Chapter Eleven Records (Part One)

  Listening to Chu Lian's murmurs, Gu Huanli's mind was filled with thoughts, but before she could think more, a light knock on the door came from outside the ward. The door was soon pushed open and two police officers in uniform walked in.

  "Who are you?" Gu Wenjuan furrowed her brow, her voice thick with a nasal tone.

  A woman police officer in her thirties smiled slightly and said with a pleasant expression, "We are the criminal police from Ning'an District Public Security Bureau. Now we need to take a statement from the victim of this kidnapping case. Please leave a guardian behind, and others please temporarily withdraw."

  "The culprit has been caught, what else is there to ask? You were slow to rescue people, now that the person has been rescued, you are in a hurry to come and make a record. Don't you think about how much shock the child has suffered? Moreover, she has so many injuries on her body!" Gu Wenjuan hid Gu Huanli behind her, with a thin layer of anger on her face. "Besides, Huanli is only eight years old, what can she know?"

  "We have found two eyewitnesses who happened to be at the scene when the kidnapping took place, but the testimony of the victim is also crucial in the upcoming trial." The female detective said with a smile, "After all, none of us want to let a bad person go free or wrongly accuse a good person. More importantly, only a fair and just trial can compensate for the victim's losses, protect their rights, bring justice to the world, and uphold human righteousness."

  "Can't you have some sympathy? You're torturing us just to close the case." Gu Wenjuan said through gritted teeth, her tone arrogant and disdainful. "Who is your superior? I'm going to file a complaint against you!"

  "Auntie." Gu Tianxi's voice was extremely soft, with a faint smile on his face, standing elegantly beside the hospital bed, calmly saying to Gu Wenjuan, "For Xiaoli, the sooner this matter is over, the better. Moreover, cooperating with the police investigation is every citizen's duty. However, I hope the police can be careful with their words during the inquiry and not stimulate my sister too much."

  "Tianxi!" Gu Wenjuan looked at him with some disapproval, but Gu Tianxi's mouth slightly curved up, although the smile was faint, however, the serious color in his eyes was completely unlike what a young man would have, as if he had a penetrating gaze that could see through worldly affairs.

  Always maintaining a elegant smile, Gu Tianxi gently placed her hand on her sister's shoulder and once again sent her calm and gentle voice into the other person's ear, "This is also what Xiaoli hopes for."

  "Wenjuan, your emotions are really too excited, take Lianyou and wait outside the ward for a while, it's okay with me and Tianxi here." Chulintao smiled good-naturedly, but it was unclear whether he was smiling at the female detective or at Gu Tianxi. In any case, he looked at Gu Wenjuan with profound meaning, then gently pushed her and her daughter out.

  "Gu Huanli, are you asking for a recording? You have no objections, right?" The male detective sat down on the sofa beside him and said in a formal tone.

  "Recording?" Gu Huanli looked up at Gu Tianxi and nodded slightly, answering softly, "Okay."

  "Gu Huanli, from now on, you must answer my questions truthfully." The female detective sat down beside the hospital bed and said softly, "If you give false testimony, you will be held legally responsible. Do you understand?"

  "I understand." Gu Huanli leaned her body against the pillow, her icy small hand tightly grasping Gu Tianxi's fingers.

  "Okay, tell us about your experience after school yesterday."

  Gu Huan Lian thought for a moment, then said slowly, "Yesterday was the final exam, I wasn't feeling well, so after finishing the exam, I didn't go to practice piano. Usually, the driver would pick up Huan You first and take her home, then come back to school to pick me up, so I went straight to the school gate to wait for the driver, thinking of going home with Lian You earlier."

  "I inquired with the Cijin Elementary School, and they generally do not allow students to leave school on their own. Moreover, according to the school's regulations, students returning home must either take the school bus or be picked up by a designated person. So, what was the reason for you leaving school alone yesterday?"

  I want to give my brother a call.

  The female detective looked straight into Gu Huan Lian's eyes and said softly, "Can't those words be spoken at home?"

