Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 74

Chen Jiu had originally planned to stake out for about three days. Three days would yield plenty of information.

Midway through, she had Chen Wu watch alone for a while, then went back to Wan Shi Zhai herself before driving back. That way, if they needed to tail someone later, they wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of making up some outrageous story for a taxi driver again.

As the saying goes, hard work pays off. That very night, Zheng Kai actually didn’t spend the night at his lover’s place. Instead, he disguised himself again under cover of darkness, deliberately avoiding routes with cameras, and left the area.

Chen Jiu had been drinking bottled water. When she saw this, she quickly slapped Chen Wu awake, who was dozing off with her head tilted and about to drool. “Senior sister, wake up.”

“Huh?” Chen Wu jolted awake, rubbed her eyes hard, looked around, and realized she was still on the job. How had she fallen asleep! So careless.

Zheng Kai and the woman had gone into the room around five o’clock. It was already eight when he came out. He probably had his own reasons for not staying the night.

Chen Wu frowned, staring at Zheng Kai’s retreating figure, when her stomach suddenly let out a loud rumble.

Chen Jiu: “…”

Chen Wu: “…”

Chen Jiu turned around, rummaged around with rustling sounds, and somehow pulled out a bag of small buns from somewhere, tossing it into Chen Wu’s lap.

“Wow! Senior sister, you have everything in your car!” Chen Wu exclaimed in delight, then started tearing open the packaging, wolfing one down, and accidentally choked herself. She pounded her chest a few times.

Chen Jiu immediately handed over the water.

Chen Wu gulped down half the bottle, finally catching her breath, and patted her chest with lingering fear. “Thanks, ah, I think I just saw my great grandma.”

Chen Jiu thought to herself, we’re all orphans here. We don’t even know where our parents are. How would you know what your great grandma looks like.

“Sit tight. His car’s been gone for a while now. We need to hurry and catch up.” Chen Jiu was already so speechless she was almost amused, wondering what other mess her senior sister might stir up.

Chen Wu wiped her mouth, embarrassed. “Okay, I’m good now. Let’s go.”

It was truly embarrassing, but then again, she’d been embarrassing herself in front of her junior sister since they were kids, so she didn’t feel much psychological pressure about it.

Sure enough, as long as you have no expectations for yourself, the pressure becomes a lot smaller.

The night stretched out endlessly. Chen Jiu gripped the steering wheel, following Zheng Kai’s car from a comfortable distance. She was doing a good job keeping the gap. The car ahead didn’t seem to notice the little Beetle tailing it at all. Its speed was steady, as if it wasn’t in much of a hurry.

Chen Jiu had a vague premonition of where he was headed. Her fingers tapped the steering wheel impatiently.

“Senior sister, I’ve already taken notes on where that woman lives.” Chen Wu had done something proactive and reliable for once, her tone a bit eager to please. “Do you think Zheng Kai is going home now? Why does he live so far out, almost leaving the city.”

“It doesn’t look like the way home. This direction…” Chen Jiu said, “It’s actually closer to where Xu Wei’s mother lives.”

Even someone as slow as Chen Wu understood after hearing that. She immediately got excited. “I get it! I get it! Hide in plain sight! The most dangerous place is the safest place!”

Chen Jiu said, “Yeah, that’s a possibility.”

Ten minutes later, Zheng Kai parked on the outskirts of the residential area, got out of the car, put on a mask, and walked down the street on foot, exaggerating a few coughs as he went.

Chen Jiu didn’t rush to get out. She sat in the driver’s seat and watched him walk a good distance.

Chen Wu was puzzled. “Does he really need to be this careful?”

“He doesn’t have that much fame yet, but he’s already developed the self awareness of a public figure ahead of time.” Chen Jiu found it funny and let out a scoff. “He really is profiting off a dead girl’s blood.”

Chen Wu said, “Should we follow him now?”

Chen Jiu made a sound of agreement, slung her bag over her shoulder, got out of the car, and locked the doors.

Actually, at this moment she really missed Chen Xiao Xuan. When it came to sniffing out scents and such, Chen Xiao Xuan was way more useful than Chen Wu.

The two trailed about a hundred meters behind Zheng Kai, pretending to be a pair of sisters out for a post dinner stroll. They picked up their phones, opened video mode, and walked forward while filming.

To avoid Zheng Kai suddenly having a bright idea, turning around, spotting them, and getting suspicious, the two even swapped jackets, then both put on cheap sunglasses and sun hats bought from a roadside stall, and changed up their hairstyles a bit. That counted as a decent disguise.

Following him all the way, Zheng Kai indeed didn’t notice anything off. He kept his head down and walked with focus, until a secluded intersection where he suddenly looked back.

Chen Jiu reached out and pinched Chen Wu’s chin, turning her face toward the phone camera, and said, “Cheese.”

“Cheese.” Chen Wu bared her teeth in a grin, goofy and cute.

Zheng Kai’s gaze swept over the two of them. He kept looking around, confirmed there was nothing unusual, then turned into the intersection and kept walking.

