heart poison

Wu Chen, who was asking for an explanation, was quickly placed in a police room. Hua Chong didn't pay attention to the nonsense he yelled, but he heard clearly what Zou Ming said to Zou Mei.

"I'm fine... I'm here to cooperate with the investigation... I'll be back in a few days... Don't worry... By the way, I bought a wooden fruit bowl, you might like it... Take a break and don't get too tired... Mom, goodbye."

Mommy mommy?

Hua Chong recited this ordinary and common title silently twice, then turned to look at Liu Zhiqin.

"Huh?" Liu Zhiqin also looked at him, "Why?"

"When you were around 20 years old, would you say 'Mom' to your mother in a very gentle tone?" Hua Chong asked.

Liu Zhiqin's Meifeng moved a bit, but did not answer immediately.

"Probably not?" Hua Chong blinked, "Boys around the age of 20 seldom call 'Mom', let alone call 'Mom' very tenderly. Most of them will directly call-'Mom'!"

"I..." Liu Zhiqin finally said, "My parents died when I was very young."

Hua Chong was startled, and let out a short "ah".

After getting along for several months, Liu Zhiqin never mentioned his family.In the document sent by the Ministry of Public Security, only Liu Zhiqin's work experience in the information warfare team was listed, and the rest was blank.Outside of handling cases, Hua Chong never liked to inquire about other people's privacy, so he never asked about Liu Zhiqin's family situation. At this time, he suddenly mentioned it because of the case, and didn't want to lead to such an embarrassing conversation.

"Sorry." He smiled apologetically, "I don't know."

"It's okay, it happened a long time ago, I can't remember them much now." Liu Zhiqin shook his head with a smile, and subtly changed the subject: "Do you think Zou Ming's address to Zou Mei is a bit strange?"

Hua Chong immediately said "um", "Daughters are used to calling their mothers 'mother', which seems intimate and dependent. But sons, especially sons around 20 years old, it is not common to call their mothers 'mother'. Just like Zhang Mao , I heard him call home before, sometimes calling 'Mom', sometimes calling 'Ms. Cao' - his mother's surname is Cao. I have never heard him call 'Mom'. Just now Zou Ming called 'Mom' on the phone , I heard that sound all at once. There is an indescribable feeling. And his tone seems to be too deliberate, and it seems more artificial. Let me use an analogy that may not be appropriate-hear him calling "Mom" ’, I always feel like I’m watching a play in a theater.”

"I heard it too. It's okay for an adult man to call his mother 'Mom', but his tone is really...I feel the same as you. But different mothers and children have different ways of getting along. Zou Ming is an adopted son, and he is an orphan. The dean was adopted by Zou Mei when she was 11 years old. The relationship between them is different from ordinary mother and child. Besides, Zou Mei is an executive of a famous company. In a big company, women need to climb to the same position as men. She is better than men. Zou Mei is superior in her work, maybe she also has something special about her son's education? All these factors have combined to form their current way of getting along?" Liu Zhiqin's tone changed slightly as he spoke. , "But there is another thing that I am more concerned about. Zou Ming mentioned the wooden fruit plate during the call."

"Huh? What's wrong with the wooden fruit plate?" Hua Chong didn't think there was anything wrong with the wooden fruit plate, "He said it was a gift he bought for Zou Mei."

"When we met Zou Ming and Wu Chen at the Red House, didn't we discuss it? Zou Ming said he wanted to buy souvenirs, but he only picked for a while and didn't even talk about the price. He bought a wood carving that is not a specialty of Luoguan Village. Wu Chen, who was in the same company, picked out the fruit plate more carefully than him. At that time, you said, Zou Ming was perfunctory." Liu Zhiqin sat down at the table, took a piece of paper, and folded it while talking, "Now he tells Zou Mei , the wooden fruit plate was given to her. So, it was Zou Mei that he was perfunctory?"

