The Bank Burglary Case (13)

Chapter 13

Ning Xiangxiu had learned what Yun Song wanted to know, but night was falling, and there was so much to say about Wang Jiawang that it couldn’t be finished in a short time.

Besides, the two didn’t dare say too much on the hillside. After all, if she only spoke to others for ten minutes but couldn’t stop talking once she was with Ning Xiangxiu, it would be far too obvious.

Thus, Ning Xiangxiu whispered, “Let’s talk tonight. Where are you staying?”

“I’m staying at the Village Party Secretary’s house tonight.”

“That works. Tonight, once everyone is asleep, sneak out and we’ll go behind the pine forest to talk properly.” Ning Xiangxiu looked at the young police officer, remembering she was from the city, and asked, “It might be a bit scary coming out at night. Are you afraid?”

Yun Song shook her head. “I’m not afraid of that. When you come out, just mimic a turtledove’s call¹ three times outside the Secretary’s house. I’ll come find you when I hear it.”

Ning Xiangxiu felt rather excited as she headed back. She felt exactly like a protagonist in a movie delivering information under the enemy’s watchful eyes.

On the other side, Yun Song ate dinner with the Village Party Secretary’s family. They were very hospitable; as long as the conversation didn’t drift toward the case, everyone was very warm toward the police.

Mainly, they wanted to fish for some information from the officer regarding the bank burglary and the bodies in town.

She accompanied the family as they prepared pig swill² and fed the pigs, until finally, it was time to wash up and go to sleep.

Night fell, the mountains slumbered, and the people who had been busy all day slowly drifted into dreamland.

Yun Song kept her eyes open, waiting quietly for the rest of the Secretary’s family to fall asleep.

Controllably, her mind drifted to the past. She remembered how she used to be just like this, waiting for the mountains to sleep, waiting for the mountain folk to sleep.

Thinking of these things reminded her of the human traffickers she had yet to catch.

Back then, they had only caught the informants. The traffickers themselves remained hidden among the masses.

After Yun Song graduated from the police academy, she had actually wanted to specialize in human trafficking cases. The reality, however, was that she had no leads. Working at a local police station, her daily tasks were extremely mundane. The major cases in the jurisdiction never fell to her. She was responsible for either helping lost elderly people find their relatives or dealing with domestic disputes. She often felt like she wasn’t in the position where she was meant to be.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to handle these matters, but rather an uncomfortable sensation-

In places unknown to her, traffickers continued to abduct people, while she was busy managing a couple’s quarrel because they were disturbing the neighbors downstairs…

Sometimes… her mediation wasn’t even understood. Several times after she finished her counseling, the couple would decide to divorce, seemingly on the verge of finding their own happiness. She thought it was for the best, but the next day, the couple’s parents would come looking for trouble, accusing her of destroying a family.

Sigh. Yun Song felt she had never been so frustrated in her life.

Coming to the town to investigate this case had been Yun Song’s own choice. Transportation here was inconvenient, it was far from the city, and it was originally just a theft case, so the higher-ups hadn’t placed much importance on it.

Now that the theft had turned into a murder case, she had already asked Tang Chao to report it up the chain.

After an unknown amount of time, Yun Song heard three calls from outside: “Coo-coo-coo… Coo-coo-coo… Coo-coo-coo…”

Ning Xiangxiu was a bit worried about whether Yun Song would wake everyone up when she came out.

However, she heard no sound at all. Her eyes remained fixed on the Secretary’s front door, which never opened. Yet when she turned her head, Yun Song was standing behind her like a ghost.

Ning Xiangxiu jumped in fright.

Yun Song quickly apologized, “Sorry, I’m used to moving silently.”

“It’s fine. Have you been waiting out here for me the whole time?”

“No, I just came out.”

“But I was watching the door just now, and no one came out,” Ning Xiangxiu said, still feeling a bit spooked.

“I climbed out the window.”

“Oh, no wonder.” Ning Xiangxiu’s curiosity was satisfied, so she didn’t dwell on it further. She said, “Come on, let’s go toward the pine forest. That’s the graveyard hill; there are no living people there.”

And so, the first police-civilian cooperation in Sanli Village of Tonglin Town was established in the dead of night.

Ning Xiangxiu had married into the village eighteen years ago. When she arrived, Wang Jiawang was still a young man in his twenties, just at the age to seek a wife.

As they walked, Ning Xiangxiu began to recount the things she had heard back then.

“He had a very good personality when he was young. Back then, if there was something to be done in the village, he was very willing to help, and he always had a smile for everyone. He was just a decent-looking, very honest young man.”

“I wondered at the time why he couldn’t find a wife. Later, I heard from others that when he was about ten or so, one night after everyone in the village had gone to bed – it was around the early hours of the morning – he suddenly started knocking on everyone’s doors. He ran over in a panic, saying a thief had broken into his house and asking everyone for help.”

