Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, why did you come here from your hometown to be a policeman?
During this time, he discovered something strange—which was definitely a good thing for him. That was, Ji Yongtao was also living alone in a foreign place.
He had worried that Xu Fei might have other relatives here, or that someone on Ji Yongtao's side might have ties to his hometown. But now it seemed as if the two of them had drifted from their hometown to this southern city, two people on an isolated island.
Ji Yongtao straightened his back and seemed to laugh.
Ji Yongtao: Didn't they tell you about my family?
Chu Jiajun: ...I don't really listen to this kind of family gossip.
Ji Yongtao: My parents separated, and I lived with my mom. Later, my mom remarried someone from my hometown. I was in junior high school at the time, and it wasn't convenient to stay at home, so I followed a fellow villager out to explore the world.
Ji Yongtao: I went home to see my mom once, the first year I started working. It was quite awkward. The man was sitting on the sofa smoking, and their children didn't recognize me. My mom was too embarrassed to greet me. After we met once, I bought a ticket back home in advance.
Chu Jiajun: Have you been living alone for so many years?
Ji Yongtao: I'm used to it.
Chu Jiajun: Don't you bother me?
Ji Yongtao: No, it's quite lively with more people. You'll be here for at least four years, right?
Chu Jiajun: ...School is about to start, I want to move.
Ji Yongtao: Will you come back this weekend?
Chu Jiajun thought without hesitation: Yes, of course I will go back.
Ji Yongtao initially chose to go to the police academy because he felt that this job would fill his days.
When the days are full, one doesn't have the energy to think about a lot of trivial things. Every day, exhausted, I come home and fall asleep immediately - if I can't sleep, I feel very uncomfortable. The loneliness accumulated by being alone outside for so many years is like a nightmare, hanging heavy on me.
I didn't dare think about the situation at my mother's house. She and her current husband had a new family, their own children. Ji Yongtao felt like an expired spare part, no longer fitting into their lives.
She knits sweaters for the children, takes them to and from school, takes them to the park, and cooks hot meals for them every day.
No matter how late the children come home, the lights in the house are always on.
When the motorcycle stopped and waited for the red light, he looked at a family of three crossing the road on the zebra crossing. Xu Fei's voice came from behind: Brother Yong, why don't you build a family of your own?
Ji Yongtao: I don't know what to do with my home.
Chu Jiajun: Home is just...find a woman, give birth to children, you wash the dishes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and she sweeps the floor on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Ji Yongtao: I don't have time to accompany my children.
Chu Jiajun: Find a woman who doesn't want children.
Ji Yongtao: Isn't that the life you and I are living now?
Chu Jiajun was stunned.
Ji Yongtao found it funny: If this were a "home", would you be happy?
Chu Jiajun said as a matter of course: I am happy to do so.
This time it was Ji Yongtao's turn to be stunned.
The light turned green. He restarted the motorcycle and took Xu Fei home.
Ji Yongtao: Okay, I'd love to do that too.
They both smiled. Across the Ai Ya River, a primary school for staff was dismissing classes. The car drove slowly, struggling to weave between the children and their parents.
Chu Jiajun stared at the intersection, lost in thought. Ji Yongtao called out to him, "What are you looking at? You're staring at me, are you seeing Yamaguchi Hui?"
Chu Jiajun: I won't tell you.
He just looked at the savings bank at the intersection and planned his first route.
Ji Yongtao: You will start school in two weeks. I will take a leave in advance to send you to the dormitory.
Chu Jiajun laughed and said: It would be great if I could ask for leave.
Chu Jiajun leaned her head against his back and thought to herself, you won't get a wink of sleep for the next month.
-
As the winter vacation was coming to an end, Ji Yongtao began to wake him up every morning.
Ji Yongtao: I sleep until the afternoon every day like a scoundrel. How can I go to school?
Chu Jiajun was wearing a vest and shorts and holding a quilt while staying in bed. He was dragged to the ground with the quilt.
Ji Yongtao: No organization, no discipline. Get up and eat mutton buns .
Chu Jiajun was dragged to her feet, and two glass bottles of Coca-Cola fell from the bed. Ji Yongtao thought he was seeing things, so he picked them up and examined them carefully.
Ji Yongtao: Did you spend all your pocket money on this? Don't you have to return the bottle?
