The cannon fodder fiancée in the redemption story, part 5. Mwah!
At 5:30, the alarm clock rang on time. Chen Xia rubbed her eyes, threw off the covers, got up, washed up, and went to the kitchen to cook for the two rascals.
The saying "a half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home" is not just a joke. Chen Yunzhou and Chen Xingye are at the age when they are growing up, with heavy study loads and a lot of physical activity.
With Chen Xia continuously feeding them two strengthening pills and intelligence-boosting pills over the past few days, their appetites have increased significantly.
Chen Xia steamed two trays of braised pork buns and shrimp and seafood buns that she had prepared in advance yesterday.
The two brothers ate the corn porridge they had cooked, along with their homemade pickled cucumbers and braised beef. They kept their heads down and ate the whole time, only looking up when they couldn't eat anymore.
"Sis, your steamed buns are so delicious! They're much better than my mom's. Her steamed buns are rock hard, and she won't listen to any of my opinions."
Chen Xia handed them two lunch bags containing cookies, small cakes, and homemade fruit tea: "It's good enough that you have something to eat. Your mother is busy with work and taking care of the two of you. You should also take care of her."
Let's go! Da Bao needs to go out and exercise during recess. Studying is important, but health is even more important.
Erbao, you guys have your monthly exams next week, right? You'd better work hard! If you make a big improvement this time, there'll be a big reward!
Chen Xia drove them to school, chattering all the way, and only drove home after watching them walk through the gate.
For half a month in a row, Chen Xia got up early every day to cook for her two younger brothers, send them to their early morning reading sessions, and then drive to work at the institute.
The colleagues at the institute were quite surprised and also quite upset. A colleague who used to ride an electric scooter to work like them suddenly started driving luxury cars, and not just one. This kind of subtle flaunting of wealth was really suffocating.
Two senior students in the institute who were interested in Chen Xia hesitated to approach her, as they were both honest and upright and dared not jeopardize the beauty's future.
However, her mentor, Zheng Anguo, knew why she drove to work and quietly took over all her night shifts.
Another unusual thing is that she leaves promptly at 5 p.m. and never works overtime, no matter how busy she is.
Her unusual behavior secretly relieved her colleagues, who were hoping Chen Xia could leave work a little earlier.
She's really good at causing trouble; every time she goes out on patrol, she manages to bring back several petty thieves.
The police officers in charge of the interrogation were writing furiously every day, their wrists almost breaking from writing.
"Old Zheng, what's wrong with Chen Xia lately? She's finally starting to leave work on time?" Wang Jun from the household registration office asked Zheng Anguo with a smile as he stood in the corridor holding a thermos.
Zheng Anguo smiled and said, "Xiaxia's aunt went to another city for further studies, and Chen Anbang is too busy to be home."
Xiaxia has been left with both of her junior high school kids, so she has to head to the city as soon as possible.
These peaceful yet busy days continued until Guo Xiaoran returned from her studies.
Chen Xia felt like she had been granted a pardon, finally free from being a full-time nanny for her two unruly children.
She's been struggling to cook for the past two weeks. Every day she asks those two brats what they want to eat, and the answer is always "anything is fine."
But if you just casually stir-fry some vegetables or tomatoes and eggs, they can easily put down their chopsticks and say they're not hungry.
After packing them up, Chen Xia decisively had a nanny robot give the large apartment a thorough cleaning and then moved it back to a smaller apartment near her workplace.
Living alone in a large apartment is too spacious, and the commute is long, taking half an hour by car. If there's traffic, it's even more ridiculous.
There are so many advantages to living close to the workplace. Every day after getting up and washing up, I ride my electric scooter to the institute, and I eat all three meals at the workplace. Life couldn't be more pleasant.
That morning, Chen Xia was humming a tune as he rode his bike into the station when he saw several young police officers and auxiliary police officers huddled together, sometimes whispering and sometimes laughing loudly. He wondered what they were doing.
After parking the car, Chen Xia curiously approached Zheng Anguo and asked, "Master, what are they laughing at?"
Zheng Anguo calmly took a sip of tea from his thermos and said, "A few months ago, a prisoner serving time in the city prison wrote a letter to his wife. In the letter, he said that he had buried a gun in their field and even marked the location in detail, telling his wife to hide it well so that no one would find it."
The prison guards discovered this crucial clue while inspecting the mail and immediately reported it. The city police took it very seriously and immediately organized a team to investigate.
Good heavens, they even brought in an excavator and turned his land upside down, but they found nothing.
The city bureau leaders were worried, so they went to the prison to interrogate him. They found out that he had lied about burying a gun in the field to trick the police into digging up his house, all to help his wife lighten the burden of spring plowing.
I thought the matter was over, but a few days ago that guy wrote to his wife again, saying that he had remembered a more specific location where he hid the gun, and that there were bullets hidden there.
Fearing there might actually be guns, the city police sent another team. But when they got there, the crops in the fields were already ripe...
