Chapter 49 Broken Safety Rope

Chapter 49

Cuihua continued to express her grievances. Her brother's accidental death was an indelible shadow in her life.

"My father was the only one in my family who was willing to believe me, that I really didn't kill my brother on purpose. Everyone else thought that I was jealous of my brother being loved by my family, so I pretended to slip and let go of my brother during the performance, causing him to fall to his death on the stage."

Over the years, the mother drank heavily all day long. She would grab Cuihua by the collar every day, twist the soft flesh on her arms, and question her why it was not Cuihua who fell to death.

Cuihua's makeup was completely smudged by the end of her speech. She choked up and asked, "Officer Qin, please prove my innocence for me."

Qin Ye looked at Cuihua crying with her hands covering her face on the screen, nodded, and accepted the commission: "Okay, I will."

[We have received a commission from Ning Cuihua, please check it carefully.

Location: Wuning County;

Commission: Please clear me of the suspicion of deliberately killing my brother;

Reward: The Acrobatic Troupe's performance costume order for the next three years]

…

The accidental fall and death of a little boy from the acrobatic troupe broke the peaceful atmosphere on the streets of Wuning County.

On the way to the Acrobatic Troupe, almost everyone was discussing the accident.

"It's a good thing you didn't go to see the acrobatics. It was so scary! The little boy fell from a 10-meter-high wire and died on the spot."

"Ah? What? The circus lets a little kid perform in the air without any safety measures? How dare they do that!"

"Of course we took measures. The two children performing were the children of the circus troupe's director, who took great care of them! When the little boy fell, his sister panicked on the wire. If it weren't for the safety rope, she would have gotten into trouble too."

"There was a safety rope, so why did the little boy fall to his death?"

"I heard that the safety rope was used for too long and broke. Plus, the little girl's hand slipped and she didn't catch the brother who jumped over, so the accident happened."

Everyone shared what they knew and couldn't help but sigh and feel sorry for the little boy who died in the accident.

…

The acrobatic troupe was stationed in an open space south of the county town, setting up two tents, one large and one small.

The giant red pointed tent is the performance venue, and the small blue square tent is where the circus members live and where tickets are sold.

When Qin Ye arrived at the scene, the audience had already left.

The lively scene when the acrobatic troupe first came to perform was no longer there. There was only a fat man with a big beard squatting on the ground, using the pointed handkerchief to wipe the tears of the little girl in front of him.

She knew at a glance that the crying little girl was the client Cuihua.

Xiao Cuihua's cheeks were swollen and covered with mottled slap marks. She grabbed the collar of the bearded man and sobbed, "Dad, I didn't mean to let go of my brother, really. I didn't expect that my hand would slip and let go of my brother. I, I... didn't mean to."

"Dad knows, Dad knows."

The bearded man held Xiao Cuihua in his arms, stroked her head, and coaxed her, "Xiaosheng is gone, your mother and grandparents are sad, you don't take their words to heart, okay? Dad knows that my Cuicui has the best heart, she would never kill her brother."

After hearing these words, Xiao Cuihua's emotions gradually calmed down.

She lowered her head and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, then she saw Qin Ye and Li Quan appear beside her.

…

"father."

Xiao Cuihua pulled the collar of the bearded man again and said, "The police are here."

Following the direction pointed by Xiao Cuihua, the bearded man stood up quickly, took out cigarettes from his pocket and gave them to Li Quan, and took out candy from another pocket and handed it to Qin Ye: "Hello, public security comrades, hello, I am the head of the acrobatic troupe, my name is Ning Biao."

After Qin Ye came here, she investigated many cases and dealt with many people. This was the first time that someone treated a male police officer with cigarettes and also remembered to treat her.

It can be seen that Ning Biao is a person who is very good at dealing with people.

She took the candy, put it in her pocket, and said straight to the point, "We heard that your circus had an accident, so we came to investigate the scene as usual."

Ning Biao nodded, lifted the curtain of the big red-top tent, and motioned for her and Li Quan to go in first. He waited until both of them entered the tent before taking his daughter Xiao Cuihua's hand and entering the tent.

…

Qin Ye walked into the tent and took a quick glance at the internal structure.

The interior of the tent is about 100 square meters, with dozens of small folding stools placed in two circles around the tent, which serve as the audience seats.

In the center of the tent is a large round stage for performances. On the top of the big round platform, there is a half-inch thick steel wire attached to the two ends of the highest point of the tent. Xiao Cuihua and her younger brother Ning Shengtian usually perform and practice on it.

