heart poison

The light in the police room is much brighter than the floor lamp in the guest room of "Shanweitang", and it cannot be adjusted. When it is turned on, it is as bright as day, and when it is turned off, darkness falls suddenly.

As an important person involved in the case, Yuan Feifei can neither leave Luoguan Village nor return to "Shanweitang" for the time being.After an evening questioning, an officer took her to a police station at the end of the corridor, told her not to leave without permission, and closed the door.She first sat on an armchair in a daze, then raised her feet, hugged her calves with her hands, and buried her face in her knees as if she couldn't stand the light.

But this position did not last long.

After a while, she jumped off the armchair in a panic, staggered to the door, and turned off the ceiling light with a "snap".

In an instant, the light was replaced by darkness, and the room was filled with the sound of rapid breathing and faster and faster heartbeat.

There should be nothing to be seen in the darkness, but a little light seeps in from the cracks in the door and the windows with the curtains not fully drawn, making everything in this small space into shadows.

She leaned against the wall tightly, her ten fingers curled up, her fingertips were almost embedded in the wall, and her nails rubbed against the wall, making a teeth-stinging sound.

In a trance, she seemed to see a black fire burning in the darkness. Five small figures struggled in the fire, which seemed to be five little boys in pain.A few seconds later, the five figures gradually merged, like melted molten iron.Soon, the shadow changed form again, splitting into three adults.They prostrated themselves on the ground, howled and stretched out their hands to her, as if to say——Yuan Feifei, save us, save us!

Those three people only had outlines, but she knew that they were Zhou Liangjia, Fan Miao, and Sheng Feixiang who were burned to death!

She trembled and covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming.She felt that she couldn't move, and the eerie cold air rushed from the soles of her feet to her whole body. After a while, it seemed that even her scalp was numb from the cold.

She couldn't take it anymore, sobbing softly, fumbling for the switch of the overhead light.

The scorching light once again occupied every corner of the police room.She looked around in horror, not caring to wipe the tears off her face.

There was no black fire in the room, nor the five little boys who died in the village primary school, nor the three companions who were burned to death.

Everything is an illusion!

She fell to the ground exhausted, her chest heaved violently, and her whole body trembled, as if she had just experienced an extremely painful torture.

An infrared camera in a corner of the police room recorded all her emotional changes.

??

Hua Chong glanced at the display screen, propping his chin with his right hand, "When I contacted her in the morning, I asked a question—whose idea was this trip. She hesitated and said that everyone wanted to go out and play a long time ago. , it’s just that she couldn’t make an appointment in time. At that time, her eyes were moving all the time, and she didn’t dare to look at me. Now it seems that she lied more than one lie.”

Liu Zhiqin was also looking at the display screen. The woman in the picture didn't seem to be aware of the existence of the camera. At this moment, she was squatting facing the wall, hitting her forehead with one hand, as if she wanted to drive some terrible memories out of her mind.

Hua Chong didn't ask Liu Zhiqin how he found out Yuan Feifei's itinerary and private communications in the past six months. After all, these things were easy for Liu Zhiqin, and all he needed to know from Liu Zhiqin was the result.

He asked: "When did Yuan Feifei go to Luoguan Village the last few times? Alone? Or with whom?"

"Alone." Liu Zhiqin turned his head and tapped the keyboard twice, "I came here for the first time on March 3 this year and stayed at Qian Qing's farmhouse. I left on March 2; I came again on May 3." Back, this time I stayed at Luo Hao’s farmhouse and left on May 5th; the last time I came was on June 5th and stayed at Shanweitang and left on July 17th.”

Hua Chong's pupil light moved slightly, "She lives in the homes of the victims of small village cases! Then these two cases..."

"There must be some kind of connection." Liu Zhiqin looked at Yuan Feifei who suddenly became quiet on the display screen, and said again: "Xu Sheng is right, they are not particularly good friends, just because of fellow villagers and alumni. friendship, so they come out to get together occasionally. They have a fellow villager group on WeChat, and there are other people in it. Yuan Feifei seldom speaks, and she chats with Zhou Liangjia in private. It can be seen that they have a good relationship with Zhou Liangjia. From Since August, she has been looking for Zhou Liangjia frequently, and asked many times if she wants to spend some time, and everyone will go to Luoguan Village for a few days."

