Chapter 37: Retirement Day 37: If you don’t wait for him to die, I will help you…
To this day, when Mr. Wu recalls what happened that night, he still trembles uncontrollably.
He had always been an honest farmer, but suddenly witnessing his own son murder and burying a body nearly made him faint. Especially with the rain pouring down on his eldest son's head and the silver lightning flashing in the night sky, ripping through the air with a crackle, the scene became even more eerie and terrifying.
"You..." Old Master Wu stared at the man before him, stunned. Wu Wentao glanced at him, clearly having never expected his own father to unexpectedly intrude upon his crime scene. But he was a man used to being reckless, and his expression didn't even change. He simply curled his lips and, like a demon, tossed the lifeless man he was holding to the ground.
Under the light and silver lightning, Old Man Wu saw clearly the face that was extremely similar to Wu Wentao.
In an instant, his pupils trembled, and all the strength in Mr. Wu's body seemed to be drained away. He fell to his knees with a thud.
His knees made a loud noise as they made contact with the cold ground, but it was drowned out by the sound of the rain. Old Man Wu seemed oblivious to the shattering pain in his knees. All that played in his mind and pupils was the image of his youngest son, Wu Wenlin, being thrown to the ground like a rag by his eldest son.
Wu Wentao remained calm despite his father's appearance.
He took a shovel and walked forward, stepping up to Old Man Wu. He looked down at him, his voice tinged with sarcasm, "How did you see it? You could have just gone to sleep and I'd have buried him in the pit. The next day I could have pretended to be him and performed my filial duty to you two. Then everything would have been fine, wouldn't it?"
"Old man, I advise you, if you want to live, shut up now and go back to your room and sleep. Get up tomorrow morning and continue your life as if nothing happened."
His few light words made Mr. Wu's eyes turn red. He pointed a trembling finger at his youngest son on the ground. Finally, a few words escaped from his throat. He asked with difficulty, "Why?"
Why did you kill Wenlin?
"You've been out there for years, and your brother has helped cover a lot of debts. He's never let you down in these years, so why did you want to kill him?"
Wu Wentao laughed when he heard this: "Why are you asking so many questions? He's already dead. If you know the reason, can he come back to life?"
After saying that, Wu Wentao didn't care about the old man's expression and turned around to continue digging the hole.
This unconcerned action made the old man's heart sink to the bottom again. His mind was full of one thought -
He wants to call the police and let them catch this beast!
However, seeing him struggling to crawl back into the house and his suddenly determined expression, Wu Wentao reminded him again: "Think about your little grandson. He doesn't know if he can survive without his father."
Just this one sentence made Mr. Wu stop immediately.
He didn't remember when Wu Wentao finished digging the pit and threw the man in. He only remembered that in the second half of the night, the violent storm suddenly subsided. He was freezing cold from the rain, and just when he thought he was going to die with his youngest son, his wife finally woke up, realized that someone was missing, and hurried out with a light on.
Seeing him lying on the ground, soaking wet, I was so scared that my face turned pale.
"Old man, what's wrong with you? Why are you running out instead of sleeping? And why did you fall?"
Old Master Wu had so much to say, he wanted to tell his wife that their youngest son, of whom he was so proud, had been killed by that jerk of an older son and buried in the field before them. But thinking of his older son's last words, a warning that seemed both threatening and realistic, he couldn't utter a word.
Finally, he just said blankly: "I got up to check the chickens and accidentally fell down."
Seeing this, Mrs. Wu sighed.
She wanted to help the old man back to his room, but although he wasn't in his prime back then, he wasn't as frail as he is now, and she couldn't lift him up with her strength. So she went to her youngest son's room and knocked on the door. Worried that he couldn't hear her sleeping, she kept shouting, "Wenlin? Wenlin! Your dad has fallen. Get up and help him."
The door was opened quickly.
A figure in pajamas walked out. Wu Wenlin walked to the side of Mr. Wu and held the old man's arm with one hand.
