Skin - Chapter 55

Chapter 55 – Shao Qi

　　Early in the morning, Meng Zhao opened his eyes and woke up from his sleep.

　　Meng Zhao turned his head to look at the bed opposite. Lu Shichen hadn’t woken up yet. He was lying on his back, breathing evenly. The dim light outlined his profile in a smooth and undulating silhouette.

　　Meng Zhao never had the habit of staying in bed, but this time he lay on the bed, stared at Lu Shichen for a while, then quietly got up.

　　After quickly washing up, when Meng Zhao walked out of the bathroom, Lu Shichen had already woken up.

　　The curtains were not drawn tightly last night, and a bright ray of sunlight came through the gap, shining right on Lu Shichen’s face. Perhaps because the light was a little dazzling, Lu Shichen raised his uninjured hand and placed the back of his hand over his eyes.

　　”Going to work?” Lu Shichen asked, his voice a little hoarse.

　　”Well, you’re awake?” Meng Zhao took his coat and was about to go out. “Do you want to sleep a little longer, or should I open the curtains?”

　　”Open the curtains.” Lu Shichen said, and his uninjured hand fell down and groping for the button beside the bed.

　　Meng Zhao walked over and helped him press the button next to the bed to raise the upper part of the bed.

　　Then he suddenly thought of something, paused, and said, “Oh, by the way, the hospital needed your identity information before, and I accidentally saw your medical records when I was looking for them. After thinking about it, I still have to tell you. If you mind, just pretend it didn’t happen, and I will pretend I haven’t seen it either.”

　　”Medical records?” Lu Shichen looked up at him. “What did you see?”

　　”It’s just…emotional cognitive disorder or something.”

　　”It’s not a secret,” Lu Shichen said calmly, “If you’ve seen it, then you’ve seen it.”

　　”I put all those things here for you,” Meng Zhao bent his fingers and tapped the bedside drawer. “You said before that your headaches haven’t gotten any better in recent years. What about your cognitive impairment? It seems to be better than in high school?”

　　”It’s better now.” Lu Shichen said.

　　”Really?” It seemed that his feeling was not an illusion. Meng Zhao continued to ask, “Do you know why it got better? When did it start to get better?”

　　”The time… should be November 9, 2009. The reason is unknown.” Lu Shichen glanced at him and said, “Why do you want to know? Could it be that you know how to heal illnesses?”

　　Meng Zhao felt strangely familiar at this time, but he couldn’t put it into context for a moment: “Wait for me to study it later. Since it can get better, maybe you can recover from it. I’m going to the bureau first. Contact me anytime if you have anything.”

　　After Meng Zhao finished speaking, he poured Lu Shichen a glass of water, called the nurse in, and then pushed the door and walked out.

　　The door closed, Lu Shichen picked up the watch on the bedside table, took a look at it, then turned his head to look out the window.

　　‘It’s almost eight o’clock… Actually, I’ve slept for almost nine hours.’

　　‘Excluding the blank memories of the first ten years of my life, it seems that there has never been a single day in the remaining nineteen years in which I slept so long.’

　　‘Moreover, I slept very soundly and hardly dreamed.’

　　‘A novel experience,’ Lu Shichen thought.

　　•=|=•

　　November 9, 2009? Walking to the police station, Meng Zhao suddenly remembered that it was the day when his uncle successfully overturned his conviction in the second trial.

　　What happened that day that made Lu Shichen feel that his cognitive disorder had improved?

　　Meng Zhao paused holding the door handle and forgot to open the door for a moment.

　　”Good morning, Brother Zhao,” Cheng Yun came over holding a washed cup, “What are you staring at?”

　　”It’s okay,” Meng Zhao came back to his senses, then pressed the door handle and pushed the door open. “Give me Lin Lang’s statement and tell me about her general situation.”