"She only found Zhou Liangjia, so Sheng Feixiang, Fan Miao, and Xu Sheng were all invited by Zhou Liangjia?"

"Yes. Zhou Liangjia and Fan Miao have a relatively close relationship, and Fan Miao and Sheng Feixiang are doing business in partnership, and Xu Sheng and Fan Miao have a good relationship."

Hua Chong thought for a while, "Yuan Feifei knows that if Zhou Liangjia is invited to make an appointment, Fan Miao will definitely be able to make an appointment. Fan Miao will most likely be able to attract Sheng Feixiang, and Xu Sheng can come or not..."

Liu Zhiqin nodded, "On the surface, Zhou Liangjia took the lead on this trip, but in fact it was initiated by Yuan Feifei. Let's put it in order—Yuan Feifei found Zhou Liangjia first, and Zhou Liangjia took the appointment. It means that she herself will definitely participate; Fan Miao and Zhou Liangjia have a special relationship, and they are the second most likely to participate among several people; Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao are above friends, and they have a working relationship, so the possibility of participation They are lower than Fan and Zhou, but higher than Xu. The result now is that all three of them were burned to death. Yuan Feifei, who was behind the scenes to promote this trip, has a very suspicious mental state and behavior."

Hua Chong stood up, walked a few steps, fiddled with a pen in his hand, "She is indeed suspected, but..."

At this moment, a police officer from the Trace Inspection Division rushed over and shouted out of breath, "Flower team! There is something wrong with 'Shanweitang'!"

Hua Chong stood still, "What did you find?"

"In the afternoon, we found a large amount of soil in Yuan Feifei's guest room. After inspection and comparison, it is confirmed that some of the soil came from the abandoned village, and some of it came from Xulu Mountain!" The policeman took a breath and said: "' The waiter of Yamamido said that when the guests go to Mt. Xulu, the soles of their feet will get a lot of mud, which will make the floor of the guest room dirty, so they will carefully clean the floor every day to clean up the mud that falls from the soles of the guests' shoes. clean."

Hua Chong immediately understood, "So the soil that appeared in the guest room was brought back by Yuan Feifei last night? She not only went to the village school, but also went to Xulu Mountain!"

The police officer excitedly said: "Yes! Maybe she killed Fan Miao and the three of them!"

No, not right!

Looking at the energetic face of the policeman, Hua Chong suddenly felt that the matter could not be so simple.

The person who set up the fire on Xulu Mountain was very courageous, but also very careful.And to burn three living people to death in that situation, the psychological resistance must be very outstanding.

Yuan Feifei does not account for any of these three characteristics.

She is very timid, she can tremble with fright just by saying a word, all the fear is shown in her eyes, and that expression is definitely not faked.

Her thoughts are not delicate, otherwise she would not use WeChat to express her appeal to Zhou Liangjia, let alone leave the soil brought back from the mountain in the guest room after going to the crime scene.

She has almost no psychological ability to resist stress, as evidenced by her emotional behavior in another police room at this time.

But she is indeed suspicious and problematic!

Why did she ask Zhou Liangjia to invite someone to visit Luoguan Village?

Why did you come here alone three times, and each time you stayed at the victim's home in the small case in the village?

What is her relationship with Qian Maojiang, Qian Qing, and Luo Hao?

She avoided surveillance last night, what was she doing in the abandoned village and Xulu Mountain?

Why would she lie and claim she was just walking around the village?

If she killed Zhou Liangjia and the others, what was her motive?

Just as he was thinking, a figure appeared outside the door.

It was Xu Sheng.

"You, tell me, if you think of something, I will tell you in time." Xu Sheng rubbed his hands uncomfortably, and looked at the end of the corridor - that was the room where Yuan Feifei was. I don't know if what happened will help you solve the case."

