Ah Shuai was the nickname given to him by Lu Ge and other people at the Hongfeng Meat Processing Plant. His real name was Liao Pengyi. Because his clothes always looked messy, they gave him this nickname.
He lived in a rented house next to the meat processing plant. It was already past eleven when Lin Shuyue arrived at his place. It seemed like there was no night in Pengcheng. After eleven o'clock, there were still many people out and about.
There is a grilled fish restaurant below the rental building where Ah Shuai lives. At this time, the restaurant is bustling with people and the aroma fills the entire street.
Lin Shuyue followed the advertisement for the rental and found the landlord's room. After knocking on the door, a woman in her sixties opened it. "Who is it?"
"Auntie, I want to rent a house."
"Oh, sure, sure. How many people are staying here?"
"Just rent a single room for one person."
The old lady responded and took out a set of keys from the nail behind the door. "There are two rooms on the third and fifth floors. I'll take you there."
"Good."
Lin Shuyue followed the old lady upstairs. She observed the environment of the rental house and praised, "Auntie, your house is quite clean."
The old lady was delighted. "That's right, pretty girl. No other house on this street is as clean as ours. My husband and I get up at five every morning and mop these stairs every day. And what's different about ours is that you can pack your trash and leave it in the hallway, and we'll take it out for you."
The old lady is very proud of this service provided by her building: "Many people rent from us without hesitation after hearing about this service."
Putting herself in their shoes, Lin Shuyue felt that if she really wanted to rent a house, she would definitely choose a landlord who could take out the trash. "Auntie, your service is really good."
Lin Shuyue praised sincerely.
"That's right. I know all you young people are like that. You're so busy at work, and when you get off, all you want is to lie in bed. My family is the only one on this street that takes out the trash for tenants. No one else can do that. Some people in our building have lived here for seven or eight years."
Lin Shuyue nodded, followed by a few words of agreement, and then arrived at the corridor on the third floor. There were rooms on both sides of the corridor. The doors of the rooms were iron houses with two locks, one built into the door and the other a padlock.
Brother Lu said that Ah Shuai lived in room 303 of this building. There was a pine tree at the door. The pine tree was half a person's height and was growing well.
The house the old lady showed Lin Shuyue was 304. The door to 303 was right next to each other. Lin Shuyue took a look and said, "Someone is still growing trees here? They're doing quite well."
The old lady opened the door, glanced at the pine tree, and said, "It's well cared for. It's just that it hasn't been watered in half a month. I don't know what's wrong with Xiao Liao. He went home and hasn't come back in over half a month."
The old lady spoke casually and turned on the light in the room, and the scene inside the house was instantly revealed.
The room, just over ten square meters, contained a five-foot-tall iron bed, a small double-door wardrobe, and a desk directly opposite the bed. Beyond that was a hallway, with the kitchen and bathroom on either side. The kitchen, with its marble-patterned countertop, ran along the hallway.
While waiting for Lin Shuyue to see the house, the old lady said to her, "The previous tenant of this house just moved out. It's 70 yuan a month, and including water and electricity bills, the rent is less than 100 yuan. We also collect garbage."
Lin Shuyue thought for a moment and said, "Auntie, let me think about it. I'll come back tomorrow morning to see if I want to rent it."
This is also normal. Nowadays, people who want to rent a house have to compare prices from different places. The old lady nodded and said, "Okay, but if you want to rent a house, you have to come early. There are quite a lot of people renting houses here."
As the old lady spoke, she turned off the lights and followed Lin Shuyue downstairs.
Passing by 303, Lin Shuyue mentioned the pine tree again. The old lady was caught off guard and told everything she knew.
"This little Liao is very handsome and fair-skinned. He's almost 30 and still hasn't gotten married. He's lived here for almost five years and is very polite."
"Last time, my wife even said she would introduce him to a girlfriend, but he was so scared that he ran away on the spot. He's a very shy person."
The stairs were shaking a little, so Lin Shuyue reached out to support the old lady: "What does he do for a living?"
"A truck driver from the meat processing plant."
When they reached the first floor, the old lady went straight home and Lin Shuyue came out of the building.
It was half past eleven. She walked to where she parked her car and was about to drive away when she received a call from Wen Ying q.
"Xiao Lin, do you have time? Come to my house and bring the policewoman from that day. I was sorting through some old things today and found something."
"Okay, Sister Wen Ying, wait for us."
After Wen Ying agreed, Lin Shuyue called Ye Xueyu. Ye Xueyu had just finished her shift watching over Zhong Jiasheng and was eating outside. Jiang Zhou and Hang Jiabai were with her. After listening to what Lin Shuyue said on the phone, she and Hang Jiabai put down their chopsticks together. The three of them had a tacit understanding. Jiang Zhou paid the bill and Hang Jiabai drove.
Like Lin Shuyue, they arrived at Wen Ying's house at the same time.
Lin Shuyue showed Hang Jiabai the photos in the camera: "When you watched the surveillance that day, I also watched it. I remember there seemed to be a pattern like this on the tricycle at that time."
