Discours étrange

Chapitre 10

I couldn't sleep anymore, so I wrote down my thoughts in my notebook, filling several pages with scribbles. Finally, at five in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, I dialed He Xi's number. She called me at three in the morning, so I didn't feel guilty calling her at this hour. A woman like her would never be appreciated if I tried to pamper her.

"Did you think of anything?" she asked abruptly, indicating that she hadn't been sleeping at all.

"Do you have a police uniform?" I asked, because I had never seen her wear one.

"have."

Do you have a police ID?

"There's a temporary one, but it's expired."

"That's enough. Let's go hiking in Kunshan together, now."

At 6:10 a.m., just as dawn was breaking, I met He Xi, who was dressed in a police uniform, at the long-distance bus station, and we boarded the long-distance bus bound for Kunshan.

He Xi didn't seem to be in good spirits; after all, she had been staying up countless nights. Her face was haggard, and her body looked particularly thin beneath her police uniform. She still didn't know why she was going to Kunshan; even when we met, I didn't tell her, and she didn't ask.

Once we were in the car, I handed her a hot scallion pancake and said, "Eat this and take a nap on the way. I'll tell you more when we get to Kunshan."

The bus wasn't full, so there was no one in the row behind us, allowing us to comfortably recline our seats. He Xi wasn't familiar with the system and couldn't find the lever to relax the backrest for a moment, so I reached over to help her. For a brief moment, the position was rather ambiguous; I was practically pulling her thighs into my shoulders. The feel of it... well, it was quite bouncy, not bad.

He Xi neither dodged nor spoke, but lay down on the receding seat back and closed her eyes.

I stared at her face for a while, then closed my eyes, wondering if I should be bolder and walk faster...

The morning rush hour hadn't started yet, and the bus sped onto the elevated road, accelerating forward. The elevated road connected directly to the highway, and it wouldn't be long before they reached Kunshan.

He Xi quickly fell asleep, her head tilting to rest on my shoulder. I could feel her soft breathing; it seems men really enjoy this feeling.

I don't have much flesh on my shoulders, will I hurt her? Thinking this, I, who was also sleep-deprived, quickly fell asleep.

I didn't wake up until we arrived in Kunshan, and found my head resting on He Xi's shoulder. Normally, I don't sleep with my head tilted this way, so it seems my subconscious knew this wasn't normal.

As I got off the bus, I couldn't help but tease you, "Why do you smell so good? That's strange."

"Next time I'll add some blood and the stench of a corpse, so you can really smell it." He Xi glared at me, her expression undeniably charming.

Our final destination was, of course, Datang Village, so we had to transfer. This time, the bus was much worse than the one we had just taken; it didn't have air conditioning, and although there were seats, we couldn't sleep anymore. Fortunately, we both slept for a while and felt much better afterward.

"When we get to Datang Village, I need to borrow your police identity to ask you a question."

"Ask Huang Zhi's neighbor, how many times has she been pregnant in total?"

"So you already guessed it," I said with a smile.

"Even if I'm pregnant, not everyone might be able to tell."

"Hmm?" I felt that He Xi's words had a hidden meaning.

"I was referring to another case. Are you interested in any new developments in the South Korean infant death case?"

"Of course, how is it now?"

"This case is now almost closed. After the French police took over, there has been a breakthrough."

This case was truly full of twists and turns. Back in France, the Courroys immediately held a press conference, where Courroy repeatedly denied, "My wife did not give birth to those two children." Veronique appeared extremely aggrieved, repeatedly saying, "This is a nightmare." Veronique's colleague then testified, "I worked with her for eight hours a day at the Korean high school, and we did yoga together after get off work. If she were pregnant, I would definitely have known." He Xi's words were directed at this witness, because subsequent developments shocked everyone who claimed to have never seen Veronique with a large belly.

The key turning point came with the debunking of the evidence that Veronique was infertile after a hysterectomy.

An examination conducted by French police using advanced equipment determined that the two stillborn infants had been dead for more than three years, meaning they died in 2002 or even 2003. Veronique's hysterectomy took place in December 2003, making it entirely possible for her to have given birth to these two stillborn infants.

