Chapter 044 Jinjiang Debut
"That's not necessarily the case," Weng Xuhua, who had been listening for a long time, said slowly, "He is a loner and has lived alone for a long time, but he longs for a partner. Under such mental pressure, he may have hallucinations. The woman you are talking about may not exist, but is just his hallucination."
"Hallucination?" Cai Youming couldn't believe it. "But where did the woman's screams from next door come from? I absolutely heard them!"
Lame brother smiled and said: "I guess you just watched the movie. I told you and you still don't believe it!"
Weng Xuhua shook his head: "The sound you heard might have been made by him. Under certain circumstances, a man can also make a woman's voice."
Cai Youming fell into deep thought. Lame opened his phone and searched online: "This is a kind of mental illness, what is it called... schizophrenia? Forget it, I'm not a professional psychiatrist, and I can't make a blind diagnosis. You should just call the mental hospital and ask them to take him away for treatment."
Cai Youming sighed and said, "Why bother treating him? He's already dead."
"Dead?"
Everyone present was shocked.
Cai Youming said nervously, "The day before yesterday, at midnight, my mother and I had already fallen asleep, and suddenly there was a knock on the door. I was half asleep and too lazy to get up to open the door, but the knock persisted for several minutes. I had no choice but to get up and open the door. When I opened the door, there was no one outside."
"I stuck my head out and looked left and right. I didn't see the person knocking on the door, but I smelled a thick smell of smoke. I immediately woke up and looked for the source of the smoke. Finally, after searching for a long time, I found Luo's house. His door was not locked. I walked into the yard and saw that his hut was burning. I quickly called the fire department."
"The fire was quickly put out after the firefighters arrived, but Mr. Luo had already been burned to death. Only a charred body was found in the house, and no one else was. All his daily necessities were burned. Fortunately, the fire was put out in time and did not burn into our house."
Lame Brother couldn't help but ask: "This is too timely, is the person knocking on the door deliberately reminding you?"
Cai Youming said worriedly: "I thought so too, but why didn't I see anything after I opened the door? If the person knocking on the door was a living person, even if he ran away immediately after I opened the door, I would be able to see his back, so I think there must be something strange about this matter -"
"That night, the one who knocked on the door to alert me was most likely not a living person, but the ghost of the paper man!"
Lame brother teased, "Even if it's a ghost, it's a good ghost. It's doing a good deed and saving your family. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that after Luo Lao dies, his paper figurine will become a widow and fall in love with you?"
Cai Youming got goose bumps all over his body. "Stop talking, it's so creepy. I'm just afraid of this. Although the other party means well, if it is really a ghost, I can't bear it if this ghost follows us home! That's why I came to see the master."
Cai Youming handed his hand to Bai Mian: "Master, please help me figure out who was the one who knocked on my door that night? After Old Man Luo died, I have been thinking about this question over and over again. Today is the last day of my annual leave, and I must get to the bottom of it. If I don't solve this matter, my worldview will be shaken, and I won't be able to return to Beijing to work with peace of mind."
Bai Mian took his pulse and said, "The person who knocked on the door to remind you that night was the victim locked up at home by Old Man Luo."
Cai Youming took a deep breath and said, "So, there really is a woman locked up in his house? But why didn't I see her when I entered his house that day?"
Bai Mian shook his head: "Old Man Luo did marry himself a 'wife', but this 'wife' is not a human."
Cai Youming frowned: "Isn't that his paper figurine?"
"No," Bai Mian said, "Do you remember what happened that day when you took your mother to see the circus?"
Cai Youming tried to recall: "It's been more than ten days. How can I remember it? It was nothing more than the usual activities, such as flying trapeze artists, clown magic tricks, and monkeys lining up to go through fire hoops. Oh, when they were going through the fire hoops that day, one monkey was a little disabled. Not only did he fail to get through, he also burned himself. It was so pitiful... Wait, could it be that the 'wife' he married was..."
Having said this, Cai Youming showed a surprised expression and couldn't continue.
"Yes," Bai Mian nodded, "It was the monkey. When you were watching the circus performance that day, Old Man Luo was also there. When he saw that the monkey's performance failed, he started to have evil ideas. After the performance was over and everyone had left, he went backstage and negotiated with the staff, saying that he wanted to buy the monkey."
"Because the monkey had disabled legs and feet and its performance was not good, the circus people always thought it was a burden, so they sold it to Luo Laohan at a very low price."
"That night, Mr. Luo stuffed the monkey into his big rag bag and dragged the monkey home."
"After returning home, Old Man Luo tried to attack the monkey, and the monkey made a noise. Old Man Luo realized that if this continued, his strange behavior would surely arouse your suspicion. In order to conceal his tracks, he went to the funeral clothing store the next morning and bought the paper man. He also pretended to worship the man, so that even if you asked him, he would have an excuse."
No one spoke. Everyone was deeply shocked. After a while, Lame Brother smacked his lips and said, "He actually went to harm the monkey. He is not a human being. This beast took advantage of the fact that animals can't talk and did whatever he wanted. He deserves to die. It's karma!"
Cai Youming was skeptical: "Master, you said that the partner he found for himself was a monkey, but when I entered his house that day, why didn't I see the monkey?"
