Chapter 1: Sniping

  Welcome to Jiupin Literature, search for "Jiupin Literature" in any search engine to quickly enter this site. This site permanently provides free downloads of high-quality and txt format without pop-up windows! The taxi was like a lonely light, cutting through the black night curtain, and this strong darkness healed itself behind the car. Ling Lan looked at the scenery outside the window gradually disappearing into the endless darkness, her eyes could only see the area illuminated by the car lights in front of the car.

  Ling Lan saw the driver's face in the rearview mirror, and he didn't look like a good person. Ling Lan immediately thought of the road horror movies she had seen before. If this driver wasn't a murderer, then after a while, someone might flag down the car, and they would discover that the hitchhiker who got on was not human!

  Ling Lan shivered all over, pulling herself out of her endless and chaotic thoughts. She glanced around, if at this moment there wasn't Gu Han Hao by her side, or rather, if it wasn't Gu Han Hao, then she would definitely feel extremely frightened. Fortunately, the one beside her was Gu Han Hao, a criminal police officer, and reportedly an exceptionally skilled one at that.

  "Sorry," Ling Lan hesitated for a moment before speaking, this apology she had to express or else she would feel suffocated, "If I hadn't insisted on taking the train, we could have driven and wouldn't have wasted 1,500 yuan."

  "Big sister, doesn't driving yourself save on gas money? Don't you know how expensive gas is now?"

  One sentence made Ling Lan suddenly feel so moved that she wanted to cry, she knew that the cost of this trip was not even 1,500 yuan, and Gu Han Hao said this as if to alleviate her guilt.

  Gu Hanhao turned another page, "Besides, driving is also physically demanding. Let me drive back and forth in a day, I don't have that physical strength either. After all, I'm not like a professional driver."

  The driver smiled and politely responded.

  "By the way, how much did I spend on the gift boxes for my parents?" Ling Lan's voice was low and filled with apology.

  Gu Hanhao furrowed his brow, but his eyes remained fixed on the photo album. "What's the point of asking this? It's not a waste to use it to nourish your parents' bodies, is it?"

  Ling Lan smiled wryly, if they really ate it, then it wouldn't be a waste, what she feared was that they would throw away the gift box intact due to their dissatisfaction with Gu Han.

  "Wait a minute," Gu Hanhao quickly took out his mobile phone, opened the flashlight app, and shone the beam on a photo, "Who is this person?"

  Ling Lan walked over to take a look, and it was a photo of her when she was seven years old. The photo was taken at Uncle Han's house in S City, with Uncle Han, his wife, her parents, and herself in the picture. Ling Lan remembered this photo, which was taken on her seventh birthday. Her parents had brought her to S City, first visiting Uncle Han's house for dinner, then going to Jingjiang Park, where she got lost and met that suspicious "fake mother".

  "This is Uncle Han, my dad's old classmate. What's wrong with him?" Ling Lan asked knowingly, because Gu Hanyao's stern expression had already indicated that the situation was quite serious.

  Gu Hanhao suddenly grasped Ling Lan's hand tightly and exclaimed, "This person is the stranger uncle I met in Jingjiang Park when I was seven years old!"

  Ling Lan was also infected with Gu HanHao's excited emotions for a moment, stunned there for several seconds. Indeed, indeed, she and Gu HanHao had some kind of connection! But, wasn't this really just a coincidence?

  Very, Ling Lan realized that her hand was being tightly held by Gu Huanhao. She didn't dare to look into his eyes and tried to use force to pull her hand away.

  Gu Hanhao was startled awake by the strength in his hand, only then realizing that in his haste he had actually grabbed onto the girl's hand, and quickly let go, "Sorry, I just got too excited."

  Ling Lan refocused her attention on the photo, "Are you really sure? After all, it's been so many years, and this Uncle Han in the photo should be around the same age as my father at that time, about 33 years old. You saw him seven years before this photo was taken, which means you saw a 26-year-old him."

  Gu Hanhao was very confident, "How much can 26 and 33 years old differ? You've also seen my album, men in our age group actually don't change that much. I'm sure it's him. You said he's your father's old classmate, living in S city?"

  "That's right, but I only remember that his surname is Han, and he lived in Anju District back then. As for what his name was or what he did, I have no idea. You're not thinking of asking me to call my dad, are you?" Ling Lan said with a displeased expression.

  "Hey, don't even think about it. From what you just told me your mom said, I think there's a good chance they both know me. If you call now and spook them, I'm afraid we'll never find this Uncle Han."

  The driver kept his word and arrived in S city in just over an hour and forty minutes. Gu Hanhao took out 150 yuan from his wallet, thanked him, and got off the car.

  Gu Hanhao led Ling Lan to a nearby restaurant while explaining, "Not knowing his name and occupation is no big deal, we can go to the Anju Community Residents' Committee to look for him. As long as he hasn't moved away, and we know his surname and approximate age, and have his photo, it shouldn't be too hard to find him."

  "What if he moved?" Ling Lan asked.

  "Then go back to the police station, search for people who meet the conditions from the population of this city, and then compare them with the photos." Gu Hanhao was full of confidence.

  The two of them wolfed down their dinner and returned to their respective rooms. Gu Hanhao told Ling Lan to get some rest early, as they would have to go to the Anju residential area early tomorrow morning. However, he himself did not plan on resting immediately. He pulled his luggage into his home, intending to take another look at those photos.

  The next morning, the two pairs of panda eyes met at Gu Hanhao's car. Ling Lan suggested, "I think we'd better take a taxi, you're driving tiredly, I don't feel at ease."

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  The two of them hailed a taxi at the entrance of 101 and as soon as they got in, her phone received a text message from Peng Ze: Sorry for keeping you waiting yesterday, I really had something urgent to attend to. By the time I finished with my business and went over, you were already gone. Are you free today? Let me treat you to dinner as an apology.

  Ling Lan was so angry that she wanted to crush her phone. She had originally planned to let the flirtatious Peng Ze wait endlessly at the school gate like a fool, as punishment for him. But in the end, he simply went off with another girl and was busy beyond recognition. Ling Lan felt that she was the one who was thoroughly foolish.

  Ling Lan pressed the button and replied: Alright, see you at 9 o'clock at the school gate. If you're late again this time, we'll break up!

  Very well, Peng Ze replied with three words: No problem.

  Gu Hanhao cast a sideways glance at Ling Lan and asked coldly, "Want to get off? I can go check alone."

  Ling Lan pressed the shutdown button. "Who said I wanted to get off? This matter is closely related to me, even if you ask me to quit now, I won't agree."

  Twenty minutes later, Gu Hanhao and Ling Lan were arranged by Aunt Chai of the Anju community to sit on the sofa in the office waiting. While chatting enthusiastically about family matters, she took out a thick notebook for inquiry. Because Anju community is an old community, the household registration files have not been fully entered into the computer, and the files from ten years ago can only be queried manually, and there are no photo archives.

  "There is one here who speaks similarly to you, a 49-year-old man named Han Qingren, living in Building 8, Unit 3, Room 201."

  Ling Lan had been waiting impatiently and finally got an answer. Ling Lan immediately stood up to leave. However, Gu Hanhao was more cautious, "Aunt Chai, please trouble you to look again carefully, is there only one middle-aged man with the surname Han?"

  Aunt Chai adjusted her glasses and replied slowly, "Didn't you ask me to find the middle-aged man with the surname Han who lived here before 1997? According to the records, there are only two people, one is a woman named Han Huifang, and the other is this Han Qingren, a man!"