Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Found Xie Youlian and her daughter...
"Something happened to him eight years ago? What happened?"
The two spoke in unison and didn't mention the money at all. This strange question made the old lady stunned.
"Something happened...it just happened."
Seeing they hadn't gotten any answers, Ji Mingcheng took two steps forward and stopped in front of the old woman. He pulled out his police ID and began, "Hello, officer. We'd like to inquire about Li Chengbin's accident eight years ago."
"Police? Aren't you debt collectors?"
Old Lady Li Guifen was stunned, but she didn't care about anything else. She grabbed Ji Mingcheng's arm and demanded, "Comrade, Li Chengbin is a bastard. If he commits any crime, you must lock him up. It's best not to let him out for the rest of his life. Don't let him get out and harm anyone else."
It seems that this person is quite unpopular, but what kind of jerk is he?
"That bastard never does good things, and he's always responsible for bad things. He's in his thirties and he doesn't do anything serious all day. He just likes to play cards and gamble with others. Not satisfied with losing all his money, he takes it from his family when he's out of money. His wife usually takes care of the crops and has to work when she has nothing to do. The little money she earns is enough for his family to live comfortably, but that bastard is completely inhumane. When he has money, he takes it all, and when he doesn't, he beats people up. A few days ago, he went even further, saying that if A-Lian becomes a prostitute, she must give him the money, otherwise he'll drown them both. Do you think this is something a person can say? I don't care who you are, I sincerely hope you are really police officers and take that trouble away quickly. We neighbors can't stand it anymore."
The old lady shouted loudly, holding her chest and sighing, obviously she was disgusted with that man.
Qiu Jiang frowned when he heard this.
If what this old lady said is true, then Li Chengbin is not only a cruel and crazy stabbing murderer, but also a scum who is violent to his wife and daughter and is worse than pigs and dogs. Moreover, since he can borrow money from others and not pay it back, and even go gambling, he is more normal than normal people. Could he be a mental patient?
She would never believe it. So if such a person was finally released "innocently," she would be disgusted to death. What she just heard made her more determined to send Li Chengbin to prison, and investigating his mental illness became even more urgent.
"Auntie, we are indeed police officers. This is the captain of our city police's criminal investigation team. We are here to understand the cause of Li Chengbin's mental illness eight years ago. This matter is related to whether he can be sent to prison. We would like to ask you to think about what happened to him eight years ago? Why did he suddenly go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation? Is his mental illness real?"
Qiu Jiang has a soft and thin voice. She is a clean and likable girl. Her words are particularly soothing.
When Li Guifen heard about whether he could be sent to prison, she became anxious. "What do you mean? If he's mentally ill, won't your prison accept him?"
"Aunt, it's not that we don't want to take him in, it's that we have no way to do it. As long as he is mentally ill, it proves that he does not have full capacity to act. The law cannot convict him, so we have no choice but to let him go." Wang Li explained.
When Li Guifen heard this, her expression suddenly changed, and she gritted her teeth, "How can that be? Even if he's sick, why don't you admit him???"
Her words vaguely revealed some information.
"So Li Chengbin does have mental problems for some reason?" Ji Mingcheng asked directly.
Seeing the old lady frowning and hesitant to speak, Qiu Jiang's heart sank.
"I don't know what happened. He... is Li Chengbin. He was a very well-behaved child when he was young. Although he didn't talk much, he was definitely a good kid. But everything changed after he came back from working away from home ten years ago."
"He was already 25 or 26 at the time. He had a crush on someone, A-Lian, but his family was poor and he couldn't afford to marry her. So he and A-Lian agreed to go out and work for two years and come back to get married when he earned enough money. But he was gone for two years without a word from her. The whole family was worried sick. Even his parents thought he was dead. A-Lian had no choice but to obey her parents and go on a blind date with someone else, and they got married. They were living pretty well. But then he suddenly came back. When he came back, we didn't recognize him. He had an unshaven beard and his face was dark. He came looking for A-Lian as soon as he came back, but when he saw A-Lian, who was already married, he immediately foamed at the mouth and fainted."
"At that time, the villagers helped his parents to take him to the hospital. When he arrived at the hospital, he was like an idiot, talking nonsense all the time and not recognizing people. The doctor suspected that he might have been stimulated and had a mental problem, so he was quickly transferred to a mental hospital. After an examination, it was confirmed that the healthy boy had become mentally ill. During that time, his mother almost cried herself blind and took him to seek medical treatment everywhere, but he never got better."
