"Quit the chatter; just bring out the safe."
"Got it!"
Mr. Zhao, smiling, carried out the safe. Its weight made him continuously chant to himself to stay energized.
With such commotion, Xu Dayuan quickly entered. Seeing the dismantled bookshelf, along with the safe in Mr. Zhao’s hands, Xu Dayuan’s eyes shone with excitent—a discovery ant progress.
"Found it inside the bookshelf?"
"Yeah, during the construction of the house, the safe was embedded into the wall. However, the safe requires both a combination and a key. On the handle and the combination lock, we found bloodstains, which we’ll need to test to determine if they belong to the deceased.
Soone with the key, who knows the combination, and is aware of the safe’s location would know about it. According to the village chief just now, this house was built in ’83, and the construction workers also knew where the safe was located.
However, it seems that only the family knew the key and combination. Moreover, it seems like Wang Hongzhan’s parents died suddenly in a car accident during the Spring Festival of 2009. I wonder if Wang Hongzhan saw them for the last ti or if they left any ssages?"
Xu Dayuan kept nodding.
"The Wangs didn’t have any close relatives. I just asked, and since Grandpa Wang’s generation, it has been a single lineage. When their family was denounced, all the distant relatives severed ties. After that, there was no contact. That’s also why the Wangs urged Ho Dongi to have children."
As he spoke, he turned back and indicated for Mr. Bai to call the village chief inside.
Shortly after, the village chief followed Mr. Bai inside, standing at the doorway. Seeing the ss on the ground, he dared not move a step.
"Chief, you ntioned earlier that Wang Hongzhan’s parents died suddenly in a car crash during the 2009 Spring Festival. Did you see Wang Hongzhan the last ti?"
The village chief quickly nodded.
"I rember it clearly. That Spring Festival, Wang Hongzhan returned the day after the Minor New Year and even delivered specialties to a few close families. My daughter-in-law used to help out at the Wang’s house, so they always ca over in advance each year, usually with milk or beer—nothing to do with bribes, ah.
On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month in 2009, early in the morning, Wang Hongzhan’s parents went to pay respects to their ancestors. Wang Hongzhan and his wife were about to join them, but just as they stepped out, they were stopped by Zhang Da’s sister-in-law from the east courtyard, who wanted to ask about her grandson’s college preferences. Wang Hongzhan’s parents told them to stay and help give so advice."
After the elderly couple left, they didn’t return for over an hour. Worried, Wang Hongzhan and his wife drove to find them. The Wang family ancestral tomb is near a pond next to Shanxi Village, along a village road in Shanxi Village. It’s on a slope and can be considered next to the water and mountain.
Upon arriving there, they found the old couple had been hit by a car. The injuries were too severe to move them by themselves, so he quickly called 120. By the ti they were taken to the hospital, they were gone. As for whether they left any ssages, that I don’t know. But such an incident happening just before the New Year’s Eve shocked us all. Unfortunately, there were no surveillance caras on that road, and it was a dead-end; the vehicle that caused the incident was never found."
Zhou Ning looked at Xu Dayuan. The more they examined the scene, the more they felt Wang Hongzhan’s suspicion increased. Xu Dayuan gestured for Mr. Bai to escort the village chief out and went directly to Zhang Chunbo to discuss the recent findings.
Zhang Chunbo looked shocked. After all, when Ho Dongi and the child had the accident, Wang Hongzhan had returned, and that state was vivid in mory, personally witnessed by him.
"How could it be him? His own child, how could he bear to do it?"
Zhou Ning didn’t participate in their conversation and had Mr. Zhao extract the traces from the safe. All the collected samples were quickly sent for testing. After all, they had to rely on evidence to speak. The only regret was that the fingerprints left at the scene were from latex gloves.
The murderer was very cautious and cold-headed, able to think of these things upon entering, or perhaps he had prepared everything before the murder. Could a father really bring himself to harm his own son?
As he pondered this, Zhou Ning looked up at Bai Hua, who had just walked in, not understanding the aning behind his gaze.
"Doctor Bai, did Wang Hongzhan have his blood collected and fingerprints taken at that ti?"
"The fingerprints were collected, but no blood sample was taken. His condition was particularly bad at the ti, and Ho Dongi and Wang Jiahan had already undergone DNA comparison, so no comparison was done on them. This was arranged by Zhang Da."
Zhou Ning remained silent; this didn’t require his judgnt. Xu Dayuan would naturally bring it up.
Xu Dayuan’s face grew serious, knowing Zhang Chunbo was an emotional man.
"Send a request for cooperation. Have the police station in Wang Hongzhan’s jurisdiction in Shen City summon him to another location. Do it now, imdiately. If blood needs to be taken, take it. Have the other side assist with the DNA testing, and just send us the results!"
Zhang Chunbo knew Xu Dayuan was in a hurry, didn’t waste words, and walked out while making a phone call.
Mr. Zhao and the others still had a series of ticulous tasks to carry out. Zhou Ning approached Xu Dayuan.
"The Jiao Dazhuang you ntioned earlier—has his wife co over?"
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"I asked about the specific date. Jiao Dazhuang indeed left on August 17, 2011. After Ho Hongi brought the child back to the Wang Family, his son initially followed for tutoring, and Jiao Dazhuang would often go to the Wangs’ to help with house repairs and yard work, which made his wife, Zhu Xiaohui, very upset.
Zhu Xiaohui didn’t hide anything at all and spilled everything. They had a few fights over it. However, her son did beco more obedient and could solve many problems on his own after studying with Ho Dongi for a while, so Zhu Xiaohui stopped making a fuss."
The Wang family had an incident, and they all got scared. Zhu Xiaohui hurriedly urged Jiao Dazhuang to leave, saying, ’This man seems heartless and not like he’s lying.’