Chu Jiajun put on his pants while yawning: I found a new job.
Ji Yongtao looked at the notice under the glass. School starts the day after tomorrow. He said: You are going to school, why do you need to work...
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, is it okay for me to go to school as a day student?
Ji Yongtao: It takes an hour and a half to get to Dongcheng New District. Do you commute? You have to take bus No. 51 to Beijing Road, and then...
Chu Jiajun's eyes lit up: "How about we go to the super store on Beijing Road? There's a cafe and chocolate cake there!"
Ji Yongtao: Why didn't you just say you were going to the Friendship Store? Did you steal the money from a bank? Get up!
The two of them squatted in front of the small shop downstairs and ate two plates of steamed buns. A few colleagues passed by and threw a cigarette to Ji Yongtao.
Colleague: Xiaofei, do you smoke?
Ji Yongtao: College students don't smoke.
Chu Jiajun wanted to reach out to take it, but he held himself back.
Colleague: You can go to the union to sign and get movie tickets before leaving get off work today. Why don't you bring Xiaofei along? We have two tickets.
Chu Jiajun preferred the video parlor to the cinema. He could spend the whole night there with a bottle of beer and a cigarette.
Early spring is approaching. There's not much news in this city since the New Year. Chu Jiajun flipped through the channels at noon and saw the line at KFC Hometown Chicken in Beijing stretching all the way to the corner.
Ji Yongtao was on the overnight shift in the afternoon, packing up his things in the hallway. The TV station was about to close for lunch, and the programs were dwindling. One station after another turned to a snowy or tinted screen.
Chu Jiajun felt sleepy when he saw the screen, and dozed off on the sofa with a cushion in his arms.
Ji Yongtao put on his shoes and went out: I'm on duty. I'll be back tomorrow morning, catch up on some sleep, and go to the movies in the afternoon, "Gunshots on Coal Hill".
Ji Yongtao: The day after tomorrow, you should get up early and we will drive to report.
Chu Jiajun: Hmm...
Ji Yongtao: Xiaofei, I'm leaving.
Chu Jiajun: ...Well, I have to go to work later...
Ji Yongtao was amused by him: Okay, I wish you make a lot of money.
Chu Jiajun buried his head in the cushion and laughed.
-
Ji Yongtao interrogated someone with Team Two that afternoon, then sat back down to write a report. A colleague came over and asked if he wanted to go to a social dance. The attendees included accountants from the textile market and teachers from the Third Middle School across the street—all good candidates.
Ji Yongtao: I will go if I have vacation. What can I do if Li Yu doesn't approve my vacation?
Colleague: We're short on staff. It's easy to fix if they don't approve my leave. You can switch shifts with Lao Liu.
Ji Yongtao was still thinking when the inner line suddenly rang. At the same time, hurried footsteps were heard at the door. Someone rushed in to notify everyone to assemble.
——The Qiaotou Savings Bank was robbed.
It was just after school and there was a nursery and a primary school nearby, so there was a huge crowd.
Three masked men entered with guns, two guarding the lobby while one searched the counter for money. After searching the counter for money, he blew up the safe, leaving the floor littered with burnt banknotes.
Ji Yongtao and his men rushed in from the car. Nearby parents and students were temporarily ushered into the school, clearing the sidewalk. The savings bank was near the Ai Ya River. About 800 meters away, near the bridge crossing the river, a mid-sized bus hung halfway over the riverbank, the other half blocking the road. Passersby were trying to pull the bus back.
The seven people in the bus were all children returning home from school, all bound in their seats with tape and blindfolded. The driver was already dead, shot in the head.
Before the total casualties were determined, two of the three gangsters were apprehended in the hall without resistance. Their masks were removed, revealing two pale, terrified faces. Their guns had been removed, revealing them to be replicas.
Both of them were parents who came to pick up their children from the nursery. When they were passing by the path, their children were kidnapped at gunpoint. Then they were put in masks, had guns stuffed in their hands, and were forced to follow the man.
The kidnappers threatened the parents to obey by claiming that they would hand the children over to their accomplices.
Ji Yongtao assigned more people to look for the child, and they soon found him eating ice cream at a cold drink stand.
The owner of the cold drink station didn't know what was going on either. He just knew that a man wearing sunglasses, a mask and a woolen hat came and first brought a child over. Ten minutes later, another one was brought over and he left a hundred yuan for the child to eat as much red bean popsicles as he wanted.