Li Chengbin's mother was her cousin, and thinking back to when she saw her crying like that, Li Guifen felt bad too. She didn't know how many times she had cried with her. But she knew that Li Chengbin, who had recovered a little after taking medicine, would become such a bastard. She should have stopped her elder sister and never treated him even if she was beaten to death. She didn't expect that this disease would now become that bastard's life-saving talisman. Li Guifen slammed her thigh repeatedly, "What a sin, what a sin."
Deng Xingwang immediately asked, "Auntie, do you know what Li Chengbin did outside for the past two years? Could his sudden change be related to those two years? Also, does he have a brother or something? They look a lot like each other."
Generally speaking, when there is a drastic change in personality before and after, and the reported results are completely opposite, the first thing that cannot be ruled out is whether a relative has replaced the identity. If this speculation is correct, then all the difficulties faced by this case will be solved.
Qiu Jiang also suspected this possibility, so she didn't dare to take her eyes off the old lady. However, her reaction still disappointed everyone.
Li Guifen shook her head at all of them. "Although we don't know what he did outside, I can confirm that he is an only child and doesn't have any other brothers."
Qiu Jiang and others were very disappointed and still looked listless until they walked to the car.
After a while, Deng Xingwang couldn't stand it anymore. "Not only that old lady, but everyone else also said that Li Chengbin didn't have any brothers. Could it be that our previous guess was wrong? Did his personality really change drastically after he recovered from his mental illness?"
He scratched his head frantically, completely unable to figure out the key.
As he spoke, he frowned and said, "Could it be..."
He successfully attracted the attention of the other three.
Deng Xingwang hesitated, then quickly recounted his thoughts. "I've seen a lot of movies that mention a mental illness called dual personality. It's like a person has two souls, with completely different personalities and habits. Normally, one personality dominates the body, but when the other successfully seizes control, the person changes into the other personality."
"There is such a disease?" Qiu Jiang felt like it was a strange story her father had told her before. She never expected that someone would actually have this disease and was very surprised for a moment.
Wang Li had read a little bit about it and knew that this situation did exist, but it was still a little difficult for him to agree with his point of view.
"Xingwang, dual personality is still too rare. It's impossible for us to encounter it so easily."
"I just said it casually. It's really unlikely." Deng Xingwang also knew that he was making some assumptions based on hearsay, so he quickly added.
But Ji Mingcheng interrupted them.
"Over the past decade, there have indeed been multiple personality murders in Country M. A single individual has developed over ten different personalities, each with vastly different genders, ages, vision, abilities, and native languages. Among these, the personality with criminal tendencies has committed numerous crimes. This proves that dual or multiple personality crimes are not impossible.
"As long as there's insufficient evidence, we can't let go of any possibility. So, making this speculation is indeed a direction for investigating the case. But Wang Li is also right. Dual personality murder is a low-probability event. The possibility is too small. As long as other avenues haven't been completely exhausted, this speculation can only be put on hold. Do you understand?"
"clear--"
The three of them said in unison.
Ji Mingcheng nodded and said, "Let's go, get in the car and go find Xie Youlian."
"yes."
According to information obtained from other villagers, Xie Youlian's mother's home is not far from here. After leaving Kuchun Village and getting on the highway, you will drive directly into a narrow dirt road. This is the location of Xie Youlian's mother's home, Dayou Village.
After about five or six minutes, they saw many low houses. When they arrived at the village entrance, Deng Xingwang jumped out of the car to ask around. After a while, the four of them arrived at Xie Youlian's parents' home.
Unfortunately, the gate here was still closed, just like the gate in Kuchun Village. Outside the gate were mud puddles left by the rain over the past two days, and no one had cleaned them up yet. And strangely, the gate was covered with holes made by sharp weapons. Looking at the marks, it seemed as if they were just left.
Qiu Jiang and Deng Xingwang, who came down to investigate, felt something was wrong. Before they could continue investigating, they heard a burst of crackling sounds and footsteps coming from the alley on the right. Soon, they saw more than 20 people surrounding them, all of them were furious and looked like they were going to have a big fight with them.
What's going on?
Not only were they bewildered, but even the people across from them were dumbfounded. One of them, an elderly man in his fifties or sixties, wrapped himself tightly in his worn military coat and asked sternly, "Aren't you from Li Chengbin's group? Are you another group here to collect debts?"
"No, no." Qiu Jiang and the others waved their hands.
"Then it's still on the side of that bastard Li Chengbin, everyone, get rid of him——"
At his command, the people behind him picked up the weapons in their hands and started fighting them.
Seeing that things are going badly, he quickly revealed his identity.
"We are the police, here to investigate a case."
They hurriedly took out their police IDs, fearing that if they were too late they would be caught and beaten up.
