Chapter 37

What responded to him was the endless silence of Cui Jiafu and his wife.

After a long moment, Cui Jiafu finally raised his hand and wiped his face, sighing helplessly, "We really didn't mean to lie to you. The matter between Cui Da and Zhou Hong is a long time ago. These photos are from a long time ago."

Cui Jiafu's wife, tearfully echoing, said, "My husband wanted to hide the photo because Zhou Hong is a girl after all. Even if you're police officers, it wouldn't be nice to see a photo of her like this."

"Besides, Zhou Hong has a truly good personality. She's well-known throughout the surrounding villages for her filial piety. She's also very hardworking. It's impossible that she killed Xiaoda."

Are you so sure?

Luo Jingyao, who was standing at the door, was indeed a little surprised that the couple could say such considerate words.

Logically speaking, a pair of parents who have just lost their beloved son should not be very emotionally stable, and they will doubt everything without hesitation.

Is this girl named Zhou Hong really so good that even the victim's parents come to her defense?

On the other side, Lin Jiafan obviously had the same doubts, but he did not show it.

At this point, he probably couldn't get any new clues from the couple. He didn't choose to continue staying at Cui's house and wasting time. He took the photo in his hand and left with his people.

At this moment, the hands on the clock have pointed to two o'clock in the middle of the night.

Guo Zhen's work of sorting out body parts has not yet been completed, but fortunately the forensic doctor supporting him from the Jinshi Public Security Bureau has arrived, and he estimates that he will have some clues before daybreak.

As for the rest of the people, it was impossible for them to sneak into the villagers' homes in the middle of the night to conduct investigations and visits, so they were arranged by the village committee to live in the dormitories prepared for the staff in the village.

The environment is a bit harsh, but at least it can shelter them from the wind and rain, which is enough for Lin Jiafan and the others.

After all, they are here to work, not to relax and enjoy themselves.

It is called a reserve dormitory, but in fact it is just an empty rectangular room with an area of ​​about 40 to 50 square meters. There are a few single iron beds placed in it. The dust accumulated everywhere also shows that people do not often visit here.

A few minutes later, the staff of the village committee brought in some quilts and pillows borrowed from fellow villagers, but they just put them aside and disappeared.

"Just make do with it for now, ladies, take a rest first." Lin Jiafan glanced at the obviously insufficient number of beddings and said this calmly. Then he waved his hand and led Pang Guang and others out of the empty room.

Including Luo Jingyao, there were only four female comrades left. They looked at each other and started to move without hesitation for a long time.

I'm really tired after a busy day.

They hastily spread the bedding on the iron bed and everyone slept in their clothes.

When the lights were turned off, the huge empty room became quiet in an instant, with only the occasional sudden and harsh creaking of the iron bed when someone turned over.

The bed assigned to Luo Jingyao was right next to a window. She stared at the stars hanging in the night sky outside with wide eyes, and slowly emptied her mind.

So many things happened that day that when I calmed down my mind was in a mess.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed past the window.

The black shadow first paced back and forth outside, and finally leaned on the windowsill, with the cigarette in his hand flashing an orange-red light in the night.

It’s Lin Jiafan.

As soon as she came to this conclusion, Luo Jingyao herself was shocked. When did they become so familiar with each other that she could recognize each other just by a vague outline?

Just when she couldn't stop feeling surprised, she heard faint voices of talking outside the house.

I guess those grown men had nowhere to go, so they had to gather in the yard to brainstorm about the case, just to kill time.

Lin Jiafan's voice is the most distinctive, not too low and just the right amount of hoarseness, and the tone is weakened by the doors and windows. When it falls into Luo Jingyao's ears, it is comparable to a world-famous lullaby.

Gradually, her consciousness began to blur, and she lost consciousness completely as her head tilted.

The next morning, just as the sky was getting light, Bo'an Village became bustling.

The crowing of chickens, barking of dogs and the shouting of tofu sellers brought Luo Jingyao back to her senses as quickly as possible.

Yawning and tidying up her messy hair, she tiptoed out of the village committee dormitory. As she was stretching at the door, she saw Lin Jiafan walking towards her.

The man was holding two large, still steaming stainless steel bowls. He walked over to her and casually handed them over. "Eat. After you finish, we have to go to Zhou Hong's house. The village director has already made the arrangements."

Luo Jingyao took the stainless steel bowl in a daze, and when she looked down, she saw that it was hand-rolled noodles with tomato and egg.

She took a big bite with the chopsticks stuck in the bowl, and after a long sigh of relief, she turned her head to look at the man who had almost finished showing off his bowl of noodles: "Um... Yesterday at Cui's house..."

Before she could finish, Lin Jiafan took out a manila envelope from his trouser pocket.

Looking at the things that were delivered right under her nose, Luo Jingyao felt a little embarrassed: "I just wanted to ask, not to see it."

