Before the case was solved, no matter whether it was the yamen runners or the Jinyiwei or the three judicial officials in charge of the case, they were not allowed to talk about the case with outsiders, unless the person might be a relevant witness, then he would be invited to the yamen for interrogation.
When they asked Aunt Xinghua just now, she didn't tell them how Xiaozhen died, but only gave her a portrait for her to identify.
But Aunt Xinghua obviously couldn't get over Xiaozhen's death, so she came to ask a familiar patrolman to know more about the case.
This question made me even more miserable.
Jiang Lingyao didn't know how Duan Nanzhui would deal with the patrolman. She quickly stepped forward, patted Aunt Xinghua's back gently, and comforted her softly: "Aunt Xinghua, why don't we go to the county government and tell you in detail? In my opinion, do you have any other stories to tell?"
Aunt Xinghua cried so hard that she could hardly hear the human voice. There was a ringing in her ears, and she could only feel the gentle caress on her back.
Duan Nanqi glanced at the patrolman coldly and said, "Go find the head of the police and apologize. Don't talk nonsense in the future."
Jiang Lingyao only gently comforted Aunt Xinghua, and when she finally couldn't even shed tears, she sighed and said again: "Aunt Xinghua, why don't we go back to the county government office and tell us everything, okay?"
"We all want Xiaozhen to rest in peace and the murderer to pay for his crime."
Aunt Xinghua took a deep breath, and stared at Jiang Lingyao with her red and swollen eyes.
She held Jiang Lingyao's hand tightly and suddenly said in a desperate tone: "Okay, this time, I will explain everything clearly."
On the way back, Jiang Lingyao and Duan Nanqi walked one after the other, and the two did not talk. When they returned to the county government office, Aunt Xinghua's mood had stabilized a little. Duan Nanqi called Pei Yu, opened an interrogation room directly, and invited Aunt Xinghua to come in and sit down.
Jiang Lingyao originally thought that Duan Nanqi would be the presiding judge this time, but Duan Nanqi did not say much. He just sat down in the deputy seat and left the main seat for her.
Jiang Lingyao didn't think much about it. She sat down in the main seat and looked at Aunt Xinghua sitting on the chair opposite her with a dejected look on her face. She didn't seem to care at all that she was being questioned here.
Jiang Lingyao asked the yamen runner to bring in some tea for Auntie Xinghua to drink to calm her mind. Then she said, "Auntie Xinghua, since the police have already told you that Xiaozhen died in the bushes, I will not elaborate on this matter. I just want to ask, why are you so sad about this matter?"
Aunt Xinghua slowly raised her head, her eyes fell on Jiang Lingyao, with an intense despair in her eyes.
She didn't even look at the Jinyiwei in this room, and only looked at the only female prosecutor, Jiang Lingyao.
After a long silence, Auntie Xinghua spoke in a hoarse voice: "Fourteen years ago, I was imprisoned."
Jiang Lingyao's hands trembled, and she almost dropped the wood in her hand onto the table. Even Duan Nanqiao beside her had a look of surprise. No one had expected that Aunt Xinghua seemed to be related to this case.
Aunt Xinghua didn't seem to care what Jiang Lingyao and the others thought. Her eyes wandered, and she recalled the past fourteen years ago in pain and struggle.
"I was only 20 years old that year and had just been married for a year. In order to support the family, my husband often followed the village's big boats to go fishing. He would be gone for ten days or half a month. One time, he had just gone out. I thought that there was not much firewood, rice, oil and salt left at home, so I went to the county."
Even though fourteen years had passed, she still remembered what happened back then vividly, or perhaps during these fourteen years, she had been recalling it carefully day and night, fearing that she would forget any details.
Aunt Xinghua's voice is hoarse, like the cuckoo crying blood, weeping and complaining.
"I went to the county and did some simple shopping. When I reached a remote alley, I saw a man frantically coaxing a baby in his arms."
Auntie Xinghua almost gnashed her teeth and said, "That heartless thief looked tall and thin, not very old. The baby in his arms was crying very pitifully, so the thief asked me for help, asking if I could help him comfort the child."
Jiang Lingyao held her breath and listened carefully to every clue in her words.
Auntie Xinghua didn't even blink. She said, "I was actually pregnant at the time. I loved the baby, so I went over to help him comfort the baby. The baby in the cradle seemed to be no more than a year old, very small, and his face was wrinkled from crying."
"But I didn't expect that as soon as I held the child in my arms, the man covered my mouth with a handkerchief."
Aunt Xinghua has been thinking about the events of the past day and night for the past fourteen years. Now she can finally speak them out loud. Her words are fluent and decisive.
"It's been fourteen years, and I still remember his chuckle after he smothered me. It was as if I was a fool who could be easily taken advantage of. He hurt me, bullied me, and laughed at me."
Aunt Xinghua almost pinched her palms until they bled as she spoke.
Jiang Lingyao sighed slightly: "Auntie, have some tea, we will talk slowly."
Aunt Xinghua shook her head. After being comforted by her, the expression on her face relaxed and she calmed down.
She continued, "When I woke up again, I was in a dilapidated house. I was tied to a bed, unable to move my hands and feet. Apart from the clothes I had put on, nothing else on my body was found. As soon as I moved, someone next to me spoke."
"That was a woman," Auntie Xinghua's eyes softened when she mentioned this woman. She said, "That woman had a very nice voice. She even teased me and asked me if I was awake and why I was so stupid to be caught."
