Chapter 36
"No, no." Cui Jiafu's wife spoke first, her voice dry and trembling.
Cui Jiafu, who was standing next to him, hummed in agreement. "Cui Da doesn't really live at home. He barely spends a few days in the village throughout the year. How could he possibly have any enemies?"
This sounds reasonable at first, if you ignore his big hands rubbing each other restlessly.
"No way? When I was visiting the village today, I heard someone mention that your Cui Da beat someone up." Seeing that Lin Jiafan had no intention of asking further questions, Luo Jingyao spoke on her own initiative.
When Cui Jiafu and his wife heard this, they suddenly looked a little embarrassed.
Her expression changed as she racked her brains to defend herself: "How is that possible? They must have seen it wrong. My little Da does have a bad temper, but he wouldn't hit anyone casually, right?"
"Oh." Luo Jingyao's face was as dark as water, but the words that came out of her pink lips were not polite: "I wouldn't hit people casually, but I did it for a reason, right?"
"That's not what I meant!" Cui Jiafu's wife was anxious and subconsciously pulled her husband's sleeve. Unfortunately, Cui Jiafu didn't seem to have any intention of helping her. He kept his head down and never raised it.
Seeing this, Lin Jiafan had a plan in mind. He said coldly, "Bo'an Village is so small, some things can't be hidden just because you want to. You can choose not to tell us. There seem to be quite a few people outside your house right now. We can actually go out and ask them."
Cui Jiafu's wife had a conflicted look on her face, and her upper teeth had bitten her lower lip until it turned red.
Lin Jiafan didn't want to waste time and made a gesture to turn around and leave.
"Officer Lin!" Cui Jiafu's wife was startled by his actions and called out hurriedly, "It's Zhou Wenwu's daughter, Zhou Hong."
"They had been dating before, but the girl suddenly wanted to break up for unknown reasons, and Xiaoda disagreed. After a while, they came to blows. To put it bluntly, it was just a playful fight between young people, not something that serious."
"Is that all?" Lin Jiafan raised his eyebrows, feeling oppressive.
Cui Jiafu's wife swallowed hard and nodded quickly, "That was all last year. They've completely lost contact since then."
Lin Jiafan retracted his cold gaze, turned his head to look elsewhere as if he believed it, and asked nonchalantly, "Is there anyone else who has conflicts with him?"
The woman shook her head even more vigorously.
At this moment, Cui Jiafu, who was sitting next to him, suddenly sighed heavily. He ignored his wife's pleading expression and said with gritted teeth, "Cui Da has been disobedient since he was a child. I was able to control him a little in the past few years, but in the past two years, I can't control him even if I want to."
"He often loses his temper for no reason. He's always arguing with people wherever he goes. He's scolded at least eighty people in the village."
"But that's all. If you say someone spat at him or rolled their eyes behind his back, I'd believe it, but every household in the village is related to him two generations ago. It's unlikely that someone would want to kill him."
"If Officer Lin thinks a quarrel can be considered a motive for murder, then you have a lot more people to investigate."
"This is our job, it's not a big deal." Lin Jiafan raised his chin to the two people on the sofa without any extra expression: "Thank you for your cooperation. If you can think of anything else later, you are welcome to contact me at any time."
"It's my duty." After Cui Jiafu finished his polite words, he lowered his head again and continued to rub his hands.
Lin Jiafan left the sofa and walked to the stairs leading to the second floor, and winked at the person by the window.
Luo Jingyao was stunned. By the time she reacted, the other party had already gone up to the second floor. She hesitated for a while, but could only bite the bullet and follow him quietly.
"What do you think, Coach Luo?" Lin Jiafan seemed certain that she would come. His tall body blocked the stairs to the second floor, making the entire space seem a little cramped.
Of course, use your eyes.
After secretly criticizing her in her heart, Luo Jingyao responded unhappily: "I'm not a police officer. My opinion is not important."
"Also, Officer Lin, if you have anything to say next time, please tell me. I'm not a worm in your stomach, and I can't understand your spirit."
This person always speaks when talking to people in their own group, but when it comes to her, it's like she has no vocal cords and just gestures.
Faced with her sudden anger, Lin Jiafan didn't care at all. He turned and walked towards the room at the end of the corridor, stood at the door and looked inside.
When his colleagues from the laboratory in the room saw him coming, they spread their hands regretfully, indicating that there was nothing major to find.
