Chapter 027 Jinjiang Debut
"What happened next?" Lame Brother asked hurriedly.
The little boy paused for a moment, and said with a feeling of grievance: "Later, my brother hit me on the head and kicked me out. I don't know what they said, but my brother was very happy when he came out of the room."
"He told me that Jiang Rui changed her phone number after graduation and gave her old number to her mother. Although it was a joke, at least they were able to get in touch. Jiang Rui doesn't have a boyfriend now, and she hasn't forgotten him. They made an appointment to go out for lunch together at noon."
"After my brother left, I explained the whole story to my parents. I returned the skins through the underage refund channel and gave the money back to my parents. Seeing that I corrected my mistakes, they didn't say anything more. In addition, because I helped my brother find a marriage, my parents left the feast they had worked hard to prepare for a whole day and night for me to enjoy."
"But," the little boy changed the subject and said in a flattering tone, "Master, I have one more thing to ask of you."
"What's the matter?" Bai Mian had a bad feeling.
The little boy said embarrassedly: "My parents thought this was very interesting, so they called my class teacher and the class teacher told the whole class. Now I am famous in school. The class teacher asked me to write an essay about this incident, no less than 600 words. Writing essays is my biggest headache. Master, can you help me write it? Just sign it as me, Taoyuan Primary School, Class 6..."
"...Ah, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about it." Bai Mian rejected the boy ruthlessly.
The boy pleaded pitifully: "Please, Master, our head teacher, Mr. Zheng, is so nagging, just like Tang Seng. If I don't write, he will call me to his office to nag me..."
Hearing what the little boy said, Weng Xuhua suddenly punched the table, scaring everyone present. He asked the little boy:
"Taoyuan Primary School, Teacher Zheng, are you talking about Zheng Shuyuan?"
The little boy was so frightened that he stammered, "Yeah, how did you know?"
"This bastard!" Weng Xuhua's anger was ignited, and he punched again, knocking over the pen holder on the table.
Seeing that Weng Xuhua was so angry, the little boy was so scared that he hung up the call. Gao Jin did not come up to persuade him, but hid in the kitchen dejectedly. The onlookers in the store looked at Weng Xuhua in confusion. In all these years, no one had seen him so angry.
Even Bai Mian was a little at a loss, but Que Ge seemed to know something. He skillfully cleared the crowd and closed the store door in advance, leaving only a few of them in the store.
"Boss, calm down." Lame Brother walked up to Weng Xuhua and said.
Weng Xuhua punched the table again and again: "Looking at him like that, how can I calm down? My daughter was killed by him, and now my daughter is buried in the ground, but he is living a prosperous life. It's so unfair!"
After hearing what Weng Xuhua said, Bai Mian realized that this incident was related to his daughter's death. She hurriedly turned off the live broadcast and quietly pulled on Lame Brother's sleeve:
"What happened back then, exactly?"
Lame Brother hesitated to speak. He looked at Weng Xuhua's expression. Weng Xuhua did not stop him, so he pulled Bai Mian aside and whispered:
"The boss and his wife seem to be getting along well, but they have actually been living a very depressing life. It's all because of their daughter's death. I'm the only one who knows about this, as an old employee who has worked there for more than ten years."
"About thirty years ago, the boss and his wife lived in the village, on the mountain behind our store. The boss was a village doctor with a good reputation. They had an only daughter named Weng Yinyin, whom the boss loved very much. At that time, he insisted on not having a second child, only this one child, and only treating her well."
"Weng Yinyin was raised in the palm of their hands by the couple until she was 18 years old. The first 18 years of her life were smooth sailing. Her family gave her everything she wanted, which led to her arrogant personality and indirectly caused the tragedy that followed."
"When Weng Yinyin was 18 years old, she started dating a boy from the next village. This boy is Zheng Shuyuan that the boss just mentioned. In the past, no matter what decision Yinyin made, the boss would support her. But this was the only thing that the boss would never agree to."
"That Zheng Shuyuan went to the boss's house for a meal. The boss looked at his face and felt that he was not a good person, but a ruthless person. Although face reading is superstitious, it is sometimes very accurate. The boss has seen countless people and has a very sharp eye for people. Since he does not support it, the boss's wife will also oppose it."
"That night, the boss found a time to call Yinyin into the room and talked to her alone, hoping that she would break up with Zheng Shuyuan. But Yinyin, who had always been spoiled, would never listen to him. The child was also very angry at the time. She had a big fight with her father and then ran away from home on the spot."
