The place where Hang Jiabai invited Lin Shuyue was a restaurant that served drunken goose. The restaurant was not big, with only six small tables inside. There was a tent at the door with three or four tables inside. It was dinner time and many people were already sitting inside and outside the house. A large black fan was shaking and humming, and it was very noisy inside and outside the house. Waiters were interspersed between the tables.
From time to time, someone raised their hand and asked the waiter to deliver something. Hang Jiabai led Lin Shuyue inside.
"Sister, give me a serving of drunken goose. It should be spicy." Even if Hang Jiabai had not eaten with Lin Shuyue, he knew something about Lin Shuyue's taste.
The proprietress was counting the bills. She looked up when she heard him and smiled when she saw him. She also glanced at Lin Shuyue for a few more times and asked, "Are there only two of you today?"
"Yes, they are all working overtime, and I am the only one free." Hang Jiabai took Lin Shuyue to a table at the innermost part of the room. The air conditioner was on in the room, so it was very cool.
After Lin Shuyue sat down, the waiter brought hot water, and Hang Jiabai helped Lin Shuyue to heat the bowl and chopsticks. Lin Shuyue watched his actions and then asked him: "Do you often come here to eat?"
"Yes. Our team gets together for dinner several times a month. If we have enough time, we will come here. Their drunken goose is very delicious." This habit has continued for two or three years.
This Drunken Goose restaurant serves food very quickly. As soon as they sat down, the waiter brought them the covered drunken goose. The drunken goose needs to be simmered for ten minutes before the lid can be opened and eaten. During this time, the waiter also brought two cold dishes, one boneless chicken feet and one cold cucumber salad.
The waiter said: "This is a gift from the boss."
Hang Jiabai nodded to show that he understood. After the waiter left, he said to Lin Shuyue, "The owner of this restaurant is very good at doing business. He gives each table of guests a serving of cold dishes. Regular customers will get an extra portion."
Lin Shuyue looked over to the next room, and sure enough, there were also two cold dishes on the table of guests who had come in at about the same time as them.
"It's definitely a good business strategy." It's human nature to like to take advantage of small bargains. If the boss is so good at doing business and the food tastes good, people who have come here once will most likely come here the next time they want to go out for dinner.
In the south, a small cold dish is not worth much, and the boss and his family can only make money by using it to attract customers.
The drunken goose is ready to be cooked. It tastes really good. The goose meat is soft and tasty, the skin is soft and sticky, with a faint aroma of wine, and the spicy taste brings this aroma to the extreme. If you are thirsty, take a sip of the lemonade made by the boss lady. It is icy and refreshing, and can remove greasiness and quench thirst.
During the meal, Lin Shuyue and Hang Jiabai talked a lot, from some previous cases to their respective lives. After the meal, Hang Jiabai went to the cashier to pay the bill. When he was paying, someone called his phone. After he picked up the phone, he looked at Lin Shuyue and hung up. He said to Lin Shuyue: "Let's go, I'll take you home."
"Okay."
Lin Shuyue is going home today as she is a little worried about Zeng Xiaoyi.
Hang Jiabai sent her to the door and then left. Lou Fengqin and the others were at home. Zeng Xiaoyi had already returned and was doing homework in her room. Lin Shuyue knocked on her door and Zeng Xiaoyi opened the door for her.
After Lin Shuyue entered the room, she looked carefully at Zeng Xiaoyi's face and found that she was in a good mood.
Zeng Xiaoyi sat in front of the desk and Lin Shuyue sat on her neatly made bed.
"Xiaoyi, has Mom told you about your biological mother?"
Zeng Xiaoyi nodded: "Yes, she told me as soon as I came back."
Zeng Xiaoyi tucked the hair that was scattered around her earlobe behind her ear and said, "I am very grateful to her. If she hadn't sent me so much money, I don't know how I would have lived."
Zeng Xiaoyi said this sincerely. She had thought about it carefully. If it weren't for Lu Yinglan's money, Lu Ercai and Zeng Guozhu might not even let her graduate from elementary school. Just for this reason, Zeng Xiaoyi couldn't have any bad feelings towards Lu Yinglan.
What's more, this time, Lu Yinglan guessed that Lu Ercai would suck her flesh and blood, and came to support her. Zeng Xiaoyi was really grateful to her, especially after knowing why she was born.
Zeng Xiaoyi thought about it for a long time from her perspective. If she were Lu Yinglan, she would not be able to do what Lu Yinglan did.
