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The peaceful life had numbed He Tiantian's senses!
Although Er Laizi's death caused the clues to die out, it served as a wake-up call for He Tiantian!
"I don't know either, but I'll send you Erlaizi's last memories," said the Snake King. Things were getting more and more interesting.
Before long, He Tiantian gained Er Laizi's memories of the last half month!
In short, Er Laizi's facial wounds worsened after getting wet. Having spent all his money on treatment, he threatened Accountant Hu, demanding twenty yuan. Accountant Hu agreed, giving him ten yuan, promising to meet him that evening for the remaining ten. Er Laizi took the money and secretly gambled it all away. Back home, he found a note that said to meet at 10 PM in the grove near Hu's Village, but it was unsigned.
This wasn't the first time he'd received a note, so Erlaizi wasn't surprised. That night, he went to the grove of trees two miles outside Hujia Village.
It really was that masked woman, holding ten yuan in her hand.
Er Laizi directly asked the woman for twenty yuan, but the masked woman refused and verbally abused him.
In a fit of anger, Er Laizi chased after him.
Then, with a "thud," he died!
As for how he died, the Snake King has no information.
In this day and age, the unexplained death of someone is a very serious matter; a murder has occurred.
Huai City sent a special commissioner to Taoyuan County to investigate, and Qi Ling was in charge of this mission.
Hujia Village is not far from Qijia Village and they are closely connected. After He Tiantian returned to the village from the mountain, rumors began to circulate in Qijia Village about the death of Er Laizi from the neighboring village.
They died such a pitiful death!
He fell straight into the trap, which was filled with sharpened wooden spikes a foot long. The trap was very deep, a full two meters, and the spikes pierced through his internal organs, killing him instantly!
Hearing the others' discussions, He Tiantian finally understood why Er Laizi's memory ended with a "plop".
During lunch, Grandma Qi said, "Jingyu, Shuping, you two must be careful on the mountain! I have a wood-chopping knife at home, take it with you, it might come in handy if you encounter bad people."
"A wood-chopping knife?" He Jingyu laughed. "Godmother, we don't need it, do we?"
"Of course we need it!" Grandma Qi said. "Take it with you, just in case. That scoundrel from the next village, Er Laizi, got murdered..."
"Grandma, how do you know he was murdered?" He Tiantian knew that Er Lengzi was murdered, not by accident, and certainly not by suicide. How did Grandma Qi know that?
After finishing her meal, Grandma Qi wiped her mouth and said softly, "That grove of trees is usually about two miles from the village. Because it used to be a mass grave, adults and children rarely go there. Secondly, there are at most rats in that grove; you rarely see wild rabbits or pheasants, so there's no need for such a large, deep trap with so many splinters. Thirdly, who would go to that place so late at night unless someone invited them out?"
“My godmother is right,” He Jingyu said. “This is murder! We can understand it, and so can the police.”
Just then, Secretary Qi arrived with a policeman.
When He Tiantian saw that the person who came was Qi Ling, she smiled and said, "Brother Qi, what brings you here?"
"A murder has occurred, and I've come to investigate. We've heard some things related to Taoyuan, and we'd like to learn more about them," Qi Ling explained. "These two must be your parents?"
He Tiantian nodded and introduced, "This is my grandma, and these are my parents. Mom, Dad, Grandma, this is Qi Ling, Da Jun's comrade-in-arms. He's a policeman and works at the Huai City Public Security Bureau."
"Hello Grandma, hello Uncle and Auntie," Qi Ling greeted them politely.
He Jingyu chuckled and said, "You're on official business right now, let's get down to business first."
Qi Ling nodded and said, "This is what happened. Hu Erlai, who died last night, died under abnormal circumstances. Multiple pieces of evidence prove that he was murdered, so we came here specifically to investigate."
He Jingyu frowned and said, "Cooperating with the investigation is the right thing to do. It's just that we've only just arrived in Qijia Village and haven't even met all the people here yet, let alone the people from the neighboring village."
Qi Ling smiled and explained, "When we were interrogating a man named Hu Gou Dan from Hu Family Village, he confessed that Er Lai Zi had taken him to destroy your peach orchard. So we want to know why Er Lai Zi wanted to destroy Qi Family Village's peach orchard!"
Before He Jingyu could answer, Secretary Qi was shocked and asked, "Was that done by Er Laizi?"
“Yes, Hu Gou Dan said so. He went with them that day and even said he saw a female ghost…” Qi Ling said. Hu Gou Dan was talking nonsense, and it was impossible to know which of his words were true.
He Jingyu said, "When Secretary Qi and I arrived there that morning, we found that the fence was broken and had knife marks. There were many footprints on the ground, but we didn't know anything more, and we couldn't find the person. We could only build houses on the mountain and send people to guard them!"
Qi Ling's assistant began taking notes.
"Is that all?" Qi Ling asked.
"That's all," He Jingyu said. "If you don't believe me, ask Secretary Qi!"
Secretary Qi nodded and said, "That's right. We know pretty much everything, and since the peach orchard wasn't damaged, we didn't pursue the matter further."
"Then, have you or Qijia Village offended anyone?" Qi Ling asked. "These people causing trouble shouldn't be for the purpose of taking a nighttime walk."
He Jingyu shook his head and said, "I just arrived in Qijia Village and haven't offended anyone!"
He Tiantian and Grandma Qi looked at each other and thought of Qi Jianguo's family.
Especially He Tiantian, who remembers Er Laizi's memory, was bribed by a woman to do it.
Could that woman be Qi Fangfang?
However, He Tiantian quickly dismissed the idea. How could Qi Fangfang, a girl, go to Hujia Village in the middle of the night? Even if she had ten times the courage, Qi Fangfang wouldn't dare.
Grandma Qi gave Secretary Qi a wink.
Secretary Qi understood, guessing that He Jingyu and his wife probably didn't know about that matter!
"Alright, we understand. We'll visit again when we have time. I still need to investigate the case now." After understanding the situation, Qi Ling still had other places to investigate.
"Official business is more important," He Jingyu said politely. He had no relationship with Qi Ling, so he didn't take Qi Ling's polite words seriously.
After they left, Secretary Qi told Qi Ling about the despicable thing Qi Jianguo had done at the beginning of the year.
Qi Ling listened, narrowed his eyes slightly, and then went to Qi Jianguo's house.
Qi Shuli saw that the man had gone to his elder brother's house, so he quickly followed.
Everyone in the village knew what Qi Jianguo had done. When people targeted the peach orchard that He Jingyu was in charge of, the first suspect was someone who had a past conflict with He Tiantian. (To be continued.)
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