There was something that Cui Jiafu’s wife said that made some sense. After all, it was the girl’s privacy. The police looked at it to investigate the case, and she had no reasonable or legal reason.

Seeing that she really had no intention of reaching out, Lin Jiafan put the photos back and said, "These were taken when Cui Da was assaulting Zhou Hong. Judging from these photos, there is a high probability that Zhou Hong did not have a voluntary relationship with Cui Da."

"Interspersed among the photos are images of beatings. These photos are from different scenes and at different times. A rough estimate is that this type of abuse occurred at least eight times, if not ten times."

The reason why he wanted to show the photo to Luo Jingyao was actually for the purpose of investigating the case, because when he went to see Zhou Hong later, he would really need her help.

Only when you understand the basic situation will you know where to start to make the final decision when the time comes.

Female police officers are a rare sight in the police force, but they often face female clients just as often as male clients when handling cases.

Pan Chang was busy with external communication and coordination and dealing with major media. As for the remaining three in the room, one can only say that everyone has their own strengths. They are top-notch experts in the laboratory, but it is really too much to ask them to communicate face to face with the people.

To sum up, Luo Jingyao was so easy to use that he actually wanted to recruit her.

Unfortunately, after two previous attempts, it has been confirmed that the person has no desire for this line of work at all.

But it doesn't seem like she is completely uninterested. If she was really not interested, she wouldn't have gotten involved again and again.

Years of criminal investigation career have made most people vulnerable to Lin Jiafan's eyes. Luo Jingyao is a rare one that he can't understand even after looking at her again and again.

Now is not the time to dwell on these things. He stood there quietly waiting for the woman to finish the bowl of noodles, then called Pang Guang again. Led by the village director, the three of them walked towards Zhou Hong's house.

The group that wants to go to Bo'an Village must pass through the second group where the Cui family is located, and still have to pass through the familiar three-way intersection.

Fatty Wang, the owner of Haixia Supermarket, was sweeping the front door with a broom. When he looked up and saw several figures walking along the village road, he waved enthusiastically, "Director! Officer Lin! You're working so early?!"

When they got closer, Fatty Wang leaned forward again, his voice mysterious. "I heard that the one who died yesterday was the Cui family's youngest son? Is that true?"

"It's true. I never thought something like this would happen in our village..." The village director shook his head and sighed. His already sparse hair became even shinier with worry. "I'm going to take the police to the home of Zhou Wenwu from Group 1 now."

"Zhou Wenwu..." Fatty Wang muttered to himself, his eyes rolling around. "Could the police suspect that Cui Da's death is related to Zhou Wenwu's daughter?"

Although he asked this question right next to the village director's ear, it also reached the ears of Lin Jiafan and the other two.

The village director quickly waved his hand: "No, Zhou Hong is such a kind girl. The police officer just wants to find out some information."

Fatty Wang seemed relieved after hearing this and nodded in agreement: "Yes, that girl from the Zhou family doesn't even dare to kill a chicken, so how can she kill people?"

Huh? Listening to the conversation between the village director and the supermarket owner, Luo Jingyao blinked in surprise again.

Zhou Hong is a good child.

Cui Da is a scumbag.

This seemed to be the consensus of the entire Bo'an Village. No matter where they went or who they asked, they seemed to hear everyone making such comments about the two people.

Perhaps sensing the anxiety of the three people behind him, the village director hastily said goodbye to Fatty Wang and continued walking forward with them.

About ten minutes later, a bungalow that looked clean and tidy appeared in everyone's sight.

Compared to the Cui family’s two-story building, the bungalow in front of them is the most common in Bo’an Village.

The outermost gate was unlocked. The village director led Lin Jiafan and the other two through the blue brick wall that had been uniformly built in Bo'an Village two years earlier and came straight to the bungalow. "Is anyone home?"

As soon as the words fell, there was movement in the room over there, and a few seconds later a middle-aged man pushed open the door and walked out.

The other person was a typical farmer, wearing a gray suit, with not-so-long gray hair close to his scalp, and a half-burned cigarette in his unshaven hand.

"Officer Lin, this is Zhou Hong's father, Zhou Wenwu." The village director introduced the two parties with an awkward smile: "Brother Zhou, Officer Lin is here mainly to find out..."

"Ahem!" Zhou Wenwu coughed twice, interrupting the village director. He then extinguished the cigarette in his hand and turned to look at the gate of his own courtyard. "I heard that the little bastard from the Cui family was killed, and now the police are trying to help the bastard get revenge!"

The obviously sarcastic words made Lin Jiafan frown slightly.

He originally thought that Zhou Hong's parents might not know the details, but now it seems that they were wrong.

But this result undoubtedly makes the already confusing case even more difficult to understand.

As the oppressed party and a woman, it is normal for Zhou Hong to choose to swallow her anger after what happened.

But why did the parents choose to avoid talking about the matter after knowing the truth?