　　”Alas, Lin Lang really met the wrong person,” Cheng Yun put the cup on the table, found the statement record and handed it to Meng Zhao, and sighed, “Brother Zhao, you also know about her family situation. Her parents value sons over daughters and treat her brother as a treasure. Her status in the family is basically equivalent to her brother’s servant. Lin Lang was very beautiful when she was in high school, so she was favored by Wu Weihan from the next class. Wu Weihan is a very good disguiser. At first, he was very good to Lin Lang. Lin Lang was 17 years old, and this was the first time she met someone who was so good to her, so she trusted Wu Weihan very much and told him everything.”

　　”But Wu Weihan is a beast. I guess he had evil intentions after knowing Lin Lang’s family situation. After all, even if something happened to a girl from such a family, her family would probably choose to keep quiet. On Lin Lang’s birthday in her senior year of high school, Wu Weihan specially held a party for her. Just imagine, a girl who had never been spoiled by her family actually had someone celebrate her birthday. She must have dressed up carefully and spent the party happily. Who would have thought that this was a trap set by Wu Weihan?”

　　”Wu Weihan asked Lin Lang to drink. Lin Lang trusted Wu Weihan completely at the time. Because she didn’t know how to drink, she refused twice. Wu Weihan said that all his friends were present and Lin Lang’s behavior made him lose face, so Lin Lang agreed to drink. It is definitely impossible to find out what was in the wine now. After Lin Lang drank the wine, she didn’t remember much about what happened afterwards. When she woke up, the incident had already happened and she was sent back to her home.”

　　”She doesn’t remember who sent her back, but it was definitely not Wu Weihan. Lin Lang wanted to call the police, but her parents wouldn’t let her. Her mother was even more outrageous, scolding her terribly and saying that she would never get married if she continued like this. She even asked her to find Wu Weihan to marry her. The Wu family also reacted very quickly. They were probably afraid that things would be difficult to handle after calling the police, so they sent someone to negotiate with her parents before the couple went to their house.”

　　”After the terms were agreed upon, Lin Lang’s parents were worried that if their daughter called the police, the conditions agreed by the Wu family would be scrapped, so they locked Lin Lang at home and did not let her go out. Later, Lin Lang missed the college entrance examination and was unwilling to go out.” Cheng Yun almost gritted her teeth when she said this, “These parents are really as beastly as Wu Weihan…”

　　”Wait until Lin Lang gets better, and then go ask her what she wants,” Meng Zhao said coldly, “Ask her if she’s willing to sue her parents for illegal detention. If she is, I’ll introduce her to a lawyer.”

　　”Yeah.” Cheng Yun nodded.

　　”What about those people who sexually assaulted Lin Lang with Wu Weihan back then? Have you asked them?”

　　”Lin Lang doesn’t recognize those people. It’s been ten years since the incident, and the surveillance footage can’t be found. It was too late to give a statement yesterday, and Lin Lang’s mood is not stable, so I asked her to go back and rest. I’ll ask her to recall the characteristics of those people later, and then check the group of friends who had a good relationship with Wu Weihan. As long as we can find one accomplice, the rest of the accomplices should be able to be found as well.”

　　”Okay, then I’ll leave this matter to you. Tell me any time if there’s any progress.” Meng Zhao flipped through Lin Lang’s statement and sorted out Wu Weihan’s criminal acts over the years in his mind.

　　As the initial victim of the whole case, Lin Lang was most likely the beginning of Wu Weihan’s crime. At that time, he probably hadn’t realised that he could cover up the matter silently by making the person disappear. As for the second victim, Xu Yulin, he began to hide the person in the underground secret room of the sanatorium.

　　Meng Zhao heard Ren Bin mention that Xu Yulin’s parents doted on their daughter very much. This caused Xu Yulin to develop a naive character, defenseless against others. If Lin Lang was sexually assaulted at the time, then Xu Yulin, as Wu Weihan’s second girlfriend, was very likely to have suffered the same fate as Lin Lang. But Wu Weihan must have realized that Xu Yulin and Lin Lang had different family backgrounds, and her parents would definitely not be easily bribed like Lin Lang’s parents. After knowing about what he did to her, they would most likely choose to call the police.

