Chapter 1 The owner of the dumpling restaurant is missing
The pedestrian street in Dongcheng District was the commercial landmark of Zhongjiang City, the capital of Jiangnan Province, in the last century. This commercial street with a length of 500 meters from east to west has more than 200 shops on both sides. The shops are all two- to three-story European-style buildings. The architecture is
Colorful neon lights hang on the walls. The dense neon lights merge into a sea of signboards on both sides of the street.
The pedestrian street belongs to the night. Only at night when the neon lights are on, can she show her enchanting figure and charming face. Only at night can she bring a steady stream of customers and huge turnover to the pedestrian street.
It is now 8:15 in the morning. The pedestrian street is still sleeping, but Lao Suntou has been up for more than 3 hours. As people get older, the time to sleep becomes shorter. Lao Suntou gets up at 5 o'clock every morning.
I went to the park for a walk, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly. After exercising for two hours, I found a place to have breakfast.
Lao Suntou has a habit. After breakfast, he likes to take a tea cup to the "Hongqu Dumpling House" on the pedestrian street to chat with the owner of the dumpling restaurant. Lao Suntou lives in a community to the north of the pedestrian street. From his home to
Hongqu Dumpling House is only a 10-minute walk away.
At this time, Lao Suntou did not sit leisurely in the Hongqu Dumpling House, drinking hot tea and chatting with the owner of the dumpling house. Instead, he stood anxiously at the door of the dumpling house and called:
"Hello, police station?"
"Oh, I want to report a missing person."
"It's Lao Zhang, Lao Zhang is missing."
"What's his name? I can't remember it. Everyone calls him Lao Zhang."
"He is the owner of Hongqu Dumpling House."
“It’s the Hongqu Dumpling House on the pedestrian street in Dongcheng District.”
"Well, the dumpling restaurant hasn't been open since yesterday morning. I thought he went out for something yesterday, so I didn't care. But today it's still not open, and I can't get through on the phone."
"The cell phone I called said the call was temporarily unavailable."
"I asked, I asked all the neighbors on the left and right, but I don't know where he went. Besides, if something happens to him, he will usually tell me."
"Oh, okay, I'll wait for you at the door."
"You guys have to come quickly, I have to pick up my grandson soon."
Su Le was on night shift at the police station last night and was taking a nap on the sofa.
"Xiao Wang, Xiao Wang, please come in." Director You called twice in his office. When no one responded, he walked out. Seeing Su Le's sleepy look, he couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
I thought, this kid doesn't even take a break after working the night shift.
Director You turned around and looked at the office. Apart from him and Su Le, there was no one there. He shook his head helplessly, walked up to Su Le and patted his shoulder gently.
Su Le opened his eyes and saw the director standing in front of him. He immediately stood up with excitement, rubbed his dry face with both hands and said:
"Director, what are your instructions?"
Director You patted Su Le on the shoulder again and said:
"Just now, we received a call from the police center saying that someone called the police on the pedestrian street in our area, saying that Mr. Zhang from Hongqu Dumpling House was missing. You should go and take a look."
"Yes, I'll be there right away." Su Le quickly adjusted his police uniform, stood at attention and saluted the director with a military salute, turned around and walked out.
"Hey, wait."
"What other instructions does the director have?" Su Le returned to his standing posture.
Director You waved his hand and told him to relax. With a concerned smile on his face, he said to him:
"Go and find out what's going on. If nothing happens, you can go back and take a nap after handling it."
"Yes!" Su Le gave another military salute and said to the director with a smile.
Su Le graduated from the Criminal Investigation Major of the Police College two years ago and worked as a police officer at the Hanfu Street Police Station in the area where the pedestrian street is located. It has been two years now. He was very unhappy with this work arrangement and had gone to the boss many times.
After reporting the situation, he hoped to be transferred to the criminal police department. However, due to his mother's opposition, his hope was never realized.
