Chapter 58 Wipe... wipe it dry

Dongfeng Community, Building Three, Room 401.

"My son-in-law brought this back specifically for me from out of town. He said it was quite expensive." Yang Shengli used tea tongs to hand the brewed tea to Uncle Wang.

He spoke with a smile.

"I really envy you for having such a filial son-in-law. My son-in-law, sigh..."

Uncle Wang spoke with a look of disappointment as soon as the subject came up, then waved his hand.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it. Try this and see how it tastes."

He reached out and made a gesture of invitation.

As the scalding tea entered his throat, it felt slightly astringent at first, but then it became fragrant and aromatic. It was truly excellent.

"The texture is mellow, bitter at first and then sweet!"

He gave a thumbs-up as he spoke.

"It's my first time trying it too..." Yang Shengli replied after taking a sip.

"Didn't he give it to you yesterday afternoon? Why are you only trying it now? With your love for tea, how could you hold back until now?"

Uncle Wang looked at his old comrade-in-arms as if he were looking at a stranger.

Just as he couldn't resist watching a good drama, his old comrade couldn't go without tea.

"Oh, right, I meant to tell you. I got the tea leaves yesterday afternoon and was going to try some when I got back last night. But just as I reached the door, I heard the girl from the apartment across from mine shouting!"

"Shouting... shouting what?"

Uncle Wang's heart skipped a beat for some inexplicable reason.

"Shouting for help!"

"I immediately ran to a safe spot and called the police. After all, at my age, I can't win a fight against anyone anymore."

Yang Shengli sighed as he spoke. Time spares no one. In the past, he would have found a way to charge in, but he couldn't be that impulsive anymore.

During his lament, he noticed that Old Wang's expression seemed a bit off.

He seemed to have suddenly frozen.

What did this mean?

Was he so old that his brain had crashed?

"Hey, what's wrong with you!"

He quickly reached out and waved his hand in front of the other man's eyes.

Only then did Uncle Wang snap out of it.

"You mean to say... the person across from you shouted for help, and you called the police?"

"What did the police say? Did anyone die?"

An urge to turn tail and run surged in Uncle Wang's heart.

But since this was his old comrade, he held back.

However, his expression was quite anxious.

He looked as if he were saying, "Hurry up and tell me so I can decide whether to get out of here."

"What are you thinking? No one died. It's just that the person was gone by the time the police arrived."

Hearing this, his hanging heart finally settled back into place.

It wasn't that he was being overly sensitive; it was just that things had been far too bizarre lately.

It would be just his luck to be fine while watching dramas but get into trouble while having tea at a comrade's house.

His name was practically engraved on the bed in the detention center.

"That's good, then. That's good."

He quickly took a few more sips of tea to calm his nerves.

Right then, a click sounded out.

The sound came from outside the door.

"Didn't you say the person was missing?"

"A report was filed. I expect the police are investigating."

Uncle Wang thought that made sense.

"Come, let's drink tea."

...

...

Room 402.

Chen Mo and Xiao Zhang walked in.

Since the nature of the case was still unclear, there was no need to mobilize everyone for the investigation.

The two of them were enough.

"Xiao Yuqing, twenty-five years old, lives alone. Her household registration is in Xiaojia Village in the countryside. She's renting this place and came to Muhe to work. She's a sales assistant at a clothing store in Jinhui Shopping Mall."

Xiao Zhang read from the file.

He didn't quite understand why Brother Mo hadn't started the investigation from the home of the first missing person but instead came directly to the second.

But he didn't want to ask, because there was surely a reason.

Brother Mo wouldn't do anything meaningless.

"The local police already investigated Xiao Yuqing. They questioned her relatives and the clothing store owner, and even checked her travel records, but they couldn't find her. It's as if she suddenly went into hiding."

Chen Mo nodded, then looked around the living room.

The entire apartment was about eighty square meters, with one bedroom and one living room.

The air in the home was very fragrant, filled with the scent of various mixed essences. The floor and the dining table were also cleaned very thoroughly.

According to the neighbor, a cry for help was heard, which then vanished.

It was very likely that there had been another person in the house at that time.

However, as far as the eye could see, there were no signs of a struggle.

Aside from the person's sudden disappearance, everything looked perfectly normal.

"There's not a single clue here."

Xiao Zhang carefully checked every spot where signs of a struggle might have been left.

But he couldn't find even a single strand of hair.

"Is it possible that this was self-staged? Both the first missing girl and Xiao Yuqing coincidentally owed rent to their landlords."

"By disappearing, they wouldn't have to pay the rent."

This wasn't entirely impossible. After all, the world is full of wonders, and from the perspective of the two missing persons, the possibility of staging a disappearance to avoid paying rent did exist.

"The possibility is too low." Chen Mo shook his head and immediately dismissed it.

One person doing it might be possible, but for two people, they would have had to know each other and agreed on it beforehand.

However, according to the previous police investigation, there was no evidence suggesting that they knew each other.

Furthermore, if they were running away from rent, why bother shouting for help?

It would be redundant!

"That... is true. They haven't even quit their jobs yet."

Hearing this explanation, Xiao Zhang dropped the idea of investigating that further.

He turned his attention back to the case itself.

"Should we first classify the nature of the case? Since we've ruled out self-staging, that leaves kidnapping."

The purpose of kidnapping is usually nothing more than money or lust.

"If it were for lust, there'd be no need to kidnap them, right? Any sane person knows that doing that just adds more weight to the sentence."

"If it's for money, both of them came from the countryside to work. What money could they have?"

For a moment, his head felt a bit dizzy; he really couldn't understand the criminal's objective.

While thinking, he noticed that Brother Mo was staring at a water cup on the table.

He immediately said, "Brother Mo, are you thirsty? There's water in the car, I'll go get some for you."

Chen Mo raised his hand to stop him.

"Look at the water stain here. It should be the watermark left after a cup was overturned and the water dried on the table."

He then turned to look at Xiao Zhang, who had a confused expression on his face.

"From a psychological perspective, if water from a cup spills onto the table, what is the first reaction of the homeowner?"

"Wi... Wipe it dry."

Xiao Zhang hesitated for a moment, then answered with a firm tone.

The tissues were right on the table; it was just a matter of a quick wipe.

Moreover, from the clean and tidy environment of the home, it could be seen that Xiao Yuqing was not a lazy person.

"Exactly. But Xiao Yuqing didn't do that."

"I noticed as soon as I entered that the door is soundproofed. If the cry for help had come from the bedroom or the bathroom, it would be very hard to hear from outside. But if the location at the time was by the dining table, then it could be heard quite clearly from the door."

"And according to the neighbor—the informant—he indeed heard it while he was in the hallway preparing to enter his home."

Xiao Zhang's face fell into deep thought, and then he showed a look of sudden realization.

"I understand now!" he said excitedly.

"The location where she shouted for help was right by the dining table. Xiao Yuqing was standing where you are now. Normally, if water spills on the table, she would definitely wipe it, but she didn't, and she shouted for help."

"Perhaps she was trying to do something with the cup at the time—for example, using it to fight back when she discovered the danger—but she was immediately subdued, followed by the cry for help."

"When leaving, the criminal set the cup upright but forgot to wipe the water stain!"