“Sure, sure!” The old man agreed without hesitation.

  When they reached the interrogation room, the police officer got the father-daughter pair to go in first. After he retrieved the necessary documents, he sat across the table from them.

  Upon seeing him, Yun Yecheng hastily raised a question. “I’d like to find out—”


  “We need to complete the standard procedure first before I can answer any questions from you.”


  Still looking dazed, the old man could only nod in acquiescence.

  “Did your wife go by the name ‘Li Qin’ and was she forty-nine years old?”


  He nodded. “Yes. She would have passed her 50th birthday if she were still alive.”


  “Did you know if she had any grudges with anyone while she was still alive?”


  “I don’t think so! Although she had a bad temperament and often got into arguments with others, she didn’t have grave enemies—at least, not any that I’ve heard of.”


  “How about her relationship with the neighbors?”


  The old man thought about it for a while before answering. “It wasn’t good, I suppose! She had a vicious mouth and often got into arguments with our neighbors. Her relationship with them wasn’t considered peaceful.”


  The police officer pressed on. “Was there anything out of the ordinary before she disappeared?”


  He shook his head.

  “Alright, then. Pardon me for asking this……” The police continued his probing after a slight pause. “How’s your relationship with her?”


  He gave an honest reply after a sigh. “Our relationship wasn’t that good. I often quarreled with her, too. She was demanding and unreasonable. Her difficult personality might’ve been aggravated by her menopausal…… so even small, insignificant affairs could lead to arguments between us.”


  “Were there incidences of domestic violence?”


  The old man returned a forlorn smile. “Yes. She would hit me when she was agitated. I never raised my hand against her, though.”


  The policeman made a note in his files and quickly threw in the next question. “Can I take it that you weren’t on good terms with her?”


  “Yes, you could say so.”


  “When was the last time you saw her—where and when?”


  The other party replied, “I can’t remember the exact date and time, but the last time I saw her was at the hospital with my daughter.”


  “Daughter?”


  “Yes! My daughter was hospitalized, then. At that time, she got into some trouble and was disfigured. My wife wanted me to come up with the money for her reconstructive surgery, but I didn’t have any money! We had a huge fight over this, and I threatened to divorce her. When I returned to the hospital the next day, though, they were gone.”


  “Both of them?”


  A glint flashed across the young man’s eyes.

  “Yes. Yun Na, my daughter, was gone, too.”


  “You mean to say that your daughter and your wife disappeared at the same time?”


  The old man retorted in a fluster, “This was what I wanted to check with you! My daughter is missing, too, and I don’t know what has happened to her, or where she is now!”


  He was worried that she had also met the same mishap.

  Since the police had picked up his wife’s body, he was most concerned with his daughter’s safety. There was no news of her even now.

  “You said that they had disappeared for some time; why didn’t you make a police report immediately?” The police questioned him with a sharp abruptness.

  The question stumped the old man.

  The young police did not let up in his interrogation. “Logically speaking, one will be worried when his wife and daughter go missing.”


  “Honestly…… I didn’t read much into their disappearance.”