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

Chapter 466 Interrogation of Wu Yuemei

In the interrogation room of Yunshan County Detention Center.

Wu Yuemei, dressed in a blue prison uniform, was brought in.

The information shows that she is 37 years old this year, but she actually looks like she is in her early forties.

She's a bit overweight, but her facial features are still pretty good; she probably was quite good-looking when she was younger.

Detention centers don't require shaving or haircuts, so she still had her long hair tied up.

After sitting down, she glanced at the person opposite her.

I've seen one of them in police uniform before, but the other one who wasn't in uniform was a complete stranger.

Then she lowered her head.

“Wu Yuemei, we are from the Yunshan County Public Security Bureau. We have some questions for you,” Zhou Yi said.

Wu Yuemei nodded.

Where were you on April 17th?

"Didn't you already ask?" Wu Yuemei muttered impatiently.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yi slammed his hand on the table, creating a loud bang.

Wu Yuemei shuddered in fright, and even Wang Tao, who was standing next to her, was startled.

Zhou Yi said sternly, "Answer the questions you're asked! Do you even know where you are? Who gave you the right to ramble on like this!"

Zhou Yi's sharp gaze frightened Wu Yuemei, who trembled and nodded repeatedly.

These rural women had never experienced such a scene before. Zhou Yi usually dealt with vicious and cunning murderers.

"Where were you on April 17th?" Zhou Yi asked again, raising his voice.

"At home".

"Which house? Be specific, give me the address!"

“Xia...Xiaguang Village, my husband Yao Xi’s home.”

Zhou Yi began to inquire in detail about what had happened that night.

Wang Tao initially found it strange, as they had already asked these questions before, and the answers were in the written records.

But he soon discovered that Zhou Yi asked very, very detailed questions, down to how many times the child's bottom was hit, how many times the thigh was hit, whether he was scolded while hitting the child, and what he was scolded about. He wanted to know everything.

Sometimes Wu Yuemei couldn't remember, and he would force her to think about it, to make her remember whether she hit four or five times.

Wang Tao was a little confused. Was it really necessary to ask such detailed questions? What was the difference between four or five hits?

But since this was "Director Ni's man," he didn't dare say anything more.

What time did you notice the severe redness and swelling on your child's body?

"Evening...night..."

What time is it in the evening?

Under Zhou Yi's intense and meticulous interrogation, Wu Yuemei was already under great tension.

"I don't remember," she said, her voice trembling with tears.

Zhou Yi glared at him and said only one word: "Want!"

Wu Yuemei could only cry and think at the same time, trembling as she said, "Well... it seems to be around 7:30..."

Did you eat by then?

Zhou Yi's question surprised both Wang Tao and Wu Yuemei, especially Wang Tao, who didn't understand why she was asking if he had eaten.

"Eat...eat."

"What did you eat?" Zhou Yi asked, then added, "Think about it carefully."

Wu Yuemei lowered her head and said, "Eggplant... eggplant stir-fried with minced meat, stir-fried cowpeas, and... rice."

Zhou Yi was silent for a moment, then asked, "Has Yao Huanhuan had dinner?"

Wu Yuemei paused for a moment, then answered blankly, "I...I ate."

"you sure?"

"Let me think, let me think..."

"You, as the mother, don't even know if the child has eaten?"

"I ate...I ate, but not much."

Zhou Yi scrutinized the other person and said, "Wu Yuemei, let me tell you a fact first: it is possible to find out whether a person has eaten or not. There will be residue in the stomach, and even if it is digested, it will still enter the intestines and become excrement."

"You'd better think carefully about your answer, because you'll be responsible for every word you say!"

Wu Yuemei hesitated for a moment before answering, "The child...the child hasn't eaten."

"Why won't he eat? You've beaten him up like this, he shouldn't dare not eat."

Wu Yuemei thought for a moment, then, as if grasping at a straw, said, "Well, he... he was sleepy, so he went to sleep, and I didn't wake him..."

Wang Tao, who was standing nearby, was furious. A four-year-old child, and his mother didn't even call him to eat. Did she not treat him like a human being?
Zhou Yi was even more distressed. He had been to the Yao family last night, and he could imagine a four-year-old child, covered in bruises, struggling to climb onto that bed, and then curling up in a corner to fall asleep.

The mother, on the other hand, ate and drank as usual, completely ignoring his life or death.

