We hurried to Zhang Guozhong's home. At that time, there were only a few people in Zhang Guozhong's home who were comforting Zhang Guozhong's wife who was crying. It seemed that these people should be Zhang Guozhong's relatives. As for the others, I think they should have followed the village chief to settle accounts with Master Liu.
Following Officer Yang, I immediately rushed into Zhang Guozhong's bedroom, and saw Zhang Guozhong, the thin and dark middle-aged man who was so arrogant yesterday, lying powerlessly on the floor. There was a lot of blood on the ground, all of which was spurted from Zhang Guozhong's pierced throat. On top of Zhang Guozhong's body, who died with his eyes open, was the burly corpse of Li Jianmin, whom I saw in the cemetery yesterday. I saw Li Jianmin's hand inserted into Zhang Guozhong's pierced throat. From the surface, it seemed that Zhang Guozhong was indeed killed by Li Jianmin's corpse.
This bloody scene made my legs tremble. Coupled with what happened last night, I felt an indescribable resistance and fear towards Li Jianmin's body. I turned to Lin Yingxue and said embarrassedly, "Can you help me see if Zhang Guozhong has the same wounds as mine?"
Lin Yingxue rolled her eyes at me and didn't answer. She walked directly to Zhang Guozhong's body and kept looking through it. Finally, she stared at Zhang Guozhong's shoulder and said, "Found it. There is an identical wound."
After getting a definite answer, I was no longer so afraid. I squatted beside Zhang Guozhong's body and observed him carefully. Because I already knew the murderer's method of killing, the previous unknown fear was also swept away.
"What did you find out? Do you know what happened to your wound?" Lin Yingxue asked me while checking to see if the wound on the back of my head was still bleeding.
I chuckled and said, "Of course, but I'll keep you in suspense for now and tell you later. In fact, have you noticed that no matter who does this case, they can do it. So judging from the method alone, anyone could be the murderer."
"Isn't this nonsense? What exactly do you want to say?"
I paused for a moment, turned around and motioned for Officer Yang to come over, then whispered, "I only have two questions now. As long as these two questions are answered, I can completely determine who the murderer is!"
Officer Yang and Lin Yingxue looked at each other, waiting for me to continue.
"First, what is the reason for the coincidental death of Zhao Tiezhu's father? Second, what is the murderer's motive for killing? As long as these two things are found out, all the mysteries will be solved."
Officer Yang frowned and said, "What if the murderer had no target at all and was killing indiscriminately?"
I shook my head and said, "This is impossible. If it was really an indiscriminate killing, I would have died last night. The murderer didn't take such a good opportunity to kill. It's obvious that he killed people for a purpose. And you see, Li Jianmin and Zhang Guozhong seem to be of the same generation. I suspect that the murderer's target of killing should be people of their generation."
It was obvious that Officer Yang and Lin Yingxue had not noticed the age connection between the two deceased. After hearing what I said, they immediately looked enlightened. I continued, "And I'm sure there must be more than one murderer!"
"What do you mean? Why isn't the murderer just one person?" Lin Yingxue was completely intrigued by what I said and immediately came forward to ask.
I pointed at Li Jianmin's body on the ground and said, "Look, Li Jianmin's body is still spotless, without any trace of mud on the body. Although the ground has been almost dry in the past two days, there was still a lot of mud and water when we came here just now. Look at our shoes, they are all dirty, but Li Jianmin's body is so clean, which means that the body was not dragged here. Li Jianmin's figure is already burly, and I don't believe that one person can bring such a heavy body here without getting it dirty! Besides, I also looked at the ground carefully when I came here, and there was no trace of any transportation tools, which can only mean that at least two people carried the body here together!"
After I said this, Officer Yang's frown deepened. He said, "According to what you said, we don't know all the details of this case yet. If this continues, we won't be able to solve the case on time before tomorrow. How can we explain this to Chief Bai?"
Whether Officer Yang confesses or not is a small matter. At most, Bai Qi will scold him a few times. But it is different for me. If Bai Qi is disappointed with me after he comes, then my future path to making money will be completely gone.
"We still have one day. Don't jump to conclusions so early. Go ask Zhang Guozhong's wife if she remembers what happened last night." I was more anxious than anyone else. I turned around and walked out of the bedroom to ask Zhang Guozhong's wife.
But before I even reached Zhang Guozhong's wife, I heard her crying and shouting, "That damn Liu Datou clearly said he had subdued the evildoer, but now my son Zhang has died tragically at the hands of the evildoer. Folks, you must help me. Life was already hard at home, and now even Zhang is gone. What else do you want me to do?"
