Winter Returns

Chapter 39 Exhaustion After Three Attempts
"Over here!" When he reached the southernmost part of the pedestrian street, he saw Song Nanshan waving to him.

Zhang Shutong hung up the phone, freed one hand, and waved to Lao Song.

The situation before us seems to require no further inquiry.

On the south side of the pedestrian street, a silver Jinbei van was parked on the west side of the road, and Song Nanshan was standing in front of the van.

Zhang Shutong handed him the raincoat, and Lao Song tore off the plastic sheet, haphazardly put it on, and rubbed his hands together eagerly:
"I just looked around, and this should be the car. There's no one in it, but I'm not sure which company it belongs to."

Looking back at the van, Zhang Shutong saw that it was parked right between two shops: a stir-fry restaurant and a convenience store.

"Anything is possible?"

"Anyway, there are only two companies. How's it going on your end?"

"The lake fish restaurant is closed, so I went to a clothing store, but I didn't find anything there," Zhang Shutong recounted the story of Li Yipeng and his mother.

"You're all gloating, aren't you? Let's drag them out tonight and see if you're still laughing." Old Song glared and started walking into the convenience store. "There are only two stores, I'll just ask them one by one."

"Wait, let me take a look first." Zhang Shutong grabbed him, turned on her phone's flashlight, and tiptoed to shine the light into the trunk of the van.

"You're the quick-witted one, aren't you?" Old Song chimed in. Being tall, he immediately spotted something new: "I saw cabbage leaves, two of them, stuck to the right wheel arch. That should be the stir-fry shop..."

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to call him back again, explaining helplessly that she wasn't just looking at the vegetable leaves, but also wanted to see if there was anything else in the car.

"What evidence do you have?"

"Well, the bricks they used to smash the flowerpots were probably brought by themselves. Besides that, there's..."

arms.

Or rather, the murder weapon.

In this day and age, some people would still throw knives, daggers, batons, and other such items onto cars. Zhang Shutong didn't expect to use them to convict someone, but at least he could get an understanding of the other party's "level of armament."

The two then moved to the back window, where the glass was covered in flowing water droplets, and after wiping it for a long time, it became even more blurry.

Song Nanshan simply wiped it with his sleeve, and only then did they see that there were still some goods left inside:
A box of mineral water, a cardboard box that should have been used to hold liquor, and several cylindrical objects on top of the box—Zhang Shutong looked closely and realized they were sausages.

"Shutong, look, isn't that a brick..."

At this moment, Song Nanshan also made a discovery. His face was almost pressed against the glass, and his hands formed a canopy over his eyes.

"Seems to be……"

The two searched for a while longer, but fortunately they didn't find any knives or sticks.

Song Nanshan first took pictures of the things in the car with his phone. Zhang Shutong also glanced at his phone. After hearing a few clicks of the shutter, he and Song Nanshan exchanged a glance and had pretty much figured it out.

“Let’s go, just like we discussed on the way,” Old Song waved his hand. “I’ll ask, you stay quiet and record, and point out any loopholes on their end.”

Zhang Shutong nodded and followed. He felt that this method was not very good, but he couldn't think of a better one at the moment.

The two lifted the plastic curtain and stepped inside. It was immediately warmer, and the air was filled with the smell of cooking oil. It was a stir-fry restaurant with a small space and basically no tables. The dishes were cooked at the window in front of the door for customers to take away.

Zhang Shutong then noticed that this should be the same building as the small shop next door, but it had been divided into two shops.

A woman with dyed blonde hair was curled up on a recliner, playing Minesweeper. Hearing their noise, she stood up, but before she could speak, Old Song interrupted:
"Your secret has been exposed, shut down the computer!"

His eyes glared with great force, and his tone was very convincing. Combined with his white shirt, which was already wrinkled beyond recognition, it was definitely enough to intimidate people.

The woman was indeed stunned, and only spoke after a long pause:
"Comrade, what is it?"

Even the way they addressed each other changed unconsciously.

Is that van in front of your house?

The woman nodded.

"I can tell you with certainty that the events of this afternoon were all captured on surveillance footage."

"What surveillance? I was in the store all afternoon..." the woman asked tentatively, "Are you from the street?"