He could clearly sense the old man's fear and trembling in his palm. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, but his voice and tone were as gentle as the real 'Wu Wenlin': "Dad, I'll carry you in."
the next day.
The old man sat on the bed and looked through the window to see Wu Wenlin standing in the yard laying cement.
As long as the yard is sealed with cement, the secret hidden underneath will not be discovered.
The old man thought of his honest and down-to-earth youngest son, and the little grandson left behind by his youngest son. He couldn't hold back his tears for a moment, and cried silently with his hands covering his face.
"After that, he's always appeared as Wenlin." Old Man Wu's voice was hoarse, immersed in his own world, as he recounted the events of the past few years. The more he spoke, the lower his voice became, the more painful it became. "I don't know if he really wanted to change or what. He stopped gambling and fighting, and he pretended to be Wenlin more and more. Sometimes I even wondered if what I saw that night was a nightmare. But as his health deteriorated and his temper returned, I truly realized that this was indeed not my youngest son."
Some people, no matter how hard they pretend, cannot change the cruelty hidden in their bones.
The old man said a lot of things and slowly exhaled. He looked exhausted and dead.
Kong Xingyan gestured to Xiao Xiao to pour the old man a glass of water, then looked at the old lady of the Wu family, raised his chin and asked, "Then how did you know that?"
The old lady's face turned pale. She hadn't personally experienced what happened that rainy night. She had only heard her husband tell her about it once, but those few words were not as clear as today's, not even missing any details. Just thinking about the tragic death of her youngest son made the old lady feel suffocated.
She took a few deep breaths, her eyes reddening. "I'm their biological mother. They came out of my womb. I know them too well... Even if Wentao said he had the mole removed, his usual impatient attitude can't be misled. The other day we had an argument about Haohua, and he slammed the table like crazy and even threatened me with a knife."
Although Wu Wenlin eventually calmed down, threw the knife back into the kitchen, and politely apologized to the old lady, the more she thought about it, the more she felt it was wrong. Such behavior could never have happened to her youngest son, Wu Wenlin. Only Wu Wentao could do it. Realizing this, the old lady shuddered, her face turning pale and dark as she thought of her youngest son's recent behavior.
Later, she discovered that there was a wound on Wu Wenlin's ear that was not there originally.
The incredible guess was somewhat confirmed.
What truly confirmed Wu Wentao's identity was that she went to talk to the old man about this matter, and the old man told her when he saw that he could no longer hide it.
The old lady beat her chest and stamped her feet, "I hate it too, but my youngest son is gone. Should I let my eldest son go to jail too? Our Haohua was only four years old at the time and didn't understand anything. His mother passed away early, and if he also lost his father, how pitiful would he be! Besides, how long can we two old guys live? How long can we stay with him?"
Kong Xingyan and his group felt a little headache when they saw the two old people crying so hard that they couldn't breathe.
After waiting for a while, and seeing that the two men had recovered somewhat, he said calmly, "But have you ever considered that shielding Wu Wentao is the greatest harm to Wu Wenlin! I'm afraid your youngest son would never have dreamed that his parents, who always praised him and were proud of him, not only did not report his death to the police to find the real murderer, but instead harbored the murderer for a full twenty-two years. They even tried to cover up the truth when the police came to question them, refusing to reveal it to the world!"
Every time Kong Xingyan spoke, the two old men's faces became uglier.
But no one at the scene sympathized with them.
"Harboring someone is a serious crime. You two... just wait for further notice."
Without lingering, Kong Xingyan stood up and left the interrogation room. Chen Xin and Xiao Xiao exchanged a glance, not wanting to see the two older men's regretful expressions, so they simply followed them out. As they walked out the door, they saw their captain smoking by the window. She waved away the rising plume of smoke and warned, "Boss, if you're caught smoking in the office, you'll have one hundred yuan deducted from your salary."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
He put out his cigarette and muttered, "I have a terrible headache. I forgot about it a long time ago."
