Chapter 89: No Daylight 18: Sick in the Brain

Chapter 18

"It's right not to show off your wealth. You can't gamble on other people's kindness." Jing Jue sighed, "It could have been avoided."

Lu Changfeng felt that he had been out for long enough, so he asked Jing Jue, "Are you okay?"

Jing Jue nodded.

"Then you go downstairs and visit the people nearby to see if anyone knows anything about their family. I'll go upstairs to find Captain Yue."

"Okay." Jing Jue agreed readily.

Upstairs, Yue Fanglin and Tao Zheng had finished examining the crime scene and were standing in the corridor.

Yue Fanglin saw Lu Changfeng coming up and asked, "How is Jing Jue?"

Lu Changfeng said: "He vomited, but now he has recovered. I asked him to find out more about the situation from the local people."

"Who reported the case?" Lu Changfeng had been here for so long but had not seen the person who reported the case.

"The upstairs neighbor," Tao Zheng said, "the two old ladies had made an appointment to go out and play mahjong after dinner. They had a spare key at their house. The old lady called the other party but no one answered, so she took the key and went downstairs to check what was going on. The old lady was almost scared to death by the sight, so she called the police immediately."

Lu Changfeng said, "Then this old lady should be very familiar with their family's situation, right?"

Tao Zheng nodded: "The old lady was very scared. She is too old, so her children are staying at home to rest."

Tao Zheng pointed upstairs and said, "If you want to ask questions now, I'll go up with you."

"Then ask. It's better to understand the situation as soon as possible so that you can make corresponding countermeasures."

Several people went upstairs together, and it was the old lady's daughter-in-law who opened the door.

Seeing that they were police officers, the old lady's daughter-in-law invited them into the house.

Seeing them packing their luggage, Lu Changfeng asked casually, "Are you moving away?"

The old lady's daughter-in-law nodded and zipped up the suitcase. "Yes, my mother-in-law got such a big shock today. My husband and I are worried about her living here alone. We plan to take her to live with us for a while. If it doesn't work out, we can just clean up this place and rent it out."

Lu Changfeng could understand his children's plans.

He sought advice from the elderly's children, "Your old lady has a good relationship with the old lady downstairs. We want to ask your old lady about something."

The old lady's daughter-in-law was a little worried: "Now?"

Lu Changfeng nodded.

"My old lady just had a fright, and I'm not sure if she is in a condition suitable for you to answer questions." The old lady's daughter-in-law was very worried about her mother-in-law's health.

Yue Fanglin repeatedly comforted her: "We won't force you to ask. If it really doesn't work, we won't force you."

"Then you guys try it, I'll go tell the old lady."

She turned and went into the room, and soon she and the old lady's son helped the old lady out.

Several people sat on the sofa and the old lady's son made tea for them.

Lu Changfeng showed the old lady his police ID to make her feel at ease, and confirmed with the old lady again, "Auntie, we are going to ask you some questions now. You can answer the ones you know, and you don't have to answer the ones you don't know, okay?"

The old lady hummed.

He was obviously very frightened, and his reaction was not so quick at the moment.

Lu Changfeng asked: "How is the relationship between the family downstairs?"

"Not good, very bad." The old lady said with certainty.

"Can you tell us in detail what is wrong with it?"

"Their daughter-in-law is from another place and has never worked since she married into their family. After Feng Yulian gave birth to the child, she was noisy and quarrelsome at home. She said more than once that she wanted to kill Shufen and Changqian."

Lu Changfeng asked: "What is the specific reason? She can't just kill people for no reason."

The old lady pointed to her head and said to them, "Feng Yulian is not normal here. She was fine before she got married, but after she got married and had a child, she started to howl whenever the child cried. She didn't want to hold the child or feed the child. Several times, she wanted to throw the child off the balcony because he was making noises."

The old lady's daughter-in-law said, "Mom, she doesn't have a brain problem, she has postpartum depression."

"What postpartum depression? People of our generation all went through this. Babies don't cry or make a fuss when they are just born. I've never seen anyone throw a baby to death." The old lady glared at her daughter-in-law fiercely, and then said to Lu Changfeng and the others, "She must be mentally ill, otherwise she wouldn't have talked about killing people."

The old lady's daughter-in-law was so embarrassed to speak.

"During the past two Chinese New Years, their family was always restless, fighting and smashing things during the New Year."

"Why?" Lu Changfeng asked.

The old lady said, "It's all about who to go back to for the New Year. Feng Yulian means that the child has been born for so long, but she hasn't gone back to her hometown to celebrate the New Year. Her hometown is in Yuecheng, and a round-trip high-speed rail ticket for one person costs more than 600 yuan. If Chang Qian goes back with her, Shufen will be alone for the New Year. A daughter who marries away will definitely not come back for the New Year. Shufen's husband died early, so you can't expect Shufen to go to their house for the New Year."

"Besides, it's New Year's Day and there's no one at home to watch over you. It's not auspicious at all."

Where to spend the New Year is a problem that every household faces every year in recent years.

Some people who are more open-minded go back to their own homes, while those who live nearby go to one place in the morning and another in the afternoon.

It is the most difficult to marry far away. The husband's family is unwilling to let the woman go, or the man is unwilling to go to the woman's home to celebrate the New Year. It is impossible to celebrate the New Year with your parents after marrying far away. You don't have the help from your natal family on weekdays, and you have nowhere to complain when you are wronged.

Lu Changfeng also wanted to speak up for justice, but he came here to investigate the case, not to quarrel with the old lady. There was no point in wasting more words on this matter.

