The Vanished Wife (13)
Xie Wei said, "Maybe they think they can get away with it and avoid running away. After all, many things are inconvenient to carry when escaping, so it's better to leave them here and enjoy them."
Jian Tanxi said, "Why don't we go and ask Mr. Liang about the blank tombstone now, and also see how he is doing. It's hard for people to hide their true feelings after drinking. If he's happy now, it means he's not worried about his wife."
Everyone agreed.
So, everyone headed towards the wine cellar.
Before long, they arrived at the wine cellar.
The cellar door was open, and the lights were on inside.
Mr. Liang was drinking inside when he saw the players approaching. He stood up and asked, "Detectives, what brings you here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
Professor Pan said, "We couldn't sleep, so we wanted to look for other clues. We remembered that we hadn't looked closely at the wine cellar before, so we came here. We didn't expect to run into Mr. Liang. Are you staying up so late to drown your sorrows in alcohol?"
Mr. Liang sighed, "Yes. I feel like drinking when I'm stressed, and I've already had several drinks."
Jian Tanxi smelled alcohol on Mr. Liang and knew he must have drunk quite a bit. Observing Mr. Liang's expression, she noticed he seemed a little sad.
It seems that Mr. Liang either really cares about Jin Mingyue, or he is very good at pretending, and doesn't give himself away even after drinking.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Mr. Liang, I just saw Miss Rose leave with a bottle of wine. Was she with you just now?"
Mr. Liang said naturally, "Yes, Rose said she wanted to drink, so I took her to the wine cellar and picked out a low-alcohol wine that suited her. After that, she left."
"Since you two have time to drink, why don't you use it to visit Ms. Jin?"
“We also want to find Mingyue, but we don’t know where to look. If we go out and search aimlessly, it will not only be futile, but we might also miss the opportunity. It’s better to stay at home, so that if Mingyue comes back one day, we can see her immediately. Besides, the police told us not to wander around, as they might come to inquire about the situation at any time.”
"Um."
Qin Man asked, "Mr. Liang, Jian Tanxi and I just happened to see the Jin family cemetery. There are two tombstones there without names. Do you know what happened?"
Mr. Liang's expression changed: "Why did you go there?"
"We were looking for clues in the mountains when we saw it by chance."
“I see… those two blank tombstones also belong to the Jin family ancestors. Because they are quite distant from us, we have never carved new tombstones for them.”
"What were the names of those two ancestors?"
"I can't think of that right now... I might have to look at the Jin family genealogy. But why would you want to know the names of the Jin family's ancestors?"
“We want to know more about the Kim family.”
"However, this has nothing to do with Mingyue's disappearance. Getting the family tree is too troublesome, and not every member of the Jin family is buried there. I can't actually be sure who those two blank tombstones belong to."
Jian Tanxi asked, "Could Ms. Jin have been murdered and buried in one of those two graves?"
Mr. Liang was startled: "That's impossible... those graves are all very old, and there's no sign of them being disturbed. Mingyue couldn't be there... Besides, if someone really killed Mingyue, why would they bury her in the Jin family's ancestral graveyard? Wouldn't they just find any place to dump the body?"
“If you leave a body in the wilderness, it will be easily discovered. But if you bury it in the ancestral grave, no one will know.”
"No, I went to pay respects to my ancestors a few days ago, and there was nothing unusual about any of the graves."
"Perhaps the murderer just did a good job of covering up the traces. I wonder if we could dig up those two graves and see what's inside?"
"This...this isn't right, the graves are full of the Jin family's ancestors..."
"Didn't you just say that the two people in the blank tombstones are relatively distant from you? They shouldn't be related, right?"
Mr. Liang was still hesitating, and the players watched him quietly.
Finally, Mr. Liang said, "Alright, now we have no choice but to dig it up and see... If we can really find Mingyue... no, please don't find her... she must still be alive..."
Mr. Liang's voice was very sad, and it sounded like he truly loved his wife deeply.
Jian Tanxi said, "The rest of us will go with Mr. Liang to dig up the grave. Sister Qin Man, you can stay in the wine cellar with Xiao Chen. It's better not to let the child see the grave digging scene."
Qin Man nodded: "Okay, you guys go ahead, Xiao Chen and I will wait for you here."
Qu Chen picked up a bottle of wine with curiosity, seemingly wanting to drink it.
Qin Man quickly said, "Xiao Chen, you can't drink this. Mom will find you something delicious to eat in a few days."
Qu Chen was a little unhappy and went to get another bottle of wine.
Qin Man said, "You can't eat anything here, understand?"
Qu Chen was a little angry and sat down to one side.
Jian Tanxi and the others all laughed.
After a while, Mr. Liang found all the shovels and set off with the players to the cemetery.
Everyone took a handy tool to dig the grave. Jian Tanxi also took out her interstellar triangular pyramid, the barber's rusty scissors, and other tools to help dig the grave.
With everyone working together, the two graves were quickly dug up. Inside were two coffins, and inside the coffins were two skeletons.
