Sweeping Mouse Ridge – Chapter Eight : 4

Cui Yucui’s confession caused the crimes committed at Tongyou Nursery to spill over like a flood. After a full night of intensive interrogation, the police obtained even more horrific inside information: for years, Xing Qisheng had treated the disabled children in the orphanage as a harem for his lust, wantonly sexually assaulting these children who, due to congenital diseases, were unable to express their pain verbally or in writing. Those quiet nights, those dark corners, those disgusting acts, those blood and tears mixed with screams, cries, and wails—all these scenes enraged even seasoned detectives with countless cases.

Several indignant policewomen told their superiors they wanted to adopt the children, but upon seeing them at the orphanage, they hesitated. The children were utterly devastated by years of suffering, terrified of strangers. Yet, when the policewomen treated them kindly, the children became as docile and affectionate as kittens, their ingratiating smiles sending chills down the policewomen’s spines…

However, the indifference and apathy shown by the orphanage staff was astonishing. Whether it was the office director Wang Jing, the security guard Old Xu, the hot headed driver, or the three burly caregivers, although they were forced to confess to some of the facts they knew after the collapse of the dam, they emphasized that Xing Qisheng’s actions were unrelated to them. In their view, the work at the orphanage was just a job—work for money. Everything else was the “director’s private affairs,” something they had no right to interfere with. As for the children, “they are sick anyway”—the implication being that being manipulated by Xing Qisheng made them somehow valuable… Their tendency to “dehumanize” disabled children infuriated Sun Kang so much he nearly clenched his fists.

On the other hand, Chi Fengli, dressed like a socialite, upon hearing the truth about the three children’s deaths, wept bitterly, cursing Xing Qisheng as scum and a beast.

As for Aunt Zhang, the cleaning lady, when she heard that Cui Yucui had confessed, she immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, tears streaming down her face, saying she was guilty and shouldn’t have concealed the truth…

According to her confession, Zhao Wu had told her about Xing Qisheng’s misdeeds before, saying that seeing how miserable the little girls were, living was worse than dying… That morning, when she entered the dormitory and saw the children’s bodies, she was terrified and immediately reported to Xing Qisheng and Cui Yucui. They told her that the matter had to be covered up; if the police came, the orphanage would had to close, and she would lose her job. That’s why Aunt Zhang hadn’t told the police the truth.

“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple.” Sun Kang suddenly recalled his first visit to the orphanage. Among the many instant noodle boxes used as “rice bowls” in the cabinet containing tableware, one set was stainless steel. “Isn’t it because you also have a child in the orphanage, and you became a cleaner there to accompany him during his treatment and protect his safety? After the incident, you were afraid the orphanage would collapse, and your own child would have nowhere to go, so you helped Xing Qisheng and Cui Yucui keep it a secret?”

After a long silence, Aunt Zhang slowly nodded.

“Your child is a child, but other people’s children are not?!” Sun Kang couldn’t help but shout.

Seeing Aunt Zhang covering her face and sobbing, he stopped scolding her.

What puzzled the police was that since Zhao Wu knew about Xing Qisheng’s crime, why hadn’t he reported it to the police? Aunt Zhang explained that Zhao Wu had repeatedly escaped from the orphanage, only to be caught and brought back by auxiliary police officers each time. This led him to misunderstand the police, believing they were in cahoots with Xing Qisheng. Zhao Wu had also approached Zhou Liping, asking him to call the police.

Zhou Liping was furious upon hearing this but in a difficult position. As a “perverted serial killer” and ex-convict, he was unlikely to gain the police’s trust and might even be framed by Xing Qisheng for sexual assault… Since Zhou Liping had already cleared his name, this minor incident was of little use to the police in further investigating the Sweeping Mouse Ridge Case, and they could only take it with a grain of salt.

That night, the autumn wind howled, and the next day the ground was covered with fallen leaves, a layer of withered yellow. The temperature plummeted, and a cold, metallic blue hung in the sky. In the morning, several friends from “Special Task Force Group Two” gathered again at Huyan Yun’s house to catch up on the latest developments. When they heard that the police were preparing to release Zhou Liping, Li Ziyong remained expressionless. However, after Ma Xiaozhong recounted the tragedy that occurred at Tongyou Nursery, Li Ziyong suddenly began cursing, berating Zhou Liping for knowing about Xing Qisheng’s crimes but doing nothing. This outburst left the others looking at each other in bewilderment.