My child, even if you came to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation, this tribulation is far too painful.

"Hmph, I'm sleepy, alright, alright." Zhou Yi nodded repeatedly. "Wu Yuemei, tell me exactly how you discovered the redness and swelling on Yao Huanhuan's body while he was sleeping, and how you decided to give him a hot bath?"

During the interrogation, Wu Yuemei said that when he changed the child's clothes at night, he found that the child's buttocks and legs were swollen, so he thought of giving the child a hot bath to improve blood circulation and remove blood stasis.

The police officers in charge of the interrogation did not investigate the veracity of her statement, as it seemed quite reasonable.

But how could a mother who doesn't even care whether her child eats or not possibly change her child's clothes?

Therefore, Zhou Yi concluded that Wu Yuemei was lying in her original statement.

Because of what happened that night, only she knows the details now.

As expected, Wu Yuemei repeated what she had said before, explaining how she discovered the child's wound was red and swollen, and how she boiled water to bathe the child.

"Wu Yuemei, the child is sleeping. Why did you change his clothes?" Zhou Yi asked.

"I...I'm checking if he's dirty..." Wu Yuemei said guiltily.

This is how Zhou Yi felt yesterday: telling one lie will give rise to countless more lies to cover up the first one.

At this moment, Wang Tao also realized the problem. He discovered that Zhou Yi had unknowingly revealed a weakness in the opponent.

"You don't even care if your child eats or not, but you care if he's dirty? I've been to your house, and I've seen your rooms. You can see the bed inside from the dining table in the outer room. Tell me, what are you thinking when you eat?"

"I...I wasn't thinking anything."

"Then tell me, how could you eat this meal while you sat there watching your own son lying in bed, his life hanging in the balance?" Zhou Yi asked, slamming his index finger on the table.

Faced with Zhou Yi's immense pressure, Wu Yuemei blurted out, "He wasn't in bed at the time..."

She immediately realized she had said the wrong thing and shut her mouth.

But it was too late.

Wang Tao couldn't help but ask, "If not in bed, then where?"

Wu Yuemei lowered her head and remained silent.

Zhou Yi let out a heavy sigh and said, "It should be on the floor in the inner room."

Wang Tao was startled: "On...on the ground?"

Then he angrily shouted, "Wu Yuemei, are you even human?!"

Zhou Yi asked, "Wu Yuemei, what did you do after you beat up Yao Huanhuan?"

Wu Yuemei lowered her head and remained silent.

Zhou Yi slammed his hand on the table and roared, "Look up! Answer!"

Wu Yuemei said, trembling all over, "Watch...watch TV."

"What about the child?"

"He... lay down on the woodpile in the corner of the outer room."

Zhou Yi remembered the corner of the wall to the right of the door in the outer room of the Yao family's house, where some firewood for cooking was piled up. Yesterday, he saw some children's toys piled up in that corner.

"Are you just going to leave him lying there like that?"

“I was angry at the time, and... he’s been lying there like that before, it’s not the first time.”

"Wu Yuemei, even now, how can you still speak with such self-righteousness? Are you even human?"

Faced with Zhou Yi's accusations, Wu Yuemei lowered her head and tugged at the hem of her clothes.

"So Yao Huanhuan lay on the woodpile for hours and you didn't even feed him?"

Wu Yuemei nodded: "He used to get up and come to eat by himself. That day I cooked the meal, but he didn't come to eat. I thought he was faking it, so I ignored him."

"Continue!" Zhou Yi's face darkened.

“I got really angry, so I cursed at him a couple more times, wanting to see how long he could hold it in. You don’t know, this kid is incredibly stubborn…”

Stop making excuses for yourself; you're here to state the objective facts!

Wu Yuemei nodded: "Well, after dinner, I ignored him and went to watch TV by myself. I watched until almost nine o'clock, and then I was a little sleepy."

"Then... I realized that the baby hadn't moved at all, so I got a little worried and went to check on the woodpile."

Wang Tao's heart was in his throat. He asked, "How is the child?" "His... hands and feet were ice cold. I thought he had caught a cold from lying down for too long, so I thought I would soak him in hot water and let him sleep for a while and he would be fine. Then... then I went to boil water."

"What temperature water did you use to give Yao Huanhuan a bath?" Zhou Yi asked.

"I don't know, it's a little hot, but I thought it would be better if it was a little hot, because a little hot would make it heal faster."

