Yong County Cotton Mill!
When Xiao Zhanwu arrived at the cotton mill with Li Yi, Tang Xue, and the others, they immediately caught the guard’s attention!
Upon learning they were there to investigate a case—and that a police officer was leading the group—the security guards didn’t dare to take it lightly and immediately reported the situation to the factory management.
Upon receiving the report, the factory director was taken aback.
How could an investigation lead to their cotton mill? Had something major happened at the factory? He immediately rushed over with his staff!
After getting the full story, he breathed a huge sigh of relief!
It turned out to be a false alarm—an incident from decades ago that clearly had nothing to do with them.
But since it was a police investigation, they had no choice but to cooperate, so they immediately took everyone to the factory office.
Subsequently, Factory Director Hu summoned the heads of each production workshop and the logistics department to ask if there was a female worker named Ye Lingwan in their respective areas.
Disappointingly, however, everyone said they had no knowledge of this worker.
After confirming that Ye Lingwan was indeed no longer employed at the cotton mill, their only hope lay with the factory’s archives.
If she had indeed worked at the cotton mill, the archives would certainly contain her records.
More importantly, as a key enterprise directly managed by the Yong County government, the mill maintained strict records management, so there should be no omissions.
If there were no records of Ye Lingwan in the archives, then it was highly likely she had never worked at the cotton mill.
In that case, it would be very difficult for Tang Xue to uncover the identity of her biological mother.
Not wanting to waste any time, the group hurried to the archives under the guidance of Factory Director Hu.
This time, they were not disappointed. With the archivist’s assistance, they quickly located Ye Lingwan’s file among the stacks of archive boxes filling the room.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Ye Lingwan’s file was extremely sparse.
Just how sparse? Aside from a black-and-white photo and her name, there was nothing of value.
In particular, key information that Li Yi and the others were most concerned about—such as her employment history and home address—was completely missing; many sections of the file were marked “to be completed.”
According to the archives room administrator, this usually happens when a person has worked at the factory for a short time and left before many of the file details could be fully updated.
Fortunately, the file indicated that Ye Lingwan had previously worked in Workshop 3, which is still in operation today.
Twenty years is neither a long nor a short time; many older workers have not yet retired. Perhaps they could be questioned—there might be other useful information to be gained.
Immediately, Factory Director Hu called in the head of Workshop 3 and asked him to gather all the workers in the workshop who had been employed for over twenty years.
Soon, a dozen or so middle-aged female workers were gathered before Li Yi and the others.
One of the women, upon seeing Tang Xue, stared intently at her with a pensive expression.
When Xiao Zhanwu asked if anyone knew a woman named Ye Lingwan, the woman who had been staring intently at Tang Xue suddenly raised her hand.
“Comrade, do you really know Ye Lingwan?”
The worker nodded and said, “I know her. I shared a dorm with her for several months!”
“You were Ye Lingwan’s roommate. Could you tell us a bit about her?” Xiao Zhanwu asked immediately.
The female worker thought for a moment and said, “My name is Wang Fang. I’ve been working at the cotton mill for 22 years. Ye Lingwan joined the factory in my third year here—if I remember correctly, it was 1961!”
“That’s right, 1961!” Tang Xue said, sounding a bit excited.
Wang Fang looked at Tang Xue and said, “Young lady, what’s your relationship with Ye Lingwan? You look exactly like her. When I first saw you, I thought I was seeing things!”
Tang Xue replied immediately, “Ye Lingwan is probably my biological mother, but I was forced to be separated from her when I was very young. Could you tell me about her?”
Wang Fang nodded and immediately began telling Tang Xue everything she knew about Ye Lingwan.
According to Wang Fang, Ye Lingwan was suddenly transferred to the cotton mill in the spring of 1961!
She was very beautiful; you could tell at a glance she wasn’t the daughter of an ordinary family.
As for where she came from and why she was transferred to the cotton mill to work as an ordinary factory worker, Wang Fang wasn’t sure.
In Wang Fang’s memory, Ye Lingwan was rather quiet and reserved, and she often hid away by herself to wipe away her tears.
Additionally, Wang Fang knew about the incident where Ye Lingwan was hospitalized to give birth, and it was Ye Lingwan herself who had personally taken Wang Fang to the clinic.
According to Wang Fang, Ye Lingwan was already pregnant when she arrived at the cotton mill. By her eighth month there, she was nearly due but insisted on continuing to work.
As a result, she was struck by a machine while working, which caused a miscarriage and led to severe bleeding.
Seeing this, her coworkers immediately rushed her to the nearby Xinjing Town Health Center.
However, due to work obligations, they rushed back to the factory as soon as they had dropped her off at the clinic.
Later, they learned that Ye Lingwan’s baby had died at birth, and they felt deeply sorry for her; many of them, including Wang Fang, even went to the clinic to visit her.
Later, when they went to the clinic to visit her again, they learned she had already been discharged, but she never returned to the cotton mill.
So, as for where Ye Lingwan ultimately went, no one had any idea.
Neither Xiao Zhanwu nor Li Yi had expected the investigation to yield such a result.
The person existed, and all the information matched up, but no one knew where Ye Lingwan had gone.
More importantly, her file contained no information about her hometown or her husband—none of that was recorded.
Apart from that face, which bore a striking resemblance to Tang Xue’s, there was virtually no useful information.
Although this didn’t prevent the court from trying and sentencing the scum of the Tang family, it did hinder Tang Xue’s search for her family.
But with things having come to this, there was nothing they could do.
Filled with deep disappointment, the group left the cotton mill.
After leaving the factory, Tang Xue said with a hint of disappointment, “Does this mean I’ll never find her?”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Not necessarily. It’s unlikely that someone would be transferred to the cotton mill for no reason, nor would they be transferred away for no reason. We can check with the Human Resources and Social Security Department; maybe we’ll find something!”
Just then, Xiao Zhanwu, who had been standing nearby, spoke up: “How about this? Let me take charge of investigating this. It’s just a side task for me anyway!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “We’d appreciate your help. We’ll be waiting for your good news!”
“Sure!”
After exchanging a few more words with Li Yi, Xiao Zhanwu took his leave!
After seeing Xiao Zhanwu off, Li Yi motioned for Tang Xue to get in the car, and they headed back the way they came!
However, when Li Yi and Tang Xue returned to the guesthouse, they were greeted by several people they’d rather not see the moment they walked in.