Chen Zili shook his head. "I don't know."
"Then why are you so surprised? He's been missing for this long — you should've been mentally prepared," Li Hui said, puzzled.
"I thought… at worst, she'd just run off with some other man," Chen Zili snorted.
"What other man?"
"Family shame shouldn't be aired in public. I wasn't planning on saying this," Chen Zili sighed.
"Someone used your wife's phone to make a ransom call, and they also have her ID card. There's a strong chance she's been kidnapped. We need you to provide any useful clues you can," Han Bin said — though the more he spoke, the stranger he felt about it.
He was the one persuading Chen Zili, when it was Chen's own wife who was in trouble.
The world really was full of odd things.
"Poor couples fight over everything. We've had conflicts for a long time."
"What kind of conflicts?"
"Just petty little things, but at the root, it's all about money." Chen Zili gave a bitter smile, helplessness written all over his face.
"Does this have anything to do with He Yan being kidnapped?"
"Recently, I saw her using an app called Bubble."
"What kind of app?"
"Bubble."
"What's it for?" Li Hui asked — he had never heard of it.
"Making friends, chatting."
"Anything special about it?"
"It's all strangers on there. A lot of them are just looking for hookups."
"So, you suspect He Yan has a lover outside?"
"Yes."
"How long has this been going on?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you know the man's name?"
"No." Chen Zili shook his head. "We argued about it, and then she set a password."
"If you two have gotten to that point, why not just get divorced?" Li Hui asked.
"No matter what she's done, she's still my daughter's mother. Divorce…" Chen Zili gave a self-mocking smile. "With my conditions, what right do I have to…"
He trailed off, lowering his head, unsure how to finish the sentence.
Han Bin shifted the topic. "So you believe He Yan is with her lover?"
"Mm."
"Do you know where he lives?"
"No."
"Any way to contact him?"
"All I know is they used Bubble to talk. Nothing else." Chen Zili spread his hands.
"Why was your phone switched off?"
"I didn't want the debt collectors to bother me, so I turned it off."
"Turn it back on. They won't trouble you for now."
"So I should thank my wife, then?" Chen Zili said with a bitter laugh.
"You should focus on earning money honestly. If you keep trying to get something for nothing, you'll just sink deeper," Li Hui warned.
"It's too late. I'm already drowning in debt. How long would I have to work to pay it off?"
"In this society, you won't starve. Even manual labor can earn you a few thousand a month — that's tens of thousands a year. Work hard for a few years and you'll be clear," Li Hui said.
"Easier said than done." Chen Zili shook his head.
"In our village, to get a wife for your son, you need a car, a house, and a big bride price. Almost every family borrows money. We all have holes in our finances, but we get through it," Li Hui snorted. In his eyes, Chen Zili was just lazy.
Loving ease, hating work.
"Let's not waste time on this," Han Bin cut in and steered the conversation back. "What's your wife's Bubble account?"
"I don't know."
"How was it registered?"
"I've never used it."
…
Han Bin finished the statement and let Chen Zili go.
Chen stepped out of the car and stood hesitantly at the entrance of a lottery shop. Maybe his conscience pricked him, because in the end, he hailed a taxi and left.
"Binzi, you're just letting him go?"
"What else could I do?"
"I feel like there's something off about him."
"Do you have evidence?"
"No."
"Then that's that."
While taking his statement, Han Bin had been watching Chen closely — there were no signs he was lying.
"So what now?"
"Check the Bubble app account. See if we can pull up He Yan's chat history," Han Bin suggested.
"Let's report to Captain Zheng first. Without proper procedures and documents, the app company might not cooperate," Li Hui said.
"Then let's first find out about the company, so when we report to Captain Zheng, we won't be caught blank-minded."
Han Bin looked up the company online — it was based in Pengcheng, a booming city with many big-name tech firms.
He also browsed some forums for user reviews: in short, it was a small app with loose management — plenty of "fun" to be had.
Li Hui registered an account under the name Qindao's Hui Ge to test the features.
"Find anything?" Han Bin asked.
"Something big," Li Hui said smugly.
"Let's hear it."
"To sign up, you have to use a phone number to get a verification code. The account itself doesn't use real names, but you can trace it back through the phone number," Li Hui explained.
Han Bin immediately saw the point — if they used He Yan's phone number, they could find her account, then pull her contact list to see who she'd been talking to.
If they found a suspicious contact, that person would also have registered with a phone number. Track that number, and you'd find the suspect.
The two agreed to head back to the command van and report to Zheng Kaixuan. The app company was far away in Pengcheng, so they'd need local police assistance — something the two of them couldn't manage alone.
By the time they drove back, it was already past 6 p.m.
Aside from Zheng Kaixuan and He Ru, Zhao Ming and Tian Li had also returned.
"Perfect timing — I already ordered takeout," Zheng said.
"What'd you get, Captain?" Li Hui asked eagerly.
"Don't worry — enough to shut you up."
From the side, He Ru spoke. "Officer Han, my brother-in-law called just now. He said he's home."
"Mm, we've already taken his statement."
"Does my brother-in-law have anything to do with this case?" she asked, concerned.
"At the moment, he's not a suspect."
He Ru let out a sigh of relief.
"They do have some marital issues. You should try to persuade him — whatever happens between them, even if they divorce later, she's still Yuanyuan's mother. For the child's sake, we hope he'll cooperate with the investigation," Li Hui said.
"What exactly happened between them?"
"Chen suspects your sister has a lover," Li Hui said.
"What? That's impossible!" He Ru was incredulous.
"It's just one lead. We're still investigating."
"I want to go back and ask my brother-in-law about it," she said, unable to sit still.
"Go ahead. If he can give more clues, let us know right away," Han Bin told her.
"Okay." She got up and left the command van.
Once she was gone, Zheng Kaixuan turned to Han Bin. "What's this about He Yan having a lover?"
Han Bin recounted Chen Zili's statement in detail.
Zheng checked his watch. "It's already past six. Asking Pengcheng police for help today might be too late."
"Better to submit the request tonight so they can start first thing in the morning," Han Bin suggested.
Zheng nodded — this lead was important. He stood up. "I'll report to the branch leadership now."
(End of Chapter)