Chapter 216: The Answer

It was like a tiny tear had been ripped in the darkness, and light immediately flooded in.

Old He got up just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

His spirits had been high these past few days, waking him early—he had finally torn open that gap in Xu Ruyi's seemingly flawless plan.

Gong Xiaoyu, the woman Mr. Xu had sponsored through university, now married and living in a coastal city hundreds of kilometers away, had made multiple phone calls to Cai Fengying, a cleaner at Lakeside Charm Hotel.

It didn't take Old He much effort to discover that Cai Fengying was, in fact, Gong Xiaoyu's biological mother.

What a coincidence.

Cai Fengying had been hired at the hotel three days before Qin Guan and Qi Min checked in—the day before that, Qi Min had gone to the hotel alone and booked a large lake-view double room.

Clearly, Xu Ruyi had indeed been having someone follow Qi Min.

The week before Qi Min booked the room, "Zeng Demei" had also been hired.

"Zeng Demei" was arranged by Qi Min in advance to set up the trap for Qin Guan. Cai Fengying, however, was arranged by Xu Ruyi—naturally coordinated with Gong Xiaoyu. Old He contacted the hotel and learned Cai Fengying resigned the day after he took Qin Guan there to identify the crime scene.

Her tasks were all complete, so she could leave under any pretext.

Old He, of course, didn't disturb Gong Xiaoyu, nor did he confront Xu Ruyi. Asking now would yield no admissions.

This Cai Fengying was merely the tiniest pawn in Xu Ruyi's scheme—if Qin Guan's account was true, her role was simple and limited: act as an inside contact, secretly plant a camera in the hotel room, wait quietly after the incident for Qin Guan to be caught, for the police to discover all the evidence, for the chain of evidence to be complete and the case closed... then she could slip away, her mission accomplished...

The more important pieces were not Cai Fengying.

Nor were they Gong Xiaoyu—Gong Xiaoyu had two children, the youngest only six months old; her life revolved almost entirely around her family.

He needed to find that "more important piece."

This piece was not among the remaining sponsored individuals—Old He and his team had dug wide and deep these past days, and the only lead was Gong Xiaoyu.

The letters and postcards had been provided by Xu Ruyi—why would she hand him the solution herself?

Old He finished washing up, left the house, got into his car, and received a call from his superior.

Qin Guan's retrial was set to begin in two days. The cases of Qi Min's murder and Xu Qian's car accident would be tried jointly.

The car accident case had almost no evidence beyond Qin Guan's confession. The most sensational case, Qi Min's murder, was still being submitted with that supposedly complete chain of evidence.

Time was tight. Old He started the car—he had an unshakeable obsession with this case: he had to win, he had to get a satisfactory result, to nail Qin Guan shut, to secure a heavy sentence announced in court. He couldn't let the opposing lawyer find a single crack.

The car had just pulled out of the neighborhood when his phone rang again. This time it was the delivery guy for a washing machine—his ex-wife was moving in with her parents, had put the old place on the market. Probably hearing from their son that his washing machine wasn't working well, and with his permission, she'd arranged to send over that still 70-80% new name-brand washer.

It was a kind gesture.

Old He rescheduled the delivery time over the phone, then pressed the accelerator and headed for his destination.

Chunfang Nursing Home.

Old He knocked on Lu Weiguo's door. The old man had just woken from a nap. Getting older, he woke early, did some activities, and then got sleepy again.

"Come in, come in, sit down! You called me the day before yesterday. I had my daughter sort things out. She complained it was troublesome, said she still had to work. I told her, take leave! Nothing is more important than cooperating with the police!"

Lu Weiguo was enthusiastic and talkative, with a head of white hair. It was clear he had poured considerable effort into establishing this charity organization years ago.

"People come naked, they go naked," he said philosophically. "Wealth and possessions, you don't bring them when you're born, you don't take them when you die. No need to be obsessed. When you have some extra strength, help others more. When your path narrows, others will help you. As the saying goes, 'The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.' A mutually beneficial, happy situation for both sides—why wouldn't you do it?"

He was remarkably open-minded. Though eighty years old, his memory was still good.

"Xu Qian joined later. His philosophy aligned perfectly with mine. We collaborated right up to the end. What a pity he left too soon! He'll just have to wait for me over there!"

Sitting at his desk, Lu Weiguo opened a thick binder. "I made this for Xu Qian. To be precise, for every person our organization helped, I had my daughter compile a collection for each of our members. Some might not be complete, you know? Some kids were sponsored short-term. Others, the sponsored children had strong self-esteem, didn't want to be mentioned. It's all fine! Respect! Respect! We help people, never to demand gratitude. We're not some 'gratitude monster'! What use is that? Everyone in our organization agrees on this point. Making these collections is for our members themselves. When we're old, we can sit down, flip through them, look... 'Ah,' we can think, 'this difficult, bumpy life, I made it through. And I helped so many people, let them live good lives.' What a happy, fulfilling thing!"

Old He sniffed; his nose felt a little sour.

He opened the binder dedicated to Xu Qian. Inside were mostly familiar names, but many photos were from childhood—Qin Guan, of course, was no longer included.

Lu Weiguo naturally knew about the sensational Qi Min case. "Xu Qian shouldn't have gotten so close to that kid back then... Ah, well, that's fate, isn't it? At least the man was caught! People who do bad things, they never truly escape! It's just... those who do good, sometimes they..."

Old He turned page after page.

Gong Xiaoyu, Zhao Yunxiu, He Mengling, Qian Shu...

Familiar names, one after another. Young, innocent faces.

"I spearheaded this whole thing," Lu Weiguo said. "I met almost all these kids. I visited their families personally. If you're going to help, you help those who truly need it, right? I didn't let them meet. I didn't want either side—the helpers or the helped—to get hurt. But... I still couldn't stop it..." Despite his usual cheer, Lu Weiguo couldn't fully reconcile Xu Qian's death.

Old He kept flipping.

Finally, he saw two unfamiliar names.

Qi Donghao. Cui Yuan.

These were names that had not appeared on the "sponsored list" Xu Ruyi had given him.

Two hours later, Old He was looking at photos and information of these two boys as adults.

When the two photos appeared on the large screen in the evidence room, Old He saw the answer he had been searching for, laid out right before his eyes. Yet, instead of triumph, his entire body seemed to deflate. He couldn't speak.

Qi Donghao was tall and thin, with fair skin and a ready smile, a row of shiny studs adorning his ear.

Cui Yuan had a darker complexion. His build and stature were strikingly similar to Feng Zhi.