Lin Shuyue patted her shoulder and said, "That's good. It's not easy for her either."
Lin Shuyue didn't say much. Seeing that she was calm, she went out. After Lin Shuyue left, Zeng Xiaoyi threw herself into her heavy homework. She had missed several days of classes, and she had to catch up quickly.
Lou Fengqin and Lin Shuxing were watching TV in the living room. Bai Wenhua had not come back yet. Bai Pingping, Lin Shuyang and Zeng Xiaoyi were all doing homework in the room.
As soon as Lin Shuyue sat down, Lou Fengqin asked, "How's Lu Yinglan?"
"She's still cooperating with the investigation. If there are no problems, she will be back tomorrow."
"That's good, that's good. It's not easy for her either." Lou Fengqin was born with the ability to empathize with women. What Lu Yinglan said today made her feel very uncomfortable for a while.
She watched two episodes of TV drama with Lou Fengqin, and kept in touch with Hang Jiabai until she went to bed.
The next morning, Lin Shuyue went to the newspaper office and then went directly to Luwu Village.
Luwu Village is in Taijiang District. The village has not been developed so well. There are many farmlands around the village. A stream runs through the farmlands, and the crops in the farmlands are grown there. Now, many different varieties of vegetables are planted in the farmlands, and they are growing very well. Several people wearing bamboo hats are squatting in the vegetable fields pulling weeds.
A car drove over from behind and stopped beside Lin Shuyue. The window was rolled down: "Lin Ji."
Lin Shuyue turned around and saw that the people coming were Police Officer Wang and Police Officer Zhang. They both pulled over and came to Lin Shuyue's side.
"Officer Wang, Officer Zhang, why are you here today?" Lin Shuyue was a little surprised. She thought Officer Wang and the others would have come yesterday.
Officer Zhang took a bottle of water from the passenger seat and drank it: "I came here once yesterday, but it was already night and I didn't get much."
They also didn't expect that the people in Lvwu Village were quite observant of the work and rest schedule. When it got dark, every household turned off the lights and went to sleep. They came at around 7 o'clock and knocked on Lu Yinglan's door, but nobody even open the door. Someone just shout from the house that they had gone to bed early. If there was anything, they could talk about it tomorrow.
That's why they come here early in the morning after finishing their work. But they didn't expect to meet Lin Shuyue. Since they met, their destination must be the same, so they decided to just go there together.
"Have she been to Wancheng?"
"We have asked her about this. Her former colleagues, her boss and her husband can all prove that she has rarely returned to Pengcheng in recent years. People in her grandmother's village can prove that she only came back once ten years ago to attend her grandmother's funeral."
Lin Shuyue nodded: "Have you investigated her husband's trading company? What does it do?"
"His company export daily necessities to Southeast Asian countries. The procedures are very complete and there are a lot of things piled up in the warehouse."
The three of them chatted for a while, then simply parked the car in a nearby parking space and walked towards Luwu Village together.
There are not many high-rise buildings in Luwu Village, most of them are two or three stories high, and every road in the village is a cement road. When you enter the village, the first thing you see is a well, and there is a banyan tree planted beside the well. It is hot today, and there are old men and women sitting under the banyan tree chatting with cattail leaves in their hands. Several three or four-year-old children are running around the well, and some younger people are washing clothes at the exit of the well.
Officer Wang and the others were all in uniform. Lin Shuyue was holding a camera in her hand. As soon as she came in, she took a photo of the well and the banyan tree.
The old men and women stopped chatting, the children running around the well stopped running, and the people washing clothes stopped moving.
Officer Wang had already walked to the middle of the old men and women at this time: "Uncles and aunts, can I ask you something?"
As soon as Officer Wang said this, the old men and women were no longer silent: "What's the matter, police comrade?"
"Just tell us straight away. We'll tell you everything we know."
The old men and women were talking at once, and a few children were particularly curious about Officer Wang's clothes, so they came up to their grandparents and looked at them curiously from behind.
"We'll be asking about Lu Yinglan." said Officer Wang.
"Lü Yinglan? Is she the one from Lu Dahai's family?"
"Who else could the police investigate besides that person?"
"That's right, that girl is very pretty, what a pity." Officer Wang asked a question, and they started chatting on their own. Officer Wang and Officer Zhang were used to it.
Every time they visit the masses, they will encounter such questions. Officer Wang will smile and say, "Yes, yes, that Lu Yinglan from Lu Dahai's family."
"That girl, I don't know who she gave birth to a child with. After Ercai raised the child, she never came back."