"Was Yao Huanhuan conscious from the moment you noticed his hands and feet were cold until he took a hot bath?"

"He was in a daze the whole time. We took off his clothes and put them in the bucket before he started to speak."

"What did he say?"

"They didn't say anything, just that it was hot, so hot."

Zhou Yi took a deep breath and asked, "So what did you do back then?"

"I held him down to keep him from moving and told him that he would feel better after soaking for a while."

Did the child cry?

“He cried.” Wu Yuemei quickly added, “But he felt much better after soaking in the water. He was warm and his skin was all rosy. I noticed that the skin on his wound was peeling a bit, so I applied some ointment and put him in bed to sleep.”

"Then...then...I swear, I really didn't know this would happen. When we were kids, if we got sick, we'd just take a hot bath and it'd be fine. How was I supposed to know..."

Zhou Yi was furious and didn't want to hear her excuses: "So you already noticed that Yao Huanhuan's hands and feet were cold and she was confused before you even took a bath, right?"

Wu Yuemei nodded. "Yes."

"But you didn't choose to go to the hospital immediately because you felt it wasn't necessary?"

"The main problem is that it's late at night, and his dad and grandparents aren't home, so it's inconvenient for me to go out alone."

As the saying goes, a mother's love makes her strong. A normal mother would risk her life if her child was in danger, but her reason was that she didn't want the hassle.

"So, you considered taking him to the hospital, but didn't because you thought it was too troublesome and inconvenient, right?"

"Yes, that's right... right?"

"When you were giving Yao Huanhuan a hot bath, you ignored her objections and forced her to soak in water that was far hotter than she could tolerate, causing her to suffer extensive burns and peeling skin. And afterwards, you still didn't choose to take her to the hospital. Is that right?"

Wu Yuemei nodded again: "Yes."

Zhou Yi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The charge of abuse is undeniable. The suspect clearly committed acts of intentional harm and admitted to intentionally refusing to seek medical attention even after learning of the victim's poor physical condition.

This is not as she claimed, that she was unaware or that she thought so; outdated ideas cannot be a reason for exemption from responsibility.

The court's judgment first considers the objective facts, and then considers the subjective intent that led to those objective facts.

Clearly, once exposed regarding the meal, Wu Yuemei could no longer lie using her previous testimony. Her intention to cause harm was continuous.

Once the crime of abuse is confirmed, the case can be changed to a criminal case.

That means we can perform an autopsy on Yao Huanhuan. Once the autopsy results confirm a connection between the autopsy and Wu Yuemei's actions, the case can proceed to the prosecution stage.

But the sentence for abuse is only seven years, which is too lenient for this beast in human form.

"Wu Yuemei, why do you hate Yao Huanhuan so much?" Zhou Yi asked.

"I...I just have a bad temper," Wu Yuemei weakly defended herself.

Zhou Yi slowly shook his head: "No, this is not an excuse. Your hatred for Yao Huanhuan has exceeded the normal limits of a bad temper."

“Wu Yuemei, I went to see Yao Xi this morning. He said Yao Huanhuan is not his son, but a bastard. You said that to him, didn’t you?”

"I..." Wu Yuemei wanted to deny it, but couldn't find an excuse.

“We just checked the visitation records. Yao Xi came to see you ten days ago and brought you some food. What did you say to him that time?”

Upon hearing Yao Xi's name, Wu Yuemei's eyes suddenly turned extremely disgusted.

"Yes, he came to see me. He told me that it didn't matter that I lost the baby, and that we could have another one after I got out."

"What!" Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi's blood rushed to his head.

How could Yao Xi's mother say such a thing? What does she see children as? Domestic fowl, things?
And he even thought about rekindling his relationship with Wu Yuemei and having another child?
Is this guy crazy? Has he never seen a woman in his entire life?
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that someone like him has never seen a woman in his life, and most likely never will.

So, for this reason, he chose not to pursue the matter further; the child was dead, so be it. As long as his wife was alive, could they have another child?
Zhou Yi is not unaware of the evil in human nature, but that does not mean he will remain indifferent when he encounters evil in human nature again.

"How did you answer?"

“I was furious with him. I called him a lunatic and then told him that the child wasn’t his and that I would rather die than have a child for an ugly and poor guy like him.”

"And then what was his reaction?" Zhou Yi asked.

"After hearing that, he got furious and started cursing at me. I cursed back, and then... I was taken away..."