This was the only question Song Nanshan couldn't answer. He adopted his usual lecturing tone and said in a deep voice:

"You don't need to know which department I'm from. I'm asking you something. Are you sure you're still in the store and haven't come out?"

"No..." The woman shook her head.

"Who drove the car this afternoon?"

"My boyfriend drove the car..."

Where is your partner?

"He just went out; he went home to get something..."

"Did he just drive back?" Old Song sat down on the stool and tapped the table with one hand. "I told you, the surveillance cameras have it all recorded. Think carefully before you answer."

The woman reached for a cup to pour hot water, but Song Nanshan waved her off, maintaining his authoritative gaze, which made the woman feel guilty.
"I haven't been back for very long..."

"Where did he go in his car? What time did he leave?"

"Going to buy supplies, around 3:00 PM, there's a batch of dried bean curd sticks..."

Why go home when you're so busy?

“Comrade, you know the situation on our street. He came back and waited for a while, then it started raining. There weren’t many people in the shop, so he went home to get some things.”

"Just him?"

"It must be..." the woman finally couldn't help but ask, "What did he do wrong? Did he hit someone or scratch someone's car?"

"It's much more serious than that; he simply didn't go to get the goods!"

"That can't be right." The woman was also stunned, pointing to the styrofoam boxes on the ground. "The goods are right here, just picked up from the dock this afternoon. Or... comrade, why don't you have some water first, and I'll call him back?"

"Go ahead." Old Song waved his hand, crossed his legs, and spoke in a very official tone.

The woman then quickly went upstairs. Once her figure disappeared from sight, the aura emanating from Song Nanshan vanished instantly, and he quickly whispered to Zhang Shutong:

"That must be her boyfriend?"

Before Zhang Shutong could speak, the woman came downstairs again and handed him the phone, saying, "He said he wants you to answer the phone..."

Song Nanshan was about to use the same trick again when the man on the other end of the phone was impatient and told him to get straight to the point, or just say which department he was from and not to try this.

Old Song was just bluffing after all. When he encountered this kind of person, he was helpless and could only hold the phone and glare at him.

Both of them raised their voices a few decibels. Zhang Shutong listened for a moment and then walked out of the shop.

The time doesn't match up.

The woman said that it started raining not long after her husband returned home.

When they were taking Gu Qiumian home, they encountered that van in the rain.

lie?

It doesn't seem likely. It's impossible to fabricate a lie that quickly, and the other party wouldn't know about the "rain" clue either.

So, compared to lying, a more troublesome suspicion arose in Zhang Shutong's mind.

He quickly walked to the van and squatted down. At that moment, Song Nanshan also came out, still on the phone.

"Then I'm wondering, what's with the sausages in your car? You usually eat them as snacks, okay, but what about that brick? Now that both things match up, what else can I say? What? You used it to weigh down vegetables?"

Old Song was so angry he laughed:

"I see you won't learn your lesson until you're faced with the truth. I'll call the police, and we'll talk this out face to face..."

As he said this, Zhang Shutong suddenly tugged at his raincoat.

Old Song covered the microphone and mouthed, "What, is there a flaw?"

It's more than just a flaw.

Zhang Shutong sighed and whispered:
"You got the wrong car."

Old Song was stunned, forgetting he hadn't hung up the phone. "What's going on?"

“The wheels are dry.” Zhang Shutong shone his phone light on the wheels. “Look, except for the part that touches the ground, the rest is dry. It couldn’t have come back from the rain, but when we encountered the van…”

Old Song understood by now, and his face turned a little pale.
So we actually got the wrong car?

"Yes, the van I saw at the time was not this one."

"Just wait for me."

Zhang Shutong watched as Lao Song rushed into the store, handed his phone to the woman, and then rummaged through his pocket for a while before finally pulling out a crumpled red banknote:

"...Buy some food for the child..."

The woman was still confused when Old Song apologized again and came out with a stern face:

“But I’ve looked at all the cars on the street, and there’s only this one van. Maybe we were wrong from the start, and the other party didn’t drive towards the commercial street at all.”

As he spoke, he irritably lit a cigarette.

"But wouldn't that be troublesome? Do we have to go door to door to find them?"

