Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 27.2

Chapter 27.2

Yu Hongdou was very sleepy, and as soon as her classes were finished, she took a tram back home.

However, as she took a bath, her sleeplessness vanished a lot, and she started to talk with her mother.

At that moment, Yu Chongyi came home.

“The Lu family’s driver is still missing.” After saying that, he went to his room to change his clothes.

“I waited at Chen Jinsheng’s place all night, but he never showed up, and his family was clueless about his whereabouts. Luckily, Mr. He and Inspector Wang managed to find someone to clarify the situation, and they’re planning to search Xishan first. Based on Chen Jinsheng’s criminal behaviour, he’s likely with the second victim, but it’s unclear if that’s Chen Baidie or Yuqi.” The young policeman said without taking a break as soon as he came wearing clean clothes. 

Before Yu Hongdou and Mrs. Yu could ask more questions, Yu Chongyi shut the door and left the house.

Yu Hongdou couldn’t get more information about the case from her brother, so she went back to her room to wait for news. Just as she was about to lie down, she heard Yu Chongyi calling her from downstairs.

“Hongdou, did Yuqi leave the perfumed handkerchief with you?”

Surprised, she realised this was a good opportunity, so she quickly grabbed the handkerchief and went downstairs. When she opened the door, she found her brother and He Yunqin standing in front of the tailor shop, quietly discussing something.

She walked down and said, “Here’s the handkerchief.”

He Yunqin looked at her, took the handkerchief, and said, “We’ll head out now.”

Yu Hongdou frowned, puzzled about why this person would leave her behind after taking advantage of her. As she noticed them heading towards the alley, she quickly jogged to catch up, struggling to keep pace with their long strides.

Yu Chongyi reached the alley entrance and heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he spotted his sister trailing him. With a grin, he said, “Hongdou, why are you following us? You should head home and rest.”

Yu Hongdou replied matter-of-factly, “I found the old book at school. Now you two are off to find cousin Yuqi. Can’t I tag along? If it’s a hassle, I’ll just go home and wait for updates.”

After hearing this, He Yunqin paused and glanced back at her.

A few damp strands of hair clung to her fair forehead, and she had changed from her earlier dress into a fresh light green jacket and pants adorned with white jasmine embroidery. To ward off the chill, she also wore a jade-coloured wool sweater. Looking down, he noticed her half-worn red leather shoes, and she hadn’t even put on her socks yet, exposing her snow-white ankles.

He withdrew his gaze from her feet and casually told Yu Chongyi, “If Miss Yu wants to help, let her come along.”

“But Chen Jinsheng is really dangerous. What if—”

He Yunqin had already walked towards his car. “Inspector Wang and I will protect her.”

Yu Hongdou took a moment to process what she heard. She glanced up at his tall figure, and in that moment, his cocky demeanour seemed to return. Surprisingly, she didn’t find it irritating this time. Worried he might change his mind, she quickly hopped into He Yunqin’s car without waiting for her brother to protest. “Brother, I just want to help find Yuqi. Don’t worry; I’ll stay in the car if there’s any danger.”

Yu Chongyi reluctantly climbed into the police department’s car.

*** 

Wang Peter was dozing off in the car, and hearing the car door opening, he opened his eyes briefly to check, then went back to rest.

As the car began to move, Yu Hongdou asked He Yunqin, “Mr. He just visited Mr. Deng. What did he say?”

He Yunqin briefly explained the situation. “Chen Jinsheng used to be a Taoist priest and believed in this kind of dark magic. Now his son is suffering from a strange illness and has sought help everywhere without success. It’s not surprising he would take such risks to save his son. If we hadn’t stumbled upon the bloody clothes at the Lu family villa and suspected Chen Jinsheng, I believe Chen Baidie and the others would have fallen victim to his son regardless of whether his methods are scientifically valid.”

Yu Hongdou pondered before saying, “If all three were considered sacrifices, why was Wang Meiping the second to be kidnapped but the first to be killed?”

He Yunqin then asked, “When is your cousin Pan Yuqi’s birthday?”

“It’s November.”

He Yunqin said, “Chen Jinsheng followed the ancient method and rearranged the order of the sacrifices according to the month of birth. Wang Meiping was born in March, Chen Baidie was born in July, and your cousin was born in November. The birthdays of the three were arranged in order. So Wang Meiping should have been the first sacrifice.”

Yu Hongdou looked at him strangely and couldn’t help but ask, “How did Mr. He know Chen Baidie’s birthday?”

