El agente insensato

Capítulo 21

As soon as Zhang Wuyin took the drawing, he hummed in agreement, but he didn't know what that hum meant.

"Is it a trademark?" Zhang Wuyin asked after looking at it for a while.

"trademark?"

"The underwear brand, if I remember correctly, is called Three Rabbits."

"Three Rabbits brand underwear?" This was a completely unexpected answer.

Damn, I even guessed it was some cult's totem. An underwear brand? That's a really lame joke.

"This brand no longer exists. It was popular for a while in the early 1980s. It wasn't particularly durable, but it was low-priced and even sold in Shanghai. You know, back then, Shanghai clothing was sold all over the country. But it disappeared very quickly and you can't see it anymore. I don't know why."

We only stayed at Zhang's house for less than half an hour, but we learned a lot. Before we even got home, I was in a hurry to call Wang Maoyuan.

"Old Wang, I've made a breakthrough!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized something was wrong. Why did he let slip "Old Wang"? That was just a casual remark between him and Liu Er. In person, he should have called him "Old Wang."

Fortunately, Wang Maoyuan didn't mind, because his voice was also very excited: "You've made progress too? I've also got an important clue. But you go first."

"You have a lead too? Probably the same as mine, Three Rabbit brand underwear?"

"How did you find out about the San Tu brand underwear? Could it be... really? Did those men with frigidity also wear this brand of underwear?" Wang Maoyuan was greatly surprised.

“I can’t be sure, but it’s possible, because… Zhang Wuyin himself has walked through it.”

"Huh? Oh..." Wang Maoyuan exclaimed, "She even told you this?"

"Well, Teacher Zhang is quite straightforward," I could only say.

"She really acts like a man. And there's something else you probably don't know. I learned from the Textile Association that this brand of underwear started production at the end of 1980, and by the spring and summer of 1981, it had been sold to many provinces and cities across the country. These provinces and cities that sell San Tu underwear completely overlap with the provinces and cities where large-scale rape cases have occurred."

"Completely overlapping?!" I exclaimed.

Liu Er, who was standing next to me, quickly asked me what was going on, and I briefly explained it to him. He also looked surprised.

"So, this completely overlaps with the provinces and cities where frigidity occurs," I said.

"Yes. I don't know why this factory stopped producing this brand of underwear in the summer of 1982. The factory is still there now, doing garment processing and export. This brand of underwear is very strange. I plan to go to Shunchang in a few days in my private capacity."

"Where to?" I thought I had misheard.

"Shunchang, that factory is in Shunchang, Fujian."

How did everything come full circle back to Shunchang?

"Do you want to come with me?" Wang Maoyuan asked.

Should we go? I've already been to Shunchang twice this year.

"Okay, I'll try my best to get time off." I made up my mind quickly. Curious men are destined to be busy, and besides, I definitely had to find out what was going on with Liu Er.

"Also, why did you go in a private capacity? Wasn't the criminal investigation team sent?"

"Of course not. No matter what happened back then, the statute of limitations has expired, the case is closed, so many people have been executed or sentenced, it's neither possible nor necessary to stir up any more trouble."

I'm just going to unravel a mystery that's puzzled me for years.

"So it can be confirmed that the two are related, right? It sounds like You Fang left a seed in her son's genes. Now that seed has sprouted and grown."

"An interesting analogy. By the way, have you decided on your trip to Shunchang?"

"It's tonight. When I get back, I'll try to persuade You Fang to have another full checkup. I don't think she'll mind it for our son's sake. I hope we can find a treatment method from her."

"You're still thinking about curing You Hong? Didn't I tell you long ago not to have any hope?"

I smiled wryly: "I know you're only thinking about contributing to the development of human genetics, but I still have to think about my friends, don't I?" "I've been paying close attention to your trip to Shunchang. I didn't expect an underwear brand to cause such a mess. Although you might have discovered something in Shunchang, I think the problem still lies with the 'Three Rabbits' image," Liang Yingwu said.

"That's what I think too. Since professional organizations have confirmed that the Three Rabbits picture can have a psychological effect of making people feel calm and apathetic, it's reasonable to say that it can cause frigidity, but to cause atrophy of the reproductive organs is too exaggerated. But how could she have a relationship with a rapist with a strong sex drive? That's something I can't understand."