Zhang Guozhong's wife fell to the ground and cried and cursed. Many people around her wanted to help her up but they couldn't. She looked like a shrew. It seemed that she believed that Zhang Guozhong's death was caused by an evil spirit. So we didn't bother to ask her anything, and we didn't think we could get anything out of her. So we didn't waste any more time and immediately went to the next house.
The next place we are going to is Zhao Tiezhu's home, because several main suspects have alibis for last night, and Zhao Tiezhu also had a conflict with today's deceased Zhang Guozhong yesterday, so it is reasonable for us to ask Zhao Tiezhu about his movements last night.
Soon, the three of us arrived at Zhao Tiezhu's house. As soon as we walked into the yard, we saw Zhao Tiezhu eating breakfast in the yard. When he saw us come in, he immediately came forward and asked us if we wanted to eat something.
When the three of us came in, we were all a little surprised, because we all saw that there was a girl next to Zhao Tiezhu, who was having breakfast with him.
The girl looked to be about twenty years old and a little thin. It might be because the climate in the countryside was not very good. The girl had some freckles on her face and a ponytail on her head. She had an indescribable sense of friendliness, just like a girl next door.
When the girl saw us coming in, her face immediately turned red and she turned around and walked into the house. I walked up to her curiously and asked, "Tiezhu, is this your girlfriend?"
Zhao Tiezhu also felt a little embarrassed and nodded gently. Seeing the shy looks of these two people, I seemed to remember my first love in high school. It was probably like this, simple and unpretentious, yet intoxicated. In today's society, this kind of love is probably almost extinct.
I was already extremely hungry, so I didn't bother to be polite with Zhao Tiezhu. He immediately shouted into the room, "Jinlian, go get some more food. Get more."
At this time, Zhao Tiezhu's girlfriend came out of the room, not daring to look at us, and turned into the kitchen.
"Jinlian? Your girlfriend's name is Jinlian?"
"Yes what's the matter?"
"What's her last name?"
"The last name is Pan!"
To be honest, I almost laughed out loud at that time. Not only me, but even Officer Yang and Lin Yingxue beside me couldn't help coughing. I thought to myself, what is the educational level of Zhao Tiezhu's girlfriend's parents? How could they name their daughter Pan Jinlian
Jokes aside, I still remembered the main purpose of my visit, so I cleared my throat and asked, "Tiezhu, what were you doing last night?"
I originally thought that Zhao Tiezhu would casually say that he was sleeping, but after I asked this question, his face changed significantly and he immediately became hesitant, as if he had something to hide.
Seeing Zhao Tiezhu's change, Officer Yang and Lin Yingxue immediately became alert. Seeing that they seemed to be about to do something bad, I immediately signaled them not to be impulsive and continued, "What's wrong?"
"It's not that I don't want to say it, but I really can't say it. I'm sorry, everyone."
The more Zhao Tiezhu behaved like this, the more suspicious he became in our eyes. Just when I was about to ask again, Zhao Tiezhu's girlfriend Pan Jinlian came out of the kitchen. Her face was already red. She looked at Zhao Tiezhu who looked embarrassed and said to us: "Do you suspect that Tiezhu was the one who killed someone last night? I can testify that he is not the murderer, because we stayed together all night last night."
The more Pan Jinlian spoke, the softer her voice became, until it was even quieter than a mosquito. After she finished speaking, she immediately covered her face and hid in the kitchen.
Zhao Tiezhu stared blankly at the kitchen door. Perhaps he couldn't believe that a girl would dare to say something he was unwilling to say.
Pan Jinlian's answer made the three of us feel awkward. It was obvious that the young couple had been making love last night. People in rural areas are more conservative. Zhao Tiezhu was reluctant to say it for Pan Jinlian's good, not because he felt guilty.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't want to pry into your privacy, it's just..."
I really didn't know how to ease the awkward atmosphere, but Zhao Tiezhu waved his hand and said, "I understand. After all, there was a murder in the village, and it's my duty to cooperate with your investigation. Jinlian has been with me for three years. When the road is clear in a few days, I will go out and find a job in the city and marry her home as soon as possible."
Looking at Zhao Tiezhu's determined eyes, I suddenly felt emotional. It seems that I have to find a girlfriend as soon as possible. The greatest motivation for a man is probably his family and his woman.
Since Zhao Tiezhu was no longer suspected, we prepared to eat something before going to find Master Liu. But at this moment, Zhao Tiezhu said hesitantly, "Actually, when I went to the bathroom last night, I seemed to hear a dog barking outside the door. I quietly peeked through the crack in the door and seemed to see Master Liu sneaking outside. I don't know what he was going to do."