Lady's Home

Chapter 21

The waitress walked out with a smile, and less than 10 minutes later, Yanzi arrived. She looked to be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, with bright red lipstick on her lips. Her figure was a little out of shape, and she was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt and loose shorts. She seemed somewhat shy.

According to Zhou Jin's records, Yanzi was a relative of the owner of the Little Duck Inn. Because her husband broke his leg while working and could no longer work, she had to sell her body to support the family. "She wasn't beautiful, but the customers all liked her because she was very considerate to them. When they arrived, she would massage their backs, and when they left, she would tidy their clothes. She never treated her customers like beasts; she treated them like lovers, husbands, or elders. She was also willing to have heart-to-heart talks with them. Many people went to Yanzi, where they would have sex for half an hour and talk for two hours. She and I got along very well." This is how Zhou Jin commented on Yanzi, whom she knew, in her online novel "My Absurd Journey."

"Are you Yanzi?" he asked.

"Mmm." Yanzi nodded with a smile. As soon as he sat down on the edge of the bed, she quickly sat down beside him and started massaging his shoulders. Hey, those massages really worked! If it weren't for her, and if she weren't still a little dumpling, I probably would have accepted it. I wonder what the little girl is doing now, what a pity…

"Don't be so polite, Yanzi. Just keep me company for a while, and I'll pay for it. How does that sound?" Jian Dongping smiled, stood up, and sat down in the nearest chair.

"Then I'll make you a pot of tea," she said.

"No need, I have bottled water. Please sit down." Jian Dongping pointed to the bed. He was certain he wouldn't sleep in that bed unless it was a three-star hotel or higher. Otherwise, he would sleep in his sleeping bag wherever he went.

Yanzi obediently sat on the bed, staring at Jian Dongping with great curiosity. "She's probably never seen such a refined and handsome guest as me in her entire life," Jian Dongping thought with a touch of smugness.

“Yanzi, I’d like to talk to you because a friend of mine mentioned you to me,” Jian Dongping said.

"Which one is it?" Yanzi became even more curious.

"Do you recognize this person?" Jian Dongping asked, taking out a photo of Zhou Jin.

Yanzi took the photo and immediately exclaimed excitedly, "Ah!"

“It’s Lily. I know her.” She turned to look at him. “Are you Lily’s friend?”

She said that when she was here, you were her good friend.

"She's a very nice person and has always helped me. I originally hoped she would stay longer, but she was just passing through and only stayed here for a month." As she spoke, Yanzi took out a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and started cracking them open.

They talk and eat sunflower seeds at the same time; that's probably a local custom, Jian Dongping thought.

"How did she help you by giving you the guests?" Jian Dongping asked with a grin, trying to make his tone sound normal. In fact, he just wanted to confirm whether Zhou Jin had worked as a low-class prostitute at the Little Duck Inn.

“Lili is different from us. She sings Teresa Teng’s songs at a nearby karaoke bar. She earns a few dozen yuan a day, sometimes more. If a customer really likes her, she’ll stay with them. Anyway, she earns more money than us. She has her ways.”

"Then how can she help you?"

“She lent me money. There aren’t many good people like her around here. Nobody else is willing to lend me money because my husband isn’t in good health, and my business isn’t always good.” Yanzi glanced at her husband shyly as she mentioned him.

“I’ve heard her mention your husband before.” Jian Dongping nodded understandingly. “I just find it strange that Lili was doing so well here, why would she want to leave?”

"She told me that she originally wanted to find a man who owned a karaoke bar, but unfortunately she couldn't find one, so she had to leave and keep looking," Yanzi said while cracking sunflower seeds. "Lili is stubborn, just like me. She'd do anything for a man."

"I only recently met Lili. When she heard I was passing through, she asked me to come and see you." Jian Dongping took a packet of Shanghai pastries he had prepared beforehand and handed it to her. "I wasn't entirely sure you were the Yanzi she was talking about."

Yanzi tossed the unfinished melon seeds on the table and happily accepted the snack.

"I didn't expect Lili to still remember me." She looked at the box of walnut cookies with delight and asked, "Are they sweet?"

"A little," Jian Dongping replied haphazardly, having never tried it himself.

"Lili is so nice. She's really my best friend! I'll go see her sometime." Yanzi beamed from ear to ear. Jian Dongping hadn't expected that the ordinary box of pastries he'd casually bought could bring her so much joy, and he couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken. Yanzi probably never had any friends, and even if she did, very few people had ever given her gifts.

"Yanzi, has Lili told you where her next stop is?" Jian Dongping asked.

Didn't Lily tell you?

“She only gave me a number and asked me to guess it,” Jian Dongping said.

Which number?

