Chapter 209: Breaking the Ice (Part 3)

Leaving the office, Chen Shi went to the technical team to find Peng Sijue, with Lin Dongxue following behind, saying, “There isn’t even a body. Why are you looking for Captain Peng?”

“Don’t be so rigid in your thinking. Over a decade, someone might have discovered this corpse already, but it went unclaimed. If we use Little Monk’s DNA to compare, we might just find his father.”

“Oh, why didn’t I think of that!”

However, Peng Sijue unexpectedly took the day off today. Chen Shi wasn’t discouraged and asked the duty officer, “Can I borrow a blood drawing kit?”

“Sure, Chen Ge, go ahead.”

With the tools in hand, Chen Shi called Peng Sijue to invite him for dinner. On the phone, Peng Sijue raised his voice, “You’re inviting me out to dinner? Who else is coming?”

“Dongxue!”

“Anyone else?”

“No one else.”

“What are we eating?”

“I know you don’t like hot food. There’s a vegetarian restaurant on Gongzhou Road that’s really good. I’ve been wanting to try it.”

“Split the bill?”

“Dongxue’s treating!”

“I’ll be there at five sharp. If you’re ten minutes late, I’m leaving.”

After hanging up, Lin Dongxue said, “Why did you make me pay?”

“Didn’t you lose a bet just now? We agreed on dinner.”

Lin Dongxue made a helpless expression. “I accept my defeat.”

“I’ll also invite Little Monk.”

Chen Shi texted Little Monk the address, and Little Monk replied with a praying hands emoji. Chen Shi smiled, “Truly a devout person.”

At five o’clock, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue arrived at the vegetarian restaurant on Gongzhou Road. They saw Peng Sijue talking to Little Monk. Chen Shi thought to himself that since these two didn’t know each other, he should get acquainted first.

As they walked over, they overheard their conversation —

“In Buddhism, the vast world is composed of the karma of sentient beings. Beyond this world, there are more worlds, as numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges. Buddhism is not idealism as the donor claims.”

“Science has proven that the world is made up of atoms. Your clichéd expressions are totally untenable.”

“But the donor cannot deny its materialism and speculative nature. Buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy, an ancient way of understanding all things!”

“Damn, are you debating philosophy here!?” Chen Shi said.

Peng Sijue looked embarrassed. “This Little Monk speaks very eloquently. Even monks are keeping up with the times.”

“Alright, let’s eat!”

Peng Sijue noticed Little Monk had followed them and gave Chen Shi a puzzled look. Chen Shi said, “He’s with us.”

Little Monk greeted Peng Sijue with folded hands. “Greetings, sir!”

The vegetarian restaurant had been redecorated. The four of them sat down, ordered dishes like sweet and sour ribs, mapo tofu, teriyaki sea cucumber, and so on. Little Monk busily said, “Amitabha!” and was about to leave his seat.

“Don’t worry, Master. These are all made of tofu and gluten. I checked online. There’s no need to worry about breaking your precepts at this vegetarian restaurant. They don’t even use onions or garlic.”

“Thank you, sir, for your kindness. Monks are content with simple food.”

“No problem. Your presence is just adding another pair of chopsticks. We’ll order more dishes for you separately. It would be a waste otherwise.”

Only then was Little Monk convinced and remained silent.

While waiting for the dishes to arrive, Chen Shi briefed them on the case. Peng Sijue kept looking at Little Monk, appearing somewhat surprised. So many years had passed, yet when the matter was brought up again, Little Monk remained calm and indifferent.

“Human memory…” Peng Sijue said.

“I know what you’re going to say. Human memory is unreliable. But no matter how unreliable, for such a major matter, I don’t think he would remember it wrong.”

“What if he’s lying?… Oh, I’m not saying I don’t trust you,” Peng Sijue said to Little Monk.

“Let’s investigate. If we find evidence, we find it. If we don’t, then that’s it,” Chen Shi said, taking out the blood-drawing tools from the bureau.

Seeing the tools, Little Monk became a bit nervous. Peng Sijue explained about DNA matters. Little Monk then cooperated obediently and allowed Chen Shi to draw a vial of blood.

“I’ll compare it when I get back!” Peng Sijue said. “But regarding your ‘story,’ I have a few questions. Firstly, did you personally witness your father being killed? Secondly, aside from your parents, didn’t you have any other relatives to turn to? Thirdly, pardon me for asking, but you were only five at the time and later became a monk. You shouldn’t be familiar with matters between men and women. Did you really see the ‘bad person’ raping your mother, or was it an affair between your mother and the ‘bad person’? Can you be sure?”

The last question was too piercing. Little Monk’s body trembled. He bowed and said, “Firstly, I saw my father covered in blood, almost dying…”

“What was your mother doing?”

“She was tied up by the bad guy!”

“I believe this is your memory rationalizing itself. Perhaps your mother wasn’t tied up, and you’ve modified the details in your memories to make your mother’s passive behavior seem reasonable.”

Little Monk’s lips quivered. He lowered his head and kept reciting “Amitabha” to calm himself down. Lin Dongxue said to Peng Sijue, “Captain Peng, let’s discuss these details later.”

Little Monk finally calmed down and said, “Secondly, aside from my parents, I had a little aunt in Long’an. I had seen her a few times when I was young, but I didn’t know where she lived. So, on the night of the incident, I panicked and ran into the mountains.”

“Thirdly, I really don’t understand matters between men and women. But my parents were deeply in love. When the bad man was taking advantage, my mother was screaming in pain. Would you call that an affair?”

Peng Sijue shook his head silently, indicating he still didn’t quite believe Little Monk’s memory.

Actually, Chen Shi didn’t believe it either. In his view, murder was indeed plausible, but the truth of the entire incident might not be exactly as Little Monk remembered it.

“Do you remember the season?” Chen Shi asked.

“It was midsummer. I was wearing a tank top and shorts. When I ran away, I scraped my knee, and you can still see the scar!”

Lin Dongxue had been flipping through that notebook. She pointed to the upper right corner of the third drawing and said, “What’s this cross in the sky?”

“I remember it came out of the window, a cross-shaped light… Right, like that kind of glass.” Little Monk pointed to the frosted glass with diamond patterns in the restaurant.

Chen Shi stood up, walked behind the partition, and turned on his phone flashlight. This kind of glass would produce a cross-shaped pattern when backlit. Chen Shi said, “Like this?”

Little Monk shook his head. “It was bigger, longer below.”

“Isn’t that a real cross then?” Lin Dongxue was shocked. “Could it be near a church?”

Little Monk added, “I remember it was pink and purple light, constantly flashing, very dazzling.”

Peng Sijue checked on his phone and found a color palette, asking him to identify two colors. After confirming he wasn’t color-blind or color-weak, Peng Sijue said, “Even if a church is decorated with festival lights, they wouldn’t use such bright colors!”

“Not necessarily pink and purple. Pink can be made with white and red, while purple is made with blue and red. LEDs with blue and white are common, so the glass must be red.”

“Red!” Little Monk was shaken, tears welling up in his eyes. “That’s right, the glass was covered in my father’s blood!”