Chapter 13

Tang Qingqing did not go home after escaping. If she went home now, she would definitely be beaten. She was not so stupid as to touch the mold at this time.

In the past, she would never obediently accept a beating. Now that she knows her own life experience, she will not accept the punishment.

Tang Qingqing ran to the hill where Wang Cao'er had grazed the sheep yesterday. By this time, Wang Cao'er had already driven the sheep back, and the hillside was empty.

Tang Qingqing was not surprised, she came here to get the rattan she had hidden here yesterday.

The vines were well hidden and no one had picked them up.

She put it on her shoulders and did not walk towards home. Instead, she walked towards a hilltop to find her master.

"Grandpa, here I come!"

Tang Qingqing shouted towards the house, but there was no sound for a long time.

Although the old man is not a warm-hearted person and usually ignores people, he will respond if he knows she is coming.

The room was quiet and there was no smoke.

Tang Qingqing thought of a possibility, her face turned pale, she threw the vine down and rushed into the cave.

The door of the cave was closed but not locked. Tang Qingqing pushed it open lightly.

The cave is small and you can see the whole cave clearly from the door. The old man is not at home.

Tang Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief, but was still filled with doubts.

The old man doesn't like to socialize with people and he rarely goes out except when he's working.

Especially as I got older, the vision with my remaining eye became increasingly unclear, and I hated staying outside.

He should be at home at this time.

"Where have you been?"

Old Liu, whom Tang Qingqing was thinking about, came down the mountain for a rare occasion and led two police officers to Tang Qingqing's home.

Old Liu was old, not only was he a lonely old man, but he was also disabled, so the team was more willing to take care of him.

He usually doesn't need to go down the mountain to work with everyone else, he just does some light work.

Some of the children in the team had heard of Old Liu from everyone's conversation, but many had never seen him.

He doesn't like dealing with people, he's blind in one eye, and he has a lonely and eccentric personality.

The brigade promised to build a house for him, but he would rather live in a cave far away from the group living area.

Everyone thought he was a weirdo and rarely interacted with him.

Children were very afraid of him. If they didn't obey, adults would threaten them by saying, "If you don't obey, the one-eyed old man will take you away."

When Old Liu walked on the road, everyone was surprised and talked about him.

The children were both afraid and curious, and followed from a distance to join in the fun.

"Old Liu, why did you come down the mountain today?"

When an enthusiastic person greeted Old Liu, he acted as if he didn't hear them and ignored them.

Old Liu doesn't like to talk to people, but other people like to talk about him.

"This old man still has such a weird temper."

"Why is he walking with Director Zhang? Did he commit a crime?"

"What are you looking at? He doesn't look like he has done anything wrong. Didn't you see that Director Zhang was polite to him?"

"Is he related to Director Zhang? Why haven't I heard of this before?"

Old Liu was a refugee from other places who fled here in the early years. He was not a native local.

The older generation in the brigade all knew that he was not so strange and eccentric before, and he lived with everyone else.

But ever since his only son died twenty years ago, he no longer liked to interact with people and lived alone in a cave.

We haven't seen him come down the mountain for many years, and usually the brigade cadres go up to contact him.

I don’t know what kind of wind was blowing today that made the old man come down the mountain on his own initiative.

It was dinner time. Some families had already prepared their meals and followed behind with their bowls in hand, curiously watching the excitement.

Old Liu and two police officers finally stopped in front of the Tang family’s door.

Old Liu raised his chin and pointed inside, saying, "My apprentice is from this family, her name is Tang Qingqing."

"From the name, it looks like it's a girl?"

Old Liu only said that he had a successor, and only after Director Zhang's repeated invitations did he agree to let his apprentice help them solve the case.

The old man didn't say who it was and directly led the two people down the mountain, so Director Zhang and the other man had no idea what was going on.

"Why? You think it's not okay because it's a girl?"

Old Liu looked at him with his non-blind eye slanted. The blind eye was dry and had no pupil, which looked a little scary.

Coupled with that expression, it does look scary.

Director Zhang quickly denied it: "How can that be possible? Who still distinguishes between boys and girls these days? A child you personally teach must be right."

Only then did Old Liu's complexion improve.

Director Zhang was puzzled. Usually, this kind of skill is passed down to males, not females. He didn't expect that the old man would accept a female apprentice, who was not even a family member.

Since he was asking for help, Director Zhang was very sincere.

He stood at the door and called out to the yard, "Is anyone in the house? Excuse me, is Comrade Tang Qingqing home?"

Not to mention the members following behind, even Old Liu's eyelids twitched.

Zhao Dahua returned home and didn't see Tang Qingqing. He was very angry when he heard someone looking for Tang Qingqing.

She also didn't notice the formal suffix 'comrade', and became even more furious.

"She's already dead outside. If you want to find her, go collect the body yourself!"

