Ren Siqiao looked up again at the officer who asked the question, then nodded with a small, unconcerned hum. "Mm."
"Do you remember the last time you saw your dad?"
Ren Siqiao was starting to get annoyed by these repeated questions. She didn't want to speak anymore, but she lifted her hand and pointed in the direction of the neighborhood across the street.
She hadn't said anything, but based on Lan Jin's earlier testimony, the officers could already guess what the answer was. Still, guessing wasn't enough. Some things had to come straight from a child's mouth. What if they were just overthinking it?
One officer asked again, "Qiao Qiao, can you tell us out loud? We don't really understand when you just point."
Lan Jin quickly stepped in, encouraging her gently. "Qiao Qiao, the brothers and sisters are asking you something. Can you tell them, when did you last see your daddy?"
Qiao Qiao pouted, her babyish voice soft and clear. "When we live there." She pointed again. "Over there."
"So after that, you haven't seen him again?" one officer followed up.
Qiao Qiao gave a strong nod. "Mm!" That was her answer.
Then another officer asked, "Just now, Qiao Qiao said her daddy hit her, and her auntie scolded her. What's that about? You know we take child mistreatment seriously. Please explain that to us in detail."
Lan Jin replied calmly, "He didn't actually hit her, not really. It's just that my daughter and I weren't liked by my ex-mother-in-law. We never had a close relationship. After Ren Xing got involved with Meng Ying, my ex-mother-in-law really favored her. They weren't even divorced yet, and she already started flaunting in front of me.
Every time she saw me and my daughter, she'd speak with this arrogant tone. A child might not understand every word, but she can still feel that attitude. On top of that, they'd sometimes knock on my door and yell insults right at us from the hallway. I couldn't take it anymore. That's why I moved."
Lan Jin wasn't lying. Even though she had tried to ignore those two, they never stopped muttering things in front of her. Did they think she couldn't hear? So no, this wasn't a lie.
She added, "If this apartment hadn't already been renovated, I really wouldn't have wanted to move here. It's just too close to them. But Qiao Qiao is still little, and things like formaldehyde in a new place need time to air out. For her health, I chose this place. And with the roads being cleared outside lately, I was afraid of bumping into them, so my daughter and I haven't gone out at all. As for Ren Xing… after we moved here, I haven't seen him once."
"Ren Xing has gone missing. It's been a week now."
"A week? Then that would've been just after the roads got cleared. There were so many people outside then. If he came over, someone would've seen him. You can ask around. Maybe he ran into someone and left with them. But why did it take you all a week to start investigating?"
The officers explained, "Meng Ying thought Ren Xing got back together with you. She didn't realize he'd gone missing. That's why she delayed reporting it."
Lan Jin immediately rolled her eyes and scoffed, her voice full of disgust. "Is this her new way of making my life miserable? Please, officers, I'm begging you to make it clear: I have nothing to do with Ren Xing anymore. I would never get back together with him."
With that, the questioning wrapped up.
What Lan Jin said made sense. But at the same time, it didn't.
It made sense because her answers matched up with her daughter's. Adults might lie, but could a child? And that child wasn't even three yet. With something like this, anyone with self-respect wouldn't go back to a man like Ren Xing. Not to mention, when they divorced, Lan Jin got both money and property. Anyone with a brain wouldn't take him back.
But what didn't make sense… was how everything always seemed to end up connected to Lan Jin. That part just didn't add up.
On the way back, the officers started talking among themselves.
"We've seen things like this before, sure. But I still feel like Lan Jin isn't completely innocent."
"But come on, a kid can't lie. That girl isn't even three yet. She can't speak clearly, and unless you've raised a kid yourself, you wouldn't know. At this age, even if you tell her something five minutes ago, she'll forget it. So there's no way Ren Xing went to her place."
"Then how do you explain this? If kids forget things that easily, why does she still remember the last time she saw her dad? And clearly remember it was when they lived across the street?"
"Because he's her dad. No matter how bad he is, he's still her dad. She might be little, but she's not dumb. This kind of thing, she'd remember. What I meant about forgetting is if someone tried to rehearse what she should say. She's way too young for that. I'm more inclined to believe Ren Xing wanted to find Lan Jin, but something happened on the way."
"Lan Jin says she hasn't left the apartment. But who can prove that?"
"Who could prove it? There's no surveillance. And if we did have surveillance and it really showed she was involved, we would've arrested her already."
The group fell silent for a while, then the debate picked up again.
After the floodwaters receded, the distribution point for supplies moved from the rooftop down to the first floor. Once the electricity came back on, all emergency supplies were halted entirely.
Still, that wasn't such a big deal, because the cafeteria and supermarket had reopened. The supplies were the same as before, but now that people were allowed outside again, online shopping and delivery services were canceled.
In short, the emergency supply app was shut down. If you wanted anything, you had to line up at the entrance in person.
Of course, rationing still applied to certain items. And purchases were still made using contribution points, just like before.
That led to one big question: what about RMB?
The flood was over. Summer was almost gone. Why weren't the banks reopening?
The truth was, it wasn't that banks didn't want to open. The higher-ups still hadn't issued a clear policy. No one knew if RMB would still be valid moving forward. Even if bank employees came in, they'd have nothing to do. So they simply stayed home.
Still, with the cafeteria open again, everyone's meals had drastically improved. At least they weren't stuck eating nothing but compressed biscuits anymore.
September had arrived.
But the blazing heat outside hadn't eased up. In fact, with time, it only grew worse.
Right after the flood, temperatures were still below forty degrees Celsius. Now, the indoor temperature alone had reached forty-five. Outdoors, it was even worse. Some places were getting close to seventy.
Even so, the only working appliances were electric fans. In this kind of sweltering heat, nearly everyone was dizzy and sluggish.
===
Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable gas with a strong, pungent odor widely used in industrial and household applications. Its chemical formula is CH₂O, and it's the simplest form of an aldehyde.
Short-term exposure: Can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and skin. High levels can trigger coughing, wheezing, or nausea.
Long-term exposure: Prolonged or high exposure has been linked to cancer. It is classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).