Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 318 Death Anniversary
Jiang Wei's registered residence is in Shigou Township, Jinshi County, Anyuan City, which is quite far from the city center. Pan Hongjie said that there is nothing special there, except that watermelons are grown.

According to his household registration information, Jiang Wei is 29 years old this year, which means that when he defrauded Fu Daqing, he was only a 24-year-old young man.

However, Jiang Wei dropped out of school before finishing junior high, and combined with the information provided by Ding Wenyuan that he was a hoodlum in the city, he probably entered society and struggled for a long time.

This can also be seen from Jiang Wei's family situation. Jiang Wei's mother passed away when he was seven years old, and his father remarried and had another daughter.

However, his father later committed suicide, and the timing of his suicide coincided perfectly with the time he dropped out of school.

As for why it is said that no one lives in his registered residence area, it is because the local police station had previously conducted a population registration and found that Jiang Wei's old house had been abandoned.

After Xia Yu contacted the local police station last night, the local police officers went to investigate the situation early this morning.

It was finally confirmed that Jiang Wei's stepmother and sister moved back to their parents' home shortly after Jiang Wei's father committed suicide and Jiang Wei ran away from home, which is why the Jiang family's old house was abandoned.

Local police officers went to Jiang Wei's stepmother's family home to find out what was going on. They learned that Jiang Wei had visited her home more than a week earlier, asking where his father's grave was and leaving her a thousand yuan.

Upon learning of this, the police officers at the local police station immediately called the municipal bureau.

Upon hearing this, Pan Hongjie immediately took Zhou Yi and Xia Yu to Jiang Wei's hometown.

On the way, Pan Hongjie inadvertently noticed Zhou Yi's serious expression in the rearview mirror and, remembering Tang Wenli's words, asked, "Zhou Yi, what are your thoughts?"

“Since Jiang Wei is in Anyuan, Fu Daqing’s motive for coming to Anyuan to seek revenge on him becomes valid. But Jiang Wei appeared a few days ago, which means he’s not dead, while Li Youqiang was already dead at that time, and Fu Daqing fled back to Hongcheng and hid at his home. I’m wondering, did the two sides actually meet? Could Li Youqiang’s death be related to this Jiang Wei?”

Pan Hongjie said, "Is it possible that Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang went to seek revenge on Jiang Wei, but they were no match for him, Li Youqiang was killed by Jiang Wei, and Fu Daqing escaped?"

Zhou Yi shook his head: "Two against one, Li Youqiang was carrying both a knife and a gun, and he still got killed. Those two are just too weak."

Zhou Yi believes that this possibility cannot be ruled out, but the probability seems rather low.

Even disregarding the weapon Li Youqiang was carrying, a vengeful person exudes a certain aura. The fact that Fu Daqing hasn't forgotten his revenge after several years shows that he harbors deep hatred for Jiang Wei. Under these circumstances, even if Li Youqiang were genuinely killed by Jiang Wei due to momentary carelessness, it would be logical for Fu Daqing to fight to the death and kill Jiang Wei.

Pan Hongjie said, "No matter what, Jiang Wei is a suspect. Let's find him first. He might also be involved in the two cases at Xiaoqiushan Park."

Xia Yu, who was driving, suddenly said, "Captain Pan, it's been so long, could Jiang Wei have already run away?"

Pan Hongjie pondered for a moment and said, "Then please ask Director Guo to issue the arrest warrant!"

Xia Yu's concerns were not unfounded. If Jiang Wei had truly killed Li Youqiang, he should have fled long ago. Unless... there was some other reason.

Moreover, Zhou Yi still hasn't figured out how Fu Daqing knew Jiang Wei's whereabouts, or who his informant was.

What about the two corpses in Xiaoqiushan Park? Why was Li Youqiang's knife found at the scene?

With these questions in mind, they first went to the local police station, and then the local police officers led them to the village where Jiang Wei's stepmother lived.

When they arrived at the other party's house, the person was not home; the elderly person in the house said they had gone to work in the fields.

Following the direction the old man pointed out, they finally found the dark-skinned peasant woman working in the field.

The police officers from the local station called out to her several times before the farmer put down her hoe and walked over to them.

However, since the farmer's wife couldn't speak Mandarin, Pan Hongjie spoke the local dialect when asking her questions, which Zhou Yi, an outsider, couldn't understand at all.

Xia Yu promptly translated the key information to Zhou Yi from the side.

This is why many places give priority to recruiting police academy students with local household registration, in order to facilitate the work.

The farmer's wife said that Jiang Wei had run away from home after his father committed suicide by drinking pesticide.

She had looked for it before, but as someone who had never even left her hometown of Shigu Township in her entire life, she had no idea where to look.

Later, because some creditors kept coming to her door to collect debts, she couldn't stand it anymore and took her daughter back to her parents' home.

Then she talked a lot about how hard and difficult it was for her family back home. Pan Hongjie probably interrupted her after listening for a few sentences because it was irrelevant to the case.

Pan Hongjie was concerned about Jiang Wei's situation.

The peasant woman said she hadn't seen Jiang Wei since he ran away from home. However, she heard from villagers who had returned from the city that they had seen him there.

