Chapter 15

“I’m surnamed Peng,” Peng Juan raised her hand and made a closing movement, ending this set of taijiquan. “My name is Peng Juan, how should I address you, Sister?”

“I’m surnamed Xu. My husband’s family name is Liu. The old neighbors used to call me Sister Liu.”

“Aunt Xu,” Yan Dongcheng said from the side, “your legs and feet aren’t good, you still need to go to the hospital to see a doctor. You can’t delay when you’re sick!”

“I did go, child. This has been an old problem of mine for more than ten years. I go to the hospital every month to get medicine. The medicine does ease it quite a bit. It just hurts more on rainy days now.”

“Rheumatoid arthritis is an immune disease,” Peng Juan said with concern. “You usually need to take care of yourself. Let your son accompany you more when you go out for walks. When your mood is better, your body will naturally get better too.”

“My son works in music. He’s busy, sometimes I don’t see him for months.”

“Young people are all busy with work. Ours is the same, we often don’t see him for months.”

“But my child still has filial piety,” Old Lady Xu’s face broke into a smile. “Last year, when he saw my joints were swollen, he insisted on taking me to the hospital and making me stay for treatment. I said to him, son, your mother’s leg joints have been swollen for not just one or two years, I’ve gotten through it for so many years, why stay in the hospital! He insisted on letting me stay, said I should recuperate in the hospital.”

“Children gradually become sensible. Your son knows how to be filial to you.”

“Yes, when I was in the hospital, he watched over me every day, and at night he still had to rush off to perform. Those few days happened to be Qingming Festival. He went alone to sweep his father’s grave, and when it was already dark he hurried back to the hospital to see me. On rainy days, he was drenched all over, both legs covered in red mud, and he brought me chicken soup wontons from Fubaozhai...

Old Lady Xu’s eyes grew moist. “The ward lights were out. He accompanied me downstairs to sit in the inpatient department lobby and eat, and kept me company for a while... I was so moved, I thought to myself, from now on I have to control my temper, and stop always looking at my own child as unpleasant!”

“You’re right,” Peng Juan nodded. “Parents also need to understand their children more. Now competition is fierce in every industry, children don’t have it easy either.”

“Aunt Xu,” Yan Dongcheng asked, “does your family also go to Huatai Mountain to sweep graves? My grandfather’s grave is also at Huatai Mountain.”

“Yes, Huatai Mountain. My child’s maternal grandmother, maternal grandfather, and father are all at Huatai Mountain.”

Yan Dongcheng found it strange. Huatai Mountain Cemetery was the largest cemetery in the area, and in the previous few years it had been renovated, with clean concrete paths laid down. There were concrete steps up the mountain, and even if it rained, it was hard to step into mud.

Yet Old Lady Xu said her son had gone to sweep a grave and got both legs covered in red mud...

Yan Dongcheng’s eyes flashed to the patch of red mud from the landslide at Que Ming Mountain.

Peng Juan also sensed something off. She went to Huatai Mountain Cemetery every year, and it seemed like she had never stepped in mud. She looked at Yan Dongcheng, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

Peng Juan vaguely understood something. This was not the first time she had volunteered to help her son solve a case. In the summer two years ago, Yan Dongcheng had taken his parents to Yunwu Mountain for a trip, and that was while tracking suspects.

Peng Juan only learned the truth afterward, and when she mentioned it to Yan Dongcheng’s father, the couple both felt that this kind of thing was a duty and that they absolutely had to support their son’s work.

It looked like Old Lady Xu’s son had done something wrong. Looking at Old Lady Xu in front of her, Peng Juan felt somewhat upset. They were both mothers, and she sympathized with Old Lady Xu.

“Sister Xu, let’s go sit over there for a while and bask in the sun.” Peng Juan pointed at the sunlit bench by the lake.

“Okay, okay!” Old Lady Xu happily took Peng Juan’s arm.

Yan Dongcheng sat down on the grass several meters away from the bench, plucked a grass sprout and bit it between his lips, looking at the flocks of birds in the distance.

The two mothers chatted about family matters. Near noon, Peng Juan stood up and said goodbye to Old Lady Xu. Old Lady Xu was reluctant to part. The two exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet and chat again when they had time in the future.

After accompanying Old Lady Xu for a while and seeing her walk into the alley opposite the green space, Peng Juan and Yan Dongcheng returned to the entrance they had come from.

Yan Dongcheng drove Peng Juan home.

There were suddenly more cars on the road at noon, and the line of vehicles at the traffic lights stretched out of sight. Peng Juan had a lot on her mind and changed from her usual habit of talking non-stop whenever she saw her son.

“What has Dad been doing lately?” Yan Dongcheng turned his head to look at his mother. “I called his cell phone several times and it wasn’t even turned on.”

“Your dad, he always has more things to write than he can finish. Lately he’s been researching history again and planning to write a huge volume.”

“He can’t keep sitting like that!”

