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

Chapter 346 Crematorium

One of the people chatting immediately replied, "Coming, coming, I'll go right away."

After meeting up with Xia Yu, Xia Yu handed him a mobile phone. "Officer Zhou, we've contacted Feng Qiang's hometown and got your number. They'll go to Feng Qiang's house now."

Zhou Yi nodded, but his mind was still on what he had just heard.

Burned?

He seemed to have a vague idea.

He then followed the sound to an office where a woman was processing documents.

The older woman looked up at the two people in the doorway and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zhou Yi showed his badge and said, "Police officer, what was that you who shouted about the dead chicken being burned?"

The older sister was startled and nodded nervously.

"Tell me the specifics."

"Well... there was a chicken farm where some chickens got fowl plague and died... died, and then the butler took them away to be burned," the woman stammered.

"Where was it taken and burned?"

"Fire...crematorium..."

Zhou Yi was taken aback: "They burn chickens at the crematorium?"

The older sister said, "The old crematorium in the west of the city... they don't cremate people anymore... they just burn chickens."

Xia Yu said, "Officer Zhou, this crematorium in the west of the city is old. Ten years ago, a new funeral home with cremation facilities was built in the east of the city, so the old one in the west of the city was abandoned. But this is the first time I've heard of burning chickens."

The older woman quickly explained, "It's a city regulation. In the past, dead chickens were just thrown away randomly, but the city said it polluted the environment, so they started taking them all to the old crematorium to be burned."

Zhou Yi's expression changed, and he hurriedly asked, "What procedures do you have for taking the dead chicken to the crematorium to be burned?"

"Yes, you need to get a form. The crematorium can only start the cremation after they receive the form."

"Get me some information right away," Zhou Yi said.

As Zhou Yi requested, the eldest sister quickly found the relevant registration information.

Yang Jian's chicken farm is the No. 5 chicken farm under Zheng Guangming's company. Before the Lunar New Year, on January 29th, the No. 5 chicken farm burned a batch of dead chickens.

In the 1990s, due to various reasons such as technology limitations, the loss rate of large-scale farming was still quite high. In order to prevent diseased and dead chickens from entering the market and damaging the industry ecosystem, the city had very strict requirements for the disposal of dead chickens.

Zhou Yi recalled that Sister Huang, who worked at the same chicken farm as Yang Jian, had said that Yang Jian had stopped coming to work on January 29th before the Lunar New Year.

The timing is perfect.

Zhou Yi asked his older sister who had taken the dead chicken to the crematorium that day.

The older sister said it was Mr. Li, who was now going to the No. 3 chicken farm to collect the dead chickens.

Zhou Yi told Xia Yu to come with him immediately to the crematorium in the west of the city.

When Zhou Yi shared his guess on the way, Xia Yu was startled.

He knew that Zhou Yi was looking for the missing Yang Jian. Zhou Yi had mentioned it to them before, but he didn't expect Zhou Yi to make such a connection.

"You mean, Yang Jian might have been thrown into the crematorium's incinerator and burned along with dead chickens?"

"Well, that possibility can't be ruled out. Burning to ashes is the best way to dispose of a corpse," Zhou Yi said with a serious expression.

"Then who killed him?"

"If he was really burned, then he must have been someone from Zheng Guangming's company. Outsiders would not be able to dispose of a body in this way."

Xia Yu couldn't help but exclaim, "My God, there isn't a single good person in Zheng Guangming's family."

"Let's investigate first."

Zhou Yi is not sure now, because three months have passed. If it really was burned to ashes in the incinerator, there would be no trace of it left, and even DNA technology probably wouldn't be able to find it.

Upon arriving at the crematorium, I found it to be quite old and dilapidated, exuding a desolate and eerie atmosphere. If it weren't for the fact that it specifically handled dead chickens, to an outsider it would simply appear as an abandoned crematorium.

There was only one old man guarding the place. I asked him and found out that he was a former employee of the crematorium who had been rehired after retirement.

Since the old man couldn't speak Mandarin, Xia Yu had to ask him.

After communicating with him, the old man said that the actual amount of dead chickens he dealt with was not very large. It wasn't a daily occurrence; sometimes it happened once or twice a month, and sometimes it happened five or six times a month.

Moreover, only large chicken farms send their chickens over for burning, because large chicken farms have paid the fees required by the city, while small farms handle their own chickens.

Then, because the quantity was small and he was the only one working, only one stove remained to be used.

Chicken farms usually call ahead to notify you when they need chickens, and then arrange a time to deliver them.

As for the ashes left after burning, someone will take them away and dispose of them properly.

This means that it is impossible to find human ashes through ash testing.

Then Zhou Yi asked Xia Yu to ask the old man if Guangming Chicken Farm had sent any dead chickens to be burned on January 29th, and whether he remembered the situation at the time.

The old man said it had been too long and he couldn't remember, then he checked the records and confirmed that a batch had been delivered.

Zhou Yi hurriedly asked when it was.