Hua Chong followed suit, watched Liu Zhiqin stack the plane, and shook his head after a few seconds, "No, if he wants to deal with Zou Mei, then his behavior will be contradictory. As you said just now, they are not ordinary mother and son. No Where is it unusual? Zou Ming was adopted by Zou Mei when he was 11 years old. Many 11-year-old boys have already entered the rebellious period, and Zou Mei is a strong woman, so it is impossible to have too much time to take care of Zou Ming. After living together for 8 years, Their way of getting along tends to be polite and distant mutual respect, is there any problem with that?"

"En." Liu Zhiqin was folding the wings of the plane, and he paused his fingers when he heard this.

"Then Zou Ming shouldn't just buy a gift for Zou Mei casually. This is not only disrespectful, but it may also cause mistakes, which will affect his relationship with Zou Mei." Hua Chong's eyes were deep and bright, "Buy wood carvings. When serving the fruit plate, he didn't even check whether it was good or bad. How did he know that the fruit plate was definitely flawless? According to their way of getting along, it was impossible for him to send a problematic fruit plate to Zou Mei. Even if he didn't notice it, Human behavior also has a logical coherence. 'Perfunctory Zou Mei' obviously breaks away from this coherence."

Liu Zhiqin put down the half-stacked plane, "You mean, when he bought that wooden fruit plate, he never thought of giving it to Zou Mei? He just bought it casually? But after he came back, he unfolded the fruit plate to check and found It's perfect and flawless, so I thought I could give it to Zou Mei as a gift?"

Hua Chong nodded, "This is in line with his logic."

"Then what is he perfunctory?" Liu Zhiqin propped his chin, and said after a while, "Could it be that he bought the wooden fruit plate on a whim?"

Hua Chong had already taken the half-finished paper airplane, dismantled and folded it, and folded it into an ugly four-figure, "He originally wanted to buy other things, but he met us in the red house by accident, so he just bought a random woodcarving Fruit plate? If he doesn’t buy anything, he behaves strangely when he comes to the red house, and we will be suspicious; if he buys something he really wants to buy, something will be exposed to us, and we will still have Suspected. It is us who he wants to perfunctory?"

Liu Zhiqin let out a sigh of relief, stared at the wad of paper in Hua Chong's hand, and whispered, "What exactly does he want to buy?"

Hua Chong was silent for half a minute, "I can't think of it."

"I don't have a clue either."

The police room was quiet for a while, Hua Chong looked at the time, and said: "The orphanage where Zou Ming stayed is in Chuyu Town, which is under the jurisdiction of Luocheng. I will ask Qu Zhi to check it in detail. Going to visit the village, are you with me, or?"

Liu Zhiqin raised his head, his eyes were illuminated by the sunlight coming in from the window, "I'll stay in the institute."

After speaking, he looked at the laptop that was put aside.

Hua Chong understood, and said with a smile: "Okay, then we each perform our duties."

??

The desertedness of Luoguan Village is in stark contrast to the liveliness of the past few days.More and more villagers began to worry, worried that the murder case would not be solved for a long time, which would affect the life of their families who finally became rich.

Communicating with them at this time, Hua Chong obviously noticed the difference.At the beginning, many villagers were unwilling to cooperate with the backlog of cases ten years ago, thinking that people had been dead for ten years and could not be solved back then, so why should they investigate now?It is simply delaying everyone's business.Even the families of the victims were reluctant to support the police for one reason or another.But now, every household is quite enthusiastic, hoping that the police will find the murderer who committed the crime in Xulu Mountain immediately, and solve the small case in the village by the way, so as to return the tourists and prosperity to Luoguan Village as soon as possible.

Everything in the world can actually be measured by interests.

Hua Chong is like a mirror in his heart, he can see and understand the villagers' thoughts clearly.

After leaving the police station, he went straight to the red house on the edge of the village. When he arrived, he found that it was still closed.

Xiao Chengxin, who came together with him, began to talk about the ins and outs of the red house, including why Qian Baotian built the red house, and which scenic spots the design of the red house was plagiarized.

Hua Chong glanced at him sideways, half-jokingly said: "Did you inquire so clearly?"