  "Brother was in the UK at that time, and..." Gu Huanli lowered her head in embarrassment and said softly, "I also suddenly thought of brother, so I ran to the phone booth across from school to call brother."

  "Can't you make a call at home?" The female detective looked at the information in her hand and smiled, "Oh, I forgot, you're temporarily living with your aunt and uncle. Is it that they don't usually let you make calls, so you have to go outside of school to make calls?"

  "I just missed my brother." Gu Huan looked at the female detective in a daze, as if she didn't quite understand why she would ask such a question. "Because, I haven't seen my brother in a long time, and I miss him, so...I called his dormitory..."

  Chu Lin sighed and said in a low voice, "Huan Li is the victim. Please put more attention on the case rather than our family relationship, can you?"

  "We just need to confirm that she hasn't been abused or suffered from emotional abuse." The female detective looked at Chu Lintao seriously and said solemnly, "This is our duty and responsibility, please understand."

  "My uncle and aunt have been very good to me." Gu Huanli smiled, her eyes fixed on the female detective's face without blinking, "This matter is all because of my own willfulness, and has nothing to do with my uncle and aunt."

  "Okay." The female detective smiled slightly, "So, do you still remember what happened when you were kidnapped?"

  Gu Huanli shook her head and said slowly, "I only remember that at the time... I hadn't finished talking to my brother when something suddenly came over me, and then I don't remember anything else."

  "After our investigation, the culprit used chloroform." The female detective sighed and said to Chu Lintao, "Fortunately, they didn't use too much of it."

  "It's already not a small amount." Chu Lin Tao shook his head, recalling the words the doctor had told him. If it weren't for Gu Huan Li's strong will, according to normal reasoning, people who inhaled the Goro flower would be completely limp and unable to exert any strength, with no way to escape. Moreover, the aftereffects of inhaling the Goro flower were not something that could be fully recovered from with just one day and night of medical treatment. "So, I hope you won't ask too many questions for now. After all, Huan Li is still a patient, and a patient who has just escaped from danger with her soul still unsettled."

  "We know." The female detective flipped through the documents in her hand and continued to ask, "Gu Huanli, when did you wake up? And how did you escape from the abandoned factory?"

  Gu Huanli took the water cup handed over by Gu Tianxi, took a light sip, moistened her throat, and then placed the water cup in her hand. "When I woke up, there was only one person outside. At that time, I was very scared, but my mouth was taped shut with adhesive tape, so I couldn't make any sound. I didn't know how to escape either, I just thought of untying the rope tied around my wrist first." As she spoke, she handed one of her wrists over to the female detective, letting her see the marks left by the ropes.

  The female detective saw the several scars on her wrist that were cut by glass at a glance, and was taken aback. "How did you get these injuries?"

  "I used the broken glass to cut the rope, occasionally scratching myself." Gu Huanli withdrew her hand and smiled lightly, "But I hadn't cut it open yet, that person... seemed to be called... Qin Shouzheng came back, and even bought leek-filled buns."

  "How did you know it was a leek-filled bun?"

  "Because my nose is very good!" Gu Huanli raised her nose and smiled, "At that time I was still very happy, because the strong leek flavor could cover up the bloody smell, so they wouldn't discover that I woke up."

  "In other words, after Qin Shouzheng came back, you heard all of their conversation?"

  Gu Huanli blinked dazedly, then looked up at Gu Tianxi and said, really, she didn't know what the police knew. If she knew they actually didn't know, then she'd pretend she didn't know either. But if she didn't know they already knew something and acted like she didn't know anything, would that bring more trouble?

  She herself was almost confused by all these things she knew and didn't know.

  Gu Tianxi took the water cup from her hand, then gently grasped her slightly trembling hand and said slowly, "It's okay, just tell me everything you heard."