"The boss was also angry that night. If the child was missing in the past, he would definitely go to look for her immediately. But that night he was angry with the child and refused to look for her. He thought that if the child suffered a little outside, she might become sensible."
"That night, Yinyin did not return home. The boss thought she would come back at dawn, but there was still no news during the day. The boss panicked, and the couple began to look for her everywhere in the village, but they couldn't find her. Finally, they even searched several neighboring villages, but there was no news of Yinyin."
"The boss thought that Yinyin must have hidden in Zheng Shuyuan's house, so he went to Zheng Shuyuan's house to ask for her. However, Zheng Shuyuan insisted that he had never seen Weng Yinyin and would never admit it. The boss had no choice but to go home and wait."
"On the fourth day after Yinyin disappeared, a body floated in the village river. It was a female body with long hair. It was soaked so much that it was impossible to recognize her features. It was summer and the weather was hot. The body was highly decomposed, like a wet sponge. In today's terms, it was actually a giant spectacle."
"At that time, there was no technology for DNA testing, so people could only identify the body through clothing. The clothes on the female corpse were what Yinyin was wearing before she went missing, so the female corpse was identified as Weng Yinyin."
"On the day when we learned of Yin Yin's death, the boss's wife almost cried herself hoarse, and the boss's hair turned almost white overnight. At that time, people had no idea to call the police, and they just wanted to settle things privately. There were no sophisticated criminal investigation methods at the time, so this incident became an unsolved case."
"Everyone in the village thinks that Weng Yinyin jumped into the river to commit suicide after quarreling with her father. The boss, however, firmly believes that Yinyin was killed by Zheng Shuyuan because the female corpse floated down from the upper reaches of the river. Huaihua Village where the boss lives is downstream of the river, while Liushu Village where Zheng Shuyuan lives is upstream of the river. The boss believes that this incident is closely related to Liushu Village."
"He speculated that perhaps Weng Yinyin went to find Zheng Shuyuan on the night she ran away from home, and the two had an argument for some unknown reason, and Zheng Shuyuan pushed Yinyin into the river and drowned her."
"This speculation is reasonable, but it is just speculation after all. There is no evidence. The boss and his wife went to Zheng Shuyuan's house to make trouble several times. Zheng Shuyuan insisted that this matter had nothing to do with him. The boss had no evidence, so he could only let it go."
"Later, the boss and his wife couldn't stand the rumors in the village, so they moved their family to Qingshui Town at the foot of the mountain. They rented a shop closest to the mountain and opened a Chinese medicine clinic. Their daughter was buried in the cemetery on the mountain. Being close to their daughter made them feel at ease."
Bai Mian nodded. No wonder this place was so remote, but his master never thought of changing the shop. No wonder he came straight here after coming out of the cemetery.
Lame brother said unconvincedly: "Over the years, the boss and his wife have been living a depressed life, but Zheng Shuyuan has been getting more and more proud. He was admitted to a junior college and left the village. After graduation, he went to town to become a primary school teacher. The company allocated him a house. Later, he got married and had children and lived a happy life. Not long ago, he won the Top Ten Teachers Award, bought a nice car, and always drove around the city. It really makes people hate him! Every time someone mentions him, the boss loses control of his emotions."
After Lame Brother finished telling the story of Weng Xuhua, he gritted his teeth and said, "If you ask me, the boss is too reasonable and insists on finding evidence. If it were me, whoever harmed me, I would definitely kill him with my own hands, regardless of whether there is evidence or not!"
Bai Mian advised: "You said it yourself, this is just a guess, how can you just do it casually? If you guess wrong, wouldn't it be killing innocent people?"
"Besides, according to your account, Zheng Shuyuan really has nothing to do with this matter. He did not show up on the night Yin Yin disappeared."
"Hmph!" Lame Brother snorted, not quite agreeing with Bai Mian's statement, "You haven't experienced it, how can you understand the hatred of people like us... Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore, let's find a way to comfort the boss first, they are all so old, don't get angry and cause harm."
"In this world, there is only one thing that can comfort him, and that is the truth." Bai Mian looked at Weng Xuhua, as if he had made some kind of decision.
She stood up and strode towards Weng Xuhua: "Master, if you trust me, please let me feel your pulse. I can help you investigate the truth behind Yin Yin's death."
Although Bai Mian’s publicly announced rule was three gossips a day, she didn’t mind making an exception when faced with special circumstances like this.