"It's clear." Xiao Chengxin rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed, "But it's useless. Me, the elites of your serious crime team are still a bit behind the boss. I can only collect information, not good at analyzing information. Others give I just listen to whatever I talk about, and I only listen to useless things.”

Hua Chong originally wanted to say a few words of relief, but he couldn't say anything, so he simply shut up.

The atmosphere was a bit embarrassing, so Xiao Chengxin could only explain with all his might: "Didn't Team Chen transfer you all back overnight when the little girl was killed last time? You left in a hurry, and you didn't tell me what happened to the village primary school. How to find out, I have no choice but to collect information from house to house. Some people like to chatter, like Qian Baotian, who told me how much money he made last year..."

Hua Chong was suddenly interested, "What about the small village case? Did you find out anything?"

Xiao Chengxin immediately shrank his neck and lowered his voice, "I didn't find any valuable clues."

This is to be expected.Hua Chong thought, ten years have passed since the case, not to mention Xiao Chengxin, even he and Liu Zhiqin only got some clues last time while chatting with the wife of the mushroom shop.

But thinking of the proprietress, Hua Chong thought of another matter, and asked casually, "Have you ever been to Qian Shengqiang's house?"

"Of course I've been there." When other outsiders hear this name, they may still think for a long time, "Who is Qian Shengqiang?" But Xiao Chengxin is already familiar with Qian's surname like his own family. "His family's mushroom soup is special. delicious."

"His wife doesn't seem to have a good relationship with him?" Hua Chong said, "When Fan Miao and the other three were murdered, Qian Shengqiang's whereabouts were unknown, and his wife—that is, the owner of the fungus shop—not only refused to testify for him, but also seemed quite happy. .”

Xiao Chengxin showed a puzzled expression. He didn't understand why Hua Chonghua, the head of the serious crime team, was suddenly interested in other people's couples.

"Didn't you say that you collected information from house to house?" Hua Chong turned his head, "I thought you knew the situation of his house."

"Clarity is clarity." But there is no need to say it!Xiao Chengxin thought about it, and told Hua Chong honestly: "Qian Shengqiang often beats Li Guixian——Li Guixian is his wife, the proprietress of the fungus shop. They have a very bad relationship. Qian Shengqiang, let's wait Outsiders are nice, enthusiastic, and willing to spend money, but they can't do it to Li Guixian, the fight is so ruthless, as if she owed him in her previous life."

It turned out to be domestic violence.Hua Chong has a spectrum in his heart.

In a place like Luoguan Village, the concept is still relatively backward. The status of women is not as good as that of men. After they get married, they almost never get divorced.Li Guixian is used to beating and scolding, but he still hopes to draw a clear line with Qian Shengqiang as soon as possible, so he is not only not worried, but also very happy to learn that Qian Shengqiang is suspected of committing a crime.

Hua Chong sighed and wanted to help Li Guixian, but domestic violence can't be solved in a short time, every family has hard-to-read scriptures, and the serious crime team really doesn't have the energy to deal with family disputes at present.

Xiao Chengxin didn't know why he was silent, and why he sighed. He felt that he should say something, so he looked around and said, "This Qian Baotian looks honest, but his brain is really quick! Before him, no one People thought about building a house here, let alone turning it into a European-style wooden house, selling tourist souvenirs for young people.”

Hua Chong's eyes fell on the red house again, and his thoughts were pulled back, "Is it because the location is not good? It's too far away?"

"This may be one of the reasons." Xiao Cheng said as if offering a treasure: "The main reason is that the feng shui here is not very good. A family who lived here before died in an accident. After the house was demolished, no one came to build it again. Keep it empty until Qian Baotian takes a fancy to it."

Hua Chong looked solemn, "Have people died here? Which family?"

Seeing his expression, Xiao Chengxin knew that he was thinking about the case again, and immediately waved his hand and said, "It has nothing to do with the case, it has nothing to do with the case!"

"What's going on?" Hua Chong never let go of any suspicious details, and said sharply, "All the family members who live here are dead?"