After repeated investigations and psychological questioning by the police, Veronique finally confessed that she secretly gave birth to twin sons in 2003, then strangled them and sealed them in the refrigerator. Even more shockingly, Veronique revealed that this was not her first act of infanticide; back in 1999, she burned a baby girl she had just given birth to. She repeatedly emphasized that she committed all of these acts alone, secretly giving birth and then cruelly killing the children, without her husband's knowledge.

“Wait a minute, these two babies aren’t twins. One was born to Veronique, and the other to Huang Zhi,” I said immediately after hearing this.

"These are all publicly released information from the French police. Veronique has pleaded guilty, and perhaps because of the excessive public attention, they want to close the case quickly."

Being under public and media scrutiny is indeed very stressful. If Veronique admits to killing his son, then giving the public an explanation first, and then slowly investigating any remaining questions, would be a good approach. Of course, another possibility is to close the case and archive it, thus avoiding this trouble.

"Something's still not right. There's more than just this one odd thing," I said, frowning.

"Hmm." He Xi opened the window. The sun wasn't too strong yet, and the breeze was cool. She brushed her wind-blown hair aside and said, "This case is interesting."

"She clearly only had one child, but she admitted to having twins. And she goes to yoga with her colleagues every day after get off work. How could anyone not tell?"

“Veronique is quite tall, but if someone knew they were about to give birth and could still do yoga without being noticed…” He Xi paused here, pondering the possibility, and then shook her head, saying, “That would be a miracle.”

A miracle? That usually means there's more to it than meets the eye.

"Actually, there are many more inconsistencies in the information released by the French police. Veronique's claim that her husband, Courjois, was unaware of the pregnancy is easily believed, since Courjois reported it himself. Of course, this would require Veronique to have concealed her pregnancy flawlessly, so that even her husband wouldn't notice. But there's another problem: Veronique was in France the entire time Courjois was away on vacation, never returning to Seoul, and therefore couldn't have put the babies in her refrigerator. Furthermore, she admitted that after killing the two infants in 2003, she always kept them in the refrigerator."

I shuddered, imagining what it would be like if there were two corpses frozen in my refrigerator, and everyday food was stored with the corpses...

"If Veronique is telling the truth, then why did Kurro only discover the package containing two dead infants in the refrigerator now?"

I nodded and said, "That's right, and I remember that Kurro's first reaction upon seeing the package was that it was left there by his Filipino maid. This means that his servants could open the refrigerator. In three years, even his Filipino maid should have discovered the body long ago."

"Another point is that Veronique said he strangled the babies, but I found no signs of strangulation on any of the babies' bodies."

"Then it's almost certain that this isn't the truth. But with such flawed evidence, how dare the French police close the case?"

"Since Veronique has confessed, and another suspect is willing to admit guilt and confess to everything, the case can be closed. However, some people are still persistent. They believe that Veronique only gave in under pressure from the police, or that she didn't tell everything, or that she has mental problems."

“If she really killed her own child and then put it in the refrigerator, she must be mentally unstable,” I said.

"Hey, you two, are you going to Datang?" the ticket seller called out.

I snapped out of my daze and realized we had arrived. Quickly putting aside my confusion about the South Korean refrigerator infant death case, I got out of the car with He Xi.

It was drizzling outside the car. The raindrops were very fine, drifting in the breeze and getting into my neck.

There's fog, which is quite rare for this time of year.

A thin wisp of white mist hung in the air, so thin in some places it was almost imperceptible, while in others it seemed as if two layers of gauze had been draped over it. It was only a little past seven in the morning; the rain would stop soon and the sun would come out, and the mist would dissipate. But right now, this village, which resembled more of a small town, held an indescribable mystery within the mist.

I chuckled to myself. What I'd seen and heard these past few days had made me a bit paranoid. It's just an ordinary village, after all.

I had been here once before, and after a quick look around, I found the road leading to the second village.

After passing one small building after another, Huang Zhi's house was not far ahead. But the deeper they went, the thicker the white fog became.

A gust of wind blew a cloud of mist onto my face. I took a deep breath and smelled the faint scent of river water. It suddenly dawned on me that there was a river not far ahead, and the mist was naturally thicker on both sides of the riverbank.

