Chapter 460: Coming to the Human World to Survive the Tribulation
Logically speaking, Zhou Yi has not been transferred to Wuguang yet and is still on vacation, so he has no law enforcement power.
But things have come to this point, he has to understand the situation before making any plans.
Through Aunt Ding's own narration, Grandma's description, and questioning of Lu Tiezhu, Zhou Yi basically figured out the whole story.
Aunt Ding’s name is Ding Lanying, and she is sixty-two years old this year.
She was a miserable person. She and her husband had worked hard on the land all their lives, but they had no children and had been looked down upon by her in-laws.
She finally got pregnant at the age of 31, and after ten months of pregnancy, she gave birth to a boy.
This might not be a big deal twenty years later, but in those days it was considered a late-coming child.
So the couple loved their son very much and named him Yao Xi.
Although Yao Xi was treated like the apple of her parents' eyes, the problem was that her family was poor and no matter how much they doted on her, they could not give her anything good.
If the family is too poor, whether in the countryside or in the city, children are likely to feel inferior.
Yao Xi is just like this, cowardly, inferior and timid.
He has a low level of education, no special skills, comes from a poor family, and looks ordinary.
So Yao Xi was still unmarried at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six. Matchmakers had introduced him to many women, but no one was interested in him.
The old couple was so anxious that they ran around asking people to introduce them to a partner, because at this age they are almost considered single in the countryside.
It was not until Yao Xi was 28 years old that a matchmaker introduced him to a girl from the next village named Wu Yuemei.
The matchmaker said that Wu Yuemei was four years older than Yao Xi. Of course, in the matchmaker's words, a girl who was three years older than Yao Xi would bring her an extra gold brick, and if she was four years older, she would have one more gold brick.
I used to work in the capital city of the neighboring province. When I was young, there were so many people pursuing me from the east to the west of the city that I was dazzled by the choices.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be your Yao Xi's turn to be so beautiful.
The matchmaker praised the man so much that Ding Lanying and her husband were so happy that they took their son to see the man.
Although not as good as the matchmaker said, she was not bad either, except that she looked a little older and a little fatter.
But the other party didn't seem to dislike her son very much, so after the two young people met a few more times, the matchmaker came to discuss the marriage.
The matchmaker said that the woman asked for a betrothal gift of 8,800 yuan and agreed to get married if she gave it.
This amount of money is not a lot, but not a small amount either. However, for the Yao family, it is a sum that is so huge that they have to borrow money even if they empty their savings.
But what else could they do? For the sake of their son's lifelong happiness, the old couple could only grit their teeth and swallow their pride. They tried every possible means to scrape together the betrothal gift and gave it to the woman. They hoped that the young couple would work together and their lives would get better and better.
Things went smoothly afterwards. We got married and had a child the following year, but life became a little tighter.
In order to save money, the old couple had to eat coarse food and were eager to save every penny.
But they never treated their daughter-in-law badly. They gave her any delicious food at home. The old couple never saw any meat all year round, but their daughter-in-law loved meat. Plus, she had given birth to a child, so she was plump and white.
At first, this daughter-in-law was pretty good, except that she stayed at home all day and was lazy and ate a lot.
However, since she became pregnant, Wu Yuemei's temper has become worse and worse. She would curse at her in-laws if she was not satisfied with something.
Yao Xi's husband was not spared either. He was scolded almost every day. People either scolded him for being ugly and mischievous, or scolded him for being useless and unable to make money.
The three members of this family were cowardly to begin with, and for the sake of the child in Wu Yuemei's belly, they had to swallow their anger.
The consequence of this was that Wu Yuemei became more and more aggressive, and in the end, she not only scolded him but also beat him.
I finally waited until the baby was born and thought things would get better.
As a result, during the confinement period, Wu Yuemei didn't get to eat pig's trotters, so she picked up the hot water on the table and poured it on Ding Lanying, scalding the old lady's hand.
In short, the days that followed were always in chaos, and the family was struggling to make ends meet. If they hadn't had their own land in the countryside, the old couple would have starved to death long ago.
The only consolation is that the little grandson is very cute and is named Yao Huanhuan. The Yao family now has successors.
