Chapter 3

Half an hour later, Mobei Suburbs, inside a certain factory.

It was lunchtime at the factory. Li Xianglan led a few people to the factory cafeteria, where they found the girl named Gu Xiaobai. She was carrying a Sling Bag and wearing a high-necked, thin sweater that was quite out of season, standing alone in the corner at the food counter, waiting in line for her meal.

“Do you really have a way to make her talk?” Li Xianglan asked Xu Tiannan with some concern. “Gu Xiaobai already has her guard up against me. If I bring you two along, she definitely won’t say anything.”

Xu Tiannan didn’t answer. He simply walked quickly to stand behind Gu Xiaobai, observing her and patiently waiting until she finished getting her food and sat down at an empty table.

A moment later, Xu Tiannan led the others over, sat directly across from Gu Xiaobai, and asked, “That girl named Li Xiangqin-is she your friend?”

Hearing this, Gu Xiaobai was slightly startled and immediately became alert, sitting up unnaturally straight. She saw Li Xianglan and also noticed Xu Tiannan and the other person, and said angrily, “Sister Xianglan, I’ve told you several times already, I don’t know where Qinqin is! Why do you keep coming to me?”

“Little Sister Xiaobai,” Li Xianglan said, almost pleading, “Qinqin has been missing for three days. I’m really worried about her. If you know anything, could you please tell me?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know! You’re so annoying!” Gu Xiaobai had lost her appetite by now. When she saw Xu Tiannan looking directly at her, she became nervous and quickly looked away, but still said impatiently, “If you have evidence that Qinqin and I disappeared together, show it! Stop coming to me every few days. What do you take me for?”

Xu Tiannan said, “Little Sister Xiaobai, since Qinqin said on the phone that she was with you, that makes you the last person to see her. In some respects, you are a major suspect in Qinqin’s disappearance, do you understand?”

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaobai unconsciously clenched her hands together and stammered, “Who… who are you? Are you a police officer?”

Xu Tiannan smiled and said, “I’m not a police officer, just an ordinary university teacher.”

Hearing that he wasn’t a police officer, Gu Xiaobai finally relaxed and spoke with more confidence, “Since you’re not a police officer, what do you want? I’m telling you, this is a public place. If you do anything out of line, I’ll complain to your school! By the way, which school do you teach at?”

Xu Tiannan replied seriously, “Mobei University of Political Science and Law, College of Criminal Investigation, graduate advisor.”

When she heard the name of the Political Science and Law University, Gu Xiaobai’s momentum weakened again, but she still stubbornly said, “Well… you can’t force me, can you?”

Xu Tiannan shook his head, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Precisely because I’m not a police officer, I can’t force you to cooperate with our investigation. But also because I’m not a police officer, I can’t guarantee that my methods will be as civilized as theirs. It’s all up to you-want to give it a try?”

“You, you, you…”

Gu Xiaobai, who had never experienced the harsh realities of society, had never faced such a situation before. She was on the verge of tears from fear, but at that moment, a man suddenly appeared at her side.

This man was Gu Xiaobai’s Boyfriend. He had met Li Xianglan a few days ago and hadn’t had a good impression of this aggressive woman.

Seeing her boyfriend come to her rescue, a trace of panic flashed in Gu Xiaobai’s eyes, and her voice trembled slightly as she said, “Huh? Weren’t you on a business trip?”

The man gently tapped Gu Xiaobai’s nose and said tenderly, “Silly girl! I was already at the train station when my supervisor suddenly canceled the trip. So I came back right away to surprise you!”

After saying this, he put his arm around Gu Xiaobai’s shoulders and, rather rudely, said to Li Xianglan, “Why is it you again? Didn’t we make things clear a few days ago? Now you’ve brought people with you-what exactly do you want?”

Li Xianglan forced a smile and said apologetically, “Sorry to bother you again. It’s just that the Police Station still hasn’t filed a case for Qinqin’s disappearance. I really have no other options, so I came to you again, hoping to find out what happened to my sister last Friday.”

