Chapter 148 Witness Intentionally Conceals Information

Facing the puzzled looks of the crowd, Jiang Si explained her thoughts.

"Fourth Uncle, I still think it's more likely that Yu Manli will go to find her boyfriend."

This time, Uncle Huo didn't deny it, but asked, "You mean, that man lied?"

Thinking about it carefully, this possibility isn't entirely out of the question, after all, the two are currently in the honeymoon phase.

If the other party knew that the Yu family was forcing Yu Manli into a marriage alliance, he definitely wouldn't be able to accept it.

Therefore, he will most likely find a place to hide Yu Manli first, and then come back to apologize after the marriage falls through.

If we think the worst of people, what if they take advantage of this time to make things official?

No matter how unwilling the Yu family was, they had no choice but to accept the marriage.

Jiang Si nodded. "This is just one of the guesses."

This suggests there might be a second guess.

Jiang Si didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "There's another possibility: Yu Manli went to find him, but something happened that prevented her from reaching the destination, and she was taken away by someone else."

That's the scariest part of this whole thing.

If she was simply hidden away by that man surnamed Mo, at least her life wouldn't be in danger.

But the second possibility is harder to say.

Moreover, more than ten hours have passed since the incident, and no one knows what might have happened in that time.

Thinking of this, Jiang Si said in a deep voice: "If you want to know whether she went to see her boyfriend, it's very simple. At the time when Yu Manli left the compound, the Beijing State-owned Taxi Company had not yet opened."

"Her only option was to take the bus."

"You can look up which bus you need to take from Beijing to his girlfriend's place, and then ask the ticket seller on the earliest bus."

There were few people on the early morning bus, and Yu Manli's clothes and appearance clearly indicated that she was not from an ordinary family.

In addition, her eyes were swollen like walnuts yesterday, so the ticket seller might actually remember it.

Sure enough, the next day, Jiang Si had just completed her onboarding procedures with Huo Tingzhou's help when Uncle Huo sent someone to summon her.

"You were right."

As soon as the door opened, Uncle Huo quickly explained the situation.

“We checked and found that Yu Manli left the compound at around 4:50 in the morning, before the first bus service. She walked all the way to the vicinity of Hujialou.”

Jiang Si knew about Hujialou, which was near the CCTV building in later years.

It takes about forty minutes to walk there from here.

Uncle Huo continued, "Mo Zhenyu lives in Tongxian. The only way to get to Tongxian from the city center is by taking bus number 342 from the Hujialou bus terminal."

"Yu Manli took the first bus at 5:30 to Tongxian, and then got off at Xinhua Street."

"It takes some time to walk from Xinhua Street to Mojia Village, where Mo Zhenyu lives."

"This morning, Captain Liu from the Criminal Investigation Brigade led his team there."

Uncle Huo poured a cup of tea for the young couple. "You two sit down and rest for a while. They should be back soon."

Jiang Si nodded.

The three of them had been chatting for less than ten minutes when Captain Liu knocked on the door and came in.

"Director."

"Alright, sit down."

Uncle Huo waved his hand, gesturing for him to sit down and talk.

Captain Liu smiled and, without any ceremony, sat down and recounted the findings in detail.

"Mo Zhenyu has been brought here and is currently in the interrogation room."

"However, after we investigated in the village, it seems that the kid might not actually be lying."

“On the day of the incident, he left home at almost eight o’clock in the morning. After that, he went to the brigade office of his village and waited there for a phone call until almost eleven o’clock before returning home.”

Uncle Huo thought for a moment, "What about before eight o'clock? Did he go out?"

Whether he goes out or not has little impact.

Captain Liu explained, "Yu Manli arrived at Xinhua Street at 7:45 a.m. It would take her an hour to get from Xinhua Street to Mojia Village, even if she walked fast."

"Someone like Yu Manli, who wears small leather shoes, won't arrive until around nine o'clock."

After understanding the situation, Uncle Huo took a deep breath and then looked at Jiang Si.

"It seems things are heading in the worst possible direction."

There are more than a dozen forks in the road between Xinhua Street and Mojia Village.

The person has been missing for more than 24 hours.