But something strange happened.
It would be fine if Wu Yuemei didn't beat or scold her husband and parents-in-law, but what's outrageous is that she has a similar attitude towards her own son.
When a child cries, instead of comforting him, he scolds him.
When Yao Huanhuan grew up a little, Wu Yuemei often beat her.
The reasons for beating are either that the child doesn’t eat well or peed on himself, in short, he is disobedient, so he has to be beaten.
Moreover, they showed no mercy when fighting. Even with bare hands, they would not use it lightly. Sometimes they would use sticks, and sometimes they would use clothes hangers.
Xiao Huanhuan's buttocks, thighs, arms and other parts were covered with bruises.
At first, I didn't pay much attention to it because the family was so poor. The old couple and their son had to go out to earn money during the day. Especially the old couple, they would go out before dawn and rely on steamed buns for three meals a day. They would work until dark before coming back.
So at first, the injuries on the child's body were not discovered until that summer, when Wu Yuemei went back to her parents' home alone. When Ding Lanying held the child, she found that the child was crying. When she took off his pants, she saw that his legs and buttocks were covered with large bruises. Only then did she realize that Wu Yuemei beat the child every few days at home.
This made the old couple very angry. After Wu Yuemei came back from her parents' home, Aunt Ding mustered up the courage to have a quarrel with her daughter-in-law for the first time.
But even if a good guy tries to be tough for once, he can't be that tough anymore.
A good person tries his best to do evil, but in the end he is no better than a fart from a bad person.
Wu Yuemei is such a wicked person. While they were arguing, she suddenly picked up the scissors on the table and stabbed her son in the leg.
The grandfather standing by was so frightened that he quickly reached out to stop the scissors, and then the scissors pierced into the old man's palm, and blood immediately gushed out.
For this reason, the police were called.
Lu Tiezhu and his colleagues responded to the call, but this kind of family dispute is basically resolved through mediation.
Lu Tiezhu also admitted it in front of Zhou Yi. At that time, they thought that the grandparents and the mother had a quarrel over the child, and then both sides got emotional and accidentally hurt someone.
After all, this kind of thing is too common in rural areas, and there are many cases of conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law that are so intense that they threaten to kill each other.
As for using weapons, many people in rural areas do this and are very fierce.
They mediated at that time, and Wu Yuemei apologized to the old couple in front of the police and promised not to beat the children in the future.
In fact, when it comes to raising children, not to mention in rural areas, even in cities these days, it is common for parents to beat their children. There is an old saying that "a filial son is born under the stick."
Unlike later, people's concepts have changed, and fewer and fewer parents born in the 1980s and 1990s beat their children.
But the problem is that it is not just a simple fight.
What's more, children are usually beaten when they are older, around seven or eight years old, an age that even dogs can't bear. They are disobedient and get into trouble, and then they get beaten when they get home.
Anyway, children of this age cannot be killed unless they are beaten to death, especially boys, who are very resistant to beatings.
But I've never seen a two or three-year-old child being beaten so harshly.
After listening further, I found that something really happened.
Just in April of this year, Yao Huanhuan died.
After calling the police, Aunt Ding stopped going out to work for a while. She stared at her grandson at home every day, even keeping an eye on him when she went to the toilet.
So Wu Yuemei never acted like a troublemaker again. Of course, she just didn't beat the children. She still scolded the elderly and children as usual.
The call to the police happened in the second half of last year. After the Chinese New Year this year, Aunt Ding felt that nothing seemed to be wrong, so she went out to work again.
After all, rural elderly people do not have pensions like those in the city, so if they don’t work, they will starve to death.
After discussing with his wife and son, he decided to go out to work. Besides, spring had arrived and the busy farming season was about to begin. The old man could not handle the work of those few acres of land by himself.
When Aunt Ding was telling this story, she cried so hard that she was out of breath and almost passed out.
She slapped herself and scolded herself, saying that it was her own stupidity that killed her grandson.
Many aunts and grandmas were secretly wiping away tears.
On April 17th, the town's brick factory had a big job and was looking for temporary workers to move bricks all night long.
The three members of the Yao family went there to earn some money, and the tragedy happened during this period.