Chen Jiu put her arm around Chen Wu’s shoulder and walked forward while whispering, “The next stretch is pretty quiet and the road might be narrow. We need to be extra careful. Don’t startle the snake.”

“Yeah!” Chen Wu nodded hard, her eyes resolute, as if saying there was absolutely no way she’d drop the ball this time.

So Chen Jiu showed her trust, letting her take point. The two turned into the small path one after another.

This road wasn’t even fully paved with cement. Several times Chen Wu stepped into slightly soft earth and nearly cried out in fright, barely holding it in, gritting her teeth and carefully keeping up with Chen Jiu’s footsteps.

The streetlights were also hit or miss, with no one maintaining or repairing them. Most of this old district was dead and lifeless, as if abandoned and forgotten by the entire city, standing alone in this spot, rarely visited by anyone.

Chen Jiu remembered this road. She’d been here no less than five or six times since taking the case, so she walked fairly smoothly and had no trouble keeping up with Zheng Kai.

Just when Chen Wu was about to reach her limit, Chen Jiu finally stopped, pulled her down to crouch, and hid under a low wall on the left side.

Chen Wu covered her mouth. In the dim streetlight and murky moonlight, she saw Zheng Kai stop in front of an old house. He looked around, confirmed once more that nothing was off, then took out a key, lowered his head slightly, opened the door in a few motions, went inside, and closed the door behind him.

The whole process was extremely cautious. Chen Jiu was almost certain that Xu Wei’s mother was inside, though she didn’t know in what condition.

Chen Wu asked in a whisper, “Should we go over?”

“Not yet.” Chen Jiu said.

A light turned on inside. It wasn’t very bright. The windows were covered with a layer of light blocking curtain fabric. Zheng Kai’s silhouette twisted against this curtain, looking like the demons and monsters from supernatural tales, eerily like a ghost’s shadow.

Chen Wu asked again, “Did he come to bring food to Xu Wei’s mother?”

“Maybe.” Chen Jiu thought for a moment and said, “Two people is too conspicuous a target. Wait here for a bit. Don’t talk, don’t move. I’m going over to check.”

Chen Wu clamped her mouth shut and nodded.

No talking, no moving. That was basically playing freeze tag. She was pretty good at that.

Chen Jiu almost laughed, coughed twice in a suppressed voice, then quickly left.

Zheng Kai seemed to be focused on doing something inside, or maybe talking to Xu Wei’s mother. In any case, he wasn’t making big movements for the moment and didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving. Chen Jiu took this time to swiftly slip to the side wall of the old house.

She tried pressing her ear closer. The old house’s sound insulation was neither good nor bad. She could hear people talking inside, but the voices were muffled and hard to make out clearly.

Chen Jiu thought some more, then looked up at the roof tiles above the old house. She almost immediately dismissed the idea.

The house was simply too old. Setting aside the difficulty of controlling the sound of stepping on tiles, she couldn’t even be sure whether the roof could support an adult woman’s weight. Better not take that risk.

That left only two choices. One: force their way in directly, knock Zheng Kai out, and take the next step. Two: wait honestly for Zheng Kai to leave.

After analyzing the situation, she decided option two was more reliable. If they kept playing invisible throughout this whole affair, with Zheng Kai in the open and them in the shadows, he would be much more passive, and certain things would be easier to handle.

Chen Jiu pondered for a moment, then sent Chen Wu a message. Just one word, still “wait.”

However, she waited quite a while without getting a reply from Chen Wu. She had to look up and glance at Chen Wu from afar. She saw her still obediently crouching on the other side of the wall, following the no talking no moving rule, with only the top of her head and a pile of dry grass used for camouflage visible.

Fortunately, Zheng Kai didn’t make them wait too long. Soon the sound of a lock came from in front of the old house, followed by footsteps and huffing sounds.

Before leaving, Zheng Kai even cursed the old hag, paced around the front courtyard a few times, then left.

Chen Jiu pressed her body against the wall base like a shadow, shifting rapidly, and managed not to let Zheng Kai, who was circling around, spot her. Once Zheng Kai’s figure was far away, she finally let out a breath of relief, circled around to the front door, and planned to charge and burst through this already rickety broken wooden door in five minutes.

Five minutes should be enough for Zheng Kai to get in his car and leave this residential area.

Crouching in the distance, Chen Wu’s feet were a bit numb. She really couldn’t maintain the position anymore. She suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and plopped down on her bottom, feeling a wave of soreness and tingling in her lower limbs.

Just as she was about to recover, she heard a loud bang from not far away.

Chen Wu jumped up from the ground in shock, rapidly patted her bottom, and stared wide eyed at Chen Jiu.

There was her junior sister with godlike strength, swaggering into that short and tiny old house, and casually turning on the light.

Seeing the scene before her, Chen Wu couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath too. She never could have imagined that the first time she saw Xu Wei’s mother would be in such a scene.

The woman’s hands and feet were both shackled with iron chains, curled up on an iron bed, like an animal, with no freedom or dignity to speak of, locked in this tiny room, eating, drinking, relieving herself, and sleeping all in the same cramped space.