SES Chapter 113 Part 1

Chapter 113

Finding that woman wasn’t easy. Luo Ren and Yi Wan San decided to drive over to the bridge to take a look. Mu Dai insisted on going too—after what happened the night before, no one had the heart to refuse her anything she asked for.

Mu Dai had changed her look: denim boots, a black baseball jacket, and a cap pulled low, her long ponytail poking through the back strap and swaying behind her head.

Everyone piled into the car and headed straight for the bridge. On the way, they stopped at a traffic light, and a motorcycle cop approached. Mu Dai got nervous, ducked her head, and quickly pulled up her mask.

But the cop just passed by.

Luo Ren let out a quiet sigh.

Still, so much time had passed since the murder that there was nothing useful left to find. The bridge was all concrete; even if a vehicle had crashed there, it wouldn’t have left any trace.

After searching in vain, they had no choice but to head back. On the way, Yan Hongsha suggested, “Why don’t we offer a reward? Nantan is such a small place. We could post online or put up flyers in the streets—look for a woman in her forties who crashed her e-bike on the bridge that night. Who knows, it might work.”

It wasn’t impossible, but it didn’t feel like the best plan. Too flashy, and it could easily draw the police’s attention.

Luo Ren stayed quiet, still weighing it.

Then Yi Wan San suddenly spoke up. “Luo Ren, stop. Pull over.”

Luo Ren pulled the car to the side. Yi Wan San didn’t explain, just opened the door and headed toward a traffic cop nearby, who had just come off shift and was twisting open a bottle of water.

Cao Yanhua frowned. “What’s San San up to now?”

Through the window, they watched Yi Wan San walk up to the cop, exchange a few words, and plop down beside him like they were old friends. Before long, the two of them were chatting away happily.

Even Mu Dai leaned close to the window to watch.

Cao Yanhua muttered, “That’s San San for you—he can shoot the breeze with thugs one minute and with cops the next.”

A little while later, Yi Wan San waved goodbye to the cop and jogged back to the car.

“I asked around,” he said as he climbed in. “Here’s the deal: all e-bikes have to be registered by jurisdiction, based on your home address, with your local traffic bureau. You’ve got to fill out personal info and hand over a copy of your ID card. I figure, a woman riding home across the bridge at that hour—it’s unlikely she was just visiting friends. Most likely, she was heading home. That puts her under the suburban traffic bureau. If we can cozy up to someone in the office, we can check their records for women in their forties with registered e-bikes. That should narrow it down.”

Yan Hongsha was dumbstruck, and even Luo Ren looked at him differently. “Not bad, Yi Wan San.”

Only Cao Yanhua was sulking, jealous that Yi Wan San’s brain worked faster than his. He refused to praise him and instead asked, “And how’d you come up with that?”

Yi Wan San hesitated, clearly reluctant to answer. “Back when I was broke, I thought about stealing bikes. Turns out you need photos and serial stamps to register them. If regular bicycles were that strict, e-bikes must be even tightly regulated.”

As they talked, Yan Hongsha quickly pulled up the location of the traffic bureau online.

Inside, the clerk in charge of registrations and records was a woman in uniform, expressionless and dismissive.

She’d be tough to deal with. Sneaking in to use her computer wasn’t an option—no passwords anyway. Bribery wouldn’t work either. She wasn’t like Chen Xiangrong, the cleaner; she actually took confidentiality seriously.

They sat in the car discussing it until they saw the woman leave for lunch. Cao Yanhua’s eyes lit up. “Let me handle this!”

He darted off.

Everyone watched curiously to see what trick he had up his sleeve—but at first, it didn’t look like much. He was probably just making up excuses, smiling and bowing like every other desperate guy asking for favors, while the clerk looked smug and dismissive.

Yi Wan San provided commentary from afar: “Please, beautiful lady, just check it for me, it won’t break any rules…”

The woman snapped her head up.

Yan Hongsha instinctively chimed in with her side: “No! We have procedures. I need a supervisor’s signature!”

Luo Ren and Mu Dai both turned to stare at them.

“What?” Yan Hongsha asked blankly.

Luo Ren said dryly, “You two seem to be having fun.”

Meanwhile, the first round ended with the woman brushing Cao Yanhua off and storming away. He slumped onto a stone bench, too dejected to come back.

Yi Wan San snorted. “Cao Fatty bit the dust. And he said, ‘Let me handle this.’ Thought he had some big move up his sleeve…”

“Shh.” Luo Ren gestured for silence.

Yi Wan San looked up. The woman had come back, head down, as if searching for something.

Cao Yanhua went to meet her. After a few words, her attitude flipped completely—she suddenly became all smiles. A moment later, she was leading him toward the office building.

Just before going in, Cao Yanhua shot them a flamboyant wink over his shoulder, full of swagger.

Luo Ren burst out laughing.

Yi Wan San, baffled, asked, “What? What’s so funny?”

“Didn’t you see? Cao Fatty pulled a classic bait-and-switch. He lifted something off her first, then pretended to ‘find’ it and wait around like an honest guy. She felt embarrassed, so she gave him an out and probably let him see the records.”

Yi Wan San sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s next-level stuff.”

Sure enough, Cao Yanhua came back with several names and addresses scribbled down.

“Lucky for us, this jurisdiction doesn’t have too many e-bikes. I wasn’t sure which one was hers, so I copied almost everything. But I’ve got a prime suspect right here…” He tapped one entry proudly. “Wu Yuping, age forty-six. See? She listed her workplace—Nantan Danjin Garment Factory.”

Yan Hongsha frowned. “So what if it’s a garment factory?”

“Because of the assembly lines,” Cao Yanhua explained. “Once the line starts, it can’t stop. They run three shifts, with plenty of night work.”

Luo Ren studied Wu Yuping’s address, then slowly started the car. “Let’s check this place first.”

He glanced at Mu Dai. As expected, she looked tense, wringing her hands together.