Be in low spirits

The Qingming Festival was approaching, and the sky began to drizzle. There was no sunshine in the whole city, and the plants in the city were growing secretly. Kong Zhixi smelled the smell of soil and grass, as well as the smell of moldy clothes and quilts.

She made phone calls for two days and found out all of Li Xiuli's recent contacts. Almost all of them were her clients. Only one number was from her father. They didn't seem to have a good relationship. When the father heard about her, he started to curse her and asked for money. He was silent for a long time after hearing the news that she was dead, then he spitted, said something unlucky and hung up the phone.

After hearing this, Li Li took Kong Zhixi to Li Xiuli's father's home.

Her father was in the countryside. When she arrived, it was already dinner time and no one was at home. She asked the neighbors and they said he was playing mahjong in the store at the entrance of the village.

The store was filled with smoke and noise. Li Li revealed his identity, and the people playing mahjong in the store stopped playing and left with various excuses.

Li Xiuli's father's face immediately changed. Li Li asked, "Did you find anything unusual about Li Xiuli when you called her?"

"What's so abnormal about her? She has no money when asked for. She has worked for so many years but she doesn't know how to make money to support her father. I don't know what she is doing." All his card-playing friends had left and he had no interest in continuing. He wanted to leave but was stopped by Li Li.

"Her body is still lying in the forensic laboratory. Take her back when you have time and bury her in peace." Li Li said these words with a look of disgust on his face towards the father.

"..." When the father heard the words "bury her in peace", he seemed to accept the fact that he had lost his daughter, and sadness began to appear in his eyes.

Kong Zhixi didn't understand whether he was really grieving the loss of his daughter or losing the opportunity to blackmail her.

"Did she have any friends? Or her mother?"

"…We didn't have a good relationship. She seldom told me about herself. Her mother died when she was very young." The father's eyes began to turn red when he thought of his daughter.

The two found nothing, and after exchanging a few words, they were ready to rush back. Li Xiuli's father chased after them, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Officer, Xiuli's inheritance should be... enough for her funeral, right?"

The two were a little angry after hearing this, but after all, they didn't understand these family affairs, so it was difficult for them to make too many judgments. Li Li pushed away his hand, didn't answer him, and walked away.

On the way back, Kong Zhixi felt that this father was too unhuman. In addition, she had not found many useful clues in the past few days. He kept cursing all the way and was in a bad mood. Li Li drove the car and did not stop him or persuade him. He probably felt that people's hearts were not as they used to be.

When they got home, Kong Zhixi was tired of scolding, so she took a shower and went to bed. Li Li took a shower, sat on the rocking chair in front of the French window and looked at her. He took out the cigarette box and smelled it, sighed, and said to himself: "When will you remember the past?"

Many people in the city began to rush home to pay their respects. Kong Zhixi looked at the vehicles and pedestrians coming and going on the road and felt that this scene seemed familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it. They followed the contacts on the phone and met with them one by one to understand the situation, but there was no useful clue at all.

Li Li looked shabby again, with beard growing on his face again. He took a shower and changed out of his pajamas, and put them back on the next day. Kong Zhixi also felt that continuing to investigate would only waste a lot of time, so she simply gave herself a holiday, used the money she had earned before to buy a quilt and quilt cover, and made a small compartment for herself at home, locking herself in the compartment.

The drizzle outside the window also began to make people feel irritable.

Kong Zhixi took Li Li to the traffic police detachment and checked all the surveillance videos of Li Xiuli. On the day she disappeared, she left Hongtu Community and rode her electric donkey back home. She went out for a meal and disappeared in the small road at the stall.

The two of them retraced her route that day and found the restaurant owner. The owner looked at the photos and said he had some impression of her, but they didn't know where she went after dinner.

The two walked into the small road leading to the stall and found a street behind it, which led directly to a small park. Behind the park was a rich villa area. The villa area was private, so there were no cameras around. The two ran away again without finding any clues.

In the afternoon, the weather finally cleared up. Kong Zhixi sat in the office chair and wandered around, looking at the tender green branches outside the window, thinking that Li Xiuli should have been able to see this vibrant color, but her life was taken away by the devil's hand.

Li Li knocked on the table, threw the key to her, and said, "Let's go, someone in the city has been reported missing."

"Oh~" Kong Zhixi responded weakly, grabbed the key and walked out.

"During the Qingming Festival, don't you have any relatives who need to be worshipped?" Kong Zhixi asked while looking at the vehicles passing by on the road.

Li Li looked at Kong Zhixi, was silent for a long time, and said: "I have more important people to protect."

"Well, living people are more important." Kong Zhixi sighed.

"You must have someone you can't let go of, right?" Li Li was a little expectant.

"I... I'm okay. There are only my parents and sister at home, and they all have their own jobs." Kong Zhixi often feels that life is a burden, so there is no need to give herself too many constraints.

"...It is as expected." Li Li was a little disappointed and stopped talking.

The person who reported the case was found and said that his daughter had been missing for two days and the phone call could not be reached.

"How old are you?"

"I was 12 years old and in middle school, but the teacher also said I didn't go to class."

"Have all the classmates and friends around you asked?"

"I asked, but they all said they didn't see her. My classmates at school said she just said she wanted to go somewhere, but she didn't say where."

"Have you noticed anything different about her recently?"

"Recently... I often stared at her mother's photo in a daze, so I took her to worship during the Qingming Festival."

Li Li made a phone call, then turned around and told the girl's father: "I have asked the police from the surrounding police stations to look for her. I hope you can provide us with more clues. If you think of anything, please contact us." After that, he wrote a phone number for the middle-aged man.

While sitting in the car, Kong Zhixi complained: "How come finding the child is also our business?"

Li Li knocked her head and said, "Don't say such treasonous words. Big and small things are all people's business."

Kong Zhixi looked at him in confusion. Did this man really think he was a real policeman? Maybe, otherwise how could he forget the reality?

They interviewed the girl's classmates, and only one girl in the same dormitory said that before the holiday, she said she missed her mother and often cried in the corridor in the middle of the night. Before she disappeared, she went out with her schoolbag on her back, saying she was going to a place to find her mother.

Kong Zhixi guessed that it should be the place where his mother often stayed before she died. They went back to find the girl's father and asked her about her mother's favorite place to go before she died.

While Kong Zhixi was asking questions, Li Li received a call from the police station, saying that the person had been found and was now at the police station.

When Li Li rushed to the police station, the girl still didn't want to go home. Kong Zhixi came forward, said nothing, brought a lunch box, and ate with the girl.

"If your mother were still alive, she would probably hope to see you eat well and study hard." She hadn't finished chewing the food in her mouth, so her words were a little unclear.

The girl picked up the food but didn't eat it, and her tears fell into the rice.

"Live well, and live your mother's life at the same time." This time Kong Zhixi finished chewing the food in her mouth and could hear clearly.

The girl still didn't say anything, just cried. The father next to her wanted to hug the girl, but the girl raised her eyes to resist.

"Father can't take your mother's place, but his worries are real. Little girl, go back home and see that the house is full of her things. If you really miss her, you should know what she wants most." Although Kong Zhixi didn't understand the bond of family affection, she could still distinguish between emotion and reason.

When he went home, Li Li thought that if this happened once, it would happen again, and that persuading her like this might not be a good idea. Kong Zhixi said, "This kind of thing can't be persuaded. Family, love, and friendship, who can just let it go? What's more, she's still a girl in her teens. You can persuade her once, but what can't be persuaded is the missing."

Li Li looked at Kong Zhixi and sighed, "Yes, I miss you, and I can't stop you."