“Enough, enough!” The man picked up Gu Xiaobai’s food and glared at the group. “I’m warning you, don’t harass my girlfriend again, or I’ll call the police right now! Xiaobai, let’s go!”

Without further ado, the man pulled Gu Xiaobai to another corner of the cafeteria. Li Xianglan, helpless, asked Xu Tiannan, “She really won’t say anything. What now?”

Xu Tiannan said, “Although this girl named Gu Xiaobai didn’t say anything, she still told me one thing: Qinqin’s disappearance is related to someone, and that person happens to be someone a girl like her can’t afford to provoke.”

Li Xianglan was surprised. “What? How do you know?”

Xu Tiannan explained, “When I asked her the first question, she tightly clenched her hands together, then unconsciously crossed her arms over her chest while speaking, and also crossed her legs under the bench. These are obvious defensive postures when someone is nervous, indicating that Qinqin’s disappearance makes her feel afraid, and her body is showing a proactive defensive stance. So I’m certain she knows something about Qinqin’s disappearance, but there’s someone or something in this matter that scares her, making her afraid to speak.”

Murong Shui said urgently, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go! Let’s find that girl and get to the bottom of this!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” Xu Tiannan stopped Murong Shui. “How do you plan to ask?”

Murong Shui said, “How else? Let me ask you, who are we?”

Xu Tiannan replied, “Ordinary teachers.”
“Wrong!” Murong Shui waved her finger and said, “Teacher is just our social identity, but our real identity is as people of the jianghu. As the saying goes, wherever there are people, there is jianghu…”

“Alright, alright, stop right there!” Xu Tiannan interrupted, “Are you having one of your episodes again? What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Boss, listen to me! It’s precisely because we’re people of the jianghu that sometimes we can’t just follow the rules. People of the jianghu have to do jianghu things!” Murong Shui finished, rolled up her sleeves, and put on a fierce expression toward Xu Tiannan, “Usually, you call the shots, but this time give me a chance to show my real skills! Give me five minutes, I’ll pry open that girl’s mouth!”

Seeing Murong Shui about to charge over aggressively, Xu Tiannan stepped forward and grabbed her, “There are people everywhere here, don’t mess around! Sit here and wait for me!”

…

A few minutes later, Xu Tiannan returned from the factory gatehouse and said to Murong Shui, “Put away your real skills. I’m not as jianghu as you, but I only need ten minutes to pry open her mouth. What you need to do now is make sure nothing goes wrong in those ten minutes, understand? Murong Shuigen-”

“Don’t call me by my full name!”

Xu Tiannan ignored her, turned, and walked to a spot a few meters from Gu Xiaobai, smiling and waving her over.

Gu Xiaobai’s Boyfriend saw Xu Tiannan’s persistent attitude and immediately got angry, picking up his phone to call the police. But his girlfriend stopped him, whispered a few words in his ear, and then, with a face full of anger, walked toward Xu Tiannan.

Gu Xiaobai walked up to Xu Tiannan alone, her tone firm, “Let me make this clear: if you keep pestering us, we will definitely call the police. This is my last warning!”

Xu Tiannan smiled and shook his head, “I’m not here to pester you, I just want to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?” Gu Xiaobai looked at him suspiciously, “I don’t even know you, why would I do that? Sorry, I’m leaving.”

“Wait.” Xu Tiannan suddenly stopped her and said in a low voice, “Tell me what really happened to Li Xiangqin on Friday, and in exchange, I won’t tell your boyfriend about you cheating with a man named Xiong Haotian.”

Hearing the name Xiong Haotian, Gu Xiaobai felt as if struck by lightning, her voice trembling, “You, you, you… Who are you?”

The man waiting nearby sensed something was off and was about to come over, but Gu Xiaobai stopped him sharply, “Don’t come over!”