Su Le parked the car in the parking lot at the west entrance of the pedestrian street, put on his mask and trotted all the way to the door of Hongqu Dumpling House. Lao Suntou was sitting on the steps of the door holding a tea cup, drinking tea.
"Uncle Sun, was it your old man who called the police?" Su Le greeted Old Sun from afar as soon as he recognized him.
"Oh, it's Officer Su here." Old Suntou quickly stood up and came forward with a smile.
"What's going on? Uncle, can't we contact Lao Zhang?" Su Le asked.
"Let me tell you, Officer Su, Lao Zhang didn't open the door for two days, and the phone couldn't be reached. I was thinking that nothing else would happen, so I called the police station. You see, this is a troublesome thing for you to do.
Take a trip."
"It's okay, sir. Do you have Lao Zhang's mobile phone number?"
"Yes, yes, let me tell you, there are not many people who have Lao Zhang's mobile phone number." Lao Suntou said and handed the mobile phone to Su Le.
Su Le took out his mobile phone and called Lao Zhang.
"Sorry, the user you dialed is temporarily unavailable."
Hey, can't be connected? Su Le also felt that something was wrong when he heard this prompt tone. Generally speaking, if the mobile phone is shut down normally or the battery is exhausted, it will prompt you that the number you are dialing has been turned off. If you encounter a situation where the call cannot be connected temporarily,
situation, it means that the mobile phone suddenly lost contact with the base station. In the past, when the battery of the mobile phone was easily removable, someone deliberately removed the battery while the phone was turned on to cause a situation where the connection could not be connected. Nowadays, almost all mobile phones have non-removable batteries.
, and in the current situation where mobile phone signals have almost seamless coverage, this situation generally only occurs when entering a tunnel or an underground garage.
"Uncle Sun, did you call Lao Zhang yesterday?"
"I tried, but I couldn't get through yesterday morning."
"So when you called yesterday, did you say that the phone was turned off or that you couldn't get through?"
"Well, I..." Old Sun scratched his head, shook his head and said:
"I don't remember this. Anyway, I didn't get through it."
If it couldn't be connected yesterday, it might be a bit troublesome, Su Le thought. It's impossible for Lao Zhang to be in a no-signal area for two consecutive days.
"Uncle Sun, is Lao Zhang the only one in this dumpling restaurant?"
"Yes, it's just Lao Zhang. I've told him many times to find a helper, but he just doesn't listen."
"Then do you know the contact information of Lao Zhang's family?"
"Lao Zhang's family? No." Uncle Sun shook his head and said:
"This Lao Zhang has never mentioned his family or relatives to me. I have asked him several times before, but he always asked him to talk about it. Seeing that he was unwilling to talk about it, I simply stopped asking about it.
.His dumpling house is open as usual during the New Year and holidays, and he never goes home."
"Has Lao Zhang opened a dumpling restaurant here for a long time?"
"That's a long time ago! Let me think about it..." Lao Zhang counted on his fingers for a long time and said to Su Le with certainty:
"It's been 15 years. It's been 15 years this year. I remember that I just moved here. Since then, I've been eating Lao Zhang's dumplings. The shop signs on this street have changed countless times, like Lao Zhang's.
Not many restaurants like Zhang’s Hongqu Dumpling House have such a long history!”
"Okay, uncle. When was the last time you saw Lao Zhang?"
"The night before yesterday. Every night when I come back from my walk, I go to Lao Zhang's place to sit for a while."
"Do you remember what time it is tonight?"
"At half past eight, I go home on time and go to bed at this time every day. I'm older and go to bed early, so I'm not as energetic as you young people."
"Then what happened to Lao Zhang the night before yesterday?"
"Well, no. There were almost no people eating at that time. Lao Zhang was always clearing the table and cleaning, so I sat on the stool at the door and watched him work."
"What did you all talk about?" Su Le asked.
"There's nothing to talk about. We just talk about fishing, the weather, the news and so on."