Chen Xia chuckled: "This guy is too mean. And then what?"
Zheng Anguo took a sip of tea and continued, "Then those people from the Municipal Bureau became free labor again, helping people harvest their crops and turning over the land again, but they still couldn't find anything! I heard that Captain He, who was in charge, was furious!"
Chen Xia laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight: "Goodness, he's using all his dirty tricks on the police! But he's not entirely useless, he does know how to care for his wife."
"This news is going viral in all the chat groups of various units now." Zheng Anguo wiped away tears of laughter: "Especially the police stations, they're all gloating and forwarding it like crazy!"
Chen Xia thought this peaceful and interesting life would last for a few years, since she had no plans to transfer to the Municipal Public Security Bureau within the next five years.
Unexpectedly, she and her mentor, Zheng Anguo, were soon transferred to the city's criminal investigation team. The incident stemmed from a shocking family annihilation case that stunned the entire city and even the province.
In Xiaozhou Village, H County, a family surnamed Zhou, consisting of more than a dozen members, all had their throats slit overnight.
The murder of an entire family of over ten people is a tragedy rarely seen, not just in recent years, but even in the last twenty years. The municipal police department simply cannot cover up such a case; it must be reported to higher authorities.
Due to the seriousness of the case, the municipal public security bureau urgently assembled a special task force composed of outstanding and experienced criminal investigators and police officers from across the city. Several experts were also dispatched from the provincial level, with a one-month deadline to solve the case.
Chen Xia was seconded to the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Brigade in this way. However, in the eyes of outsiders, she was just a temporary replacement, while her mentor Zheng Anguo was the one with real experience.
Upon arriving at the scene, even Chen Xia, who had seen many cases, couldn't help but gasp in shock.
The three-story building was covered in shocking bloodstains, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench of blood.
The room showed signs of being ransacked, but the cash and jewelry in the drawers were still there. Clearly, they weren't after the money.
Chen Xia couldn't help but mutter to himself, "If it's not for money, then it's for revenge, or they're looking for something."
The preliminary forensic examination results were astonishing: scopolamine was detected in the food on the deceased's dining table. This drug, which can suppress the central nervous system, is completely unavailable to ordinary people.
"This was a premeditated massacre." At the special task force meeting, the expert from the provincial department made the final conclusion: "There were no signs of the door lock being pried open at the scene, so the murderer was very likely an acquaintance of the victims."
The deceased's family did not usually live together. If you were not an acquaintance, it would be very difficult to find out when they would have a family meal together, let alone put the drug in their food.
The scene was cleaned up very thoroughly. The perpetrator wore gloves and shoe covers throughout the incident and left no trace, indicating that he came prepared.
His hand was very steady; he slit the throat with one stroke. Judging from the wound, the knife was very thin and extremely sharp, suggesting it was a scalpel.
Therefore, what we need to do now is to investigate the interpersonal relationships of all the victims.
"Visit all the residents on this street to see if anyone was seen entering or leaving their homes before or after the incident..."
Chen Xia's task was to accompany Zheng Anguo on a door-to-door visit, working from dawn till dusk.
Among the victim's family, the elderly couple Zhou Daqiang and Li Aihua had quarrels with other villagers, but since they saw each other all the time, they had no known grudges against anyone.
Of the four children, the eldest, Zhou Zhigang, is an auxiliary police officer at the town's police station. The second child, Zhou Zhiming, runs a small hotel in the city.
The third child is a daughter named Zhou Zhimin, who married Zhang Zhenqiang from the next town. The couple farms at home and works odd jobs in their spare time.
Older brother Zhou Zhibin is a man who is rarely seen.
During the visit, Zheng Anguo circled him as a key person to investigate in his notebook.
"This Zhou Zhibin is quite interesting. Nobody in the village knows exactly what he does outside, but they know he has a wide network of connections and many friends from all walks of life."
Chen Xia casually added, "I couldn't find his marriage registration information. People in the village said he was married but later got divorced."
The criminal investigation team initially considered that Zhou Zhigang's work had led to retaliation, but after investigation, they found that he was just a junior auxiliary police officer with no independent law enforcement authority. He was well-liked and had not offended anyone.
Later, they also considered whether Zhou Zhibin, who had a wide circle of friends, had offended someone outside, which led to retaliation.
Because this is a rural area, only the village committee and the small shop at the village entrance had cameras installed. By reviewing the surveillance footage and interviewing villagers, no suspicious persons or vehicles were found before or after the incident.
Just when the case seemed to have reached a deadlock, Chen Xia's second investigation yielded a major discovery.
Uncle Zhou, a villager, provided a clue.
On the night of the incident at the Zhou family's house, he was riding his bicycle home after playing mahjong at Erlaizi's house in the next village when he saw a white car drive by, heading out of the village from the direction of the Zhou family's house.
He glanced at the driver's seat of the car; the driver was a woman, very pretty, and there was another person sitting in the back, but he couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.
