Chapter 37: Taboo

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Fearing Qu Ping would solve the case before him, as Zhao Yu worked on finding the girl, he never stopped listening in on Qu Ping’s conversations. The invisible eavesdropper had an effective period of forty-seven hours. There were still a lot of time before it wore off.

According to the information from the eavesdropper, Qu Ping had already realized her investigation direction could be wrong, and was currently looking for a new direction. Team B had also already guessed the possibility of revenge for the motive. There were even some who mentioned the word “piano.” If the continued like that, they would surely catch up to Zhao Yu.

“Holy sh*t!” Hearing the information from Team B and seeing the address on the map, Zhao Yu could not help but be a little nervous. He was not sure if his new evidence would actually help him find the culprit.

Apparently, the address Zhang Jingfeng helped Zhao Yu find was Qingshan City HY District, Jiang Jun Temple Number 53. This address did not seem like much, but to Zhao Yu who was familiar with the Lost Hand Case, it was quite special.

The area around Jiang Jun Temple was exactly where the culprit had escaped to after cutting off Luo Meina’s hand. Qu Ping had already analyzed it before. Since the culprit had never been caught running away on camera, they deduced that the culprit must have been very familiar with the area, or even lived there!

It seemed that the second guess was correct. According to the map, Jiang Jun Temple Number 53 was only a few hundred meters away from where Luo Meina’s BMW had been stopped. If the culprit walked fast, it would not even take him two minutes to get away!

The short distance almost made Zhao Yu feel shocked. Was the culprit really brave enough to commit a crime in front of their house? “Could I be wrong” he asked himself. Could it be like before, where he hit a dead end?

Due to his previous mistakes, Zhao Yu’s confidence was surprisingly low. He was even considering that the girl genius had nothing to do with the case. If he was wrong again, what would he do? With these conflicting thoughts in mind, Zhao Yu made his way to the destination.

Even though Jiang Jun Temple was part of the HY district, this area was at the edge of Qingshan City already, and had come into being by combining neighboring districts over the past few years.

Most houses were built in the old way, and the residents were mostly poor. Citizens often called this area the slum. Here you would meet all kinds of people. Other than a few actual residents, most were migrant workers. There were even some who sold illegal goods.

Similar to the other houses, Jiang Jun Temple No. 53 was a broken old house. From the outside, you could only see three rooms and a yard. The area inside was not too big, and the walls were slightly slanted, giving off a feeling of unreliability.

“No way?” Zhao Yu thought. Li Dan’s family lived in a place like this?? Looking at the ugly iron door, Zhao Yu was filled with suspicion as he knocked on the door.

But someone quickly responded. A weak woman’s voice rang out, “Coming, who is it?”

Zhao Yu did not answer in a hurry, but looked through a crack in the door. The person who spoke was a hunchbacked old lady. Zhao Yu asked carefully. ” Excuse me, is this Hao Fenglian’s family?”

“Yes! Yes! Wait a minute!”

“Oh?” Zhao Yu’s eyes brightened. He was surprised that it was actually Hao Fenglian. It seemed like the address on her medical record was not fake.

When the old lady answered, Zhao Yu stared at her. The old woman did not appear strange. It seemed like she had not guessed Zhao Yu’s identity yet.

The door squeaked opened. Despite the elderly woman’s weak body and pale face, she looked very gentle and kind. “Youngster, what do you need?”

“Oh, hello!” Zhao Yu reflexively saluted, then spoke openly, “I am a police officer, and I would like some information. Please give me your cooperation!”

“Oh, it’s the police! Quick, come in and we can talk!” The elderly did not even suspect Zhao Yu’s identity, but very openly invited him in. “Mr. Police, I wonder, what is it that you need from me?”

Originally, Zhao Yu was hoping that by being frank with his intentions, he could see the other’s reaction. If their expression changed and showed worry, then maybe they had something to hide. But seeing as the old woman was calm as usual, Zhao Yu could not help but feel a little disappointed, feeling as if this was a waste of time.

The elderly woman led Zhao Yu into the house. Seeing the simple decor, one could tell their life was very simple and poor.

“Officer, I rarely leave the house, I’m sick!” The elderly woman offered Zhao Yu a plastic stool, and asked, “What is it that you wanted to ask of me?”

Zhao Yu looked through the elderly’s medical record and knew clearly why she was sick. Last year in May, she was in the Central Hospital undergoing a surgery to remove the majority of her stomach. There were only two reasons for such a surgery. One is severe gastric ulcers, the other was stomach cancer! The elderly woman unfortunately had the latter.

Zhao Yu knew that due to the nine months of chemotherapy following her surgery, the elderly had lost all of her hair, and she immediately knew what she had. But Zhao Yu was only investigating a case, so there was no need to mention this.

“I just wanted to know about your family situation!” Zhao Yu was very much to the point, “Do you have a daughter named Li Dan?”

“Yes, yes!” The elderly nodded, “But, she hasn’t used this name in a long time. She changed her name. Now she’s called Li Yunxiao”

Li Yunxiao? Zhao Yu paused, and asked, “Do you live with your daughter?”

“Of course!” The elderly woman was honest, “Our old man died early, leaving me and my daughter to survive together! My daughter is very obedient, everything in and out of the house is taken care of by her alone!”

“Oh…” To think that the girl genius’s father had already left this world was sad. “What kind of job does your daughter do?” Zhao Yu continued questioning.

“Oh, my daughter is very talented!” Mentioning her daughter, the elderly woman’s face was bright with pride, “These past years, she’s done many jobs, sometimes even part time! Like cab driver, nurse, this year she even helped out in a theatre troupe!” She continued, “But, my daughter also lived a hard life. In order to take care of me, she hasn’t found a husband yet! Mr. policeman, you seem pretty suitable. How about I introduce you to my daughter?”

“What? Helping out in a theatre troupe?” Zhao Yu thought to himself. Zhao Yu was alerted instinctively. The one-sided film used in a BMW was from a theatre troupe. Could it be?

Zhao Yu thought carefully and asked, “I wanted to ask, did your daughter used to play the piano?”

“Ah?” Unexpectedly, when the calm old lady heard Zhao Yu mention the word piano, it seemed as if she had been hit by lightning. She stood up in a hurry and yelled, “Ah, Mr. policeman! Please don’t mention piano again. If my daughter knew, then…then it’ll be bad. That word…it’s a taboo in our family!”