The villagers were skeptical until two more people got out of the car and took out the same ID as the two others. The old man in the lead took it and looked at it carefully before quickly asking the villagers to put down their farm tools.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to be police officers. I offended you just now." The man who took the lead was the village chief of Dayou Village. He quickly bowed and apologized to the four of them on behalf of everyone.
Wang Li quickly grabbed him and asked, "What's your name?"
"My last name is Xie Sanbao."
After knowing the address, Ji Mingcheng asked directly, "Did you hide Xie Youlian's family?"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Jiang couldn't help but take a step forward and said to them, "Li Chengbin is currently involved in a knife attack. We need to find Xie Youlian to inquire about the situation."
The old village chief was stunned for a moment, then said without thinking, "I'll take you there."
He took three people with him to go look for the person, explaining as they walked, "That Li Chengbin is too much. He hasn't tried to live a good life in the past eight years. He beat A-Lian so badly. He was bad enough before, but two days ago he came with a knife and attacked people, saying he wanted to kill their entire family. Comrades, tell me, is this even fair?!"
Speaking of this, the three young men from Dayou Village who were following behind them were all filled with righteous indignation and started talking one after another.
"He beat up people from our village and didn't treat the girls from our village well. We haven't even settled the score with him yet, and now he wants to come to our village and kill people. Who's afraid of who? That bastard—"
"We in Dayou Village are not cowards. We have been attacked and beaten right at our doorstep. Who can stand this? Think about it, we have had enough of these past eight years. Why did we allow him to curse and bully us even at our home? We drove him away that day."
"Comrade, that Li Chengbin is really no good. Every man who marries a wife wants to live a happy life with her, but he thinks A-Lian is cheating on him every day and beats and scolds her at will. He doesn't even think about how he shamelessly begged A-Lian to marry him in the first place. If A-Lian's husband hadn't drowned in the river back then, how could he have married A-Lian? He doesn't even live a good life after marriage. He idles around all day and beats A-Lian like that. He even beats his own children. He's simply not a human being."
They were talking to each other, obviously hating Li Chengbin.
"So you hid them because you were afraid that he would come to A-Lian's house for revenge again?" Qiu Jiang guessed.
Unexpectedly, Xie Sanbao directly denied it. "We didn't hide it. Three days ago, A-Lian suddenly ran back and hid the child with her. After hiding the child, she knelt on the ground and kowtowed, begging us to save her and her daughter. We kept asking her what happened, but she refused to tell us. She only said that she wanted to divorce Li Chengbin, but Li Chengbin disagreed. She was afraid he would kill her, so she had to hide first."
Divorce? Could Li Chengbin's feigned mental illness and stabbing be related to this incident?
"Did he call A-Lian in the past three days?" she suddenly asked.
Xie Sanbao nodded. "The store at the entrance of the village received several calls from him, saying he wanted A-Lian to answer the phone. A-Lian hid and refused to answer. Plus, his tone was not nice, which made the store owner very angry. He said our village was too cowardly to let others bully their daughters. The village was not big, and this matter spread quickly."
"Originally, everyone was just angry and didn't think anything of it, but that Li Chengbin actually showed up with a knife. Those marks on A-Lian's door were left by him. Comrades, tell me, who can tolerate this? Even if A-Lian doesn't want to divorce this time, I have to make the decision and force them to divorce. He must have been afraid of too many people in our village that day, so he ran away in disgrace, but A-Lian refused to come out, saying she was scared. Her parents felt sorry for her, so they hid with her."
They talked as they walked, and soon they arrived at the land temple of Dayou Village.
This is a small courtyard of about 200 square meters. The area is not very large. There is a quaint little house in the middle, where several gods commonly worshipped by the common people are placed. It is not just the land god. There are also two smaller rooms on the left and right sides, but they are used to store miscellaneous items and there is no offering.
Deng Xingwang was a young man who didn't believe in worshipping gods. He felt uncomfortable coming here so suddenly. He quietly approached Qiu Jiang and asked, "Why did they bring us here? There are only two rooms. They can't possibly hide anyone here, right?"
Qiu Jiang was looking around at the moment and guessed, "Maybe there's a tunnel here or something?"
Wang Li poked Deng Xingwang and pointed in a direction when he looked over. "Look there."
The three villagers from Dayou Village who came with them followed their village chief and knelt on the stone cushion of the colorful stone statue. This stone statue was very interesting. It was almost as high as the roof of the house. One person could not hug it at all. It was estimated that it would take two or three people to hug it.
As expected, the three people from Dayou Village went behind the stone statue and hugged it. Then the stone cushion where Xie Sanbao, the village chief of Dayou Village, had just been kneeling slowly opened, revealing a tunnel.