Hua Chong hurriedly let him in and closed the door, seeing that he was too nervous, so he put the cigarette and lighter in front of him.

He hastily pulled out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep breath, and managed to calm down after half a minute.

"Don't be nervous, speak slowly. You provided clues, and we will definitely protect you." Liu Zhiqin sat down opposite him, while Hua Chong walked to the window and closed the curtain with a "shua".

"This matter is related to Yuan Feifei." Xu Shengang said, and then explained: "But I didn't mean that she was the murderer!"

"Just say what you want, we will judge for ourselves." Liu Zhiqin said: "But there is one thing, what you say must be true and cannot be fabricated. My colleague is currently visiting Xiancheng. You know what happened in junior high school. Your classmates may know it too. If you tell a lie, I will be able to find it out soon after comparison."

Xu Sheng quickly waved his hand, "It's this time, why should I lie to you police? I promise I'm telling the truth!"

"Yeah." Liu Zhiqin nodded, "Then let's start. What happened when you were in junior high school?"

"It has nothing to do with me!" Xu Sheng cleared himself up again, swallowed his saliva, and said, "What, Yuan Feifei chased after Sheng Feixiang when she was in junior high school."

Hearing this, Hua Chong and Liu Zhiqin's eyes changed.

"Chasing refers to confession?" Liu Zhiqin couldn't think of any other way for the "pursuit" among junior high school students.

"Yeah. But Sheng Feixiang didn't like her and didn't agree. At that time, Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao had a good relationship. They fought and collected protection money together. After Sheng Feixiang rejected Yuan Feifei, he played her with Fan Miao. .”

"Playing?" Hua Chong asked, "What do you mean?"

Xu Sheng was taken aback, and immediately explained: "It's not about 'playing', it's about bullying her and teasing her for fun."

"Be more specific."

"Well, let me think about it." Xu Sheng lowered his head and organized his speech for a long time, "Don't junior high school students have a lot of puppy love? Our junior high school is not good. Many of the boys are bastards, and the girls just like to follow. These bastards may feel that they have a special face when they mix together. At that time, Fan Miao and Sheng Feixiang got along better. Fan Miao was very cool, Sheng Feixiang was handsome, and he was very melancholy. Many women liked him. Yuan Feifei is one of them."

Hua Chong pursed his lips and leaned against the window.He did not expect that Yuan Feifei and Sheng Feixiang could have such a relationship.

"Don't look at Yuan Feifei is pretty good-looking now. When she was in junior high school, she was ugly and fat. She also had a lot of pimples on her face. She wore a pair of glasses and her personality was not very cheerful. She only had fun with a few girls. Good. In the eyes of us boys, she is an ugly girl who has no sense of existence." Xu Sheng sighed and said, "However, as long as you can make up, dress up, take pictures, and take pictures, you can't be ugly. Where are you going?"

Seeing that he was going to pull away, Liu Zhiqin asked, "Is it because Sheng Feixiang looks down on her because she is ugly?"

"Of course! She is timid and quiet. She seldom talks to boys. After she likes Sheng Feixiang, she dares to write a love letter to Sheng Feixiang. But the girls who chase Sheng Feixiang are all lined up outside the school gate. There are many flowers, and there are seniors from high school. How can Sheng Feixiang like her?" Xu Sheng said in a low voice: "Don't talk about Sheng Feixiang, I don't like her either."

Hua Chongdao: "You and Yuan Feifei are not in the same class. Even you know about it and remember it. Is it because there was a big commotion at that time?"

Xu Sheng nodded straight, "Sheng Feixiang threw away her confession letter and gifts on the spot, and the whole school knew about it! Yuan Feifei became a laughingstock that semester. Many women called her a toad for wanting to eat swan meat, and even Sheng Feixiang dared to chase her. I don’t even look in the mirror to see what kind of crooked face I have.”

Hua Chong's eyelids twitched and his face darkened.

A fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl is neither beautiful nor cheerful, and has nothing to do with "excellence" in all aspects.Falling in love with a handsome boy, being rejected in confession, throwing away presents, and being ridiculed and humiliated by classmates afterwards - what will this extremely unpleasant experience leave in Yuan Feifei's heart?

"It's inappropriate for me to say that. After all, Sheng Feixiang and I were friends later on. He has passed away now..." Xu Sheng stammered again, "No, but..."

"But what?" Liu Zhiqin asked, "Say everything you think of."

Xu Sheng took a deep breath, "But he was really, really not a thing in junior high school!"

"He likes to bully his female classmates, relying on his good looks and popularity to play with other people's feelings at will. He is very frivolous and hypocritical, isn't he?" Hua Chong has already imagined Sheng Feixiang's appearance in adolescence.

"Hmm, um!" Xu Sheng said: "It should be that he is not sensible, he hasn't woken up for a long time. After he became an adult, he was very stable. The first time I saw him in Los Angeles, I felt that he was a different person. Is that so?"

Hua Chong disagrees with this statement.In fact, many bastards with bad personalities entered society earlier than their peers.After experiencing the baptism of society, they gradually become smooth and good at life.Meeting again after many years often gives people a feeling of "the prodigal son turning back" and being reliable.

But not all men enjoyed teasing as they did when they were young.The maturity and reliability of their adulthood must not erase the absurd things they did when they were young and ignorant.

"Do you still remember how Sheng Feixiang bullied Yuan Feifei?" Liu Zhiqin continued to ask.

"Remember a little." Xu Sheng said: "He often called Yuan Feifei out and asked her to run errands. He had never beaten her before, after all, she was a woman. Yuan Feifei was also stupid. He is calling around, he has no backbone..."

"How long has this deformed relationship lasted?"

"It didn't take long for Sheng Feixiang to make a girlfriend, who was a school belle from another school. Ugly girls like Yuan Feifei are fun to tease for a while, but Sheng Feixiang will get bored after a long time."

"That is to say, after this, the two of them didn't have much contact with each other?" Hua Chong asked.

"Almost, everyone was no longer in the same school, and the connection was broken." Xu Sheng scratched his hair twice, "I only saw Yuan Feifei again in the past few years. The facial features are stretched out, they are gone, and the pimples are gone. Although her appearance is still not as good as that of Zhou Liangjia——Zhou Liangjia used to be the beauty of our school, but she is still a pretty girl."

Liu Zhiqin was slightly puzzled, "She and Sheng Feixiang met again, wouldn't it be awkward to get along? Why are they still friends?"

"Zhou Liangjia brought Yuan Feifei to the previous gatherings. In fact, it's not too embarrassing, after all, it happened more than ten years ago. At that time, everyone was ignorant, and now they are all adults. Who cares about that?" How much? I heard that Sheng Feixiang apologized to her and praised her for being pretty. Once after drinking, Sheng Feixiang joked that he wanted to chase her." Xu Sheng lit another cigarette, " We usually don't communicate very much, and we just gag at parties. Yuan Feifei seems to have long since ignored it. There are many friends and many ways, but only she knows what she thinks in her heart. That's what happened, you guys I had to recall the past, so I remembered what happened between the two of them, I didn't mean Yuan Feifei was the murderer!"

Hua Chong narrowed his eyes.Xu Sheng's expression and tone were quite ridiculous, while pretending to excuse Yuan Feifei, while making insinuations that Yuan Feifei had conflicts with Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao.It's like one person scolded another person bloody, and then said another sentence at the end-I didn't mean to criticize you.

Liu Zhiqin asked a few more questions, Xu Sheng answered them one by one, and said nervously: "Look, I have cooperated with everything that should be cooperated, and I have no motive or time to commit crimes, the cameras beside the main stage have captured me .Can I go back? I only took a few days off, and I have to go back to work after the vacation. It’s not easy to work alone!"

Liu Zhiqin looked at Hua Chong.Hua Chong waved his hand: "It's too late today, and the Kaishan Road is prone to accidents. Let's leave tomorrow."

