Chapter 63: The Missing Sister (8) July 19 Incident
Sang Luo had just sat there for a while when he received a call from Ruan Yu. He was worried about Sang Luo's situation. When he heard that Sang Luo had gone to Tianye Village again, he wanted to rush over impatiently. Sang Luo quickly stopped him:
"You have to stay over there to protect Xingxing's safety. You promised me that I'm fine here. I'm just here to ask some questions and I won't have direct contact with the suspect."
Ruan Yu reluctantly agreed: "Okay, so what did you gain today?"
Sang Luo recounted his experience this morning and gave his own analysis:
Just now, Chen Xiujuan’s mother provided a very important clue - Zhou Kailong’s daughter died in the school building collapse incident.
This also means that Sang Luo's reasoning just now was wrong. Zhou Kailong was not so perverted as to attack his own daughter. His wife and daughter died one after another, and his hair turned white overnight. This was a sign of excessive sadness. Although people can pretend to be sad, the physiological manifestation of gray hair cannot be faked. He was most likely really sad.
These cases of missing girls all occurred after 1975. If they were all committed by Zhou Kailong, then the school building collapse incident was probably an important factor that led Zhou Kailong to commit crimes. It was in this year that Zhou Kailong's spirit was severely stimulated and he began to have thoughts of committing crimes.
"The death of his daughter stimulated Zhou Kailong and turned him into a psychopath. He kidnaps a girl in April every few years..." Ruan Yu tried hard to keep up with Sang Luo's progress.
After thinking for a while, he had an idea: "Zhou Kailong chose to kidnap the child in April, could it be because his daughter died in April? Have you checked the specific date of the collapse?"
"I haven't found the exact date, but I don't think it's because of this," Sang Luo rejected his idea. "Mother Chen Xiujuan said that it rained heavily on the day of the incident. It should have been midsummer at that time. Even if it rained in April, it would only be sporadic rain, not enough to cause the house to collapse."
"That makes sense." Ruan Yu was a little disappointed that he couldn't help Sang Luo.
Sang Luo comforted him: "It's okay, you gave me a good idea, maybe I can use it in the future."
After hanging up the phone, Sang Luo planned to investigate the school building collapse incident that year. The family she stayed with had already prepared lunch, but Sang Luo did not eat it. She hurried out the door and went to the village party secretary's house.
I'm afraid only the village party secretary or the village chief knows the details of what happened back then, and ordinary villagers can only know a general idea. Amano Village is a small village, and the village party secretary and the village chief are the same person. If you want to find information about the incident back then, it would be most appropriate to look for him.
When Sang Luo pushed the door open, the village chief was having a meal. Although it was a bit impolite to come at this time, Sang Luo was in a hurry and couldn't care less.
When the village chief saw Sang Luo coming in, he showed a surprised look on his face. Sang Luo took out his ID and explained his identity as a criminal policeman. The village chief's face was immediately filled with smiles. He put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands and said attentively:
"Comrade Criminal Police, please sit down, what's going on?"
Sang Luo got straight to the point: "I came here this time to learn about the school collapse incident that happened in Tianye Village many years ago."
When Sang Luo mentioned this, the village chief was puzzled: "School matter? Wasn't that more than ten years ago? Why are you asking about this suddenly?"
Sang Luo lowered his voice: "Keep it a secret."
The village chief nodded repeatedly: "Oh, I understand, I understand. Something must have happened. If you need it, comrade police officer, just ask. As long as I know, I will tell you everything I know!"
Sang Luo sat down opposite the village chief and asked: "Who was primarily responsible for the school collapse?"
The village chief lit a cigarette and said, "Huh, you're talking about this. Actually, I think you can guess a little bit. The reason why those children died is closely related to the village chief and the principal at that time."
"The houses in the village have been in disrepair for a long time. The villagers know it, and so does the town government. Even though the economy was bad in those days, the government still allocated money to the village to rebuild the school. The money went to the village chief at the time, Li Zhuangzhi. Li Zhuangzhi was a worthless person. He wanted to keep the money for himself. Most villagers didn't know about it and thought the government didn't allocate funds, so they complained all day long."
