Chapter Eighty-Eight: Luring the Tiger Away From the Mountain, Part One

Zhang Wenhao’s guess about the present situation was essentially no different from reality. For those who could not wait to drag out Qian Ning, the most troubling thing at the moment was that although they knew Qian Ning had not left River City, they had no idea where she was hiding.

River City was not large, but hiding a person there was easy enough. If they did not know where Qian Ning was, then they could only lie in wait at the place where she vanished, hoping for some clue to surface.

For that very reason, River Spring Road had become the focus of their attention. Whether Qian Ning was still there or not, the last place she had appeared was there, and there had to be some clue left behind. What was maddening, however, was that up to now they had found nothing of value.

The night Qian Ning was shot, the bloodstains gave them an excellent trail to follow, but then the trail abruptly ended in the middle of the alley. They did not know that Qian Ning had used Zhang Wenhao’s belt to stop the bleeding, cutting off their only lead. Yet in their eyes, Qian Ning had suffered a gunshot wound and absolutely could not have gone far; without timely treatment, if she kept dragging on, death was the only outcome. That was why they sealed off the River Spring Road area. Even if they could not find Qian Ning, they would keep watch there, waiting either for her to show herself or for the smell of a corpse to rise from one of the houses.

As for the police, they had only just received orders and had only just begun covert deployment. They had not yet launched an open and vigorous search. Before they did, Zhang Wenhao’s task was to divert both groups’ attention elsewhere.

River Spring Road was bustling with traffic and people. Wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, Zhang Wenhao sat in a Passat, driving slowly while pretending to be on the phone. In this way, no one paid him any special attention. After surveying the surroundings, he saw at least a dozen private cars and seven or eight police vehicles lingering nearby, and other cars kept arriving to relieve them in shifts. Usually one car would arrive before another left. Thanks to his photographic memory, Zhang Wenhao memorized all the suspicious license plate numbers.

Driving away from River Spring Road, Zhang Wenhao went to a densely populated residential district about a kilometer from where Qian Ning was hiding. There were at least five or six large and small residential compounds here, with a permanent population of over fifty thousand, and quite a few of them were migrants. It could be said to be a mix of all sorts. On ordinary days the place was already chaotic, with lively street markets and rows of stalls selling trinkets and food. Supermarkets, produce markets, and cheap clothing and department stores stood among them. In terms of population density and transience alike, it could be called number one in River City.

Zhang Wenhao parked by the roadside, rolled down the window, and called over a vendor selling savory pancakes. He bought a set and sat in the driver’s seat eating absentmindedly, while the eyes hidden behind his sunglasses kept turning, studying every person and every car around him.

What Zhang Wenhao feared was that those people might not notice this place. If they were truly determined to dig into River Spring Road, then drawing their attention elsewhere would be nearly impossible; the conditions simply were not ripe. So Zhang Wenhao had to observe here and see whether any of those people were showing their faces.

More than ten minutes later, a black Ford Mondeo drove in and passed Zhang Wenhao’s car. Zhang Wenhao instantly grew alert. This car had stayed for a long time on River Spring Road before. He had seen it more than once. What was its purpose in coming here now? Were they really keeping an eye on this densely populated district?

Seeing the car stop not far ahead, Zhang Wenhao watched four young men get out. After alighting, all four stretched with broad, languid motions. One of them pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tossed one to each of the other three. They lit up, looked around, and then one of them called out and led the others into a small roadside restaurant.

Zhang Wenhao could not help feeling somewhat disappointed. From the looks of it, they had been watching River Spring Road for a long time and had only just been relieved. Coming here now was merely for a meal.

After a brief hesitation, Zhang Wenhao tossed the pancake in his hand into a roadside trash bin, got out of the car, and strode toward the small restaurant the four had entered.

It was a shop specializing in mutton soup. The place was tiny, so there were no private rooms. The four men were sitting around a table inside. Zhang Wenhao sat down at a table near the entrance, with his back to them, and did not draw their attention at all.

“Boss, bring me a bowl of soup, add meat, and extra dried tofu shreds,” Zhang Wenhao called casually, then sat there as if waiting for his food, pricking up his ears to listen to the conversation behind him.

