Skin - Chapter 37

Chapter 37 – Mr. Wu

　　Zhou Qiyang hurried back and just as he was about to push the door open, he almost bumped into Meng Zhao who was about to go out.

　　Seeing Meng Zhao in a hurry, he asked, “Where are you going, Brother Zhao?”

　　”Let’s go to Yunya,” Meng Zhao said to Zhou Qiyang without slowing down, “You come with me!”

　　”Oh, okay.” Zhou Qiyang let go of the door handle and quickly followed Meng Zhao.

　　After getting in the car, Zhou Qiyang sat in the driver’s seat and fastened his seat belt. Because he had just missed the meeting, he was still a little confused at the moment: “What is the purpose of our trip to Yunya this time?”

　　Meng Zhao pulled up the graduation photograph on his phone, zoomed in with his finger, and showed the picture to the confused man: “Look at who this is?”

　　Zhou Qiyang leaned over and after staring at the man for two seconds, he said with some uncertainty, “Isn’t it Mr. Wu from Yunya?”

　　”Um.”

　　”Really? The CEO of Yunya was also Zhao Tong’s classmate?!”

　　”He is not only in that class, but according to Xu Yulin’s parents, he was also Xu Yulin’s boyfriend before she disappeared.”

　　Zhou Qiyang was stunned for a moment, and quickly sorted out the relationship between Wu Weihan and these people in his mind.

　　”Let’s drive first,” Meng Zhao said calmly, “Although this man was Xu Yulin’s boyfriend and is also the CEO of the company Xu Yingying signed with, there is no evidence to prove that he is related to the disappearance of these two people.”

　　”But this person is too suspicious…”

　　=•=•=

　　”We’re here.” Zhou Qiyang parked the car in front of Yunya Technology’s building.

　　Meng Zhao pushed the door and left the car, walking straight into the building. Zhou Qiyang locked the car and quickly followed.

　　”Is Mr. Wu here?” Meng Zhao walked to the front desk. “I have a few questions for him.”

　　”Um,” the receptionist obviously still remembered Meng Zhao, “I’ll ask his secretary for you.”

　　”Yes, it’s the policeman who had come yesterday,” the receptionist said into the phone, “He should still be here to investigate Xu Yingying’s case. Right?” As she spoke, she looked up at Meng Zhao, and when Meng Zhao nodded, she continued into the phone, “Mr. Wu, do you have time now? Alright… Then I’ll take them upstairs?”

　　After hanging up the phone, the receptionist came out from the counter and guided Meng Zhao and Zhou Qiyang to the elevator.

　　While waiting for the elevator, Meng Zhao chatted with the receptionist for a while: “I heard before that Mr. Wu and Xu Yingying seem to have a complicated relationship.”

　　The receptionist was obviously not on guard: “How can we know too much about our boss’s affairs..?. But I have also heard from others that Mr. Wu and Xu Yingying seem to get along well.”

　　”Really?” Zhou Qiyang asked from the side, “Is it really true?”

　　”How can we know whether something we hear is true or not?” The receptionist shrugged.

　　Meng Zhao asked again: “They are old classmates from ten years ago. And, they are still working together now, which at least shows that they have a good relationship. Then after Xu Yingying disappeared, didn’t Mr. Wu show any anxiety?”

　　”I don’t know about that. I don’t have much contact with President Wu…” The elevator dinged and reached the third floor. The receptionist led Meng Zhao and Zhou Qiyang to the president’s office. The secretary was already waiting at the door.

　　”Mr. Wu is already waiting for you two inside.” The secretary gave Meng Zhao a standard smile, then led Meng Zhao and Zhou Qiyang to the door and knocked on it. “Mr. Wu, the police officers are here.”

　　There was a sound of chairs rubbing against the floor. Meng Zhao listened to the noise and guessed that Wu Weihan must have stood up from his seat. Then the sound footsteps appeared as the man approached. The door was opened and Wu Weihan appeared at the door. He extended his hand to Meng Zhao politely: “Officer Meng, nice to see you again. Please come in.”