“187.” Jian Dongping gave a troubled smile. “She keeps making me guess numbers, and I really can’t. Yanzi, can you help me? If you tell me, I’ll give you an extra 50 yuan, okay?”

Lili's not-so-pretty face revealed the expression of a lively and lovely young girl.

“Alright, since you’re so generous and brought me a gift, I’ll tell you.” Her dark eyes blinked. “Lily said that after she ran away from home when she was 18, she traveled around and marked each place she stayed in. She specifically looked for places where the numbers could be connected. That’s what she said.”

"So, to make it 'Eight Joys,' which is 186, right?"

“Yes, 187 is the marker for the next hotel. She said it was a marker, but I don’t know if it’s the hotel’s name or a number. Anyway, as long as the numbers connect, it’s fine. I don’t know the exact location, maybe it’s the next town after ours. Hehe, I also find Lili’s habits very strange. She’s different from us. She’s educated, she can write articles and take photos. Educated people are different from us.” Yanzi’s eyes were still fixed on the box of pastries. Jian Dongping couldn’t bear to look at the expression on her face, so he looked away.

"Do you know who the man Lili is looking for is? I asked her, but she wouldn't say." He continued to steer the conversation further. In Zhou Jin's "My Absurd Journey," she once said, "Among the girls I met along the way, Yanzi was one of the two I trusted the most. Although she had relationships with many men, she understood true feelings. I felt that no matter what I said to her, she would understand. So I talked to her the most and the most thoroughly."

Yanzi glanced at Jian Dongping, seemingly considering whether she should answer the question, but in the end she spoke.

“I don’t know the man’s name. She initially asked me if this man was one of my clients, and even showed me a photo to identify him.”

Upon hearing this, Jian Dongping quickly pulled out Su Zhiwen's photo and handed it over.

Is this the person?

"It looks like it, but I can't be sure," Yanzi said uncertainly, glancing at Jian Dongping with a mixture of curiosity and timidity, as if asking, "How come you have this man's photo?" But she didn't ask. Her profession taught her what to ask and what not to ask. She didn't want to upset Jian Dongping because she needed money.

"So, is he among your guests?"

"No. But Lili later heard from others that this man had come, but left with his friends not long after he arrived."

Did Lily tell you why she's been searching for that man everywhere?

"She said that the man cheated her out of her feelings, stole her money for school, and even pawned her like a commodity to a small hotel for lodging fees. She barely managed to escape, and then she searched everywhere for him, wanting to settle accounts with him." Yanzi smiled as she said this, "I've seen plenty of men cheating on women, but I've never seen anyone as stubborn as Lili, spending so much time looking for her enemy. That's why I say she's a stubborn person."

At 11 p.m., Jian Dongping still hadn't received Ling Ge's call, so he finally couldn't resist calling him. He was a punctual person, so he didn't like others being late.

"Miss, didn't we agree to talk on the phone at 10 o'clock?" he said impatiently as soon as the call connected.

"They were teaching me how to play mahjong tonight, and I couldn't leave because Yushan went home, and they were one player short. We played until 10:40, and I just finished showering and got back to my room. Why are you being so mean to me?" Ling Ge seemed quite unconvinced. He imagined her probably on the phone right now, combing her long, wet hair, looking quite cute, so his anger subsided by half.

"Have you learned it?" Jian Dongping asked in his normal tone.

"I learned it from watching people in the alleyway practice it, so I picked it up very quickly," Ling Ge said happily.

Did you win any money?

“We didn’t have any money. Wouldn’t that be gambling? I don’t gamble, I told them that.”

"Stop having fun, how's the investigation of Zhou Jin's box going?"

“I didn’t go today. This afternoon, I went with Yushan to see a child who has leukemia. It’s so pitiful. He’s such a pretty child, only 10 years old and he has such a serious disease. After seeing him, I really don’t dare to have children anymore.” Ling Ge sighed softly. When Jian Dongping didn’t answer, she quickly added, “I’ll go to the train station tomorrow.”

"When you go to the train station to look for a small hotel, look for hotels that are related to the number 256. It could be a house number, a homonym of the hotel name, or a number marked on a billboard. Try to find one using this method."

"Is there any significance to the number 256?" Her voice suddenly softened.

"I've discovered a pattern in Zhou Jin's accommodations; she likes to arrange them by numbers." "I'll explain in detail later. Just do as I say and see if you can find them." Jian Dongping didn't want to explain further and asked, "Ling Ge, do you know how to give massages?"

"I used to massage my dad's back. Why are you asking that?" she asked, puzzled.

"That's good, I have something to look forward to now," Jian Dongping said with a smile.

"Don't even think about it, I'm not going to give you a back massage," Ling Ge said fiercely.

"It's alright, we're friends, so it doesn't matter who massages whom. Just do as I say, and if you do, I'll give you a massage, how about a full-body massage?" Jian Dongping said seriously, suppressing a laugh.

