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Chapter 88

He Chuanzhou moved her phone a bit farther away. 

  

A message from a colleague popped up on the screen. They had contacted the staff to check the relevant records, confirming that the watch Zhu's mother had collected was indeed purchased by Shen Wenzheng back in 2014, with a listed price of 390,000 yuan. 

  

He jokingly remarked that he couldn't imagine the world of the wealthy. 

  

The icon of Director Feng jumped up from the bottom of the chat list, asking her if she was confident that Zhu Shujun’s case was related to Shen Wenzheng. He pointed out that a mere connection through a watch wasn't enough to prove anything. He also reminded her that given Shen Wenzheng's current wealth and influence, they needed to be extremely cautious in their investigation. They should avoid leaking too much information, as any misstep could make the situation very tricky. 

  

Someone in the group pulled up interrogation records from the anti-vice operation back then, noting that the salary at that upscale club was very lucrative. For example, Liu Huirong, who had worked there for quite a while, had a monthly income estimated at over 100,000 yuan, excluding various luxury gifts from clients and extra cash rewards. Zhu Shujun was the top hostess at that time, so her income was likely even higher. 

  

New message alerts kept popping up one after another, causing the phone to constantly vibrate in her palm. Every piece of information centered around money. 

  

He Chuanzhou raised her gaze. The shade from the trees overhead had shifted with the setting sun, leaving her left arm exposed to the glow of dusk. 

  

She stared at the tall, lush plane trees across the street, feeling the previously ignored cicada chirps suddenly grow louder, dragging out their buzzing noise that interrupted her train of thought again and again. 

  

He Chuanzhou felt this was an unanswerable question because, by the time she asked it, she had already set the answer in her mind. 

  

"I also hope that all criminals can be brought to justice, their crimes stopped, and the victims can find peace," He Chuanzhou said slowly. "If only hard work alone could make that happen." 

  

Zhu's mother might not have understood. She picked up the cloth bag on the ground, patted the dust off its back, and hugged it tightly to her chest. 

  

"I can’t read a single word, not even my own name I can only copy others like a cat drawing a tiger. But I’ve lived for so many years; when you tell me how difficult your job is, I can understand. But while you find it hard to do, I truly have no other options. All I can do is cause a scene. I go to the police station, make a fuss at the township office, and even create trouble in town. They say I’m troublesome, that I’m a problem-maker." 

  

Her eyes were vacant as she spoke to He Chuanzhou, rambling like a broken record. At first, her voice was calm and detached, but as she went on, her throat tightened, and a short gasp escaped, turning her voice sharp and trembling. 

  

"Because... because I only have one daughter. She left home such a grown woman, and you all won’t even tell me if she’s dead or alive, just saying she's missing. How could she just disappear?" 

  

"She was still so young, so beautiful. Could it be that she just couldn't find her way home? I've been waiting for her all this time." 

  

She raised her hand, sketching her daughter's outline in the air, gently caressing the imagined figure, as if stroking Zhu Shujun’s cheek. 

  

But the cold, intangible illusion only deepened her pain. Consumed by this cruel reality, she covered her face and began to sob. 

  

"I keep wondering what we did wrong. I didn’t commit any sins. I’m just an ordinary person." 

  

Her Mandarin was already unclear, and now it became even more slurred, her words blending together like the tangled thoughts she couldn’t sort out, much like the uncontrollable tears that streamed down her face, endlessly and persistently. 

  

He Chuanzhou couldn’t fully make out what she was saying, but she didn’t need to understand every word to feel the emotion. She reached out and gently patted the woman’s back. 

  

After crying for a while, Zhu's mother let her hands fall, revealing a pair of clouded, tear-filled eyes. 

  

Her eyelids were thin and drooping, sagging at the corners. Her eyes were half-open, filled with a watery sheen, like a worn-out body struggling to stay alive. 

  

"She was always beautiful, even as a newborn. When I took her out, everyone said what a lovely baby she was. As she grew up, she never felt ashamed of me. She’d take me shopping in the city and buy me things. When I visited her at school, her classmates would tease me, and she would get angry, arguing with them to defend me. Even though she didn't like coming back to the village, she still came often just to see me. After her father passed away, it was just the two of us living together. She worked so hard, and all I did was urge her to eat more, wear more, without being able to give her anything else..." 

  

She had lived her life by the rules, unable to teach her daughter how to navigate the world due to her own limitations. She believed their life, though ordinary, was fulfilling. Even after Zhu Shujun graduated high school and left to work, she hadn’t noticed the subtle changes in her daughter. 

  

Their final argument had stemmed from their different views on marriage. 

  

Before confirming Zhu Shujun’s disappearance, she still firmly believed she was in the right, waiting for her daughter to come back and apologize. 

  

She took the tissue He Chuanzhou handed her, blew her nose, and before she could calm down, guilt washed over her again. She slapped her chest as if to punish herself, blaming herself: "But she’s been missing for six months, and I only realized she was gone. I don't even know what job she had in City A, who her friends were, or what hardships she might have faced. How can I even call myself her mother?" 

