Chapter Forty-Eight: The Investor

Qin Ruonan quickly pulled up Fang Da’s contact number and dialed. She was worried that if he wasn’t home and Xia Ying wasn’t there either, a trip to his house would be a wasted journey that would cost them precious time.

Fang Da didn’t pick up quickly; the call only went through just before the automated message would have alerted them that the recipient was unavailable. His voice sounded listless and drained of spirit. Qin Ruonan wasn’t surprised in the slightest. In fact, if he had sounded full of energy, it would have been truly eerie. After all, his son had been missing for so long, his fate hanging in the balance, and even a complete layman would know that as time passed, the situation looked increasingly grim. Any person would be crushed by such a weight. Furthermore, the incident had served as a catalyst for a massive fight between him and Xia Ying, who had just discovered she was pregnant. Whether they had reconciled was still unknown, but the man was clearly in over his head.

When told they were coming over, Fang Da didn't hesitate and agreed immediately, saying he was at home and they could come whenever they liked. He was brief on the phone and didn’t press for updates on the investigation. After confirming the meeting, he hung up.

When An Changpu and Qin Ruonan knocked on the sturdy, high-end security door of Fang Da’s home, they both couldn't help but cough immediately. Although the early winter air outside was becoming colder by the day, it also seemed to grow purer with the low temperatures. However, the moment Fang Da opened the door, a thick wave of cigarette smoke billowed out. Neither An nor Qin were smokers, and their tolerance for the smell was low. Combined with the sudden, jarring difference between the air inside and outside, they both coughed until their faces turned red.

Seeing them cough, Fang Da felt apologetic. He propped the door wide open and waved his hands to clear the air. Thinking that wasn't enough, he hurried over to open the living room windows.

Once the windows were open, the pungent smell of smoke was quickly diluted by the fresh air rushing in. After regaining their composure, An and Qin helped Fang Da close the door, changed into slippers, and stepped into the living room.

"Sit! Please, sit! I’ll go make you some tea," Fang Da offered. Before they could refuse, he had already turned and headed for the kitchen.

The sofa in the living room was a mess, littered with wrinkled shirts, worn socks, and a balled-up blanket. Carefully avoiding the clutter, An and Qin found spots to sit, only then realizing that this home—which had once been tidy and bright—had completely lost its former appearance.

The floor was dull with dust, and despite the open window, the smell of smoke lingered heavily. The coffee table was piled with debris: empty beer cans, dirty glasses stained with tea residue, and one cup still half-full, with two cigarette butts floating in the liquid.

There was an ashtray on the table, overflowing to the point where it could hold no more. Several cigarette butts had spilled onto the table surface, and cigarette ash was scattered everywhere, rolling across the table with the breeze from the window until it fell onto the floor.

Before long, Fang Da returned from the kitchen carrying two disposable paper cups. He initially wanted to set them on the table, but seeing there wasn't a single clean spot, he handed them to the two officers instead.

"Sorry, you'll have to make do with paper cups. We don't have any clean tea glasses left," he said with a sheepish expression.

At that moment, the most appropriate way to describe Fang Da was with the phrase: deeply striking. The reason was that he looked like a completely different person from the one they had met at the police station.

The first time they met, Fang Da had been clean, well-dressed, and even had a touch of style. Now, there was nothing left but slovenliness. He was wearing a shirt layered under a pale pink wool vest that was so wrinkled it looked like a giant rag. Wearing a blue vest over it made the outfit even more unbearable to look at. His cheeks were covered in a messy stubble, and his eyes were bloodshot, the whites laced with red veins. The way he struggled to keep his eyes wide and appear alert was somewhat unsettling.

"Has Xia Ying not returned these past few days?" Qin Ruonan noticed the clues. A man going from well-groomed to exceptionally disheveled usually had something to do with the woman in his life. Comparing the state of the house to how it had been, the conclusion was easy to draw.

Fang Da sat down, not forgetting to stuff his socks and shirt behind a cushion at the corner of the sofa. He nodded to Qin Ruonan and said, "Yeah, she’s still angry at me. She’s staying at her parents' place and won’t come back. I called a few times, but eventually, she stopped picking up. If she won't come back, then she won't. At this stage, I don’t have the heart to beg or coax her. When it comes down to it, it’s all my fault. I was too selfish, never considering her feelings or taking on the responsibilities I owed my family. Whatever consequences I face for ending up in this position, I’ll bear them alone. I have no complaints."

