Chapter 73 Chapter 73 What makes this case so difficult for you...
"……What's wrong?"
Lu Zheng's gentle and refreshing voice came from his ears, calling back Ji Yinhe who was immersed in memories.
She shook her head. "It's okay."
My gaze regained focus and looked at the photo again, and it felt like someone was pulling my heart hard.
...She was not mistaken, it was Wu Sijia!
And in the photo frame next to it, there is a current photo of the girl.
She has a very white face, long black hair, and wears a sweater with a long skirt. She looks like a carefully carved vase, exuding an extremely attractive and calm aura.
Ji Yinhe took a deep breath and stared at the face quietly. Suddenly, a sour and smelly smell of an overnight hangover wafted over.
"...Comrade, my daughter is pretty, isn't she?" Wu Tianfeng tilted his head and grinned, revealing his yellow teeth that were soaked in cigarettes and alcohol.
Ji Yinhe held his breath and showed his ID. "We are criminal police from the provincial government. We want to ask you something."
She wanted to take a step back, but Wu Tianfeng's house was so small that she had to lean against the wall.
Lu Zheng took a step forward calmly.
The faint mint scent wafting from him made Ji Yinhe feel much better.
Wu Tianfeng raised an eyebrow at their IDs. "Officer, what has my daughter done wrong? Are some young men fighting over her again?"
"No." Ji Yinhe narrowed his pupils and asked, "Do people often fight because of Wu... Wu Sijia?"
"Well, my daughter is pretty, so she's very popular." Wu Tianfeng sniffed. "What can I do for you?"
"When was the last time you saw Wu Sijia?" Lu Zheng asked.
Wu Tianfeng pinched his fingers and said, "About half a month ago, when the season changed, she came back to get some clothes and left me some money."
Ji Yinhe was surprised. "You haven't seen each other for half a month and haven't contacted each other?"
"Sijia is a flight attendant, flying around in the sky every day, it's hard work!" Wu Tianfeng lowered his head and picked at the black mud between his fingernails. "Anyway, she's paid on time, so I won't bother her anymore!"
“…” Ji Yinhe rubbed his eyebrows.
Lu Zheng briefly asked a few questions related to the night Wu Sijia disappeared, and Wu Tianfeng always answered that he didn't know, was not clear, and was busy drinking and didn't bother to worry about it.
Ji Yinhe listened for a while and couldn't help asking, "How did you adopt her back then? Is she... from Jiangtan?"
Lu Zheng looked at her silently.
"...Jiangtan?" Wu Tianfeng scratched his ears. "I don't know. I've never heard her say that. It was my wife's idea to adopt her. About ten years ago, my wife saw her crying alone on the side of the road. We couldn't have children, so she softened her heart and took her home. I didn't care much... Back then, we were both working in the machinery factory, and we were well-off, not like now..."
Ji Yinhe looked around. The hut was in a mess. Leftover food and bottles of wine were piled on the dirty wooden table, and a few smelly socks were thrown on the plastic stool... It didn't look like there was a hostess at all.
"Where's your lover?"
"Gone!" Wu Tianfeng shook his head. "Leukemia is long gone!"
"...Okay." Ji Yinhe forced herself to return her attention to the case. "Wu Sijia hasn't appeared at the civil aviation company for three days." She glanced at Lu Zheng and whispered, "We suspect she's involved in a murder."
"Murder? The kind where someone died?" Wu Tianfeng smacked his lips. "This ungrateful little bastard, after failing to hook up with a rich man, must have taught the wife a lesson, right?"
Lu Zheng and Ji Yinhe narrowed their eyes together, "What do you mean?"
Wu Tianfeng curled his lips and sneered, "Why do these sleek little girls become flight attendants? Isn't it just to interact with rich people? Sijia herself said that someone on her same shift married a coal boss last year and quit her job to become a wealthy wife without having to do any housework. The whole company is envious!"
Ji Yinhe suppressed his irritation and said, "So, you don't have any substantial evidence to prove that Wu Sijia is dating someone else, right?"
"yes."
Lu Zheng was not surprised at all. "Okay, then tell me about your whereabouts these past few nights."
"...Are you suspecting me? What happened to that ungrateful little bastard?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you right now. Please answer the question."
Wu Tianfeng's expression changed. "These past few days have been just like usual. The factory isn't doing well right now, so I only work half a day and then go to work as a ticket seller in the afternoon, just to make ends meet..."
Ji Yinhe thought about the time Xiao Xie mentioned for dumping the body, and then asked, "What were you doing last night?"
"Stay home. The bus company's shift changes at 4 p.m. On my way back, I bought ear peels and braised duck liver at the braised food shop downstairs. I'll come back tonight and watch Ximi Yuandi and Liyuan Qunying with beer. I'll sing a few lines for you... I left my home to save Li Lang..."
He sang out of tune, but Ji Yinhe recognized the lyrics of "The Female Prime Minister".
Although it can be compared with the broadcast programs, every household now subscribes to radio and television newspapers, so this does not mean that Wu Tianfeng has a solid alibi.
After thinking for a while, Ji Yinhe asked, "Did Wu Sijia have any good friends before she went to flight attendant school?"
"A lot of them, all little boys! Especially after my wife left, she doesn't even take me, her father, seriously!"
Lu Zheng's face darkened slightly. "Tell me more about it."
Wu Tianfeng held out his hand. "Turn right when you go out. There's Ah Hua at the east end of the street. When she was in middle school, a boy came to my house to give her roses, and Ah Hua stood up for him and fought him until he was bleeding... And when she was just starting to study as a flight attendant, several men came to my house to pick her up. Two of them left a deep impression on me - one drove an imported Crown, dressed in a suit and tie, and looked like a playboy who played with women, and the other had a beer belly and was older than me!"
