Murder in a locked room bed and breakfast (20)

On the way back after the investigation, Feng Shaomin drove without saying a word, and Meng Siqi leaned against the window and looked at the blood-red sunset.

She liked this kind of atmosphere very much. It burned up half the sky, and the anxiety and depression in people's hearts were burned away in an instant.

The bottom of her eyes were also dyed with the crimson of the sunset, like a ball of fire.

"Xiao Meng, after today's investigation, do you have any ideas?" Feng Shaomin asked.

Meng Siqi slowly came back to her senses from the sunset glow. She slowly turned her head and glanced at Feng Shaomin. He was still looking calmly at the horizon in front of him, which was the road extending to the police station.

"Master, I don't have any ideas."

The car continued to move forward. It was getting dark and the street lights replaced the setting sun. "Beep, beep," Feng Shaomin's walkie-talkie started to ring.

Feng Shaomin held the steering wheel with one hand, his eyes never leaving the front of the car, and skillfully picked up the car walkie-talkie from the auxiliary instrument panel with one hand.

"I am Feng Shaomin, please speak."

"Brother Feng, Gui Xiangyang's detention has expired and he has left the police station."

Feng Shaomin was silent for a while. The other party thought it was a connection problem. After he repeated his question, he responded, "Okay, I understand."

The intercom was disconnected. Meng Siqi realized that the intercom was successfully connected to the police station, which meant that she was not far from the police station. She felt conflicted when she returned to the police station.

There is a stubborn little beast hidden in her heart, which was clearly reflected in her interactions with her father when she was a child. The relationship between her and her father was not like that between a little cotton-padded jacket and a big tree, but more like she was a thorn.

She knew that she was not given enough attention, so she always tried to find a way to get her father's attention. The way she did was to use "thorns" to attract her father's attention.

For example, once the school held a parent-teacher meeting. Meng Xinghai had agreed to attend, but he did not come that day and asked a colleague to replace him.

Although the parents' meeting went smoothly, Meng Siqi was very sad. On the eve of the next school sports meeting, she rushed into the heavy rain and ran desperately.

On the school's circular track, the rain was rustling and she ran very fast. Her eyes felt sore and uncomfortable while running. Her purpose was to make herself sick from the cold rain.

While running, she suddenly lost her balance and fell to the ground. That time, her father personally ran to the school and held her plastered ankle in the infirmary, worried to death: "You are just participating in a sports meet, why are you working so hard?"

Seeing her father worried about her, Meng Siqi felt a warm feeling in her heart while enduring the pain of a broken ankle.

From then on, Meng Siqi began to find various ways to make Meng Xinghai pay attention to her, such as getting a minor illness, deliberately not bringing an umbrella when it rained, and deliberately not contacting Lao Meng after class.

Thinking back on it again, she felt both guilty and amused. Meng Xinghai was indeed very busy during that period.

But that was when she was in junior high school. After entering high school, she was no longer so bored. She spent more time comparing the number of phone calls and text messages with her father. She would never call or send her father an extra text message.

Time suddenly went back to the time before her father passed away. Meng Siqi suddenly felt that she was not like the little cotton-padded jacket of other families. She was stubborn in her bones. For so many years, she just wanted to get her father's attention. However, because of this stubbornness, she hid her love for her father.

After he left, she realized that there were many things she had not had the time to say to him.

Just as she was stubborn back then, Meng Siqi was the same now. She was unwilling to give up the investigation. At one point, she even hoped that there would be a small accident along the way that would stop Feng Shaomin's police car on the side of the road. In that way, they would not have to go back to the police station and could continue their investigation and pursue the truth.

But she has grown up, she can no longer act unreasonably like she did when she was a child, she must face everything calmly.

As the car was moving, she opened her notebook again, just like she had raced against time to review her homework in the taxi before the college entrance examination. She opened Long Shan's copywriter's notes again and carefully filtered them from beginning to end.