"Don't you want to ask about the progress of the case?" An Changpu asked.

Fang Da shook his head. "No. If there’s a result, you’ll naturally tell me. If you don’t tell me, it means there’s no result yet. I don’t want to ask about the process. If I ask and hear that things aren't looking good, I’m afraid I won't be able to hold it together."

His words made An Changpu fall silent, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"May I take a look at Fang Wan's room?" Qin Ruonan requested. This was the primary reason she had come to Fang Da’s house today.

Fang Da certainly wouldn't refuse. Without rising, he pointed to the narrow corridor beside the living room. "Go ahead. As long as it helps the investigation, you can do whatever you need to."

With permission granted, Qin Ruonan immediately headed to Fang Wan’s room, while An Changpu remained in the living room with Fang Da.

Fang Da reached for a cigarette pack on the table, pulled one out, and lit it. He offered one to An Changpu, who declined. Fang Da didn't press the matter, tossed the pack back on the table, and took a deep drag, exhaling a long plume of gray smoke. "When I was your age, in my twenties, I didn't smoke either. After I got married, the pressure at work grew, and Qian Yuling was always picking fights over everything, big or small. I felt so frustrated that I started smoking. The habit just got worse and worse; I can't quit now."

"You shouldn't torture yourself like this. Before there's a result, you can't be the first one to collapse," An Changpu advised. "I admit, you lacked the necessary responsibility and devotion toward Fang Wan and both your wives in the past. But right now, your marriage with Xia Ying is still intact, and she is carrying your child. It's never too late to mend the fence. The mistakes you made before shouldn't be repeated with this child, don't you think?"

Fang Da’s eyes turned red, and tears streamed down his cheeks, wetting the stubble on his face.

"You're right, you're right," he said, looking upward, whether out of emotion or to force back the tears that kept welling up. "Sometimes I think, I've lived for nearly forty years, I'm no longer young, yet I don't even understand the basic principles of being a person!"

An Changpu stopped speaking, watching silently as Fang Da wept. Offering hope through a positive perspective was his usual way of handling things, but deep down, he didn't feel much sympathy for the man in front of him. As a man himself, he found it difficult to resonate with or pity someone who lacked a sense of responsibility; it was perhaps similar to how women naturally felt repelled by frivolous or promiscuous individuals of their own gender.

The two men sat in silence for a while until Qin Ruonan returned from Fang Wan’s room, breaking the quiet in the living room.

She had bagged the models from Fang Wan’s desk and brought them out. While in the room, she had carefully examined the details of the models and found that they matched the characteristics of genuine, high-quality products described online. Of course, she wasn't an expert, so she could only compare them crudely. Whether they were truly those high-priced items would require a professional’s appraisal later; for now, they were merely suspected to be so.

"Do you know what these are?" Qin Ruonan placed the models on the table, having to push aside the water cups and empty beer cans to make space.

Fang Da wiped his face messily and squinted at the items, which seemed strange to him. He shook his head. "Don't know. Are they my son's?"

His reaction confirmed one thing: he certainly hadn't bought them for Fang Wan. Could Xia Ying or Qian Yuling have been the ones to buy them?

Qin Ruonan thought for a moment and asked, "These models are likely worth about a thousand yuan. Do you think it’s possible that Xia Ying or Qian Yuling bought them for him?"

Fang Da shook his head immediately. "Impossible. If these things are worth that much, neither of them would have bought them. How much does Qian Yuling make in a month? She barely makes ends meet as it is; she wouldn't have spare money to buy such expensive things for her son. It couldn't be Xia Ying either. She doesn't spend that much on me, and she doesn't get along well with Fang Wan. Why would she spend a thousand yuan on him for no reason and not tell me? I know both these women well enough—forget a thousand yuan, even if they were worth ten, they wouldn't buy them secretly without letting me know. One is always looking to ask me for money, and the other is always looking to claim credit for her actions."

After saying this, he paused, then voiced the question that had been on Qin Ruonan’s mind as well: "But, if it wasn't one of the three of us, who else would be so generous as to buy this for Fang Wan?"