He sighed heavily, "Oh! I can't control her anymore!"
Ji Yinhe quickly wrote down all the situations mentioned.
She stopped writing, but couldn't help but look at the photo frame. It was hard to imagine that Wu Sijia, who had been so gentle and quiet, and who had spent a whole happy summer with her, was...
Now it has become what others say it is.
"Okay." Lu Zheng nodded and handed the business card of the crackdown team to Wu Tianfeng. "Don't leave Jingzhou these days. Notify us if you have any clues."
Wu Tianfeng agreed without hesitation.
When she walked out the door, Ji Yinhe was still a little dazed. The hot afternoon sun shone on her eyelids. She followed Lu Zheng for a few steps before she realized that they did not go in the direction where the Grand Cherokee was parked.
Ji Yinhe shook his head, raised his head and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Ahua." Lu Zheng withdrew his slightly worried gaze and looked ahead, "East end of the street."
"Yes." Ji Yinhe took a deep breath and clapped his fists together, "The one who stood up for Wu Sijia in middle school."
Unexpectedly, Ahua was not at home. His mother opened the door, invited them in warmly and politely, and brought them tea.
"...My Ah Hua is a fool. He knew Sijia looked down on him, but he still took the initiative and ended up in juvenile detention." The woman sighed. "After graduating from high school, he went to Huacheng to work and only came back for the New Year."
"All right……"
Since they couldn't get any clues, Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng couldn't disturb other people's lives, so they left their business cards and prepared to leave.
The woman walked them to the door and suddenly slapped her thigh and said, "Our Ah Hua said something about Sijia that left a deep impression on me."
Important clues always emerge before leaving. Ji Yinhe quickly asked, "What did he say?"
"Ahua said Wu Sijia once did something strange and scary that scared him deeply," the woman said firmly. "That's why Ahua didn't want to hang out with her anymore. He also told me to stay away from the Wu family. This father and daughter are both abnormal!"
Lu Zheng: "What exactly did he not tell you?"
"No."
"Can you give me Ah Hua's contact information? We can ask him directly."
Having been a police officer for over a year, Ji Yinhe was no stranger to these kinds of slack. Visiting work was never a one-time thing, so he was lucky to get some information from Ah Hua's mother.
The woman readily gave out Ah Hua's pager number. After thanking her, Ji Yinhe and Lu Zheng decided to return to the provincial department and report the situation to Tan Li.
If everything goes well, Xiao Xie should be able to bring the deceased back to the autopsy room and complete the preliminary autopsy.
*
An hour later, Ji Yinhe waited outside the smoky conference room for Team Leader Tan who had just finished a meeting.
"...Old Zhao called the local bureaus and asked them to take the situation seriously. The criminal gang might be on the loose right now! Gao Ge and Guan Ye, contact the various branches in Jingzhou. The ancestral hall said that if they can't catch the perpetrators, they'll set up a special task force!"
"yes!"
After giving her instructions to her subordinates, Tan Li turned around and looked at Ji Yinhe who was following closely. "Okay, Xiao Ji, come to my office and talk."
The resolute team leader Tan walked down the corridor in high heels.
After the two of them entered the office and the door closed, Tan Li looked at Ji Yinhe's expression and asked with a smile, "Tell me, this is the first time I've seen you so distracted... What makes this case so difficult for you?"
"..." Ji Yinhe touched his nose, briefly explained the situation, and then said frankly: "I saw a photo of the deceased at my adoptive father Wu Tianfeng's house. I confirmed that she was my childhood playmate in Jiangtan, but she mysteriously disappeared later... Oh, her name was Wu Sijia before."
"He disappeared in Jiangtan over ten years ago..." Tan Li mused. "I'll call the Jiangtan Municipal Public Security Bureau later and ask them to transfer the files from that time."
"That's fine, but..." Ji Yinhe took a deep breath, "If possible, I still want to go back to Jiangtan and personally investigate what happened back then."
Tan Li pondered for a moment before exhaling and speaking, "I understand how you feel. Your intuition has always been accurate... But you still can't confirm that the body belongs to Wu Sijia, right? There's no direct evidence to prove that Wu Sijia is Wu Sijia, right? Ignoring the clues in Jingzhou and running off to Jiangtan doesn't seem like a good idea."
"..." Ji Yinhe nodded, "I understand."
"Well, let's wait for Xiao Xie's autopsy report." Tan Li crossed her fingers. "During this time, you can check who came to the flight attendant dormitory to pick up Wu Sijia. If she is confirmed to be the deceased, the owner of this car may be the last person she saw before she died."
"Okay." Ji Yinhe had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away, so he readily agreed. "It just so happens that I want to call Ah Hua first. What on earth did Wu Sijia do back then to scare a grown man like that?"
Tan Li smiled at the righteous girl in front of her, "This is her first time taking on a major role, and she was able to quickly shake off her emotions even when encountering a case involving an acquaintance. I really didn't make a mistake in choosing her!"
Ji Yinhe felt a little embarrassed, scratched his ears, and went out to work with a smile.
Returning to her desk, she gathered her thoughts, picked up the phone and called Ahua who was working in Huacheng.
After explaining his identity and situation and raising the question, he immediately began to hesitate.
"Ah, you're talking about that thing..." Ah Hua pondered for a long time before softly uttering a few words -
"It was late that day when I found Sijia alone in the woods...torturing a cat..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
