Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 324 Mechanic Yang Jian

Zhou Yi went to the address given on the phone and knocked on the door after confirming the house number.

The restaurant owner said he knew a man who sold meat, and his wife also worked at the Guangming Chicken Farm.

Zhou Yi said that Guangming has several chicken farms, so could they not all be from the same company?

The owner said he didn't know, but he had run into the two people at the market once and they greeted each other, so they might know each other.

Since he and the butcher had a supply-demand relationship, with the butcher often delivering meat directly to his shop, they were quite familiar with each other, so he made a phone call.

On the phone, both parties communicated in their local dialect, which Zhou Yi couldn't understand.

After hanging up the phone, the boss said, "They're at home, and the two of them do work at the same chicken farm, the Guangming Chicken Farm, which is about four or five kilometers south of here."

After thanking the boss, Zhou Yi followed the directions and arrived at the butcher's house, knocking on the door.

The door opened immediately, and a rugged-looking middle-aged man opened it, glanced at him, and asked in accented Mandarin, "Are you Officer Zhou?"

"Yes, that's me. You're Master Zhao, right? I'm sorry to have troubled you."

"No, no, please come in."

Zhou Yi entered the house, which was simply furnished. A family of three was having dinner when a dark-skinned woman stood up, holding a bowl and chopsticks, and gave Zhou Yi a simple, honest smile.

"Sorry to bother you," Zhou Yi replied with a smile.

Master Zhao nudged the high school girl who was eating with her head down and said, "Girl, call him Uncle."

The girl turned her head and greeted him as "Uncle," then continued eating. Judging from his age, he was about the same as her younger sister Zhao Min, so calling him "brother" would have been more appropriate.

"Officer Zhou, have you eaten? Would you like something to eat?" Master Zhao asked warmly.

"I've already eaten, thank you. You guys go ahead and eat, we can talk again after you're done."

Master Zhao pulled over a stool for him to sit on, and then the couple quickly ate a few mouthfuls of food, smiling as they said they were finished.

That's how simple and honest the working class is.

After their daughter finished eating, Mr. Zhao told her to go back to her room and do her homework. When the woman was about to clear the dishes, Mr. Zhao snatched them from her, said a few words in the local dialect, and then quickly gathered up his things to wash the dishes.

Zhou Yi didn't understand, but judging from the gestures, the police were waiting, so he should hurry up.

The middle-aged woman gave Zhou Yi a sheepish smile, seemingly at a loss for what to do even though it was her own home.

"What is your surname, elder sister?" Zhou Yi asked first.

"His surname is Huang."

"Sister Huang, please sit down. Don't be nervous. I'll just ask a few questions."

Zhou Yi did not show his identification, which was his own little selfish motive. If he didn't show his identification, he wouldn't be considered to be enforcing the law in secret. If Wu Yongcheng really asked him about it later, he could make up an excuse.

"Sister Huang, do you know Yang Jian?"

The older woman nodded: "We know each other, we work in the same place."

Is this Guangming Chicken Farm?

"That's right."

"How long has he been working at the chicken farm?"

"That must have been several years ago. I was in charge of feeding the chickens. Before, we had to chop vegetables and mix the chicken feed ourselves. Later, the boss complained that we were too slow, so he bought a batch of feed-making machines. They are faster, but we still have to pour the contents into the machine and carry the feed over to feed the chickens. You wouldn't believe it, it used to be easier to do it ourselves, but since we started using those machines, I've been feeding the chickens all day long. It's so tiring."

Zhou Yixin said that for capitalists, machines are both tools for improving productivity and tools for whipping cattle and horses.

"Sister Huang, tell me about Yang Jian." Zhou Yi steered the conversation back on track, knowing that if he didn't intervene, things would easily get out of control.

"Oh, Xiao Yang is different from us. He doesn't feed the chickens. Since we bought those machines, he's been in charge of repairing them. Whenever a machine breaks down, we call him over to fix it."

"Oh, so he's a repairman at the chicken farm?"

"Yes, he repairs machines. If the machines aren't broken, he's not busy. But he's a nice guy, and we get along well with him."

Zhou Yi nodded and continued, "Do you know anything about his family?"

Sister Huang frowned, then nodded and said, "Of course I know. His wife has that disease, and everyone says it's incurable. He also has a daughter, and the child is so young and has lost her mother. She's so pitiful."

"Do you know when his wife passed away?"

"I understand. He passed away at the end of last year. At that time, everyone in our chicken farm chipped in to send him some money. He was in debt because of his wife's medical treatment. It was so pitiful."

The end of last year? That's several months ago.

Zhou Yi then asked, "Do you know when he stopped going to work at the chicken farm? Or when was the last time you saw him?"

Sister Huang slowly shook her head and said, "I don't quite remember that."

"Please think about it carefully again. If you really can't remember the exact date, even a rough one will do."

After washing the dishes, Mr. Zhao came out with a glass of water and handed it to Zhou Yi: "Officer Zhou, have some water."