Weng Xuhua sighed deeply, "My little disciple, of course I trust you. The reason why I never dared to ask you to feel my pulse is because I was afraid... afraid to hear about the process of Yinyin's death. Whether she jumped into the river on her own initiative or was pushed in by someone, I don't want to hear about the whole process. Letting me hear about her death experience again is tantamount to letting me face her death again. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Bai Mian stretched out his hand to Weng Xuhua, "but I can't watch you torture yourself like this. Yin Yin's death is an old wound in your heart. Only by breaking it can you live a normal life."
Weng Xuhua shrunk his hands into his sleeves: "Even if I know the truth, what does it matter? Even if you tell me that the murderer is Zheng Shuyuan, more than 30 years have passed and there is not even a trace of evidence. What can I do to him? It would be more tormenting for me to watch the murderer live happily!"
"Nothing is absolute in this world. There will always be a turning point until the last moment." Bai Mian took another step forward and extended his hand to Weng Xuhua again. "Master, we have handled so many incidents together in the past three days. Which one was not full of turning points? Maybe Yin Yin's death is not what you imagined. Master, give me a chance and let me tell you the truth."
Weng Xuhua looked at Bai Mian blankly, and his mood seemed to have returned to the night when his daughter disappeared. After hesitating for a while, he finally handed his hand to Bai Mian with trembling hands.
"Master Bai, please, take my pulse."
Bai Mian and his master switched roles. For the first time, his master sat on the patient's chair. He placed his arm on Bai Mian's pulse table. Bai Mian put two fingers on it and felt it quietly for a moment. Lame Brother held his breath, waiting for Bai Mian to speak.
Bai Mian's eyelashes, as thin as cicada wings, trembled slightly. She opened her eyes with a rare shock in her eyes. She took a deep breath, held her master's hand and said:
"Yin Yin is not dead."
"What?" Weng Xuhua stood up with the help of the table, his whole body shaking with excitement.
"Yinyin is not dead, she is still alive."
Bai Mian repeated it again.
"Ah! I, I, wait, old woman, old woman, please come out quickly--" Weng Xuhua shouted loudly and pulled Gao Jin out of the kitchen. The two old people sat down in front of Bai Mian together. They had a lot of questions to ask Bai Mian.
"But what about the corpse back then? The clothes on the corpse were clearly Yin Yin's!" Weng Xuhua asked the first question.
"She is not dead, why doesn't she come back to find us?" Gao Jin followed and asked this question.
Lame brother also reacted: "Yes, if Yinyin is still alive, why hasn't she come to see mom and dad for so many years? Could it be - could it be that she is imprisoned?"
"Wait a minute, don't be impatient!" Bai Mian waved his hand, "Let me start from the beginning--"
"That night, after Yinyin had a quarrel with her father, she ran to Liushu Village to find Zheng Shuyuan. She complained to him, and Zheng Shuyuan comforted her with sweet words, then coaxed her into having sex. That night, Yinyin stayed at Zheng Shuyuan's house."
When Bai Mian said this, Weng Xuhua was so angry that he slammed the table: "See, I said it had something to do with this kid. It was definitely him who did it. Back then, I should have--"
Gao Jin pulled Weng Xuhua's arm and said, "Don't interrupt me. Sit down and listen to what I have to say."
Weng Xuhua sat down angrily. Bai Mian continued, "The next morning, before dawn, Yinyin was awakened by the sound of quarreling. She thought her parents were looking for her, so she picked up a piece of clothing and put it on. In fact, she accidentally wore Zheng Shuyuan's clothes and left her own clothes in the room."
"After Yinyin went out, she found that a strange girl was arguing with Zheng Shuyuan. She hid behind the door and listened for a while, then she found out that the girl's name was Tang Li, and she was Zheng Shuyuan's fiancée. It turned out that Zheng Shuyuan had been engaged for a long time."
"That Tang Li is from Xuemei Village, which is quite far away. Her family and Zheng Shuyuan's family arranged a marriage when they were children. Now that the two children are grown up, the parents of both sides have started to prepare for the wedding. The wedding date has already been set. Zheng Shuyuan has no intention of being with Yinyin seriously. He just wants to take advantage of her because she is pretty."
Weng Xuhua slammed the table and stood up again: "Damn it, I said at the beginning that this guy was not a good person! I saw it at first glance!"
Gao Jin pulled him to sit down again: "Shut up and let my disciple speak. Those right and wrongs in the past are not important. I only care about my daughter."