“At that time, his father had been paralyzed for several years. It was just a mother and her son in the house. Hearing that, everyone naturally grabbed their hoes and clubs to go help. But when they arrived, they found his mother and another man in the woodshed. That man had a wife of his own, and now his wife had come along too. Seeing the situation, she immediately started hitting people and cursing about the woman stealing someone else’s husband… Sigh, things were much more conservative back then than they are now. With so many people knowing about it, the others didn’t know what to say. His mother was so overwhelmed by shame and anger that she threw herself into the well right in front of everyone.” Speaking of this, Ning Xiangxiu felt the sin hadn’t warranted death.

It was true that Wang Jiawang’s mother was in the wrong, but the situation really shouldn’t have ended in death.

“Afterward, Wang Jiawang didn’t cry or say anything. No one knew if he understood what the situation really was at the time. But privately, some people said that he wasn’t three or four years old; he was over ten. There’s no way he didn’t understand. They said he must have done it on purpose because he hated his mother for betraying his father, so he intentionally shamed her.” It was because of this rumor that everyone thought he was cold-hearted, and no one was willing to marry their daughter to him.

Ning Xiangxiu spoke somewhat euphemistically, but Yun Song got the gist of it.

“Who was that man?”

“This… no one mentioned it.” It was likely that because the man was still alive, his name had been omitted when the rumors were being spread.

“Does Wang Jiawang have any enemies in the village? Anyone he got along with poorly?”

“He was on good terms with my husband’s second uncle’s family. At first, he wanted to marry my husband’s second uncle’s daughter, but she didn’t care for him and turned him down. My husband’s second uncle is a sincere man. Even though he didn’t marry his daughter off to him, he treated him very well. Over time, the two of them became quite close.”

“However, my husband’s second uncle’s family are all honest people; they wouldn’t kill anyone. I can guarantee that.” Back when Xiao Mei got into middle school, other members of the family had been sarcastic about it, either saying it was a pity she was a girl or claiming she just got lucky.

Only Second Uncle had gone out of his way to the town to buy a backpack for Xiao Mei, saying she had brought honor to the Mei family. Because of that, Ning Xiangxiu felt Second Uncle was an honest, good person.

Yun Song nodded, acknowledging the information.

The two of them swatted at mosquitoes while conducting this session of police-civilian cooperation.

Yun Song asked a few more questions, and Ning Xiangxiu answered everything she knew.

Eventually, both of them grew a bit tired and began to yawn.

“Let’s head back. You’ve worked hard today,” Yun Song said.

“What’s so hard about this? It was just a few words. Speaking of which, regarding that matter last time, I really have to thank you for speaking up for my girl. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened.”

“Don’t take that matter to heart,” Yun Song replied.

The two of them talked as they walked back. On this autumn night, the sound of frogs still echoed from the fields on both sides.

As Ning Xiangxiu walked along the night path, a sudden gust of night wind blew, making the leaves rustle with an eerie sound.

Ning Xiangxiu remembered something else.

“On nights like this, I’m too scared to come out, yet my Xiao Mei dared to head toward town before dawn, even taking the shortcut through the graveyard hill. How can her courage be so great?”

She found it amusing as she spoke. “Back then, when the school wanted her to drop out, she prepared to go to town alone to find work. That girl, she was afraid we wouldn’t agree, so she left before daybreak. I teased her about it yesterday, and she actually got embarrassed.”

Yun Song couldn’t help but marvel at Xiao Mei’s bravery as well.

“Luckily she ran into Second Uncle that day. Second Uncle specifically brought Xiao Mei back. He really is a good man.”

Yun Song nodded in agreement, thinking the man did indeed sound quite kind.

However, a second later, Yun Song realized something was off.

“Which day was this? Where did he run into Xiao Mei?”

Ning Xiangxiu froze for a moment, only then realizing it didn’t make sense. When Xiao Mei returned, the pine oil torch³ in her hand had long since burned out, so she certainly hadn’t been caught near the house.

She had been heading toward town.

So what was Second Uncle doing on the road to town at that hour?

Xiao Mei’s Second Grandpa had been nervous ever since the police arrived in the village.

He never expected the police to investigate so quickly. He had been holding onto a glimmer of hope, thinking that these police officers were city people after all, and they surely wouldn’t stay in Tonglin Town for long. If they couldn’t find anything, they would certainly go back.

But he hadn’t expected them to actually find Tian Gui’s body and confirm that Tian Gui and Wang Jiawang were involved in the bank theft.

Furthermore, he had heard that these three police officers somehow found out about a couple in town who went to steal things and had locked someone in a cellar.

He heard that the police had even sensed the location of Tian Gui’s body.

He didn’t know how the police knew these things, and it was precisely because he didn’t know that he felt even more terrified.

Now that the police were in the village, he had been avoiding people, afraid his secret would be discovered.

His heart was filled with regret – regret that he had been blinded by money. His lifelong good reputation was gone; he had truly brought shame upon his ancestors!

The events of that night kept flashing through his mind. Wang Jiawang had been drinking with him, and the man had asked him:

“Second Uncle, have you ever seen twenty thousand yuan? Two thick stacks. Have you ever seen it?”

Translator’s Notes