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

Chapter 477 One of the Seven Deadly Sins is Still Missing

Zhou Yi didn't inquire further about whether the skeleton found in Yunxia Mountain was an accident or a murder.

Judging from the condition of this skeleton, it's not been a year or two; the vines must have taken at least five or six years to grow.

Therefore, just confirming the identity will take a long time, and it is possible that by the time you report to Wu Guang, you may not even be able to confirm the identity of the deceased.

So there's no need to ask now.

On behalf of the Wuguang City Bureau, Cao Anmin gave Zhou Yi a reward and said that he would cover all of Zhou Yi's medical expenses. He also said that the bureau chief had applied to the city to commend Zhou Yi's heroic deeds.

Afterwards, Zhou Yi jokingly said to Wu Yongcheng, "This round wasn't a loss."

Wu Yongcheng, however, said with a dark face, "You almost died, you know that? And you're still grinning like that."

Zhou Yi moved his hands, but the injury to his right shoulder was severe, making him wince in pain. But he still managed a forced smile and said, "I'm not dead, am I?"

Then the two talked about the case for a while.

Since Zhou Yi was rescued, Lu Xiaoshuang, who had stayed by his side every step of the way, wisely made an excuse to go out.

Wu Yongcheng recounted the whole truth about why he fell off the cliff.

Zhou Yi listened without saying a word, his expression grave.

After listening, Zhou Yi asked, "So, Ding Fei's motive for committing the crime was that he borrowed more than two thousand yuan from Liang Bin over several installments and couldn't repay it. He thought that once Liang Bin was dead, he wouldn't have to pay the money back, so he cut my rope?"

Wu Yongcheng nodded: "Yes, this kid has a very poor mental fortitude. It didn't take much effort to get to the bottom of things. He's addicted to slot machines in arcades, and he's basically squandered all the money he borrowed and his living expenses on them."

"Liang Bin is a very arrogant person with a strong desire for control. He basically pays for the activities of their club, so everyone has to listen to him. Ding Fei figured out Liang Bin's temper, so he flattered him and praised him to get money from him."

“But when he borrowed too much, Liang Bin started to complain. He urged Ding Fei several times, but Ding Fei kept making excuses to delay, even though he didn’t have the money to pay it back.”

Zhou Yi lay on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. He never imagined that his efforts to save people would lead to their deaths for such a ridiculous reason.

He took a deep breath, feeling that he still didn't fully understand the evil in human nature.

"Captain Wu, are you sure Li Yanan didn't cut the rope?"

Wu Yongcheng shook his head: "Li Yanan and Ding Fei's testimonies match up. Ding Fei did cut the rope by himself. However, knowing Ding Fei's intentions, she not only did not stop him, but also gave him the scissors. Therefore, she has in fact met the criteria for accomplice. Now, both of them have been arrested."

"What about Tang Mengjie? She's Ding Fei's girlfriend. Although she wasn't involved, she was nearby. It's unlikely she was completely unaware of anything, right?"

In response to Zhou Yi's question, Wu Yongcheng nodded: "Tang Mengjie has also been interrogated. She did not participate in the crime, but during the interrogation, she admitted that she guessed that Ding Fei might have done something wrong, and she also knew that Ding Fei borrowed money from Liang Bin. But the reason she chose to hide it was that she was unsure of what Ding Fei had done, and she was too scared."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but sneer: "They really are birds of a feather. If I had known they were this kind of bastards, I wouldn't have saved them."

Wu Yongcheng sighed helplessly, "Well, what can we do? We're the police."

"Oh, we've already looked into the situation with the school. Do you know why Liang Bin has been abusing Li Yanan for so long?"

Zhou Yi asked, "Because Li Yanan cheated on you?"

Wu Yongcheng shook his head: "But it's not too different. Li Yanan had a boyfriend when she was in high school, and they even had sex. But she hid this from Liang Bin, lying that she had never been in a relationship."

"So Liang Bin was very obedient to her and spent a lot of money on her. When Liang Bin wanted to have sex with her, she kept delaying, saying that she wanted to save her virginity for her wedding day. Liang Bin felt that she was very serious about the relationship, so he agreed not to touch her."

"And then?" Zhou Yi asked, because he knew something must have happened.

"As a result, Liang Bin soon received an anonymous note that clearly stated the names of Li Yanan and her high school boyfriend, and mocked Liang Bin for treating a 'used shoe' like a treasure."

"Liang Bin confronted Li Yanan with the note, but Li Yanan vehemently denied it. Then Liang Bin demanded that Li Yanan go to a hotel with him to have sex in order to prove her innocence, or he would break up with her."

