The western district looked different in daylight.
At night, it had been shadows, locked gates, and the occasional lamp burning above a warehouse door.
During the day, it was simply old.
The buildings leaned toward the river as though they were tired of standing. Paint had peeled from wooden doors. Rust had eaten through several iron signs. The road was busy near the main market, but the farther they walked toward the abandoned warehouses, the quieter it became.
Yulan pulled his coat tighter.
"Do you know exactly where we're going?"
Li Wei glanced at the folded map in his hand.
"Not exactly."
"That sounds reassuring."
"I know the warehouse district."
"You've been here?"
"When I was younger."
Yulan looked at him.
"Doing what?"
"My father brought me here once."
"For business?"
Li Wei nodded.
"I remember hating it."
Yulan smiled.
"You hated warehouses as a child?"
"I hated being forced to stand beside my father while men discussed numbers for three hours."
"That sounds terrible."
"It was."
"You survived."
"Barely."
Yulan laughed.
The sound eased something between them.
They continued walking.
After several minutes, Li Wei stopped beside a narrow building with a faded blue door.
"This wasn't here before."
Yulan looked at the sign hanging above it.
RIVER TRANSPORT OFFICE
The lettering was almost completely worn away.
"Was this one of your father's offices?"
"No."
Li Wei stepped closer.
There was a small metal plate beside the door.
Three characters had been scratched into it.
九仓旧账
Yulan frowned.
"Old Warehouse Nine accounts."
Li Wei's eyes narrowed.
"Someone put that here recently."
"How can you tell?"
"The scratches are too clean."
Yulan touched the metal plate.
Still sharp.
Still silver beneath the rust.
Someone had deliberately carved the words.
"Maybe Luo Ming."
"Maybe."
Li Wei pushed the door.
It opened.
Inside was a narrow room covered in dust.
A broken desk sat against one wall. Old shelves held empty boxes. A calendar from seventeen years ago still hung behind the counter.
Yulan stared at it.
"Why would someone leave this place untouched?"
"Because nobody cared about it."
"Or because they wanted everyone to think nobody cared."
Li Wei looked at him.
"That sounds like something your father would say."
Yulan gave him a look.
"Don't compare me to my father when I'm trying to be clever."
"I wasn't insulting you."
"You were."
"I wasn't."
"You were thinking it."
Li Wei's mouth twitched.
"You're impossible."
"And yet you're still here."
For a second, neither moved.
Then footsteps sounded outside.
They both turned.
Someone passed the doorway.
Yulan reached instinctively for Li Wei's sleeve.
The footsteps stopped.
A man's voice came from outside.
"Is anyone inside?"
Li Wei stepped forward.
An elderly woman appeared in the doorway.
She carried a basket of vegetables and looked thoroughly unimpressed by the two men standing inside the abandoned office.
"What are you doing?"
Yulan immediately bowed.
"Sorry. We were looking for someone."
"Everyone who comes here is looking for someone."
She stepped inside.
"Who?"
"Luo Ming."
The woman's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But it was there.
"You should leave."
Li Wei watched her carefully.
"Do you know him?"
"No."
"You reacted when we said his name."
"I reacted because you shouldn't be saying it."
The woman set down her basket.
Then she locked the door.
Yulan stared.
"Why did you lock it?"
"Because if you're going to ask stupid questions, I'd rather nobody else hear them."
Li Wei exchanged a glance with Yulan.
The woman walked to the old desk.
She opened the bottom drawer.
Inside was a small bundle wrapped in cloth.
She placed it on the desk.
"Luo Ming came here three nights ago."
Yulan's eyes widened.
"Here?"
"Yes."
"What did he want?"
"To retrieve something."
"What?"
The woman looked at Li Wei.
"Your father."
Li Wei went still.
"My father?"
"He came looking for something that belonged to Chairman Li."
Yulan stepped closer.
"What?"
The woman unwrapped the cloth.
Inside was a small brass key.
Yulan recognized it immediately.
His hand went to his pocket.
The key Li Wei had received from Meiyu.
Same shape.
Same size.
Same unusual notch along the edge.
Li Wei saw it too.
He pulled his own key from his coat.
The woman's expression hardened.
"So you have the other one."
Yulan looked between them.
"There are two?"
The woman nodded.
"Two halves of the same lock."
Li Wei held the key up.
"Where's the lock?"
The woman looked toward the back wall.
"Warehouse Nine."
The room seemed to shrink.
Yulan stared at her.
"It's been sealed."
"Officially."
Li Wei understood immediately.
"And unofficially?"
The woman picked up her basket.
"There is a door behind the old loading yard."
"Where?"
She pointed toward the western edge of the district.
"Follow the railway tracks until they disappear."
Yulan frowned.
"That's dangerous."
The woman shrugged.
"Then don't go."
Li Wei folded the map.
"We're going."
The woman looked at him.
"You're very much like your father."
Li Wei's expression changed.
"Did you know him?"
"I knew the man he was before he became Chairman Li."
"And what kind of man was that?"
The woman considered the question.
"Someone who thought he could fix things after they were already broken."
Li Wei said nothing.
Yulan noticed his jaw tighten.
The woman continued.
"Luo Ming wasn't afraid of the fire."
"Then what was he afraid of?" Yulan asked.
She looked directly at him.
"Your mother."
Yulan froze.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
The woman shook her head.
"You'll have to ask Luo Ming."
She picked up the cloth bundle.
Then she handed the brass key to Li Wei.
"You have both now."
Li Wei took it.
"Why give it to us?"
The woman opened the door.
"Because Luo Ming wanted you to have it."
Yulan stopped.
"He knew we'd come?"
"No."
She looked back at him.
"He knew you would eventually stop being afraid of what your parents refused to tell you."
The door opened onto the bright street.
The woman stepped outside.
Then she added quietly,
"Just remember something."
Yulan waited.
"Finding the truth doesn't mean you'll like the people standing inside it."
She walked away.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Yulan looked at Li Wei.
"Your family."
Li Wei nodded.
"My father."
"And my mother."
Another nod.
They stood in the abandoned office surrounded by dust and seventeen years of unanswered questions.
Finally, Yulan took a breath.
"Let's find Warehouse Nine."
Li Wei looked at him.
"Together?"
Yulan gave him a small smile.
"You already know the answer."
They stepped outside.
Neither noticed the old woman watching them from the end of the street.
She waited until they disappeared.
Then she reached into her basket.
Beneath the vegetables was a second photograph.
The same photograph Luo Ming had possessed.
But this one had something written across the back.
Not in Luo Ming's handwriting.
Not in Yulan's mother's.
Not in Chairman Li's.
Four words.
THE WRONG MAN CONFESSED.