"Yes, yes. Every time I asked Dahai and his wife, they said that there was no news about the girl. She must have died outside."
"Speaking of this, wasn't there a phone call to the village one year saying that she fell into the sea and the hospital said she was dying?"
"That's true. When the call came to the store, I was just going to buy soy sauce. Didn't Dahai and his wife not go? There was no news from them afterwards."
"Two years later, wasn't she said to have committed a crime? The police came to investigate, twice."
"That girl, it's ruined." The old men and women didn't need Officer Wang to continue questioning. They talked one after another and asked the person who knew about the incident at the beginning.
Officer Zhang wrote down what they said in a notebook.
Officer Wang continued to ask: "She hasn't come back in these years? Has she contacted her family?"
"She never came back, and she probably didn't contact her family either, right? Anyway, Dahai was sick and hospitalized that year, but we still didn't see her. Afterwards, we asked them, and they all said they hadn't heard from Yinglan for many years."
These statements were obviously contrary to the information Officer Wang and his team had obtained from Lu Yinglan. They had already checked Lu Yinglan's bank card statements yesterday. Over the years, she had transferred money to her older sister, her second sister, and her younger sister. It was obvious that the Lu family was lying.
Lin Shuyue turned on the good and evil radar. The good and evil values of these old men and women were not high, but the good and evil value of the woman who was about 42 or 43 years old who was walking towards her was 20%. Lin Shuyue always felt that she looked familiar.
When Lin Shuyue saw the woman, the old men and women in the village also saw her: "Chun Gang's wife, you are here? These two police comrades are here to ask about your Yinglan. Please tell the police comrades quickly."
Lu Chungang's wife is Zeng Xiumei. She was holding a bucket of dirty clothes in her hand. At this moment, her face became extremely frightened.
Before Officer Wang and the others could speak, she struggled to find her voice again: "Comrade police, has our Yinglan committed a crime again? Comrade police, you have to understand clearly that the crime committed by Lu Yinglan has nothing to do with our family."
Officer Wang and Officer Zhang looked at each other. Officer Wang's expression became serious. Officer Zhang said to Lin Shuyue, "We have found a breakthrough."
Lin Shuyue nodded, took out a candy from her pocket and handed it to Officer Zhang. Officer Zhang's eyes lit up when he saw the mint candy. Last month, they were busy investigating old cases, and this candy from Wu Dongyan's team helped them a lot.
Officer Zhang ate it straight away. Officer Wang looked at him and glanced at Lin Shuyue. Lin Shuyue smiled at him quickly: "There's more, there's more. I'll give it to you later."
Officer Wang was satisfied, and he walked straight towards Zeng Xiumei.
"Whether it matters or not, you have to tell me first."
Zeng Xiumei pursed her lips and squeezed the bucket tightly: "Comrade police, I know nothing, nothing."
Zeng Xiumei ran away after she finished speaking. The old men and women could no longer sit still: "Xiumei, Zeng Xiumei, why are you running away? Explain everything to the police!"
There is no need for Officer Wang and the others to chase them. Those old men and women whose lives are boring and who just want to gossip about other people will catch up with them.
Lin Shuyue caught up with the one who was running slower: "Auntie, which village is Zeng Xiumei from?"
The familiar appearance, coupled with the surname Zeng, immediately reminded Lin Shuyue of Zeng Guozhu whom she had met yesterday. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that the two men were alike.
"She's from Zengwu." The old lady's thoughts were obviously very divergent. After she finished speaking, she immediately expanded on this topic: "Her cousin married her own sister-in-law. The relationship is very complicated."
Lin Shuyue responded twice in a flattering manner. After the old lady had finished talking, she asked again, "Auntie, do you know what happened when Lu Yinglan had a child before marriage?"
"I know. How could I not know? This little girl was so pitiful. She was raped by a beast when she came back from looking after the fields. The old Lu family was also not kind and treated her very badly. If it weren't for her elder and second sisters taking care of her, she would have died long ago."
"Auntie, how do you know that she was abused by someone? I seem to have heard before that she was in a relationship with someone else, and after that person slept with her, she turned against him." What Lin Shuyue said was obviously nonsense.
But she was not afraid of being exposed at all, because she was 100% sure that the possibility she mentioned must have been spread by someone in the first place.
Sure enough, the old lady did not doubt it: "Nonsense, it's not a love affair, Yinglan was a very well-behaved child at that time. Actually, it was strange that the Lu family was fine that day, why did a 16-year-old girl take the turn to look after the fields? It's dark and the road is slippery, are they not afraid that something may happen?"