Bai Mian: "Tang Li had good intentions at first. She wanted to send some gifts to her husband's family before the wedding to show her love. So she carried a bunch of agricultural products and traveled all night, trekking through mountains and rivers from Xuemei Village to Liushu Village. But when she got there, she saw Zheng Shuyuan sleeping naked with another woman, and the two of them started arguing."
"After understanding the whole story, Yinyin also went out to teach Zheng Shuyuan a lesson. When Tang Li saw Yinyin, she thought she was the mistress who seduced her fiancé, so she rushed over and grabbed Yinyin's face without saying a word. Yinyin naturally would not suffer this loss, so she immediately fought back and pushed her out. Zheng Shuyuan's house was by the river, and Yinyin pushed Tang Li directly into the river. The back of Tang Li's head hit a rock in the river, and she was unconscious at the time."
"Yin Yin was terrified when she saw it. She thought she had killed someone, so she turned around and ran away, without caring about anything else, and hid in the mountains for a few days."
Gao Jin's heart rose to his throat: "So, during those days when we mobilized the whole village to look for her, she was actually hiding in the mountains?"
Bai Mian nodded: "She hid in the mountains near Huaihua Village, secretly paying attention to the movements in the village every day. She didn't dare to go home, nor did she dare to look for you, because she was afraid that Tang Li's family would come to arrest her and ask her to pay for her life, which would implicate you instead."
"She hid in the mountains for a few days, and no one from the Tang family came to cause trouble. Instead, you buried the body that floated in the river as hers. Although this is a huge misunderstanding, Yinyin didn't dare to come out to clarify. Once she stood up and said that she was not dead, people would find out that the real identity of the body was Tang Li from Xuemei Village, and it was she, Weng Yinyin, who killed Tang Li."
"If you guys continue to misunderstand, no one will find out that she accidentally killed Tang Li."
"So Weng Yinyin had no choice but to leave you. She went down the mountain alone and struggled in the society outside. Although it was very hard, she didn't dare to go home. She thought she had committed murder and would be sentenced to death if she returned."
"And what you worship every year is actually the body of Tang Li from Xuemei Village."
Gao Jin burst into tears when she heard this: "This silly child should have gone home and told her parents everything. She has been hiding out there for so many years, how much suffering she must have endured!"
Weng Xuhua didn't say anything, but clenched his fists, his eyes red.
Lame Brother was very confused: "Wait, this still doesn't make sense. If it's true what you said, Yinyin pushed Tang Li into the river and she fell to death, and Tang Li floated down the river to Huaihua Village, then why are the clothes on the female corpse Yinyin's? And Tang Li is missing, didn't anyone from the Tang family come to look for her?"
"You've got the point," Bai Mian picked up a pen and gestured on the table, "There was a person who played a key role in this. He concealed the truth from both sides and finally became completely invisible."
"Zheng Shuyuan!" Lame Brother suddenly realized.
"Yes, it was Zheng Shuyuan who was also there at the time," Bai Mian said. "When the two girls were fighting, he stood aside and did not stop them. After Yin Yin ran away in panic, he dragged Tang Li out of the river. After all, she died in front of her own home, so he had to find a way to deal with it."
"After lying on the shore for a while, Tang Li suddenly woke up. It turned out that she had just fainted from hitting the rocks, but was not dead. After she woke up, she quarreled with Zheng Shuyuan about what had just happened. She insisted on breaking off the engagement and even said that she would make the matter public so that everyone in the village would know that Zheng Shuyuan was a two-timing bastard."
"Zheng Shuyuan got angry and started fighting with Tang Li. Tang Li fought back, but she was weak and gradually lost the upper hand in the fight."
"Finally, Zheng Shuyuan was so angry that he grabbed Tang Li's neck and continued to use force. When he calmed down, Tang Li's face turned purple and she was no longer breathing."
"Ah!" Brother Crip exclaimed, "Tang Li was not killed by Yin Yin, but strangled to death by Zheng Shuyuan!"
"That's right," Bai Mian continued, "When Zheng Shuyuan looked at the dead Tang Li, the first thought that came to his mind was to protect his own reputation. He has always been an honest man in the eyes of others. He can't be accused of murder, nor can he be accused of being a scumbag. Tang Li is already dead, and he has to find a way to shut up the other woman and prevent her from telling others about his two-timing."
"He came up with a clever idea. He took advantage of the information barriers between villages—" Bai Mian drew a simple diagram, "There is a mountain between Xuemei Village and Liushu Village. There are many hunters on the mountain. These hunters often set traps to hunt."
