Chapter 61: Missing Sister (6) The Non-Existent Daughter...
The two of them didn't say much before Sang Luo began to feel sleepy. She rubbed her eyes. She hadn't slept well in the past few days and her body was almost exhausted. It was not a good idea to continue like this, so she planned to go back to the room and take a nap.
"I'll take a nap, no more than twenty minutes, remember to call me."
She waved to Ruan Yu, who thoughtfully helped her put her pillow in place: "Go to sleep, I'll be awake."
As soon as Sang Luo's head touched the pillow, she fell asleep immediately. She slept soundly and made up for all the sleep she had missed in the previous two days. When she woke up again, the sunlight outside the window was no longer dazzling. She immediately realized that something was wrong. She picked up the mobile phone beside her and checked the time. It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. She had slept for three hours!
Sang Luo was startled and turned around to look for Ruan Yu, only to see Ruan Yu right next to him. He was sitting on a chair with his head against the wall, his eyes closed, his face slightly flushed, and it was obvious that he was asleep as well.
Sang Luo was a little angry, but she couldn't bear to blame Ruan Yu. Ruan Yu had been running around with her for the past two days and must be exhausted. She simply said nothing, got up from the bed, and prepared to go to the market alone to check out the situation. The sun hadn't set yet, and the uncle who blew the candy figures was probably still there. She had to get some information from him before he left.
When she passed by Ruan Yu, Ruan Yu woke up, blinked, and after a while realized where he was. Then he immediately realized that he had made a mistake and apologized to Sang Luo. Sang Luo waved her hand and said it was okay, she had already thought of a solution. She planned to hire a local villager to go to the uncle's stall to inquire about the news. If a local person came to ask, perhaps the uncle would not be so suspicious.
Ruan Yu rubbed his eyes and followed Sang Luo out the door. As soon as they went out, they ran into the little girl named Xingxing. Xingxing had just extorted one dollar from them at noon. Ruan Yu didn't like her very much, so he simply said hello and wanted to leave. Unexpectedly, Xingxing took the initiative to stop them:
"Where are you going? Are you still busy with lunch?"
Sang Luo was in no mood to chat at the moment, so he simply said, "Children should stay out of adult matters."
Xingxing pouted and said unhappily, "Tsk, good intentions are really not rewarded. I wanted to tell you, but now I'm not going to tell you. Go find out for yourselves!"
Sang Luo stopped and asked: "What do you want to tell us?"
Xingxing said proudly: "That uncle's name! Weren't you discussing this at noon? I heard everything!"
Sang Luo was very surprised: "Did you find out his name?"
Xingxing folded her arms: "Of course, not only his name, he even told me where he lives!"
As he spoke, Xingxing imitated the scene at that time for the two of them:
Xingxing squatted in front of the stall, looking eagerly at the candy figures on the cart. After she squatted for a while, the uncle selling candy figures asked her, "Little friend, do you want to eat candy figures?"
Xingxing nodded obediently, and the uncle smiled naively: "Where are your parents? Aren't they with you?"
Xingxing shook her head sadly: "They are all big liars. They left me and went to work in the city."
The uncle smiled and shook his head: "Don't say that, they are doing this for your own good. It's not easy to go out to work. Let's put it this way——"
He glanced at Xing Xing and then said, "Uncle will give you a candy man, okay? I won't charge you any money."
Xingxing nodded hurriedly, and the uncle also showed a happy expression on his face. He took a piece of syrup, stuck the straw into the syrup, blew air into the syrup, and kept changing the movements of his hands to shape a sugar man of Sun Wukong.
"Here, does it look good?" The uncle stood up and handed the candy man to Xingxing.
Xingxing cheered and jumped for joy: "Okay, okay! Thank you, uncle, you are such a good man!"
The uncle was stunned for a moment, and his eyes gradually softened as he looked at Xingxing: "I also have a daughter, who is about your age."
Xingxing asked casually, "Which village is your daughter in? We can play together when we have time!"
The uncle hurriedly said, "We live in Huaishu Village, No. 3, Row 6, Huaishu Village. My name is Zhou Kailong and my daughter's name is Yueyue. If you have time, come and play with us. You must come!"
Time goes back to the present, and Xingxing said proudly, "I'm awesome, right? You two have been asking questions for so long but I answered them in one go! Why don't you thank me right away?"
Ruan Yu showed surprise on her face and patted Xingxing's shoulder gently: "This time it's really thanks to you, Xingxing, you helped us a lot!"
As he spoke, Ruan Yu opened his wallet and took out a five-dollar bill: "Here you go, consider it a thank you fee!"
Unexpectedly, Xingxing waved her hand and refused the five dollars: "I don't want it. I have already received your money at noon. You were right at noon. After I went back, I thought about it. I am not a bandit and cannot do extortion. Since I have received your money, I have to do something for you. So I went to the market alone in the afternoon to ask the uncle. Am I awesome? You haven't praised me yet!"
Ruan Yu hurriedly started to brag, but Sang Luo was panicked. She grabbed Xingxing's shoulders tightly and said, "Are you serious? Did you really go to find him alone?"
Xingxing pouted again: "Of course it's true, do you think I'm bragging?"
Sang Luo immediately shook his head: "No, I just think it's too dangerous for you to go find him alone, if..."
If this uncle named Zhou Kailong is really the murderer who killed his sister, then he is very likely a repeat offender who specifically targets minors. Xingxing's move is really too risky.
Sang Luo squeezed Xingxing's shoulders hard: "Remember, you must stay close to your grandparents these few days and never go out alone, got it? Also, never do such dangerous things again!"
Xingxing was a little frustrated: "Well, I thought I did a good thing. You city people are really weird. You try every possible means to get information about others, but you are not happy when you get it..."
