Wu Wanying replied with a smile, "Uncle Niu, you must be mistaken! I am the youngest child in my family. I don't have a younger sister, so how could my child have an aunt?"
“Don’t let my age fool you, Uncle Niu isn’t senile yet,” Uncle Niu frowned, thought carefully for a moment, and shook his head. “No, I’ve met the child’s aunt before.”
Now it was Wu Wanying and the others' turn to be surprised.
"Uncle Niu, where did you first meet Yu Yao's aunt?"
"Let me think," Uncle Niu counted the time on his fingers, and after a moment said, "About twenty years ago, one day your mother came up the mountain to pay respects to your father, carrying the baby girl who was still in swaddling clothes. She was accompanied by a young woman."
Upon hearing that it was twenty years ago, the expressions on Yu Yao's and the other two's faces changed drastically.
Wu Wanying's face was pale. "Back in Qin Province, we were afraid that your grandmother would be sad, so except for Qingming and Zhongyuan Festivals, we always kept an eye on her and didn't let her come to the mountain. Only that day, we couldn't keep an eye on her."
When they were looking for their child, they never imagined that the child's maternal grandmother would bring Yu Yao to the mountain, since it was not close to the tenement building.
Yu Yao quickly asked, "Grandpa Niu, do you remember which day it happened twenty years ago?"
Without even thinking, the other person said directly, "That day was the anniversary of my wife's death. I remember it very clearly. It was the third day of the fifth lunar month. I saw the person around ten o'clock in the morning."
Twenty years ago, on the third day of the fifth lunar month, the original body was lost. From the discovery of her grandmother to finding her, it happened to be in the morning.
So, my maternal grandmother once brought the child to the mountain, accompanied by a woman who called herself my aunt.
This woman is very likely the murderer who took away the original body.
Yu Yao and her two companions never expected that this trip would yield such an unexpected reward, as they actually found a clue about where their child had gone missing years ago.
"Grandpa Niu, do you remember what that person who called herself my aunt looked like?"
If you knew what the other person looked like, you might be able to find the murderer.
Uncle Niu noticed that something was wrong with their expressions and asked what happened. When he heard that Yu Yao was the one who was lost that day, his eyes were filled with anger and regret.
"It's all my fault for being useless. If the old man had noticed something was wrong that day, the child might not have been taken away. It's been twenty years. Although my memory is still pretty good, I really can't remember what the other person looked like. If there were a photo, I might be able to recognize them, but trying to recall them from memory is hopeless."
Yu Yao and the other two were disappointed. They had finally found a clue from back then, but was it going to be lost again?
"Oh right, I remember now. I don't remember her face very clearly, but I remember she had a very noticeable mole on the corner of her mouth."
No matter how many details there were, after twenty years, Uncle Niu really couldn't remember them.
At least we've found some clues. Since the other party brought Grandma here, from the old tenement building to the foot of the mountain, there might be other witnesses.
Wu Wanying handed the gift to Uncle Niu: "Uncle Niu, thank you so much for helping with the tomb sweeping over the years. We bought these at the supply and marketing cooperative, including your favorite Qinghua wine. We'd like to look for other clues, so we won't bother you any longer."
After saying goodbye to Uncle Niu, the three left the foot of the mountain.
The environment changes drastically along the way from the foot of the mountain to the dormitory building of the textile factory.
Fortunately, due to the restrictions in recent years, a letter of introduction is required to go out, resulting in less population movement.
They actually found some clues.
What is now certain is that a woman was indeed with the grandmother on the day she took the child away.
She was probably in her early twenties, with short hair that reached her ears. She wasn't bad-looking, and had a mole near the corner of her mouth.
Wu Wanying frowned, her frown was gentle, "These features, except for the matchmaker's mole, are too common. It will probably be difficult to find someone based on these alone."
“Aunt, sister, don’t worry. Let’s report it to the police first. With their help, we might be able to find more clues.”
At this moment, Yu Yao spoke up: "There is another very important hidden clue."
Wu Huaiqing and Wu Wanying looked at Yu Yao, "What clue?"
Yu Yao's expression was solemn: "I remember you said, Mom, that when Grandma was confused, no one could get close to her except people she knew. The fact that you could walk with Grandma and bring her to see Grandpa means that the murderer is likely someone you know."
This discovery is important; it narrows down the scope significantly.
Wu Wanying recalled, "I remember very clearly, none of the people we knew had a mole on their face."
Wu Huaiqing: "Could it be someone we know who contacted someone else?"
Yu Yao shook her head. "No, the more people who know about this, the greater the risk of exposure. Besides, outsiders can't get close to Grandma."
Yu Yao thought of a possibility.
"Do you think it's possible that this beauty mark is just a disguise for the murderer?"
Since the murderer was someone they knew, they must have been afraid of being exposed, but the grandmother wouldn't let the other person get close if they didn't show their face.
In order to conceal their identity, the other party may have deliberately created a mole.
A psychology blogger she followed on Douyin (TikTok) once talked about a psychological concept called perceptual selectivity.
The general idea is that during the process of perception, we tend to focus on and remember stimuli with prominent features, while ignoring other unimportant and inconspicuous parts.
For example, in noisy environments like cafes or supermarkets, we are more likely to hear familiar or particularly prominent sounds, while paying less attention to other unremarkable or inconspicuous sounds.
This is the selectivity of perception.
If someone creates a "matchmaker's mole" on her face, people will only remember the mole and easily overlook other features.
Yu Yao's guess surprised both Wu Wanying and Wu Huaiqing.
If that's the case, then everything will fall into place.
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