　　Wu Weihan asked Meng Zhao and Zhou Qiyang to sit on the leather sofa, and then he sat down on the single sofa next to it.

　　After the secretary brought the tea and closed the door, Wu Weihan first politely asked Meng Zhao and Zhou Qiyang to drink some tea, then asked, “Are you two here to ask about Xu Yingying? You can ask anything. But I haven’t had much contact with her recently, so I may not be able to provide any valuable clues.”

　　Meng Zhao looked at him and asked, “Excuse me for asking, but, are you and Xu Yingying just boss and employee? As far as I know, you two were classmates in high school and knew each before. Now you work in the same company. You should have a personal relationship, right?”

　　”Yes, Xu Yingying and I were indeed in the same class in high school. We used to have a good relationship. Now our relationship is just that of boss and employee. As for our personal relationship,” Wu Weihan smiled, “this involves personal privacy. Officer Meng is here to understand the situation, not to interrogate me, right?”

　　Meng Zhao looked at Wu Weihan who was being polite and courteous. Under normal circumstances, he might have thought that he was a good person. But now, he was inextricably linked to several cases. He felt that the man’s gentlemanly behaviour was a little weird and out of place…

　　Meng Zhao also smiled: “Okay, let’s not talk about Xu Yingying for now. Let’s talk about someone else. Do you still remember Xu Yulin? She had a good personal relationship with you, didn’t she?”

　　Meng Zhao sensitively noticed that Wu Weihan’s expression changed instantly after hearing the name.

　　Meng Zhao looked at him, “It seems you still remember Xu Yulin?”

　　”Of course, I am also responsible for her disappearance. I know that she ran away from home because of me. She has not been found even after so many years,” Wu Weihan stroked the teacup with his fingers. “I often wonder, as police officers, what is the value of your existence?”

　　Meng Zhao lowered his eyes and laughed: “It seems that Mr. Wu considers Xu Yulin’s topic as something very taboo. Then let’s change to someone else. Do you still remember Lin Lang?”

　　Wu Weihan stopped laughing this time. He looked at Meng Zhao and asked, “What do you mean, Officer Meng?”

　　It seemed that his polite mask could no longer be maintained. Meng Zhao stared at him for a moment: “It’s nothing, I just want to know who caused the misfortune that befell these three girls. Oh, it’s not just them, there is also a boy named Zhao Tong. Could it be…” Meng Zhao paused intentionally, “Tiger?”

　　Wu Weihan’s expression froze for a moment, but soon returned to normal: “Officer Meng, what tiger? I don’t understand what you mean.”

　　Meng Zhao didn’t say anything, just stared at Wu Weihan. Although Wu Weihan was trying to get rid of suspicion in every sentence, it could still be seen from the changes in his expression that he did have a close connection with the case.

　　If all the four cases were really related to Wu Weihan, then the recent disappearance of Xu Yingying must be a breakthrough. Meng Zhao quickly sorted out his ideas for solving the case in his mind. Even if Wu Weihan was indeed the real culprit in the two disappearances, he had obviously thought of how to deal with the police in advance. It was useless to waste time with Wu Weihan. The most important thing was to find evidence.

　　”I have almost finished asking the questions, so I won’t bother you any more,” Meng Zhao stood up. “By the way, Mr. Wu, may I ask, what were you doing between 3pm and 4pm on the 16th?”

　　”My company has just signed a few more internet celebrities. I was attending the signing ceremony. There should be relevant news on the Internet. Officer Meng can verify it.”

　　Since Wu Weihan said so, it seemed that his alibi during the time when Xu Yingying disappeared should be very reliable. However, is it really possible for a person to easily blurt out something that had happened four days ago without even thinking about it for a second? Wu Weihan’s answer was so quick that it actually verified one point: he was prepared in advance about Meng Zhao verifying his alibi.

