Chapter 13

Chapter 13

For those few days, I couldn’t focus on my classes at all.

I kept thinking that what my mother said might actually be true.

The day my father’s body was carried out of the coal mine, she hadn’t shown any signs of extreme grief.

In fact, hardly anyone had even seen the body. It was cremated in a hurry and buried immediately.

Everything seemed to line up.

She was afraid that others would notice something wrong with the body or the ashes and realize the deceased wasn’t my father.

If that were the case, my father was in danger.

It was also logical that he hadn’t appeared for so many years.

He was gathering evidence.

We all knew how wicked Fu Mingshan was and how much power he wielded.

If my father showed his face now, it would definitely be extremely dangerous.

Once he finished gathering the evidence and brought Fu Mingshan to justice, he could finally reappear.

I had already waited all these years; I could wait a few more days.

Once Friday came, I would be able to meet him in secret.

“Did you see him?”

I sighed. “I saw him, but not clearly.”

“What do you mean?”

That Friday, I spent the entire day staring out the window.

I happened to sit right next to the classroom window, and if I turned my head, I could see the school’s main gate.

The man wearing the peaked cap did indeed show up.

However, he was stopped by the security guard.

The distance was too great for me to see his face clearly.

He probably asked the guard which window belonged to our classroom.

He waved at my window several times.

Finally, he left a large package with the guard and departed.

After class, I went to the guard booth to pick up the items.

It was a large bag of snacks and stationery.

There was also a kraft paper envelope.

Inside the envelope was a letter and two dark, lumpy objects.

The letter contained only one sentence: “Xiao Geng, take a look and see which of these is coal and which is gangue.”

This was a conversation only my father and I knew about.

But I wasn’t sure if my father had ever mentioned it to my mother behind my back.

I asked the guard about the man’s appearance, and his description matched my father’s.

But in the end, I never actually saw him in person.

Officer Dong frowned. “In other words, it’s also possible that your mother found someone to play the part just to brush you off.”

“Yes. Looking back now, my mom had probably found a new man and I caught them. She made up that lie on the spot. That’s why I never told you my dad might still be alive until you mentioned your theory just now.”

I admit, the reason I stayed in this county and never left was indeed because I wanted to wait for my father.

Just in case.

Just in case he was still alive.

Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand or one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance that he was alive.

Would he secretly come back to catch a glimpse of Mom?

Would he secretly come back to catch a glimpse of me?

Thinking about it now…

My mother’s words back then were nothing more than a lie.

One reason was to put my mind at ease so I could focus on my studies and have something to look forward to, so it wouldn’t affect my college entrance exams.

The second reason was to provide cover for her new relationship until she could figure out how to explain it to me.

Officer Dong glanced at Xiao Li.

Xiao Li nodded, indicating that he had recorded everything clearly.

“What is your personal take on Mingshan Mining?”

Officer Dong posed a new question.

It was a question that left me feeling bewildered.

I didn’t have any particular feelings toward Mingshan Mining.

If I had to say something, it would be that the place killed my father, so I hated it.

I had met Fu Mingshan a few times and had a bad impression of him, so I hated him as well.

“I don’t have any special feelings about it.”

“Do you remember which year Mingshan Mining was shut down?”

“I don’t remember the exact year, but I know about it. It was supposedly due to government policy-something about environmental protection and stopping the mining operations.”

“Correct. But before that, Mingshan Mining also had an accident due to environmental issues.”

I truly didn’t know about that.

Just as I was preparing to listen to Officer Dong’s detailed explanation, Xiao Li’s phone rang.

He only gave one reply: “Okay, I understand.”

Then he hung up.

He whispered to Officer Dong, “The comparison results are out. It’s a match.”

“Mr. Lin, thank you for your cooperation. I have some other matters to attend to, so we’ll continue our chat next time.”

“Alright.”

The two of them put on their shoes to head out. Before leaving, they asked me one more thing.

“You don’t have any plans to leave recently, do you?”

I hesitated for a moment. “I’m not leaving.”

“Good. I might come looking for you again someday. Oh, let’s exchange contact information; let me know before you leave.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you again for your cooperation. And… since you’ve already waited for a month, wait a little longer. Even if you don’t find your father, you’ll at least find the truth.”

“Okay.”

After the two of them left, I collapsed into my wheelchair.

The fingerprints matched. What fingerprints?

In the coal mine explosion case, never mind fingerprints-many people were blown to pieces; there wouldn’t be any fingerprints left.

As for the room where Sun Congjun died, he had already clearly told me that my mother’s fingerprints were all over the room, so there was no need for a comparison.

The only possibility was that half a fingerprint had been found at the scene of Liu Jianguo’s death.

And it matched my mother’s fingerprints.

Mom, did you really kill all those people?