"How is Lao Zhang's mood? Does he seem thoughtful?"
"It's no different from usual. He's just like that. He always has a frown on his face. He rarely has a smile."
"Okay, sir, I have written down everything you said. We will investigate and understand the situation as soon as possible, and I will inform you as soon as there is news."
"Okay, okay, it's best if nothing happens. I'll fill the trouble for you."
"It's okay, uncle, if you think of anything, just call me directly." Su Le took out his business card and handed it to Uncle Sun.
"Okay! If I think of anything, or if Lao Zhang comes back, I will call you right away." Uncle Sun carefully put the business card into his jacket pocket.
Looking at Uncle Sun's leaving figure, Su Le carefully looked at the door of Hongqu Dumpling House for a while, then walked to the door and checked the closed rolling shutter door, and found that the rolling shutter door was intact and locked. If it was counted from yesterday morning
, Lao Zhang has only been unreachable for 24 hours so far. Su Le thought, this door is not particularly difficult to open, but it is hard to say whether Lao Zhang is really missing. At this time, he cannot forcefully open the rolling shutter door and enter the dumplings rashly.
of the museum.
Su Le was about to go to the shop next to the dumpling house to learn more about the situation. Being sensitive by nature, he suddenly felt that someone was watching him from a distance behind him. He turned around and looked down the street. He saw only a few people walking on the street.
Outside, no one was looking at him. Could it be that he felt wrong? Su Le thought.
To the east of Hongqu Dumpling House is an optical shop, and to the west is a children's clothing store. Both shops have just opened, and the shop owners and employees are busy cleaning. Su Le has met the boss Lin of the optical shop several times.
Let's go to the optical shop first.
Boss Lin is from the south and has been opening an optical shop in Zhongjiang for more than ten years. When he saw Su Le walking into the store, he quickly took out a cigarette and let Su Le smoke:
"Oh, Officer Su is here. Are you inspecting the fire protection or electrical appliances this time?"
Su Le smiled and waved his hand, rejecting the cigarette handed over by Boss Lin:
"I'm not here to check today, I'm here to ask you something."
"Easy to say, easy to say. As long as I know something, I will definitely cooperate with Officer Su's work." Boss Lin said and pulled a stool for Su Le to sit on.
"Why don't you sit down? I want to ask about the dumpling restaurant next door."
"Dumpling restaurant, Lao Zhang, what's the matter?"
"Did you know that the dumpling house has not been open these two days?"
"Oh, I know, I wanted to eat dumplings at noon yesterday, but I looked over and saw that the door wasn't open. Could it be that it's not open today?" After finishing speaking, Boss Lin walked to the door and stretched his head to look next door. When he came back, he looked surprised.
explain:
"It's really not open today. What's going on?"
"I don't know yet. Someone called and said that Lao Zhang hasn't opened the door for two days. I'll come over first to find out more about the situation." Su Le took out his notebook and laid it on the counter.
"What do you want to know? Officer Su."
Su Le asked again and learned about the situation from Lao Suntou. Boss Lin didn't know as much as Lao Suntou, but the situation they both mentioned was roughly the same. At the end, Su Le suddenly remembered something he hadn't asked.
Problems that get too old:
"Boss Lin, does Lao Zhang have a car?"
"Yes! I know this. One time I was in a hurry and had to go out. It happened that all the cars in the store were being driven away by others. I asked Lao Zhang to borrow a car."
"Do you remember what car it is?"
"Well, it's a van. It's quite old, but it's very clean. I remember it should be a Wuling Hongguang."
"Do you remember the license plate number?"
"Oh, I have no memory of this. I only drove it once."
After Su Le came out of the optical shop, he went to a children's clothing store and several other nearby shops to learn about the situation. But their impression of the dumpling house mainly stayed at the level of delicious and cheap dumplings. Some of them even didn't
I knew that the owner of the dumpling restaurant was named Zhang, and I didn't even notice that the dumpling restaurant had not been open for two days.