Chapter 153

Chapter 153

Last night, before Wen Miao left the police station, she had specifically exchanged WeChat contacts with the female officer she had spoken to, Xing Shuyuan.

Before leaving, she had earnestly asked Xing Shuyuan, “If you get any news about Zhaodi, no matter what it is, please contact me. I want to see her again, at least once.”

At first, she had thought it would take at least three or four days before there was any news. She hadn’t expected the police to be so astonishingly efficient. As expected of professional criminal investigators-they had found Zhaodi’s whereabouts within twenty-four hours.

Since it wasn’t convenient for Nan Mu to go, Wen Miao went to the police station alone.

Only after arriving did Wen Miao learn that before notifying her, the police had already contacted Zhaodi’s family.

But that was also within Wen Miao’s expectations. After all, in the eyes of the police, she and Zhaodi could only be considered friends. Once the police learned that something might have happened to Wang Zhaodi, the first people they would contact would naturally be Wang Zhaodi’s family.

However, the reason the police had been forced to contact Wen Miao was precisely because of Zhaodi’s family.

After the police contacted Zhaodi’s family, the only people who came to the station were Zhaodi’s father and younger sister.

The police had originally hoped to reach Zhaodi through her father. To their surprise, after he arrived at the station, not a single word out of his mouth showed concern for his daughter. Instead, every sentence revolved around money.

Xing Shuyuan sighed. “That’s why I remembered that yesterday, you seemed to mention Zhaodi’s parents didn’t treat her very well?”

Wen Miao had only heard about these things from Nan Mu. But judging from Xing Shuyuan’s reaction now, it seemed Zhaodi’s father was even worse than she had imagined.

Curious, Wen Miao asked, “What did her father say?”

Just thinking about those words made Xing Shuyuan feel stifled. “Nothing worth repeating. I checked the date of birth on your friend’s household register. She’s only in her early twenties. At that age, it’s already good enough if she can take care of herself. Her father is only in his forties, yet all he kept saying was that his daughter wasn’t sending money home, wasn’t giving them living expenses. He even brought an IOU your friend had signed…”

At the thought of that IOU, Xing Shuyuan felt even colder inside. “What kind of father does that? His daughter is missing, and he doesn’t even think to ask what happened to her, or whether she’s still alive. He came to the police station and actually remembered to bring the IOU with him… It’s truly chilling.”

Wen Miao didn’t know whether she should tell Xing Shuyuan that Zhaodi had been adopted.

She hesitated for a moment, then decided she would discuss it with Nan Mu later before making a decision, so she did not rush to tell Xing Shuyuan about it.

“So he doesn’t know where Zhaodi went either, right?”

Xing Shuyuan nodded.

Her father didn’t just not know where she had gone. The police had only asked him a couple of questions about whether he knew his daughter’s whereabouts.

Zhaodi’s father immediately started cursing, saying things like she had “gone off fooling around with some man” and “the money she earned must have been spent on those men outside.” The things he said were absolutely vile.

The police wanted him to help contact relatives and friends to see if anyone knew where Zhaodi had gone. But before he had contacted anyone, he said arbitrarily,

“She’s hiding on purpose. How could anyone possibly find her?”

“No need to ask! Why ask about her? Hasn’t she embarrassed us enough?”

“She doesn’t bring money back anyway, so why bother contacting her? Just let her die out there!”
The police had kept trying to communicate with him, hoping he would understand that Zhaodi was in danger. It wasn’t until they realized he truly wouldn’t listen to reason that they finally gave up.

“Your friend’s younger sister-her name is Wang Pandi, right? She seems to care a great deal about her older sister. She kept begging us to save her…” Xing Shuyuan said with some emotion. “It’s just that her younger sister is still a minor, and she doesn’t know much about her older sister’s situation in City A. So we don’t want her getting too deeply involved in this case.”

“I understand.” Wen Miao nodded. “But as for what I know, I already told you everything I could yesterday…”

Xing Shuyuan sighed. “I figured as much. But I still hope you can think it over carefully one more time. Is there anything important you might not have noticed before?”

Wen Miao thought for a moment. “I know the police can’t disclose details of an investigation before there’s solid evidence. But… if possible, could you tell me what you’ve learned about Zhaodi’s part in all this? Maybe it’ll jog my memory.”

Xing Shuyuan hesitated, then said she needed to step out and ask for instructions.

It was quite a while before she returned.

Perhaps because she felt Wen Miao had no conflict of interest in the matter, and because Wen Miao was likely the person most able to provide information related to Zhaodi at the moment, Xing Shuyuan told her what the police had discovered.

===

Almost all the statements regarding Zhaodi came from Old Cai and a “security guard” with him named Ah Fei.

Zhaodi first arrived at the place known as Shanshui Villa around early August. At the time, she seemed to be hiding from someone who was pursuing her, and by some strange twist of fate, she ended up getting into Ah Fei’s car.

That day, Ah Fei had been driving a company boss, who had come to Shanshui Villa for a meal, back to his hotel. After escorting the boss upstairs, Ah Fei returned to the car, had just fastened his seat belt and started the engine, when someone suddenly climbed into the back seat.

When Ah Fei turned around, he saw a young girl hiding in the back of the car.

He glanced out the window and saw someone rush out of the hotel. Probably because the person had lost sight of their target, they stood at the entrance, wandering around in confusion for five or six seconds before beginning to search the area.

Ah Fei didn’t want trouble. At first, he planned to make Zhaodi get out. But Zhaodi kept pleading with him, begging him desperately to start driving and take her just a little way.

At the time, he was probably moved by her pleas. His heart softened, and he agreed.

Originally, Ah Fei hadn’t planned to take her back to Shanshui Villa. He intended to drive two streets away and let her out by the roadside.

But unexpectedly, after Ah Fei drove off and was about to have her get out, Zhaodi passed out from a fever in the back seat.

Later, they guessed that Zhaodi must have already been sick, but had been forcing herself to hold on. Once she managed to escape and her nerves relaxed, she fainted.

Seeing Zhaodi unconscious, Ah Fei was at a loss. He couldn’t just dump her out of the car like that. Left with no choice, he could only take Zhaodi back to Shanshui Villa.

Wen Miao’s heart clenched. “Zhaodi was taken back there by them? Then she wasn’t… They didn’t force her to do the same things as Cheng Jiamin, did they?”