On the afternoon of the 17th, according to Wu Yuemei herself, four-year-old Yao Huanhuan knocked over a bottle of eight-treasure porridge, and she was furious.
He grabbed a wire clothes hanger and whipped the child's legs and buttocks hard, causing redness, swelling and local bleeding.
At night, she found that the place where the child was beaten was severely swollen.
She was afraid that her husband and parents-in-law would quarrel with her again after they came back, which was annoying.
So she thought of giving the child a hot bath to reduce the swelling, because she thought hot water could promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis.
Then she boiled some hot water, added cold water, poured it into the bucket and gave the child a bath.
Later, when the water got cold, she took the child out and found that Yao Huanhuan's skin on the lower body was peeling off in a large area.
If he had been sent to the hospital immediately, perhaps the accident would not have happened.
But Wu Yuemei didn't take it seriously at all. She just found the erythromycin ointment at home, applied it to the child, and then took the child to sleep.
She also said that the child slept very soundly that night without making any noise.
The next morning, Yao Xi and his parents returned, still exhausted. Yao Xi went into the house to check on the child and found that the child's hands and feet were cold and his breathing was weak.
He immediately took the child to find the village barefoot doctor. When the barefoot doctor saw the child, he was so scared that he quickly called the villagers to use a tractor and took the child to the town health center.
But when she was sent to the hospital, four-year-old Yao Huanhuan had no vital signs.
Zhou Yi's scalp tingled when he heard this. A four-year-old child was gone just like that.
"Where is Wu Yuemei now?" Zhou Yi asked with a grim face.
Lü Tiezhu said, "He's currently in the county detention center."
If it's a detention center, then they're arrested.
"So how is this case classified now?"
Lu Tiezhu looked at the large group of people around him, hesitated, and whispered to Zhou Yi, "How about we talk inside?"
Zhou Yi nodded, said something to comfort Aunt Ding, and then asked Lu Tiezhu to follow him into the house.
There are three bungalows in Zhou Yi’s grandmother’s house. The middle one is the kitchen, which also serves as a dining area.
The left side is where the grandparents lived, and the right side is where Zhou Yi's mother and her five brothers and sisters lived when they were young. So there are two beds in it, and Zhou Yi used to sleep in this room when he came here during summer vacation.
Zhou Yi took Lu Tiezhu into the room on the right and turned on the light switch.
When the light came on, I couldn't help but be stunned.
The big bed on the left side of the room was covered with a mosquito net, a straw mat, two pillows placed side by side, and a blanket that he brought from home. It was quite neat and clean.
The bed on the right not only had no mosquito net, but it wasn't even made up. Instead, it was piled with some miscellaneous items like bedding.
Zhou Yi quickly packed up and asked about the situation.
Fortunately, Lu Xiaoshuang didn’t see it, otherwise she would have thought it was her idea.
"Brother Tiezhu, what's the situation with this case? Is your police station in charge, or is it the Yunshan County Bureau?"
"At first, it was indeed our police station that handled the case. On April 18th, Aunt Ding and her family took the child to the town clinic, where the doctor pronounced him dead. It was Uncle Yao, the child's grandfather, who came to the police station to look for me," Lü Tiezhu said. "After the last incident, I told Uncle Yao to come to me if anything happened again."
"Then we took Wu Yuemei back to the station for questioning."
"What did she say?"
"It's pretty much the same as what Aunt Ding said just now. Wu Yuemei admitted to beating the child, but she said she didn't expect the child to die. She felt the child's death had nothing to do with her."
"Has the child...had an autopsy done?"
Lu Tiezhu shook his head. His answer surprised Zhou Yi: "No, Aunt Ding and the others don't agree."
"Why?"
"Alas, rural people have such outdated ideas. They believe that after death, the body should be left intact. Disembowelment means eternal damnation," Lü Tiezhu said helplessly. "This case hasn't been easily legalized. If the family doesn't agree, there won't be an autopsy."
This answer made Zhou Yi feel helpless. The old men and women in the countryside certainly didn't understand what an autopsy was. They only knew that it meant opening the stomach. In their minds, reincarnation in the next life might be more important than finding out the cause of death.