　　What would Wu Weihan’s mentality be at this time? Meng Zhao speculated on the mentality of this 17-year-old dandy. Lin Lang’s incident made Wu Weihan realize that no matter what happened to him, his father, Wu Jiayi, would definitely spend money and effort to keep him safe. So, in extreme panic, would Wu Weihan ask for help from his father?

　　The basement should have been an air-raid shelter previously. Could the 17-year-old Wu Weihan actually think of hiding people in the basement and faking a missing case? Meng Zhao’s mind emerged with the image of Wu Weihan’s father, Wu Jiayi, a well-known entrepreneur in the city who frequently appeared on TV. Did he know about the basement of the sanatorium? If he knew, did he condone Wu Weihan’s behavior or participate in it?

　　At this time, Zhou Qiyang walked in with someone, “Brother Zhao, this is Officer Liu. He’s from the Wenzhao District Police Station came here early in the morning. They investigated a missing case overnight. It was very similar to the case of one of the girls rescued from the basement of the sanatorium.”

　　”This is the case file,” Zhou Qiyang came over and handed the opened file to Meng Zhao, “Take a look.”

　　Meng Zhao took the case file and looked through it. Officer Liu from the branch explained, “As soon as our branch received the news, we investigated all the missing cases in the past ten years overnight. This little girl has a mole under her right eye. Her appearance and age match the information provided by the Municipal Bureau. It must be her.”

　　”Was it reported last April?”

　　”Yes, this case happened a year ago. The girl’s name is Shao Qi, and her nickname is Qiqi,” Officer Liu recalled. “When her family reported the case, they said that Qiqi had poor grades and didn’t like going to school. Before the incident, she had been clamoring to drop out of school to become an anchor. She even said that a company wanted to sign her. Of course, her family disagreed, so Qiqi had a quarrel with her family, ran away from home, and never came back. We received the report and investigated for a long time, but we couldn’t find Qiqi’s whereabouts…”

　　”She said that a company wanted to sign her as an anchor?” Meng Zhao asked as he flipped through the case files.

　　”Yes, this girl had live-streamed on various platforms before she disappeared, but she wasn’t a professional live-streamer. She just sang and chatted, and her live-streaming frequency wasn’t very high.”

　　”Another anchor? Xu Yingying is also an anchor,” Zhou Qiyang looked at Meng Zhao, “Could the disappearance of these girls be related to Yunya Live under Wu Weihan’s name?”

　　Meng Zhao asked Officer Liu, “Have you notified the girl’s family?”

　　”I’ve notified them. The girl’s mother came with me. She is waiting downstairs.”

　　Meng Zhao closed the case file in his hand and said, “She has seen the photograph, right? I’ll go with you and take her to the hospital to identify the person.” After that, he looked at Zhou Qiyang again, “Xiao Zhou, take people to investigate Yunya Technology’s contracted artists to see if they have signed this girl. By the way, have Xu Yulin and Xu Yingying’s parents been notified?”

　　”I’ve notified them,” Zhou Qiyang said, “We have people at the hospital who will be responsible for picking them up.”

　　After going downstairs, Meng Zhao saw the woman waiting in the lobby.

　　The woman was in her thirties or forties. She looked a little haggard and her eyes were red and swollen. It was obvious that she had just cried not long ago.

　　”This is Officer Meng who is in charge of this case,” the police officer introduced the two men, “and this is Shao Qi’s mother.”

　　”Officer Meng, how is my daughter?” the woman asked anxiously as she saw Meng Zhao.

　　”She’s still in a coma, but her life is not in danger,” Meng Zhao raised his hand and gestured, “Let’s get in the car first. The doctor will tell you in detail when we get to the hospital.”

　　Meng Zhao, along with the policeman from the other branch and Shao Qi’s mother got in the city bureau’s car and went to the hospital.

