Chapter 3

  Tongcheng is located on the banks of a tributary of the Yangtze River, surrounded by mountains and with poor transportation links, it was always very backward. Until around 2000, when the highway opened, Tongcheng's development was like taking an express train, unstoppable, and now it has become a major economic center in the province. Like other emerging cities, people from Tongcheng want to go out, all going to Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou; while people from surrounding areas all want to come to Tongcheng.

  Jian Yao has been in college for a few years, and every year when she returns home, she can feel that her hometown is changing. Old buildings are disappearing one by one, high-rise residential buildings are springing up, and there are more and more people. Of course, there are also things that haven't changed. For example, the majestic rivers that wind around the city, the People's Heroes Monument in the center of the city, and this quiet villa in front of her, which seems to have escaped from the world and time.

  At eight o'clock in the morning, she arrived as scheduled. She knocked on the door and found it was open. The room was quiet and still, with only sunlight shining on the dark brown glossy floor, as if there was no one inside.

  Yesterday, Fu Zi Yu called her again and said he would be returning to B City soon, telling her to feel free to use the villa as she pleased from now on. The first floor, except for the locked room, was at her disposal. It seemed this was just the beginning of "feeling free".

  The living room was the same as before, except for a white-painted square table and chair in one corner near the window. On the table were a laptop computer and a stack of old yellowed documents. According to the agreement, since the formal workload was relatively large, electronic documents were still used.

  Jian Yao sat down in front of the desk.

  Outside the window, the distant mountains are winding and snow-covered like white silk; nearby, the pine forest is serene, with sunlight filtering through the branches and tree tips. Looking at the desktop again, it's neat and tidy, not bad, the working environment is quite comfortable. Opening the computer, she found a TXT text document on the desktop, the title was an email address, and the content was blank.

  Jian Yao got up again and walked around in circles inside the house.

  The living room is next to the dining room, Jian Yao smelled a bit of residual smoke and fire, it seems that Mr. Bao usually cooks at home. She put the fruit she brought into the refrigerator, which was almost empty, with only half a bowl of plain white fish soup inside.

  There was a side door in the restaurant, connected to a corridor. Jian Yao walked forward a few steps and unexpectedly found a fishing rod thrown into the corner by the wall.

  The small town has plenty of water and fish, many families have fishing rods, which is not surprising. What's surprising is that the one in front of me is a "DAIWA Red Tiger", a limited edition, one of the best and most expensive fishing rods in the world, a divine instrument for many anglers.

  Jian Yao stopped for a moment to admire the view and took out her phone to take two photos before continuing on her way.

  As she approached the end, her footsteps couldn't help but slow down.

  In front of me was a very dimly lit small hall, with thick curtains blocking the windows on both sides, just like they were sealed off, without a single ray of light shining in. It was pitch black and also very chilly. There was nothing in the small hall except for two tightly closed doors.

  Jian Yao walked into the darkness and stopped in front of one of the doors. She gently pushed it, but it wouldn't budge - it was locked.

  She turned around and walked back into the living room. Having turned enough, she made herself a cup of coffee and started working with her head down.

  The morning passed quickly, and Jian Yao sat in her original position, hardly moving.

  When she was working with her head down, Fu Ziyu sat in a somewhat secluded room on the second floor, facing a wall of surveillance screens.

  He stared at one of the screens, where Jian Yao's slender and quiet figure was, turned his head to say to Bao Junyan: "This young lady is quite well-behaved. Then I can rest assured, tomorrow I will return to B city."

  Bo Ya sat leaning on a single-person sofa, his long legs crossed and propped up on a footstool. His shirt sleeves were rolled up halfway, and he held a plate of roasted small silver fish in his hand, slowly putting one piece after another into his mouth. He also raised his head to glance at the screen, his low, mellow voice without any ups and downs: "Boring, like wood."

  Fu Zi Yu sneered: "You chose that person yourself." Turning his head, he found that the plate in Bao Jian Yan's hand was already empty.

  He remained silent for a moment, but still couldn't help muttering: "You'll die if you don't eat fish!"

  He wiped off the fish bones on his fingers and smiled slightly: "No. But if I don't get what I want, I'll become very violent."

