"So you don't know where they're staying in Minqing. Do you know their phone numbers?" Liu Miao asked.
"Their phone numbers..." The man's eyes began darting around again, glancing toward the money. "My memory's not what it used to be... Their phone numbers..."
"If we can't find them, you can lie in this bed for the rest of your life. You won't have to get up again," Ye Qing said calmly.
Ye Qing wasn't in the video, but the man shuddered and leaned back. "I-I'm not sure. I really don't know. After he took that little bastard and his family away, nobody knew where they went. His family knew before, but now nobody does."
"What about the families of those women?"
"Their husbands are mostly working away from home. I don't know what they've said. My three daughters are all married off. I live alone—how would I know? Last time I went to their families to ask for money, they even beat me up. I really don't know!" The man grew frantic. "Ask somebody else. Ask me, and I don't know!"
The camera didn't move.
The man's eyes darted from side to side. His face was tense and anxious.
"One more question. Are there any legends around here about something like a mountain god?" Ye Qing asked.
The man looked bewildered. "What? A monster in the mountains?"
"Have you never worshipped anything like that? Are there no legends about it?" Ye Qing asked again.
The man still looked bewildered. "I-I'm not originally from this village. I..."
"You're not originally from this village?" Liu Miao repeated.
The man swallowed.
"Explain yourself. What exactly happened?" Liu Miao demanded sharply.
The man didn't know what to do. "I-I fled here from somewhere else. I never thought... I got into trouble out there, so...