Chapter 180: The Journey Home 02: Don’t Be So Stubborn

Chapter 2

The deceased had no relatives in the local area, so it is impossible to investigate.

Apply for off-site assistance in the investigation. Even if the other party starts an investigation now, the speed will not be that fast, and the current serious crime team really can't do anything.

Captain Wang suggested that they first arrange accommodation for them and then take them around to experience the customs of Huaijiang.

Huaijiang has many ethnic minorities, and ethnic characteristics can be seen everywhere.

After Captain Wang arranged them in the guesthouse, he drove them to visit the local night market.

While chatting along the way, Lu Changfeng asked Captain Wang about the incident of missing children in the local area.

Captain Wang sighed, "In the early years, urban construction in our area was not so advanced, and the people in some remote mountain villages were not very vigilant against bad guys. They were easily deceived, and their hard-earned savings were emptied. Children playing at the doorstep would also disappear if they were not careful."

Jing Jue said: "Why didn't they call the police to investigate?"

"We called the police. Who said we didn't?" Captain Wang asked Jing Jue, "Excuse me, how old is Comrade Xiao Jing this year?"

Jing Jue said, "Twenty-five."

"So you are the post-2000s generation. Your generation was born in the wave of national development and reaped the benefits of national development. Perhaps you can't imagine what our small marginal place was like 20 years ago."

Captain Wang was envious of Jing Jue, who had already joined the serious crime squad at such a young age. "Let's not talk about 20 years ago. Even ten years ago, if a child was lost in the town, it might not be found. The surveillance system was not yet fully installed. Besides, the human traffickers who dared to steal children were not ordinary thieves."

Captain Wang told them about a case he handled that year. "It was a summer more than ten years ago when I was still working at the town police station. At that time, the town's surveillance cameras were almost all installed. My colleagues and I went door to door to promote legal knowledge. I remember clearly that it was evening that day. Several children were squatting on the ground playing marbles. I passed by them and reminded them not to play on the roadside to avoid being kidnapped by bad guys. We received a call at around 7 o'clock that evening saying that the children were all missing."

"Where are the children?" Jing Jue asked, "Were they all kidnapped?"

Captain Wang nodded sadly: "Yes, they were all abducted. The suspect and his accomplice drove a van and saw a few children playing on the side of the road. There were no adults watching them. They stopped the van and took all the children away."

"Did you find the child in the end?"

Captain Wang shook his head: "None of the three children were found."

"Afterwards, we reviewed the surveillance footage at the town entrance and deduced that the van was the one the suspect drove when he committed the crime. However, the van had been lost long ago. During that time, no parent dared to let their children go out alone for fear that they might be abducted. Parents would personally go to the school gate to pick up and drop off their children. If I hadn't said it, who would have thought that this would happen in a few years."

Jing Jue grew up in Chuncheng and is a native of Chuncheng. Although the GDP of Yunnan Province has not been as good as that of coastal areas for many years, Chuncheng is at least a provincial capital. Even if the environment in Chuncheng was poor more than ten years ago, it was still much better than small fourth- and fifth-tier cities like Huaijiang. Without seeing the differences between different places with his own eyes, it is difficult for him to imagine what Huaijiang was like more than ten years ago.

"With the popularization of surveillance in recent years, the number of lost children has become less and less. Even if a child is really lost, most of them can be found quickly. But if you go back ten or twenty years, it is generally impossible to find a lost child."

Jing Jue: "Then it is very likely that Lin Cuiying and Kong Xiaolian's son is missing."

Seeing that no one answered, he continued to analyze, "Lin Cuiying ran so far away and happened to die in front of Kong Xiaolian's grave. The judge asked her to die in front of Kong Xiaolian's grave to atone for her crime. Kong Xiaolian's life was not long, and the biggest thing she did was losing her son. The loss of her son was the beginning of Kong Xiaolian's family tragedy. Lin Cuiying is most likely the person who caused the tragedy."

"Why aren't you talking?" Jing Jue felt that his analysis was correct. He couldn't figure out where the loophole was. But when he saw that no one was talking, he suddenly felt unsure. He looked at Lu Changfeng. Among these people, Lu Changfeng was the least likely to ignore him.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Lu Changfeng smiled and tapped Jing Jue on the forehead, "Your analysis is absolutely correct."

Yue Fanglin was amused when he saw Jing Jue covering his head and glaring at Lu Changfeng resentfully.

Jing Jue looked bewildered.

Yue Fanglin said: "The way you analyzed the case just now was very similar to Changfeng."

Zhou Yu nodded: "Indeed, the tone is like Captain Lu is possessed."

Jing Jue said: "I was taught by Captain Lu. It's okay to be like him. It's a big problem if I'm not like him."

Lu Changfeng got to the point: "Right now, the crimes committed by Lin Cuiying are all our speculations. There is no actual evidence yet. We must first find out whether Lin Cuiying is the culprit who stole Kong Xiaolian's child before we can move forward with the case."

Jing Jue felt that the direction was clear. "If the murderer just wanted to kill Lin Cuiying, why did he have to let her die in front of Kong Xiaolian's grave? Why did he have to ask her to confess to Kong Xiaolian?"