"It was an accident!" Xiao Chengxin's brow dripped with sweat, "I heard that there used to be a pair of brothers living here. The elder brother was named Liu Xuchen, and the younger brother was named Liu Zhanfei. They had no mother, and their father was a sick child. There was an illness and there was no cure for it. , died at home in the winter.”

Hua Chong frowned, "And then?"

Xiao Chengxin was taken aback by him, knowing that this family had nothing to do with the two cases, he still bit the bullet and continued, "Didn't Luoguan Village be poor in the past? Those with the surname of Qian were poor, and those without the surname of Qian were even poorer. But there are a few laborers in other families, and the Liu family has only one eldest brother who can go out to work, and the family is so poor that they have a very low sense of presence in the village."

"Low sense of existence?" Hua Chong asked, "Why so low?"

"It's just that everyone doesn't take them seriously! Because they are too poor and pitiful." Xiao Chengxin said.

Hua Chong recalled quickly and made sure that he did not see the names "Liu Xuchen" and "Liu Zhanfei" in the file of the small case in the village. He asked, "You said they died in an accident. When did it happen? What is the reason?"

Xiao Cheng thought for a while, "Winter ten years ago."

"Ten years ago?" Hua Chong frowned even deeper, "Qian Maojiang and the others had an accident ten years ago in the summer..."

Xiao Chengxin immediately said: "I've figured it out, these two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other! If there is any relationship, I would have reported it to you a long time ago!"

"Why are you sure it doesn't matter?" Hua Chong's face was not very good-looking, "When the special case team came to Luoguan Village, everyone was investigated. Why didn't this pair of brothers surnamed Liu appear in the case file?"

"This..." Xiao Chengxin lowered his head and said to himself that I hadn't been a policeman ten years ago, how the hell would I know?

Hua Chong asked: "Who did you ask about the situation of these two brothers?"

"Qian Baotian. Others have forgotten about them." Xiao Chengxin said, "He showed off this red house to me, by the way."

"Take me to find him!"

??

With no money to make, Qian Baotian lay on an armchair in his yard listening to cross talk to pass the time.Xiao Chengxin pushed open the door of the farmhouse, and shouted like a local villager: "Qian Baotian! Qian Baotian!"

Qian Baotian immediately sat up, not knowing why the police came to the door again.

"Our whole family is fine!" He said, "When the fire started, we were all busy in the store and at home, and many people saw it!"

"I know, I know!" Xiao Chengxin is usually used to getting along with people, but he is quite comfortable dealing with the masses at this time, "Our leader came here today to learn about the Liu family brothers. Last time, didn't you Did I say something? Our leaders are very interested."

The corner of Hua Chong's mouth twitched.Although the serious crime team and the accumulated case team have different positions in the criminal investigation detachment, and their importance is not the same, but the administrative level is the same. He is the leader of the serious crime team, and Xiao Chengxin is the leader of the accumulated case team. There is no relationship between superiors and subordinates. Xiao Chengxin directly called him "leader".

Hearing that the police did not come to investigate the incident of people being burned to death on Xulu Mountain again, Qian Baotian heaved a sigh of relief, and asked the two to sit down, brewed a pot of tea, and brewed for a while, but he didn't know where to start.

"Hey, just continue what you didn't finish last time!" Xiao Cheng urged.

"Where did I say that last time?"

"The boss of the Liu family has been admitted to university!"

"Oh, yes, yes!" Qian Baotian smoked a stick of stinky leaf cigarette, "Liu Xuchen has always been in charge of the Liu family. He not only has to study, but also takes care of his younger brother. This child, he is so busy, and he is so busy. I was admitted to university, but unfortunately my life was not good, I guess it was because of long-term hard work that I lost my life, and not long after I entered university, I died."

Hua Chong had many doubts in his heart, "Did Liu Xuchen enter university ten years ago—that is, the year the village primary school had an accident?"

Qian Baotian's eyes changed slightly, and he stopped smoking.

