[02/27, 21:02, Magic Cube Youth Apartment, Nanyi City]
Lin Zhizhi went to bed early tonight, simply because her brain cells were exhausted and needed sleep to recover.
“Xiao Shitou, you’re still studying pinyin…” Lin Zhizhi yawned, “You’re really diligent; can you even get addicted to studying?”
Xiao Shitou nodded: “Yes, it’s interesting.”
He was marking every pinyin he had looked up, crossing out non-existent places and marking questionable ones with a question mark. Lin Zhizhi leaned over: “How’s your study going?”
“Pretty good.”
“Eh? Why are you crossing out the pinyin syllables?”
“… I’ve already learned them.”
Lin Zhizhi didn’t suspect anything, patted his head, and pointed to the clock: “It’s nine o’clock. Time for bed. You’re growing, and if you don’t sleep on time, you’ll become a short little guy.”
Xiao Shitou looked up at her, trying to appeal with a cute expression: “Can I study a little longer?”
Indeed, Lin Zhizhi had a weakness for cute kids. Seeing Xiao Shitou’s adorable and pitiful expression, she couldn’t bear to refuse. So she coughed lightly and pretended to be serious: “Until nine thirty, no more.”
Xiao Shitou nodded in agreement, picked up the PAD, and stood up, preparing to go to the living room, but was stopped by Lin Zhizhi.
“I’m afraid it might disturb your sleep.” Xiao Shitou knew she was a light sleeper and easily disturbed by light and noise. Lin Zhizhi smiled and replied, “No, I’ll lie in bed and play on my phone for a while. Half an hour will pass quickly, just enough to help me feel sleepy.”
So, one sat at the table and the other lay in bed, one looked at the PAD and the other played on the phone. Xiao Shitou was focusing intently on finding locations. This method was clumsy and complicated, with dozens of options left to filter, making it a rather long process.
In less than half an hour, Xiao Shitou turned around and found that Lin Zhizhi had already fallen asleep. She was leaning against the headboard, her phone lying on the bed with the screen still on. Xiao Shitou shook his head helplessly, carefully placed the phone on the bedside table, and inadvertently saw the chat interface on the phone.
Sheng Guoning: [I’m in Muli. The local specialty is a kind of preserved fruit, sour and sweet. I bought a pound for you.]
Lin Zhizhi: [Great, great (cute). How come you’re in Muli? On a business trip?]
Sheng Guoning: [Sigh, it’s still my big brother-in-law. How could I dare not follow his instructions! (crying)]
Lin Zhizhi: [(Covering face) You can try not listening; at most, my brother will beat you up.]
Sheng Guoning: [No, I need to maintain a good relationship with my big brother-in-law. Do you like preserved plums? This one isn’t sweet, it’s very sour.]
At this point, Lin Zhizhi didn’t reply anymore. The message was half-typed in the input box, but she fell asleep from exhaustion. Sheng Guoning asked again, “Are you asleep?” but received no response.
Xiao Shitou stared at the words “business trip” with his heart racing. Holding Lin Zhizhi’s phone, his palms gradually became sweaty. Although it was wrong, if he could obtain some information from Sheng Guoning, it would save him a lot of time.
Using such a method was wrong, and if Lin Heyu knew, he would definitely send him back to Haijing without discussion. But Yi Shi had said he had to go himself, as Lin Heyu would be in danger if he accompanied him.
Xiao Shitou gritted his teeth, holding Lin Zhizhi’s phone and the PAD, quietly opened the bedroom door, and crawled into an inconspicuous corner of the living room, hiding behind the curtain.
He re-sent the message Lin Zhizhi hadn’t managed to send: [Forget it, I don’t like sour things. Just bring back the preserved fruit.]
Sheng Guoning: [Oh, you’re still awake. I thought you had already fallen asleep.]
Lin Zhizhi: [Just taking a shower. Is Muli fun?]
Sheng Guoning: [No time for fun. Haven’t even entered the city, just traveled along the national highway.]
Xiao Shitou searched for “Muli” on the PAD, and the result was “Muli City,” a county-level city near Nanyi, administered by Nanyi. He zoomed in on the national highways around Muli City and found at least three national highways passing through it. Each national highway had different surrounding areas—some passed through scenic spots, some were near industrial parks, and others were close to agricultural bases and hairy crab farming bases.
An idea struck Xiao Shitou. He typed: [It’s okay. There are scenic spots, so driving there is like sightseeing (cute)]
Sheng Guoning: [How do you know I passed through a scenic spot?]
Lin Zhizhi: [Guessing. Otherwise, driving would be too boring.]