The old man squinted at the registration form and said, "At 2:50 PM, the person who signed it is Li Tiewang." Just then, a small truck drove into the crematorium. The old man looked up at the license plate and pointed, saying, "That's Old Li."

As soon as Li Tiewang got out of the car, he saw two young men walking towards him. He was puzzled. When did young men start coming to the crematorium?

Zhou Yi and Xia Yu immediately revealed their identities and asked him if he had delivered the dead chicken on January 29th.

Although Li Tiewang was puzzled, he still nodded and answered yes.

"Did you come alone?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Yes, I'm alone. I didn't originally do this job as a full-time employee; I work in the freight department hauling goods."

"But I saw that you were the one who brought in the dead chickens from your company to burn?" Zhou Yi sized up the other person, because this person was currently the most suspicious.

“But they all refused to do it, thinking it was bad luck and complaining that the pay was too low.” Li Tiewang smiled honestly. “I have three children to support, so I’ll do it even if the pay is low.”

Judging from his demeanor and the deep wrinkles around his eyes when he smiles, he doesn't seem to be lying.

Zhou Yi then asked, "What happened that day? Tell us the details."

"They said there was a batch of dead chickens to be disposed of at the No. 5 field, so I took the order from the company and went to pick them up. I burned them as soon as I got them."

"Was it also a chicken that died of disease?"

Li Tiewang shook his head: "No, it seems to have been poisoned. Chickens that die from poisoning are different from those that die from disease. Chickens that die from disease are limp, while those that die from poisoning are stiff."

"He died from poisoning... Someone poisoned him? Has the police been called?"

"I don't know about that, I'm only in charge of hauling goods."

"After we bring it here, who's responsible for burning it? You or the old man?"

"Grandpa Yang just lights the stove; we do all the cooking ourselves. That's why they don't like doing it—it's very tiring work."

"You'll cook it yourself? Will the old man be watching?"

Li Tiewang laughed and said, "What's so interesting about that? I'm just burning chickens, not people. I'll just throw them in one by one and that's it. Once they're done, I'll just let Grandpa Yang know."

Zhou Yi's heart skipped a beat. The other person made the joke so casually. If it really was him, and he still dared to joke like that, then his mental fortitude was just too good.

Zhou Yi told Xia Yu to ask the old man to verify if that was the case.

Xia Yu immediately ran to the duty room next door to inquire, and then ran back to say, "The old man confirmed it. He said that when he was rehired, it was agreed that he would only be in charge of burning the stove and would not be responsible for other work. And when he was burning the stove, he really wouldn't be there to watch over it."

Zhou Yi nodded. The conditions and environment for handling the body were already in place; the only problem now was finding the right people.

It seems we need to take Li Tiewang back for questioning. Although he doesn't seem like the person in question, he's currently the only one with the means to commit the crime.

"Master Li, could you please think again? Did anything unusual happen when you brought the dead chickens from the chicken farm that day?" Zhou Yi asked again. If there were still no valuable clues, then they would have to take the person back first.

Li Tiewang frowned, thinking and thinking.

"It's nothing..."

Just as he was about to shake his head, an old man ran over from the duty room, holding two pieces of paper in his hand.

The old man said a few words in his dialect and then handed over the paper.

Xia Yu took the paper and looked at it, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He then handed it over and said, "The old man said he just checked the previous receipts and found that there were two identical receipts from January 29th."

"What?" Zhou Yi was startled and took the order to look at it.

Sure enough, the two forms were identical, both addressed to Anyuan City Guangming Commerce and Trade Co., Ltd., both stating that the sick chickens were to be incinerated, both dated January 29th, and both stamped with the company seal of Guangming Commerce and Trade.

Why are there two identical receipts?

"Li Tiewang, you came here twice that day?" Zhou Yi turned his head and asked sharply, his eyebrows standing up.

Li Tiewang was startled. "No...no, I've never transported twice in one day."

"Then how do you explain this?" Zhou Yi waved two identical forms in front of him.

Li Tiewang stared wide-eyed and looked at it carefully again and again. It was indeed two identical forms.

He shouted anxiously, "I really don't know! Could it be that I drove too fast?"

Although he didn't know exactly what happened, he was sure it wasn't anything good; the boss's family affairs had already caused quite a stir today.

"Uncle Yang, you have to be my witness, I only came here once that day."

The old man scratched his head and said something that almost made Li Tiewang anxious: "It happened so long ago, I can't remember it clearly."

Zhou Yi also said, "Sir, you need to think about it carefully. If you can't remember, you'll have to come back to the police station with us."

This time, the old man was startled and quickly said he would think about it again.

Li Tiewang's nervousness was visibly obvious, and it didn't seem like he was faking it.

Zhou Yi looked at the two forms more carefully and suddenly noticed that the handwriting in the "items" column on the forms was exactly the same.

However, there are slight differences in the Arabic numerals for the date on the two forms.

The old man suddenly shouted something.

Zhou Yi looked at Xia Yu, who said, "Grandpa has remembered what happened."

(End of this chapter)