Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Tragic Joy (17)

In the technology park, where many internet companies were clustered, people were working overtime to wrap up their performance before the New Year. The cold wind howled outdoors, disturbing the already almost dried-up artificial lake.

At this time, there weren’t many people walking outside, and on the small path by the lake, two women dressed in down jackets were standing.

"Are you really a police officer?" Xiao Qing repeatedly confirmed Sui Xing's identity, looking suspicious and a little neurotic.

Sui Xing made a motion to take out her credentials again, "Do you want to take another look?"

Xiao Qing quickly waved her hand awkwardly, "No, sorry, I’m just a little nervous. I’ve never seen a police officer like you, especially a criminal police officer."

Sui Xing asked, "What should a criminal police officer look like?"

Xiao Qing stared at the artificial lake for a while, "A man, probably, with a loud voice, fierce, intimidating."

Sui Xing smiled, "A woman can’t be a criminal police officer?"

"I might have said the wrong thing," Xiao Qing shook her head, "Don’t mind me, female police officers are just fine too."

After graduating from Gray Surge University, Xiao Qing became a programmer. Now, she was in her thirties, seemingly with a stable career, but there was always a sense of drifting about her.

"Our line of work, as we get older, our positions don’t rise, and one day, we might be unemployed," Xiao Qing said with a bitter smile.

Sui Xing had gotten a lot of investigation materials from the Chenwan District Police Station regarding the Xu Qiao missing person case and had also spoken to Old Xu and other officers involved in the case. But the truth seemed to have been buried under layers of retellings. She had discussed with Hai Shu and decided to meet directly with Xu Qiao’s classmates and people she had met while working. However, once many people found out that the police were asking about Xu Qiao, they immediately hung up the phone or refused to meet.

Since Xu Qiao had been missing for a long time, Sui Xing didn’t have the power to force them to cooperate. After looking around, Xiao Qing was the only one who hadn’t shown significant resistance.

Sui Xing said, "I’ve seen your statement from back then. When the rumors started spreading on campus, you defended her a few times."

Xiao Qing showed a look of regret. "Yes, it wasn’t just me. Xu Qiao was very popular when she first entered university, the guys all treated her like a 'goddess.' You might think girls like her are rejected by other girls, but that wasn’t the case. She was really nice, enthusiastic. At least, I was willing to be her friend."

Xiao Qing remembered the freshman year cultural performances, sports events, debates, and recitations. Xu Qiao was always the most dazzling one, and she was more than happy to share the spotlight with the other girls. She never kept it all for herself.

"She was really competitive, and our dorm misunderstood her at one point. She skipped a lot of classes, didn’t come back at night. We’d call her to come back, but she wouldn’t listen. People said she was being kept by rich men. To be honest, I believed it too."

"But later, one time, she came back from outside and had a fever. When people are sick, they’re usually softer than usual. I brought her food and asked her what she was really doing outside. That’s when she finally cried and said her mom was sick and needed a kidney transplant to survive. She worked day and night, but couldn’t earn enough for the medical bills."

This part of the story Sui Xing had already seen in the investigation reports, but hearing it from an eyewitness made her feel as though she could finally see that girl, who should have been shining brightly, but was instead carrying such a heavy burden of life.

Xiao Qing stopped walking, showing a puzzled expression. "Actually, after all these years, I still don’t understand why everyone hated Xu Qiao, saying she deserved to die, that it was her fault. Didn’t she do it for her mom? If it were me, and I could use my body to earn money, I’d do it too. She didn’t want to get infected either. Who would want that?"

"Wait a second," Sui Xing said. "Did Xu Qiao ever tell you she used her body to get money?"

Xiao Qing froze. "She...?"

There were many rumors surrounding Xu Qiao, the most common being that she was promiscuous and had been involved with many people. But Sui Xing had carefully examined every line of the investigation report, and not a single person had mentioned hearing it directly from Xu Qiao.

It was all speculation, all rumors. But sometimes, time and the repeated washing of words could alter a person’s memory.

Xiao Qing came back to her senses. "No, she never told me that. But she got sick, and we all knew about it. If it wasn’t like that... how would she have gotten sick?"

Sui Xing asked, "Did she ever talk about her illness?"

Xiao Qing fell into thought again. "She never mentioned it, but there were those medicines in the dorm, the police found them, and many people saw them."

Sui Xing then asked, "You said that it wasn’t just you, but other female classmates defended her. But the campus was still filled with rumors about Xu Qiao?"

"I really don’t understand who was spreading those rumors. Maybe it was because of those medicines?" Xiao Qing said, a bit angrily. "Later, after graduation, when we had a reunion, some of the guys even thought we girls were jealous of Xu Qiao and spread gossip about her. But that wasn’t it at all. As far as I know, most of the girls were on Xu Qiao’s side. But we were too few, and no one listened to our explanation, so it made it look like we, the roommates, were spreading bad things about her."

The reunion ended badly, and Xiao Qing never attended another one.

Sui Xing carefully sorted through the hidden layers of the situation. When she had first seen the investigation reports, she had thought the rumors had come from Xu Qiao’s closest classmates. But Xiao Qing’s reaction didn’t seem like she was lying. If a few of the girls in their department had supported Xu Qiao, but the rumors still escalated and were pinned on people like Xiao Qing, what was the hidden agenda behind it?

