OBS Chapter 20 The Children Are Gone
Chapter 20 The Children Are Gone
The three of them walked and ran all the way to the residential area opposite Puzhong, and found the home of shop owner Chen Guohu near the national highway.
Chen Guohu's house was tucked away in a corner, consisting of only two single-story rooms. Some of the tiles on the roof were clearly damaged, suggesting it would leak when it rained. Weeds grew rampant around the entrance, and there were some loose stones scattered about. If the door hadn't been half-open, one might have thought no one lived there.
Pushing open the door, I saw an old woman eating. On the dark table sat a plate of fermented bean curd and a small bok choy.
The creaking sound of the door opening startled the old woman. She glanced up at them, her expression unchanged, then lowered her head and continued eating, as if nothing had happened, as if they didn't exist at all.
"Where is Chen Guohu? Where is he?" the man asked urgently.
"How would I know?" the old woman replied with five words, and continued eating her meal.
“He’s your son, how could you not know? Are you trying to protect him? Let me tell you, you don’t need to cover for him. If you don’t tell us, we’ll call the police, and they’ll arrest him!” Qin Yanlin was very agitated.
But the old man didn't even glance at him and continued eating quietly.
No matter whether the three people tried to persuade, scold, or beg, the old man remained silent, only eating in quiet respite. He chewed and swallowed slowly, taking small bites at a time.
"How dare you eat with the face of a son like this!" The man was so angry that he wanted to overturn the table, but in the end he just waved his hand and pointed at the old man angrily.
The old man was clearly taken aback, then put down his chopsticks, remaining silent and motionless, just sitting there blankly, like a statue.
Looking at the old man in front of her, Deng Xiuzhen felt a pang of sadness welling up inside her. She tugged at Qin Yanlin's sleeve and said, "Let's go, let's go call the police."
Seeing the old man sitting there blankly, the man pursed his lips, silently turned around, and followed behind Deng Xiuzhen and the others.
Deng Xiuzhen turned around, and the old man remained motionless, only tears streaming down his face.
With a sigh, Deng Xiuzhen and the other two ran to the police station again.
“This is an economic dispute, you need to contact the Economic Crime Investigation Department,” said He Xiaohai, the police officer who received them, and told them where the department was located.
They went to the Economic Crime Investigation Division and explained the situation in as much detail as possible.
“We are looking for Chen Guohu. He sold not only your two shops, but also two other shops,” said police officer Zhang Dongliang after listening to their account.
"What? He sold to two other companies? Why didn't you arrest him sooner? Let them continue to cheat us?" The man was somewhat agitated.
“This economic case is quite complicated to investigate and collect evidence, and we can’t just arrest people arbitrarily… Besides, they are Chen Guohu’s relatives, and they only came to report the case a little before you, because they couldn’t reach an agreement with Chen Guohu.” Zhang Dongliang explained patiently.
"Can we get our money back?" Qin Yanlin asked.
“Logically and legally, he should return the money to you.” Zhang Dongliang glanced at them, sighed almost imperceptibly, but said nothing more.
He didn't say anything, but the three understood that they probably wouldn't get their money back. A person capable of such a thing couldn't be a good person. Their money had likely already been squandered by Chen Guohu.
Seeing the three men's lifeless backs, Zhang Guodong couldn't help but call out to them, "Next time you buy a house or a shop, remember to ask them for the original sales contract. It's best to register it directly with the housing authority. With complete paperwork, you won't be scammed."
The three thanked them and left.
“In the next few days, we’ll first try to find Chen Guohu and see if we can get a refund. If not, the other two buyers should show up. Then we’ll discuss what to do together. The most important thing is to prevent Chen Guohu from reselling it. If a few more people resell it, the losses will be even greater.” The man seemed quite agitated, but he was also a reasonable person.
This makes a lot of sense, and Deng Xiuzhen and Qin Yanlin agree with it.
The three discussed it and decided to go find Chen Guohu again in the afternoon. Even if they couldn't get the money, they wanted to get the purchase contract from him to prevent him from selling the shop again. They also decided to change the locks on the shop door to prevent Chen Guohu from bringing people to open it.
Finally, they bought several packs of cigarettes for the people working in the shop next door and asked them to keep an eye on things so that no one else could come in except the three of them.
After everything was arranged, they went home.
Deng Xiuzhen and Qin Yanlin, both preoccupied with their own thoughts, dragged their heavy steps back.
Over the years, I worked hard and saved up 80,000 yuan. Then my sister-in-law and her gang tried to extort money from me. My sister-in-law didn't get any, but I ended up spending 1,100 yuan of my own money.
Qin Wenyu ran off on his own, and I had to rent a car twice to find him. Plus, thanking others, this whole thing cost me a thousand. The house cost twenty thousand. Household items, transferring my child to a new school, and various other expenses brought the total to nearly twenty thousand. I was scammed out of fifty-two thousand when buying a shop, and now I have almost nothing left.
If I don't hurry up and make money, I'm afraid I won't even have money for food.
But how do you earn money? It's always easier to spend money than to make it.
It was already past one o'clock when I got home, but I didn't see anyone when I entered the door. Logically, the child should have been home by now.
Deng Xiuzhen started cooking, while Qin Yanlin went out to look for his child. He called out to everyone at the door, but no one answered. Qin Yanlin searched all the way towards the school, but still couldn't find his child. Thinking he might have missed him, he returned home.
"Yanlin, where are the children? Talk to them and tell them to come home after school and not to run around." Deng Xiuzhen heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and thought that Qin Yanlin had found the children and returned.
"Have the children not returned?" Qin Yanlin stopped in his tracks.
Their eyes met, and the two sensed something was wrong: the children were occasionally naughty, but apart from this time when Qin Wenyu had run away from home, they had never failed to come home after school.
They didn't care that the food in the pot wasn't cooked yet; the two quickly turned off the stove, closed the door, and went out to look for their child.
It was still early before afternoon classes started, and the school gates were closed. When the security guard heard that three children had gone missing, he immediately called to report the situation.
The school took it very seriously. Soon the principal arrived, the dean of studies arrived, and the homeroom teachers and other teachers of the three children also arrived.
The teachers all said that the children were in class in the morning, there were no special circumstances, and the children showed no abnormalities.
If something happened on campus, they couldn't possibly be completely unaware, so there were no problems on campus.
If it wasn't on campus, then it must be off campus. Teachers actively participated in the search, asking students and parents if anyone had seen them.
After extensive inquiries, a girl finally said she saw Wenxin after school. She said that Qin Wenxin, along with another girl and a little boy, got into a van with a woman.
They were chatting and laughing, and she thought it was Wenxin's parents picking them up from school, which made her quite envious.
The child was picked up, and the teachers and school leaders breathed a sigh of relief.
Deng Xiuzhen and Qin Yanlin were even more worried: they had no acquaintances in the city, let alone any acquaintances who drove vans.
Liu Xiaozhen!
Deng Xiuzhen suddenly remembered someone. If there was a woman in the city who was familiar with the child, it was Liu Xiaozhen for the time being.
The two didn't even have time to say goodbye before turning around and rushing towards Puzhong.
No matter how hard they knocked, no one answered. Remembering that Song Qinghua had mentioned having a stall in Puzhong, the two searched the area again, looking from shop to shop and stall to stall, but to no avail.
Hoping for a lucky break, I went back to the school, but the children did not return.
The two stood blankly on the street, unsure of what to do. They had to find him, but where could they even begin?
The city isn't big, but finding three children is incredibly difficult, especially with just the two of them.