  

Even she found it absurd. 

  

“Could I see her former colleagues?” The woman wiped her tears, looking at He Chuanzhou with hope. “I just want to know if, in those last days in City A, she was doing okay. Please, I beg you.” 

  

He Chuanzhou looked into her tear-filled eyes, but quickly turned her gaze away. It was hard to refuse the desperate plea in her voice, yet she couldn’t bring herself to reveal the harsh truth. She unscrewed a bottle of water, took a sip... 

  

Several gulps later, her throat still felt dry and scratchy. 

  

He Chuanzhou tightened the bottle cap, her fingers turning white from the effort, then loosened her grip and told her, "Once our investigation is over, we'll explain everything to you." 

  

"If you’re asking me about Zhu Shujun, I honestly don’t know much about her, I just stayed there longer than most. But Sun Yiyao claiming she wasn’t close to her? That’s pure nonsense. She was the one who brought Zhu Shujun in." 

  

Despite her laid-back attitude, Liu Huirong wasn’t stingy with the details she shared. 

  

"Several of Zhu Shujun’s clients were introduced by Sun Yiyao. Sometimes, when one girl wasn't enough for entertaining clients, the two of them would go together. Of course, that was at the beginning. Zhu Shujun was prettier and younger, so she quickly became more popular than Sun Yiyao and started meeting many wealthy clients on her own. Maybe that’s when their relationship started to sour due to competition. I even heard that one of the clients proposed to her back then." 

  

Shao Zhixin, sensing some juicy gossip, blurted out, "Really?" 

  

Liu Huirong chuckled, "It’s all just sweet talk, only a fool would believe it. What kind of truth can you expect from a place like that? Aren’t all those rich guys shrewd as hell? Just because they say they like you doesn’t mean it’s true. They say it to get a discount! If their so-called love is so noble, why are they still looking for freebies?" 

  

Shao Zhixin felt like he’d just been doused with a bucket of cold reality. It made sense, yet it didn’t sit right with him. 

  

After finishing her drink, Liu Huirong noticed that no one else was touching theirs, so she casually took their glasses. 

  

"To be honest, I never really thought much of Zhu Shujun. Sometimes, she was just too naive, too foolish. She thought she was smart, but she wore all her emotions on her face. Did she really think that the people around her weren’t more experienced, like sly old foxes? Everyone in this line of work is here for one reason, money. The money comes quick, it's easy to earn, and it’s not exactly respectable. The pros and cons are clear as day, so what's the problem? But she was always playing the victim, acting all pitiful. She wanted the money but also wanted to maintain some high moral ground. Where in the world can you have it both ways? And even if such luck existed, was she the kind to have it? She had to sink to this line of work?" Liu Huirong tapped her knuckles on the table, sneering, "Many clients spoiled her just to take advantage of her. She’s one of the few I’ve seen who’d let clients deceive her so easily. What do you call that? Wasting a pretty face for nothing." 

  

Xu Yu, catching the scent of alcohol in the air, raised a hand to scratch her brow, unsure how to respond. 

  

"But I look down on Sun Yiyao even more." Liu Huirong’s light pink nails flickered in front of her as she spoke in a slow, mocking tone, "Didn’t she get married? Working so hard just to save up enough to buy a place in a first or second-tier city, only to settle down and become a full-time housewife with no dignity. I just don’t get it. I almost didn’t recognize her the last time I saw her on the street, what had she turned herself into? I heard she met her husband through a matchmaker, and he doesn’t treat her well. They didn’t even have a proper wedding..." 

  

"Her husband is still living in the house she bought. Later on, he somehow found out about her past, and things blew up completely. Even so, she’s clinging on, refusing to divorce him. What do you think she’s holding onto?"  

  

Xu Yu instinctively started to nod but stopped halfway, asking, "So that house is hers?" 

  

"Yeah," Liu Huirong shrugged, "That’s why when a woman acts foolishly, not even ten donkeys can pull her back." 

  

Xu Yu asked, "Do you know how much income Zhu Shujun had?" 

  

"How would I know?" Liu Huirong took a sip of her drink, then added after thinking for a moment, "But she must’ve saved a few million over the years, right? She’s been at it for quite a few years, especially around 2014 and 2015, when she was working really hard. She just wanted to make enough to retire because not having money makes people look down on you. Plus, she was very stingy. She wouldn’t even look at clothes that cost over 300 yuan. She really didn’t have much to spend money on." 

  

Xu Yu continued, "Do you think Zhu Shujun might have kept her money with someone else? Did she have anyone she was particularly close to?" 

  

"You're asking me?" Liu Huirong chuckled, amused. "You might as well go ask a fortune-teller." 

  

Xu Yu: "..." 

  

Shao Zhixin responded on her behalf, "We believe in science. Thanks."