"There are many things the murderer wants her to confess, not necessarily stealing the child. Maybe in other aspects, she has done something wrong to Kong Xiaolian. If we make a wrong prediction, it will affect the direction of our investigation." Lu Changfeng hopes that Jing Jue can listen to him instead of jumping to conclusions.

Jing Jue said: "Starting from the murderer's modus operandi will not affect the direction of our investigation."

Lu Changfeng asked: "What do you think?"

Jing Jue said: "Right now, her son is still in the hospital, and her daughter-in-law is taking care of a room full of sick people by herself. Under normal circumstances, she would never leave Biluo City and come to Huaijiang City, unless she has a reason to come to Huaijiang City...but I can't think of what that reason is."

Yue Fanglin said: "Of course she had a reason to come to Huaijiang City, otherwise she would not have died in Huaijiang City. As long as we can find out why she came to Huaijiang City, we can basically solve this case."

"Didn't her daughter-in-law say that she had been fortune-telling in Biluo City?" Zhou Yu reminded: "Could it be that the fortune-teller told her something that made her come to Huaijiang City?"

"What could the fortune teller say to make her decide to come to Huaijiang City?" Captain Wang found it a little unbelievable.

Lu Changfeng reminded him: "Lin Cuiying's daughter-in-law said that she has been looking for a fortune teller to ask when her son will wake up and what she should do to wake him up. Maybe the fortune teller told Lin Cuiying what to do in Huaijiang City so that her son will wake up, and that's why she came here."

When people are left with no way out, they will start to do things like fortune-telling, praying to gods and Buddhas, which they once disdained.

"Just imagine that if something happened to the person most important to you, and someone told you that if you counted on your fingers, you could go thousands of kilometers away to do something, and your person most important to you would be safe, would you do it?"

Almost everyone answered in the affirmative.

Of course.

The worst result of doing it is that there will be no change at all, but if you don’t do it, you will most likely miss this opportunity.

Lu Changfeng guessed that Lin Cuiying came to such a far place because she listened to the fortune teller.

Captain Wang said: "Although I don't understand the judge's murder routine, I have worked on the front line for so many years and I still have some experience. Lin Cuiying was definitely murdered. Just like Comrade Xiaojing said, why didn't he choose someone else's cemetery, but Kong Xiaolian's cemetery? The murderer must have premeditated the murder of Lin Cuiying. He knew Lin Cuiying's whereabouts very well. Lin Cuiying was an outsider who came to Huaijiang for some purpose. Such a person has an unstable residence. It is impossible that this was not a premeditated murder."

"I think the murderer must have planned this for a long time and set a trap for Lin Cuiying, a trap that she could not refuse and had to fall into. We have also learned from the testimony of his daughter-in-law that the most important thing for Lin Cuiying right now is when her son can wake up. She is willing to do anything for her son to wake up. So the murderer must know a lot about Lin Cuiying, or he must be someone close to her."

Jing Jue felt that Captain Wang's speculation that the murderer was someone close to the deceased was unreasonable. "We checked the high-speed train in and out of the station. She went through security check alone. No one was traveling with her. If the murderer was really someone close to her, how could he not leave any clues?"

Seeing that they were about to argue, Lu Changfeng interrupted them in time, "Let's wait for the results of further investigation before making any inferences. It's too early to make any inferences now without any evidence."

Yue Fanglin immediately took over the conversation, "Find a way to find out what she has done, why she traveled thousands of kilometers to Huaijiang when her son was critically ill, what grudges there were between her and Kong Xiaolian, and her whereabouts after arriving in Huaijiang and why she appeared at Kong Xiaolian's grave. There are too many doubts that we need to verify. Captain Wang, you will have a heavy burden next. Huaijiang is your territory, and we are not as familiar with it as you are. Please help us find out Lin Cuiying's whereabouts after arriving in Huaijiang as soon as possible."

Captain Wang followed the steps Yue Fanglin gave him and said, "Don't worry, I will find out the truth as soon as possible."

Just then we arrived at the restaurant, and Captain Wang asked everyone to get off the car and have dinner.

Jing Jue walked at the end, and Lu Changfeng deliberately slowed down his pace and walked with Jing Jue.

Jing Jue said aggrievedly: "He must think that I am young and incompetent."

"That's not the case." Lu Changfeng comforted Jing Jue: "It was originally our fault. We didn't ask for other people's opinions during the discussion and ignored their feelings. To be fair, most of Captain Wang's analysis is also fine."

Jing Jue still couldn't accept it: "How could the murderer be someone close to the deceased? The judge is not an ordinary murderer."

Lu Changfeng said: "The case has not been concluded yet. It is too early to say who the murderer is. But his speculation is not unreasonable. The murderer does know the whereabouts of the deceased. Otherwise, how could he find the deceased accurately and kill her in front of Kong Xiaolian's grave?"

Lu Changfeng said to Jing Jue earnestly: "Don't be so stubborn."

After listening to Lu Changfeng's explanation, Jing Jue thought about it carefully and felt that what Captain Wang said made sense. He took the initiative to admit his mistake: "I know, I will change."

After entering the box, Jing Jue took the initiative to find an opportunity to offer tea to Captain Wang and apologize, and Captain Wang gladly accepted it, and the matter was over.