Xu Dayuan quickly looked towards Mr. Qu, who was sweating profusely. They had only investigated the information of students in the sa grade as the deceased at the Experintal Primary School, and had not conducted a wider search. Besides, this information was nearly thirty years old and couldn’t be looked up online.
Mr. Qu could only search using the na Cui Yufen, and the results he found in Hai’an City numbered four, ranging in age from four to eighty-one. Taking as reference the age of the deceased, soone in the third or fourth grade could be two years younger than the three victims, which ans they could have been born around 1969.
However, among these results, there wasn’t anyone in that age group—the age differences were too significant.
Seeing the search results from Mr. Qu, Xu Dayuan continued to inquire,
"We haven’t found any information on Cui Yufen here. Do you rember what her aunt’s surna is?"
"I don’t rember. I only know that their family lived in Luo Zhuang Village next to Hongqi Road by Mr. Qu. In that era, Hai’an City had only five large residential areas, and they were all inhabited by families that were relatively well-off. Even in primary school, circles were important.
So the reason Cui Yushang was bullied had a lot to do with this. Plus, he was tall and big but not too smart, which made him a frequent target of isolation. Things like thumbtacks on his seat and glue on his desk happened almost every day.
Oh, that’s right. Back then, Zhang Qiujiang was in my class. He sat right in front of Cui Yushang. My seat was a bit far, so during class, the teacher often had to tell them to lower their voices. As for what exactly was said, I really couldn’t hear clearly, and I don’t rember now."
"Do you rember if there was anyone who helped Cui Yushang at that ti?"
There was silence on the other end, as if they were trying hard to recall. However, the breathing sounds coming through the microphone were heavy, an unconscious behavior when one is trying to rember sothing earnestly. It’s just that normal people wouldn’t have it so noticeably, but soone with heart failure’s breathing would instantly give them away.
"In our grade, there was a girl nad Li Fang. She walked with a crutch, seeming to have undergone so knee replacent surgery, and took a year off school. Yet she didn’t repeat a year, kept up with her studies on her own, and managed to be in the top five of the class. She was very outgoing and had a bold personality. During the third and fourth grades, she would always protect Cui Yushang whenever soone bullied him.
However, she took another leave of absence in the second sester of the fifth grade and never returned to our school. I have no idea where she went after that. Her health was deteriorating severely, and you should know several of our classmates have already died—traffic accidents, leukemia, incarceration. I’m afraid I might be the fifth."
One could feel the sense of resignation in Ai Qingsong’s words. However, this acceptance was sothing ordinary people did not possess. Perhaps after experiencing prolonged treatnt, he had developed a different perspective on life and death.
Such cooperation with treatnt could also be for his family. When asked about their true wishes, many would prefer to give up, given how torturous liver cancer can be and knowing the inevitable outco—all they ponder is whether to choose to live in pain or to end the suffering sooner.
"Thank you for your cooperation. I hope you continue your treatnt and recover soon. If needed, we’ll get in touch with you again by phone."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning looked towards Tao Zhenshan.
"Zhenshan, look into these two people, Cui Yufen and Li Fang. They are not on this list you have here. I want to find out if Cui Yufen’s surna was changed after being adopted by her aunt. As for Li Fang, have Mr. Qu start searching."
Mr. Qu didn’t make excuses and began searching imdiately. As soon as he input the na, 260,595 records popped up. Mr. Qu quickly felt embarrassed and refined the search criteria.
"Sorry, I forgot to set the region and age range."
Mr. Zhao grinned and shook his head, saying,
"Geez, there are 260,000 people nad Li Fang nationwide. That na is quite popular. Later when you have a mont, Mr. Qu, can you see how many people are registered under Zhao Xinli, like ?"
Xu Dayuan glanced at him, Mr. Zhao shrank back, and Zhu Xingxing snorted.
"I don’t know about the others, but I only know that boss, in your book, you’re still called Zhao Xinli, nicknad ’fatty’!"
Mr. Zhao bared his teeth in resignation, but Zhu Xingxing’s comnt made Xu Dayuan start to smile. He turned to Zhu Xingxing, giving her a thumbs up without saying anything else, prompting Zhu Xingxing to gloat as she raised her eyebrows at Mr. Zhao.
Mr. Qu had already found the search results. There were four people born in 1967, but one of them had passed away. Seeing the address of this person, Mr. Qu was startled and quickly turned the computer towards Xu Dayuan.
"Look at this, boss. Four Li Fangs found, but one died on May 1, 1993, and de-registration was processed at the Hongqi Road police station on May 10 of the sa year. This Li Fang died in a traffic accident."
"A traffic accident? Wasn’t she disabled with a leg injury, using crutches?"
Mr. Qu shook his head and glanced at Li Fang’s household registration information, which featured a sister’s migration details – her parents were also no longer around.
The remaining three Li Fangs of the sa birth year were ordinary to the point of anonymity; all were now residing in various villages. According to their household registrations, they had at least two children each, which seed inconsistent with the outspoken Li Fang that Ai Qingsong had ntioned.
"Among these four Li Fangs, I think the one who could attend the Experintal Primary School in the city area would be this Li Fang. The other three seem unlikely, considering that the highest level of education listed on their household registrations is junior high school."
Xu Dayuan nodded, feeling the analysis made sense, as the educational level indicated on the household registration of this deceased Li Fang was a bachelor’s degree.