Although helpless, this is the fact, and there are even some more outrageous perceptions.
"Where is the child's father? Where is Yao Xi?" Zhou Yi asked, because parents are the guardians, not grandparents.
"You haven't met Yao Xi, right? He's not a bad guy, but he's incredibly cowardly. He has no opinions of his own and is easily influenced by his parents. He listens to his wife and listens to his parents."
"What if my parents and my wife start arguing?"
Lü Tiezhu said with dismay, "Then he should just hide away and never show up!"
Zhou Yi was almost stunned when he heard this. What kind of family is this? Did Yao Huanhuan come to the human world to survive a tribulation? Being born into a family like this is simply unbelievable.
"Where is the child's grandfather?" Zhou Yi asked.
"Had a stroke."
"Is it because of the child?"
Lu Tiezhu nodded. "Yes, when Uncle Yao ran from the hospital to our police station, he seemed unwell. When he returned to the hospital, he collapsed on the spot."
Zhou Yi sighed and thought to himself, what kind of modern Xianglin Sao is Aunt Ding? She is so miserable.
"Since the case has not been determined, why is Wu Yuemei being detained in the county detention center?" Zhou Yi asked.
"Well, our director felt this was too difficult. He was worried about what might happen if he let her go, so he reported it to the county bureau. After studying the case, the county bureau took it over, and Wu Yuemei was sent to the county and detained for a while."
"Later, for some unknown reason, the county released him."
Zhou Yi was shocked: "Release?"
This matter is indeed difficult to define, and it is normal that the police station cannot handle it, so the decision reported by the police station chief of Yunlai Town is correct.
But theoretically, the Yunshan County Public Security Bureau should not have let the person go just like that. Even if Wu Yuemei did not have the intention to cause death, there is still suspicion of manslaughter, and it must be classified as a criminal case.
How can we release someone before the court makes a judgment on a criminal case?
Could it be that the Yunshan County Bureau classified this incident as an accident?
Lu Tiezhu nodded and said, "Yes, Wu Yuemei has returned to her parents' home. When Aunt Ding found out, she brought her son and a bunch of relatives to Wu Yuemei's parents' home to demand an explanation. A fight almost broke out between the two sides, and we even dispatched the police."
"Then how was Wu Yuemei arrested?" Zhou Yi asked, because since the person was in the detention center, it must be under criminal detention.
"Later, it seems a newspaper reported the incident, and Aunt Ding and her family went to the county police station to report the case. The police then dispatched officers and arrested the man. Later, I heard he was detained in a detention center, where he's been ever since," Lü Tiezhu said. "As for the specific arrangements made by the county police station, I'm not sure. After all, it's not something we can interfere with."
Zhou Yi expressed his understanding. He had worked in a grassroots police station for several years in his previous life and was very familiar with the cases of higher-level units, which were basically impossible for the lower levels to understand.
It’s not like now in the Municipal Bureau. If you ask about something, you can go downstairs and they will tell you clearly.
So if you want to understand this matter, it seems you still have to go to the Yunshan County Bureau.
However, the other party might not pay attention to him. After all, he is from the Hongcheng City Bureau and has not been transferred to the Wuguang City Bureau yet.
According to the discipline, I really have no right to ask questions, and at most I will be turned away directly.
"Brother Tiezhu, how about this? You send all the villagers away first. After all, there are so many of them. Then call Aunt Ding in and I'll ask her. How about this?"
Lu Tiezhu nodded quickly, then turned and left.
Zhou Yi lowered his head in thought, recalling the information about Wu Guang's murder case in his mind.
Wu Yuemei and Yao Huanhuan, there are no case files related to these two names.
In other words, no matter how the case was characterized in the previous life, it was definitely not ultimately characterized and sentenced as a homicide.
So even if the sentence is too light, it will be considered manslaughter and the sentence may even be suspended.
If it's a serious crime, that is, abuse, the sentence will probably be around four to five years.
When Aunt Ding kowtowed to herself, she said, "Why don't you police officers shoot her?"
Of course, it is normal for her, an old lady from the countryside, not to know the definition of the death penalty, and of course the only person she can recognize is the police.