His cleverness lay in holding two parents hostage one after another. They didn't know each other, and their expressions couldn't be read through their masks, so they each thought the other was an accomplice of the gang. He let the two hold guns and control the lobby while he leisurely went in to search for money.
Three people entered the savings bank. The real gangster walked in front, killed the security guard, and fired several shots at the counter. The people inside thought that the remaining two models were also real.
The money was packed into woven bags . The man used a gun to direct the people in the savings bank to load and move the money. The money was all moved onto the minibus parked at the door.
The bus carrying the children was hijacked first and parked next to the bank. After the bus had enough money loaded, the robbers ordered the driver to drive away.
The children were blindfolded and only remembered a stop for about three minutes, with some doors opening and closing. Then they heard the man order the driver to step on the accelerator.
One child remembers it clearly: the car hurtled forward, followed by a gunshot from the driver's side. Seconds later, the bus crashed through the bridge guardrail and spun halfway out of the riverbank. Finally, everyone gathered around to tow the bus back. They were saved, but the criminal disappeared.
Ji Yongtao inspected the bus. The robbers ordered the driver to fully depress the accelerator before killing him. Rigor mortis caused the accelerator to remain depressed, causing the bus to crash directly into the riverbank. A window on the left rear side was open, and fragmentary footprints were captured through the window.
In the twenty seconds or so when the car was speeding into the riverbank, the man jumped out of the speeding car and disappeared.
They re-examined the route the car had taken.
Li Yu: He first had the driver drive out, around the riverbank lane, along the other side of the Ai Ya River, and then stop at a planned location to throw all the money bags out. But he was still in the car... Then he had the driver step on the accelerator, shot the driver, and then jumped out of the car and fled.
Ji Yongtao: One child said he smelled popcorn when he parked his car. There's a popcorn stand near the parking spot. During school hours, there are about two people shaking popcorn: one at the elementary school entrance, and one at...
He frowned at the hand-drawn map in his notebook. Because the other stall was at the east gate of the Aiyahe community.
Li Yu: This is so audacious... The garbage disposal point in our community is behind the east gate, right?
Li Yu: I remember clearing the trash at six in the morning. There were so many garbage bags, and if there were a few more woven bags inside, no one would notice...
Li Yu: Go notify Team Two and continue to pretend to conduct a thorough search near the savings bank. Have someone change into a cleaner's uniform and go to the community garbage station to look through some bags . Don't draw attention to yourself—this guy will definitely come back to withdraw his money.
Ji Yongtao arranged for someone to meet the physical requirements, changed into an old cleaning uniform, and went to the garbage station with insecticide to check the situation. Sure enough, there were several more gray-green woven bags .
A colleague used pliers to open the top bag and took a look, confirming that it was full of bundles of hundred-dollar bills.
Li Yu: Just wait for him, he will definitely come to get the money.
A group of people were waiting in ambush nearby. The residents knew something was wrong with the bank, so fewer people were out taking out their trash than usual. By nine o'clock that evening, there was almost no one around.
At this time, a familiar figure appeared - he was wearing a vest and shorts from home inside, and Ji Yongtao's leather jacket outside, and he was humming a song and walking towards me in the slightly cool spring breeze.
Ji Yongtao cursed in his heart, and his partner next to him recognized who it was and couldn't help laughing: Oh, college students are here to throw away garbage.
Ji Yongtao: It's causing trouble.
After throwing away the garbage, Xu Fei didn't leave and planned to smoke on the side of the road.
Colleague: Who said college students don't smoke?
Ji Yongtao: ...
They noticed Xu Fei didn't have a lighter with him. The young man wanted to borrow a light, looked around, and spotted the car they were following across the street.
Xu Fei ran over and knocked on the car window: Brother, can I borrow a light?
The car window rolled down, and Ji Yongtao looked at him coldly. Xu Fei was stunned, and before he could react, he was grabbed by his cousin and put into the car.
——
To be continued
Love River Mystery Record: Bound Ears" 4
Chu Jiajun: Are you following them? Is that the guy who robbed the savings bank on the other side of the strait today?
Chu Jiajun: Did you spot me?
A colleague sighed: College students, if we have been spotted, why are we still staring at us?