"Besides these things, is there anything else?" Lu Changfeng asked.

"There are even more trivial things in daily life." The old lady counted them carefully: "She doesn't compare prices when buying vegetables, often secretly sends money to her family, and doesn't take good care of her mother-in-law. She even talks back when she is criticized. Chang Qian is the only one earning money in the family, and there are four mouths to feed. Life is very tight. She has to throw two or three pieces of clothes into the washing machine to wash, which wastes electricity and water. She only does housework when she is urged..."

The old lady listed a basket of Feng Yulian's faults one after another, which made people's heads buzz.

In the eyes of Lu Changfeng and the others, these were really trivial matters, but in the eyes of the old lady, he deserved to die dozens of times.

The fact that the old lady could speak of these things with indignation showed that this was what she thought in her heart. Everyone looked at the old lady's daughter-in-law with some sympathy, fearing that it would not be easy for her to be a daughter-in-law.

Jing Jue visited and investigated the crowd downstairs and learned a lot of relevant information.

Chang Qian's family is truly bizarre.

After Lu Changfeng and the others asked the old lady upstairs, they went downstairs to meet Jing Jue.

After getting in the car, Jing Jue told a few people about his visit, "This Ma Shufen is absolutely amazing, you can't imagine what she did."

"Don't keep us in suspense. Just tell me." Lu Changfeng reached out and pinched Jing Jue.

Jing Jue quickly dodged and begged for mercy: "I'll tell you, please don't mess with me."

"The family of four needs to eat three meals a day, and Feng Yulian is only given 20 yuan a day for living expenses."

Lu Changfeng seldom buys vegetables to cook, so he doesn't know much about vegetable prices, but he knows that a takeout meal now costs twenty yuan. He really can't imagine how twenty yuan can be enough for a family of four's daily living expenses.

He asked Yue Fanglin: "Is that enough?"

"Twenty yuan is not enough. If you buy the four-yuan noodles and eat them every day, it's definitely enough. There are even more. But if you want to order four dishes and one soup, and also have meat, it's definitely not enough."

"Eggs are one yuan each, tomatoes are two yuan and a pound, two eggs and a tomato are five yuan each, pork belly is more than ten yuan a pound, and it's already twenty yuan here."

It is okay not to pursue quality of life, but pursuing quality is definitely not enough.

Jing Jue said: "The neighbor downstairs said that Feng Yulian was scolded by her for more than two hours on the balcony because the vegetables she bought were 20 cents more expensive than the price she asked. One time, Feng Yulian came back from shopping without green onions in her bag, and she scolded her for several hours again."

"Why are you scolding me even though there are no onions?" Lu Changfeng didn't understand.

Yue Fanglin: "It's obvious that you don't buy vegetables. When you go to the market to buy vegetables, the merchants will give you an extra handful of green onions in order to attract your repeat business. My family hardly needs to buy green onions and coriander for cooking, they are all given to us by the vegetable vendors."

"Is that so..." Lu Changfeng said, "Maybe the merchant forgot to give Feng Yulian the green onions. It's not Feng Yulian's fault."

Jing Jue waved his hand: "Ma Shufen doesn't think so. She feels that she has not gained any advantage. She said that her daughter-in-law does not earn money but spends money lavishly."

Lu Changfeng was a little speechless: "She only spends 20 yuan a day on groceries, how can she spend money lavishly..."

Jing Jue spread his hands and said, "It was Feng Yulian's mother's birthday, so she asked Chang Qian to transfer 200 yuan. Ma Shufen even jumped up and cursed."

"What are you scolding?" Lu Changfeng couldn't understand. It was his mother-in-law's birthday and he couldn't be there. So he gave her 200 yuan as a token of his gratitude. It wasn't normal.

Yue Fanglin: "Could this be what the old lady upstairs said about secretly sending money home?"

Jing Jue nodded: "Ma Shufen's meaning is that her son didn't give her 200 yuan for her birthday, but instead went to Feng Yulian's mother to show his filial piety, saying that Feng Yulian's parents have hands and feet and are not dying, so he has the nerve to accept this money."

"The neighbor downstairs said that their monthly water and electricity bills were very low. They had a washing machine at home, but the old lady wouldn't let them use it, saying that it wasted water and electricity. Feng Yulian had to wash clothes by hand. In winter, she wasn't allowed to use hot water to wash clothes, so she had to use cold water. After washing, she put the clothes in the washing machine and spun them dry. The water from washing clothes had to be used to mop the floor, and then used to flush the toilet."

"It is stressful for their family to have only one person working, but is it stressful to this extent?" Yue Fanglin also found it difficult to understand.

Tao Zheng said: "We checked and found that Chang Qian's monthly income is not bad. He drives an online car-hailing service and earns more than 10,000 yuan a month. When he is not doing well, he can make 2,000 yuan. The house was bought many years ago and there is no mortgage. The old lady manages the family's money. She is just stingy."

"Chang Qian just watched his mother bully his wife?"

"Not only that, he also helped his mother bully his wife." Jing Jue said with disdain: "They didn't help take care of the child, and during the confinement period, they ordered Feng Yulian to do housework."

Lu Changfeng thought of what was written in Feng Yulian's medical records, "Chang Qian is cheating on me?"

"I heard from the neighbors downstairs that the woman Chang Qian cheated with was his junior high school classmate. Her husband died in an accident, so she inherited the house and car. Her child is the same age as Chang Qian's child, and they go to the same kindergarten. That's how they hooked up."