Listening to the approaching footsteps behind him, his gaze swept carefully across every corner of the room. He spoke with a distracted look, "Coach Luo is a woman too. So, look at it from a female perspective. If you were treated violently by your ex-boyfriend, would you want to kill someone to vent your anger?"
It is obvious that he is talking about Cui Da's ex-girlfriend Zhou Hong.
"No." Luo Jingyao denied decisively: "If the truth is as simple as Cui Da's parents said, I would just be glad to have escaped from the scum. I would just call the police and have them arrested. Why would I kill anyone?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to realize something and suddenly opened her eyes wide.
Lin Jiafan turned around at this moment, a smile on his lips: "That's right, but Zhou Hong didn't call the police. Why didn't she call the police?"
"This village is a society based on personal connections. Maybe someone can talk and persuade them?" Luo Jingyao asked tentatively.
"It is indeed possible, or... the truth is not as simple as they say." After Lin Jiafan finished speaking, he walked into the room and suddenly stopped when he passed the desk next to the bed.
Pulling the half-open drawer outward, he lowered his eyes and stared at it for a moment, then pointed at the empty space in the drawer with his finger: "What was originally placed here?"
A colleague from the laboratory walked over and took a look: "No, it was empty when we came."
Silently picking up the paper beside him, Lin Jiafan saw several obvious black and white dividing lines around it: "There should be something here, but someone has taken it away."
Luo Jingyao outside the door turned her eyes and pointed downstairs with some surprise.
Only Cui Jiafu came up just now, and maybe he took away something else besides Cui Da's toothbrush and comb.
"But there's no place on his body to hide anything." Luo Jingyao tried to keep her voice as low as possible.
It's a thin, tight-fitting home outfit. If you hide something inside, it will easily leave traces. The outer coat is a pocketless style.
After measuring the size of the blank space with his hands, Lin Jiafan quickly came up with an idea and turned around and walked out of the room.
Standing in the corridor, he looked at the two remaining bedrooms on the second floor. Only one had the light on, but both doors were open without any security.
His eyes flickered as he shouted to his colleagues who were still busy in Cui Da's room, "Pull back!"
After saying that, the first one went downstairs.
Luo Jingyao and others followed him and returned to the living room on the first floor one after another. In an instant, the spacious place became crowded.
Cui Jiafu and his wife stood up from the sofa at a loss. Facing so many police officers at once, they felt a little nervous.
"Officer Lin, have you finished your investigation?" Cui Jiafu was full of doubts.
"Well, we just want to see where Cui Da usually lives and infer his personality traits through some details in the room, which will help in the subsequent investigation of the case." Lin Jiafan explained a few words with rare patience, and then pretended to take people away.
"It's too late today. You two should go to bed early. We may need your cooperation tomorrow."
He kept giving instructions as he walked out.
Cui Jiafu and his wife agreed with red eyes, and followed them politely, intending to see them out.
But unexpectedly, Lin Jiafan, who had already walked to the door, suddenly stopped and walked back without saying a word: "Excuse me, I want to use the bathroom..."
Perhaps frightened by his sudden action, Cui Jiafu subconsciously returned to the sofa.
Lin Jiafan swallowed the unfinished words, and his meaningful gaze fell nakedly on Cui Jiafu.
Perhaps it was because his gaze was too targeted that the man was so flustered that he didn't dare to look him in the eye, and even his hands hanging by his side began to tremble.
"Mr. Cui seems very nervous." Lin Jiafan walked step by step to his side: "So what is Mr. Cui afraid of?"
As he spoke, he slowly bent down and touched the bottom of the old wooden sofa with his slender and powerful hands.
He didn't get discouraged when there was no result, and instead reached his hand under the sponge cushion on the sofa.
Finally, under everyone's gaze, Lin Jiafan withdrew his hand, and a folded manila envelope lay quietly in his palm.
When Cui Jiafu's wife saw the envelope, she seemed to realize something and turned to look at her husband.
As for Cui Jiafu, he closed his eyes in despair the moment Lin Jiafan walked over.
Lin Jiafan lowered his head and opened the envelope, then pulled out a stack of photos. After just one look, he frowned fiercely.
After quickly flipping through all the photos, he raised his head again, holding up the thing in his hand with a restrained expression: "Is this what you call normal friends and a little quarrel?"
"Do you know what that's called in the eyes of the police?"
It's called motive for murder.
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