Professor Pan had a prop—an age-measuring pen. He placed the pen on the two skeletons and said, "One of the skeletons is 73 years old so far, and the other is 66. However, we can't determine their exact age at death. In any case, both skeletons are very old, born sixty or seventy years ago, and they are not Jin Mingyue."
Upon hearing this, the players felt a mix of emotions—disappointment and joy. They were disappointed that the investigation had gone in the wrong direction again; they were joyful because Jin Mingyue wasn't just a skeleton, and they still had hope.
Mr. Liang felt relieved, muttering to himself, "Thank goodness... May our ancestors protect us, Mingyue must live... she must come back safely..."
The players dug the two graves a little deeper, and after confirming that there was nothing else there, they buried the two skeletons back in their original positions.
Mr. Liang said, "Now that there are no more questions about the ancestral graves, shall we go back?"
Jian Tanxi said, "I have another question... Was the death of these two ancestors related to wolves?"
"Wolf?"
"Yes, were they killed by wolves?"
"How could that be? This wouldn't happen in modern society. There aren't any wolves on this entire mountain. I don't know whether they died of old age or disease. Why do you ask that, Detective Jane?"
"Oh, I was just asking."
Jian Tanxi was puzzled. What did the old butler mean by "wolf"? Could it really be related to the deceased's name, like "Lang" or "Lang," and not the animal wolf?
This mystery may never be solved, unless the old butler suddenly returns to normal.
The players followed Mr. Liang back.
On the way, Jian Tanxi remembered another question and asked Mr. Liang, "Mr. Liang, is that nutritional supplement you mentioned earlier relatively inexpensive?"
Mr. Liang said, "I'd say it's cheap. Why do you ask?"
"I'd like to know, do other people in City B also take nutritional supplements?"
“Nutritional tablets are a popular item in City B; many families buy them.”
"Even someone as heavily in debt as Yu Antai, could he afford it?"
"Probably."
"It really is that cheap... But from what I understand, wealthy people like you probably don't eat the same things as ordinary people."
"In some ways, we do buy better, more expensive things. But some things are for everyone, and there's no higher-end version; whether you're rich or poor, you can only buy that one. Nutritional supplements are one of those. If you want to satisfy the need to not eat, nutritional supplements are the best product, and there's nothing more expensive to buy in that regard."
Just like we breathe the same air and are under the same sun as everyone else.
"I see."
Soon, everyone returned to the wine cellar.
However, Qin Man's face turned pale, as if she had been greatly frightened.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Sister Qin Man, what's wrong? Is Xiao Chen injured?"
But then Qu Chen ran over, full of energy and without a single wound on his body, and in great spirits.
Qin Man said in a low voice, "I...I saw..."
What do you see?
Qin Man didn't say anything more. Instead, she opened one of the wine cabinets, took out all the wine bottles, and then pressed a button inside.
Unexpectedly, the wine cabinet moved to the side automatically, revealing a transparent wall.
Inside this transparent wall stood a corpse, none other than Jin Mingyue! Her appearance was exactly the same as in the photos and on the surveillance footage.
Suddenly they saw a corpse, standing upright, and everyone was so frightened that they took several steps back.
Mr. Liang was the first to react, rushing over and crying, "Mingyue! Mingyue! What are you doing here?"
Mr. Liang tried to open the transparent wall, and to his surprise, it actually opened.
After it was opened, Jin Mingyue's body fell straight down, was caught by Mr. Liang, and then gently placed on the ground.
The wall that was opened was tinged with coldness, indicating that there were many blocks of ice inside. No wonder it had been able to store Jin Mingyue's body for so many days.
At this moment, the players are not only physically cold, but also emotionally cold.
How could Jin Mingyue have died?
How did her body end up in the Jin family's wine cellar?
Who hid her here?
The most crucial question is, what should the players do? Is the mission considered complete or incomplete? What kind of punishment will they receive?
Xie Wei asked Professor Pan, "Professor Pan, what should we do now? Should we call the referee out?"
Professor Pan was at a loss for words, and simply asked Qin Man, "Qin Man, how did you discover this body?"
Qin Man said, "After you left, Xiao Chen kept messing with the wine here, so I had to follow behind him to clean up the mess and put the wine he took out back. Then, I accidentally touched a button on a wine cabinet and found that behind the wine cabinet was... Ms. Jin's corpse... I was terrified and quickly pushed the wine cabinet back to its original position. Xiao Chen didn't see it, so he wasn't scared."
Jian Tanxi asked Mr. Liang, "Mr. Liang...did you know that Ms. Jin's body is here?"
Mr. Liang shook his head sadly: "I don't know... I was just drinking here, and I never expected Mingyue to be right beside me..."
"Are you sure? You and Jin Meigui were here just now not to find wine, but to move Jin Mingyue's body here, right? In fact, the two of you conspired to murder Ms. Jin and hide the body in a secluded place, right?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