“Brother Li,” one of them complained with dissatisfaction, “we’ve been in the car twenty-two hours out of every twenty-four. My waist is about to snap. How much longer do we have to keep this up?”

One of the others gave a low snort of laughter and said, “Probably another five or six days at least. Boss says the woman we’re looking for has offended some big shot. They named her directly. Whoever finds her first gets five hundred thousand in cash. The people on the street have all gone mad over it now. Just walk around and look for yourself. Within a ten-kilometer radius, everywhere is full of people searching for her.”

“Five hundred thousand?” another exclaimed. “Why haven’t I heard about this? Who’s so generous? Five hundred thousand just to find one woman?”

“Whether you heard it or not doesn’t matter,” the man called Brother Li said with a sneer. “We’re working for Brother Bao. Even if you find the person, the reward goes to Brother Bao, not to you. Still, he won’t treat you unfairly.”

Then Brother Li lowered his voice and said, “Actually, we’re the lucky ones. There are countless people looking for that woman. Because Brother Bao has connections with the other side, we can directly keep watch on River Spring Road. The people outside don’t even have the qualification to stay there; they’ve all been assigned to nearby places instead, like residential compounds, construction sites, hospitals, and schools. People are watching all those places in secret. Still, the chance of that woman leaving River Spring Road is very small. If those people want to find her outside, they basically have no chance.”

“Didn’t they say that woman was shot?” one of them asked. “If she got hit and doesn’t go to a hospital or have medicine, wouldn’t she be dead sooner or later?”

“Maybe,” Brother Li replied. “It’s already been several days. Even if she isn’t dead, the wound may have started rotting by now. She won’t hold out much longer. I heard Brother Bao say that the next two days are especially important. If that woman hasn’t received treatment, she probably won’t be able to last much longer in a few more days. If that’s the case, then during these two days she’ll definitely take a risk and try to leave River City. As soon as she shows up, whether anyone can get that five hundred thousand will depend on fate.”

Zhang Wenhao was surprised. He had not expected Qian Ning to attract so much attention. She had killed Gu Haiming, and the boss behind Gu Haiming clearly intended to drag her out no matter what. Now everyone in River City’s underworld was responding to the five-hundred-thousand reward, which was extremely favorable for the execution of his plan.

They all knew Qian Ning had been injured, and they had already staked out the hospitals and pharmacies. In their minds, Qian Ning would not be able to receive treatment. At this point, even while keeping watch on the streets, they would unconsciously pay attention only to people with impaired movement or visible injuries. They would not bother to notice healthy people at all. If, at this moment, someone discovered Qian Ning’s bloodstained bandages and bullet casing, Zhang Wenhao believed this crowd would swarm there in a frenzy.

After casually drinking a few mouthfuls of soup, Zhang Wenhao left twenty yuan on the table and walked out directly. He drove back to Qian Ning’s hiding place on River Spring Road, and the first thing he did was put all the gauze Qian Ning had used these past few days into a plastic bag one by one.

When placing the gauze inside, Zhang Wenhao deliberately sorted it by the passage of time. He first put the earliest gauze and Qian Ning’s bloodstained trouser leg at the bottom of the bag. The extracted bullet casing was also tossed in. Then came newer pieces of gauze, and only at the very end did he place the gauze that had just been removed today.

Qian Ning was puzzled by what Zhang Wenhao was doing. Zhang Wenhao roughly explained the information he had heard and said, “Right now they think you’re still on River Spring Road. But if someone finds this plastic bag somewhere else, what do you think they’ll assume?”

Qian Ning was not stupid. She immediately understood and blurted out, “If they discover this plastic bag, then based on the trouser leg and the casing inside, they’ll definitely be able to tell these things are mine. That means they’ll conclude the place where the bag was found is where I’m hiding. And since these bandages were changed day after day, and you put them into the bag in chronological order, they’ll certainly think I’d been there all along and never left.”

Wen Hao nodded and said, “Then they’ll be convinced they’ve found real clues. At that point, they’ll definitely search the area around where the bag was found with all their strength. If you can make them believe you’ve already left River Spring Road, then this place will go from the location they think most likely to lead to you to the one they think least likely to yield anything at all.”

Qian Ning smiled faintly and could not help praising him. “If this idea succeeds, it would truly be a perfect feint to draw the tiger away from the mountain.”