All eyes turned to Li Jian.
"You two know each other?" Zheng Ye frowned and asked.
Li Jian never expected to run into Xing Zhaozhao here again, and the strange feeling in his heart became even stronger.
"I don't know him. I only saw him once before when I was in town," he said, shaking his head.
"Yes, my son accidentally bumped into Comrade Li," Xing Zhaozhao explained, then asked, "May I ask what business you gentlemen have with me?"
“We received a report and would like your cooperation in the investigation,” Li Jian said, glancing at the villagers watching nearby. “It would be best if we could find a quiet place to talk.”
"Then come in and talk." Xing Zhaozhao took out her key and opened the door.
A group of people filed in, and some onlookers tried to sneak in, but Xing Zhaozhao grabbed them and pushed them out, shutting them out completely.
“Mom…” Hongfei and Hongyu both sensed that something was wrong at home. They tugged at Xing Zhaozhao’s clothes from either side, their little faces full of worry.
"Mom's okay." Xing Zhaozhao patted their heads reassuringly and asked Hao Xiuning to take them inside to play.
Xing Zhaozhao poured water for everyone present; if there weren't enough cups, she used bowls instead, except for Zhang Wenming.
Zhang Wenming was furious, but he didn't dare to say anything.
"Zhang Wenming has filed a formal complaint alleging that you have colluded with two bad elements living in the cowshed, Zhou Qingyuan and Yang Xin. Do you have anything to say about that?" Zheng Ye asked Xing Zhaozhao seriously.
Xing Zhaozhao replied without hesitation, "That's not true."
“You’re lying.” Zhang Wenming glared at Xing Zhaozhao and shouted, “That day I went up the mountain to collect firewood and saw you and Yang Xin talking secretly by the roadside with my own eyes.”
Xing Zhaozhao rolled her eyes at him and said, "I just happened to run into her on my way home. If running into her by chance counts as having a connection, then everyone in Xiaogaozhuang is one of them, including you, Zhang Zhiqing."
Zhang Wenming denied it: "It wasn't a coincidence. I clearly saw you talking there for quite a while."
Xing Zhaozhao snorted coldly: "You say you saw it, so you saw it? Last time you even said I was interested in you, why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? You don't deserve it."
Zhang Wenming's face turned red from the provocation. He wanted to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked, making a "gagging" sound, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Xing Zhaozhao looked at Zheng Ye and continued, "Investigator, this man doesn't tell the truth. Don't believe him easily. He tried to cheat the girls in our village before, but I saw through him, so he's trying to frame me. If you don't believe me, you can go to the village and ask. Everyone knows about it."
Zheng Ye looked questioningly at Captain Gao and Aunt Hao.
They both nodded in unison.
Zheng Ye quickly jotted it down in his notebook.
Zhang Wenming realized something was wrong and panicked: "No, I..."
Xing Zhaozhao didn't give him a chance at all, and continued, "Besides, who doesn't know what kind of people live in the cowshed? How desperate would I be to associate with them? What would I gain? My husband is in the army now, he's been promoted to battalion commander, why would I want to tarnish his reputation for nothing?"
"Well, that's hard to say. Isn't Gao Mingcheng a traitor? He might be involved with those two in the cowshed who are suspected of selling out the country." Zhang Wenming finally managed to utter a sentence.
Those around who heard this tensed up and looked at Xing Zhaozhao with suspicion.
Xing Zhaozhao's face darkened, and she abruptly turned to look at Zhang Wenming, her piercing gaze seeming as if she wanted to poke seventeen or eighteen holes in him.
Zhang Wenming shuddered involuntarily and instinctively averted his gaze.
"The military hasn't even reached a conclusion yet. Who do you think you are, more powerful than the military leaders? How dare you convict my wife so easily?" Xing Zhaozhao said coldly.
Upon hearing Xing Zhaozhao mention the military, those who were initially eager to cause trouble immediately quieted down.
They can't just interfere in the military matters, especially since there's still fighting in the south. If they were accused of disrupting morale, they'd be in deep trouble.
Zheng Ye wrote down Xing Zhaozhao's story and then carefully asked Captain Gao about Gao Mingcheng's matter.
He had no say in matters within the military, but even if Gao Mingcheng really had some problems, based on the current evidence, it couldn't be proven that he was involved with Professor Zhou.
Zheng Ye sighed with some regret.
After Professor Zhou's incident, he had been handling the case. When he heard that there were clues here, he thought that whether Professor Zhou was guilty or innocent, there might be a conclusion. Unfortunately, he was disappointed.
Knowing that further questioning would yield no results, Zheng Ye stopped pressing the matter.
"I apologize for disturbing you this time. If you need anything in the future, I hope Comrade Xing Zhaozhao can continue to assist with the investigation." He stood up and looked at Xing Zhaozhao.
Xing Zhaozhao nodded, then stood up and said, "Of course."
Seeing that Zheng Ye's group had finished, the others quickly got up and left as well.
Xing Zhaozhao saw them out, and as soon as she opened the door, she saw that there were still quite a few people waiting outside to watch the excitement.
When they saw the door open, they all looked over with bright eyes. Seeing that Xing Zhaozhao was completely unharmed and was seeing people out, they couldn't help but show regret. There was no more drama to watch.
Xing Zhaozhao couldn't help but roll her eyes when she saw this. What kind of people are they?
After seeing Zheng Ye and the others off, Xing Zhaozhao didn't rush back. She stood at the door and watched them go down the mountain.
"Sigh, I thought this time there might be a result," Zheng Ye sighed and said to Li Jian.
“I told you when I came that it couldn’t be true. My teacher has always been innocent, but you still didn’t believe me,” Li Jian said.
“Since it’s been reported, we still need to investigate.” Zheng Ye said, looking at Li Jian, “Aren’t you going to see your teacher? You came all this way specifically to take this opportunity to see him, didn’t you?”
"Let's do it at night; it's too conspicuous during the day," Li Jian said.
"That's true." Zheng Ye nodded and said nothing more.
Li Jian's steps slowed slightly, and he fell behind, walking alongside Fu Donghua. He then gave Fu Donghua a wink.
Fu Donghua understood immediately.
Li Jian suddenly shuddered and stopped abruptly. He turned around and met Xing Zhaozhao's gaze.
Xing Zhaozhao smiled at him.
Li Jian subconsciously returned a smile, but when he looked again, Xing Zhaozhao had already turned and gone back.
When Li Jian suddenly stopped, Zheng Ye and Fu Donghua, who were walking ahead, turned to look at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Li Jian came to his senses, turned around and followed them down the mountain, but for some reason he felt that something was wrong.
Xing Zhaozhao closed the door, thinking about Li Jian, and also felt that something seemed off.
"They've all left?" Hao Xiuning came out carrying Xiao Hongling.
"Okay." Xing Zhaozhao walked over and took the little red tassel.
Seeing that Xing Zhaozhao seemed a little absent-minded, Hao Xiuning assumed she was still worried about what had just happened and comforted her, saying, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. Since they didn't find anything, everything should be fine."
"Huh?" Xing Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment before she realized what she meant, and nodded, "Yeah."
Looking at her, Hao Xiuning was really worried: "How about I stay here with you tonight and keep you company?"
Xing Zhaozhao thought for a moment and did not refuse: "Okay."
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