“He sits at the desk all day, and won’t budge no matter how much I try to pull him!” Peng Juan’s face showed a smile. “I told him, Old Yan, I’m going to the park, are you going or not? He answered, ‘Oh.’ I said, Old Yan, I’m going to see our son, are you going or not? He still answered with one ‘Oh.’ Then I said, Old Yan, if the oil bottle falls over, you’re not planning to help it up, are you? He still said ‘Oh’...”

“My dad is a bookworm, and you always like teasing him.” Yan Dongcheng laughed.

“You still don’t know how much of a bookworm your dad already is! His two eyes now, one is severely nearsighted, the other is farsighted. When he reads books, he either puts them very far away or holds them right in front of his face. Only the normal reading distance is where he can’t see clearly.”

“Then we need to encourage him to take part in outdoor activities more.”

After they passed the crowded intersection, there were fewer cars ahead, and Yan Dongcheng sped up.

Peng Juan rested her head against the passenger seat back and looked at Yan Dongcheng’s side profile.

“Dongcheng,” she said hesitantly, “I have a question I want to ask you. If it’s not convenient to answer, just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Mm.” Yan Dongcheng nodded.

“That Old Lady Xu just now, does her son have a problem?”

“A homicide suspect. I was afraid of scaring the old lady, so I pulled you over to talk to her.”

“Did you find out all the information you wanted?”

“Mm. Around Qingming Festival last year, that was exactly when the victim was killed.”

“My goodness,” Peng Juan said in surprise as she straightened up, “then how is Old Lady Xu supposed to live after that? Her husband has passed away, and she only has this one son!”

“We still can’t confirm it completely. We can only say that Old Lady Xu’s son is a major suspect.”

“Hopefully it’s just a misunderstanding... alas!”

Yan Dongcheng gave a slight nod.

After hearing Old Liu’s music, he always felt that Old Liu was somewhat a pity. He did not know where that self-destructive, reckless energy in Old Liu came from.

Yan Dongcheng believed that the formation of character had cause and effect. Apart from the part from inherited genes, the rest was determined by life experience. A person’s past experiences determined the way he behaved today.

When they arrived at the gate of the neighborhood where his parents lived, Peng Juan insisted on pulling Yan Dongcheng home for a meal.

“No need, Mom,” Yan Dongcheng looked at his watch. “It’s already past twelve now. I have a meeting at one.”

“Oh! Then there’s no time to eat, is there! Wait a moment, I’ll go upstairs and get you some snacks...”

Yan Dongcheng failed to stop his mother and could only park the car steadily and turn off the engine.

Not long after, Peng Juan came out carrying a bag of things, running so hard she was out of breath.

“I packed you a meat floss cake,” she put the tote bag on the seat, “and some cut fruit... remember to eat your meals!”

“Mm. Mom, go back. I’ll call you tonight.”

Peng Juan stood at the neighborhood gate, watching Yan Dongcheng’s car disappear into the traffic in the distance, before turning around and walking back into the neighborhood.

Yan Dongcheng rolled down the window and drove into the autumn wind, which carried a hint of warmth.

After returning to the office, he brewed a cup of green tea and sat down, then ate two pieces of meat floss cake roll as fast as he could.

Seeing that it was still not even one o’clock, he opened the plastic box of fruit again. Peng Juan had cut the red-fleshed dragon fruit into small pieces, and had also prepared a fruit fork for him.

“Captain Yan!” Wang Rui, in uniform, came in in a hurry. “This morning Xiao Yuan and I went to Que Ming Mountain. Guess what we found?”

“A lead?” Yan Dongcheng’s eyes lit up.

“Wait, it’ll be here soon. Xiao Yuan and the others are behind us.” Wang Rui walked to the door and looked out.

This morning Yan Dongcheng had gone to find Old Liu’s mother, and Wang Rui had called Xiao Yuan to go to the Que Ming Mountain villa area.

The villa area was still in the middle of frantic demolition. Police tape was strung around Villa No. 3 of Fan Mingyuan, keeping it in the same state as it had been on the day of evidence collection and excavation.

Wang Rui and Xiao Yuan stood at the perimeter, examining the ruins of Villa No. 3.

If the body had been moved out of this house and buried outside the wall, and if only one person had done it, then they would have needed a cart or similar tool to move Bai Yong, who was one meter eighty-two tall, to the burial site.

“A motorcycle could also be a transport tool,” Xiao Yuan bent the knuckle of one finger and adjusted the bridge of his glasses. “It’s been a year and a half. Old Liu’s motorcycle probably has been washed many times already. There’d be no suspicious traces to find from the outside. But if we took it apart and examined it carefully, there might still be a chance of finding some clues, right?”

“Without enough evidence, we can’t take the motorcycle apart for examination.” Wang Rui shook his head.

Xiao Yuan turned and walked toward the distance. When he reached the roadside, he looked back, gazing from afar at Villa No. 3, and suddenly seemed frozen all over.

“What is it, Xiao Yuan?”

“Wang Rui, look at that pile of building materials inside the villa fence. What’s missing?”

“What’s missing...” Wang Rui turned around and looked at the sand and stones beside the iron fence, quickly searching his memory. “The wood trim is gone?!”