He didn’t know what was happening, but obediently stayed put. At this moment, Xu Tiannan was certain of his thoughts and explained with a smile, “You washed your hair about forty minutes ago, right?”

Gu Xiaobai suddenly realized her hair was still slightly damp and faintly smelled of the free shampoo from a budget hotel. Xu Tiannan continued, “When I passed by the women’s dormitory in your factory area, I noticed the women’s bathhouse is only open from 6 to 9 p.m. Since it’s not open now, you must have gone to a budget hotel about forty minutes ago, right?”

Gu Xiaobai pressed her lips tightly, still trying to argue, “So… so what does that prove!”

Xu Tiannan explained calmly, “Normally, we can’t judge what happened to someone based on just one clue, but I have to tell you, the thin turtleneck you’re wearing is really out of season. Even though you’ve removed the tag, the transparent plastic string from the tag is still hanging from the collar, which means you bought it in a hurry and didn’t even notice the tag wasn’t fully removed. Also, when you were getting food earlier, I saw an ‘Only Store’ receipt in your wallet, and the purchase time was thirty minutes ago. So why would you buy a neck-covering shirt in this hot weather? I guess it’s probably to hide the hickey on your neck left by Xiong Haotian, right? As for your old clothes, they’re probably in the Sling Bag on your back. So, do you dare open it and show me?”

“You… you… you’re making things up!” Gu Xiaobai was so anxious she was nearly in tears, standing there not knowing what to do, but still stubbornly said, “I just bought a shirt, you have no proof that I… that I did anything. You’re slandering me!”

“You want proof? Fine!” Xu Tiannan pulled out a page from his pocket covered in names, with “Factory Area Entry Registry” printed at the top, and explained, “I just stole-uh, borrowed-this page from the gatehouse. I have to say, for someone so young, your counter-surveillance skills are decent. The people who signed in before and after you are all girls, which means after you and that man returned from the hotel, you entered the factory area separately after some time. Considering a girl standing outside the gate would be noticed by acquaintances, I guess you entered the factory gate first.”

Xu Tiannan then pointed at the broken zipper on Gu Xiaobai’s jacket, “Someone who dressed up carefully wouldn’t wear a jacket with a broken zipper, so the zipper was probably broken by that impatient man. Given his impulsive nature, I doubt he waited long after you entered the factory-probably less than three minutes. So let’s see which men entered the factory within three minutes after you.”

Xu Tiannan pointed to two men’s names on the list, “These two entered within three minutes after you. Let’s rule out the one from the processing workshop, since both you and your boyfriend’s badges say ‘Processing Workshop,’ and someone as cautious as you wouldn’t mess around so close to home. That leaves only Xiong Haotian from the logistics department. Hmm… his handwriting is terrible. So, are you going to tell me what really happened to Qinqin that day, or should I give this list to your boyfriend? Better decide quickly, I think he’s running out of patience.”
At this moment, Gu Xiaobai felt as if her world was on the verge of collapse. Her tightly clenched fingers had turned white. After a long silence, she finally lowered her head and sobbed softly, “That day was Qinqin’s birthday. After work, she was supposed to go home with me, but she was… she was picked up by someone else.”

Xu Tiannan asked, “Tell me, who was that person?”

Gu Xiaobai’s face was filled with barely concealed panic as she replied, “That man’s name is Chen Jialuo… He’s the son of our factory owner, and also a notorious bully in our factory. He relies on his father’s influence to bully people all the time, and no one dares to provoke him… That day, I saw with my own eyes that Chen Jialuo kept pestering Qinqin, insisting on celebrating her birthday, and then coaxed and tricked her into getting into his car…”

Xu Tiannan silently memorized the name-Chen Jialuo-and asked again, “What color and brand was the car?”

“Um… it was a black Qianlima.”

Xu Tiannan was stunned, “Qianlima? What kind of car is that?”

Gu Xiaobai recalled carefully, “It shouldn’t be a good car. I’ve never seen anyone drive one.”