As they were talking, they arrived at Lu Dahai's house. Lin Shuyue didn't ask the old lady any questions, and the old lady also squeezed to the front of the crowd.
The Lu family lives in a two-story building. The courtyard of the entire village is not enclosed. There is a longan tree planted in the corner of the wall. An old couple sits under the longan tree picking peanuts. Their good and evil values hover around 15%.
Lin Shuyue found it very interesting. In Lu Yinglan's words, the cold-blooded and indifferent Lu Dahai and his wife's good and evil values were not as high as Zeng Xiumei's! This made Lin Shuyue even more curious. What did Zeng Xiumei do to make her good and evil value so high?
Seeing the two policemen surrounded by the crowd, Lu Dahai and his wife Ding Xiaohua's faces changed, but they were not panicked.
Lu Dahai asked Ding Xiaohua to pour tea, and then asked Officers Wang and Zhang to go into the house to talk. At the same time, he smiled apologetically at the old men and women who had come over to watch the fun, and asked them to leave.
Lin Shuyue also followed them into the house.
There was a set of mahogany sofas in the main room of the Lu family. There were no tiles, but it was very clean, and the cement floor was spotless. Officer Wang and his men sat down, and Ding Xiaohua brought water. She did not leave, but sat down next to Lu Dahai.
Without waiting for Officer Wang to speak, Lu Dahai spoke up: "Officer, I know what you are here to ask."
Yesterday, Lu Ercai had already called Lu Dahai. When the police came last night, Lu Dahai did not come out. He felt guilty and didn't know how to face the police.
After a night of psychological preparation, Lu Dahai calmed down because he knew that if Lu Yinglan showed up, the police would definitely not let her go.
Officer Wang nodded: "Then tell me."
Lu Dahai said: "More than ten years ago, the hospital called the village and said Yinglan was dying and asked us to come over. We didn't go. Half a month later, someone came to our house and asked us to sell her identity information for 2,000 yuan."
"I agree." Lu Dahai had a good idea at the time. Lu Yinglan had already run away, so his previous plan of using her to exchange for the bride price was useless. Selling her ID card information would also be fine, which would basically be equal to the bride price.
He used this money and his savings over the years to build this two-story house.
Lu Dahai regretted it in 1994 when the police came and accused Lu Yinglan of robbery and murder. Only then did he feel afraid.
He didn't even need to think about it at the time, he knew that the robbery and murder were not done by his daughter. When another one happened later, Lu Dahai was so upset that he felt that he was just an ordinary citizen, how could he be involved in such a thing?
For so many years, Lu Dahai has been worried about her. Besides being worried, his dissatisfaction with Lv Yinglan has reached its peak. He thinks that this daughter is here to collect debts. She can't give any benefits for her family, but she has caused a lot of trouble!
Lu Dahai was so angry about this that he trembled several times. It was okay if something bad happened to Lu Yinglan, but what if it affected his son and grandson?
Lin Shuyue took out the computer from her bag and opened Lu Yinglan's Penguin space. She had added this Penguin account yesterday when she was sending Lu Yinglan to the Public Security Bureau. Lu Yinglan had seen it last night. There were many photos of her and her husband in the Penguin space.
"Is this the person who came to you to buy identity information?" Lin Shuyue asked.
Lu Dahai thought Lin Shuyue was also a police officer, so he didn't dare to neglect her questioning. He took out his reading glasses and looked carefully. Ding Xiaohua also came over. After a while, he said, "Yes, yes, it's this person. I still remember the mole on his face."
Lu Yinglan's current husband Feng Junpeng has a black mole on his left eyebrow.
After hearing this, Officer Wang immediately went out and called his colleague who was heading to Wancheng.
Lin Shuyue had achieved the purpose of coming here today, and she closed her notebook.
Lu Dahai and his wife sat on the stool. Ding Xiaohua tried to hold back, but she couldn't help asking, "Officer, does this matter have any impact on the Lu family?"
Before Officer Wang could speak, she asked again: "Will it affect our grandson's future?"
Ding Xiaohua has many daughters but only two sons. When you have many daughters, you are worthless. She doesn't care whether Lu Yinglan will be affected by this incident. Like Lu Dahai, she is afraid that this incident will affect their eldest grandson.
Their eldest grandson is very promising. He passed the civil service exam last year. With such a grandson who is supported by the government, Lu Dahai can stand tall when he goes out.
