Chapter 125: Exposing the Truth

Fireworks in the sky are always fleeting, and the artillery fire on the ground is equally unsustainable.

As Zhu Dachang fled with lightning speed, carrying Hou San—who had taken a bullet to the knee—on his back, Wang Chao also stumbled back to the entrance of the jewelry store. Just as he reached out to retrieve his woven bag, a police car screeched to a halt, forcing him to retreat in frustration.

He Wei and Zhang Xiaoman stepped out of the vehicle. The flashing red lights on the roof cast their shadows against the glass doors of the jewelry store, rhythmically stretching and shrinking.

He Wei glanced toward the small river, frowning. "Uncle Man, did you hear gunshots from that direction just now?"

Zhang Xiaoman crouched down, staring at the two woven bags on the ground. A complex look flickered in his eyes. He rubbed his nose and said, "You must have misheard. In this day and age, who besides the police and the military has access to guns? Someone is probably just setting off firecrackers nearby—pop, pop, pop, it’s quite noisy. By the way, isn't it forbidden to set off fireworks in the city? Why is there so much artillery fire all around?"

"Isn't the New Year almost here?" He Wei pursed his lips, explaining, "They allow some celebration in the remote streets near the suburbs. But when it actually falls to the local street supervisors, it tends to lead to situations where they either ignore it completely or ban it entirely. As for why so many people are setting off fireworks today… well, it just happens to be snowing, and fireworks go better with snow!"

Zhang Xiaoman blinked, let out a perfunctory "Oh," and pointed at the two bags. "Guess what's inside?"

He Wei looked at the wide-open jewelry store, then at the bags on the ground, and said with complete confidence, "Jewelry, of course." He paused, looking at Zhang Xiaoman with a puzzled expression. "Uncle Man, how did you know there would be a jewelry store robbery here?"

"A friend happened to pass by and saw it," Zhang Xiaoman lied with a straight face. "He saw the guys were big and burly, so he decided to call the police first. But he was afraid of calling 110 directly, thinking the operators would ask too many questions and waste time. He’d heard from someone a few days ago that I’m a consultant for the special task force, so he called me directly, hoping we could get here faster."

He Wei nodded in sudden realization. "I see. I thought you were actually clairvoyant." He crouched beside Zhang Xiaoman, stroking his chin as he looked at the two bags. "If they had already stolen the goods, why would they dump them at the door and leave?"

"Perhaps their conscience got the better of them. Or maybe they took too much and couldn't carry it all—greed often leads to poor digestion," Zhang Xiaoman coughed slightly. "However, you’re wrong about one thing. Only one of these bags contains jewelry."

"Only one?" He Wei’s brow furrowed, his face full of questions.

Zhang Xiaoman closed his eyes, sniffed the air, and let out a long sigh. Opening his eyes slowly, he whispered, "A woven bag like this can hold at most a hundred pounds. I looked at the smashed display cases inside the store and made a rough estimate; the missing items weigh about a hundred pounds. That’s the first point."

"As for the second," Zhang Xiaoman paused, then continued, "Look closely at the shape of the bags. The one on the left is uneven and irregular. The one on the right is much rounder and more bulging. So, the one on the left holds the shiny stones from the jewelry store, but the one on the right… well, the scent is quite different."

He Wei nodded in agreement and asked, "What’s in the right one?"

"Open it and see," Zhang Xiaoman curled his lip. "My eyes don't have X-ray vision."

He Wei let out a dry laugh and nimbly untied the bag on the right. He froze the moment he looked inside.

Lying in the bag was a completely naked man, thin as a rail, eyes bulging in fury, his face deathly pale. His arms and legs had been trussed up behind his head, and he was curled into the bag like a round ball of flesh.

Zhang Xiaoman pulled out his phone, opened a photo he had requested earlier from a young mother, and held it up to the man’s face. After scrutinizing them for a few seconds, he clicked his tongue. "It’s a match. Too much of a match."

He Wei glanced at the photo on the phone, then back at the man in the bag, and scratched his chin. "How come I don't think they look that similar?"

"It’s him," Zhang Xiaoman sighed. "Back then, he wasn't as thin as he is now… It really proves the saying: 'For her, I have grown thin and haggard.'"