Xu Sheng seemed to be pardoned, and hurriedly said: "Okay, okay. I'm in Los Angeles and I'm not going anywhere. If you need to ask me anything, I'll be here anytime!"

??

Being invited to the inquiry room again, Yuan Feifei's condition was even worse than in the morning.

Hua Chong shook a small evidence bag, "Can you see what this is?"

Yuan Feifei stared at the evidence bag, with puzzlement and panic in her eyes, "Soil? Soil?"

"The soil found in your room." Hua Chong put the bag on the table, looking straight into Yuan Feifei's eyes, "You said that after you separated from Zhou Liangjia yesterday, she went back to the 'Shanweitang' to reconcile with Fan Miao. , you go to the mushroom shop at the entrance of the village to have dinner, then go back to 'Shanweitang', and then go out again and take a walk in the village."

"Yes." Yuan Feifei frowned tightly, "The proprietress of the fungus shop even talked to me."

"That's right, she still remembers you." Hua Chong spoke slowly, "But it was after 5 pm when you ate in her shop, and she didn't know where you went after that."

Yuan Feifei rubbed her fingers together, "Where else can I go? I'll just take a walk in the village."

"There are a lot of public cameras in the village. If you are walking in a place with many tourists, why doesn't any camera capture you?" Hua Chong's tone changed, "Or is it that the place you go is sparsely populated and there are no cameras at all?"

Yuan Feifei opened her eyes wide and panicked even more, "Why do you say that? The cameras all have blind spots, so it's normal if they can't take pictures."

Seeing that she was still unwilling to tell the truth, Hua Chong sighed, "The soil in this evidence bag was brought down from Xulu Mountain by you."

Yuan Feifei seemed bewildered, sweat slipped from the corner of her forehead, "What do you mean? Why should I bring down the soil from the mountain?"

"The soles of outdoor shoes have complicated anti-slip patterns, which are the easiest to carry mud. Yuan Feifei, did you go to Xulu Mountain last night?"

"I didn't!" Yuan Feifei retorted almost instinctively, her voice trembling, "I didn't go up the mountain, I took a walk in the village!"

"Impossible, 'Shanweitang' cleans the floor every day. You went to Xulu Mountain the day before yesterday, and the mud sticking to the soles of your shoes has almost fallen off after a day. But there is a lot of mud in your room, obviously just brought Come down." Hua Chong leaned forward, "Last night, what did you go to Xulu Mountain for?"

Yuan Feifei opened her mouth halfway, the blood on her face faded, "I, I..."

"Not only did you go to Xulu Mountain, but you also went to the old village." Hua Chong continued to press, "Do you know what happened there?"

"No, you are talking nonsense!" Yuan Feifei stood up, as if she wanted to escape, but her legs and feet seemed to be exhausted, and she couldn't move a step.

Hua Chong looked at her quietly, his tone changed slightly, "Are you and Sheng Feixiang just simple fellow villagers?"

Hearing this name, Yuan Feifei's pupils suddenly shrank.

"Many years ago, you liked him, but he hurt you. Fan Miao was the one who teased you with him. You always remember the feeling of being humiliated at that time, right?" Hua Chong asked softly.

Yuan Feifei shook her head vigorously, her voice turned into tears, "What are you talking about? We are just friends! Why do I like him?"

"Really? Let's skip this question for now." Hua Chong nodded the table, "Who organized this trip?"

"I don't know!" Yuan Feifei sat down tremblingly, "You asked me, and I answered. A long time ago, everyone said that they wanted to go out to play together, and this time we can get together..."

"No, you are lying." Hua Chong interrupted her, "It was you who suggested to Zhou Liangjia to go to Luoguan Village to enjoy autumn, and urged her many times. Later, Zhou Liangjia invited Fan Miao, and Fan Miao called Sheng Feixiang And Xu Sheng. For you, Xu Sheng may or may not come, but Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao must."

Yuan Feifei was speechless, sweat dripping down drop by drop.