Ji Mingcheng was closest to the tunnel. When he saw a hole suddenly appear on the ground, his eyebrows raised and he looked incredulous.
"Oh my god, it's just like the scene in a TV series."
Deng Xingwang summed up everyone's feelings in one sentence.
"We don't know how long this tunnel has existed, probably hundreds of years. It was left to us by our ancestors for refuge. It has always been a secret of our Dayou Village. Please don't spread it."
"Don't worry, I can promise that I will never tell anyone." Ji Mingcheng was worthy of being a leader. The shock on his face disappeared quickly and he promised him.
Xie Sanbao was originally talking to him, and seeing that he agreed, the uneasiness in his heart was slightly reduced.
As soon as they walked in, they immediately turned on the flashlight and took in everything below. After a quick look, they found that the place was not big, but the road was very winding. If there was no one to lead the way, they would probably get lost.
The further you go in, the more you feel that the space here is not small. If there is a real danger of the village being destroyed, although this place cannot accommodate everyone comfortably, it can accommodate everyone in the village if they squeeze in. It is indeed a good way to save lives.
With the help of a local villager, they soon found a family living in a small cubicle of ten square meters.
Xie Youlian's parents were originally very relaxed, but they immediately became nervous when they saw Qiu Jiang and the others.
"Village chief, who are they?"
"Alian's family, this is the police, here to see Alian, don't be nervous."
"police?"
Behind the old couple, a voice so hoarse that one could only hear it by listening carefully was heard.
Hearing their daughter's voice, the old couple immediately burst into tears and knelt down, "Comrade, please save A-Lian. She is suffering so much, so much."
They choked up for a moment, and their emotions, which were at their limit, completely collapsed when they heard the word "police". They had tried every method, but nothing worked. Now that their daughter was in such a state, they were the only ones who could save her.
"Uncle and aunt, get up quickly." Wang Li and Deng Xingwang hurried to pull people up.
In the corner, Xie Youlian's eyes suddenly burst into tears. She sobbed silently for a long time, and shouted with her broken voice, "Dad... Mom, get up."
After finally pulling the old couple up, Xie Youlian and her daughter, who had been blocked by them just now, appeared in front of everyone.
At one glance, everyone froze.
Xie Youlian was seen leaning against the corner of the earthen wall. Her face was swollen, and there were bruises at the corners of her eyes. The exposed skin was covered with tiny wounds, and there was almost no healthy place. What was even more terrifying was that her legs were tied with wooden boards. Brown liquid of unknown origin had penetrated the boards and mixed with dark red bloodstains, and it was even impossible to recognize what color it was. Occasionally, her swollen and bruised legs could be seen in the places where the boards were not tied, and there was a faint pungent smell, which was simply shocking.
Not only her, but the little girl in her arms also had bruises on her face. At this moment, when she saw people, she shrank back into Xie Youqin's arms, and the vibrations of her body were getting stronger and stronger, so strong that it was impossible to ignore it.
Qiu Jiang stood there in a daze, almost unable to believe what she saw, and tears suddenly burst out of her eyes.
Everyone's heart was tense, and even Ji Mingcheng's voice was more cautious and careful.
"Ms. Xie, we need to ask you some questions about Li Chengbin, but we have to take you and the child to the hospital for treatment now. You can't delay any longer. If you agree, just nod your head."
Hearing that they were going out, Xie Youlian's body trembled. She shook her head violently and refused again and again in a voice as hoarse as a dead bellows, "No, no, no..."
"She will die, my daughter will die." She hugged her frail daughter tightly, tears streaming down her face from the wound, accidentally drawing blood, and suddenly she hissed and gasped rapidly, leaning back repeatedly.
"Something is wrong. Wang Li and Deng Xingwang, carry her out—" Ji Mingcheng gave the order without hesitation.
"yes--"
Deng Xingwang wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and immediately cooperated with Wang Li and others to carry Xie Youlian away. When she was carried away, her breathing became more rapid and she looked very creepy.
“Mom, Mom…”
Qiu Jiang immediately squatted down and picked up the little girl, who was even thinner than a five-year-old. It was hard to believe that she was actually seven years old. Her eyes were sore again. She forced back the tears and hugged the little girl to comfort her. "Dear, mommy is fine. Auntie will take you to find mommy now. Be good and don't cry, okay?"
While telling the little girl not to cry, Qiu Jiang felt a lump in her nose and her eyes popped out.
"Wuwu..." The little girl lay on her shoulder, her thin arms without any flesh tightly wrapped around her neck, sobbing continuously, and slowly a faint breaking sound was heard.
"Okay, don't cry, An An."
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