One by one, even though her ears were ringing and her head was dizzy due to the shaking of the car, she still did not give up.

Feng Shaomin occasionally reminded her, "Reading in the car will make you carsick."

"Master, I know. I'll just take a look." She didn't look up, her eyes still immersed in the details.

Her finger stopped underlining a line of words.

Those were the words Sun Yuanyuan said during her first testimony: "Sister Shanwen always said that she was scared at night, so she asked me to sleep with her."

She immediately turned to Ding Qian's confession because there was a sentence that she had doubted: since leaving the textile factory, they would live together every year for Long Shanwen's birthday, and Sun Yuanyuan would definitely do the same, but only in the first year, they lived separately.

That is to say, when Long Shanwen first came to the B&B, she lived separately from everyone else, but perhaps something happened in the first year, so every year thereafter, she wanted Sun Yuanyuan to live with her.

Long Shanwen has lived in the yard of that homestay every time for the past eight years. She has persisted for eight years, rain or shine. Is it really just because she thinks the environment there is good?

She began to think of all the possible associations. What if Long Shanwen wanted to hide something? Was there any secret in the B&B?

When her thoughts started to unravel, all the mysteries seemed to have a thread that connected all her doubts.

The car slowly stopped. Meng Siqi looked up and saw the door of the police station and the police badge symbolizing justice. She immediately closed the notebook and said to Feng Shaomin, "Master, I really want to go back to the B&B again."

"Go back to the B&B?"

"right."

There was some confusion in Feng Shaomin's eyes, because the B&B was far away from the old site of the textile factory, at least an hour's drive away. Even if Gui Xiangyang had a clever idea, he would not go so far to deal with the corpse. Instead of doing that, it would be more effective to dispose of the body in the deep mountains and forests.

Meng Siqi also understood Feng Shaomin's concerns. This method of disposing of the body was indeed very reasonable.

But she never figured out why Long Shanwen insisted on going to that B&B for eight years unless she went back there in person.

Feng Shaomin seemed to try to understand her. "Xiao Meng, Master understands your feelings. Is there something you can't figure out? Do you need to go to the B&B to verify it?"

"Yes, Master, I don't understand why Long Shanwen insisted on going to the Romantic Poetry B&B for eight years. At least I can't understand it with normal thinking. From the testimonies of Ding Qiansun Yuanyuan and Xia Sulan, they didn't explain it clearly, so I want to go back and take a look again."

"Okay, I support you." Feng Shaomin started the car again.

"Thank you, Master. Even if I don't find anything, you won't blame me, will you?"

Feng Shaomin pursed his lips slightly, as if to comfort her, "Master will support you at any time."

"Thank you, Master. Master, I want to confirm one more thing."

"What?"

"Every time Long Shanwen celebrates his birthday, he would say to Ding Qian and the others, "Exchange gifts for good luck." I think Long Shanwen's words may not be limited to these."

"Time is tight now. Let's split up into two groups and contact Ogawa and the others first."

Feng Shaomin picked up the walkie-talkie and tried to contact the other party. At this moment, a car stopped beside him and Zhao Leiting shouted, "Brother Feng, Siqi, has Gui Xiangyang left the police station?"

"Zhao Leiting, Tang Xiaochuan, come here, I want to tell you something." Feng Shaomin ordered.

Zhao Leiting and Tang Xiaochuan got out of the car one after another and leaned against the driver's window. Feng Shaomin directly ordered: "Go and ask Ding Qian, Xia Sulan and Sun Yuanyuan immediately, what is the most complete sentence of Long Shanwen's words "exchanging gifts for good luck" on their birthdays every year?"

Zhao Lei Ting was puzzled: "Does Brother Feng's words have anything to do with Kong Qushan?"

"Stop talking nonsense and just ask."

"Okay." They both agreed.

Feng Shaomin added: "Xiao Meng and I will go to the Romance B&B later. There is a phone number at the front desk. If you know the number, call me as soon as you get the news."