The three of them returned to the office. Chen Xin sorted out the case and frowned as he looked at the contents. "Although the identities of Wu Wenlin and Wu Wentao have been confirmed, Wu Wentao's motive for committing the crime is still unknown. Judging from the current situation, I guess we can only know when Wu Wentao wakes up."
The key is that he may not be willing to say it.
After all, the Wu Wentao portrayed by the old couple in the Wu family was as bad as he could be.
"I'll call Li Li and ask."
Li Li, who received the call, looked at Wu Wentao, who lay quietly in bed and looked nothing like a murderer. He sighed and replied to Kong Xingyan, "He's not awake yet. The doctors said they've tried their best. It's not easy to keep him alive. We can only wait and see."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
The three of them stared at each other for a long moment. Xiao Xiao suddenly reached out his hand, meeting the strange looks from Kong Xingyan and Chen Xin. He took a deep breath and suggested, "Why don't we go ask Sang Qiqi?"
Kong Xingyan: “?”
Chen Xin: “?”
Xiao Xiao touched his nose and reasoned with the two: "Although she may be eccentric, she must know a lot. Otherwise, how could she have known that Wu Wenlin was Wu Wentao in disguise after just one look at him? And she even revealed the hiding place of Wu Wenlin's body right away!"
Anyway, in Xiao Xiao's mind, Sang Qiqi is now almost like the supernatural person in the novel.
The strange thing Xiao Xiao mentioned was something Kong Xingyan and Chen Xin had thought of a long time ago, but they just deliberately tried to ignore it.
Kong Xingyan thought of what Sang Qiqi had told him when they were investigating the hot pot restaurant owner and his wife: "The murderer is not human. If you have any problems like this that you humans can't solve in the future, feel free to contact me. It's free."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
If she can be blamed even for a non-human murderer, then if the murderer is a human... it should be even easier to solve, right?
Kong Xingyan took a deep breath, patted Xiao Xiao's shoulder hard, then picked up his coat, turned around and left.
It was not early, but after asking Sang Qiqi and finding out that she was still doing live broadcasts to sell goods in the funeral industry, Kong Xingyan couldn't help but twitch his mouth. He didn't expect that she was so devoted to her work.
Sang Qiqi briefly exchanged a few words with the audience in the livestream room before turning off her phone and waiting for Kong Xingyan to arrive. Hearing the roar of a car stopping at the door and a tall figure pushing it open, Sang Qiqi yawned lazily, pointed to the small sofa next to her, and said, "Sit down. What do you want to ask?"
Kong Xingyan laughed awkwardly upon hearing this: "You've seen through it all."
Sang Qiqi glanced at him and said, "Captain Kong, are you here so late just to chat with me? You must have something to ask for."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
He coughed lightly twice and no longer felt embarrassed. At most, he would take better care of Sang Qiqi's business in the future. It just so happened that their old boss's father was dying, so he would give him Sang Qiqi's business card when the time came.
Thinking of this, he felt relieved and immediately said, "We've thoroughly investigated the Wu Wenlin case. Our colleagues back home did find Wu Wenlin's remains in the family yard. We also interrogated the elders and confirmed that the current Wu Wenlin is actually Wu Wentao in disguise. While we have a conclusion, we still have no clue why Wu Wentao killed Wu Wenlin."
"According to the old couple, Wu Wentao hadn't returned to his hometown for a long time before he killed and buried the body, so naturally he had no chance to contact Wu Wenlin. Furthermore, while the two brothers didn't have a good relationship, they ignored each other and rarely clashed. As for whether Wu Wentao killed someone impulsively that night, our analysis suggests it's unlikely."
"How do you say that?"
"According to Wu Laoqi, the tools Wu Wentao used to dig the grave and bury the body that night, such as the shovel, were all new and not originally in the family. Furthermore, no one in the village sells them, so if they wanted to buy new ones, they had to go to the street."
This also means that Wu Wentao brought this thing with him when he returned home, otherwise it would be illogical based on the time.
