"Name!" Lin Qiupu asked for the third time.

Hao Jie’s mother seemed like she was in her own world. Her eyes fluttered around and then she opened her mouth and began to sing. "Don't ask me where I come from~ My hometown is far away~ Why stray, stray far away, stray..."[1]

Chen Shi laughed from the other side of the one-sided mirror. He heard the footsteps in the corridor and came out for a look. Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong were back. Lin Dongxue said, "Has the person been brought back?"

"She’s been brought back. She’s holding a concert right now! Did you find anything?”

"I went to the hospital and Hao Jie's father was awake, but I was afraid of agitating him. I asked in a roundabout manner. He said that he did have a mistress 11 years ago. It’s around the time when Hao Jie's mother was pregnant, but he didn’t know anything about illegitimate children."

"What was her name?"

"The mistress is called Guo Bilian."

"Investigate her!"

Xu Xiaodong said, "I went to the gas company. They charge monthly. The gas used by Hao Jie's family can only reach 20 cubic meters. After the kidnapping, they didn’t even use 10. However, the consumption increased to 25 cubic meters around November of last year."

"Ah!" Lin Dongxue suddenly remembered something. "The old man who sold fungus mentioned that he saw someone ‘throw away a body’ at the end of last year, but we searched the entire hill and couldn’t find anything.”

Chen Shi also looked at the questioning records. He said, "The old man may have seen the corpse getting abandoned... You guys searched the whole place and didn’t find a corpse? Are you sure?"

"Of course we’re sure... But there are still a few hills behind it that haven’t been searched."

"This woman is good at utilizing standard thinking. If I were her, where would I hide the body?" Chen Shi thought.

Xu Xiaodong said, "Who would the other body belong to?"

Lin Dongxue thought about it. "Would it be Guo Bilian? A 10-year-old child can’t come to Hao Jie's house alone. He must have been brought over by the mother. Hao Jie's mother killed two people!"

"Fuck!" Xu Xiaodong was shocked. "That said, the murder took place in November, and the kidnapping case was only planned in December. I didn't expect that."

Chen Shi suddenly thought of something, ran to the office, tore a piece of paper, scribbled a line of words on it, folded it and put it into Lin Dongxue's pocket. He said, "Go to the scene again and open it when you get there."

"What? A secret master plan from a Chinese silk bag[2]"

"Occasionally there needs to be some drama. Remember to bring some tools." Chen Shi winked[3].

"Guo Bilian's lead..."

"I'll investigate it! You guys hurry over."

The two set off by car. Chen Shi found Guo Bilian’s information through the household registration information held at the bureau. She came from the northwest. Her parents died early and she worked outside alone. It seemed that her life was very unstable.

He couldn’t tell if she was missing just by looking at the household registration information. Chen Shi asked people to check her mobile phone number. The results show that after November 11th of last year, Guo Bilian didn’t make a single phone call. Her phone number had debt on it. She was definitely missing.

He told this news to Lin Dongxue and Lin Qiupu.

In the interrogation room, Hao Jie's mother was still singing and acting like a fool. Lin Qiupu wrote the words "Guo Bilian" on a piece of paper and held it up to ask, "Are you familiar with this person?"

Hao Jie's mother froze for a moment and said, "I don't know any Guo Bilian. I only know that some people don't want Bilian[4]. If they can't catch the killer, they will bring the victim in for an interrogation and they want to frame me.”

"Frame you? It's obviously not Hao Jie who died, so why do you keep acting? You are the prime suspect!"

"The person who died is Hao Jie. It’s my son, my dear son..." Hao Jie’s mother started crying again.

"Don't pretend to cry. If you suspect the DNA test result, I can take your DNA in for a new test now." With that said, Lin Qiupu stood up and walked towards Hao Jie's mother.

"The police are beating people! The police are beating people!" Hao Jie’s mother began to act again, flinging her hands up in the air.

Lin Qiupu pointed to the video recorder. "The machine is on. Stop acting, you drama spirit[5]!"

"Don't touch me, don't touch me! I’ll sue you for molesting me!"

