After learning about the situation from Tan Hao, the owner of the stationery store, and Cai Heng, the father of the deceased, there was no special discovery. Just when she thought it was a waste of time, Zhou Qiong, the mother of the deceased, suddenly said to herself that eight children surnamed Cai had been killed in just ten days.
"Eight children died in a row?" I asked in surprise. "Can you tell me what happened?"
She didn't answer my question, but asked me a question: "The steel pipe with my daughter's shoe print is 30 cm from the ground, and her height is 104 cm, if she steps on the steel pipe, the total height should be 134 cm When the center of gravity is out of control, her body is either leaning forward or backward. If she leans backward, she will fall at best and cannot get stuck on the phone line. If she leans forward, her forehead It will definitely hit the phone, and even if there is no blood, there will be at least a small red bump. However, we did not find any scars on her forehead."
She was still crying just now, but she became excited as soon as the box was opened, and continued to analyze the doubts for us: "She stepped on the steel pipe, her neck should be 106 cm from the ground, and the bottom of the telephone line is 98 cm from the ground. Centimeters. If her neck is stuck on the phone line when she is weightless, with her weight of 30 pounds and the distance of 8 cm, how could there be only one confinement ditch under the action of inertia? It should also cause Other scars are just right!"
"So, I can be sure that Shaomeng's death was definitely not an accident, she must have been killed by someone! I can even imagine how the murderer killed her, the situation at that time should be like this..." Her eyes looked at me, and she told me her speculation through gritted teeth: "The murderer must be someone Shaomeng knew, and he must be an adult. He walked into the inner hall while we were busy in the store and had no time to take care of Shaomeng. He lured her outside. He tricked Shaomeng into the phone booth and coaxed her to climb up on the steel pipe. Then, at the right moment, he pushed Shaomeng behind him, causing her neck to get stuck on the phone line. "
The doubts and assumptions raised by her have also been considered by colleagues who dealt with the case before. While her arguments are theoretically sound, the reality is far more complicated. First of all, the height of the deceased stepping on the steel pipe is not simply the height of the steel pipe plus the height of the deceased, but also the straightness of the body of the deceased at that time. After all, a six-year-old girl stepping on a cylindrical steel pipe is different from standing on the ground. , the body cannot stand fully with its head held high. Secondly, based on the available evidence, no one except Shaomeng appeared near the phone booth at the time of the incident, and of course there was no murderer she mentioned.
I said what was on my mind, handed her a tissue, and said some comforting words. After she wiped the tears from her face, she still insisted that her daughter was killed. In order to convince us of her assumption, she gave us a terrible message: "Yesterday, when we went to the funeral home to handle the funeral for Shaomeng, an old man in the funeral home named Uncle Qingsheng told me that Shaomeng's death was a bit strange. He also told me that about ten days before Shaomeng's accident, a local family surnamed Cai in Wang Village drowned together with five children. Within a few days, there were two girls surnamed Cai in the next door Liangcun inexplicably. Drowning. Coupled with Shaomeng from our family, eight children surnamed Cai died inexplicably in the past ten days."
"There should be more people surnamed Cai in this county!" Zhen Zhen guessed.
"No such thing!" Zhou Qiong shook his head vigorously, "None of Shaomeng's classmates in the kindergarten have the surname Cai, and there are not many friends with the surname Cai that we know locally. It's not a big name, so the old man of the funeral home will feel strange."
In this way, there is indeed something strange, and it seems that it is necessary to go to the funeral home.
Although it was already nighttime, in order to figure things out as soon as possible, after I left Lao Cai Restaurant, I planned to go to the funeral home that Zhou Qiong mentioned. But as soon as she got into the car, Zhen Zhen pretended to say, "It's already dark, and now people have closed their doors long ago! Let's go again tomorrow, so as not to waste time."
I asked with a smile, "Isn't it dead when it's dark?"
She confidently retorted: "People will die even if it gets dark, but the funeral home won't be open all day!"
I nodded and said solemnly, "Maybe there will be a rest during the holidays!"
"Isn't that so?" she asked earnestly.
I almost vomited blood from her anger, and howled up to the sky: "God, longevity, how on earth are you a detective, you don't even have any basic common sense!"
Generally speaking, most funeral homes are open all year round and are staffed 24 hours a day. Because no matter when someone dies, there will naturally be a business when someone dies. There is a business, and of course the funeral home will not rest. Even if it is the early morning of New Year's Eve, as long as you are not afraid of mildew and dare to knock on the door of the funeral home, someone will definitely open the door.