The peasant woman wiped the corners of her eyes with her mud-covered hands and said that there was nothing she could do to help him. She was relieved to hear that he was still alive, at least his father could rest in peace in the afterlife.

Then, a little over a week ago, she couldn't remember the exact date, but she remembered it was noon. She was coming back from working in the fields, carrying her hoe, when she saw a young man standing at her door.

She had barely asked who he was when the young man turned around and she recognized him immediately. She said Jiang Wei looked exactly like his father, who had died at less than forty years old. She said she hugged him and cried her eyes out because Jiang Wei had run away from home when he was only a teenager, and now he was taller than his father.

Pan Hongjie asked the farmer if she knew what Jiang Wei did and where he usually lived.
The peasant woman shook her head, saying that she had asked him many questions, but he didn't answer any of them, only saying that he was fine.

Then Jiang Wei asked her where his father was buried, because he wanted to go and burn some paper money for his father.

"Burning paper money?" When Zhou Yi heard Xia Yu translate this, he immediately thought of Fu Daqing going to the nursing home to settle his father; the two actions were very similar.

The idea that a prodigal son who hasn't returned home for many years would suddenly want to visit his deceased father's grave and burn paper money for him is certainly not without reason.

However, this also means that Xia Yu's concerns on the way were correct; the person may have already escaped, after all, more than a week has passed.

Unexpectedly, Xia Yu's next words made Zhou Yi feel that there was still hope.

The peasant woman said that it was almost the anniversary of her father's death, and she told Jiang Wei that if he had time, he should come back and kowtow to his father a few times.

Zhou Yi immediately whispered, "Officer Xia, ask her what her exact number is."

Xia Yu replied, "Team Leader Pan has already asked, and he said it's the 28th."

"The 28th, tomorrow? Did Jiang Wei agree?"

Xia Yu shook his head: "She said she didn't know, and Jiang Wei replied that he would talk about it later."

After exchanging a few more words with the farmer, Pan Hongjie thanked her, and she picked up her hoe and went back to the field to continue tilling.

The sun was shining brightly today, and the ground was very moist from the rain a few days ago. With each high swing of her hoe, soil flew up and down.

“Zhou Yi, this is the situation…” Pan Hongjie was about to speak.

Zhou Yi said, "Officer Xia just translated for me. If tomorrow is the anniversary of Jiang Wei's father's death, he might not have run away yet."

Pan Hongjie nodded: "You may not know this, but we in Anyuan have a special custom regarding ancestor worship. Every year on the anniversary of an ancestor's death, we place a chair in the center of the house, put the ancestor's memorial tablet on the chair, and light three incense sticks. Before the incense burns out, the ancestor's spirit returns and sits in the chair. The younger generation then kowtows to the chair, and after kowtowing, they burn pre-prepared paper money for the ancestor. All of this must be done before the incense burns out; once the incense goes out, the ancestor departs with the money."

As Pan Hongjie spoke, Xia Yu nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Zhou Yi asked, "Does Captain Pan mean that the anniversary of his father's death is of great significance in Anyuan's traditional customs, so Jiang Wei is very likely to come and pay respects to his father tomorrow?"

"Well, if Jiang Wei really intends to run away, I think he's more likely to go to his father's death anniversary than to kowtow at his grave. After all, this might be the last time he ever kowtows to his father and burns paper money for him."

Zhou Yi agreed with this statement, "Then we'll know if we go to his father's grave. If there are no traces of worship or burning of paper money, it means that Jiang Wei plans to visit the grave tomorrow to commemorate the anniversary of his death."

"Yes, his stepmother said that every year on the anniversary of his death, she would take her daughter back to the Jiang family's old house to pay respects to her deceased husband. Whether Jiang Wei goes tomorrow or not, we need to set up surveillance around the Jiang family's old house. Let's familiarize ourselves with the environment today and arrange the surveillance plan."

Following the location given by the peasant woman, the group found Jiang Wei's father's grave on a hillside. It was a simple grave mound surrounded by stones.

The tombstone looks newer than the burial mound, so it must have been replaced later.

There were no signs of worship on the grave, and it was unclear whether they had been washed away by the continuous heavy rain. However, judging from the weeds growing out from beside the tombstone, it seemed that no one had been there for a while.

This basically proves that Jiang Wei never came.

Then the group went to the Jiang family's old house. Judging from the building's size and the difference in appearance from the surrounding farmhouses, it was clear that the Jiang family was a wealthy family in the village back then.

Unfortunately, with the family's breadwinner gone, the family's fate took a completely different turn.

Sometimes life is just that cruel.

Pan Hongjie asked Xia Yu to ask around among the neighbors if anyone had been seen visiting the old house recently.

He walked back and forth in front of and behind the house, thinking about how to set up defenses for tomorrow.

Zhou Yi looked at the house, which was in a mess. The roof had collapsed and the ground was even overgrown with weeds.

It doesn't look like anyone has been here at all.

Zhou Yi walked out of the main entrance of the house, looked up, and then came back inside.

Pan Hongjie looked up and saw Zhou Yi walk out and then come back. He asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Zhou Yi pointed to the opposite side and said, "Captain Pan, look over there."

(End of this chapter)