Zhou Yi sneered. So this Yao Xi wasn't just someone who could hide, and she wasn't without a temper after all.

So, the reason he was so timid when they beat and scolded his children and parents was because the knife didn't actually cut him.

This time, if a knife called a green hat were to be used to cut his head, he would get angry and start cursing.

It's true what they say, birds of a feather flock together!

I wonder how Li Chong would feel if he knew Yao Xi was this kind of person from beyond the grave.

So who is Yao Huanhuan's biological father?

Wu Yuemei's features scrunched up. "Actually, I'm not entirely sure if the child is Yao Xi's. I had just been bullied by some old women in the cell and was holding back my anger, so I said that."

"Uncertainty...that means there are other men involved, right?"

In this kind of situation, a man might simply pull up his pants and leave without remembering, but a woman is unlikely to be unaware of who she had relations with during that period.

Wu Yuemei nodded guiltily.

“Wu Yuemei, what did you do for a living before? I heard from your mother-in-law, Ding Lanying, that you used to work in the capital city of the neighboring province.”

When Zhou Yi asked this question, Wu Yuemei immediately nodded guiltily, avoiding Zhou Yi's gaze.

"What work?"

"It's...it's like being a restaurant server..."

In fact, Zhou Yi noticed from the beginning that Wu Yuemei had an instinctive fear of the police, and her eyes were always darting away.

This reaction made him think of a possibility.

"Have you ever engaged in prostitution before?"

Just as Wu Yuemei was about to shake her head in denial, Zhou Yi pointed at her and said, "Think carefully before you answer. We can find out!"

She immediately swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

“Yes, but that was many years ago,” Wu Yuemei weakly defended herself.

Zhou Yixin thought to himself that his intuition was right; this was a "reformed" "technical worker".

No wonder the matchmaker said that otherwise Yao Xi wouldn't have had a chance.

It turns out that it's only because people get old that it's the turn of the "honest people".

In fact, with economic development, this situation will become more and more common, with young women from underdeveloped areas going to unfamiliar developed areas to sell their bodies to make money while they are young and beautiful.

When they reach their mid-thirties, and their looks fade and business declines, they take their savings back to their hometown and transform themselves into business owners, opening clothing stores, nail salons, or beauty parlors.

Then, she would pretend that she had been working hard away from home and thus delayed her marriage, and marry an honest man who treated her well.

The famous internet meme about honest people originated from this.

I didn't expect Wu Yuemei to pull this trick so early.

"So, was that man who might be Yao Huanhuan's biological father someone you met while you were working as a prostitute?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Forget it...let it go."

"Your relationship isn't just a simple prostitution affair, is it?"

The moment this person was mentioned, Wu Yuemei's entire expression changed. If she felt a physical aversion when Yao Xi was mentioned earlier, she now felt a deep-seated hatred when this man was mentioned.

"He's a beast! If I hadn't trusted that bastard, I wouldn't be in this state today!"

"Tell me, why do you hate him so much? What's his name?"

Zhou Yi had actually guessed some of the possibilities.

The reason why Wu Yuemei hates her biological son Yao Huanhuan so much is because of this man who may be the child's biological father.

And precisely because she herself was unsure whose child Yao Huanhuan was, she transferred all her hatred for that man and her dissatisfaction with the Yao family's financial situation onto this innocent child.

Of course, the essence of all this is because Wu Yuemei is a selfish, heartless, and inhuman beast.

The reason Zhou Yi asked her why she hated that man was for one reason only: he wanted Wu Yuemei to admit that everything she did to Yao Huanhuan was because she transferred her hatred for that man onto the child.

This further proves that Wu Yuemei's abuse and harm were long-term, subjective acts.

This should allow the court to impose a heavier sentence on her.

It's impossible to make her pay with her life; the only option is to increase the severity of her sentence.

“I told you, can you shoot him? He’s no good, he’s a gangster.”

Wu Yuemei only completed junior high school and had little education. She had no concept of the law, just like Ding Lanying. She talked about execution all the time, as if executing someone was as simple as buying vegetables.

"The underworld? That depends on whether you can provide information about his crimes. Tell me first, what's his name, and where is he from?"

Wu Yuemei said, "He is from Wuguang, his name is Hu Dali, and his nickname is Big Cannon."

Zhou Yi's heart skipped a beat: "A cannon?"

He knows this guy!
(End of this chapter)