You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 125 locked! (Seeking monthly votes)
July 19th, 8:30 AM.

Annan Television, Arts and Literature Department.

As soon as Zhang Wen arrived at work, she immediately put down her bag, squatted under her desk, and began searching for the lost photo again.

Over the past six months, she has taken hundreds of photos, but this is the only one she is satisfied with.

At the entrance of the funeral home, a country man smoking welding fumes and driving an oxcart, a corpse lying on the oxcart, a desperate man standing by the roadside, and the backs of two urban youths.

Zhang Wen believes this photo is epoch-making, much like Kevin Carter's 1993 photograph, "The Starving Sudan."

The background of the photo shows a girl huddled on the ground due to extreme hunger, with a menacing African white vulture beside her.

This photograph is one of the most controversial and impactful images in the history of photojournalism, intertwined with human suffering and moral dilemmas.

The public believed that the vulture was about to devour the girl, which aroused extreme indignation among people around the world, who criticized the photographer Kevin Carter who took the photo.

Actually, the vulture was about 15 meters away from the girl; it wasn't that close.

During the shoot, a telephoto lens was used to compress the space, and after the shoot, the vultures were driven away so they did not touch the girl.

Unable to bear the torment of his conscience, Kevin Carter sold all his photography equipment, sent the money to a Sudanese relief organization, and ultimately chose to commit suicide.

Kevin Carter is an idol to many photojournalists, and Zhang Wen is no exception; she particularly admires him.

Although her photos are not even one percent as good as those of the Vulture Girl, they are Zhang Wen's most proud photos in recent years.

After searching for a long time without success, Zhang Wen sighed, thinking that she could only take some time today to go to the photo lab and have another copy developed from the negative.

Just then, a voice rang out from behind her desk.

"What are you looking for?"

Zhang Wen looked up and saw Hu Aihua with a camera hanging around her neck, smiling at her.

“I lost the photos I took.” Zhang Wen stood up and shrugged.

"Which one?" Hu Aihua blinked. "Do you want me to help you find it?"

"I don't know where I lost it. It's okay, I'll just get another one printed later."

"Okay, are you going out today?"

"Okay, wait for me downstairs, I'll be right there."

"OK." Hu Aihua nodded, slung her bag over her shoulder, and went downstairs.

He walked to the corner of the stairs and noticed that the flowerpot on the counter was gone. He turned around and asked, "Why is that green bamboo in the vase on your desk?"

Zhang Wen smiled and said, "I accidentally dropped the flowerpot on the ground."

Hu Aihua nodded, turned around and went downstairs.

Zhang Wen sighed and began packing up her photography equipment and film.

Deng Mo, who was sitting at the next table, looked up and said with a smile, "Zhang Wen, why have you been hanging out with Hu Aihua so much these past few months? Are you two dating?"

Zhang Wen pursed her lips and shook her head: "Sister Deng, you misunderstood. He and I just went out to film some things. Besides, I can't drive."

"You're asking him to be your driver?"

Every word the other party said was a trap. If Zhang Wen had just started working there, she would have definitely fallen for it, but now she has learned to remain silent.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Deng Mo continued, "This Hu Aihua used to work in the control room. Like you, he loves photography and carries a camera with him every day. You know, his camera is very expensive. He emptied his parents' savings to buy it."

Because the photos were indeed very well taken, in 94 he even went to Baijing with the deputy director to learn from them. After returning, he was transferred to the news department, specifically to go out and gather material.

Zhang Wen slung her camera bag over her shoulder and laughed, "That shows he's capable."

"Bullshit." Deng Mo said mysteriously, "That kid's crazy, he's always talking nonsense, don't get too close to him. He's like you too, he likes that foreign photographer, Kevin or something."

“Kevin/Carter,” Zhang Wen replied.

On the wall of Hu Aihua's office, there was a news photo of a vulture and a boy, which Zhang Wen had seen many times.

"Sister Deng, I'm going out." Zhang Wen nodded and went downstairs with her bag on her back.

On the first floor, she happened to run into Huang Guanglu, who was coming to work.

The old man carried a briefcase, wore a white shirt and a gold watch, and had his hair neatly combed, giving him a refined and gentle appearance.

Seeing Zhang Wen come downstairs, Huang Guanglu avoided eye contact and strode forward.

Just as he was about to go over, Zhang Wen asked, "Did you puncture my bicycle tire last night?"

Huang Guanglu was slightly taken aback, then glared at her and replied, "Let's go to your director's office later and talk about whether I did it."

“Fine, you wait, I’ll come find you when I get back!” Zhang Wen retorted without any politeness.

This made Huang Guanglu's face turn ashen. He hadn't expected that this young man, who had only been with the company for less than two years, would dare to be so disrespectful to him.

Zhang Wen sneered and walked out of the TV station lobby.

Hu Aihua had already driven the car to the door. Zhang Wen ran over, opened the car door, and climbed into the passenger seat.

Zhang Wen sighed, "It's so hot this early in the morning, when will it cool down? Where are we going to film today?"

“There’s a slaughterhouse in the north of the city, let’s go there,” Hu Aihua replied as she drove off.

“A slaughterhouse?” Zhang Wen frowned. “What’s there to film there? It’s quite far, isn’t it? I remember it being in the suburbs.”

