded and extended from the original Hongxing Road. One of the candidate targets, the Aitemei Kindergarten, is the closest to it, surrounded by a wealthy district, and is truly an elite kindergarten.
“This is probably it,” Yu Xue pointed at the map, “The Weisen International at Lin Heyu’s place is very likely to have moved here.”
Yi Shi agreed with this assessment, but to ensure the accuracy of the information, he chose to verify it with Lin Heyu. While waiting for his reply, he suggested, “Shall we go take a look?”
“Sure, let’s go and check it out in advance,” Yu Xue modified the destination in the navigation app, “Oh, it’s quite far from the city bureau, over an hour’s drive.”
Yi Shi unbuckled his seatbelt in the front passenger seat. They had switched to Yu Xue driving at the service station when they returned from Nanyi, so it was time to switch back. However, Yu Xue smiled and said, “It’s fine, it’s only been a few hours, I’m not so old that sitting for two hours would give me back pain.”
Sit for two hours…?
Yi Shi’s gaze slid down from his straight shoulders. Although the words were perfectly innocent, his mind wandered to more suggestive thoughts. He touched his nose and silently chastised himself. Yu Xue noticed, “Why is your face a bit red?”
“…Hot.”
“You’re lying, it wasn’t hot just now, but you felt hot right after I spoke?” Yu Xue sighed, “I used to think you were unfeeling, but now, tsk tsk tsk, you’ve progressed too quickly.”
Yi Shi rubbed his hands uneasily and simply turned halfway to stare out the window. Yu Xue, having teased him enough, drove toward the destination.
Less than an hour later, Lin Heyu replied, telling him that he had already checked. Weisen International was formerly called Aitemei, and it changed its name a few years ago when new investors came in and moved to the new site on Hongfu Avenue.
The Aitemei Kindergarten in front of them had two large teaching buildings and a big playground, with an area almost as large as a regular public elementary school. But an elementary school has six grades, with over 40 students in each class, meaning at least a few hundred people per school. How many children can there be in a kindergarten? A private kindergarten might only have a dozen or twenty students per class, with three age groups from junior to senior classes, plus a pre-kindergarten class. No matter how you look at it, it’s not comparable to an elementary school.
In this comparison, this kindergarten indeed had the infrastructure to live up to its title of an “elite school.” Yu Xue rubbed his chin, “It looks expensive. The tuition must be at least 20,000.”
“Per semester?” Yi Shi frowned, “That’s so expensive.” He hadn’t attended kindergarten, but he often picked up Sheng Yu’an after school. At that time, Sheng Yu’an attended a public kindergarten, and the monthly fee, including meals, was less than a thousand.
“Who told you it’s per semester?” Yu Xue glanced at him, “It’s per month, not including meal fees and other expenses. I heard from my aunt that one of her rich lady friends has a child in a kindergarten under a famous education group, and the tuition is 120,000 a year.”
He walked over to the bulletin board, skimmed through the introduction of Aitemei Kindergarten, and pointed to the signature at the bottom, “I told you, this one is also under an education group. If it’s near a wealthy district, how could it not charge exorbitant fees?”
“……” Yi Shi was confused, feeling like he knew nothing about the world of the rich.
They lingered at the kindergarten entrance for a moment, and a security guard approached to ask, “Gentlemen, how can I help you?”
“How do you charge here? Is enrollment for this year already closed?” Yu Xue had his hands in his pockets and smiled, “Can we go inside to inquire?”
The security guard sized them up. They both looked decent, but their clothing was too ordinary. And that car parked behind them? He couldn’t bear to look at it. Clearly, he was used to seeing wealthy people come and go, and had developed a keen eye for these things. Any car worth less than 500,000 yuan wouldn’t catch his attention.
However, nothing is absolute. What if these guys were some kind of undercover bosses? A bad attitude could cost him his job. So the security guard switched to a polite smile, “Sorry, enrollment for this year has already closed. You can check the bulletin board over there. The enrollment periods for the fall and spring classes are listed, along with the contact number for the admissions teacher. You can call to inquire for more details.”
“Oh… so we can’t go in, right?”
The security guard’s tone was gentle yet firm, “I’m really sorry, but since the children are in class, we have to ensure their safety.”
Given that, Yu Xue spread his hands, dropping the pretense and revealing his true intent. Yi Shi had a sudden realization, pulled out his badge from his pocket, and showed it to the security guard with a blank expression, “Can we go in now?”
Seeing the police badge, the security guard’s face changed, and he quickly let the two officers in. Yu Xue murmured softly, they were originally in plain clothes and he really didn’t want to reveal his identity, to avoid causing unnecessary panic. He whispered, “Next time, be more gentle with your tone. You scared the security guard.”
Yi Shi turned back, and the security guard shivered, “Comrade, what do you want to ask? I don’t know anything!”
“……” Yi Shi raised his hand slightly, “Nothing, just take it easy.”
It was now afternoon activity time, and the playground was bustling with activity. Two classes of children were taking a roller-skating lesson, and another class was playing on the large playground equipment. Yi Shi took out a small notebook and began to review the list of hostages. A teacher on duty approached them, “Who are you looking for?”
Yi Shi casually gave a name, and the teacher asked, “Which class?”
“Class One of the senior group.”
The teacher asked them to wait, then returned after a while, “Sir, did you get the child’s name or class wrong? There’s no Yang Keyi in Class One of the senior group.”
“What about Chen Shaqiong?” Yu Xue glanced at the notebook, “Also in Class One of the senior group.”