　　In the car, he asked Shao Qi’s mother a few simple questions: “Before Shao Qi disappeared, did she mention a company called Yunya?”

　　”I haven’t heard of it,” the woman shook her head and said, “She only said she wanted to sign a contract, but didn’t say with whom. We didn’t understand this, and we didn’t want her to sign, so we didn’t ask any more questions. Officer Meng, can my daughter wake up?”

　　”The hospital has assembled a team of experts to study treatment plans. They will do their best to provide them with treatment.” Meng Zhao said this to comfort them. However, no one could tell whether these girls could wake up or remain like vegetables from now on, only able to lie in bed to maintain basic vital signs, so he did not say much.

　　Several girls were placed in the intensive care unit at the east end of the fourth floor. Meng Zhao pushed the door and walked into the ward, and saw that Xu Yulin’s parents and Xu Yingying’s mother had arrived and were sitting next to the bed.

　　Xu Yulin’s mother’s eyes were swollen and she was still crying. Although Xu Yulin was lying on the hospital bed and could not move at all, she still held her daughter’s hand tightly, as if she was afraid that her daughter would get lost again. Xu Yulin’s father also raised his hand to wipe his tears silently and sighed continuously.

　　The woman sitting in the middle of the ward looked a little embarrassed. Meng Zhao had met her not long ago and knew that she was Xu Yingying’s mother. According to colleagues, Xu Yingying’s parents seemed reluctant to come after receiving the notification call, but after all, she was the mother in the legal sense, and finally agreed to come and see at the request of the police.

　Shao Qi’s mother followed Meng Zhao into the ward. She stood at the door for a moment, staring at Shao Qi who was unconscious on the bed, as if she did not dare to approach her daughter.

　　A few minutes later, she slowly walked towards the bed, sat on the accompanying chair beside the bed, and used her hands to push aside Shao Qi’s hair. Then she quickly withdrew her hands and covered the lower half of her face with both hands. It can be seen that she was trying her best to control herself from losing her composure.

　　”Are you sure this is Shao Qi?” According to regulations, Meng Zhao had to confirm this.

　　The woman nodded vigorously: “Yes.” The moment she spoke, her tense emotions seemed to be exposed, and her pain poured out. She sobbed and cried, pulling out all the suppressed emotions.

　　When Xu Yulin’s mother heard her, she also started crying.

　　The crying was heartbreaking to hear. Meng Zhao couldn’t bear to watch it any longer and walked out of the ward.

　　Patients and their families who were passing by heard the crying and stretched their necks to look inside. Meng Zhao gently closed the door, shutting out the sounds, and sighed.

　　Then he walked to the window, bent his elbows, leaned on the windowsill and looked downstairs.

　　The tearful look on Zhao Yunhua’s face before she committed suicide was still lingering in his mind, and now he was afraid that he would not be able to forget the sound of their crying for a while.

　　He had met too many different mothers so far in this case.

　　Xu Yingying’s mother was mean, Lin Lang’s mother was cold, Zhao Tong’s mother was paranoid, and Xu Yulin and Shao Qi’s mothers were crying in the room…

　　Meng Zhao recalled the faces of his mother that were left in his mind, and then recalled the memories and images of Meng Jing before he was ten years old.

　　If Meng Jing were still alive today, what kind of mother would she be?

　　It’s not that Meng Zhao had never been loved. Meng Jing was very busy back then, but she gave him a lot of love. So much so that nineteen years after her death, Meng Zhao could still recall the feeling of being loved in the first ten years of his life.

　　Uncle Meng Xiangyu and aunt Song Ning were also very kind to him, almost treating him as their own son, but Meng Zhao always knew that this kind of feeling was different from the blood-thicker-than-water parental love. Whenever he experienced such a time, thinking of the deceased Meng Jing, he would still feel a sense of sadness.

　　Officer Liu from the branch also came out of the ward at this time: “Captain Meng, the victim’s family is temporarily emotionally unstable and cannot cooperate with the investigation now. What do you think we should do?