"That works too," she replied naively, then realized her mistake and immediately retorted, "Jian Dongping, I don't want your massage."

Call me James!

“No, I’ll call you Jian Dongping. We need to keep our distance,” Ling Ge said stubbornly.

Meatball, missing you will make you fat. You must be thinking of me, but you're still being stubborn!

“Tell Uncle Lin to ask Shen Biyun for the inventory records from the storage room two months ago,” Jian Dongping said, adopting a more serious tone.

"Why?"

“Have you read the statement? Fang Xiaoxi visited the underground storage room not long ago, and Shen Biyun was also there. Fang Xiaoxi mentioned that there was a small bamboo box in the storage room with a bear embroidered on it. However, the police's on-site investigation record did not mention this box. I want to know if this box ever existed, and if so, where it went. Is this box on the original inventory list of the storage room? You just need to talk to Uncle Lin, and he will understand. Uncle Lin may have already noticed the problem, but mentioning it to him will show that you have also noticed this.”

"I understand." Ling Ge seemed to be taking notes, and Jian Dongping heard the sound of turning pages.

"Ling Ge, are you taking notes?"

"Yes, I have to write down what you said, otherwise I'll forget it."

"Then you absolutely mustn't let any other person in this family see what you've written down, understand?"

"I understand. Go ahead and tell me."

“Find out if anything unusual happened before or after the little dog Glass went missing,” Jian Dongping said. “Also, besides her owner, who was she closest to?”

"Okay, I've got it." Ling Ge suddenly raised his voice slightly, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, they already know I'm a police officer. It turns out Shen Biyun investigated, and she even knows about my resignation."

"Ha!" Jian Dongping laughed. "They must think you're a fool, which is good, it'll lower their guard. Which room are you staying in now?"

“I’m staying in a guest room, a very pretty little room. Yushan told me that this used to be Fang Qi’s room, but she moved because she thought the room was too small. Uncle Lin even told me to check the room inside and out to see if there were any listening devices.”

"And then what happened?"

“I checked everything as Uncle Lin told me to, and it wasn’t there.”

"Are you hiding under the blanket to answer my call right now?" He could hear the furtiveness in her voice. "Yes, I am. Even though we didn't find a bugging device, I'm still afraid someone might be eavesdropping."

Who lives next door to you?

“My room is at the end of the corridor, next to Yushan’s room. But she went back today. She told me that she’ll be coming back to visit her mother more often lately. Actually, Yushan is quite good to her mother.” Ling Ge’s answers were always emotional, which made Jian Dongping impatient. If she answered, “I don’t know if Yushan’s kindness to her mother is true or not,” wouldn’t she seem more like a policeman?

"Is the door next door open?" Jian Dongping asked seriously.

"I don't know," Ling Ge replied nervously.

Jian Dongping didn't want to make this suggestion because it was too dangerous, but he was really curious to know if his guess was correct, so after hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke up.

"Ling Ge, when it gets late at night, try opening the door next door. If the door is open, do an experiment. In Zeng Yushan's room, call your own cell phone. Make sure you put your phone in your bag beforehand and zip it up. Listen to see if you can hear your cell phone ringing in Zeng Yushan's room. It would be best to do this experiment again during the day."

Ling Ge didn't respond immediately. He said:

"However, this is a bit dangerous. If you're scared, then forget it. I don't want you to cause any trouble as soon as you get there."

"No problem, I can handle it." She seemed to have made up her mind.

"Do the guest rooms have toilets?" he asked.

"No."

"If someone sees you in the hallway, just say you were looking for the restroom and touched the wrong door. Understand? Don't panic. When you lie, make sure you tell yourself you're not lying, understand?"

“Jian Dongping, I am, after all, a trained police officer. This little thing is no problem for me.”

Jian Dongping could imagine her expression as she spoke; she was clearly terrified, but she was still forcing herself to appear brave. If she were beside him, he probably wouldn't be able to resist patting her head.

"What did you accomplish today?" he asked.

“Today? Wait a minute, I’ve written it all down,” Jian Dongping heard the sound of paper being turned over, and after a while, Ling Ge’s furtive voice came from the other end of the phone again, “I found out that Yu Shan is really rich. She donated 50,000 yuan at once. Her monthly salary is only a little over 3,000 yuan. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that Old Mrs. Shen fell down the stairs more than four months ago and broke her leg and hand, and was bedridden for a month.”

"How did you fall?" This is a new situation.

One night, while everyone was sleeping, they suddenly heard the old lady calling for help. They ran out and found her lying downstairs, talking incoherently. No one could figure out what had happened. Old Mrs. Shen said she probably slipped and fell.

"How did this matter come up today? Who brought it up?" A thought flashed through Jian Dongping's mind.