After I told Zhen Zhen about these things, her expression changed immediately and she asked timidly, "You don't really want to go now, do you?"
"Actually, I want to go after dinner." When I said that, she didn't dare to speak.
The funeral home that Zhou Qiong mentioned was located in a secluded street. There were shops selling incense, candles and paper products nearby. Although it was already night time, most of the shops on the street were still open for business, but there were few pedestrians, which made it seem particularly deserted. . But this is also normal. If no relatives or friends die, who would go to such a musty place in the middle of the night. If the luck is not good, maybe you will meet some homeless "good friends".
Although the street is deserted, the door of the funeral home is still open, and the lights are still on inside, but the lights are slightly dim, which makes people feel uneasy. After entering the funeral home, we found no one in the hall. The empty hall was only filled with wreaths and other memorial items. It was lifeless, as if it was not a living world. I don't know if it was because the air conditioner was turned on, the temperature in the hall was obviously lower than outside, Zhen Zhen's fit body also trembled slightly, and she approached me unconsciously.
I raised my voice slightly and called out "Is there anyone?", but no one responded for a long time. When I called for the second time, an old male voice suddenly came from the inner hall: "Stop calling, there is no one here. , only ghosts!"
Zhen Zhen was startled by the sudden sound, like a frightened kitten, she quickly hid behind me. I was also quite frightened, staring at the door leading to the inner hall as if facing an enemy. The light in the inner hall was not turned on, the door was pitch black, a pale face suddenly appeared in the darkness, and then he saw his body leaning forward and floating out like a ghost. Zhen Zhen came out from behind me and saw this eerie figure with only the upper body, she couldn't help screaming in fright.
"Don't yell, it's not a good thing to yell here at night."
An old man in his sixties came out of the doorway with a strange figure. He didn't seem to like us destroying the tranquility here. When he completely entered the range of the light, I could see clearly the strange figure that startled us. It turned out to be a paper puppet he was holding in his hand.
When I wanted to tell him what I meant, he suddenly put his index finger in front of his lips, motioned us to speak as quietly as possible, and explained: "The funeral parlor is the place where the bardo gathers, and it's easy to shout here at night. Alarm them. Especially if you can't yell 'is there anyone' or something like that, if they answer you, you'll be in big trouble."
"What does the bardo body mean?" Zhen Zhen asked timidly.
"The front yin is gone, the posterior yin has not yet arrived, and the middle yin is in front." The old man muttered, and then explained: "When a person just passed away, because the consciousness before death is still very strong, often before Sanqi returns to the soul. , still don't know that they have left the yang world. These spirits who think they are still alive in the yang world are the middle yin body. Because they still think they are still alive, so you can't shout 'is there anyone' here or something like that. Once they answer , I will communicate with you, and to put it simply is to pester you." Hearing him say that, I was really a little scared, but fortunately there was no "good friend" answering just now.
After talking to him for a while, I remembered that we had not made it clear that we were here, so I hurriedly introduced myself to him and told him that we were looking for Uncle Qingsheng.
The old man's wrinkled face suddenly showed a happy face, and smiled: "Oh, it's rare, there is still a policeman who made a special trip to find my old bone." It turned out that the old man in front of us was the uncle Qingsheng we were looking for. Finally no run in vain.
Uncle Qingsheng is a talkative person, so we had some gossip with him before we got to the point. He said that he had toiled in the funeral home for half his life, and he had no children or daughters, so he was afraid that he would die here.
"This is life. In my line of work, I deal with dead people all day long, and I am stained with mold. There must be one of the three damages." He sighed softly, breathing out a smoke.
I have also heard a little about the "three losses", which refers to the loss of wealth, longevity and heirs. I thought it was just a master of Feng Shui, because there are too many leaks and there will be three losses. I didn't expect to be engaged in funeral work. There are three losses. However, what I didn't even expect was that this seemingly desolate old man in front of me turned out to be a rich man with a lot of money.
"I didn't expect it, I opened this funeral home." Uncle Qingsheng smiled proudly.
Zhen Zhen said in surprise: "Since you are the boss, why do you have to work the night shift by yourself instead of going home earlier to rest?"