But these words reflect her attitude, that she hopes Wu Yuemei can pay for her grandson's life.
That would have to be the crime of intentional homicide, meaning that the person subjectively had the intention to kill and objectively committed an act that was sufficient to deprive another person of his life.
Even so, it remains unknown whether Wu Yuemei will be sentenced to death.
Zhou Yi’s opinion is that it is highly unlikely, and the most he would be sentenced to is life imprisonment.
Unless the autopsy reveals that the child was actually strangled to death by her.
However, Zhou Yi thought this way not because he was forced by Aunt Ding's request.
Instead, he felt strange from the very beginning about Wu Yuemei abusing her own son.
This is not in line with a mother's instinct. After all, she is the child's biological mother, not a stepmother.
Even if she was dissatisfied with the conditions of the Yao family and wanted to vent her anger, she had already beaten and scolded her parents-in-law and husband, so there was no need to do the same to her children.
So there must be something wrong here, and I’m afraid the county bureau will hastily close the case without investigating it thoroughly.
In fact, this situation is possible.
Unless it is a clear-cut homicide case, ambiguous cases like this generally will not be taken seriously.
Or the suspect may have an emotional breakdown and voluntarily admit during interrogation that he has the intention to harm.
Zhou Yi was sitting on the edge of the bed thinking when Lu Xiaoshuang walked in.
Zhou Yi looked up and saw that her eyes were red, obviously she had just shed tears.
"This family is really miserable."
Zhou Yi sighed helplessly: "Oh, what a shame! Yao Huanhuan is such a pitiful child."
"Brother Zhou, although I know you have rules, I still want to ask, can you help them?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked eagerly.
"Rules are fixed, but people are alive. If there really is something else going on here, I will definitely get to the bottom of it!"
Hearing this, Lu Xiaoshuang felt relieved all of a sudden. She knew that since Zhou Yi said so, the truth of this matter would definitely come to light.
At this time, grandma called out from the kitchen: "Xiaoyi, they have all gone back."
"Coming." Zhou Yi responded and walked out.
At this time, the door was closed and there were only six people left in the room, my grandparents, Aunt Ding, and Lu Tiezhu.
Aunt Ding sat there, hunched over, like a withered tree stump.
"Aunt Ding." Zhou Yi shouted.
"Oh." Aunt Ding looked up woodenly.
"Don't worry about this matter. I will do my best to understand the situation and then help you. But I have to be frank. I'm not a judge, and I can't execute Wu Yuemei for you. I can only get to the bottom of this matter. The final outcome will be determined by the court according to the law."
He had to make some things clear first, even though Aunt Ding's family was very pitiful.
But some people are really pitiful and there must be something hateful about them. For example, if they don't agree to the autopsy of the child, they are creating difficulties for the case.
Without an autopsy, the cause of death cannot be confirmed. Without confirming the cause of death, it is impossible to prove that there is a necessary connection between Yao Huanhuan's death and Wu Yuemei's behavior.
This not only affects the characterization of the case, but also the verdict of the case.
Zhou Yi doesn't want to be Mr. Dongguo. He is uneducated, from the countryside, and old. These three factors put together can be equated with being stubborn.
Zhou Yi's grandmother said, "That's right, Aunt Ding, our Zhou Yi is a police officer. I have to ask the judge to decide how to sentence you, okay?"
Aunt Ding nodded mechanically.
"Aunt Ding, let me ask you, after Wu Yuemei was released, did you go to the county to report the case?"
Aunt Ding nodded.
"Under what name did you report the case?"
Aunt Ding shook her head. "I... don't know. It was my son Xizi who reported the case to the county."
Zhou Yi asked again: "Has anyone taught you?"
Hearing this question, Aunt Ding was obviously hesitant and turned to look at Zhou Yi's grandmother.
Grandma was impatient and urged, "Why are you looking at me? There's nothing written on my face. My grandson is asking you a question."
Aunt Ding finally spoke up, "It was... that reporter. He didn't let us tell anyone that he taught us."
"What's the reporter's last name?" Zhou Yi asked quickly.
Aunt Ding just shook her head: "I don't know his name, I only know his last name is Li."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