People from wealthy families who drive shabby cars usually like to pretend to be poor, but from Gu Xiaobai’s words, Xu Tiannan realized that Chen Jialuo was not the low-key type. Xu Tiannan decided to clarify this matter further, since a person’s behavior can reveal many clues.

“Why are you sure it’s not a good car?”

Gu Xiaobai said, “Because the car was short and small, only enough for two people, and the roof was actually made of black cloth!”

After hearing this, Xu Tiannan suddenly thought of something and asked, “Was the car’s rear round and smooth, with a pair of big, round eyes at both the front and back?”

Gu Xiaobai replied, “Yes, yes! That’s right! Just like two big nostrils!”

“Hmm…” Xu Tiannan smiled awkwardly, “Looks like it was a Porsche.”

“What ‘che’?” Gu Xiaobai asked in confusion.

Xu Tiannan shook his head, “Never mind. Let’s move on to the next question. Did that bad kid Chen Jialuo come to work today?”

Gu Xiaobai shook her head, “No, today is Monday. Normally, he would give a speech at the staff morning meeting every Monday, but I’m sure I didn’t see him today.”

Xu Tiannan said directly, “Give me his phone number.”

Gu Xiaobai picked up her phone and logged into the factory’s internal OA platform. She quickly found Chen Jialuo’s number, but when Xu Tiannan called, the line was always switched off.

Xu Tiannan asked again, “If the phone doesn’t go through, do you know where his home is?”

Gu Xiaobai shook her head, “I can’t find that out. The factory owner’s home address wouldn’t be easily given to us workers. Probably only the owner’s driver or someone in the finance office would know.”

Xu Tiannan thought for a moment and said, “Regarding what we’ve just discussed, could I ask you to come with me to the Police Station and repeat it?”

Gu Xiaobai was terrified, her eyes full of fear, “No, no… that’s impossible. Even if you tell my boyfriend about me and Xiong Haotian getting a room together, I still wouldn’t go to the Police Station with you to talk about this. If Chen Jialuo ever found out I betrayed him… I’d probably have to leave this city.”

Xu Tiannan asked, “Are you very afraid of him?”

Gu Xiaobai answered trembling, “It’s not just me… anyone in the factory who offends him will be harassed by some strange people from society. No one isn’t afraid of him! Everyone knows his family is not to be messed with.”

After saying this, Gu Xiaobai seemed to have made up her mind, “If you really want to expose my story, go ahead! But I absolutely won’t go to the Police Station with you!”

Although he hadn’t convinced Gu Xiaobai, Xu Tiannan had obtained some very important clues. He finally smiled, “Alright, I understand. Thank you for the information. It’s very important to us. Now, please pick up your Sling Bag and hit me with all your strength.”

Gu Xiaobai thought she had misheard and asked, “What? Hit you… with my bag?”

“That’s right,” Xu Tiannan explained. “Remember our deal? You told me about Qinqin’s whereabouts, so I will keep your secret. I won’t force you to go to the Police Station with me. But since we’ve been talking here for so long, your boyfriend will definitely be suspicious. So now you have to pick up your bag and hit me, act very angry and scare me away. Only then can we end this conversation perfectly.”

Gu Xiaobai asked again, “What if my boyfriend asks what we talked about for so long? What should I say?”

Xu Tiannan smiled, “Just say I tried to bribe you, but you refused. He’s very naive, he’ll believe whatever you say. So now, pick up your bag and hit me.”

Gu Xiaobai seemed to have made up her mind, “This is all I can do to help you… Can I ask you, please, you must find Qinqin!”

Xu Tiannan smiled confidently, “I promise you, ah…”

Before Xu Tiannan could finish, Gu Xiaobai’s bag came flying at him. He didn’t have time to react, only felt as if his head had been hit by a rock, making a dull “thud” sound, and he almost fell to the ground. It seemed the Sling Bag contained not only her recently changed clothes but also some hard objects. He hurriedly said, “Don’t hit my head, you little brat…”