Sui Xing asked again, "By the way, I heard from the officers who handled the case that some students reported seeing Xu Qiao get into the same car several times. Do you know anything about this?"

Xiao Qing’s expression suddenly changed. She bit her lip and didn’t speak.

Sui Xing stopped walking. "Do you know who was in the car with her?"

Xiao Qing immediately said, "I don’t know!"

Sui Xing looked at her and slowly said, "Before I came to see you, I asked many people, and they didn’t even want to say a word. I’m grateful to you for agreeing to talk to me about Xu Qiao."

"I..." Xiao Qing struggled.

Sui Xing said, "This might be a bit of a tough request, but I think since you're willing to meet with me, deep down, you must want to tell me something as a police officer."

The wind blew a strand of Xiao Qing's hair, and she squinted her eyes, her hands covering her eyelids for a long time.

"Back then, the police... that police officer, Officer Xu, asked me the same question," Xiao Qing whispered. "He seemed very certain that since I was a good friend of Xu Qiao, I must know who Xu Qiao got into the car with."

"I didn’t tell him, and others were just as silent as I was. We... we weren’t hiding anything on purpose, we really didn’t know. Xu Qiao never said a word. I just... just had some guesses. I didn’t dare to speak, and neither did they. We were in our third year, and our counselor talked to us alone. In between the lines, she told us not to cause any trouble and not to affect our future."

That early summer, filled with the scent of blood, silence became the dominant theme on campus. The cicadas chirped loudly, like screams that couldn’t be understood. Xu Qiao, who had gone missing, no longer had a future, and the others still had a future they had to rush toward.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Xiao Qing squatted down. "At the reunion, I argued with the men. Maybe it wasn’t just because they slandered us, but because I’ve never been able to face what I didn’t say."

Sui Xing patted her back. "Now you can speak, I’m listening. It’s not too late."

Xiao Qing calmed down and said her guess, "The person in the car was probably Xu Qiao’s fellow villager, about the same age as her, and they were classmates in middle school."

Sui Xing asked, "Why?"

Xiao Qing said, "Before the final exams in our first year, our whole dorm went out for a meal. At that time, Xu Qiao’s mom wasn’t sick yet. Xu Qiao mentioned that she had a fellow villager studying in the city, and that person had come to our school a few times."

"Was he chasing her? Or was there something else?" Sui Xing asked. "Did Xu Qiao say his name?"

Xiao Qing shook her head. "I don’t know his name. Xu Qiao didn’t say whether he was chasing her, but we all got the sense that he was interested in her, but she found it annoying."

A month before Xu Qiao’s disappearance, she had been very anxious. Xiao Qing had asked if there was anything she needed help with. Xu Qiao covered her face and cried, saying when those annoying things would disappear from her life.

But when Xiao Qing asked who it was, Xu Qiao became silent.

"Actually, when Officer Xu first asked me if I had seen that car, if I knew who was in the car, I thought of Xu Qiao’s classmate," Xiao Qing said. "Don’t listen to the rumors that Xu Qiao was involved with many men. The only person she complained about was her fellow villager. She wasn’t someone who complained easily. So I could only think of that person."

"But I couldn’t say it. This is human selfishness, right? A person like Xu Qiao was driven to the edge, and if I got entangled with that person, what would happen to me?"

Sui Xing took Xiao Qing back to the office building. Xiao Qing had already composed herself, and her eyes, which had once been filled with tears, became bright, as if the confusion and exhaustion of life had been lifted.

"If there were more women in the police force, it would be better," Xiao Qing said. "Officer Xu is very responsible, but talking with you makes me feel more relaxed."

Sui Xing asked, "You? Besides me, has any other female officer contacted you?"

Xiao Qing froze for a moment, thought for a while, and muttered, "I thought you were colleagues?"

Sui Xing asked, "What happened?" Xiao Qing quickly recalled—over a year ago, a woman had asked her about Xu Qiao’s time at university. Xiao Qing didn’t know the woman’s identity, and not wanting to be entangled, she had brushed it off. After talking with Sui Xing today, she remembered that woman and subconsciously thought the person was also a police officer.

The woman didn’t leave a name, but Xiao Qing remembered she was very beautiful, with eyes that slanted upwards, very similar to Xu Qiao’s eyes.

On the conference call, Hai Shu’s thoughts quickly shifted from the Wan family and the handcuffs to the Xu Qiao case. "Could the woman who went to find Xiao Qing be Yin Canxi?"

Sui Xing said, "She’s your informant. You should be very familiar with her ability to gather information."

Hai Shu was silent for a moment. "But now, I don’t think I know her well enough."

As the doubts surrounded Yin Canxi, the beautiful woman’s face seemed to be veiled. Hai Shu had always thought that she had pulled Yin Canxi out of confusion, making her her informant.

But maybe that wasn’t the case. Yin Canxi had always had her own goals and plans.

"After graduating from Zhou Ping Middle School, not to mention going to university, even going to high school was rare," Hai Shu shifted to another key point. Recently, in order to investigate Wan Ze Yu's misdeeds during his youth, the criminal investigation team had almost checked every student from Zhou Ping Middle School. "If I remember correctly, only three people went to university in the city, one of whom was Guang Jun."