　　Meng Zhao put away his thoughts and stood up: “Let her stay here. Give me her contact information. If I need her to cooperate with the investigation later, I will contact her directly.”

　　”Okay.” The police officer from the branch responded.

　　After leaving his contact information, Meng Zhao asked him to go back first, and he went to the special care ward area on the second floor.

　　For some unknown reason, he really wanted to see Lu Shichen now.

　　He walked to Lu Shichen’s ward and was about to push the door open when it was opened from the inside and a young girl walked out.

　　Meng Zhao had seen this girl before – the one Lu Shichen had been having sex with during the day. They had also gone to the sanatorium together to visit Lu Shichen’s grandmother.

　　The girl smiled brightly at him: “Officer Meng.”

　　Meng Zhao paused, put his hands in his pockets, and smiled at her politely.

　　”I heard that you’ve been taking care of him recently. You’re a police officer, so you must be very busy, right?” The other woman looked mixed-race, but she spoke Mandarin quite fluently. She took out a piece of notepaper from her bag, tore off a piece of notepaper, wrote down her number on it, and handed it to Meng Zhao, “This is my contact information. If you need my help, just call me directly.”

　　Meng Zhao didn’t take the paper, and raised his chin towards the house: “Why don’t you just tell him no?”

　　”I’ve told him, and I’m telling you, too.”

　　Meng Zhao took the paper, on which was written the name and contact information – “Qiao Yu”.

　　”Okay.” Meng Zhao responded briefly.

　　”Then I’ll leave first.” The other party waved at him.

　　Meng Zhao pushed open the door of the ward. Financial news was playing on TV. Lu Shichen was using his uninjured hand to swipe across the pad screen to read the content.

　　On the table was a bouquet of flowers, with water droplets still wet on the petals, as well as large and small packages of supplements, and peeled and diced apples in porcelain bowls.

　　‘Tsk, that’s thoughtful,’ Meng Zhao thought.

　　Seeing Meng Zhao coming in, Lu Shichen looked up at him and asked, “Why are you back during working hours?”

　　”I brought the family members here to identify the person, and came to see you on the way.” Meng Zhao sat down beside Lu Shichen’s bed. “By the way, there are such big problems in the sanatorium, and now the residents are clamoring to transfer to another one. Didn’t you say that your grandmother also lives there? Do you want me to help find a reliable place to transfer her to?”

　　”No need,” Lu Shichen said, “The people in the sanatorium may not know that there is someone hiding in the basement.”

　　”You guessed right. The staff of the nursing home really didn’t seem to know anything about it.” Meng Zhao said, paused for a few seconds, and finally asked the question that had been stuck in his chest: “Then in what capacity did she visit your grandmother?”

　　”Hmm?” Lu Shichen looked at him.

　　Meng Zhao bent his fingers and tapped the porcelain bowl containing the apple pieces. The collision between his fingertips and the bowl made a crisp sound.

　　”She…” Lu Shichen paused, “A friend.”

　　”Friend.” Meng Zhao imitated Lu Shichen’s noncommittal tone that day.

　　”What’s wrong?”

　　Meng Zhao supported his chin with one hand, leaned forward slightly, looked at Lu Shichen, and asked directly: “Do you like her?”

　　”I haven’t thought about it.”

　　What does “never thought about it” mean? Meng Zhao pondered over Lu Shichen’s words, thinking of his perceptual impairment, and asked again: “Do you think it is possible that you actually like this girl, but you don’t realize it?”

　　Lu Shichen said calmly: “That’s not possible.”

　　Meng Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, almost imperceptibly, without even realizing it himself: “I told you that if you don’t like the girl, then stop letting her hang around you. You should make a decision when you have to, understand?”

　　Lu Shichen didn’t respond, his eyes fell straight on Meng Zhao’s face.

　　Being stared at with such inquiring eyes, Meng Zhao felt a little creepy. He stood up and said, “Well, I’m going back to the bureau first. You should have a good rest.”