　　”Okay, thank you.” Meng Zhao shook hands with Wu Weihan calmly and said goodbye, then left the Yunya Technology building.

　　After coming out of Yunya Technology, Meng Zhao told Zhou Qiyang: “Call the bureau and have someone secretly monitor Wu Weihan’s whereabouts. Don’t let him get away.”

　　”Okay,” Zhou Qiyang finished the call and asked Meng Zhao, “Brother Zhao, the tiger mentioned in Zhou Yan’s diary should be Wu Weihan, right? However, even if it is confirmed that it is him, he cannot be convicted without evidence for a case that happened ten years ago…”

　　”There was no evidence at that time ten years ago, but we can always uncover it ten years later,” Meng Zhao spoke with a gloomy face. “We must find a breakthrough in Xu Yingying’s disappearance as soon as possible.”

　　On the way back to the Municipal Bureau, Meng Zhao was thinking about finding a breakthrough in Xu Yingying’s disappearance case.

　　In broad daylight, after walking through an alley less than 200 metres long, a girl just vanished alive into thin air? How absurd.

　　”Did you check that alley this morning?” Meng Zhao asked Zhou Qiyang, “How is the police station’s investigation going?”

　　”That alley is paved with flagstones. Preliminary inspection shows no signs of the flagstones being loosened.”

　　Meng Zhao picked up the tablet in the car and watched the copied surveillance video again. In the video, Xu Yingying was wearing a windbreaker and a beret. Before turning into the alley, even after passing several crowded intersections, Xu Yingying could be found in the crowd. But after turning into the alley, she was nowhere to be found.

　　”What’s the situation around that alley like?”

　　”There is an old building near the alley. The police station also searched it, but no body was found. It’s really strange. A person walked into an alley and left again, a distance of less than 200 metres, and then disappeared. This is a complete transformation of a living person…”

　　”What about the vehicles that entered and left that alley? Have they all been checked?”

　　”We have checked everything. We checked the road surveillance and found no signs of Xu Yingying in any vehicle, nor were there any signs of transporting or burying the body.”

　　Meng Zhao put the tablet aside, leaned back in his seat, feeling a bit of a headache.

　　In addition to the headache, he was also a little depressed. Wu Weihan had been identified as a suspect, but the clues were cut off in that alley without surveillance.

　　He looked out the window as the car was about to pass Yuhu Bay. In a flash, he saw the building where Lu Shichen lived.

　　After getting drunk, he was bound to have a hangover the next day, right? Meng Zhao held the wrist of his other hand with one hand. More than ten hours had passed, but the slightly cool temperature seemed to still linger on his skin.

　　Then he thought of the text message again. Was it really a coincidence that Lu Shichen and Xu Yingying had gone in and out of the same nursing home within a few days? Why not just go to Lu Shichen and ask him? And by the way, he could also ask if he had any other ideas about Xu Yingying’s disappearance.

　　”Xiao Zhou, stop the car.” Meng Zhao said.

　　Zhou Qiyang stepped on the brakes and stopped the car on the side of the road: “What’s wrong?”

　　Meng Zhao unlocked the car’s door and said, “I’m going to Yuhu Bay to ask about the details of the case. You can go back to the bureau first.”

　　”Oh, what details…” Before Zhou Qiyang finished asking, Meng Zhao had already gotten out of the car and closed the door.

　　After getting out of the car, Meng Zhao walked to Building 3 and looked up at the floor where Lu Shichen lived.

　　He was in a hurry when he got out of the car just now, and only now did he start to consider whether Lu Shichen was at home.

　　Meng Zhao was just about to raise his hand to press Lu Shichen’s doorbell to try his luck when a short whistle sounded behind him.

　　He looked back and saw Lu Shichen’s car parked at the bottom of the steps. Judging from the direction, he should have just returned from outside.