Perhaps realizing his emotional outburst, Li Ziyong rubbed his temples and muttered that Zheng Gui had dragged him out drinking late last night. Zheng Gui had gotten drunk, rolled under the table, and vomited uncontrollably until he was practically on the verge of death. They had no choice but to take him home. All the way, Zheng Gui kept cursing, cursing Xing Qixian and Cui Wentao, cursing them for trying to kill him, cursing Tao Bing and Tao Zhouyao, cursing them for making him a scapegoat after things went wrong, and cursing Xing Qisheng and Zhou Liping, cursing them for causing such a big mess that his company, which he had worked so hard for for years, was about to go bankrupt…

Finally, Li Ziyong understood that it turned out that after Tao Zhouyao’s release, Xing Qixian and Tao Bing’s factions held an emergency closed-door meeting and reached a compromise. Tao Bing would continue as the Honorary Chairman of the Love Charity Foundation, Xing Qixian would become the Chairman, and Tao Zhouyao would be reassigned as the Deputy Chairwoman. The positions of the other staff remained unchanged. However, in order to “save the Love Charity Foundation’s social image,” it was decided to terminate cooperation with Mingyi Company and prohibit Mingyi Company from using the foundation’s name for activities or advertising… Despite Zheng Gui’s desperate pleas, those who were all smiles yesterday were now as cold as strangers, especially Zhai Qing, who rolled up his sleeves and dragged him out of the meeting room.

“Yongzi, you don’t understand! I’ve been like an old dog, guarding their door for so many years, and they just kill me whenever they want!” At this point, Zheng Gui couldn’t help but burst into tears.

Li Ziyong felt both sympathy and pity for him and asked what his next plans were. Zheng Gui said he was going to cause trouble at Xing Qisheng’s funeral.

To a large extent, giving Xing Qisheng a respectable funeral was one of the conditions for the compromise reached between Xing Qixian and Tao Bing. Although everyone knew that Xing Qisheng was an outright pedophile and rapist, he was dead, and the law would no longer pursue his crimes.

Xing Qixian, however, insisted on establishing his authority throughout the Love Charity Foundation by holding a grand funeral for such a person. In the past two years, Xing Qisheng had particularly liked to say, “Besides weddings and funerals, very few things can bring us all together anymore.”

Now that Tao Zhouyao’s scandal had surfaced, her boyfriend Jiang Lei’s family had proposed breaking off the engagement, and the wedding was off. Xing Qisheng’s funeral had ironically become a symbolic “grand ceremony” marking a change of regime within the Love Charity Foundation, making it all the more symbolic and ironic.

“I wonder if anyone has organized a funeral for those dead children…” Huyan Yun said wistfully.

He stood up and looked out the window: the leaves of several large poplar trees had all fallen, their bare branches a pale blue-white, like a bunch of blood vessels that had lost too much blood. On the sloping roof of the building opposite, a lonely, dark gray chimney stood starkly, exhaling breaths of cold air into the sky… Suddenly, he remembered something, turned around, and said to Guo Xiaofen, who was sitting on the sofa, “Little Guo, it’s gotten colder in the south these past few days. Do you have enough clothes?”

Ma Xiaozhong, who had just returned to the police force, had easily dealt with Cui Yucui, which made Du Jianping feel proud and pleased. Therefore, he agreed to Ma Xiaozhong’s request to go to Gancheng County, Province A, to search for Dong Yue. Ma Xiaozhong bought two tickets, one for himself and one for Guo Xiaofen. They were taking the high-speed train at noon and expected to arrive in Gancheng County around 5 p.m.

Guo Xiaofen seemed still shaken from witnessing Yue Shao’s death. Hearing Huyan Yun’s question, she simply stared blankly at him, offering no answer. Huyan Yun walked up to her, knelt on one knee, and looked directly into her eyes: “Little Guo, do you still feel uneasy? If so, don’t go to Gancheng. Old Ma can find Dong Yue even if he goes alone.”

Guo Xiaofen simply gazed at him, remaining silent.

Hearing Huyan Yun’s words, Ma Xiaozhong was very unhappy, but he was also genuinely worried about Guo Xiaofen’s health: “Girl, are you really okay? Don’t go out and get sick again.”

Just then, his phone rang. He took it out and shook the screen at Huyan Yun. The caller ID showed the name “Liu Simiao.”

Huyan Yun’s gaze immediately fixed on the phone.

“Simiao, what’s up? Nothing, Guo and I are leaving at noon. Oh, we might be too late. Should we have them come over now?” He glanced at Huyan Yun, who quickly nodded and said into the phone, “Okay, no problem!”

Hanging up, he stood up and said to Huyan Yun, “Simiao said she has a very important discovery and wants you and Li Ziyong to go to her office.”

Huyan Yun practically jumped up, ran behind the door, grabbed his coat from the hook, draped it over his shoulders, and turned to look at the others in the room, as if to say, “What are you still sitting there for? I’m leaving now!”

This time, before Ma Xiaozhong and Li Ziyong could react, Guo Xiaofen stood up from the sofa and said to Ma Xiaozhong, “Let’s go to the train station.”