"Thank you, Master Zhao."

Then Mr. Zhao said to his wife, "Think it over carefully, don't delay Officer Zhou's business."

"Oh, I was just thinking about it."

Zhou Yi smiled; this ordinary interaction reminded him of his parents.

"It seems... he didn't come on January 29th, because the day before was my mother's death anniversary." January 29th? Zhou Yi was startled. Yang Jian had been missing for three months?

He had asked the restaurant owner before, but the owner's information was all from neighbors who ate at the restaurant, and it was all hearsay from several people. How could he know the specific time when the incident actually happened?

He also tried asking the little girl Lele or the old lady, for example, how long they had lived together, so that he could deduce the approximate time of Yang Jian's disappearance.

The old are confused and the young are naive, unable to provide any useful information.

That's why he thought of going to Guangming Chicken Farm to find out what was going on. He didn't expect that his question would startle him. It turned out that the old lady and the little girl had been living together for almost three months.

That old lady must have been sent by God to save the little girl; otherwise, something terrible would have happened long ago.

"Sister Huang, does that mean Yang Jian hasn't been to the chicken farm since before the Chinese New Year?"

Sister Huang nodded: "Yes, the manager of the chicken farm even scolded him, saying he wasn't being fair."

"Didn't the supervisor contact him? This guy just stopped coming to work for no reason."

"We don't know about that. But a lot of people here have left after working for a while. They go to whichever company pays the most. It's not unusual. Everyone's used to it."

Sister Huang's words are basically consistent with what Pan Hongjie said earlier.

“But he worked at Guangming Chicken Farm for several years before, so it should have been a stable job. Doesn’t anyone find it strange?” Zhou Yi asked.

"His wife's medical treatment has cost him all the money, so it's not unreasonable for him to want to earn more money."

Zhou Yi was speechless. The older sister's logic was quite rigorous and indeed flawless.

"Sister Huang, let me ask you another small question: have you ever met your boss, Zheng Guangming?"

Upon hearing this, the older woman burst into laughter, saying, "He's a big boss, how could I possibly meet him? You're so funny, young man."

Have you met his son, Zheng Tianlan?

"The young boss?" The older woman nodded and said, "I've seen him sometimes when he comes to the chicken farm."

Zhou Yi's two questions were unrelated to Yang Jian's disappearance; rather, she wanted to confirm something else with her older sister.

Who is currently managing the Zheng family's business?

Judging from the eldest sister's feedback, Zheng Guangming should have handed over his daily work to his son, Zheng Tianlan. So, if he had been missing for more than a month, ordinary people would not have noticed.

Anyone who has worked in a large company knows that ordinary employees rarely see people at the level of the big boss, even a few times a year.

After asking a few more questions, Zhou Yi confirmed that the older sister probably didn't know anything more about Yang Jian, so he thanked the kind couple and left.

Walking back to the hotel, Zhou Yi felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

Looking up at the bright moon in the sky, I was struck by how different people's fates could be under the same moonlight.

He was almost certain that Yang Jian was dead.

Even if he couldn't bear the debt pressure and abandoned his lonely daughter to run away, it's impossible that he would choose to run away so close to the Chinese New Year.

For almost all Chinese people, the Spring Festival is the most important time of the year, without exception.

Especially in the 1990s, the festive atmosphere of the New Year was still very strong.

No matter how tough or tiring it is, they'll always say, "Let's talk about it after the New Year."

Therefore, Yang Jian must be no longer alive.

He lamented, not because of Yang Jian, because Yang Jian was an adult, and his death must have had a reason.

He was saddened because of the little girl named Lele; her life was probably destined to be very difficult.

"Hey--"

Zhou Yi sighed deeply.

"Sometimes I think, for many people, this world really isn't worth the trip."

Shortly after Zhou Yi returned to the hotel, he received a phone call from Xia Yu in his office.

After going through a large number of household registration files, he found a person named Wang Shufen whose information might match. He found that two years ago, someone had called the police to arrest a thief at Zheng Guangming's mansion on Shangtang Road. The person who called the police at that time was Wang Shufen, because her ID number was on file.

Xia Yu said embarrassedly that Huang Yanli and Zheng Tianlan's phone numbers had not yet been found because there was no one left at the telecommunications bureau.

Zhou Yi glanced at the time; it was almost eleven o'clock. Knowing he was a very hardworking person, she told him to go back and rest, and to go see Wang Shufen again early the next morning to find out more about the situation.

After washing up, Zhou Yi lay in bed watching TV.

In a daze, Zhou Yi seemed to hear the sound of flowing water, and everything in front of him seemed to be shrouded in mist.

He pushed through the fog and saw a river.

On the riverbank not far away, there was a black bag that swayed slightly with the current.

Zhou Yi quickly ran over and dragged the bag to the shore.

That bag is very heavy...

The bag was tied tightly, and Zhou Yi had to pry it open after a long time.

He carefully opened the bag, and a face appeared inside.

Lu Xiaoshuang's face!
(End of this chapter)