Chapter 236: Ask Whatever You Want to Know
The woman quickly pulled her husband over. "Take a look. Doesn't that photo look a little familiar?"
The man couldn't see clearly, but he was smart. He took out his phone, snapped a picture of the photo, and then zoomed in.
When they got a clear look at the two people in the photo, their expressions changed simultaneously.
They exchanged a glance without a word, then lowered their heads, turned abruptly, and left through a different door.
"Hey, Xiaoli? Why are you guys heading back?"
"I just remembered I forgot something. I'm going back to get it!"
Meanwhile, Mu Xiang was still asking around.
One of the men looked at the photo. "Hey, the people in this picture actually do look a bit familiar."
"But this must be a picture of them when they were young, right? By now, they should be..."
Lin Chuyue immediately jumped in. "This was taken when they were in their twenties. They should be in their forties now."
"No wonder. But they look really familiar to me!" The man waved over a coworker. "Do these two look familiar to you?"
"Familiar? Of course they're familiar. Isn't that Xiaoli from our workshop? The other one is her husband."
"That's it!" The man smacked his forehead. "Look at my memory! Xiaoli!"
Lin Chuyue was thrilled. "This couple... where are they now?"
"That, we don't know. We're just in the same workshop, but we're not that close. You could try asking the workshop supervisor. They should have everyone registered!"
Xiao Ye immediately sent someone to take care of it. Before long, they had an address.
It was for a place not far from there.
When they arrived, they found the place was much more run-down than they had imagined.
It was filled with two-story buildings, many of which were divided into small cubicles, with entire families squeezed into rooms of just over two hundred square feet.
Even the bathrooms were communal.
The air was thick with the smell of sweat.
Even Mu Xiang couldn't stand it and covered her nose with her hand.
The group made their way to a room on the first floor. Just as they were about to knock, they noticed the door was ajar.
Pushing it open, they saw the room was empty except for a single set of bedding left inside.
"Strange. This should be the right place. Where is everyone?"
Xiao Ye stepped forward and touched the teapot on the table. "It's still warm. They can't have been gone for long."
He knocked on the next door. "Hello, I'd like to ask, when did your neighbors leave?"
"That I wouldn't know. They should have been back by now."
"But that family is always so secretive. They disappear at the drop of a hat. We never know what's going on with them."
Xiao Ye had no choice but to notify his men and have them investigate using surveillance footage.
After leaving the small building, Lin Chuyue suddenly grabbed his hand. "Xiao Ye, that must have been my parents!"
"They knew we were looking for them, that's why they left."
"Why else would they move out?"
"But... but don't they want to see me? Is it because of my sister that they don't want to see me again?"
Lin Chuyue was starting to get worked up. Xiao Ye comforted her, "All parents love their children. Yours are no different."
"I have a feeling they did this because they thought they were in danger."
"Think about it. If your parents are still alive, why haven't they dared to come home? Why couldn't we find them for so many years? There's only one possibility: they've been hiding themselves!"
"Don't overthink it, okay?"
Listening to Xiao Ye's comforting words, Lin Chuyue felt he was right.
'Only if you're hiding yourself can you not be found.'
"Then let's find them quickly!"
"Don't be hasty."
Xiao Ye said with a smile, "First, we need to ask around. They've clearly lived here for some time, so we need to get a clearer picture."
"What if someone is impersonating them? We can't be certain they're your parents just yet."
Lin Chuyue nodded. "You're right."
The group began asking about the couple.
They had indeed lived in the small building for a long time.
Since they all worked at the same factory, everyone was fairly familiar with each other.
The woman living across the hall, in particular, was on the best terms with the couple.
"Well now, who are you to her? Coming here asking about things like this?"
Xiao Ye didn't say a word. He simply took out a wad of cash and handed it to her. "We were hired to come here."
The woman's eyes lit up at the sight of so much money. She quickly glanced left and right to make sure no one was watching, then snatched the cash and placed it on a table just inside her door.
"Whatever you want to know, just ask!"
Xiao Ye asked, "I heard some people say this couple disappears often and is very mysterious. What does that mean?"
"It's true, they do disappear for a few days every month. At first, I had no idea where they went."
"Then one time, I went to visit my nephew and happened to see them. That's when I found out they were going to Jiangcheng."
"I asked about it later and learned they go to Jiangcheng once every month."
"I think Xiaoli's family is from Jiangcheng."
Jiangcheng!
Hearing that familiar name,
Lin Chuyue instantly grew tense. "Did they say where in Jiangcheng they go?"
"How would I know that? If I hadn't seen them myself, they probably would have never told me."
The woman shook her head repeatedly. "Let me tell you, for ordinary folks like us, we all know the ins and outs of each other's lives, right?"
"But they're different. We don't know a thing about their family situation."
"And look at them, they're in their forties and don't even have any children with them. They say their kids are back in their hometown, but in all these years, we've never seen them visit, not even once."
"They're very tight-lipped. They don't say a single thing about their own lives."
The woman lowered her voice. "I heard... some people say they got into trouble back in their hometown, and that's why they came here to lay low."
"That's why very few people at the factory are close to them. Even I'm just slightly acquainted with them, not what you'd call good friends."
Mysterious.
Jiangcheng.
Never speaking of their past.
All these points added up were indeed highly suspicious.
And they strongly resembled Lin Chuyue's parents in their youth.
But just how strong the resemblance was, they would only know after seeing them in person.
With this in mind, Xiao Ye asked, "Do you have any photos of them?"
"No." The woman smacked her forehead. "You mentioning photos just reminded me. Right, there's one more thing. They absolutely hate having their picture taken."
"The factory wanted to take pictures before, and they refused to show up, no matter what."
"Oh, and they don't even have photos on their employee badges. They're good workers, so the supervisor let it slide."
"Once, someone was taking a selfie and accidentally got them in the background. They noticed and actually made the person delete it. That's another reason why people don't like them."
For ordinary people, that kind of nitpicking really did seem melodramatic.
Lin Chuyue looked at Xiao Ye excitedly. "They won't even let a single photo of themselves exist. It has to be them!"