As they were talking, soone stretched their neck to look at the front gate. Xu Dayuan glanced over and quickly went out, followed by Zhou Ning. A chubby woman wearing a yellow headscarf stood at the door, blocked by Mr. Zeng.
Xu Dayuan waved his hand, signaling Mr. Zeng to let her through.
"Zhu Xiaohui, why have you co?"
It turned out to be Zhu Xiaohui. Zhou Ning couldn’t help but size her up; he rembered that from their check of the information, Zhu Xiaohui was 34 years old, but she looked slightly older than her actual age.
Zhu Xiaohui pursed her lips, hesitating as if she wanted to say sothing. Xu Dayuan gestured with his hand.
"Co on, Zhu Xiaohui, let’s talk in the courtyard. Don’t worry, if you have any thoughts or rember anything, feel free to tell ."
Zhu Xiaohui nodded and followed Xu Dayuan into the courtyard. She glanced at Zhou Ning, bit her lip, and seed to make up her mind before speaking:
"People say that death is the most important of matters. I shouldn’t say too much, but after thinking it over, I wanted to report sothing to you police officers. On a day at the beginning of August, I really can’t rember the exact date, my partner ca ho quite late, not getting in until eight o’clock.
I was scolding him in the backyard, but he didn’t talk back at all, which was completely out of character. I got closer to look at him and noticed that he seed to be distracted. I slapped him in frustration, and only then did he co to his senses and ask what was going on. I asked him what he was doing, if he had lost his soul after coming back from so seductress’s place.
My partner cursed at . He said he was helping tidy up the Wang family’s courtyard. After the tiles had been moved, the yard was very dirty with broken pieces everywhere. Since the kids have classes there and sotis co out to play, it could be dangerous.
I told him he already went and I didn’t say much, but why did he have such a long face when he ca back? He said it was nothing, that it had nothing to do with . He was just doing work at the Wang family’s place. And just as they were about to finish, he overheard Mr. Wang’s Daughter-in-law on the phone saying not to co over now because soone was fixing things at ho, to co after nine o’clock instead."
"Mr. Wang’s Daughter-in-law, are you referring to Ho Dongi?"
Zhu Xiaohui nodded, looking a bit embarrassed.
"We all live in the village and are used to calling soone by their husband’s or father’s na. After all, we can’t always rember their given nas. I haven’t finished yet. Once my partner heard that soone was coming, he quickly piled up the rubbish and told Mr. Wang’s Daughter-in-law that it was too late today and that he would borrow a cart to take it away tomorrow, then left.
He hadn’t gone far when he saw car lights coming from the east. My partner quickly got out of the way, but the car didn’t pass by. Instead, it turned into the alley next to the east wall of the Wang family’s compound. He heard the car door close and then saw a man carrying two bags of things directly entering the Wang family’s courtyard.
My partner said the man wasn’t particularly tall and was chubby, quite robust, bearing no resemblance to the thin fra of Wang Hongzhan. Afterward, the Wang family’s main gate closed, and he went straight ho, asking if he should ntion this matter to Wang Hongzhan.
I told him it’s better not to ddle in other people’s affairs. Wang Hongzhan and Ho Dongi are educated people, and they even co back to the village to tutor the kids. There’s nothing wrong with their character. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on rumors. Perhaps it was just a friend or relative bringing sothing over. It’d sound bad if we spoke about it."
Who knew that it wouldn’t be long before the Wang family would have trouble. At the ti, I was so shocked by the incident that I forgot about this matter. If you hadn’t asked if there was anything else I wanted to report, I wouldn’t have thought to say it.
After all, Mr. Wang’s Daughter-in-law has died, and death is the most important of matters. Don’t think I’m running my mouth and spreading dirt on the dead; otherwise, I’d have no face to live in this village."
"Did your partner not recognize that man?"
Zhu Xiaohui shook her head.
"He took a good look but didn’t recognize him, certain that he’s not from Jiaotuan Village. He just said the person was not very tall, chubby, and looked to be around thirty years old."
"Give the phone number for Jiao Dazhuang, and I’ll contact him afterward. It’s very comndable that you took the initiative to co to us with the issue, showing high consciousness. If you think of anything else later, feel free to tell , here’s my mobile number."
As he spoke, Xu Dayuan wrote down a phone number, tore it off, and handed it to Zhu Xiaohui, who also left Jiao Dazhuang’s number before quickly leaving, not wanting to get tangled in the case.
At that mont, Zhang Chunbo returned.
"The request for assistance has been sent out, and our colleagues from Shen City have already set off to find Wang Hongzhan. They’ll contact the mont they find him."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"I rember at the case briefing eting, you ntioned that the surveillance footage from around Jiaotuan Village, you all copied a month’s worth of footage. Send these to Mr. Zeng, we’ll head back first," Zhang Chunbo said urgently.
"What about the children from the other families who attended the tutorial classes, especially Wang Guangliang, Jiao Tinglong, and Li Zhenxue? Aren’t we going to their hos to inquire?"
Xu Dayuan pondered for a mont. The traces left at the scene were now few, and all the bloody fingerprints had latex glove imprints. Such ticulous planning was unlikely to be achieved by semi-grown children, especially regarding the safe and the combination lock. Even if they had trespassed, opening those would be extrely difficult for them, unless they did sothing like Mr. Zhao, who dismantled the safe.
"Let’s head back for now. We’ll look for soone to open the safe, and everything else can wait until after the safe has been inspected. Also, today is Friday, and those teens are still in class. If we need to, we can co back the day after tomorrow. Let’s go!"
Just then, Mr. Zhao’s voice rang out.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, look what I’ve found!"
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