"Don't worry, Brother Feng." Zhao Leiting agreed.

Now, the troops were divided into two groups. Meng Siqi rushed all the way up the mountainside of the tourist area to the homestay. The mountain road was not easy to drive on. It was already dark. Feng Shaomin was very calm and always maintained a certain speed and moved forward quickly.

More than an hour later, it was already dark on the mountain. Feng Shaomin parked his car in front of the dark door of the B&B. Because of the murder, the B&B was sealed off. It had been a long time since the crime and all the police officers on guard had left. Feng Shaomin, who was in charge of the case, had the key to the B&B.

He stopped the car, turned on the lights, and unlocked it.

Looking at Feng Shaomin's back, Meng Siqi felt uneasy, because all these action plans were her speculations. If the results were not satisfactory, she would always feel unworthy of everyone's efforts. After all, they had been busy all day and it was past the end of get off work time. Now the entire second team was fully engaged in intensive work because of her speculations.

Feng Shaomin opened the door very quickly. The moment the lock was unlocked with a click, the scene in front of Meng Siqi suddenly changed.

This B&B is like being illuminated by a ray of light. Every brick and tile of the B&B begins to fly into the sky like glowing feathers and turn into streams of light.

As time passed, a new picture appeared and Meng Siqi saw Long Shanwen.

She was under a colorful osmanthus tree, digging the soil under the tree with a shovel and buried a white porcelain pot in the soil.

The picture disappeared, and Meng Siqi felt slightly dizzy again, but better than before, but his body still swayed a little.

When she looked at the scene in front of her again, it was Feng Shaomin holding a flashlight. He turned his head to look at her with a slightly worried look on his face, "Xiao Meng, are you feeling a little uncomfortable?"

"It's okay, Master. I've been running all day today. I might be a little tired. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

"Okay, let's go in and take a look. Don't worry if you can't find any clues. Go home and rest first." "Okay, Master."

Although Meng Siqi agreed verbally, she was already thinking about the scene just now. Long Shanwen really had a secret, and that secret was the white round porcelain jar.

Although Meng Siqi is not sure what is inside, as long as she finds it, she will definitely be able to solve Long Shanwen's secret.

Feng Shaomin went in to look for the main gate of the B&B. A moment later, the lights on the B&B came on again. Meng Siqi stood in the lobby, waiting for Feng Shaomin to come back from the power room, and went to look in the yard together.

Feng Shaomin had just arrived at the hall when his phone rang. Meng Siqi stepped forward and picked up the phone. She turned on the speakerphone so that her master could hear it.

The voice on the phone was Zhao Leiting's. He sounded a little excited and seemed to have gained something. He said, "Brother Feng, Siqi, I guess you should have reached this point. We asked all three of you and found that there were indeed complete sentences."

"What is it?" Meng Siqi asked.

"It's probably like this. Every year, Long Shanwen would say, 'I hope my gifts can bring you good luck and protect me to live a long life. If I die, don't be sad, I will leave you treasures in the yard.'"

Treasure? Meng Siqi seemed to understand everything. Long Shanwen left behind a secret about the truth.

After hanging up the phone, Meng Siqi couldn't wait to say, "Master, since the 'treasure' is in the yard, let's go dig it out, and maybe the truth will come out."

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll go get the shovel." Feng Shaomin's tone became a little excited. His steps were firm and brisk, and he quickly brought back the two shovels.

Meng Siqi took the shovel, feeling confident, and walked to the backyard with Feng Shaomin.

As for the scene just now, Meng Siqi actually felt that if it had not happened, it would not have delayed the solving of the case. She suddenly had a feeling that it was possible that this scene was bound to happen sooner or later, that is, if she had not thought of the secret here, the picture would have told her.

This also shows that her current criminal thinking seems to have surpassed the speed at which the images are produced.

She never knew why the images appeared. It seemed that every time it appeared when she couldn't find the key clues. Even this time she still felt that the images were just delayed for a while.