Bai Mian pointed to the coat rack in the store and said, "In fact, the monkey was at home when you went in that day, but it was very scared when it heard the door open, and it instinctively hid in a hanging coat. Look, just like that, the monkey was completely covered by the coat, and you wouldn't have found it if you didn't look carefully."
Cai Youming looked at the clothes hanging on the coat rack and suddenly realized, "Yes, the house was very messy that day, with his clothes piled everywhere. I really didn't pay attention to what was under the clothes. What a pity! I had already gone in. If it could make a sound, I could have rescued it!"
Bai Mian: "The monkey was abused like that and became extremely afraid of humans, so it kept hiding until you left. As for the extra meal and sexy women's clothing you saw Old Man Luo buy home, they were all bought for the monkey."
Cai Youming thought about it and nodded, "Yes! He bought the smallest size women's clothing, which looked like it was for a child. If I hadn't been to their home, I would have suspected that he had a child hidden at home."
Bai Mian: "In fact, he did consider attacking children, but he never succeeded, so he had to settle for the next best thing and thought of attacking animals."
Cai Youming felt a chill down his spine: "So, when I was little, he also wanted to do that to me... Oh, that's disgusting. People like him simply live for their lower bodies. Fortunately, he died, otherwise he might have harmed someone else's children!"
"People are really much scarier than ghosts..." Weng Xuhua also exclaimed in shock.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Cai Youming said doubtfully, "According to what you said, the sound I heard in the middle of the night was the cry of a monkey, but I remember that it was clearly the cry of a woman!"
Bai Mian: "Old Man Luo was worried that his evil deeds would be discovered, so he put a special iron cage on the monkey. This cage would prevent the monkey from making any sound during the day. Only when Old Man Luo was about to harm the monkey would he remove the cage and allow the monkey to make a little sound."
"Because the iron cage restricted the monkey's mouth from opening, the sound it made was inhuman, and you mistook it for a woman's scream."
Cai Youming: "So, the one who knocked on my door on the night of the fire was also a monkey? This monkey is really smart."
Bai Mian: "Yes, although its hands and feet are disabled, it is very smart and knows how to repay those who have helped it."
"Helped it? When did I help it?" Cai Youming was confused.
Bai Mian: "It's not you, it's your mother. After you brought the police into Old Man Luo's house, he became more alert. In order to prevent the monkey from running away, he handcuffed and shackled it."
"The monkey was abused by Mr. Luo every day and gradually began to hate him. The day before the fire, Mr. Luo forgot to lock the door when he left home, so the monkey ran out and wanted to find someone for help."
"It ran to your doorstep and happened to meet your mother. When your mother saw the wounds on the monkey, she immediately understood what Old Man Luo had done. She used a needle to pry open the monkey's handcuffs and leg shackles, took off the iron dragon head, and wanted to set the monkey free. But unexpectedly, the monkey took the handcuffs and leg shackles and went back to Old Man Luo's house. Your mother was helpless and thought the monkey was reluctant to leave."
"In fact, this monkey wants to go back and find an opportunity to take revenge on Old Man Luo."
"On the night of the fire, Mr. Luo forced the monkey to wear the women's clothing and abused it viciously. Mr. Luo thought the monkey couldn't do anything because it was handcuffed and shackled. He didn't know that the handcuffs and shackles had long been broken."
"After having a great time, Old Man Luo got drunk, which was rare for him. He smoked a cigarette and fell asleep on the bed. While he was sleeping, Monkey took off his handcuffs and leg irons, picked up the unburned cigarette butt on the ground, and pressed the cigarette butt on the paper man. The paper man quickly caught fire, and the flames spread through the curtains to the whole house. The house was filled with thick smoke, but Old Man Luo was still sleeping soundly."
"After watching Old Man Luo die in the flames, the monkey smashed the glass, escaped from the window, and ran to your door. It was hanging upside down in front of your door. After you opened the door, it immediately flipped over and jumped back onto the eaves, so you didn't see any human figures."
"It did this because it didn't want the fire to affect your house. It remembered that your mother had helped it."
Cai Youming was shocked again: "So, the fire was not an accident, but a murder? Where is the monkey now? Will it be caught?"
Bai Mian: "Of course not, it has already run back into the forest, no one can catch it."
Cai Youming breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, it can finally live a normal life. By the way, my mother actually helped this monkey, why didn't she tell me about this?"
Bai Mian: "She is afraid that if you know that the old man next door is a pervert who harms animals, you will urge her to move out of Gucheng Street and not let her continue to live here."
Cai Youming looked depressed: "Is there anything wrong with me not letting her live here? Master, please judge for yourself, what's so good about this shabby place? Why does she have to live here!"
Bai Mian: "She doesn't have to live here, she just has something on her mind."
Cai Youming: "I felt it too, but she refused to tell me. Master, what is she worried about?"
"It's the little girl named Jiazhen." Bai Mian said.
Cai Youming was stunned for a moment before he remembered: "Oh, Jiazhen, she is the granddaughter of the old lady next door to us. What is her relationship with my mother?"
Bai Mian: "She's just a neighbor, but your mother has always been worried about her because -"
"Before he got the monkey, Jiazhen was the target that Old Man Luo was going to attack."
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