Director Zhang frowned, and Old Liu also looked unhappy.

Director Zhang put away his previous gentleness and his expression suddenly became serious.

"I'm Zhang Qingxiong from the police station. When did Comrade Tang Qingqing die? Has a death certificate been issued?"

"Oh, this little girl actually let me play this, and even pretended to be a police officer..."

Zhao Dahua rushed out of the house holding a stick, but when he saw that they were actually police officers, he quickly put down the raised stick.

"Director Zhang, how come you have time to come to my house?"

Because of the granary fire, all the members of Rongshan Brigade knew Zhang Qingxiong.

Director Zhang looked sharp and asked, "Why did Comrade Tang Qingqing die suddenly?"

Zhao Dahua's heart shuddered, and he quickly defended himself: "Hey! That damn girl is always naughty, I was just too angry and that's why I said those angry words."

"Where is she now?"

"What do you want to see her for?"

Director Zhang glanced at her calmly, and Zhao Dahua didn't dare to ask any more questions and answered honestly:

"I don't know where that damn girl has gone. Are you looking for her because she has done something wrong? Could she be the bitch who burned the granary?!"

Zhao Dahua was frightened by his own guess, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the arsonist was Tang Qingqing.

Tang Qingqing didn't come home yesterday. The cat must be somewhere planning to do something bad.

"We really didn't know about this, and it has nothing to do with our family! She is a born bad person, and no one in our family is like her. We have all taught her how to behave, but she just likes to go against others and never learns well. Now she has done such a heartless and vicious thing!

I shouldn't have given birth to a girl like her. She was born to go to jail. Director Zhang, you should lock her up for a few more days and reform her. Otherwise, she might do something terrible in the future. Oh..."

Zhao Dahua was suddenly hit with a stick, which caused her thigh to hurt so much that she almost couldn't stand.

"You old beast, how dare you hit someone!"

Zhao Dahua was furious and wanted to teach the person who hit her a lesson, but when she saw that the person only had one eye and the other eye was very ferocious, she knew who that person was.

Although Old Liu doesn't associate with others, he is a legend in the world.

Everyone had their own guesses, but no matter what they said, everyone felt that he was someone who was not someone to be trifled with.

Zhao Dahua was furious but didn't dare to pull back. He could only stamp his feet and curse.

"You deserve to be beaten!" Old Liu snorted coldly.

Zhao Dahua: "Director Zhang, you saw everything just now. This damn old man beat me for no reason. You have to help me!"

Director Zhang pretended not to see it and changed the subject.

"We came here to invite Comrade Tang Qingqing to help us investigate the arson case."

Zhao Dahua was stunned: "What the hell?"

Director Zhang repeated it again.

Zhao Dahua looked at him as if he was a fool: "Director Zhang, that damn girl wouldn't have deceived you, right? How could she do such a big thing?"

The people around were also shocked when they heard it. If it hadn't been confirmed today that he was the police station chief, many people would have thought he was an imposter.

Many people doubted Director Zhang's ability to handle the case, as he actually asked a young girl to assist in the investigation. This was too unreliable.

Someone who knew Director Zhang couldn't help but ask:

"Chief Zhang, why are you looking for a young girl to investigate the case? What can she do?"

Yellow-haired girl?

When Director Zhang heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

Soon he learned what had happened from the chattering members. It turned out that Tang Qingqing was a thirteen-year-old girl.

Director Zhang didn't show it on his face, but looked at Old Liu.

Old Liu still had the same expression as before, and was not affected at all.

Although Director Zhang feels that something is a little unreliable, but with Old Liu keeping him in check, it should... work, right?

Now that things have come to this, Director Zhang did not turn around.

Old Liu was willing to go down the mountain with them and take care of this matter, which was already a great honor for them.

"Although Comrade Tang Qingqing is young, he has special abilities and can help us solve the case."

"What's your skill?"

Director Zhang looked mysterious: "I can't tell you now."

Those who were watching the excitement found it unbelievable and felt itchy in their hearts.

In fact, everyone didn't really believe it, but they also felt that Director Zhang didn't need to make a fuss about such a thing.

Zhao Dahua laughed out loud when she heard this:

"Captain Zhang, you are an old police officer, but you made such a mistake. If that damn girl had such ability, I would eat all the soil in the field.

I advise you not to waste time on her. It is definitely Cao Zhigao who did this. There is no need to do all this nonsense and show it off in front of us."

Director Zhang had an unpleasant expression on his face. At this moment, Old Liu suddenly spoke up:

"You said that, don't try to cheat me later."

Zhao Dahua still remembered the vengeance of the stick just now, and couldn't stand such provocation:

"If I want to be naughty, I'll just get on the ground and bark like a dog and say I'm a turtle! If she doesn't do that, then you'll kneel down in the yard and bark like a dog and say you're a turtle!"