Maybe there must be some special reason for her to come to this world, but what is it? It may not be something she can find out now.

The moment she stepped into the backyard, her thoughts were cut off and she was touched by the scene in the backyard.

After the main gates were opened, the light in the courtyard was almost fully turned on. The pavilion, osmanthus tree, glass house, etc. in the courtyard were all decorated with colorful lights. It was like a fairyland, giving people the feeling of entering a fairy tale world.

She could imagine how Long Shanwen felt every year when she came here to celebrate her birthday. She and her three sisters would drink red wine, eat cake, sing songs, laugh with each other, and spend the happiest night together.

Perhaps she anticipated that she would die one day, so she chose this place as her final resting place. This place might contain the truth of that year, and she wanted to reveal the truth when she died.

Every year she invites her three sisters to come and gives them precious gifts. She does this not only to reminisce and share happiness, but also to instill in them her secrets over and over again.

The yard is not big. If the entire ground is turned over, it will be a lot of work. Feng Shaomin stood in the yard and made a brief analysis: "If Long Shanwen deliberately hid something here, I think there are three places that are more obvious: around the glass house, under the osmanthus tree, around the pavilion, and places with conspicuous features."

Meng Siqi nodded, "Master, what you said makes sense. Let's dig separately. I'll dig the glass house and you dig under the osmanthus tree."

"Okay, let's move separately. With her physical strength as a girl, she must be within one meter. It can't be deeper."

The two of them dug the soil at the selected locations separately. The soil and gravel here are more uniform than those outside, making it more suitable for tourists to rest. There are no large stones or garbage in the soil, so every shovelful brings up solid soil.

Meng Siqi was not strong enough to dig deep, so she could only pretend to do it and looked up from time to time to check on Feng Shaomin's situation.

After digging for nearly half an hour, she dug a small pit, while Feng Shaomin had already dug out a lot of soil. It was estimated that a large area under the osmanthus tree had been dug up.

Instead, she became more and more nervous, fearing that the secret would be leaked or some unexpected event would occur.

Just as she was getting anxious, Feng Shaomin suddenly called out, "Xiao Meng!"

Meng Siqi's heart skipped a beat and she stood up quickly, but her legs and feet were already numb from squatting. She froze in place for a moment. Feng Shaomin seemed to have dug out a white porcelain jar. He said, "It looks like a wine jar. I don't know what it's used for. Come and take a look."

Meng Siqi stood up with great effort and almost stumbled. She walked over slowly, but she couldn't hide her excitement.

Feng Shaomin had already taken out the porcelain jar and wiped off the dirt around it. It was a small jar that could be hugged in a man's palm. It looked very simple, without any patterns, and the texture was a bit rough. It didn't look like an antique worth collecting at all.

Meng Siqi was even more curious about what was inside. She squatted beside Feng Shaomin and watched him lift the altar cover.

The altar lid was sealed with some kind of gel-like substance. Perhaps because of its age, Feng Shaomin peeled it off with his fingers and it all came off easily.

Feng Shaomin shone the flashlight towards the entrance of the altar, and Meng Siqi also looked over. There seemed to be something inside the altar.

Feng Shaomin took out the items inside with his gloved hands. The first thing that came out was something wrapped in a plastic bag. He handed it directly to Meng Siqi. Meng Siqi immediately tore open the plastic bag and opened it layer by layer. There was actually a letter inside.

It says "Long Shan Wen Zi" on the cover, which means it is a letter written by Long Shanwen.

She couldn't wait to open it, pulled out a piece of paper from it, and shone a flashlight on it. It turned out to be a death certificate. Kong Qushan's name was not on the paper. The name on the death certificate was Long Shihua.

Who is Long Shihua? Meng Siqi was a little confused, but he must be related to Long Shanwen.

"Ashes, there are ashes in the jar." Feng Shaomin said suddenly, twisting a handful of powder in the jar with his white gloves.

Long Shihua’s ashes?