“It’s not impossible for the same thing to have two extreme effects, but that depends on the circumstances…” Liang Yingwu thought for a moment and then said, “Also, underwear is worn close to the skin, which means that people who wear underwear don’t often see the brand logos on it, so how are they affected? If you make a major discovery this time, I think the X organization will also take action.”

"Why do I feel like you're a weathervane, a touchstone?"

"It's just a little bit of attention."

"This has happened several times already. I've become your advance team. I demand my salary!" I shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Oh, you really want it?" Liang Yingwu smiled and looked at me with great interest.

"Uh... never mind." He who takes a favor is beholden to another; freedom is best.

"There's something you need to think about clearly," Liang Yingwu suddenly said, becoming serious.

"So it can be confirmed that the two are related, right? It sounds like You Fang left a seed in her son's genes. Now that seed has sprouted and grown."

"An interesting analogy. By the way, have you decided on your trip to Shunchang?"

"It's tonight. When I get back, I'll try to persuade You Fang to have another full checkup. I don't think she'll mind it for our son's sake. I hope we can find a treatment method from her."

"You're still thinking about curing You Hong? Didn't I tell you long ago not to have any hope?"

I gave a wry smile: "I know you're only thinking about contributing to the development of human genetics, but I still have to think about my friends, don't I?"

"I've been paying close attention to your trip to Shunchang. I never expected an underwear brand to cause such a mess. While you might have discovered something in Shunchang, I think the problem still lies with the 'Three Rabbits' image," Liang Yingwu said.

"That's what I think too. Since professional organizations have confirmed that the Three Rabbits picture can have a psychological effect of making people feel calm and apathetic, it's reasonable to say that it can cause frigidity, but to cause atrophy of the reproductive organs is too exaggerated. But how could she have a relationship with a rapist with a strong sex drive? That's something I can't understand."

“It’s not impossible for the same thing to have two extreme effects, but that depends on the circumstances…” Liang Yingwu thought for a moment and then said, “Also, underwear is worn close to the skin, which means that people who wear underwear don’t often see the brand logos on it, so how are they affected? If you make a major discovery this time, I think the X organization will also take action.”

"Why do I feel like you're a weathervane, a touchstone?"

"It's just a little bit of attention."

"This has happened several times already. I've become your advance team. I demand my salary!" I shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Oh, you really want it?" Liang Yingwu smiled and looked at me with great interest.

"Uh... never mind." He who takes a favor is beholden to another; freedom is best.

"There's something you need to think about clearly," Liang Yingwu suddenly said, becoming serious.

"What"

"The large number of rapists and frigid individuals that emerged 23 years ago has already caused extremely serious social problems. If this was a premeditated act, then the purpose of using such shocking methods must be astonishing. Although so many years have passed, there is no guarantee that you will be safe on this trip. Be careful."

"Alright, after being out in the world for so long, how could I not know how to read feng shui?" I said, but I felt a little warm inside.

On the train, Wang Maoyuan mentioned another clue he had obtained from the Textile Association: San Tu brand underwear often used dyes to print the San Tu pattern on the underwear, but this dye was found to be harmful to the skin in 1982 and was not suitable for underwear, so it was ordered to stop using it.

Shortly after the ban was issued, San Tu brand underwear ceased production, leaving Wang Maoyuan puzzled. Logically, a factory that had achieved such success wouldn't shut down its entire brand just because of this; wouldn't simply stopping the use of this dye solve the problem? It seems the real reason still needs to be investigated by Shunchang.

Wang Maoyuan's clue illuminated the path for me, a question that had long puzzled me: "How do the three-rabbit image on underwear affect the wearer?" Human senses aren't limited to sight; the three-rabbit image can influence a person's mental state visually, and perhaps also through other senses. The dye is harmful to the skin; in other words, the skin can sense and react to this dye. If the three-rabbit image is printed with this dye, the skin can feel the three-rabbit image.

In addition, after I recounted my visit to Zhang Wuyin in detail, Wang Maoyuan said something that surprised me quite a bit.