  That day after dinner with Jian Yao, Li Xun Ran started to get busy. On the one hand, he had to attend to other work on his hands, and on the other hand, he also had to deal with the case of missing teenagers.

  But the investigation of this case has fallen into a dilemma: the missing teenagers come from different counties and went missing at different times. Li Xunran can't find direct evidence to prove that such a gang really exists. The director attaches great importance to his discovery, but everything requires evidence, so it is not possible to formally file a case investigation and invest more police force at this stage.

  It was getting late, and Li Xunran specially invited an old detective from the bureau to dinner.

  On a cold winter night, the two sat in a small shop, eating hot pot amidst the warm atmosphere. After three cups of wine, Li Xun suddenly asked for advice from the old detective. The old detective glanced at him and said: "Li Xun, you really are looking for trouble when there isn't any."

  Li Xunran smiled. Yes, he was indeed looking for trouble. But he found it.

  He lit a cigarette, smoking while saying: "I believe in my intuition. These cases must be done by the same person. Others may not investigate, but I cannot let it go. If I let it go, the children will definitely continue to disappear one after another."

  The old detective remained silent for a while, then said: "It's hard to investigate, the country is so big, do you know where they came from? Once someone falls into their hands, how many times will they be transferred? They can make it traceless."

  Want to crack the case? Two ways: First, find an expert detective. This kind of case is not something that ordinary people like me can solve. However, most experts these days are just talking nonsense, and I've never seen a real genius detective in my entire life. So this possibility is close to zero;

  The second way is similar to what Lao Jian did back then. In the early 1990s, there were many more people selling children than there are now. How did Lao Jian crack the case? He disguised himself as a beggar and squatted in those farm produce markets and bus stations for two months at a time. Later on, some human traffickers even asked him to 'transport goods' for them. He caught many human traffickers in a row and made great achievements. Unfortunately, Lao Jian died too early and too miserably. However, doing it this way may not be effective now, as the city has grown bigger, there are more people, and the criminals have become smarter.

  Li Xunran listened and picked up his cup of wine, silently drinking it. The old detective said again: "By the way, wasn't the one with you that day Jian Yao? That little girl looks good, getting prettier as she grows up. I'm telling you, kid, don't mess around, doing this police work, finding a suitable partner isn't easy. Treat her well and get married early, that's the right thing to do."

  Li Xunran: "Marry her? She's my sister."

  The days passed quickly, every afternoon, Jian Yao would send the completed documents to that email address on her computer. The next day when she checked, there was an automatic receipt from the other party's mailbox. However, Mr. Bo had not replied to any emails and still did not show up.

  No news is good news.

  It's just that every time I see that top-grade fishing rod in the villa, Jian Yao's fishing addiction is also hooked.

  After working continuously for a week, she specially chose a day with good weather to rest. It was the weekend, and as soon as the sun came out, she called Li Xunran.

  When he received her call, Li Xunyan was wearing a stinky "beggar's outfit", sitting in a corner of the city's south market with a dirty face, staring at passersby with a pair of black eyes without making a sound. He has been squatting here every time he has a chance, for several days, but to no avail.

  "Fishing? I'm on duty." He replied absent-mindedly, "Let's meet at the 'secret warehouse' this afternoon, can't guarantee the time."

  He hung up after finishing speaking. Jian Yao smiled and continued to pack up the fishing gear. When she thought of what he said, "secret storage", she was slightly stunned.

  That was a good fishing spot discovered by the two when they were kids, at the mouth of a small stream flowing into the river. The water there is dense with aquatic plants, sheltered from the wind and sunny, and there are always many fish. However, the location is quite remote, and ordinary people don't know about it. Li Xuanran, in his youth, specially named it "Secret Warehouse".

  The secret house is rarely visited, and there's another reason it just happens to be below the legendary villa on the mountain waist, not far vertically. Given the reputation of the ghost house, many people don't go that way.

  Now Bo Xilai is back, and from the window of his living room, he can see everything down there at a glance.

  The secret base is no longer a secret, but it's still a great place in memory.

  After lunch, Jian Yao set off. It was the warmest part of the day, and the sunlight cast a dappled glow on the mountain forest path. Passing by the villas, she walked through a small overgrown path, and suddenly the view opened up before her eyes. Among the dark brown rocks, a sparkling expanse of water was hidden, stretching out to connect with the distant great river. This was the Secret Library.

