Chapter 324 A New Lead

When Mu Yu stepped into Rong Jian’s office, he was the only one there. She couldn’t stop herself from being surprised as she asked, “Has your mother left already?”

“My mother?” Rong Jian was even more surprised than she was. “My mother came by earlier?”

“Didn’t she?”

“I don’t think so. She didn’t call me!”

“The old woman who wanted to see you earlier wasn’t your mother?”

Rong Jian was torn between laughing and crying. “Who told you that she was my mother?”

Mu Yu was taken aback. “She’s not?! Then who—”

“It was Qian Fenggen’s older sister, Qian Fengying.”

“What?” That immediately piqued Mu Yu’s interest, and she instantly dropped the topic about his mother. “Why was Qian Fengying looking for you? Is it because she has a lead?”

“Yes! She said that Qian Xiaoyu’s birth father is from Huacheng! Qian Fenggen adopted Qian Xiaoyu from Huacheng!”

“Huacheng?!” Mu Yu was instantly startled by this. She quickly followed up with a question. “Then, what about Qian Dacheng? Could he also be from Huacheng?!”

If Qian Dacheng had also been from Huacheng, perhaps they could find the one thing tying all these murders together if they followed this trail!

Rong Jian knew that the Qian Dacheng she spoke of was the fake Qian Dacheng that they assumed. He shook his head and said, “Qian Xiaoyu is probably the only one who knows about Qian Dacheng’s true identity now, but she won’t cooperate with us. I have no idea whether the lead that Qian Fengying provided us today will lead anywhere.”

“It will definitely be useful!” Mu Yu was absolutely certain. “I just have the feeling that Qian Xiaoyu being a Huacheng native is closely tied to the fake Qian Dacheng! Should we look for Qian Xiaoyu now and question her?”

“We can’t! If we ask Qian Xiaoyu in such a manner, she’ll definitely not tell us anything like before.”

“In that case, we should just go straight to Huacheng and look for her birth parents to get to the bottom of this. Maybe her birth parents know Qian Dacheng?!” This conjecture had gotten Mu Yu excited for some reason.

“But as of now, I still don’t know where her birth parents live in Huacheng. According to Qian Fengying, her husband’s family finances were tight. After her parents passed away, she rarely got to see her younger brother in order to save on expenses. Sometimes, even returning to Anxi once in a few years was unfeasible. There was this one time when she returned to Anxi around 20 or 30 years ago. She saw that her brother had a young girl in her teens living with him. According to her brother, he had adopted this young girl to be a child bride. At that time, Qian Fengying found Qian Xiaoyu pretty, and she also thought of her as a smart girl. She was pleased with his choice, so she didn’t pry any further. She just met up with Qian Xiaoyu according to an old village tradition. Later on, she only met Qian Xiaoyu another two more times. The first time was during Qian Dacheng’s funeral, and the other was during Qian Fenggen’s funeral—she said that due to money being tight, she couldn’t attend her sister-in-law’s funeral too. Although they met two more times after that, she and Qian Xiaoyu hadn’t talked about anything else apart from the funeral arrangements. All she knows is that Qian Xiaoyu was from Huacheng, but there isn’t any detailed information about Qian Xiaoyu’s birth parents.”

“In other words, she doesn’t know anything about Qian Xiaoyu prior to her adoption?”

“That’s right.”

“Is it possible to find Qian Xiaoyu’s birth parents through the household registry?”

“Under normal circumstances, we should be able to do so. Wu Xing is currently at the Household Registration Department in Anxi, so let’s wait for him to get in touch.”

“By the way, Chief!” Mu Yu suddenly thought of something. “If Qian Dacheng really is who he is supposed to be, then Qian Fengying should be his aunt. We can run a DNA test to confirm his identity!”

Rong Jian nodded. “Xiaofan has already taken the old lady for a DNA test.”

“I see.” After seeing how his thoughts aligned with her own, Mu Yu became even more excited and rubbed her hands. However, she thought about it more and asked in a puzzled manner, “It shouldn’t be hard to adopt a young girl 20 or 30 years ago. Why did Qian Fenggen go all the way to Huacheng to adopt Qian Xiaoyu? Also, how did he adopt her? Could a friend or relative have helped him?”