"The school principal at the time was Liu Hucheng. After all, he was a principal and had some connections outside. Somehow he found out about the existence of this money. After knowing this, he rushed to the village chief's house and slammed the table to challenge him, wanting him to use the money to build a school."
"The village chief came up with an idea and proposed to give him a share of the money. Liu Hucheng was also greedy for money, so he agreed immediately. The two bargained for a while, and finally agreed to divide the money 30% to 70%, with Li Zhuangzhi taking 70% and Liu Hucheng taking 30%."
"They both had an agreement, but it made the kids in the school suffer. I was 30 years old when it happened. I still remember that scene. It was so tragic."
"After the children got into trouble, the town sent people to investigate, only to find out that the school had not built a new building at all. Li Zhuangzhi and Liu Hucheng were quickly arrested, and even their family members disappeared. I guess they felt too embarrassed to stay any longer."
"A total of 14 children died in the accident. They were all primary school students, ranging in age from six to ten years old. Their parents cried and went to the town government to seek justice. In the end, the government compensated each family, and the matter was finally settled."
"But you also know that the economy was tight back then, how much compensation could you give? Besides, no matter how much money you give, you can't bring back the children of the villagers!"
After finishing one cigarette, the village chief quickly lit up another one. Sang Luo wondered in his heart, if Zhou Kailong had the idea of committing a crime because of the death of his child, then the person he most wanted to kill should be the instigator of this incident. Why did he target an innocent girl?
Sang Luo asked: "How are Li Zhuangzhi and Liu Hucheng now?"
The village chief grinned and said, "What else can they do? Of course they were shot. Two people were shot, one each. They were executed within a month. With such a thing happening, how could they still live?"
Sang Luo nodded. So that was the case. Because the two culprits had been executed by the state, Zhou Kailong had no way to take revenge even if he wanted to, so he could only vent his anger on innocent people.
However, no matter what happened, it is not a reason for him to commit a crime.
Sang Luo: "Are there any documents left about that incident?"
The village chief was embarrassed: "Hey, tell me, this matter is investigated by the town, even if there is any information, it is in the town government, not to mention that more than ten years have passed... But I can try to help you find it." Sang Luo hurriedly thanked him. The village chief put out his cigarette butt and went to the back of the house to search. After a long time, the village chief came out with a yellowed piece of paper:
"Excuse me, police officer, this is all I have left. This is the list of compensations from that year. Do you think it will be helpful to you?"
This piece of paper had become brittle and yellow after being kept for so long. It was unknown where the village chief had found it from. Sang Luo took it carefully and began to read the contents on it.
"July 19 Incident"
This is what was written on the table header, with "1972" written in pencil next to it.
It seems that the specific date when the incident happened was July 19, 1972. It has been more than 20 years since then. As Sang Luo guessed, the accident happened in midsummer.
This piece of paper was just a draft, not a formal document, so there was no format and the handwriting was very sloppy, but Sang Luo could still vaguely see the content on it.
It contained the personal information and compensation amounts of fourteen children. Sang Luo immediately found the information of Zhou Kailong's daughter:
Zhou Yueyue, born on April 12, 1965, seven years old, father Zhou Kailong, mother Yuan Xiaoyu, living in...
April! Sang Luo immediately noticed this key information. Zhou Yueyue was born in April!
Those four girls also disappeared in April, there must be some connection!
After getting the information she wanted, Sang Luo thanked the village chief and left his house. Before leaving, she asked the village chief to keep the matter confidential, and the village chief readily agreed.
It was noon, and the warm sunshine sprinkled on the path between the fields, fading some of the chill of late autumn. Under the guidance of the villagers, Sang Luo found the place where the villagers of Tianye Village buried their dead. This place was located in the back mountain, away from the sun, and very cold. Even at noon, it made people shiver.
There is a group of tombs here. Villagers will bury their dead here. This is the custom of Amano Village. In order to avoid confusion, there is a tombstone in front of each grave. Some are proper stone tombstones, while others are just broken wooden signs with a few words written on them with chalk.
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