　　Meng Zhao walked down the stairs and walked towards Lu Shichen: “Did you get off work?”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t answer his question: “What do you want to talk to me about?”

　　Maybe because he had been eating with Lu Shichen recently, Meng Zhao actually felt a little hungry when he saw Lu Shichen. Only then did he realise that he had not eaten a single bite of food since morning.

　　”Shall we have dinner together?” Meng Zhao asked subconsciously.

　　”Get in the car.” Lu Shichen tilted his head towards the passenger seat.

　　Meng Zhao walked to the passenger seat, opened the door, and when he sat down, he saw a thin stack of papers on the seat, which seemed to have names and contact information recorded on it, with pen markings.

　　”What is this?” Meng Zhao was about to pick it up when Lu Shichen reached out and took the stack of papers away.

　　”Work matters.” Lu Shichen opened the storage box and threw the stack of papers inside. “What are we going to eat?”

　　”Just find a random restaurant on the roadside. The case has not been solved yet and we don’t have much time.” The piece of paper was very similar to the contact information used by the Municipal Bureau when conducting large-scale investigations. ‘Is Lu Shichen investigating something?’ The guess came to Meng Zhao’s mind.

　　But he didn’t delve into it, and instead talked to Lu Shichen about something else: “What kind of consultant job are you doing? You get off work before five in the evening. How can you be so free?”

　　”I’m an external consultant,” Lu Shichen said calmly, “just a figurehead.”

　　”So you are in retirement…”

　　”I work at night,” Lu Shichen reversed the car, “there is a time difference.”

　　”After you returned to China, have you not quit your overseas job yet?”

　　”No.”

　　No wonder Lu Shichen looked so free during the day, it turns out he didn’t follow Beijing time. ‘But… didn’t this guy need to sleep at night?’

　　Meng Zhao was thinking about how to naturally deviate the topic to the sanatorium, but he didn’t expect Lu Shichen to take the initiative to mention Xu Yingying.

　　Lu Shichen drove the car out of Yuhu Bay: “How is the investigation going? Have you met Xu Yingying?”

　　He actually took the initiative to mention Xu Yingying. Meng Zhao leaned back on the seat and observed Lu Shichen’s expression from the side: “Xu Yingying is missing.”

　　”Missing? Any clues?”

　　”On the afternoon of the day Xu Yingying disappeared, she went to Wen Yi Sanatorium, which is the place you went the day before yesterday.” Meng Zhao paused intentionally after he finished speaking, but Lu Shichen just said “hmm”, and there was no clue on his face.

　　Meng Zhao continued, “After leaving the sanatorium, she walked a long way and entered an alley with no surveillance. She never came out after entering, and it was a dead end after that.”

　　Was it just a coincidence that Lu Shichen and Xu Yingying went in and out of the sanatorium at the same time? Although he subconsciously convinced himself to believe in Lu Shichen, his reason made Meng Zhao still doubt Lu Shichen.

　　After thinking for a moment, Meng Zhao spoke up: “By the way, you said you were going to the nursing home to visit the elderly. Were you going to visit your relatives?”

　　”My grandma.” Lu Shichen said.

　　Meng Zhao breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously. Lu Shichen looked calm and his tone did not look like he was lying. Besides, if he was lying, it would be too easy to be exposed… He could verify it by checking at the sanatorium.

　　”Is that so?” Meng Zhao relaxed. “Your grandma also lives in that nursing home? If I have time in the future, I will accompany you to visit her.”

　Meng Zhao’s original intention for saying that was just to test Lu Shichen’s reaction. Unexpectedly, Lu Shichen asked: “With what identity do you want to visit her?”
　　”I…” Meng Zhao was speechless for two seconds, “What kind of identity do I need for something like this? Friends… Is it not okay to visit her as your friend?”
　　”Friend.” Lu Shichen repeated the words in a noncommittal tone.
　　‘What other identity can I have…?’ Meng Zhao thought to himself.