"I was very scared at the time and did not answer her. I thought she was in cahoots with that man and was going to kidnap and sell me."
Auntie Xinghua's voice became gentler and gentler: "But when it gradually dawned outside and there was some light in the little room, I realized that she was tied to the bed like me, humming a bored little song."
"There was a wooden fence between us, so we couldn't see each other's faces, but just by listening to her voice, I could tell she must be an extremely beautiful woman."
"I was no more than 20 years old at the time, and I was extremely scared when I was first arrested. But after one night, I saw the same person again, and I calmed down. I started asking her where this place was."
Jiang Lingyao looked at her smiling eyes as she recalled the past, and she knew that the woman must have supported her, and that woman was someone she would never forget in her heart.
Auntie Xinghua said, "The woman told me her name was Xiuhong. She had been captured for three days. No one had brought her food in these four days. Every two hours, the thief would come in and untie the rope and let her go to the toilet in the side cubicle. She could only get a bowl of water a day, and that's how she managed to survive."
Jiang Lingyao's whole attention was on Aunt Xinghua at this time. After hearing this, she was almost certain that Aunt Xinghua was related to the double corpse case fourteen years ago.
Auntie Xinghua continued, "Xiuhong is a good person. She is very optimistic. Seeing me sad, she encouraged me and said that she had been looking for an opportunity. Even if she couldn't escape with her life, she would die with the villain and make him suffer."
"But I can tell that she is very weak, and her voice is weak. How can we defeat that thief?"
Auntie Xinghua sighed, "But Xiuhong just refused to admit defeat, especially when she found out that I had just gotten married and was pregnant, she became even more insistent."
Aunt Xinghua had calmed down a lot when she talked about Xiuhong, but when she got to this point, tears began to flow slowly from her eyes.
"Xiuhong told me that she was a prostitute, that she was old and ugly, and that she didn't have much time left. It didn't matter whether she was dead or alive, but I was still young, I had a happy family, a loving husband, and a child who was about to be born. She wanted me to live."
As Aunt Xinghua said this, tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't stop them.
She wasn't going to stop.
Aunt Xinghua said, "Because Xiuhong was here, I wasn't that scared anymore. But two hours later, I saw the thief. I heard him unlock the door with the key, walked quietly into the house, and hummed a lullaby."
"Then he untied Xiuhong and rushed her to the toilet. When Xiuhong came back, he tied her up before touching me."
Aunt Xinghua closed her eyes in pain: "As soon as I saw him, I started to get scared again. I was too cowardly at that time. Why didn't I fight? Why didn't I run away? Why didn't I scold him to his face and let him taste the pain too?"
Many people who have suffered extreme injuries and are lucky enough to survive will repeatedly recall the details of the incident after their survival. They can't help blaming themselves, hating why they were hurt, why they didn't resist, or why they should just die.
Aunt Xinghua has been able to live to this day so tenaciously, and she looks extremely kind and gentle. The village chief has said before that she often helps the lonely, old and young in the village. The reason she does so is probably inseparable from the courageous Xiuhong.
Jiang Lingyao whispered to comfort her, "Auntie, this is not your fault. If it were me, I would probably just be so scared that I would hide in the closet and not even dare to cry."
"I'm not as good as you."
These words successfully comforted Aunt Xinghua and also drew Duan Nanqi's attention to her, but Jiang Lingyao ignored Duan Nanqi and only stared at Aunt Xinghua.
"Auntie, please continue."
Auntie Xinghua nodded. She wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve and then said, "Another day passed, and during this time Sister Xiuhong talked to me a lot."
"Sister Xiuhong said that there was a girl in the room when she was abducted. However, the girl looked unwell when she arrived. She couldn't say a word. Not long after, she was taken away and her whereabouts are unknown."
"Sister Xiuhong said that if we could escape, I must not tell anyone about this. Even though we didn't seem to be hurt, people's words are scary, and being a woman is especially difficult. For the sake of my child, I must not say anything."
"At that time, I didn't think that Sister Xiuhong was telling me how to live in the future, because pregnancy is uncomfortable, and I couldn't eat, my stomach hurt, and I kept vomiting. Probably because I was too annoying, the thief was obviously a little impatient and told me to be honest."
"Sister Xiuhong grasped this point. She was ready, untied the rope in advance, and then started shouting."
"Sister Xiuhong told him that I looked weak and pale. If I died here, I wouldn't be able to get a good price. It was probably because he was afraid that I would really die in that hut that the thief was impatient and sent me a piece of steamed bun and stuffed it directly into my mouth."
"He came in unexpectedly this time and forgot to close the door. It was at this moment that Sister Xiuhong, who had been prepared, struggled out of bed and stabbed the thief's leg with the wooden stick she found in the cubicle."
"The thief was injured in the leg and looked very angry. I watched him pull out a knife from his sleeve and stab it directly into Sister Xiuhong's back."
"The blood splashed all over my face."
"I was so scared at the time that I wanted to save Sister Xiuhong, but she held onto his legs tightly and told me to run quickly. So I ran out like a fool, rushing forward without a second thought."
"I don't know how I got home. I fell ill right after I got home and was in a coma for three days before I woke up with difficulty," Auntie Xinghua's tears fell again. "But after I woke up, I almost had a miscarriage again. I was in a coma the whole time. It was ten days before I could finally speak."
“But by then, it’s all over.”
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