"This requires further investigation." Officer Wang spoke in an official tone.
They had already asked about everything they had come to ask today, and Officer Wang was about to leave. But at this moment, Lin Shuyue asked about the rape case of Lu Yinglan.
Speaking of this, even after more than ten years, Lu Dahai is still very angry. Lu Yinglan is the most beautiful of all his daughters. He had already found a husband for her. He is a boss who came from another place to open a factory. Because his wife couldn't give birth to a son, they divorced. He knew the village chief. When he came to the village by chance, he saw Lu Yinglan and proposed marriage immediately.
He'll be giving a betrothal gift of 4,000 yuan! This was a sky-high price at that time. Just as he agreed, something happened to Lu Yinglan.
"You see, what a good family, with a factory, money, and good-looking people, but she just missed the chance." Lu Dahai still regrets talking about this now: "If she had married him, our family would have been completely changed."
"It's all her fault for being so dishonest and loving to dress up. Otherwise, why would people rape her instead of others?" Ding Xiaohua had a lot of malice towards Lu Yinglan, and even at this moment, she did not forget to slander her.
Lu Dahai obviously agreed with this statement.
Lin Shuyue asked: "I heard that you asked her to go and check the water in the field?"
"Yes, I was the one who asked her. Xiumei brought back two bottles of good wine from her parents' home that day. Chungang and I drank two glasses and got a little drunk. But we had to keep an eye on the water in the fields. It was the filling period. If there was no water, what would we eat next year?" Lu Dahai obviously had no regrets about this matter.
Ding Xiaohua answered from the side: "Yes. Fortunately, Xiumei and I were at home to take care of those two drunkards and didn't go, otherwise we would have been in trouble."
There was a sense of relief in Ding Xiaohua's words. She obviously felt that if it was either of her or her daughter-in-law who went to check the field that day, they would be the ones in trouble.
Not to mention Lin Shuyue, even Officer Wang and Officer Zhang couldn't stand her double standards. Officer Wang couldn't help but ask, "Is Lu Yinglan really your biological daughter?"
"Yes, I gave birth to her after ten months of pregnancy. The village woman help me with giving birth to her. She is still alive. If you don't believe me, you can ask her."
"Oh, she's your biological daughter. From what you said, I thought she was an enemy you picked up." Lin Shuyue retorted.
At this moment, Lu Dahai's face changed, especially Ding Xiaohua. She stood up from the stool and said, "She is my enemy! I was pregnant with twins, but she was too greedy in my belly and robbed her brother of nutrients. Otherwise, her brother wouldn't have died before he was born."
Speaking of the son who died at birth, Ding Xiaohua's eyes were filled with resentment: "If my mother hadn't been nosy, I would have drowned her in the urine bucket."
After Ding Xiaohua married Lu Dahai, she gave birth to her eldest son Lu Chungang and then two daughters. In Luwu Village, where boys are valued more than girls, she was accused of being useless by many people, and her parents-in-law belittled her both openly and covertly.
After she got pregnant with twins, she prayed day and night for two sons. In the end, she had a son, but he died at birth. Her son died, but Lu Yinglan, who had taken his nutrients in her belly, was healthy and had no problems at all. Because of this, how many times did she get the cold shoulder from her in-laws and husband? As Lu Yinglan grew up, she looked more and more like her sister, which made Ding Xiaohua even more angry.
Before Lin Shuyue dared to speak, Zeng Xiumei hurried out of the room: "Mom and Dad, Shang Shu called and said he would be back in the evening."
Zeng Xiumei was very nervous when she said this, and she looked at Lin Shuyue and the others several times.
Now, Lin Shuyue, looking at her 20% good and evil value, already had some guesses in her mind.
The precious grandson was coming back. Ding Xiaohua and Lu Dahai's faces changed and they all laughed. Lu Dahai hurriedly ordered Ding Xiaohua to kill a chicken, then looked at Officer Wang: "Officer, look..."
"Then we'll leave first. You guys go ahead with your work." After Officer Wang said that, he took Lin Shuyue and Officer Zhang away.
A bunch of people gathered at the entrance of the Lu family. As soon as Lin Shuyue and the others came out, they were surrounded by old men and women to greet them. Lin Shuyue found the most gossipy old lady and asked, "Auntie, do you know who the man Lu Dahai found for Lu Yinglan was?"
"I know, I know. He's a big boss."
"Then do you know who married him later?"
"How could I not know this? It's Zeng Xiumei's sister, Zeng Xiuju."