Everyone in the acrobatic troupe probably thought that Ning Shengtian's fall was an accident, and the scene was cleaned up.

Only the scattered bloodstains remaining on the large round platform could prove that an accident had indeed occurred here not long ago.

Qin Ye looked around but couldn't find the safety rope that Ning Shengtian had tied to his body during the performance. He guessed it had been cleared away by the people in the acrobatic troupe.

"Where is the safety rope that the siblings are using for today's performance? Please show it to me."

The broken safety rope was the main reason for Ning Shengtian’s accident.

She needs to determine whether the safety rope broke accidentally or was damaged by human factors.

Ning Biao was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "It seems that my parents have sorted it out. Public Security comrades, please wait a moment, I will go ask."

Just as he was about to walk out, Xiao Cuihua immediately rushed over and hugged his thighs, not wanting him to leave.

"Be good and listen, Cuicui. I'm going to ask your grandparents something. You stay with the police sister, no one will dare to beat you. Daddy will be back soon, okay?"

When Xiao Cuihua heard that she would not be beaten if she followed Qin Ye, she slowly let go of Ning Biao.

Ning Biao smiled at Qin Ye apologetically and said, "Comrade Public Security, my daughter Cuicui is timid and got beaten again today. Please help take care of her. I will be back immediately after I get the safety rope."

Even though Ning Biao didn't say it explicitly, Qin Ye could guess that Xiao Cuihua was beaten because of this accident.

She squatted down, took out the candy Ning Biao had just given her, spread it in her palm and handed it to Xiao Cuihua, saying softly: "Cuicui, can you stay with the public security sister for a while? Sister will help you find out the truth about your brother's accident. By then, no one will continue to blame you."

Qin Ye's gentleness made Xiao Cuihua feel at ease.

She nodded timidly, picked up the candy in Qin Ye's hand, peeled off the candy wrapper, and did not eat it. Instead, she put the candy to Qin Ye's mouth: "Sister, you eat it."

When Ning Biao saw his daughter's actions, he felt relieved. He lifted the door curtain and went to the small tent where his family lived to find a safety rope.

…

A piece of candy successfully brought Qin Ye and Xiao Cuihua closer together.

She brought a small stool from the audience and sat next to Xiao Cuihua. She began to chat with Xiao Cuihua to find out what happened: "Cuicui, who hurt your face?"

Xiao Cuihua hung her head and said in a muffled voice: "It was my mother and my grandparents. They blamed me for killing my brother. My mother said that I was a lowly little bitch who was jealous of the family's kindness to my brother, so I deliberately let go of my brother's hand and caused him to fall to his death."

The Ning family has been performing acrobatics since their ancestors, and Xiao Cuihua and her younger brother's generation have also inherited this unique skill.

When Xiao Cuihua was a child, the Ning family had always been very kind to her and trained her to be the successor of the Ning's acrobatics.

Since my younger brother Ning Shengtian was born, the attitude of my family has changed a little.

In the eyes of Xiao Cuihua's grandparents, no matter how good their granddaughter's acrobatics are, she will get married sooner or later and belong to someone else's family. It’s different with grandsons, they are one of our own. In the future, if he marries the daughter of one of his apprentices who is an acrobat, this unique skill can be passed down to him.

Xiao Cuihua's mother didn't care about the inheritance of Ning's acrobatics, she just simply liked her son.

In the family, only Ning Biao still loves his daughter as always.

Now that Ning Shengtian is in trouble, the first reaction of the others is to blame Xiao Cuihua for not holding her brother back. If Ning Biao hadn't stopped her, Xiao Cuihua would have been beaten to death by others.

"I'm really not jealous of my brother. Mom is not nice to me, but recently, grandpa and grandma have been very nice to me. They secretly give me chicken legs and don't give them to my brother."

Thinking of her brother's death, Xiao Cuihua's tears fell like beads from a broken string. "Now that my brother is dead, my grandparents are treating me badly again, saying that I have a bad heart."

…

"Comrade Public Security! Catch this little bitch! Shoot her! Shoot her! Make her pay for my son's life!"

Along with the woman's sharp scream, the curtain of the tent was suddenly lifted. The slim, fair-skinned woman rushed to Qin Ye and Li Quan, raised her hand and wanted to hit Xiao Cuihua again.

The woman's eyebrows and eyes are similar to Xiao Cuihua's.

Combining the woman's words, Qin Ye immediately realized that the other party was Xiao Cuihua's mother.

She didn't give the other person a chance to hit Xiao Cuihua. She raised her arm to block the woman's action and scolded her, "What are you doing? ! ! Who allowed you to hit people?"