"You'll see when you get there." Hu Aihua smiled, revealing her very white teeth.

A few minutes later, the car drove onto the road leading to Chengnan Health School, because we had to take a detour from there.

Just as Hu Aihua passed the entrance of Chengnan Health School, she looked out of the car and saw a tall man standing at the school gate.

The man stood with his hands on his hips, watching the traffic on the street. Zhang Wen saw him too, and felt that the man's back looked familiar.

Because the car was going too fast, the face she saw disappeared from sight in an instant.

at the same time.

Yang Jinwen turned his gaze away from the road and looked at Jiang Bala, who was walking out of the guardhouse.

"This old man didn't know any of them, yet he still smoked three of my good cigarettes."

Jiang Bala sighed: "The photos in the newspaper are too blurry. We need to find new photos of these people."

Yang Jinwen nodded: "It's summer vacation now, and schools are closed, so there aren't many students to identify."

"Let's go to the night market and see how Old Fu and Cat are doing with their investigation."

"Row."

Just as the two were about to leave, a group of people came out of the school.

It was Yan Bin's men from the South City Brigade. Several of them saw the two of them and sneered.

One of the taller men greeted them, "Hey, isn't this Captain Jiang? You've found the body?"

The other party spoke sarcastically, and Jiang Bala, as a veteran of the Chengnan Brigade, retorted without any politeness: "Get lost, don't mess with me. Don't think that just because Yan Bin is protecting you, I won't dare to curse you!"

The other party didn't expect Jiang Bala to have such a temper, but they couldn't back down in the face of trouble. Just as they were about to curse back, a car suddenly drove up on the road.

Yan Bin opened the passenger door, and the men immediately ran forward.

Five or six people whispered among themselves for a while, then got into the car behind them and prepared to leave.

Yan Bin glanced at Jiang Bala and Yang Jinwen, didn't ask them any questions, closed the car door and left.

"Damn it..." Jiang Bala blushed with anger.

This is what it means to be ignored. Who can stand it? "This son of a bitch is treating us like we don't exist."

Yang Jinwen shook his head: "Let's go, shall we go through that alley?"

Jiang Bala suppressed his temper and nodded.

The two of them walked backwards from the alleyway opposite the side gate of the nursing school, following the route Ma Weiwei had taken that night when she disappeared.

It was cool in the alley, and there were quite a few passersby, mostly elderly men and women selling vegetables.

Jiang pulled out a newspaper and grabbed someone, asking, "Excuse me, have you seen these people in the photos around here?"

He had no hope at all; after all, the photos in the newspaper were yellowed, and besides, the other party was unwilling to talk to him.

They asked about ten people along the way, and halfway there they saw several old men in T-shirts sitting on a stone wall more than a meter high, playing chess.

With a glimmer of hope, Jiang Bala took out cigarettes, distributed them to them, and then asked each of them again.

An old man holding a palm-leaf fan glanced at the photo and pointed to a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses on the far left of the newspaper photo, saying, "Isn't that him? He often takes photos around here."

Upon hearing this, Yang Jinwen and Jiang Bala were immediately stunned, and they exchanged a glance.

Jiang Bala pressed, "Old man, look closely. This photo is so blurry, how can you recognize him? Is it really him?"

“It’s him, I’m not mistaken. He’s the only one smiling. Look, isn’t he grinning?”

While his opponent wasn't paying attention, the old man tampered with the chessboard and continued, "He even took pictures of us playing chess, and he had this same expression on his face back then."

The other old men became interested and looked at the newspaper again. They frowned and said, "I didn't recognize him at first. I think I've seen him before. He smiles and shows his teeth. His teeth are quite white."

On the other side, in a small shop by the night market roadside.

While tidying up the counter, a middle-aged man said to Fu Yun and Maozi, "A TV reporter, huh? I know him. He's a man who smiles and shows his teeth. His teeth are very white."

There was a woman with him.

"A woman?" Fu Yun frowned. "What does this woman look like?"

"They're quite good-looking. They must be from a TV station; both of them have cameras hanging around their necks..."

The shop owner pointed to the shop next door.

"If you don't believe me, go ask the hair salon next door. They came here not long ago and had two shampoo girls stand at the door, pose for photos, and they even paid them. But the hair salon doesn't open until the afternoon."

By the way, are you guys buying cigarettes or not?

"Buy it." Fu Yun took out his wallet and handed him the money.

After he came out with the cigarettes, he said to Maozi, "No, we have to get Old Jiang and the others to bring the newspapers to confirm."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Jinwen and Jiang Bala ran out from around the corner.

Fu Yun immediately said, "We've found the person. Quickly get the newspaper and have someone identify him."

Jiang nodded, and the four of them went back into the store.

Having already done business with the convenience store owner, he cooperated readily, pointing to the man in the newspaper with a camera around his neck, and confirmed, "It's him."

Yang Jinwen immediately asked, "Did you see him on the night of July 8th?"

"I can't remember, but he often wanders around here, sometimes taking pictures in the night market. When I passed by, I saw him very interested in the stalls selling earthworms and bear paws."

“That’s right, it must be him!” Jiang Bala nodded repeatedly.

Yang Jinwen held the newspaper and slowly moved his finger over the rankings, eventually landing on a name.

"Hu Aihua!"

(End of this chapter)