"In your small group of fellow villagers, you have never been particularly active in planning and participating in activities. Zhou Liangjia has always pulled you to participate in gatherings. Why did you suddenly change this time?" Hua Chong asked: "Luoguan Village treats you very well. Is it a very special place for you? Counting this time, you have already visited four times this year."

Hearing this, Yuan Feifei froze on the seat as if struck by lightning.

"In March, May, and June this year, you came here three times alone. Is the scenery here particularly attractive to you? Or is it what happened here that attracts you particularly?"

Yuan Feifei hugged her head and cried, "Their deaths have nothing to do with me, really have nothing to do with me!"

??

In the mountains, the temperature difference between day and night is huge. In the afternoon, Hua Chong took off Liu Zhiqin's sweater coat and put it on the back of the chair, so he had to put it on again.Sweaters are the easiest to smell. After being placed in the conference room for a while, they smell like smoke, but fortunately, they don't smell bad.

Hua Chong only buttoned one button, leaning against the wall in the corridor of the police station, with his left hand tucked in his sleeve, and his right hand rubbing his temple.

Yuan Feifei was almost emotionally broken, unwilling to say anything, neither admitting that she had confessed her love to Sheng Feixiang in junior high school, nor admitting that she went to Xulu Mountain and the village school last night.But these two points cannot be refuted by her at all. First, the colleagues who visited Xiancheng have confirmed Xu Sheng’s words. Second, the dirt in the guest room and the cameras in the village all prove that she did not take a walk in the village.

As for going to Luoguan Village alone three times and urging Zhou Liangjia to organize an autumn outing, the evidence is even more convincing.

It seems that because of what happened in junior high school, she held a grudge against Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao, and angered Fan Miao's ex-girlfriend Zhou Liangjia. She swallowed her anger for many years and deliberately took revenge on the three of them.

This motive is not unreasonable, but it is extremely contradictory in the details—it is true that some people have endured humiliation for many years and devoted themselves to plotting revenge, but such people are influenced by their personality and must be very good at controlling their emotions.If Yuan Feifei took revenge for the humiliation of her confession, she shouldn't lose her composure like she did just now.

She was an emotional person, and the killer was preternaturally calm.She is like a puzzle piece, and the murderer is the base picture.Her piece of the puzzle doesn't fit the base picture at all.

From the analysis of her personality, there is only one possibility that she can forgive Sheng Feixiang and Fan Miao and become friends with them after she becomes an adult, that is, she really doesn't care anymore, thinking that everyone was young and immature at that time, and now she is grown up. When they grow up, they all live in Los Angeles, so it's good to take care of each other, and it's good to have a party once in a while.

But why did she invite someone to Luoguan Village?And I couldn't explain why I went to Xulu Mountain and the village school last night.

It's so weird.

"Fortunately, I brought an extra piece of clothing." Liu Zhiqin came out of the police room and closed the door, "Isn't it cold?"

Hua Chong shook his head and wrapped the sweater tighter, "Yuan Feifei is still the same?"

"Well, I don't want to speak." Liu Zhiqin said: "The emotional characteristics she is showing now are completely inconsistent with the criminal profile we made."

"But the evidence points to her." Hua Chong breathed out, "She must have a purpose in bringing people to Luoguan Village. But this purpose is not necessarily to burn the three of Sheng Feixiang to death."

"What I'm most concerned about is why she lives in the home of a small victim in the village." Liu Zhiqin said, "Could it be that she wants to know something? She is related to the case ten years ago?"

"No." Hua Chong shook his head, "Qu Zhi and the others have already found out. She was born in Xiancheng and grew up in Xiancheng. She didn't leave home for the first time until she was 18 when she went to study in Los Angeles. She couldn't be Qian Maojiang. Participant in that case."

Having said that, Hua Chong paused and looked towards a police room diagonally opposite.

The door of the police room opened from the inside, and a police officer came out, followed by a familiar man.

Apparently, an inquiry had just ended in that police room.

Liu Zhiqin also looked in that direction, only to see Qian Chuangjiang turn around, stabbing towards him with dull but cold eyes like a rusty sword.

When meeting his gaze, Hua Chong instinctively frowned.