The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 243 Girl

"You still remember my younger brother?" Feng Yongfu asked softly, bowing slightly, his voice trembling with emotion.

"Of course! They used to come to my place all the time. How could I not remember?" The old lady looked quite old, but her memory was still pretty good.

"Them?" Qi Fei keenly sensed the subtlety in this statement. "Are you referring to Feng Yongshou and Yu Hongxia?"

Unexpectedly, the old lady shook her head: "No, no. I meant that he and that little girl often come to my place to play together, and I even joked that Yongshou probably wants that little girl to be his wife in the future!"

"Where did this little girl come from?" Feng Yongfu was puzzled. "When Yongshou and I came here together, we didn't play with any little girls."

The old lady was quite certain: "That little girl was pretty, with two braids, I will never forget her."

"Perhaps..." Qi Fei tentatively asked, "Do you still remember her name?"

The old woman waved her hand: "I only heard Yongshou call her Xiaoyun, but I didn't know whose child she was. It's strange, I've never seen this little girl before, except when she plays with Yongshou. She's not from our community. I was wondering where this child came from. I asked her, but she's still young and couldn't explain it clearly."

Several times when I saw it was getting late, I offered to take her home, but she said no, she could get back by herself. She seemed quite capable for her young age.

Later, Hongxia told me that Yongshou had returned to Sanwu Town, and that little girl never came back.

"Xiaoyun?" Upon hearing this name, Qi Fei frowned deeply, trying to detach himself from his personal feelings and turning to the other elderly people who were also sunbathing. "Have any of you seen Feng Yongshou playing with this girl named Xiaoyun?"

The old people started chatting. One of them, wearing a blue work cap, said to the old woman, "If you're talking about Yu Hongxia's little boy, I remember now. There was a girl who often played with him. I saw them walking by the river several times. They were such young children, without any adults around. I even tried to persuade them a few times. But I remember those two kids were very stubborn and wouldn't listen to reason. I even talked to Yu Hongxia about it. But, you all know Yu Hongxia..."

"Hmm? What does that mean?" Zhong Kui asked, not without curiosity.

“Everyone knows Yu Hongxia is an old maid,” the old man blurted out. “There’s a reason she can’t get married.”

"Ahem." The old lady suddenly coughed twice. "This person has been gone for so many years, so please don't talk about it."

“It’s okay,” Zhong Kui coaxed. “We’ve never met Yu Hongxia, and we’re really curious to know what kind of person she is.”

"Hehe, this Yu Hongxia can be summed up in two words—eccentric!" the old man said immediately upon hearing this.

This assessment was unexpected, and Qi Fei and Zhong Kui exchanged bewildered glances.

Qi Fei glanced at Feng Yongfu and said to the old man, "I heard she takes good care of her relatives' children."

“I don’t know if it’s good for the children, but she completely ignores us neighbors.” The old man seemed to have a problem with Yu Hongxia. “Back then, she was educated, a primary school teacher, quite remarkable!” His meaning was clear: he thought Yu Hongxia looked down on them. “She’s an educated person, we’re just roughnecks, what can we talk about? Of course, she’d befriend educated people,” the old woman insisted, trying to smooth things over.

“Yu Hongxia is a primary school teacher? So, maybe that girl named Xiaoyun is Yu Hongxia’s student?” Wu Shanqiu immediately made the connection. However, she couldn’t help but stutter when she said the name Xiaoyun. Everyone knew how likely it was that Xiaoyun was Xi Ziyun.

“That’s possible. Some of our neighbors’ children attend the same school as Yu Hongxia. This young man is right. Although Yu Hongxia doesn’t really pay attention to us neighbors, she’s very good to the children,” the old lady immediately chimed in.

"Not bad, you even argued with the students' parents!" The old man immediately disagreed.

"Argued? You remember it so clearly?" A hint of suspicion flashed in Zhong Kui's eyes. "It seems you care a lot about your neighbor, Hongxia."

"This incident caused quite a stir back then, and those who are still alive should still remember it." The old man showed no remorse. "You all remember, right? Yu Hongxia was dragged to the ancient bridge by that man and beaten to death."

Hearing the old man say this, the elderly people who were sunbathing together nodded in agreement, chattering as if they had returned to the scene of watching the event that day.

Another old woman chimed in, "That's right, that man was really strong. He dragged Yu Hongxia all the way from her house to the ancient bridge, and Yu Hongxia's clothes were torn to shreds."

At first, everyone was saying that the man was dating Yu Hongxia.

Later, I overheard the man cursing and swearing, saying that Yu Hongxia was meddling in other people's business, and I learned that the man was a parent, saying that Yu Hongxia was interfering in his family affairs and that he wanted to teach her a lesson.

"Does anyone know who this man is?" Qi Fei asked.

"I don't know. Yu Hongxia is usually very tight-lipped. Later, the police came and took the man away. Yu Hongxia didn't say anything and limped home."

"Yu Hongxia has been dead for many years. Why are you asking about her?" The old lady came to her senses, raised her droopy eyelids, and looked at the people in front of her with her cloudy eyes, asking.

"It's nothing. This is my phone number. If you remember anything about Feng Yongshou and that girl named Xiaoyun, just give me a call." Qi Fei handed over his business card.

The illiterate old woman held the business card up to her face, barely able to make out the Arabic numerals of the phone number on it, and muttered, "Did you come to ask about this last year? You look familiar."

Upon hearing this, Qi Fei immediately squatted down in front of the old woman, bringing his face close so she could see him more clearly: "You mean there's also someone who looks a lot like me who's come to inquire about Yu Hongxia?"

The old lady carefully examined Qi Fei's face: "It's you, yet it's not you. You're getting old; you can't remember so many things anymore."

Qi Fei slowly straightened up amidst the old woman's aged murmurs—he knew, of course, that he had never been to Baishui Community, much less inquire about Yu Hongxia, the person who looked so much like him, and without a doubt, that was Xi He—which at least proved that the current direction of the investigation was correct.
-
"Brother Fei, I've checked. Yu Hongxia is a teacher at Guqiao Elementary School. Although I'm not sure if the incident the old folks mentioned about the student's parent assaulting someone is related to the case we're investigating, we can at least see if that girl named Xiaoyun is Yu Hongxia's student..." Wu Shanqiu said in the car on the way back.