Her outpour of questions garnered a look of approval from Rong Jian’s eyes. He smiled and replied, “Qian Fengying said that her family has roots in Huacheng—previously, we thought that Qian Fenggen and the rest of his family were Anxi County natives, and we thought that Qian Xiaoyu had been adopted into the Qian Family when she was a young child, so we nearly missed this important bit of information. Their grandfather came to Anxi to make a living when he was a young man, and he got to know her grandmother then. From then on, they settled down in Anxi. Qian Fengying said that she had gone with her grandfather to Huacheng twice to pray to their ancestors when she was very young. I figure that Qian Fenggen only got the chance to adopt Qian Xiaoyu in Huacheng because of this link.”

“Does Qian Fengying know which county in Huacheng her ancestors were from?”

“No, she doesn’t. Didn’t I say that earlier? She only went back to Huacheng twice with her grandfather when she was a child. It’s been about 60 years since then, and she doesn’t remember anything now.”

“Oh, so all we can do is wait for Wu Xing now.” At that, Mu Yu couldn’t help but compliment Qian Fengying. “Chief Rong, don’t underestimate Madam Qian just because of her age. Her mind’s still sharp, and she’s rather considerate! She couldn’t bring herself to go back and see her parents because of how pricey it is to make the trip, and yet she’s willing to come all the way to An City in order to give us this lead!”

Rong Jian gave a pained smile at that. “She didn’t come to give us this information for free. She’s here because of the hefty reward money.”

“Reward money? When did the station put up a reward?” Mu Yu hadn’t heard of such a thing.

Rong Jian shrugged his shoulders and answered, “The station didn’t put up the reward. That reward money is something Wu Xing put up in my name specially for the old lady.”

Those words made a confused expression appear on Mu Yu’s face.

“To put it frankly, that money is coming out of my own pocket.”

“Your pocket? For real?”

“Yeah.”

Mu Yu was taken aback. “Huh? Wait, so you’re actually doing this?! I-Isn’t Officer Wu being unreasonable?”

“If Madam Qian can provide us with a useful lead, it’s worth it to give her that reward.”

“You have a point.” Mu Yu was still curious. “How much did you give her?”

“50,000.”

“50,000?!” She hadn’t thought that Rong Jian would be so generous, and she didn’t dare to believe it. In fact, Mu Yu initially thought that he would only provide a few thousand or so.

“Yes. Xiaofan is with Madam Qian now, and he’s on the way to get the money with my card.”

Mu Yu had no words. “50,000 is no small amount, Chief Rong. Did you have to be so generous with that reward? Besides, that information doesn’t seem to be all that valuable! Don’t you think it’s not worth it?”

“Money is nothing as long as we can crack the case.” Rong Jian didn’t think so. “I just hope that Madam Qian can provide us with more useful information once she has received that money. That’s what I want.”

Indeed, rich people are on another level, Mu Yu thought to herself.

Rong Jian took a look at his watch and got up. “I asked Xiaofan to take Madam Qian down to the forensic lab for a DNA test once she’s gotten the money. They should be back about now. We should head over to the forensic lab too.”

“Why didn’t you make her get that test before you sent Xiaofan off to get the money? We could have saved more time that way,” Mu Yu asked as she followed him.

“That was my plan too.” Rong Jian waved a hand in helplessness. “However, Madam Qian wasn’t willing. She was worried that I wouldn’t give her the money, so she insisted on receiving it first before she’d agree to go to the forensic lab for the DNA test.”

Mu Yu instantly giggled and said, “She’s smart despite her age. Looks like she’s got her wits about her.”

“All old ladies are shrewd. My mother’s the same.”

At Rong Jian’s mention of his mother, Mu Yu immediately recalled Feng Rubing’s strange behavior from earlier. Upon seeing that they were alone, she tried to probe in a whisper, “Chief Rong, does the girl that your parents brought home have feelings for you?”

Rong Jian immediately stopped in his tracks. “What did Rubing tell you?”

“Madam Feng has told me everything,” Mu Yu answered honestly. “She thought that the old woman who came looking for you was your mother, and she got into a bad mood because of that. She even blew up on us. I can see that she cares deeply for you, so you’d better not let her down.”

“I won’t! How can I let her down because of this? It has always been my dream to marry her!”

“But what happens if your parents keep opposing your relationship?”

Rong Jian then looked in the direction of the forensic lab, his gaze determined. “My will is my own. Objections from others won’t change my mind.”

“What if your parents threaten to cut ties with you?”

“That’s their own business. I won’t cut them off, but I won’t listen to their manipulations either. I promised Rubing that I will make her and Qiqi happy, and I will keep my word!”

Rong Jian’s resolution moved Mu Yu. “Chief Rong, is there anything I can do for you two?”