"Tonight, my sister and I went to her store and happened to see someone delivering meat to my sister's house. I saw this pattern above the car's headlights. The meat processing factory worker who was delivering to my sister's house said that the previous deliveryman hadn't come to work in many days. He just sent a message to resign."
"I checked his residence. The man named Liao Pengyi, nicknamed Ah Shuai, hasn't been seen for half a month."
"I'll find someone to verify it right away." Hang Jiabai took the camera, and Jiangzhou took out his laptop and transferred the photo of Lin Shuyue to the computer, and then sent it to their team members through the computer.
Lin Shuyue took back the camera and went into Wen Ying's house with Ye Xueyu. When Wen Ying opened the door for them, her eyes were still red.
Today, she spent half an hour reading Zhong Jiali's notes and cried for a long time.
The first thing she said when she saw Lin Shuyue, her tears started to burst out again: "I didn't know she was protecting me."
Wen Ying's voice was very hoarse, and her mother was behind her with red eyes.
They welcomed Lin Shuyue and Ye Xueyu into the house together. She sighed, "This child, she suffered such a great injustice and didn't say anything. Tell me, how good would it be if she spoke out? Although our family doesn't have much ability, we can still protect one person. Isn't she stupid?"
Wen Ying's mother said this, wiping away her tears.
Wen Ying's father was sitting on the sofa smoking. It was obvious that Zhong Jiali's diary had a profound impact on them.
Wen Ying said to them, "Mom and Dad, you should go to bed early. I will take them to my room."
"Go ahead." Wen Ying's mother waved her hand, but sat down on the sofa, showing no intention of going to sleep.
The Wen family has three bedrooms and a living room. The room Wen Ying lives in is the one she has lived in since she was a child. There is a wall of bookcases in the room, which is filled with all kinds of books. If you look closely, you can see that all the books from the first grade of elementary school to when she graduated from junior high school are still there.
There was a laptop on the computer table next to the bed. She bent over and clicked on a website: "I have been looking at these photos you gave me this afternoon. Then I opened this website and found this blog based on the important dates on these photos."
This was something Wen Ying suddenly remembered. It was the third month after Zhong Jiali went to study in France. One night, she suddenly received a call from Zhong Jiali.
"It was around 3:00 a.m. when she called. I had just gone to bed. My child was sick and I was exhausted. I didn't listen carefully to what she said, but she said that if anything happened to her, I should log in to this blog, use her username and password, and I would know everything about her."
"At that time, Zhong Jiasheng had just left me and the children. My eldest son had a serious fever that day." Wen Ying's tone was full of self-blame and guilt.
Wen Ying is a person who doesn't like to owe others anything. After knowing how much Zhong Jiali protected her, she was almost overwhelmed by guilt. As she thought about it, she suddenly remembered the inexplicable phone call at that time.
"I'm so damn stupid. I should have asked some questions properly at that time." Wen Ying regretted it.
"That was when my relationship with her was at its worst." Wen Ying was annoyed by Zhong Jiali at that time because her husband ignored her grievances and Zhong Jiali provoked her from time to time.
If only she could turn back time.
Ye Xueyu and Lin Shuyue didn't know how to comfort her, so Lin Shuyue patted her shoulder.
Wen Ying sniffed, and the webpage finished redirecting: "You guys can look at it. I won't read it."
Wen Ying went out without waiting for Lin Shuyue and Ye Xueyu's answer.
The theme of the blog is a row of candles, with sad music pouring out. A few large words float in the center of the space: To my scarred youth.
Below the blog, sorted by time, the first post is a smiling ID photo.
It read: "I'm probably in grave danger this time. Sister Wen Ying, if you can find this place, please use this photo as my posthumous portrait and have the police develop it for me. They represent justice and light. I hope to have their light as my guide in my afterlife. Sister Wen Ying, if you come to see me, please bring me a bouquet of daylilies. I miss my mother."
Ye Xueyu had already started crying, and Lin Shuyue's eyes were red as well. They held back their tears and continued reading. Halfway through, Ye Xueyu burst into tears, and Lin Shuyue covered her mouth.
Her vision was blurred by tears.
The computer page in front of them stopped at a day in 1998. On it was a photo of two girls.
The caption reads: I agreed not to get close to girls, but in this foreign country, I couldn't help but get close to her. Unfortunately, she is gone too. Her body was found by the river at the school gate.
I knew who killed her. I wrote to the police, and the killer was caught, but I couldn't be happy. It was one of my masters. It was his punishment for not being obedient and making friends.
If anyone sees this, Sister Wen Ying, if you see this, leave Zhong Jiasheng immediately. He never physically disciplines anyone, yet he's the teacher of every 'S' I know. Back home, there's a movable brick in my room. Move it inside, and there's all the evidence of his crimes.
Ye Xueyu stood up and ran out with her notebook in her arms.
Wen Ying stood outside with a bunch of keys in her hand.