Li Quan also quickly picked up Xiao Cuihua and held the girl in his arms.

"It's her! Public Security Comrade, she deliberately killed Shengtian!"

The woman found that she couldn't hit Xiao Cuihua, so she sat on the ground and cried, made a scene, and threatened to hang herself. "This little bitch was jealous of us Ting Shengtian, so she killed him on purpose! Bitch! Bitch! It's not enough that you seduced my man, now you're trying to kill my son!"

Qin Ye couldn't help but frown as he listened to the woman's increasingly ridiculous words.

…

At this time, Ning Biao, who had gone to find a safety rope, also came back.

When he heard what his wife said, he was so angry that he threw the safety rope in his hand to the ground and cursed: "Gao Lanlan! What nonsense are you talking about! Cuicui is your daughter! I am her father! How can you say that about her, her..."

Ning Biao tried to think for a long time but still couldn't say the word "seduction".

Gao Lanlan suddenly got up from the ground. Unable to hit Xiao Cuihua, she chose to rush forward to hit Ning Biao: "You still know that you are the father of that little bitch! You treat her better than our son, why? ! ! Why! Isn't it because she seduced you? ! ! "

"Gao Lanlan! You and your parents are all sons of different parents and look down on Cuicui. If I were like you and didn't treat her well, how would you want her to live?!"

Ning Biao didn't want to get entangled with his wife anymore, so he broke free from her, picked up the safety rope on the ground again, and handed it to Qin Ye: "Public Security Qin, here, this is the safety rope you wanted."

Qin Ye had just taken the safety rope and had no time to check it.

Gao Lanlan rushed over like crazy again, grabbed Xiao Cuihua's hair, and tried to pull her out of Li Quan's arms, cursing: "Little bitch, we are all women, why are you pretending to be innocent here? ! ! I can see through your little tricks!"

Xiao Cuihua didn't understand what her mother was saying, but when she saw her mother's crazy face and the pain on her scalp from being pulled, she burst into tears.

"Gao Lanlan!"

Qin Ye never thought that her mother would use such vicious words to insult her own daughter.

She grabbed Gao Lanlan's wrist that was pulling Xiao Cuihua's hair and twisted it in the opposite direction with force. Only then did she let go in pain.

Qin Ye was sure that Gao Lanlan would not rush up to fight Xiao Cuihua again, so he loosened the ropes and solemnly stated: "Gao Lanlan, listen carefully - unless Ning Cuihua broke Ning Shengtian's safety rope on purpose, Ning Cuihua does not need to bear any responsibility for Ning Shengtian's death. Do you understand?"

"Yes! And——"

Li Quan handed Xiao Cuihua back to Ning Biao's arms, pointed at Gao Lanlan's nose, and threatened word by word, "Gao Lanlan, I'm telling you clearly now - if you go crazy in front of us again and affect our investigation, we will immediately arrest you and take you back to the Public Security Bureau."

He had lived for more than twenty years, but this was the first time he had seen a mother who treated her daughter as a love rival.

There must be something wrong with this woman's brain.

…

After Li Quan's intimidation, Gao Lanlan finally calmed down.

She jumped onto the large round stage for the performance and began to stroke it while softly calling her son Shengtian's name.

Qin Ye was too lazy to even look at Gao Lanlan. He straightened the safety rope in his hand and began to observe the problem with the safety rope with Li Quan.

The safety ropes used by Xiao Cuihua and her younger brother Ning Shengtian looked brand new and seemed to have not been used for long.

According to common sense, it is impossible for a 90% new safety rope to break for no reason. It seems more like someone deliberately tampered with the safety rope.

She turned Ning Shengtian's safety rope to the broken part. The broken part was very rough, which really looked like an accident.

Qin Ye thought about it, took out the magnifying glass he carried with him, aimed it at the fracture, and began to observe it more carefully.

Soon, she discovered the problem - there was an extremely fine piece of yellow rust at the broken end of the safety rope. It was as if someone had deliberately used a rusty blunt object to grind the safety rope into thinner pieces, causing the rope to be unable to support Ning Shengtian's weight, leading to the tragedy.

Of course, before it is officially confirmed by the laboratory, all this is just her guess.

Qin Ye put the two safety ropes into the evidence bag and planned to take them back for inspection.

She did not forget to invite Ning Biao and everyone in the acrobatic troupe to stay in the county guesthouse temporarily.

Obviously, if Ning Shengtian’s death was not an accident, then the murderer must be among the people in the acrobatic troupe.