Sheng Guoning: [Haha, it’s Baimei Mountain. There are two springs on the mountain that look like two eyebrows. I’ll take a picture for you when I get back tomorrow.]
Xiao Shitou looked up the national highway passing by Baimei Mountain and found that this national highway also had a factory—Muli City’s Second Chemical Factory.
… A chemical factory?
Xiao Shitou quickly put down his phone, took out the stones from his pocket, and found the two stones marked with “n.” He turned them over, and the pinyin letters that appeared in his palm cleverly turned into “u.”
Had he been spelling it wrong all along? Xiao Shitou’s spirits lifted. He crossed out the previously recorded string of letters and wrote down the new ones, suddenly feeling enlightened. Indeed, the letter “u” was missing earlier, so he had never spelled “mu,” and naturally didn’t know that Muli was in the options. But now, with the new spelling, everything became clear.
mu li er hua
Muli Second Chemical Factory—this was an abbreviation. Gardenia must have heard it from someone else, and she didn’t know what kind of place it was, so she only recorded it this way.
Being led to a chemical factory… Xiao Shitou closed his eyes, thought alone in the darkness for a few seconds, and when he opened them again, he had a bold idea. He sent a final message pretending to be Lin Zhizhi, thanking Sheng Guoning, then bit his lip and dialed Lin Heyu’s number.
It rang for a few seconds before being disconnected. Lin Heyu replied with a text: [Busy with a mission. What’s the matter?]
Xiao Shitou’s expression showed a hint of regret. Not only was meeting in person out of the question, but even hearing his voice seemed a luxury. He didn’t reply and quietly returned to the bedroom, placing the phone back on the bedside table.
Lin Zhizhi had already changed her position, hugging the pillow and sleeping soundly. Xiao Shitou looked at her for a while, his lips moving silently to say goodbye: goodbye.
—
Lin Zhizhi woke up, and the room was quiet. Xiao Shitou was nowhere to be found.
The apartment was only around forty square meters, one bedroom and one living room. A thorough search would take no more than three minutes. Lin Zhizhi panicked, not even changing out of her pajamas, and, in slippers, rushed downstairs, calling out as she searched: “Xiao Shitou! Xiao Shitou! Come out!”
She searched the entire Magic Cube apartment, including the rooftop, but Xiao Shitou was nowhere to be found, as if he had vanished from the earth. Lin Zhizhi broke out in a cold sweat. At this moment, she wished more than anything to see him suddenly appear, holding soy milk and oil sticks, or a sesame cake with spicy soup, looking innocent and saying he just went to get breakfast.
“Security guard, please, have you seen my child? He’s about this tall, with white skin and big eyes. He often goes downstairs to throw away the trash these days.” Lin Zhizhi anxiously gestured. The security guard at the door looked confused. An older security guard came out of the booth, holding a cup of tea: “Oh, I saw him last night. He was carrying a black plastic bag and didn’t have a door access card. I let him out.”
Lin Zhizhi was immediately excited, nodding repeatedly: “Yes, that’s him! What time did he leave? What was he wearing?”
“What’s the matter? He hasn’t come back since last night?”
Lin Zhizhi was nearly in tears: “I couldn’t find him when I woke up this morning. I’ve searched the house and the courtyard downstairs, and I don’t know where he went…”
The two security guards, seeing the young woman about to cry, quickly invited her inside and told her not to panic. Such a big child must know the way and might have just lost track of time while playing somewhere. But Lin Zhizhi shook her head continuously, wiping her eyes: “No, he is very obedient and sensible, he wouldn’t run off.”
The security footage showed Xiao Shitou leaving the community at 10:11 PM last night, wearing a black jacket and carrying a black bag, turning right, which was the direction he usually went to throw away the trash.
He hadn’t returned by this morning. The security guards called their colleagues who had just finished their night shifts to confirm that they hadn’t seen the boy, and advised Lin Zhizhi to report it to the police.
Lin Zhizhi left the Magic Cube apartment and followed the direction Xiao Shitou had gone, asking around along the street. But she found nothing. Many shops had closed after ten, and the only 24-hour convenience store’s surveillance didn’t capture Xiao Shitou; he likely hadn’t come this way.
After searching for over an hour, Lin Zhizhi sat on a roadside bench, reluctantly admitting that she couldn’t find Xiao Shitou on her own. She took out her phone and planned to call her brother, only to be surprised to find that there had been a call to Lin Heyu at 09:43 the previous night, after she had fallen asleep.
The call lasted three seconds and wasn’t answered. Lin Heyu replied with a text saying he was on a mission and asking what the matter was. More shockingly, her chat history with Sheng Guoning had been extended by a few messages. She reviewed them several times; the messages were just ordinary chat, as if Xiao Shitou was only trying to help them cultivate their relationship.