Xiao Chengxin said: "Isn't it? He was no longer in the village when the accident happened in the village primary school, so why didn't the task force ask him about the situation?"

"I remembered." Qian Baotian said: "Liu Xuchen was admitted to university that year. His family was poor, and he left the village before school started, saying he wanted to work part-time to save tuition fees. Liu Zhanfei was the only one left in the family. Liu Zhanfei was young. , I was less than 10 years old at the time, I remember. Before Liu Xuchen left, he knocked on doors everywhere, asking the folks in the village to help take care of Liu Zhanfei. My old lady saw that Liu Zhanfei was pitiful, and often sent some soup and rice there. "

Hua Chong thought about the location of the red house.It is located to the west of Luoguan Village, and the village school was also to the west of Luoguan Village.When introducing the situation of the village, Qian Lu said that most of the villagers' houses were built on the east side, which is why no one heard the movement when Qian Maojiang and others were killed in the village school.

It wasn't until the fire had started that the sleeping villagers were awakened one after another.

At that time Liu Xuchen left the village to study, but Liu Zhanfei should still live in the house that no longer exists.It is impossible for the task force not to know the situation from him.But why didn't the name of "Liu Zhanfei" appear in the case file?

"Do you remember where Liu Zhanfei was when the small village caught fire?" Hua Chong asked.

Qian Baotian tapped on the pipe, seemed to be thinking, and shook his head after a while, "It's been too long, I don't have any memory, but he must be in the village. I remember very clearly that he died after his brother died of illness. It's winter, outside News came that his brother was dead, and he hurried out to look for it, fell into the river, and froze to death.”

"Frozen to death?" Hua Chong asked, "Which river did he freeze to death? How did the corpses be disposed of afterwards?"

Qian Baotian couldn't answer.

Hua Chong asked again: "Which university did Liu Xuchen go to? What disease did he suffer from?"

Qian Baotian still couldn't answer.

"You guys were chatting." Hua Chong stood up, patted Xiao Chengxin on the shoulder, "I'll go back to the police station."

Xiao Chengxin still didn't know what to do, and was left behind by Qian Baotian to make things happen.

Hua Chong walked quickly to the police station, with the names "Liu Xuchen" and "Liu Zhanfei" in his mind.

In Luoguan Village, the dead brothers seemed to have been forgotten. They neither appeared in the case file ten years ago, nor were they seldom mentioned.If it wasn't for Qian Baotian who couldn't help showing off to Xiao Cheng because he built a European-style wooden house selling souvenirs on the site of their family - only I dared to build a house in a place where I died, perhaps their names would never be heard again. Mentioned.

But the five victims of the small village case died ten years ago, and the Liu family brothers also died ten years ago. Is there really no relationship between the two?

??

Hearing that Hua Chong wanted to investigate the brothers of the Liu family, several local policemen were stunned for a long time, but it was Qian Lu who was the first to react, "They...they have been dead for many years."

"I want to know exactly how they died." Hua Chong looked solemn, "Also, which university did Liu Xuchen study at that time?"

"This..." Qian Lu was in a bit of a dilemma, as if he couldn't think of it, he said after a long time: "Then wait, I'll see if I can find it."

After speaking, he said to another policeman: "Hurry up and invite the old village chief here!"

Luoguan Village was backward in the past, household registration management was not implemented at all, and a lot of information was lost. It was not easy to find out the two people who died.

It took Hua Chong several hours to basically clarify the situation of the Liu family brothers from the village head, the police, and the villagers.

Liu Xuchen was 10 years older than Liu Zhanfei, and he was the biological son of the old Liu family. Liu Zhanfei was picked up by the old Liu who didn't know where.

When Liu Zhanfei was about 3 years old, the old Liu died of illness. Liu Xuchen dragged Liu Zhanfei until he was 9 years old—that is, ten years ago.

19-year-old Liu Xuchen was admitted to Xiancheng University of Science and Technology, leaving Liu Zhanfei alone in Luoguan Village.In December of that year, the bad news came that Liu Xuchen suddenly fell ill at school, and the medical treatment was ineffective, and he passed away.