He looked up at Zhang Chunbo.
"The retention period for traffic accident files is twenty years. The timing of this accident involving Li Fang falls within that twenty-year window. Look it up imdiately to see what happened in that traffic accident. Additionally, reach out to the Hongqi Road police station and have them assist Zhenshan in looking up the household registrations of Li Fang and Cui Yufen."
Zhang Chunbo quickly made a phone call, telling Tao Zhenshan the location. Tao Zhenshan and his team went there. As for the traffic accident, he also checked with the traffic police team, but because it had been a long ti, they needed to manually search the archives, and that would take a bit more ti.
Everyone waited for quite a while, and an hour later, Tao Zhenshan returned first.
Upon entering the door, he poured himself a glass of water and then quickly said:
"Our analysis was correct. After Cui Yufen was adopted by her maternal aunt, she changed her surna because her aunt’s child had died, and her aunt could no longer conceive. Cui Yufen took her uncle’s surna, and her household register displays the adoption. After all, it has been so many years, and searching for it took quite so effort. Now Cui Yufen is nad Zhu Yufen and is a biology teacher at the third middle school."
Xu Dayuan glanced at the photocopies related to the case before raising his head to look at Tao Zhenshan. Knowing how long they had worked together, Tao Zhenshan understood his nature and wouldn’t have returned with just this information.
"Did you get in touch with Zhu Yufen herself?"
Tao Zhenshan smiled.
"Of course, Mr. Bai went to pick her up. I ca back ahead of him. Mr. Bai said she would return a bit later. It seems Zhu Yufen was trying to arrange a substitute teacher for her classes; after all, middle school teachers each have a dedicated role, and as it’s the start of the school year, the schedule is quite tight."
Xu Dayuan nodded, satisfied with the arrangent.
"Did you find Li Fang’s sister?"
"I made a phone call. Her na is Li Hua, she’s the chief bone cancer nurse at the second hospital. Her sister indeed had a traffic accident during the Labor Day holiday in ’93. As for her limping during childhood, it was because of a knee replacent surgery due to a bone tumor. Later on, though she walked with a wobble, she could walk normally.
Regarding the traffic accident, the judgnt given at the ti was that Li Fang lost control due to poor visibility and fell off the bridge. The car’s performance was tested, and there were no issues with the brakes. No alcohol was found in Li Fang’s blood test. It was suspected that she drove off the bridge at night because of the visibility."
Xu Dayuan frowned deeply.
"What did Li Fang do for a living?"
"At the ti of the accident, Li Fang had just been appointed as the head of the planning departnt at the Planning Bureau for three months. She was professionally trained, a specialist in her field. Her sister said they never expected her sudden accident. Their parents also passed away early due to deep grief, and their family business was taken over by others."
Before Xu Dayuan could ask anything further, the door sounded.
Zhang Chunbo entered, holding several photocopies, and approached Xu Dayuan. A policeman followed behind him, wearing shoulder patches indicating a rank equal to Zhang Chunbo’s; undoubtedly, this had to be the head of the traffic police team.
"Director Xu, let introduce you. This is Li Libo, the captain of our traffic police team. This traffic accident happened to be under his jurisdiction that year, so I asked him to co and explain the situation."
After exchanging salutes and handshakes, Xu Dayuan gestured to Li Libo:
"Let’s skip the pleasantries and get to the point. Do you rember this traffic accident?"
Li Libo, a straightforward man, pulled over a chair to sit down and said while holding up the photocopy:
"I was the officer in charge at the ti. The incident took place on the Baisha River Central Bridge."
Xu Dayuan paused, looking up at Li Libo.
"Wait, where did you say it happened? Point it out on the map."
Li Libo stood up, and there was a map on the whiteboard that marked the locations where the bodies of the three deceased were found. Pointing at the location of the first victim, Zheng Chuguang, he said:
"Right here, Baisha River Central Bridge. Li Fang was driving a silver Toyota Corona from west to east, then smashed through the guardrail on the opposite side, and the vehicle plunged off, hitting a bridge pier directly. The car did not explode but slid down onto the dyke of Baisha River.
On the morning of May 1, 1993, soone passing by the Baisha River Central Bridge noticed the vehicle on the dyke and went to the nearby agricultural machinery company to call the police. When we arrived at the scene, we sent people down to take a look, and Li Fang was already stiff.
By the ti we pulled the car up, it was the afternoon. After the forensic doctor perford the autopsy, the victim was determined to have died around 10 p.m. on April 30. No alcohol, drugs, or poison was detected in her system.
Although the bridge was built in ’92, due to the power supply issues with the streetlights along the bridge, visibility at night here was extrely low, often leading to accidents. Furthermore, as there were no abnormalities with the brakes and the accelerator of the victim’s car, and no signs of collision, we concluded the case as an accidental traffic incident."
Mr. Zhao counted on his fingers and then covered his mouth, revealing an incredulous expression.
"Driving a Toyota Corona 2.0 in ’93, that grey with a stripe in the middle, the import price was incredibly high, at least 500,000 as a start. And back then, 500,000 was not the sa as now; it must have been at least ten tis as much.
Besides, even for a head of the planning bureau, this seems unlikely, right? Let’s talk about today’s Hai’an City Planning Bureau, how much is the bureau director’s official car worth?"
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