But what's the big deal about a guy who hasn't been home for years and brings a shovel home? He has never heard of any place that has a shovel as a specialty.
"From this, we believe he must have premeditated the murder, but since Wu Wentao hasn't woken up yet, we don't know the motive." Kong Xingyan told Sang Qiqi everything he knew. "I came here to ask if you know anything about this."
When Sang Qiqi heard the last sentence, she thought to herself, you really don't even want to act anymore.
But after thinking about it, I found that the person who didn't intend to pretend from the beginning was actually me.
She thought for a moment and asked, "How about I ask for you after he dies?"
Kong Xingyan: "...Huh?"
Sang Qiqi blinked, her expression innocent. She didn't have to wait for Wu Wentao to die; she could have simply extracted his soul from his body and questioned him. But the consequence of doing so was that Wu Wentao would have died before she could even put his soul back in.
After all, Wu Wentao could hardly hold on any longer at this moment.
If it happens again, it will end his life early... Wait, anyway, it’s not Wu Wentao’s own life span, so if he dies, he dies, so what?
Thinking of this, Sang Qiqi rubbed her hands together, feeling a little excited. "I can ask for you now, but he'll die after I ask. Can you accept that?"
Kong Xingyan: “…”
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
He needed to figure out what this sentence meant first. He knew every word, but when they were put together, he couldn't understand it.
I even began to doubt whether my Chinese language was taught by my physical education teacher.
In the endless silence, the rapid ringing of a phone call woke Kong Xingyan. He subconsciously looked down at his phone. When he saw the name displayed on the note, a bad premonition suddenly came over him. When he answered the call, Li Li's voice came from the inside: "Brother, Wu Wentao is dead."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
He gripped his phone tightly, turned to look at Sang Qiqi, and said, "Wu Wentao is dead."
Sang Qiqi clapped her hands, her clear voice brightening a bit. "That's perfect! Come on, I'll take you to interrogate Wu Wentao."
Kong Xingyan: “…”
Sang Qiqi pulled Kong Xingyan out of the house and thoughtfully asked the irritated Kong Xingyan to park the car at the entrance of the funeral service. Sang Qiqi then drove the pickup truck and invited Kong Xingyan to get in the passenger seat. Even though his mind was still preoccupied with Wu Wentao's death, Kong Xingyan couldn't help but say, "This car looks really nice."
Sang Qiqi gave him a thumbs up: "You have good taste."
He arrived at the hospital in a very handsome manner, and Sang Qiqi followed Kong Xingyan hurriedly to the hospital morgue.
The Second Hospital's morgue was located four floors below ground level and was equipped with a freezer. However, Wu Wentao had been dead relatively recently, and with a murder case on his hands, he wasn't in the freezer at the moment, but was being watched by Li Li. Li Li looked a little annoyed. After all, the case between the Wu brothers hadn't been fully solved yet, and Wu Wentao had died first. They would never know each other's motives for murder again. This case... it was solved, but it also felt like it wasn't completely solved.
He sighed, and when he heard footsteps behind him, he turned his head and looked over: "Brother."
Then, when he caught a glimpse of Sang Qiqi following behind Kong Xingyan, he was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted: "Boss Sang, you're here too?"
Kong Xingyan didn't have the nerve to tell Sang Qiqi that she was here to interrogate a deceased person. He just gave a vague response and turned to look at Sang Qiqi. Just as he was about to ask something, Sang Qiqi waved her hand and said, "You guys go out and wait for me. I'll come out to find you later."
"OK."
Kong Xingyan pulled the confused Li Li out of the morgue.
Outside the door.
Li Li pointed at the gate in confusion, then at the two people, and lowered his voice: "What's going on? Why did we leave Boss Sang in here? Did you ask Boss Sang to see Wu Wentao off?"
Kong Xingyan: "What the hell, a murderer like this wants Sang Qiqi to see him off to his grave? Does he deserve it?"
Rolling his eyes, Kong Xingyan said, "Come with me and stand outside for a while. You'll know when Sang Qiqi comes out."
