Chapter 47 A Destitute Home

Yan Xue was an only child. Although she had an exasperating cousin like Song Chen, after all, a cousin was just a relative and not part of the immediate family, meaning she could usually manage to avoid her when she wanted to. Therefore, she had never encountered anyone like Wang Huihan.

Standing nearby, Kang Ge had a younger sister, but given his relationship with Lü Xiaodong, he clearly had no prior experience with this sort of situation either, leaving him equally dumbfounded and finding it somewhat hard to believe.

"In that case, this Wang Huihan really is a destabilizing factor, turning her entire family upside down single-handedly!" Kang Ge sighed. Initially, he had suspected that Deputy Station Chief Wang might have been speaking with some subjective bias, but after hearing the whole story, he realized the man had not exaggerated at all.

"Sigh, indeed. There's probably no shortage of things like this!" Deputy Station Chief Wang shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, ever since our elderly matriarch passed away, with all the constant turmoil in their household, we really haven't wanted to visit much. So as long as they don't cause a scene at our station and blow things out of proportion, we let them make whatever fuss they want—out of sight, out of mind."

"What's the exact route to their place? Could you point us in the right direction? Since things are like this, we won't ask you to accompany us; it's better to avoid awkwardness with distant relatives when bringing up such matters," Kang Ge said considerately.

Deputy Station Chief Wang was clearly glad to accept this arrangement and immediately fetched a pen and paper to draw a detailed route for them, marking every single intersection and the easiest local landmarks to identify the Wang residence.

It seemed that because of Wang Huihan, her entire paternal family had become synonymous with trouble within the extended kinship circle.

Armed with this exceptionally clear map, Yan Xue and Kang Ge thanked Deputy Station Chief Wang and drove toward Wang Huihan's parental home.

Although Wang Huihan's family was officially registered in the township, their residence was located in an extremely remote area well outside the central township district. After navigating several turns and twists, they finally located the small courtyard of the Wang family, exactly matching Deputy Station Chief Wang's precise description.

True to the deputy station chief's description, the Wang residence was remarkably easy to find—primarily because the houses of all the neighboring families looked significantly newer and much prettier than theirs. Tucked between those neighboring houses, the Wangs' small courtyard looked dilapidated, cramped, and exceptionally shabby.

It was approaching noon, and while thin wisps of cooking smoke curled lazily from the small chimneys of the surrounding residential houses, Wang Huihan's family home was eerily quiet and desolate. There were no signs of cooking, and it even seemed as though no heating stove was being lit despite the chilly season.

Their main gate stood wide open, so Kang Ge drove the car straight in without standing on ceremony. Just inside the gate was a passageway only slightly wider than the vehicle, and Kang Ge drove right up close to the front entrance of the house.

Before he could even switch off the engine and step out of the car, a man in his fifties pushed open the door and walked out, presumably alerted by the sound of the engine, coming out to investigate.

His gait as he walked was slightly limp. Combining this with the information provided by Deputy Station Chief Wang, this man had to be Wang Huihan's father.

"Who are you looking for?" Seeing that both the vehicle and the man and woman stepping out of it were strangers, the man looked somewhat uneasy. Yet when he spoke, his tone carried a trace of timidity—as if he were an intruder who had accidentally stumbled into someone else's property rather than the owner of a house invaded by strangers.

"Are you Wang Huihan's father?" Yan Xue took out her identification badge to show him while walking closer so he could see it clearly. "We're from the W City Public Security Bureau. We'd like to speak with Wang Huihan's family members to gather some information."

Upon hearing that police officers had come to make inquiries, the expression on Wang Huihan's father's face immediately darkened. Hesitatingly, he glanced a few times at the badge in Yan Xue's hand before finally nodding and stepping aside from the doorway. "Go on inside then."

Yan Xue and Kang Ge followed Wang Huihan's father inside. As the somewhat battered, iron-sheathed wooden door closed behind them, it produced an unpleasant, grating squeak that gave Yan Xue goosebumps. Looking around the interior, she saw a decor still frozen in the early 1990s: the white-plastered walls were painted with blue-green oil paint up to waist height, now chipped and mottled in places, with a palm-width band of brick-red paint serving as the baseboard along the floor.

Just how many years had it been since this house was last renovated? Yan Xue clicked her tongue inwardly.

The two of them were led into the main sitting room by Wang Huihan's father, who told them to sit wherever they liked before heading toward the back to fetch his wife. The sitting room didn't even have a sofa, let alone any armchairs; there was only a stack of plastic stools that also looked quite old. Kang Ge retrieved two of them and motioned for Yan Xue to sit down and wait, while the two of them surveyed the room's furnishings.

The furniture inside was very old, with styles full of a bygone era. Moreover, Yan Xue noticed an interesting detail: calculating the timeline, Wang Huihan's younger brother Wang Xiaojun's child should be around three years old—right at the most lively and adorable age. Judging by Deputy Station Chief Wang's tone earlier, the elderly couple adored the child dearly. Yet, not a single photograph of a child could be found anywhere in this room.

Forget photographs; at a glance, the room didn't bear the slightest trace of harboring a young child.

Yan Xue belonged to the category of people who hadn't experienced things firsthand but had witnessed them. Among her close friends, only Ning Shuyi was not an only child; Ning Shuyi had an older sister several years her senior, who had dated a boyfriend in college, married right after graduation, and had a baby shortly afterward. Thus, Yan Xue and the others had also shared in Ning Shuyi's status and been promoted to honorary aunts.

Because Ning Shuyi's family was local to W City, they had visited their home before. Although Ning Shuyi's little nephew didn't live permanently with his grandparents and only visited occasionally, children's toys could still be seen everywhere in the house, with cartoon stickers adorning even the cabinet doors and floors.

Yet none of these things could be seen in the slightest within the home of Wang Huihan's parents.

Judging by the level of cleanliness here, it was nowhere near obsessive tidiness, which ruled out the possibility that Wang Huihan's parents had simply cleaned things away promptly. Recalling Deputy Station Chief Wang's words, it wasn't hard to guess the underlying reason.

What kind of person was Wang Huihan, really? Missing for four days, neither her husband's family nor her natal family had reported it to the police. Just how many people had she offended with her past behavior? Among the people she had offended, were there any conflicts severe enough to provoke homicidal intent? And among those she had crossed paths with, was there anyone who could also intersect with Cong Fangfang?

While waiting for Wang Huihan's parents, countless questions churned through Yan Xue's mind.