Uncle Qingsheng closed his eyes and thought deeply, as if recalling the past. After a while, he let out a long sigh: "Alas, I had three children, but they died before they reached the age of three. My wife was unhappy because of this, and left me more than ten years ago. Although I have a house with thousands of square meters, I can't find any feeling of home when I go back to the lifeless house every night. Since the family is not a family, why go back? Anyway, the guys don't want to be worth it. During the night shift, I simply moved all my belongings and took care of this place. At the very least, occasionally someone would come over to chat with me in the middle of the night. It’s not as lonely as staying alone in an empty house. If I stretched out my feet that night, there would be a guy to help me with the funeral the next day. In that empty house, I'm afraid no one will know that I have reported to the Palace of Hell until the body stinks."
In his lonely sigh, Zhen Zhen tried to comfort him: "Actually, you are not bad now, you have money and a house, and you are the boss. Now there are many people who have been fighting for a house for the rest of their lives!"
"This is just what you young people think. In fact, people only need three meals and one night. It doesn't matter whether the house is rented or bought, whether the food you eat every day is delicacies from the mountains and the sea, or whether it is rough and light. It is enough to live in the wind and sleep. You can see me as an example. In order to make money when I was young, I did a lot of things that go against my conscience. In the end, the money is indeed too much to spend, but I lost more precious things.” Uncle Qingsheng With a bitter smile, "Young people, fame and fortune cannot bring happiness, and fighting for fame and fortune will only make people ignore the people in front of them who are worth cherishing."
He looked at me and Zhen Zhen meaningfully, as if there were other hints. Zhen Zhen obviously understood what he meant, her face turned red all of a sudden, I couldn't help feeling embarrassed. Just when I was about to change the subject, I suddenly heard the dull sound of "knock, knock, knock" hitting the wood several times from the inner hall.
"Is there anyone else inside?" Zhen Zhen looked at the pitch-black door leading to the inner hall.
"No." Uncle Qingsheng shook his head, "If no one is here to set up a mourning hall or do things, I will be the only one here at night."
Knock, knock... Knock, knock, knock... The knock sounded again, dull and rhythmic, as if someone was knocking on the wall of the closed wooden box.
"What's the matter with this voice?" Zhen Zhen's face was not very good. Of course it was, after all, this is a place that conjures up images of terrible things.
"It's okay, I'm in business, it often happens at night, it's just the sound of the coffin..." Uncle Qingsheng seemed to want to tell us what was going on, but when he saw Zhen Zhen's slightly rosy cheeks turning pale, he immediately Swallow the words back.
He didn't go on, but the pounding didn't go away, and it got louder in our silence, each pounding like a death knell, chilling. The more he doesn't make things clear, the more he's going to confuse people. I can still stand it, but Zhen Zhen is different, this can be seen from her face alone.
I think if she doesn't understand the voice now, she probably won't dare to sleep alone tonight. Therefore, I asked Uncle Qingsheng, what is the reason for this noise
"In fact, the new ghosts are picking the coffin." Uncle Qingsheng said lightly: "After a person leaves the Yang World, relatives and friends who have passed away will come to greet him and show him the afterlife world. These old ghosts usually bring the new ghosts to the place first. Coffin shop or funeral home, choose a coffin that you like, just like a living person chooses a bed. When I was young, whenever I heard the sound of the coffin at night, I was happy, because it means that someone has passed away, and it will soon be There's business coming."
I thought that as long as Uncle Qingsheng explained the matter clearly, it would relieve Zhen Zhen's doubts and make her no longer afraid. But I never expected that Uncle Qingsheng would give such a terrifying answer. This time it was fine, Zhen Zhen's face turned from white to blue, whenever the knock sounded, she would stare at the door, as if a new ghost with disheveled hair would float out of the inner hall at any moment.
Uncle Qingsheng comforted her and said, "I don't do anything wrong in my life, and I don't panic when I knock on the door in the middle of the night. As long as you don't do bad things, you don't need to be afraid of ghosts."
Having said that, don't look at her strong appearance, in fact, like most girls, she is very afraid of ethereal ghosts. Fortunately, the beating only lasted for a short period of time, otherwise our conversation with Uncle Qingsheng would have been interrupted.
In order not to be delayed by the inexplicable voice again, I took the time to cut to the chase and asked Uncle Qingsheng about the recent deaths of eight children surnamed Cai.
"I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as it seems." Uncle Qingsheng frowned and hesitated, as if thinking about whether to tell us what he knew. After a long time, he said again: "Perhaps, I should tell you a legend about the inextinguishable evil spirit first."