  The surroundings were quiet, with no one in sight. Jian Yao sat down under a big tree, fished for a while, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a fishing rod inserted under a tree on the opposite side, but there was no one there.

  Just then, her phone rang, it was Li Xunran, with a very crisp tone: "Something's come up, can't make it."

  Jian Yao: "Li Xiang Ran! Everyone is here."

  Li Xuanran just smiled: "Then you play by yourself, the secret library is yours. Be careful, if anything happens, call me, I'm hanging up?"

  Jian Yao sighed and said: "Goodbye."

  She hung up the phone and sat for a while before getting up to take a look at that unmanned pole.

  A little unexpected, but also reasonable, it turned out to be that DAIWA red tiger rod.

  Jian Yao's heart slightly stirred, she lifted her head and looked around. However, the surrounding trees were quiet with deep shadows, not even half a person's shadow was visible.

  She turned around just wanting to leave, suddenly hearing a series of urgent light rings on the fishing rod, a big fish had bitten the hook.

  Jian Yao put the nearly one-foot-long carp she had caught into the fish basket. She looked at the empty fish hook again, thought for a moment, and found the bait box next to where he had inserted the fishing rod, and put it back in its original place.

  Maybe it was the DAIWA red tiger's extraordinary power, or perhaps it was the rare warm weather that made the fish more lively. Before she even had a chance to return to her own spot, he had another bite on his line. In just half an hour, she ended up catching six fish for him.

  Mr. Bao hasn't come back yet.

  Jian Yao thought he might have left in a hurry, but the tens of thousands of yuan fishing rod was casually inserted into the water's edge, fortunately she met him.

  Later, Jian Yao simply moved her own rod next to his and even replaced the simplest and most primitive earthworms in his bait box with her exclusive secret fish food. Top-grade fishing rods paired with top-grade fish food were indeed unbeatable. By the time it was almost dark, Jian Yao had already caught two large baskets of fish, and there was no more room to catch any more.

  She spent some effort to move all the fish back to the villa and put his rod back in its original place. After thinking for a moment, she sent him an email: "Mr. Bao, I happened to come across your fishing rod by the river and didn't know if you had something urgent to attend to and couldn't come back, so I took the liberty of bringing it back for you, along with the fish that were caught. If this is not appropriate, please forgive me."

  She took a few fish and went home. In the evening, her mobile phone prompted that there was a new email. When she opened it, she surprisingly received Mr. Bao's first reply in history:

  "The fish is good. Thank you."

  The next day, Jian Yao went to the villa and found that there was still no one inside. She didn't take yesterday's matter to heart either, and continued working with her head down.

  When she went to wash the fruit during her break, as soon as she entered the kitchen, she smelled a strong fishy smell. When she opened the refrigerator and took a look, she was shocked to see so many fish inside.

  Yesterday, the nearly empty refrigerator is now filled to the brim. Braised fish, steamed fish, pickled fish head, sliced fish meat, and fish stew... all stuffed in, leftovers from meals.

  Jian Yao closed the refrigerator door and suddenly felt a bit like laughing. It was already midnight, and she had made so many dishes by herself. This Mr. Bao must really love eating fish.

  Days passed by, and after a few days, it was another rare good weather. Jian Yao went to the secret library with her sister. Li Xun Ran had disappeared without a trace, and Jian Yao didn't disturb him either.

  Just arrived at the water's edge, and saw DAIWA Red Tiger again. Jian Xuan recognized the brand and exclaimed in shock: "Whose is this? Too cool!"

  Jian Yao also found it a bit strange how he had thrown his pole here and left it unattended again?

  At this time, Jian Xuan had already lifted the pole: "Sister, it's empty. Empty hook, was eaten by fish? Strange, where is the fish? This kind of fishing hook is very difficult to get rid of."

  Jian Yao heard this and her mind moved slightly, she lowered her head to search around, only to find that there wasn't even a bait box on the ground. There was just one rod, standing bare and straight here.

  Jian Xuan also discovered and became even more puzzled: "This man is Jiang Taigong, waiting for the fish to take the bait?"

  Jian Yao had already understood and smiled slightly: "Not waiting for fish."

  Waiting for her.

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