"Zheng Shuyuan confessed to his family that he had killed someone, and his parents chose to help him cover up the truth. The family carried Tang Li's body and threw the body and the agricultural products that Tang Li had brought into a hunter's trap. At first glance, it looked like Tang Li had accidentally fallen into the trap and died on the way to visit her in-laws' house."
"Of course the characteristics of a body that was strangled to death and a body that was thrown to death are different, but Tang Li's family are ordinary farmers with little education, so this is enough to fool them."
"It was still dark, so their actions were not seen by anyone. After dumping the body, Zheng Shuyuan returned home to wait for news."
"When the Tang family didn't see their daughter return, they sent people to look for her. They found Tang Li's body in a trap. They really thought their daughter had fallen to her death, so they went to Zheng Shuyuan's house in grief to tell him the news of her death."
"This was exactly what Zheng Shuyuan wanted. Seeing the situation, the Zheng family said that since the person was already dead, the marriage should be cancelled and the Tang family should return the betrothal gifts they had already accepted."
"The people of the Tang family are greedy for money, and they certainly don't want to give back the money they have already received. After a lot of wrangling between the two families, Zheng Shuyuan took advantage of the situation and proposed a plan - the Tang family would not return the betrothal gift, but would send Tang Li's body to the Zheng family and bury it in the Zheng family's ancestral tomb. This would be considered as entering the Zheng family."
"After careful consideration, Tang Li's parents agreed to Zheng Shuyuan's request. Unlike the master's family, they have many children and the parents don't love their daughter that much. Compared to their daughter's corpse, they are more willing to keep the betrothal gift."
"The reaction of the Tang family was just as Zheng Shuyuan expected. Tang Li's body was back in Zheng Shuyuan's hands. Zheng Shuyuan pretended to keep his fiancée's body for three days, and then held a funeral. A team of people carried his fiancée's coffin to the ancestral tomb with great fanfare. But in fact, what they carried to the ancestral tomb was an empty coffin. He threw the real body into the river, and it floated to Huaihua Village along the current."
Weng Xuhua was startled, as if he suddenly remembered something: "Yes, when Yinyin disappeared, I went to Zheng Shuyuan's house to ask for an explanation. They were holding a funeral, but I was in a hurry to find Yinyin and didn't pay attention to this at all."
"Master," Bai Mian looked into Weng Xuhua's eyes, "it was your trip to Liushu Village to look for someone that confirmed Zheng Shuyuan's guess and made him more bold to implement his plan."
"He analyzed that Yinyin had not returned home in the past few days, which meant that she was afraid. She thought she had killed someone, so she ran away. Zheng Shuyuan seized on Yinyin's mentality. He wanted to make Yinyin never dare to return home and let Yinyin 'die' in your world. In this way, everything he did would never be exposed."
"He changed Tang Li's body into the clothes that Yin Yin left behind that day, and then threw the body into the river, just to send the body to Huaihua Village and make you think that it was the missing Yin Yin."
Weng Xuhua slapped his forehead hard and lowered his head in regret:
"Oh my! We have been fooled by him for so many years. How could I not realize that the body was not my daughter? I am a medical student in vain!"
"Master, don't blame yourself," Bai Mian patted Weng Xuhua's arm gently, "He knew you were a doctor and was afraid that you would find out the flaws, so he kept the body at home for three days. It was midsummer and the weather was hot. The body was highly decomposed after being kept in the yard for three days. He threw the body into the water, and no one could recognize it. You could only identify it by the clothes, so of course you would mistake her for Yinyin."
"Beasts!" Gao Jin, who was always gentle, cursed. "This family is all beasts. They used this trick and hid it from me for so many years, causing my mother and I to be separated. I was sad for half my life, all just for his good reputation. Such beasts should go to hell! Why doesn't God take him away!"
"It wasn't just for reputation," Bai Mian added. "At that time, Zheng Shuyuan had just been admitted to a junior college. After that summer, he would go to school in the city. He was afraid that if this kind of male-female issue got out, it would affect his admission. In the final analysis, he was still trying to protect his future."
"Bah!" The lame brother spat, "This kid has so many tricks that he can even come up with such a shady trick of using one corpse for two purposes. He is so evil that he only cares about his own interests. It is so ironic that such a despicable villain is still a primary school teacher!"
After Gao Jin finished cursing angrily, he sat down trembling and finally asked the question he had always wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask:
"Then where is my daughter, the real Yin Yin, now? Is she...doing well?"
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