Rong Jian thought about it before saying, “If you have the time, please talk to Rubing for me. Please ask her to give me time to resolve this, and tell her that she has to believe my heart will only ever belong to her. I won’t throw away our love for anything.”

Mu Yu nodded solemnly.

When they arrived at the door of the forensic lab, Mu Yu’s phone rang. She quickly answered it when she saw that it was a call from Qin Jinhuan.

“Yu, I still have some urgent matters to handle at work later. I won’t be able to go to the hospital for a while, so I can’t visit Grandpa with you. Please spend some time with him on my behalf.”

Mu Yu felt anxious at the mention of urgent matters. “Did something come up at work again?”

“No, it’s just the same matter with Xinyue Estates. I plan to resolve it as soon as I can so that it won’t get any worse.”

“Oh, okay.” She understood very well. “Go do what you have to do. Grandpa will be fine with me there.”

“Thanks. Weng Yun should be reaching your office soon.”

“Got it.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Hey! No matter how busy you get, you have to come back a little earlier and get some rest, Huan. Don’t tire yourself out. My heart can’t take it.”

“I know. Love you.”

With that, Qin Jinhuan hung up.

Upon hearing their conversation, Rong Jian promptly urged her to visit Qin Xiaozhi. “Rubing can handle the matters at the forensic lab herself.”

Although she was worried about Qin Xiaozhi, Mu Yu still couldn’t bear to leave. “I want to know the connection between Qian Dacheng and Huacheng.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll call you the moment I find out anything.”

When she heard that and saw how his gaze kept sneakily shifting over to the forensic lab, she knew that he wanted to talk with Feng Rubing alone. As such, Mu Yu couldn’t continue to insist on staying behind anymore. She nodded before rushing into the forensic lab to pick up her things. She then ran back out and left without looking back, giving them space to talk amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, Rong Jian’s parents and Rong Ying were there when Mu Yu arrived at Qin Xiaozhi’s ward. They were in a conversation with him.

Rong Ying immediately got up when she saw Mu Yu come in. Just as she was about to greet her warmly, Li Shiyi discreetly tugged on the hem of her daughter’s shirt. Rong Ying ignored her mother’s actions as she smiled and excused herself. “Grandpa, it’s not good for you to talk for too long with your current condition. Get some rest, and I’ll be back to see you later.”

Qin Xiaozhi was all smiles as he nodded before he turned to Mu Yu. “Please send off Mr. Rong and Madam Rong for me, Yu.”

Just as Mu Yu was about to agree, Rong Han immediately waved a hand. “We’re all family here, so there’s no need to be so courteous. Just rest well, Mr. Qin. We’ll visit you another day,” he said.

They engaged in some more idle conversation before Rong Han left with his wife and daughter.

When Li Shiyi passed by Mu Yu, the latter could clearly sense Li Shiyi analyzing her. Instantly, she felt troubled.

“That’s Shiyi all right, passing judgment on my grandson’s wife when she couldn’t have Huan as her son-in-law. Just ignore her.” Qin Xiaozhi chuckled as he pulled her down to take a seat and made his thoughts clear.

Mu Yu was slightly taken aback. “Are you saying that Rong Ying’s parents were hoping for Ying and Huan to marry?”

“No matter how much they wish for it to happen, no one can force things like that. It is all up to fate. They are not fated to be with each other, but you and him are.”

It was then Mu Yu realized why Rong Jian’s parents weren’t enthusiastic about meeting her, and she couldn’t stop herself from bursting into laughter.

After talking with Qin Xiaozhi for some time, she helped him to lie down when she saw he was tired. By the time he was asleep, it was already dark outside. She grabbed a bite to eat at a small shop near the hospital with Weng Yun before returning to the ward.

Upon seeing that the old man was still asleep, Qi Hao urged her to go home and rest, telling her that she could come back another day. Mu Yu only relaxed enough to go home once she entered the ward and saw Qin Xiaozhi asleep with his breaths even.

It was past nine by the time she reached home. She still felt a little worried when she saw that Qin Jinhuan wasn’t home yet, so she attempted to call him.

It took a while before Qin Jinhuan answered Mu Yu’s call. When she heard how unusually silent it was, she knew that he was in his office. She then asked him whether he was done with work and when he was coming home.

“I’ll need to stay back a bit more. Things are—”

Qin Jinhuan hadn’t finished his words when a somewhat coy and breathy woman’s voice drifted over the speakers of Mu Yu’s phone. “Come on, Jinhuan, I want—”

The phone call cut off the next moment.