Light Against Shadows

Chapter 12

Zhao Yunlan was of average height and built but most of the times his strong determination was enough to inspire fear in his opponents. When he really wanted to impress someone, he made sure to bring the sturdy giant along.

Chu was impressive indeed, tall and muscular; his face was eternally adorned with a grumpy expression and he always stared at people with a don't make me angry look that everyone took very seriously.

As they should.

Today they entered the tall building together and marched decisively onwards.

Yunlan had no idea where Shen Wei's office could be or if he even had one, but information can be gathered.

They stood firmly in front of a man at the front desk. The guy was small and Chu towered over him like Godzilla with a Chihuahua.

Yunlan asked with his most polite voice, "I want to know where I can find Shen Wei."

"Who?"

Yunlan considered the possibility that the quivering guy might not know the names of each and every person working in there. He stood silent a total of five seconds before Chu tired of waiting and moved menacingly towards the little man.

"If he works here you can ask Mr Song on the second floor, he... he should know." The words rolled out of his mouth guided by his desire of getting rid of them both throwing the burden on someone else.

Yunlan grinned. "Could you kindly direct me to Mr Song then?"

"Now," Chu added.

The guy's hand visibly trembled while he pointed them towards the elevator. "Second floor, the big office on the right."

Yunlan and Chu left without another word and he sighed in relief, thinking he had never seen such a figure outside of mafia movies.

A tall elegant man passed by his desk.
"I don't feel too good, please inform Mr Song that I won't be available today but that I already finished reviewing the Antann Company's financial situation."

"Of course Mr Shen, I'll let him know right away."

He made the call to the second floor to relay the message, then he sat down when suddenly something clicked.

The words replayed in his head and one hand shot to his forehead. "Did they want to speak to Shen Wei?"

~~~~~

Yunlan reached Mr Song's office without difficulty, knocked once and entered without waiting for a reply.

"Police, I have urgent matters to discuss with one of your employees."

Mr Song didn't bother to stand up, he only raised his eyes from what he was working on and spoke without interest.

"The company is not responsible for whatever our employees did on their free time; state your reason for being here, what they did, who are you looking for, what are they charged with and do show me the judge's order to take the employee away during his work hours."

Yunlan had only time to open his mouth that Mr Song's phone rang and he raised a finger signalling for him to wait.

"What is it? ... it's quite early to leave but if it's for medical reasons... oh he finished already? Good, I'll check his report right away, thank you."

Mr Song ended the call and turned his weary eyes on Yunlan and Chu.

Yunlan covered his irritation behind a professional attitude. "I'm not here to arrest anyone, I only need to speak to Shen Wei, it's an important matter, quite urgent, so if you could..."

"Shen Wei?" Mr Song interrupted him with a subtle smile.

"Of course our company is always glad to help the police force, and I'm particularly glad to hear you have nothing against Mr Shen who is one of our best employees. I find your presence here today quite curious though and I hope you won't mind me asking if your sudden interest in Mr Shen has anything to do with the recent rumours; it has been brought to my attention that his name has appeared on the news with stories about his past, but the past is the past Mr Zhao, and something like this can't be held against him."

Yunlan closed his mouth, curiosity making him change what he wanted to say next.

"You're not bothered by it in any way? It's not everyday one finds out that one of his employees has a secret mental health issue."

Chu shot him a glance.

Mr Song's smirk widened and he rose from his seat putting both his hands on his desk.

"We don't actually know if he has a mental health problem, do we, officer Zhao? I just learned that he had therapy help as a child, but that doesn't mean he has problems now. He is the best accountant that ever worked for this company, and whether or not his competence and precision come from the help of an invisible friend is not of my concern and it shouldn't be yours either."

Yunlan paused realising what he had said, why did he mention mental health problems, did he really think Wei was crazy? He felt Chu's gaze on him and wished he could take those words back.

"I'm glad to hear that you hold his work in such high regard, and I assure you we have nothing against him, on the contrary, he recently played the part of the hero and that's the only thing we need him for. Now if you could just tell me where he works so we can find him and be on our way, that would be appreciated. "

Yunlan was tired of dealing with this man, he wasn't fond of resolute confident men who challenged his position. He preferred to deal with easily scared individuals or people he could threaten until they spilled everything they knew.

Mr Song showed him a cordial although slightly patronizing smile. "Of course, Mr Shen works on the third floor and deals with our most important clients, but you won't find him there I'm afraid."

Yunlan glared at him in a very unfriendly way. "Why not?"

"I've been informed that he was forced to leave his post for health reasons, you may therefore want to try at his home since he isn't here anymore. Sorry but the company doesn't release employees personal information unless you have a signed order to show me."

Yunlan cursed inwardly, what a waste of time it had been. He growled a very insincere thank you and stormed out of the man's office.

He quickly retraced his steps and walked back to his car. He gave Chu the keys. "You drive."

Yunlan sat on the passenger seat brooding. His eyes scanned the street as the car passed by, until he finally caught sight of the familiar figure he was looking for.

He shouted for Chu to stop the car and assessed where they were. Wei must have walked at a fast pace, he was almost home. He saw him turning a corner to walk along that same road where they had to have met the night Wei helped him.

That road was the last thing Yunlan remembered, so it must have been there that Wei found him.

He got out of the car and started running.