‘A big star like her would never reveal her birthday casually unless it was to someone close to her.’ She also remembered that He Yunqin had lost his temper last night after hearing that the driver had taken the victim away from under their noses. ‘Could it be that he is too worried about Chen Baidie’s safety and is so anxious that he doesn’t know what to say?’

He Yunqin glanced at Yu Hongdou in the rearview mirror and noticed the young woman was frowning slightly and looked quite serious. It was obvious that she was not asking casually.

The man felt a little headache for a moment and was just thinking about how to smooth things over when he heard Wang Peter’s muffled voice. “Ms. Yu’s focus is really strange. Don’t worry; He Yunqin has his own reasons for looking for Chen Baidie, and it’s definitely not because of any intimate relationship with this woman.”

Yu Hongdou had already regretted asking such a redundant question and quickly changed the subject. “Senior Deng only told you the approximate location just now… Can’t he figure out the exact location of the person hiding?”

Wang Peter continued. “There are only a few hilltops in the west of this city, one of which is Mingquan Mountain that we searched earlier. Chen Jinsheng is a very rigid person. Since the formation has that requirement, he will not easily make random changes, so it is definitely right to look for it in the West Mountain. But there is something that doesn’t make sense in what Deng Guizhuang said just now: how did Chen Jinsheng choose the so-called unclean and sinister people? Chen Baidie is a big star socialite, and Pan Yuqi often walks around outside. With Chen Jinsheng’s crude knowledge, it is barely reasonable to regard the two of them as so-called unclean people, but Wang Meiping looks honest and straightforward, so how could he kidnap her as a sacrifice?”

“Yuan Ruoli’s ex-wife had Wang Meiping under house arrest for so long. In order to please Wang Meiping, she made many luxurious cheongsams for women. After Wang Meiping was released, she went out alone at night. Maybe it was for this reason that Chen Jinsheng considered using her as a sacrifice? Of course, all this can be interrogated after Chen Jinsheng is caught. Now I just want to know who it was that Chen Jinsheng drove to the Grand Theatre in the trunk under everyone’s eyes last night. The trunk couldn’t hold both of them, so it could only be one of them.”

Yu Hongdou asked puzzledly, “Is this important?”

He Yunqin stared at the road and replied, “If we calculate according to the order of sacrifice, Chen Baidie is the second sacrifice and should be hidden in the West Mountain. Pan Yuqi is the third sacrifice and must be hidden in the East Mountain. But the range is too wide. It would be troublesome to search one by one.”

He paused and continued, “Last night, Chen Jinsheng brought one of them down from Mingquan Mountain. Before he could hide, the man ran into Lu Jingheng. In order not to arouse suspicion, Chen Jinsheng was forced to drive Lu Jingheng and the others to the Grand Theatre. After that, Lu Jingheng watched a movie for about an hour. Chen Jinsheng could have used the one hour of the movie to hide the person.”

Yu Hongdou carefully recalled what happened last night and reminded He Yunqin, “But I remember that the Lu family’s car showed up before the movie was over last night. Chen Jinsheng waited in the car for another quarter of an hour before Lu Jingheng came out.”

He Yunqin did not show his admiration too obviously. He only said, “Subtract this quarter of an hour; there are still 45 minutes left. If we divide it by half, it means that Chen Jinsheng had 22 or 23 minutes to hide the man in the trunk outside the Grand Theatre last night.”

Yu Hongdou nodded. “After that, we followed the Lu family’s car back to the Lu Mansion. Then the police came to arrest people, and Chen Jinsheng abandoned the car and ran away. With the reminder of Mr. He, my brother and others soon suspected Chen Jinsheng and immediately began a city-wide manhunt. Chen Jinsheng no longer had a car as a tool, and he couldn’t move Chen Baidie or Pan Yuqi in public. If I were him, I could only choose to lie low for the time being and take action after dark.”

The more she spoke, the brighter her eyes became. “So it is very likely that Chen Jinsheng has not yet had time to move the person in the trunk away. The person is still hiding somewhere within a 23-minute drive from the Grand Theatre!”

He Yunqin glanced at Wang Peter and said, “Inspector Wang.”

Wang Peter was enjoying the conversation between the two people. When he heard the question, he perked up. He sat up straight and took out a map of Shanghai. He unfolded it and drew a circle around the Grand Theatre, saying, “Apart from the road, the bookshop, and the barbershop, the only places that can be used to hide people are Lulu Department Store, Chengjiayuan Alley, and the row of pavilions on Fengwan Road, which are about 23 minutes’ drive from the Grand Theatre.”

End of chapter 27

Have a nice day!