He Wei asked, confused, "Uncle Man, you know this person?"

"Not really. If I think about it, I’ve only met him once," Zhang Xiaoman sighed with regret. "He asked me for directions this afternoon. The health insurance card number you had me check—256743598764—belongs to him. Indeed, the four most tragic words in life are: 'Time and tide wait for no man.'"

He Wei’s jaw dropped. "Pao Fanshan?"

"Pao Fanshan?" Zhang Xiaoman repeated with a strange expression. "You mean the owner of that health insurance card is named Pao Fanshan?"

"Yes, I didn't get a chance to tell you before you called me about the robbery..." He Wei asked suspiciously, "By the sound of it, the man in the bag isn't Pao Fanshan?"

Zhang Xiaoman replied, "Of course he isn't Pao Fanshan. How could he be? Pao Fanshan is a greasy, pot-bellied middle-aged man. Look at this guy—is there an ounce of fat left on him?"

He Wei feigned shock. "Then who is he? And who is Pao Fanshan?"

"He," Zhang Xiaoman said, "is a man who disappeared many years ago. He has a daughter named Xiaohua and a woman named Guihua. Both 'flowers' have been living in my wife’s charity volunteer association, waiting for him for many years." Zhang Xiaoman sighed deeply. "As for Pao Fanshan, he’s a sleazy detective agency middleman. Surely you know him? Isn't he the one Yunxi hired to investigate Jinyue?"

"Is that so?" He Wei coughed, pretending to be ignorant. "Why would Yunxi want to investigate Jinyue? And why hire an outsider instead of just going to Nie Yi and Li Jun?"

Zhang Xiaoman sneered, "Do you think that because we aren't at the series finale yet, I wouldn't see through your little schemes? You are dead wrong." He stood up, looked at the falling goose-feather snow, and sighed. "The entire affair was the first move you made. You convinced Yunxi to hire Pao Fanshan to investigate Jinyue, betting that he would subcontract the case to Nie Yi and Li Jun."

He Wei’s expression stiffened. "I don't quite understand what you mean. Even if what you say is true, how could I know for sure that Pao Fanshan would go to Nie Yi and Li Jun? There are many detectives in A-City..."

"Yes, yes," Zhang Xiaoman said expressionlessly. "There are indeed more than just those two, but they are the only ones who are both good and cheap. Most detectives wouldn't touch a cold case from ten years ago, especially at such a low price. Only those two fools would be willing to run off to Lüteng City to investigate, just because they wanted to achieve something to show me."

He Wei lowered his eyes. "Fine. Even if that's true, why didn't I just have Nie Yi and Li Jun investigate it, or investigate it myself?"

"You didn't investigate it yourself because you already tried and found nothing... or rather, you realized this wasn't something you could solve alone," Zhang Xiaoman coughed heavily. "You didn't go straight to Nie Yi and Li Jun because you wanted to use them as bait to lure me into the game."

He Wei smiled bitterly, his eyes filled with admiration for Zhang Xiaoman. "Uncle Man, I told Yunxi from the start that we couldn't hide this from you. When did you figure it out? I thought I hadn't left any flaws."

"It didn't make sense," Zhang Xiaoman tightened his coat. "The fact that Yunxi found that drop of blood but didn't go straight to Sun Tiantian was too deliberate. And your acting—it’s much worse than your master Ma Liang’s. You left clues everywhere. When I saw the female officer from the 'Hum and Ha' duo interrogating Nie Yi and Li Jun at the station, I knew Fatty Ma's stance. I’m saying all this today because this case needs to end quickly. If it goes on like this, who knows how many more people will die?"

He Wei looked thoughtfully at the man in the woven bag and asked solemnly, "Uncle Man, what do we do next?"

"The known conditions: three corpses, one half-dead man. We take it one thread at a time," Zhang Xiaoman exhaled a long breath. "You take the corpse in this bag to Tiantian. Tell Chang Ping to check the bathhouses; this guy is stark naked and still has soap suds on him in some places, so the last place he was seen must be a bathhouse. As for me, I am a traveler returning through the snow—it’s time to meet that old friend who has finally come back."