He thought the woman driving was pretty and looked somewhat familiar, so he took a few more glances at her under the streetlights.
Later, when I got home and thought about it carefully, I realized that she was Zhou's former third daughter-in-law, and her name was Ren Yue.
He wasn't sure whether it was Yue, Yueyi, or Yue, but that was the pronunciation.
Rumors circulated in the village that she had been tricked into coming here by Zhou Laosan, and later she gave birth to a daughter. The child died not long after birth, and she seemed to have fallen ill or gone mad, after which she disappeared.
Some say she ran away, while others say she was sold by Zhou Laosan.
Not long after, Zhou Laosan brought back another beautiful girl, saying she was his wife.
Chen Xia immediately became alert. She remembered that in the massacre, the victims were Old Man Zhou and Old Woman Zhou.
The eldest son, Zhou Zhigang, the eldest daughter-in-law, Li Qing, and their son.
The second son, Zhou Zhiming, the second daughter-in-law, Zhao Jingjing, and their two sons.
The third daughter is Zhou Zhimin, her husband is Zhang Zhenqiang, and they have two daughters and a son.
Including his fourth son, Zhou Zhibin, there are a total of fifteen people, and there is no wife that Zhou Zhibin recently brought home as he claimed.
Chen Xia pressed further, "Do you know what Zhou Zhibin's new wife's name is?"
Uncle Zhou thought for a while but really couldn't remember.
Chen Xia spoke up: "Uncle, don't worry, it's okay if you don't remember. Has anyone else seen Zhou Zhibin's new wife?"
Who is Zhou Zhibin on good terms with in the village? Can you confirm that the person driving that night was Zhou Zhibin's ex-wife?
Uncle Zhou named a few names: "I just think they look like them. After all, it's nighttime, and although there are streetlights, it's not very clear. I'm really not sure if it's them or not."
Chen Xia: "It's alright, you've already provided us with a very important clue. Don't worry, I will absolutely not tell anyone about the clue you provided."
Thank you so much for today. We may need your cooperation again in the future. Is that alright with you?
Uncle Zhou readily agreed: "No problem. My son studies law, and he said that cooperating with the police investigation is a citizen's duty."
Although I'm not very educated, I know that you police officers have it tough too.
In this cold weather, we will visit each household one by one. We will definitely cooperate and catch the perpetrator as soon as possible so that we can finally put our minds at ease.
"Don't laugh at me, but ever since the Zhou family's incident, my wife has absolutely forbade me from going out drinking or playing mahjong."
As soon as Chen Xia left Uncle Zhou's house, she retrieved the surveillance footage from the convenience store and the village committee's cameras.
After repeated viewing, it was discovered that although the surveillance footage did not capture the suspect's figure, it did capture half of the car body flashing by.
Comparing the times, it can be confirmed that what Uncle Zhou said was true; a strange white car did indeed come to the village that night.
Chen Xia immediately reported this clue to the task force, and by retrieving nearby surveillance footage, they identified the white sedan mentioned by Uncle Zhou.
Following the car's trajectory, it was discovered that the vehicle's final destination was City A. Based on the license plate number, information obtained from the traffic police revealed that the car's owner was named Ren Yue.
Everyone was thrilled. This matched the information Chen Xia had gathered, and the case finally saw a glimmer of hope.
With a breakthrough, things became much easier. The task force immediately split into two groups: one went to City A to investigate Ren Yue, while the other continued to delve into the grudges between the Zhou family and Ren Yue in Xiaozhou Village.
As the investigation deepened, a heartbreaking story gradually came to light. It turned out that Ren Yue had not married Zhou Zhibin willingly.
He was lured to the countryside by Zhou Zhibin, and his daughter, who was born later, did not die young, but was smothered to death by Zhou's old lady, Li Aihua.
Li Aihua held deeply ingrained patriarchal views and was used to being domineering at home, always having the final say.
The eldest and second son's wives had also conceived girls before, but after the gender was found out, they were both forced to have abortions.
Ren Yue was a top student at a medical university. If she hadn't been trafficked by Zhou Zhibin's gang, she wouldn't have been forced to marry him, who hadn't even graduated from junior high school.
Zhou Zhibin originally planned to sell her to a remote mountain village.
But seeing that she was beautiful and talented, he forcibly took her and brought her back to his hometown. To prevent her from escaping, he waited until she became pregnant before allowing her to move around in the village.
In fact, many people in the village know that she was trafficked, and there are also many young wives in the village who were trafficked.
Zhou Zhibin deserves the most credit for this, as many people in the village actually knew that he was involved in human trafficking.
However, many people in the village made money by following him, or even bought wives through him.
So everyone turns a blind eye, pretends not to know, and even covers for him.
As for the young women and wives bought, they wouldn't dare to run away after a few beatings. Once they have children, they can control them even more, making them afraid to escape even if they want to.
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