We arrived at Huang Zhi's dilapidated little house. I suddenly remembered what the old woman had said to me last time I came here.

She said this place was eerie, so eerie that she didn't even dare to go inside.

Think about it, over the years, the number of people living in this small building has decreased one by one, some have disappeared or died, and now it is completely empty, without a single person.

I couldn't help but shiver.

Going around to the back door of Huang Zhi's house, the door with the broken lock was now ajar, a crack in the door revealing a corner of the empty storage room. In the days since Huang Zhi's death, quite a few people must have come here. I imagine they were mostly police officers; villagers wouldn't have come so often.

I didn't intend to go in; that's not the purpose of our visit today. It was just that some emotion drew me here to take a look.

He Xi had been silent until I walked around the building, then asked, "Is this Huang Zhi's home?"

I nodded: "Let's find someone else to talk to. Hmm, I do have someone in mind."

Walking out of Huang Zhi's house, I turned a corner, and from a distance, I could vaguely see a figure there.

As they drew closer, the hunched figure gradually became clearer, emerging from the mist.

Yes, I saw that old woman again. She was sitting in front of her house, just like last time, picking vegetables.

I walked up to her and greeted her.

The old woman stopped what she was doing, looked up, and glanced at me. Her gesture and her gaze were exactly the same as last time.

"What? What did you say?" she asked slowly.

Yes, I forgot she couldn't understand Mandarin, just like the last time we met, she asked me that in return.

For a moment, I had the illusion that time had reversed. In this mesmerizing space of the small village, even time itself became uncertain.

This strange illusion left me momentarily stunned, and I forgot to respond to the old woman's words.

The old man squinted slightly, and crow's feet radiated from the corners of his eyes, leaving many deep lines.

"Oh, it's you, the reporter." She recognized me.

Then she shifted her gaze to He Xi, who was standing slightly behind me. Her police uniform made her crow's feet appear even deeper.

"Police," she murmured, pushing the vegetable basin aside and standing up.

"What's wrong?" She looked at me, then turned her gaze to He Xi.

"It's about Huang Zhi. You said last time that you watched her grow up and you have some questions to ask me," I said.

"Okay, okay, come in, come in." She said, welcoming us inside. As for the police ID, the old lady didn't even think to look at it. For ordinary people, this "skin" was enough to represent everything.

The houses built by farmers are all similar in layout, but the furniture in the large living room, although not luxurious, is much better than that in Huang Zhi's house.

The room has everything you could want: an eight-immortal table, peach wood chairs, a sofa, a coffee table, and a large TV. There are also large decorative paintings hanging on the walls.

"Let me pour you some tea."

"No need for that trouble."

"Yes, yes."

The old man turned and went into the kitchen, but brought back two cans of cola: "On such a hot day, this is better to drink."

"That's right, she's from the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the police officer investigating Huang Zhi's case." I introduced He Xi. This wasn't really a lie.

"Quite a few police officers came a few days ago, some of them from Shanghai. But is this your first time here?" the old woman said to He Xi.

He Xi nodded.

"She has some questions for you regarding Huang Zhi's life before her death."

"Ask away, ask away." The old lady nodded repeatedly, cooperating fully.

“Go ahead and ask, you know what to ask, right?” I said to He Xi.

He Xi nodded, but what she said startled me.

"Regarding that corpse, what I want to know is..." He Xi was interrupted by my loud cough before she could finish her question. Fortunately, He Xi spoke Mandarin; she could only understand the Shanghai dialect, not speak it.

"Well, she only speaks Mandarin, so I'll ask for her. I came with her for the interview, so I know what she wants to ask. Regarding the deceased, Huang Zhi, she wants to know more. The police suspect that her death may be related to her missing child."

"Her daughter, Zhou Qianqian?"

I nodded.

"This little girl, so quiet, always hiding in the shadows, walking without a sound, like a dead person. I think she might be even more sinister than her mother." The old woman spoke with disgust, spouting baseless rumors. Despite Zhou Qianqian's disappearance for several months, nothing seemed to evoke any sympathy from her. Last time I visited, I sensed she disliked Zhou Qianqian, but I hadn't realized how deep her prejudice ran.

"Has Huang Zhi had any other children?" He Xi asked.