"Why don't you want us to test the DNA? If you’re innocent, isn't this the best proof for you?"

Hao Jie's mother's lips quivered and said, "Actually, I didn't tell you the truth. Hao Jie... Hao Jie is not my own child."

"Oh, really?"

"When I was pregnant, I had a miscarriage and adopted a baby. Although he was adopted, I treated him as my own."

Lin Qiupu had had enough. He shouted, "Is it that coincidental? Your husband and the body are related by blood!"

"Apparently only the stuff you police say is right, so how would I know?!" Hao Jie's mother shouted.

Lin Qiupu took out two DNA appraisal reports and handed them to her. "Look!"

Hao Jie's mother grabbed them, crumpled them, and stuffed them into her mouth. Lin Qiupu folded his arms and coldly watched her swallow the paper. He said, "If you like eating that, I’ll print more copies for you."

Hao Jie's mother smiled. "No need. I'm a little thirsty. Give me a glass of water!"

Lin Qiupu sat back and looked at his watch. "It's only been an hour so far, so you should slowly wait it out."

Chen Shi received a call from Old Zhang, claiming that the bank informed him that Hao Jie’s mother steadily deposited money into an account each month. The account was her own, but the card might be held by another person. This person was very likely to be Hao Jie.

In addition, around January this year, she paid a lot of money towards a boarding school. It happened to be the same sum as the tuition for a school year.

Chen Shi said, "I'll go to that school now!"

He hurried to the boarding school, found the person in charge of the school, and said that he would like to look at the list of students who were transferred in during January. He didn't find Hao Jie's name, but found a child named Guo Niandong who transferred in during January.

There were student photos on the file. Upon closer inspection, Guo Niandong and Hao Jie's father looked fairly similar. He smiled. "It's another swap." Then, he called the bureau and told them, "Investigate a ten-year-old boy named Guo Niandong."

He got an answer very soon. Guo Niandong had no father on his birth account book[6]. It only listed his mother, Guo Bilian. There was no doubt that Guo Niandong was the dead child, but his identity card was being used by Hao Jie.

In order to fight for custody, she actually resorted to such means. Hao Jie's mother might move the hearts of the entirety of China. Chen Shi said to the person in charge, "Hello, I want to see this Guo Niandong."

Chen Shi went to the classroom where "Guo Niandong" was located. After class was finished, he rushed into the class and shouted, "Hao Jie!"

A boy looked up, lowered his head, and then looked up again. Chen Shi shouted again, "Hao Jie."

The child ran out and whispered, "Uncle, are you my uncle’s friend?"

Chen Shi said with a smile, "Yeah, I'm your uncle's friend. He told me to bring you back for dinner tonight. Your mother’s there as well."

"Great!" Hao Jie clapped joyfully and then mysteriously lowered his voice. "Uncle, don't call me Hao Jie at school. My name is Guo Niandong right now. I'll show you my student ID."

"Why?"

"This is what my mother told me. She said that the bad guys were looking for me and asked me to be careful! Uncle, you wouldn’t be..." Hao Jie was frightened for a moment and then returned back to normal. "Haha, since you know my name is Hao Jie, you shouldn't be a bad guy!"

"Hao... Guo Niandong, what time do you finish school?" Chen Shi asked with a nice tone and gentle smile.

1. Actual song lyrics from the song called “The Olive Tree” by Chyi Yu. It opened the 1979 film "Your Smiling Face". It was the biggest-grossing Taiwanese film in Hong Kong at the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yhVNF6xw0Y A very classic but old school song.

2. Long ago, people put plans and tricks inside little bags that would help people overcome the obstacles to come. Kind of like a fortune cookie. This is what the bags look like: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSpRK2dnNEEzUsdhDrIMfNzeg7lRc5Rnbk_JwjpRmsxW4pCe0jX?

3. The author said he blinked, but I felt like a wink made more sense.

4. Commonly used to scold people for being shameless.

5. The spirits in this sense holds a negative connotation. Kind of like an evil spirit. Chinese myths and legends have it that spirits come in all sorts of forms with different abilities.

6. Rather than a birth certificate, they have a little book.