Lin Zhiheng then told Lu Zhengting everything he knew about the special things that had happened to Tong Jiaojiao, starting from when he first met her on the train to the countryside.

“Brother Lu, she deliberately caused trouble for my sister from the moment she arrived here. Later, she even clashed with Comrade Chen Lu and had a fight with Comrade Song Qingfang, who was arrested for theft before. Of course, Song Qingfang is in prison now, so there's no way she can kill her.”

As for her relationships with male educated youth, she initially got quite close to Chen Wenbin, but it was all one-sided; Chen Wenbin completely ignored her. Later, she said that Lin Guanghui had harassed her, and after that, she stopped pursuing Chen Wenbin and also stopped opposing Comrade Chen Lu.

"So what happened between her and Lin Guanghui after that? Did it just end there?"

"After that, it seems that Tong Jiaojiao started pursuing Lin Guanghui, but I don't know if she succeeded. However, I noticed that Lin Guanghui used to always talk to Sister Chen Lu, as if he was deliberately getting close to her, so he probably didn't like Tong Jiaojiao."

Although Lin Zhiheng was shy and didn't like to interact with girls or talk about romantic relationships, he still knew a little about these things.

Lu Zhengting pondered his words.

Li Fang interjected, "I heard that when Tong Jiaojiao died, she had just miscarried. The baby was probably one or two months old, but we don't know who the father is. It seems that Lin Zhiqing mentioned before that one night when she and Grandma Lin were returning home, they saw a man and Tong Jiaojiao crawling out from behind a haystack. The baby might be that man's."

"Tong Jiaojiao's miscarriage and death were most likely caused by the man she had an affair with," Lu Zhengting said. "That child shouldn't have been born. If Tong Jiaojiao didn't want it, there was no need for her to have an abortion on the mountain. Therefore, it can only be that the man didn't want the child."

The reasons for not wanting the child are twofold: First, the man is married and doesn't want to keep the child. Second, the man may not be married, but has other reasons preventing him from marrying her, so the child cannot be kept either.

You just said that Lin Guanghui deliberately approached Comrade Chen Lu before, is that still the case now?

Lin Zhiheng shook his head: "After my sister and I moved out, I haven't been back to the educated youth settlement. I have to go to work every day and don't have a chance to meet those educated youths. I don't know how Lin Guanghui and Sister Chen Lu are doing. However, I won't go to work tomorrow, so I can go back to the educated youth settlement to find out the specific situation."

"good."

Lin Zhiheng pondered for a while longer, then asked Lu Zhengting, "Shouldn't we find out who the man was that night first?"

Lu Zhengting nodded: "If the police know about this clue, they will definitely investigate the man's identity as soon as possible. We should also pay close attention to the police's movements during the day and observe their progress privately."

"Um."

As Lu Zhengting and Li Fang were about to leave, Lin Zhiheng remembered his mother-in-law: "Brother Lu, I wasn't home during the day. When my sister left, she must have entrusted my mother-in-law to your care, right?"

Lu Zhengting nodded: "Yes, she's at my house right now."

"Alright, I'll go and call my mother-in-law back. The brigade leader's house isn't very spacious either. Anyway, I'll be at home and I can keep an eye on her. If I'm not at home anymore someday, I'll trouble you to take care of her then."

"That works too."

Lu Zhengting agreed. After all, Lin Qingyan was no longer here, and Lin Zhiheng was the closest person to Granny Lin. It would be better to entrust Granny Lin to Lin Zhiheng's care.

Lin Zhiheng, Lu Zhengting, and Li Fang went to the Lu family together. Grandma Lin was eating a peeled sweet potato when she saw Lin Zhiheng arrive. She immediately ran over to him.

"Xiao Heng, come back. Did the girl also entrust you to this family's care? Then let's stay here together and wait for the girl to come back."

“Grandma, I’m not staying here. I’m here to take you home. Grandma, I won’t go to work tomorrow. I’ll stay home with you and wait for my sister to come back.”

Grandma Lin immediately walked out: "Xiao Heng has to take care of Grandma, so let's hurry home. I want to go back; I still need to feed my little bunny."

After bidding farewell to the Lin family, Lin Zhiheng went out to catch up with Granny Lin.

After the forensic doctor examined Tong Jiaojiao's body, she was taken to the back mountain for burial, and the brigade leader no longer needed to guard the area at night.

After he got home, Lu Zhengting asked him about the general progress of the case.

The captain sighed: "The police are not willing to disclose any specific progress, but we still need to investigate a lot before we can solve the case. It will probably take some time."

Unable to obtain any useful information, Lu Zhengting returned to his room and analyzed the situation alone.

The next morning, after getting up, Lin Zhiheng went to find Granny Lin. He saw that Granny Lin's door was open, so he went in and found that it was empty and no one was there.

He touched the spot on the kang where Grandma Lin had slept; it was already cold. He quickly went outside to find Grandma Lin.

There was no sign of Granny Lin in the courtyard. The gate was locked from the inside. She called out to Granny Lin loudly several times outside the toilet, but no one answered.

Helpless, he had no choice but to go into the toilet himself to check, but there was no sign of Granny Lin.

Where did Grandma go?

Granny Lin knows martial arts and can easily climb over walls and jump over houses, so she must have climbed over the wall to get outside.

He quickly opened the door and went out to find Granny Lin.

"Grandma, Grandma."

He walked along shouting, "My sister hasn't come out yet, Grandma, please don't let anything else happen to her."

He searched for a while but couldn't find Grandma Lin, so he decided to go to the brigade leader's house to check. Grandma Lin had stayed there yesterday, so maybe she had gone there again.

But when they arrived at the brigade leader's house, they found out that Grandma Lin wasn't there at all; no one in the brigade leader's family had seen Grandma Lin that day.

Afterwards, Li Fang, Li Gang, Li Qinqin, and Lu's mother all went out to help Lin Zhiheng find Grandma Lin.

But they searched the entire village, every household, and even the most secluded corners, but they couldn't find any trace of Granny Lin.

"Could Aunt Lin have gone to the back mountain again? She went there the day before yesterday," said Mrs. Lu.

"Then let's go look for it in the back mountain."

Before they even set off, they saw someone riding a bicycle toward them.

The reason this person attracted their attention was twofold: firstly, bicycles were a novelty in the countryside, and secondly, the person was wearing a white police uniform.

They immediately stopped in their tracks, hoping this person might bring them news about Lin Qingyan.

The policeman was Xiao Wang. When Xiao Wang saw them, he quickly stopped the car.

Mother Lu immediately stepped forward: "Comrade, is there any news about Xiao Lin's case? Have you found the murderer? When will you release her?"