Before Zhang Shutong could say anything, Song Nanshan had already pulled him toward the car:
"Alright, I think they're deliberately trying to prevent us from finding you today. Let's stop looking like fools. Shutong, I'll take you home first. If it really doesn't work, we'll come back tomorrow morning..."

Zhang Shutong followed him without saying a word.

Old Song continued rambling on:

"Don't forget what you promised me. Since you can't find her, you'd better bring Qiu Mian to your house. You said it yourself, so don't go back on your word..."

Zhang Shutong neither nodded nor shook his head. The two quickly got into the car, and Old Song vigorously wrung out the water from his clothes.
"You're still trying to deduce things? Seriously, stop thinking about it. How can you possibly deduce where that van went?"

He then glanced at Zhang Shutong again:
"I'm going to find a place to buy some tissues, wait for me."

He was about to hurry off when he said that.

Zhang Shutong suddenly spoke up:

"I just thought of a question."

Why did we see that van?

Old Song didn't care at all and casually replied:
"What else could it be, unless it's a hallucination?"

"Then let's rephrase the question: Why did we see that van?"

"What do you mean 'let us see'? What kind of question is that? I already told you not to think about it anymore, but you're still being stubborn, aren't you?" Song Nanshan knew he had to assert his authority as a superior, and was about to glare at him when Zhang Shutong met his gaze:
"Since they went to great lengths to avoid being seen and smashed the vase, there's no reason for them to let us see their car. Wouldn't that be walking right into a trap?"

"What do you mean?" Song Nanshan was suddenly stunned, as if something huge had exploded in his mind, and he couldn't figure it out for a long time.

"What I mean is, since they know when Gu Qiumian eats dinner, there's no reason why they wouldn't know when Gu Qiumian gets out of school."

"And at this time, we just happen to meet."

"So what?" Song Nanshan suddenly felt a little agitated.

"So, if it's just for poisoning dogs, why not wait until midnight to do it, instead of specifically choosing a time when people might be able to find out?"
"There are two possibilities: one is that it was really an accident, and the other is that those people were simply stupid."
"But there is another possibility, which is a deliberate smokescreen."

"It makes people think they've really left, but they haven't actually left."

Zhang Shutong closed his eyes and then opened them again, recalling the path they had taken to get there:

"There's a fork in the mountain road leading to Gu Qiumian's house, right? What if they didn't drive there, but instead parked at the fork and waited for us to leave Gu Qiumian's house before going back?"

"No, what's the need for this? Why would we..." Old Song was speechless.

“Because of Li Yipeng’s mother.” Zhang Shutong said thoughtfully.

"What's wrong with her?"

"What if I told you they weren't planning to make a move tonight?"

Zhang Shutong asked again.

Only he himself knew, and in fact, that was indeed the case.

Perhaps in the original timeline, Gu Qiumian would be safe tonight.

But Li's mother's every move on the commercial street that afternoon became the butterfly effect that set off the murder.

Zhang Shutong then went on to analyze:
"That woman made some harsh remarks in the office, like 'just wait and see,' or 'something even bigger is yet to come.' I only found out when I went to the clothing store that she had learned all those words in the shopping street that afternoon."

"She herself is not important; it is the listener who is important, or the speaker may be unintentional, but the listener may take it to heart."

"Let's make the worst-case scenario: maybe the people in the van didn't intend to do anything tonight, but they were worried that the woman's words would leak the news to Gu Jianhong, so they moved up their plans."

"But they can't be sure of our attitude, or rather, the attitude of the Gu family, whether they value it or not."

"But whether they value it or not doesn't really matter, so they made two preparations."

"If they don't take it seriously, that would be even better. If they go and make a move now, no one will notice."

"But what if we take it seriously?" Old Song seemed to be thinking of some terrible scene.

"That explains why we saw that van."

"Is this the illusion you were talking about?" Song Nanshan suddenly jumped into the car and started the engine with the key.

The Ford Focus shuddered slightly, and Zhang Shutong continued:

"That's right, they deliberately drove up and met us. We went up the mountain, and they went down, creating the illusion that they had already left. This way, everyone's attention would be focused on where the car went. They would look for it in the commercial street and in many other places, but they would miss Gu Qiumian's villa."

"So you mean they went back?"

(End of this chapter)