Once decided, they sprang into action. All three worked at the police station, naturally more professional in this regard than ordinary people.
Especially since two of them were detectives. Although Su Qing was just a consultant, the three of them ford a configuration similar to a temporary team.
The core brain - Su Qing, ticulous - Li Zijun, no-brain, muscle man - Du Qiang.
Don’t even ntion going out to find soone; with this setup, they could handle regular criminal cases.
Only, the two were in plain clothes at the mont, without firearms; otherwise, they could handle so small-scale criminal activities perfectly well.
They first visited the area around Jiang Yu’s rented house for a stroll but found nothing and consequently pondered in the car, eventually confirming the locations of two crematoriums.
One was closer to their current location, the other closer to Jiang Yu’s hotown. Not surprisingly, it was these two, but the latter wasn’t in Jiang City but in a county around Jiang City. After so discussion, the three decided to go to the forr.
After all, based on Du Qiang’s understanding, Jiang Yu’s family had no relatives left, and all ties had been severed over loans, making a cremation back ho pointless.
The three drove all the way to a hillside in the Eastern Suburbs of Jiang City, where a crematorium was located, along with a cetery not far away.
Entering after getting out of the car, with the docunts on hand from the other two, they easily t with the crematorium staff.
"We are police officers from the Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau and would like to ask if anyone nad Jiang Yu ca here with her mother for cremation within the last ten days. Her mother’s na is..."
In response to Du Qiang’s inquiry, they quickly got the prepared answer.
"Oh yes, I rember this girl very clearly. After cremation, she put the ashes in a plastic box. She’s quite pretty." The crematorium staff replied.
Hearing this, the three were excited to finally have a clue.
"Well, did she buy a gravesite here?" Li Zijun asked.
Since Du Qiang was out of touch with her, they had to find other ans to contact her.
"How could she? That girl put the ashes in a plastic box. How could she afford to buy a gravesite here? She just took them with her!"
Hearing this, both Li Zijun and Du Qiang fell silent. Li Zijun was a bit puzzled. For soone doing the kind of work Jiang Yu did, she shouldn’t lack money, and that should earn her way more than her police salary.
Du Qiang knew the family conditions were not good, but he wasn’t aware that most of Jiang Yu’s monthly inco was used to support her mother’s illness. Now, he was also confused.
Fortunately, Su Qing had a lead; at this mont, the narrative in his mind was providing hints.
[Jiang Yu, who has no place to return to or hang on to, did not leave Jiangcheng. She wanders in Jiang City with the ashes, having little money left, and will appear tonight near the South City Stadium.]
Good news: Jiang Yu did not leave Jiangcheng; Bad news: The area is too large.
Well, near the South City Stadium, saying ’near’ worked well. Although the location range was specified, with just the three of them, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.
They lacked manpower. Even knowing she was in the vicinity of the stadium, finding her remained incredibly tough; they could only rely on luck.
In the car, they were worried; although they had so clues, reaching this point, the trail was gone again, and they still couldn’t contact Jiang Yu, making Du Qiang a bit frustrated as he silently smoked a cigarette in the car.
After a long silence, Su Qing spoke: "Qiang, think about where she might go, like places with special significance to her."
Hearing this, Du Qiang took a deep breath, clutching his hair tightly, and finally shook his head heavily: "I can’t think of anything. The rented house was vacated; she didn’t return ho, or even hold a funeral. We haven’t seen each other for years, and I don’t know her friends. I’m just afraid she might think negatively or left for another city, I..."
At this, Su Qing interrupted: "Maybe... it has sothing to do with you?"
"With ?" Du Qiang was sowhat astonished, even Li Zijun beside him looked bewildered and asked him: "Did you discover sothing?"
Su Qing shook his head: "What could I discover? We are always together. I’m just suggesting that since Jiang Yu has no relatives left, and she might have so thoughts about Qiang. People often seek spiritual solace when hurt, so I think it could be related to Qiang."
Listening to it, Li Zijun found it reasonable and spoke: "Qiang, think hard about whether there’s any place aningful for you two?"
"Us? We have none. We were just classmates in high school and haven’t seen each other since graduating..."
Hearing this, Su Qing quickly interjected: "Wait a minute, Qiang, where did you attend high school?"
"Second School!"
"Then that’s it!"
"You an... Second School?" Du Qiang exclaid in surprise.
There are nurous high schools in Jiang City; for instance, Su Qing, Su He, and Li Zijun attended Experintal High School, situated in the northern part of the city, whereas Second School was near the South City Stadium.
"Yeah, what else?"
"No... no way, right?" Du Qiang was still skeptical.
In response, Li Zijun slapped him on the back: "Ever heard of treating a dead horse as if it’s still alive? If you don’t check Second School, what other place can you pick?"
"Uh... honestly, I can’t think of anywhere else..."
"Then that settles it, doesn’t it? If you have nothing on your mind and sobody offers advice, wouldn’t you listen? Alright, I’ll drive, and you direct since I’m not familiar with that area!"
With that, Li Zijun started the car, heading towards the direction of South City Second School.
Actually, Su Qing wasn’t sure if Jiang Yu wouldn’t appear near Second School since the narration only ntioned near the stadium, but there was no better option, better than staying idle.
Nevertheless, while a plan was ford, execution wasn’t so simple.
"Seriously, how do we find her?"
They looked cluelessly at the Second School gate across the street. Du Qiang spoke.
They reached Second School, but the next problem was how to search. They couldn’t just check inside the high school; although high school wasn’t completely on holiday, with Grade 12 students still having classes, it wasn’t post-secondary where external people could enter at will.
They weren’t the problem, given their police identity, but Jiang Yu likely couldn’t enter. Plus, even if she could, then what?
"This... how would I know? Why don’t we first grab a bite to eat?" Su Qing was also confounded, suggesting to eat sothing for relief, then think of a strategy.
Hearing this, Li Zijun rolled his eyes at him: "Eat, eat, eat. All you think about is eating; we are searching for soone, not out for fun!"
"I’m just saying even while working, we can’t miss als, right? Plus, there are plenty of eateries near the school, cheap too, and we have no other leads right now, right?" Su Qing shrugged helplessly.
It’s lunchti; it’s turned dark already, can’t work on an empty stomach!
"Makes sense!"
While they were talking, a bell rang from the school across the street:
’Class is dismissed; Teachers, thank you for your hard work~~’
Soon, they saw a swarm of students in uniforms rushing out of the teaching building; one could almost mistake it for a zombie outbreak, quite a sight.
High school is like that; when they go out for dinner in the evening, it’s forty minutes at most, with so being back in thirty minutes. That was how he trained himself to eat a al in three minutes during high school.
Seeing this and having no other clues, the three decided to eat first. They got out of the car; a gust of cold wind made them much more awake.
Outside the school, food stalls and fast-food lined up one after another, varied and diverse, but when the three were gathered around a sweet potato stall, a voice suddenly sounded from their left.
"Is that Du Qiang?"
The trio turned to find a kind-looking woman in her forties, wearing glasses. Of course, in the eyes of students, she might still be that stern teacher.
It’s the sa person, after all, but as people age, their perspectives change as well.
"Ms. Guo! It’s , I’m Du Qiang," Du Qiang smiled quickly, knowing they had run into a high school teacher.
Ms. Guo’s next words imdiately excited the three.
"Hey, this young man! You haven’t changed much after all these years. How are things now between you and Jiang Yu? You used to bring her als every day. I didn’t have the heart to point it out back then. I just saw her yesterday!"
The three of them: "Teacher, please elaborate!"
Ms. Guo: ???
...
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