Why did he do this? Why did he leave without saying goodbye?
Lin Zhizhi covered her face with her hands, her nerves taut like a string, and her mind increasingly unsettled. Xiao Shitou was missing. How should she explain this to her brother? The day before, she was confident that as long as Xiao Shitou was willing to stay, she would treat him as family, but now, she was so exhausted and couldn’t even keep track of a child. How could she talk about being responsible?
Her palms were sweaty and sticky, nearly making her phone slip. She accidentally dialed Sheng Guoning’s number.
“Zhizhi, what’s wrong?”
Hearing his voice, Lin Zhizhi’s tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and tears fell: “Xiao Shitou… Xiao Shitou is missing.”
Sheng Guoning was on a business trip to Muli, heading to the Second Chemical Factory located on the outskirts of the city. Lu Caiyun’s husband, Yang Weiyi, worked there. It was his special job that provided Pang Daozi and others with materials for making explosives.
Since the workplace was in a neighboring city, Yang Weiyi only came home once every two weeks. Up to now, the police had not seen Yang Weiyi in person. According to neighbors, he was tall and thin, timid and mild-mannered, and completely different from Pang Daozi. When Lu Caiyun talked about her husband, she described him as “having a very good temper, diligent, and family-oriented,” a reliable good man.
Therefore, when Sheng Guoning pulled out his credentials and asked about buying a child, Yang Weiyi’s face turned pale with fear, and his lips trembled: “I—I didn’t—didn’t buy a child…”
Sheng Guoning’s face was stern and aggressive: “Still not admitting it? We’ve received a report. You have an extra girl in your home, and you didn’t have a daughter. Where did she come from?”
Yang Weiyi instinctively supported himself with his hand on the table: “That—that’s a relative’s child…”
“Which relative?”
“It’s…” Yang Weiyi racked his brain. It was evident he wasn’t used to lying, and his face turned red from the effort of making up a lie.
Sheng Guoning observed him, increasingly astonished. How did someone like this end up mixed up with such ruthless criminals?
Yang Weiyi stammered for a long time but couldn’t come up with a suitable excuse. Sheng Guoning decided to use a tougher approach, pulling out a pair of handcuffs from his pocket: “Not willing to speak? Then come with me. We’ll get to the bottom of it back at the station.”
The shiny silver cuffs were glaringly bright under the light. Yang Weiyi, startled, fell to his knees: “Officer, I didn’t do it on purpose! My wife and I just wanted a daughter. It wasn’t intentional…”
“Why not just have one yourself?”
Yang Weiyi’s features twisted in pain, showing a tortured expression: “If we could have, we wouldn’t have waited until now… Caiyun’s health is poor; she can’t get pregnant. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have sought other ways…”
“Even if adopting, it should be done legally. Besides, were you really looking for a daughter?!” Sheng Guoning pierced through his pretense, “You were looking for a match for your son’s kidney!”
Yang Weiyi was dumbfounded, his face as white as a sheet, never expecting the police had investigated so deeply. He regretted not following Pang Daozi’s advice; it was indeed easy to expose oneself. Just a few days had passed, and now the police were at his door…
Sheng Guoning pushed him onto a bench: “You’d better tell the truth and explain the origin of that child.”
Yang Weiyi glanced at the gleaming handcuffs, trembling: “If I tell, will I avoid sentencing? Officer, I don’t want the child anymore. If I have a criminal record, I’ll definitely be fired from the factory. I can’t lose this job…”
“Speak first.”
Yang Weiyi, gripping a chair for support, stood up and began to explain the origins of the girl, Tao Tao.
Half a year ago, Pang Daozi approached him, offering to get a kidney at an absurdly low price—only fifty thousand yuan plus some raw materials from the factory. Yang Weiyi wasn’t someone who was easily tempted by small benefits; he knew Pang Daozi was unscrupulous, and the kidney’s source was definitely not legitimate, so he refused.
But last winter, his son’s condition suddenly worsened, and his wife cried every day. He was also deeply worried and had to grasp at the lifeline that Pang Daozi represented. Even though he didn’t know what the raw materials were for, he managed to provide Pang Daozi with a batch of controlled substances a month ago.
Last week, Pang Daozi contacted him again, saying the kidney was now available. Yang Weiyi was overjoyed and quickly asked how to obtain it and whether he needed to contact a hospital. Pang Daozi said it wasn’t necessary; he could just come empty-handed.
Yang Weiyi sensed something was off. When they met, he found that the “kidney” Pang Daozi was referring to was actually a clever and pretty little girl.