  She lowered her eyelids, biting her lips hard, and after a while, she said in a low voice, "There's someone named Zeng Huaiyuan, his wife used to be an employee of my uncle's company, because...because something happened and she jumped off the building, leaving behind only a daughter named Yingzi. That person is very angry, always saying he wants...blood for blood, but I don't understand why they keep calling me Miss Chu and keep sniffing around me...Ahhhhh..." She suddenly seemed to be scared by something, hugging her head and screaming in a mournful voice.

  "Xiao Li, don't be afraid, I'm here." Gu Tian Xi's already heavy heart tightened further, he stretched out his hand to gently hold the constantly trembling Gu Huan Li, and whispered softly in her ear, "It's okay, I'll always be by your side."

  The room fell silent for a while, with everyone staring at the siblings. The female detective's expression was serious and profound, while Chulintao's expression was apologetic and worried.

  Leaning in her brother's arms, the confusion of thoughts from earlier had already passed, and Gu Huan Lian's inner world gradually returned to calmness. She was indeed intentionally pretending to be very scared, after all, she was only an eight-year-old girl now, even if she was mature for her age, when faced with danger, she should still show fear. Otherwise, let alone the police, even her brother would think she was a monster.

  Gu Tianxi gently held her from behind, his eyes filled with pity, helplessness and pain. His lips moved slightly as if he wanted to speak but stopped. After a long time, his gentle voice sounded again, "Xiao Li, can you hold on anymore?"

  "Okay, I can." Gu Huanli wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, I was really rude just now. Officer, please let me continue."

  She thought for a moment, then spoke in a slow tone, "Later, the person named Qin Shouzheng took me away from Zeng Huaiyuan's hands and put me back in the corner. They talked for a while, seemingly discussing money matters, something about five million, six million... Then they said they were going out to make a phone call, saying that if they walked far enough, they wouldn't be discovered, and left. When they left, they didn't lock the door, so after I cut through the rope with the broken glass, I escaped. The only problem was that the place was too big, and no matter what, I couldn't find an exit. Just then, I saw a skylight above me, so I moved over a chair and climbed up, then used a cloth to shatter it, and immediately jumped out of the window."

  "How did you know which direction to escape in?"

  Gu Huan's eyes flashed with a light brighter than a shooting star, she wrapped her arm around her brother's and smiled at the female detective, "Because my brother told me that in the night sky, the brightest star is the North Star, it forever shines in the northern sky, unchanged for eternity."

  ……

  "It's really a clever and brave kid." The female detective closed the notebook in her hand, smiled and nodded at Gu Tianxi and Chu Lintao. "The cause of this kidnapping case is not complicated. Zeng Huaiyuan had been harboring resentment towards Mr. Chu Lintao, so he conspired with Qin Shouzheng from the same village to kidnap Mr. Chu's daughter, Chu Liangyu. However, they mistakenly took Gu Huanlin as Chu Liangyu and kidnapped her from outside the school gate, then placed her in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. As for how Gu Huanlin managed to escape safely, we have to thank you two for your guidance and education, also her own calmness and decisiveness. Lastly, we must also thank the two junior high school students who happened to encounter Gu Huanlin on the road and bravely came to her rescue - Ye Qinglan and Luo Yichen. It was these three crucial factors that helped Gu Huanlin return home safely."

  She turned her head to look at Gu Huan Lian, with a warm smile on her face like a kind mother. "My daughter is about the same age as you, but she doesn't have your bravery, she's still just a little girl who only knows how to cry. Alright, you're still very weak, we won't disturb you anymore, hope you recover soon."

  "Thank you, Officer." Gu Huanli's eyes shone with sincere smile as she watched them leave.

  "Xiao Li!!!!" Chu Lian rushed into the ward, hugging Gu Huanli and bursting into tears. "I heard everything from outside! So those bad people wanted to kidnap me! Waaahhh, so scary, so scary!"

  Yes, it's really scary! Gu Huanli took a deep breath, the scariness wasn't referring to the two kidnappers, but rather the wound on her arm that had just been stitched up by the doctor, ouch, being pinched so hard by Chu Liuyue was really painful!