At that time, Zhang Wuyin said that sexual frigidity is not only a problem for women, but also for men, but most of them think it is impotence.

Wang Maoyuan exclaimed "Ah!" and said, "So, it's not just men who become rapists who can be blinded by their own desires; there might be women too."

I immediately realized how true that made sense: "Women, indeed, are quite secretive in this respect."

"Yes, when a man can't take it anymore, he becomes a rapist; when a woman can't take it anymore, she can't rape a man."

"But it's much easier for women to seduce men, and besides, they can also..."

Wang Maoyuan stopped there, but we all knew what he meant. A thought struck me, and I glanced at Liu Er beside me; he was staring intently at Wang Maoyuan.

It can't be that much of a coincidence, can it?

However, when I got back to Shanghai, I still asked You Fang if she had ever worn San Tu brand underwear.

Upon arriving in Shunchang, Wang Maoyuan hailed a taxi.

I already know that the original underwear factory is now called Jingyi Garment Company, but it used to be called Santu Underwear Factory. The legal representative of that time was surnamed Yang and named Delin.

As soon as I got in the car, I was about to say that we were going to Lean Company when Wang Maoyuan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, spoke first: "Is the driver a local?"

"That's right, I've been in Shunchang for over forty years. Just tell me where you want to go, and I'll definitely take you the right route. Now that Shunchang is trying to become a tourist city, we rickshaw pullers can't tarnish Shunchang's reputation."

"No rush. It's been many years since I've been here, more than twenty years, I think. Please drive as you please, slowly, let me take a look around the city."

I glanced at Liu Er, wondering what tricks Wang Maoyuan was up to. Coming from the public security system, he must have his own methods. Let's just wait and see, and not interrupt or ruin his plans.

The driver, a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties based on his earlier words, grinned and said, "Alright, you gentlemen, take your time looking around. I'll take you to a few commercial streets first. Although Shunchang is a small city and can't compare to big cities, it has changed a lot over the years. If you haven't been here for twenty years, you really wouldn't recognize it. What, you were here in the 80s?"

The car drove slowly down the street. I had no interest in Shunchang's urban development achievements and was focused on listening to the conversation between the two people in front of me.

“I came here in 1981, accompanying a friend. My friend had a distant relative who owned a clothing factory. I remember when I left, he gave me several large bags of clothes.” Wang Maoyuan chuckled. “Guess what kind of clothes they were?”

I thought to myself, "This old man is really good at pretending."

The driver responded with, "Huh?"

“Underwear, all underwear,” Wang Maoyuan said with a smile.

"The underwear factory from 1981? You don't mean Jingyi Factory, do you?" the driver said.

"Lean? It's called Lean, but I'm getting old and can't remember it."

"Old fox, old fox," I thought to myself.

"Now it's called Lean, back then it was called Three Rabbits."

"Right, right, Three Rabbits, Three Rabbits brand, no wonder I felt something was off when you mentioned lean manufacturing, why did you change the name?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" the driver said.

“I don’t know. What’s wrong? My friend went to the United States in 1982 and has never come back. He has also lost contact with this distant relative. Now that he knows I’m coming to Shunchang again, he specifically asked me to visit Yang Delin, the factory director from back then. I even bought the gift in Shanghai.”

"It hasn't been called Santu for a long time. It was back in 1982. After that year, Yang Delin was no longer the factory director, and the factory was managed by a different person."

"What's going on? I was thinking of going to the factory to find Yang Delin, how am I supposed to find him now?"

"That's a long story. If you go to the street now and ask about the San Tu factory, either the young people won't know, or even if they do, they might not be willing to tell you. Now, we old Shunchang residents have an unspoken agreement: we no longer mention San Tu brand underwear. Back in the day, this underwear factory was a pillar of the local economy."

Why can't we mention it?

I listened intently. It seemed there really had been some unexpected events back then.

"It's not that we can't mention it. Didn't I just say that Shunchang wants to develop its tourism economy?"

"Yes, does that have anything to do with it?"

"Yes, there is a connection. Did you know that Shunchang is the hometown of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King?"