Ji Yongtao: There are too many people in the car. Let two people get out and go to the east and west sides.
Colleague: Just let the college students go back.
Ji Yongtao: What if he can't control his mouth?
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, I want to smoke...
Ji Yongtao: You'd better swallow the cigarette butt later.
They were the only ones left in the car. It was early morning, and Xu Fei felt sleepy, so he curled up in the back seat and fell asleep.
He heard the sound of the radio in his sleep, with reports coming from all over the place and no suspicious persons found.
At six in the morning, the garbage truck slowly drove into their sight. Still, the robbers did not appear.
Ji Yongtao: If we send a car to confront the garbage truck, the other party might hijack it.
Chu Jiajun was half asleep: What on earth have you been doing all night?
Chu Jiajun: This thing has been pickled in the garbage dump all night. If I were you, I wouldn't want it…
Ji Yongtao hadn't intended to take his words seriously, but the moment he hung up the intercom, he suddenly froze.
He opened the car door and rushed to the garbage dump, stopped the cleaner who was carrying the garbage bag, and directly opened the woven bag - a bag of money scattered out, and there was another bag of money in the woven bag next to it...
But, the third bag , the fourth bag, the fifth bag, the sixth bag...
——It was filled with waste newspapers.
-
Two movers were willing to provide clues. Two days before the savings bank was robbed, someone called them and asked them to help with moving things.
The requirements were bizarre—arrive at the garbage station outside the east gate of Aiyahe Community on time at 5:05 p.m., remove all the gray-green woven bags on the ground, and send them to a temporary warehouse at a dock on the other side of the city. Just drop off the items and leave without handing them over to the client.
Although it was strange, the amount of money given was very high, and the envelope containing the cash was stuffed directly into the mailbox of the foreman's house.
Looking back, the robbers threw the money bag out of the car at 5:03. Two minutes later, the movers unknowingly took the money away. Furthermore, the route was carefully planned: the moving truck departed from the office, arrived at the Aiya River community, and then headed to the dock, avoiding the crime scene.
The workers at most felt that there was some noise on the other side of the river, but they had no idea what was happening there.
The man jumped off the speeding bus and returned to the garbage station. At this time, the money bags had been taken away. He could throw the woven bag filled with waste newspapers that he had hidden in advance into the garbage dump, and stack the two real money bags he brought from the bus on top.
Finally, they headed to the dock. The porter had already dropped off the money bags as agreed, taking into account the time difference. He effortlessly moved the money to a safer location, away from all danger.
There was only one person throughout the whole process, all alone.
-
Three weeks later, late one night, Ji Yongtao returned from work.
He threw all his things and bags on the sofa. As soon as he threw them there, he heard a "Ah" - Ji Yongtao was startled and immediately realized that it was Xu Fei sleeping on the sofa.
Ji Yongtao didn't think much of it at first. He pushed Xu Fei's head and let him continue sleeping. Then he suddenly remembered that this guy should have started school by now.
Ji Yongtao: Why aren't you in school?
Chu Jiajun: I still go to school as a day student.
Chu Jiajun's story was very convincing. For example, there were eight people in the dormitory, seven of them were locals, and they bullied him, a foreigner...
He couldn't understand the local dialect, the teacher had a heavy accent, and he couldn't keep up with the lessons... As he was talking, he found that Ji Yongtao just nodded and closed his eyes.
This person is too tired.
When you're exhausted to the limit, you can fall asleep anywhere. Ji Yongtao leaned against the sofa and fell asleep, saying softly, "It's good to be back..."
Chu Jiajun squatted in front of him, making sure he was truly asleep before a smile broke out on his face. Ji Yongtao's return meant the investigation was over, and this case, like many previous unsolved cases, remained unsolved.
He registered at the university using Xu Fei's identity and attended a round of classes, but found that he could not understand anything. In the end, he gave 200 yuan to a classmate and asked him to help him sign in.
Xu Fei's major was biology, and the anatomy class in the course was probably the only thing that Chu Jiajun was interested in.
-
Ji Yongtao was sleeping in the middle of the night when he suddenly felt someone rummaging through something beside him. He opened his eyes and saw Xu Fei squatting beside the sofa, searching his pockets .
Seeing that he was awake, Xu Fei smiled slightly: Brother Yong, you fell asleep on the sofa. I want to drag you onto the sofa...