Liu Zhanfei is a 9-year-old child, unable to go to Xiancheng to pick up his brother's ashes.Moreover, it was the coldest season of the year at that time, and Luoguan Village still had a dirt road leading to the outside. When the snow fell, every household would lose power.The village discussed that when the next spring begins, each household will raise some money to send Liu Zhanfei to Xiancheng.

But before the beginning of spring, Liu Zhanfei disappeared.

There is no one else in the Liu family, and no one knows when he disappeared.In the spring of the following year, a rotten child's body was salvaged in a downstream village. Some villagers went to see it, and when they came back, they all said that it was Liu Zhanfei.

The reason is simple - the clothes on the child are exactly what Liu Zhanfei wore all winter.

"The source of the corpse is determined in this way? Just a piece of clothing?" Although he knew that this kind of thing is not uncommon in the backward countryside, Hua Chong still felt very helpless.

"What else can you rely on if you don't rely on clothes?" The old village chief's eyes were cloudy, as if he didn't understand what the policeman in front of him was angry about. Let’s recognize the old bones. I used to have very good eyesight, so I can’t see wrong!”

Once the source of the corpse is determined, it must be buried, and in rural areas where the cremation rate is not high, the whole body may be buried in the ground.

Taking a chance, Hua Chong asked, "Cremation or burial?"

"Of course it's cremation. Who would still bury it?" The old village chief said proudly, "Our village has already done cremation!"

Qian Lu explained that in the second year of the small case in the village, the above policies came down and the tourism resources of Luoguan Village began to be developed.It was also from that year that the whole village changed from burial to cremation. After calculation, Liu Zhanfei may be the first batch of villagers to be cremated.

Hua Chong knew that it was meaningless to ask about Liu Zhanfei's death, so he changed the question, "Liu's house is not far from the village school. When the village school had an accident, didn't you ask Liu Zhanfei about the situation?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, and even the old village chief couldn't answer.

It was so messy that no one noticed a 9-year-old kid.

A policeman who was about to retire said, "Liu Zhanfei probably didn't live at home that day."

"Yes, yes!" The old village chief just remembered, "Before Liu Xuchen went to university, he told many villagers to help take care of Liu Zhanfei. Liu Zhanfei lived in the east's house for one day and the west's house for one day. When Qian Maojiang and the others had an accident, he You might as well live in someone else's house."

Hua Chong thought, this might be the reason why Liu Zhanfei was not included in the case file.That day, he lived in another villager's house, and he was not suspected of committing a crime. He was only a 9-year-old child, and he didn't know anything about it.The task force believes that there is no need to include him in the case file.

But whose home was Liu Zhanfei at that night?

Also, Liu Xuchen went to university in Xiancheng and died in Xiancheng.And the three of Fan Miao are from Xiancheng, is this a coincidence?

Too much information and too many doubts hit me crazily, Hua Chong closed his eyes and felt a severe headache.

??

"I found Liu Xuchen's death certificate and the cause." Xu Kan said on the phone, "Ten years ago, when he was just a freshman, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while working in the school cafeteria. You know, once a cerebral hemorrhage occurs, It’s really not easy to save.”

Hua Chong squatted on the steps outside the police station and smoked, "Then Liu Zhanfei's situation..."

"The backward villages used to be like that, with imperfect household registration and no autopsy." Xu Kan sighed, "Based on the situation you told me before, I have no way of judging whether the child picked up from the river is Liu Zhanfei."

After hanging up the phone, Hua Chong smoked two more cigarettes, and several names kept flashing before his eyes.

Liu Xuchen, Liu Zhanfei, Qian Maojiang, Qian Chuangjiang, Yuan Feifei, Zhou Liangjia, Sheng Feixiang, Fan Miao, Zou Ming, Zou Mei, Wang Xiangmei, Chen Yun...

The homicide detective's intuition told him that they were somehow connected.

But what is this connection?