When the suspect was fleeing in a hurry, a villager pulled off the black cloth covering his face, but because it was too dark, the suspect's appearance could not be seen clearly.
All we know is that the murderer had a scratch on the right side of his neck, so I'd like you to try and see if you can draw a portrait of the suspect.
"I can meet with the witnesses and try to see if I can draw it." Chu Jingqiu said.
Gu Weimin and Chu Jingqiu agreed to go directly to the Red Star Brigade the next day, meet the witness at the brigade headquarters, and then draw the portrait there.
The next day, after breakfast, the three newly arrived male educated youth were practicing on sandbags in the yard. When Chu Jingqiu was pushing her bicycle out of the educated youth site, Yue Wenbin smiled at her and said, "Chu Zhiqing, do you want to go out?"
"Well, I'm out doing some work. Are you guys exercising?" Chu Jingqiu responded politely.
"I had nothing to do this morning. I saw this in the yard and was just curious, so I played with it." Yue Wenbin continued to maintain his charming smile.
"Oh!" Chu Jingqiu responded and said nothing more, pushing the cart out.
The dark-haired man looked at Chu Jingqiu's back with disdain and said, "Brother Bin, this girl is pretty, but it seems your signature smile doesn't work on her!"
Qiao Rucheng wiped the sweat from his face and said, "You can't say that. Wenbin is so outstanding, when does he need to take the initiative to chase girls?"
Chu Jingqiu had visited the Red Star Brigade last time, so she found it easily by bike. Gu Weimin arrived at the brigade headquarters early, and when he saw Chu Jingqiu coming, he quickly invited her in.
There were four people sitting in the room, who looked like two couples. Gu Weimin told her that these were the witnesses that night.
The victim herself was in a trance because she had suffered a great shock, so she was still at the educated youth point and was not called over.
Chu Jingqiu waved his hand and said, "It's okay. Let's ask these witnesses first and see if we can draw it."
Chu Jingqiu first asked them to describe the specific circumstances of that night. The older woman said, "I was about to go to bed that night when I heard someone shouting for help in the dilapidated yard of Damin's house. My husband and I grabbed a broom and a shovel and ran out.
When we got there, we found a man with his face covered, as if with a cloth bag with two holes dug in the bag, revealing his eyes. He was shirtless and only wore a pair of pants, rushing out of the dilapidated house.
My man chased him with a broom, and when he got close to him, he hit him with the broom. As a result, he used too much force and fell down, and the broom lifted off his mask.
Jianzhong and his wife ran over from behind and shone a flashlight from a distance. The bad guy grabbed the mask and ran away.
Tang Zhiqing in the room was about to hang himself, so we two women quickly ran into the room to take care of Tang Zhiqing.
The two men chased the bad guy, but they didn't catch him. The dilapidated house was only a few dozen meters away from the reed marsh. He ran out of the village and hid in the reed marsh, and we couldn't find him anymore.
After Chu Jingqiu heard her finish, she asked, "How old does this person look? How tall is he? Is he fat or thin?"
The villager who chased him with a broom that night said, "This bad guy is about the same height as me and very thin. From the look I gave him, I guess he's about 26 or 27 years old, at most in his early 30s."
Gu Weimin asked curiously, "Chu Zhiqing, we understand all of this. We just want to know what this person's face looks like. Do we need to ask about their height when drawing their face?"
Chu Jingqiu smiled and said, "When drawing a person, start by drawing the bones. A person's facial shape is largely determined by their height and age. I have to find out the person's height, weight, and age before I can start drawing.
It would be best to know this person's accent. People from each region have their own facial features. Did you hear this person speak? "
Several villagers shook their heads. Gu Weimin said, "Before the victim fainted, the man cursed her and told her to behave herself. According to the victim's recollection, the man spoke with a local accent."
Chu Jingqiu began to draw on the paper with a rustling sound. She drew a rough outline. When the outline was almost done, the final key was the facial features.
When it comes to facial features, several people have different opinions. One says they are big like cow eyes, another says they are triangular eyes, one says they have a pitted face, another says they have a shoe-horn face; one says they have a high nose, another says they have a bulbous nose.
Gu Weimin said helplessly: "Yesterday we asked about this and it got messed up. We don't know who to listen to anymore."
Chu Jingqiu explained: "This behavior of these people is called memory revision, also known as construction processing. There are often missing parts in people's memories.
People often use logical reasoning, conjecture, or new information to construct these missing parts. Therefore, the "memory" of certain things may be something that never happened.
People who fabricate memories often wonder why they misremembered something after learning they had provided “false testimony.”
Gu Weimin frowned and said, "What should we do? Don't you have any solution?"
Chu Jingqiu thought for a moment, then asked the villager closest to the criminal who was chasing him with a broom, "What was that person's expression at the time?"
The villager said, "It was frightened, and its triangular eyes were wide open."
As Chu Jingqiu painted, he guided the villager to describe the skin color, hairstyle, and facial features of the person in his mind's picture...
Gu Weimin was surprised, and Chu Jingqiu explained to him, "In fact, many people can't remember the criminal's specific appearance, but the criminal's vivid expression is deeply engraved in the person's mind.
When asked about the criminal's facial expression, many people can clearly answer. I then use these facial expressions to guide them and gradually draw the criminal's entire face."
While Chu Jingqiu was painting, several witnesses kept giving him feedback: "The face is similar, but the eyes are not", "The eyes could be smaller", "The nose is too big, the mouth is too small", "The forehead is too wide, the chin is narrow", "A little less hair".
After repeated revisions by Chu Jingqiu, the villager closest to the criminal still felt that it was not the same. This person provided the most clues. If he said it was not the same, then there must be a problem.
After a brief thought, Chu Jingqiu asked her, "When the flashlight shone on this person, what posture were you in? Were you still lying on the ground, or did you stand up?"
"He's lying down and hasn't stood up yet." The villager replied.
Chu Jingqiu thought it was a problem with his perspective, so she revised it. Several people said in unison, "That's him, that's the person."
Gu Weimin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, these people reached a consensus. All that remained was to screen the suspects.
Chu Jingqiu completed her mission. Gu Weimin sent her out of the brigade headquarters and then hurried to look for the suspect.
When they returned to the educated youth site, Shi Aihong and a few others were cooking. They had gone to Widow Zhang's house to buy eggs today. She was cutting leeks in the yard and gave them a big bunch and some loofahs.
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