Meng Yan nearly jumped off the bench. "What did you say? You bastards can't even keep an eye on one person!"
The officer looked aggrieved. " Chief Meng, you can't blame us. Who could we possibly keep in that dilapidated building? Han Bo is an auxiliary police officer; he knows the place inside and out. We're short-staffed; several of us went to nearby villages to gather information, leaving only Xiao Zhang, who's in charge of household registration, and me. Just now, someone reported that a dog at the East Street bit a medicine seller from a Boluo Village,' so I went to check it out. When I came back, I found the person had run away, and Xiao Zhang was injured."
Meng Yan was furious, but there was nothing he could do. He knew his subordinate was right; who would have thought that bastard Han Bo would dare to run away? The one who trafficked people was Medicine Granny, and the one who committed illegal detention and assault was Han Laizi. Han Bo's crime wasn't serious to begin with; at most, he'd lose his job as a police auxiliary officer.
But things are different once you run away, especially since you injured Officer Xiao Zhang, the household registration officer. If you catch him, it won't be as simple as just getting him arrested.
Han Bo is not a stupid person; he wouldn't be unable to understand such a simple principle, unless there is something else going on with him.
Halfway through the meal, Meng Yan stomped his feet and cursed as he went back to the station. Before leaving, he apologized profusely to Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu, saying that this meal didn't count and he would make it up to them in a couple of days.
Shi Dazhuang is currently on leave and not officially employed here, so he can't help with the arrests. Qingmu is even less likely to be able to help.
However, they weren't too worried. For the police, the most difficult thing is finding evidence to solve the case, not making arrests.
As they left, the Madman at the door kept staring at Yu Meiren. Beauty smiled at him, and the Madman grinned sheepishly in return.
When they returned to the Mangdian Grand Hotel, they encountered the same Madman again. The Madman started yelling at Qingmu again, but this time he didn't rush into the hotel.
Shi Dazhuang hadn't cancelled his previous room reservation, and now that there was Beauty in the room, he wanted to add another room, but the front desk told him they were out of rooms and could only add an extra bed.
Fortunately, their room was quite large, and even with an extra bed, it didn't feel cramped. It was also a bright and airy room facing the street with a balcony.
In the afternoon, Shi Dazhuang took Beauty to buy a lot of food, such as candy, potato chips, and spicy strips. They bought a little bit of almost everything that Beauty had never tried before and could buy in Mangdian.
Even Qingmu felt that Shi Dazhuang had bought a bit too much.
"I just feel so indebted to Yu Gang," Shi Dazhuang said to Qingmu while they were smoking on the balcony.
Qingmu knew that Shi Dazhuang wanted to make up for this debt by taking advantage of the Beauty, but some things can never be made up for.
This was Yu Meiren's first time staying in a hotel. Although Shi Dazhuang thought the Mangdian Grand Hotel was still at the level of a guesthouse from the 1980s, it was paradise for Yu Meiren.
At night, she first pressed her face against the window to look at the stars, comparing the sparse streetlights of Mangdian with the starlight in the sky to see which was brighter. The Madman was sitting on the ground across the street, also looking up.
Back in the room, Yu Meiren touched and looked around, jumping from one bed to another.
"Dad, why is this bed so soft?"
"Grandpa, why is this water hot?"
"Grandpa, why isn't this light bulb wired?"
"Uncle, are the people on TV real?"
She kept asking questions, to the point that Shi Dazhuang could hardly answer them anymore.
However, Shi Dazhuang was genuinely happy. He knew that Beauty's psychological problems had been completely cured, and now Beauty was a normal child.
Shi Dazhuang gave Qingmu a grateful look.
Yu Meiren refused to turn off the lights and go to sleep.
She said she was scared.
Shi Dazhuang asked her what she was afraid of.
She said, "I'm afraid that if I turn off the light and wake up, my dad and Yeye will be gone. I think I must be dreaming right now; only in dreams can there be such a soft bed, and only in dreams can my dad become a good person..."
She murmured to herself, and finally fell asleep.
Shi Dazhuang didn't turn off the light. Looking at the light bulb on the ceiling, he thought of the days he and Yu Gang were like rats in the sewers.
and books
In the morning, Shi Dazhuang was eating rice noodles at a small shop on the street corner with Beauty and Qingmu when Meng Yan suddenly called, " Captain Shi, we found some strange things at the Medicine Granny's shop. Do you want to come and take a look?"
Shi Dazhuang asked, "What is that? Did they catch someone?"
Meng Yan said, "We haven't caught the person yet, but we found a large quantity of expired medications in her shop, mainly cold medicines and cough syrups."
Shi Dazhuang immediately sensed the seriousness of the situation and asked, "Have you found methamphetamine and drug-making equipment?"
Meng Yan said, "Not yet. I'm not sure if I should report this to Captain Peng. Could you come and take a look for me?"
"Okay, I'll be right there." Shi Dazhuang hung up the phone and prepared to leave.
Qingmu asked, "Do you want me to come along?"
Remembering the Medicine Granny's mysterious methods from yesterday, Shi Dazhuang said, "Alright, let's take the Beauty back to her room first."
When we got back to the hotel, I saw the hotel staff again, cursing and swearing, dragging that Madman out. "You filthy beggar, you dared to go upstairs again! If you come back in, we'll break your legs!"
This time, the Madman didn't yell or scream when he saw Qingmu; instead, he lowered his head and was thrown out of the hotel without saying a word.
The Medicine Granny's shop was on Tobacco and Hemp Street, not far from the Mangdian Grand Hotel. Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu arrived in about ten minutes.
A crowd had gathered outside the shop, all asking what had happened. Several auxiliary police officers were maintaining order by setting up a cordon.
The shop has two storefronts, but is quite deep, both being old-fashioned wooden buildings. The shop is filled with all kinds of herbs, emitting a strong medicinal aroma.
Meng Yan ushered Shi Dazhuang and Qingmu inside, pointing to a door in the wall of the inner room of the shop, saying, "This used to be a wooden wall covered with old magazines; you wouldn't notice the door unless you looked closely."
He led the way inside, into a dimly lit but not small room filled with medicine boxes that made up most of the space.
Shi Dazhuang casually picked up a box and looked at it. "These are all drugs containing ephedrine, which can be used to extract methamphetamine." He looked around, "This is a warehouse; there must be other drug manufacturing sites here. Let's report to the anti-narcotics team."
Meng Yan cursed his bad luck. One human trafficking case was already giving him a headache, but now it was also linked to a drug trafficking case. The worst part was that the Medicine Granny had escaped right under his nose.
"Damn it, where did she get all these prescription drugs?" Meng Yan cursed.
Shi Dazhuang said, "She was originally a herbalist, so it wouldn't be easy for her to arouse suspicion by buying and selling medicines."
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, like a blast of dynamite had been fired.
explode?!
Those who have carried guns and fought in jungle warfare are particularly sensitive to this kind of sound. Shi Dazhuang and Meng Yan's hearts skipped a beat at the same time. They rushed to the street and saw thick smoke billowing to the west, which was in the direction of the Mangdian Grand Hotel.
The two of them took off running towards the hotel at almost the same time, and when they reached the street corner outside the hotel, they saw a room on the third floor of the hotel engulfed in flames, which were spreading in all directions.
Upon closer inspection, the room that caught fire was the very one where Yu Meiren had lived.
A figure darted out like a cheetah, flashing between the hotel eaves and pillars before leaping up to the third floor, leaving only the echoing sound of footsteps.
Shi Dazhuang saw Qingmu's old trench coat being pushed up by the heat like an inflating balloon, and then disappearing into the fire in an instant.