Li Li was now filled with doubts, but he couldn't get an answer from Kong Xingyan no matter how much he asked. Unable to persuade Kong Xingyan, he had no choice but to follow him to a corner. Unable to smoke, he craned his neck like a fool, peering towards the morgue entrance.
After a while, he suddenly said, "Brother, do you feel it's chilly here?"
Kong Xingyan glanced at the running air conditioner: "It's chilly, isn't it normal?"
Inside the door.
Hearing the noise, Sang Qiqi turned around to look at the two ghost messengers coming through the door and casually greeted them, "You're here so early? Wait a moment, I have a few questions for him."
One of the ghost messengers who came was the one Sang Qiqi had met near the Styx. Seeing an old acquaintance, the ghost messenger waved his hand and said, "Ask whatever you want. We're not in a hurry."
After saying that, he shrank into the corner.
Sang Qiqi turned back to look at Wu Wentao, who was lying among the corpses pretending nothing had happened, and couldn't help but purse her lips: "Don't want to get up? Then you can go into the incinerator with your body later."
Wu Wentao's body stiffened.
He lay in bed, completely dazed, but occasionally he could hear the attendant's voices. After a few days, he realized his "son" was using his illness to extort money from Jiang Zhen. Wu Wentao felt incredibly supportive; he didn't want to die. He figured if he could get the money, Wu Haohua would be able to find a better doctor to treat him.
But unexpectedly, before they got the money, the police started investigating a murder case from 22 years ago!
This made Wu Wentao panic, but before he could think, his consciousness blurred again. When he regained consciousness, before he could figure out how to handle the murder case, he found himself dead! He was still feeling uneasy, but looking at the young policeman pacing back and forth beside him, his face full of frustration and irritation, Wu Wentao almost laughed out loud.
Even if he knew the circumstances of the murder, what would it matter? Twenty-two years had passed, and he was dead. Nothing could be undone.
Just as he was silently mocking Li Li, the door of the morgue opened and two more people came in.
He certainly didn't recognize Kong Xingyan, but Sang Qiqi did! When Jiang Zhen first visited the funeral service store, Sang Qiqi was standing nearby, introducing the products! Wu Wentao still firmly believed in taboos and conflicts, so the moment he saw Sang Qiqi, he was furious. He stared at her intently, wishing he could eat her alive.
If it weren't for Sang Qiqi's shabby shop, he would definitely have lived two more years.
If he was alive and well, Wu Haohua would not have used him for show, and the police would not have discovered the case twenty-two years ago!
Just as he was thinking about it, Sang Qiqi suddenly raised her head, and her bright almond-shaped eyes met his eyes.
Wu Wentao cursed in his heart: "..."
Wh-what do you mean? Can you see him?
When suspicion arose in her heart, Sang Qiqi curled her lips and gave him an ambiguous smile, then turned her head to talk to Kong Xingyan and his group.
A huge storm suddenly arose in Wu Wentao's heart, and a creepy feeling spread all over his body.
And now, as Sang Qiqi said this, that speculation has become a fact.
Sang Qiqi's fingers flew into the air and pressed on the corpse. An uncontrollable feeling of rising into the air suddenly emerged from Wu Wentao's body. When he came to his senses, he had been grabbed by the throat by Sang Qiqi and was peeled off from his body.
Throwing the ghost to the ground casually, Sang Qiqi stepped on his throat, lowered her eyes to look at him, and smiled with a crooked smile: "I'll ask you a few questions. Answer truthfully, or I'll have someone slice you into pieces like a famous dish in northern Beijing."
Five minutes later.
Sang Qiqi handed Wu Wentao's ghost to the waiting ghost messenger and turned to walk out the door. Meeting Kong Xingyan and Li Li's gazes, Sang Qiqi said bluntly, "Twenty-two years ago, Wu Wentao was hiding from his creditors when he met an old Taoist priest. The Taoist priest said he was going to die soon, and he would have to change his life."
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