Xingxing walked away muttering. Sang Luo and Ruan Yu looked at each other. They both felt a little nervous. They had found out about Zhou Kailong, but what should they do next?
Sang Luo thought for a moment and then made a plan: "Ruan Yu, you stay in Daliushu Village and continue to stay at Xingxing's house. Protect Xingxing while you go to the market to see if Zhou Kailong has a stall."
"What about you?" Ruan Yu asked hurriedly.
Sang Luo: "I'll go to Huaishu Village to verify the truth of this news."
Ruan Yu sat up straight: "I don't agree, it's too dangerous for you to go alone!"
Sang Luo held his hand and said calmly: "Don't worry, I'm not a weak woman. I have learned a lot of moves from Xiaohu since I started working. If anything really happens, I can protect myself."
Ruan Yu retorted: "But he is a murderer, how can you go alone?"
Sang Luo shook his head: "Of course I want to enter Huaishu Village when he is not around. The reason why I asked you to stay here is to let you observe Zhou Kailong's movements. Once he closes his stall, you tell me by phone and I will come back immediately."
Ruan Yu hesitated for a while and reluctantly accepted the plan: "Okay, then you must pay attention to safety."
The next morning, Sang Luo got up early and asked the neighbors around. She learned that Huaishu Village was not far away, only a few kilometers away from Daliushu Village. There was no usable donkey cart in the village, so Sang Luo decided to walk there. She had done a lot of physical training after joining the company, so these few kilometers were nothing to her.
Ruan Yu dressed up a little and went to the market to take a look. She saw Zhou Kailong pushing a cart and setting up a stall from afar. After confirming that he was setting up the stall, Sang Luo disguised herself as a slightly hunchbacked peasant woman, wrapped her head with a pink scarf, carried a few packages in her hands, and set off for Huaishu Village.
About an hour later, Sang Luo entered Huaishu Village. She came to the place Xingxing mentioned. It was an ordinary farmyard. The gate of the yard was closed and locked from the outside. Sang Luo knocked hard on the door. Of course there was no response from inside, but she still knocked on the door regardless.
Ten minutes later, a woman finally came out from the next door. Her hair was messy and looked like it hadn't been washed for a long time. She put her hands on her hips and yelled at Sang Luo:
"Why are you knocking? Are you blind? Can't you see that the door is locked? You keep knocking on the door. It hurts my ears. It's so unlucky. You can't even let me rest properly during my confinement!"
Sang Luo carried the package and said with a look of grievance, "This is obviously the home of my elder brother Wei Tiesheng. I promised to come and seek refuge with him. How come there is no one here?"
The woman laughed: "What Wei Tiesheng? There is no such person in our village! You are so confused that you don't even know where your eldest brother lives!"
Sang Luo looked at the gate doubtfully and said stubbornly, "No, this is my eldest brother's home. My eldest brother said that he lives in Huaishu Village and asked me to come and live with him."
The woman said impatiently, "I'll say it again, there is no Wei Tiesheng here! You're knocking on Zhou Kailong's door. He's not here right now. He went to the market to make candy figures. There's no one at his house! Hurry up and leave!"
Sang Luo began to look through his package: "No, that's not right. My eldest brother lives here. He just got divorced last month and is raising a child alone. I even prepared a gift for my eldest niece!"
The woman began to look at Sang Luo with pity: "Are you out of your mind? I'm telling you one last time. The man living here is called Zhou Kailong. He's a bachelor and doesn't have any children. Think about it again. It's probably your elder brother who lied to you and gave you a fake address!"
Sang Luo pretended to be shocked: "Would my elder brother fool me? He is my own elder brother..."
She pretended to be sad, lowered her head and walked away. After she left, the woman opposite also returned to the house.
After returning to Daliushu Village, Sang Luo took off his disguise and discussed the situation with Ruan Yu:
"The address is correct, the name is real, but the neighbors nearby say he doesn't have any children. What's going on?"
Ruan Yu also looked solemn: "It is indeed very strange. He has no children at all, but he keeps talking about his daughter, and his expression is so sincere. If you hadn't investigated it on the spot, who would believe that he is actually a bachelor?"
Sang Luo began to hypothesize: "If this person is the murderer, then his behavior is easy to explain. He is a psychopath who likes to prey on minors. In order to get close to minors, he lied that he had a child of the right age at home who could play with the victim. He used this as an excuse to attract minors to his home, and then killed them."
"That makes sense," Ruan Yu reminded, "but there are many other possibilities. For example, Zhou Kailong is still a bachelor at his age, which is very shameful in the countryside. In order not to lose face, he lied to others that he has a wife and children to satisfy his vanity."
Sang Luo bit her lip and said, "If what you said is true, then he must be eager to get married and have children. When we first went to see him, I said I was a matchmaker and could introduce him to a suitable partner, but he refused without even a second thought. Why?"
Ruan Yu was stunned by the question: "Maybe his family is very poor? Or maybe he is used to being single? Anyway, no matter what, we need more clues. Without clues, everything is just random speculation."
Sang Luo also agreed with this: "We need more clues. It's time to go back to the city."
After making the decision, Ruan Yu went out to hire a donkey cart, and the two returned to Baiyun County that night. At this time, four days of the holiday had passed.
After returning home at night, Sang Luo wrote down the three current suspects on a piece of paper:
Zhao Dazhu, 25 years old
Zhao Aiguo, 62 years old
Zhou Kailong, age unknown, estimated to be 40-50 years old
She unpacked her luggage, took out the small dictionary wrapped in her clothes, and placed it carefully on the desk.
"Ruoruo, if you can hear me," Sang Luo said softly, "I have found three suspects according to your clues. Please give me another clue - which one of them harmed you fifteen years ago?"
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