If we don't find any clues today, finding someone in the future will be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

After hearing the entire progress of the case, Jiang Si also felt that it was a difficult situation.

Fortunately, she didn't feel any psychological burden.

She can help if she can, but if she can't, there's nothing she can do about it.

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Si asked, "Fourth Uncle, is the ticket seller still there?"

"Here I am."

Uncle Huo said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see it."

When he went downstairs, he showed Jiang Si the statement he had just made.

"The ticket seller's name is Zhu Xiaoping, and she's a long-time employee of the bus company."

"Thanks to her recognizing Yu Manli's photo, otherwise we really wouldn't have been able to determine Yu Manli's whereabouts."

As they spoke, the group arrived at the door of the interrogation room.

Jiang Si glanced at the word "nervous" marked on the transcript and felt a sense of doubt.

To verify her guess, she whispered a few words to Huo Tingzhou.

"When you go in, try to look fierce, don't say anything, just stare at her with a straight face."

Then he said to Uncle Huo, "Uncle Huo, you too, don't say anything once you're inside."

The two didn't understand, but they nodded nonetheless.

After giving her instructions to the two, Jiang Si's expression darkened.

Next, all three of them entered the interrogation room with expressions that said "do not disturb strangers."

More than an hour had passed since Zhu Xiaoping finished giving her statement, and she was already feeling uneasy.

Upon seeing Jiang Si and the others enter, he immediately stood up.

"Officer, I've really told you everything..."

Are you sure you've told everything?

Jiang Si glanced at her indifferently, her tone authoritative without being angry.

"If a witness deliberately conceals important events related to the case or deliberately commits perjury, they will generally be punished for disturbing public order."

"The penalties include imprisonment of up to two years or detention, as well as dismissal from public office."

"I forgot to tell you, the missing woman was a nurse at the military hospital."

"If you're really going to be sentenced, you'll get at least three to five years."

Huo Tingzhou corrected him, "For serious cases, the minimum sentence is at least ten years."

As soon as he finished speaking, Uncle Huo also slammed his hand on the table in response.

"Will you confess honestly on your own, or will you only tell the truth if I call all the passengers and the driver over for questioning?"

"I...I..."

"I advise you to confess honestly. If you drag this out any longer, that woman's life may be in danger!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiaoping dared not hide anything any longer and hurriedly told everyone what had happened in the car that day.

It was pretty much as Jiang Si had expected.

Zhu Xiaoping noticed Yu Manli the moment she got on the bus.

“The girl had been crying ever since she got on the bus. I called her for a long time before she reacted when I was buying the ticket.”

"The people who take the early morning bus to Tongxian are mostly workers going to work at the Dongfang Chemical Plant, and they all have monthly passes."

1967 Beijing Suburban Monthly Pass

"She was the only one buying tickets on the bus. She took out a ten-yuan note and gave it to me, but I didn't have change."

"I advised her to take the next bus or get some change first."

"Who knew, the girl absolutely refused to get off the bus, and even said that she didn't need to keep the change."

Zhu Xiaoping has been a ticket seller for almost fifteen years, and she has never seen any passenger so generous.

Nine yuan and sixty cents is almost ten days' wages for her; it would be a lie to say she wasn't tempted.

So Zhu Xiaoping hesitated for a moment, then accepted the money.

Of course, she didn't keep all the money; she also gave half to the driver.

"Officer, she didn't want the money herself, I really didn't intentionally overcharge her."

"I only concealed this fact; I told the truth about everything else."

Hearing this, the three people in the interrogation room had no doubts.

Yu Manli was already quite good-looking, and this inadvertently revealed her wealth.

To those with ulterior motives, this is nothing short of a fat sheep.

But there's no use saying all this now. Jiang Si asked, "Does the bus to the Eastern Chemical Plant also stop at the final stop?"

"No, no, no, they got off at the previous stop."

Zhu Xiaoping takes this train every day; no one knows this route better than her.

"The main gate of the Dongfang Chemical Plant is on the west side. Get off at the West Street Station; that's the closest one."

Jiang Si nodded and asked the most crucial question.

"How many people were on the bus when she got off at the final stop?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiaoping abruptly looked up at her—