The teacher said she would check again, and after a while, she returned with another person, a slightly plump woman who was the teacher of Class One of the senior group. She had never seen these two men before, and was puzzled, “Gentlemen, whose parents are you? The children you’re asking about aren’t in our class.”
Yi Shi felt a sinking feeling, sensing something was wrong again. Yu Xue also realized the issue—how had they not considered it? The school might be different, so the children held as hostages wouldn’t necessarily be from the same group.
Especially since there was a child circled on the list, Jiang Dongliang, who had already gone from being tied up with a bomb to defusing it on the front line. With such a large time gap, how could his fellow captives still be in kindergarten?
Yi Shi took out his pen, biting the cap open, and decided to verify all the names. He moved the pen to the first name, “Yu Xiran, is she here?”
The female teacher’s tone grew a bit impatient, “Who exactly are you—”
Without looking up, Yi Shi pulled out his badge and asked again, “Yu Xiran, is she here?”
“……Police?” Both teachers were stunned. Yu Xue smiled and put away Yi Shi’s badge, “We’re investigating a case, please cooperate.”
The female teacher answered honestly, “No.”
“Dou Zhenyi?”
“No.”
“Wang Zixuan?”
“Which Zixuan? We have two Wang Zixuans in our class.”
Yi Shi pointed to the third name on the list, and the teacher shook her head again, “No, neither of the names is spelled like that.”
“Deng Guang?”
“No.”
……
They asked about all the names, and not one of them was from Class One of the senior group. Yi Shi closed his notebook, clearly realizing there was no need to check the entire school, because they certainly wouldn’t be at Aitemei. No, they definitely wouldn’t exist in this world as kindergarteners.
The two female teachers whispered to each other, cautiously asking Yu Xue what kind of case they were working on and whether it was related to the school. Yu Xue responded officially, “We’re currently investigating, and it’s not convenient to disclose any details. But don’t worry, the school won’t be involved.”
Yi Shi looked at the children who were taking the roller-skating class, “Which classes are those?”
“Class Two of the senior group and Class One of the middle group.”
“And your class?”
“They’re upstairs in a foreign language class.”
The educational burden these days is really heavy. Even kindergarteners have to take foreign language classes. Yu Xue sighed, “Such heavy study pressure on children isn’t good for their development. Do you usually take them out for outdoor activities?”
“Yes, we often do,” the female teacher quickly explained, “In addition to spring and autumn outings, we frequently organize visits to zoos, museums, and science centers. We also offer a diversified curriculum with rich activities. We don’t just pressure the children with academic studies.”
The other female teacher nudged her arm, “Ms. Du, doesn’t your class have an outing next week?”
“Yes, yes, we’re organizing a trip to the botanical garden next week.”
“What date?” Yi Shi asked.
“The 10th, leaving at 9 a.m. and returning at 2 p.m.”
It seemed the timing was correct, coinciding with the time they had estimated for the crime. Unfortunately, the key information didn’t match up. Yu Xue and Yi Shi exchanged glances, realizing they could only head back for now. They left their contact information with the teachers and reassured them not to worry, saying they would return if needed, and asking them not to disclose today’s conversation.
After getting in the car, Yi Shi rested his head on one hand and held the notebook in the other. Yu Xue got in a little later, carrying two bottles of water, and handed one over, “Are you thinking about where our hostages are?”
“Yes.”
“Although the names don’t match, the group going to the botanical garden includes Class One of the senior group. Maybe it’s that group.”
Yi Shi twisted off the bottle cap, gulped down a big mouthful, but still couldn’t calm the frustration in his heart. He had always wanted to turn “maybe” into “certain,” since with so many hostages involved, he didn’t want any mistakes in the information.
The photos of those dead children in the investigation files were deeply imprinted in his mind—some were stuffed into suitcases, some were strangled, some were stabbed multiple times… How could these things have been done by a human?
It really proved the saying, “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.”
A hand rested on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, and Yi Shi heard Yu Xue say, “Don’t look so bitter and resentful. Even though the information is uneven, aren’t we already working hard to make it useful? Like in Xu Shang’s case before, the information we had was actually even vaguer—only time and place—but didn’t we still catch the person and save the hostage?”
“…He was an adult,” Yi Shi said, lowering his head, “and there was only one.”
“I know, when it involves children, everyone takes it more seriously. But think of it from another angle—what if we hadn’t gotten the information from Lin Heyu?”
If it weren’t for Lin Heyu, then Xu Shang wouldn’t have been saved, they wouldn’t have caught Lin Erde, and they wouldn’t have known about this kidnapping plan. Maybe they would have just had to watch it happen…
So, Lin Heyu’s appearance had already helped immensely. They were in two different worlds, even the flow of time was opposite, and there was a time lag between them. Expecting completely equal information was indeed too harsh.
Yi Shi sighed silently, nodded slowly, “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, my mindset won’t collapse that easily.”
“Of course not, you’re Yi Shi after all.” Yu Xue propped his chin on his hand, the eyes behind his glasses slightly curved, “My personally chosen right-hand man—how could I be wrong?”
Yi Shi smiled. For some reason, his relationship with Yu Xue had deepened recently, gradually shifting toward “friend.”
Could it last? He had always been used to working alone, unwilling to form connections, finding maintaining relationships too troublesome, and afraid of affecting himself and others. But Yu Xue seemed different. He had said they were “the same kind of person.” Maybe they really could become trustworthy partners.
The phone buzzed—it was Yu Xue’s. He glanced at it, the GPS was guiding them back to the Haijing City Bureau.
“Let’s hurry back; they finally found something on the mountain.”