“Li Yanan agreed at the time, but after arriving at the hotel room, she suddenly changed her mind, saying that Liang Bin did not trust her and that it was an insult to her.”

Zhou Yi frowned deeply upon hearing this and asked, "So Liang Bin raped her?"

Wu Yongcheng nodded: "Yes, she said that Liang Bin forced her onto the bed and had sex with her, and confirmed that she was not a virgin. From that day on, Liang Bin began to torture Li Yanan both mentally and physically, saying that he wanted to punish Li Yanan for her infidelity."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but curse, "Seriously, are all these people crazy? Why not just break up? Why do they have to do this stupid thing? Isn't this just plain insane?"

Wu Yongcheng agreed, saying, "I think when we were young, we weren't this pretentious. Or is this just a trend among young people these days?"

Zhou Yi quickly said, "Captain Wu, you can't put this label on young people. These people are just plain mentally ill. No matter what era you're in, it's a sign of idiocy!"

Wu Yongcheng patted him and said, "Don't get so excited. You have a concussion. Be careful you don't get dizzy again."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but rub his temples and said, "I'm so angry my head hurts."

After a while, he asked, "Captain Wu, what's the second thing?"

"The second thing is that Yao Li. Guess what his purpose was in joining this club?"

Zhou Yi closed his eyes and thought for a moment before asking, "He, Liang Bin, and Li Yanan are all sophomores. Could it be that he likes Li Yanan?"

"Okay, so your head isn't damaged. I'm relieved. That's right, Yao Li has a crush on Li Yanan, which is why he joined their club. And he didn't start having a crush on Li Yanan after starting university. They're from the same hometown and were classmates in the same high school, just not in the same class."

"Yao Li admitted that he had liked Li Yanan since high school, but because of his poor appearance, he never dared to confess. In his own words, he wanted to stay by Li Yanan's side and silently protect her."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but complain, "Well, another pretentious lunatic."

It feels like some kind of melodramatic teenage romance novel, with all that talk about this ear and that river.

Just as Zhou Yi finished complaining, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Captain Wu, have you asked Yao Li if he wrote the note that Liang Bin received?"

Wu Yongcheng immediately chuckled: "I knew you'd figure it out. That's right, I asked him, and it was him who did it."

Zhou Yi wasn't particularly surprised by the outcome. This Yao Li, while claiming he only wanted to protect Li Yanan, was secretly pushing her into the abyss. He was utterly hypocritical.

Zhou Yi found it outrageous; such a small case had almost all the elements of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Pride, envy, sloth, anger, greed, and lust.

All that's missing is binge eating.

That's absolutely outrageous.

I'm really unlucky. I finally managed to come see the sunrise with Lu Xiaoshuang, and then this happened.

"Alright, you should get some rest. We've talked enough today. Your girlfriend will be worried about you later. Get some rest. I'll arrange a car to pick you up and take you back to Hongcheng. If you need to recuperate, you should do it at home. I'm really worried about Ni Jianrong here..." Wu Yongcheng shook his head. "I'm really worried about him."

Wu Yongcheng walked out of the ward and found Lu Xiaoshuang standing diagonally opposite him, staring blankly with a thermos next to her feet.

Wu Yongcheng walked over, and only then did Lu Xiaoshuang notice him. She looked up and called out, "Captain Wu, are you done talking?"

"Yeah, we've talked enough today. He's probably tired. Let him get some rest."

As he spoke, Wu Yongcheng took out a wad of cash from his pocket and handed it to Lu Xiaoshuang, saying, "Here is five hundred yuan, a little something from everyone. Take it and buy him some good food to help him recover. I asked the doctor, and he can eat in his condition."

"Thank you, Captain Wu." Lu Xiaoshuang reached out and took the five hundred yuan.

Whether or not Zhou Yi ultimately takes the money is his decision; she can only accept it for now and cannot make the decision for him.

"By the way, Xiaoshuang, there's something I still need to remind you of, and don't blame me for being nosy."

Lu Xiaoshuang looked at him, wondering what he wanted to say.

Wu Yongcheng said with emotion, "Being a police officer's family member is very hard. They have to bear much more pressure than ordinary people, especially criminal police officers, who have to worry about them every day. You have to be mentally prepared."

Looking at Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang, he was reminded of himself and his ex-wife, the estrangement caused by work and the endless arguments.

After finally getting pregnant, the couple's relationship improved, and they thought everything was going well. But then a sudden accident shattered everything.

The day of the divorce, his ex-wife resolutely walked away from the Civil Affairs Bureau without looking back, which was the greatest pain of his life.

After hearing his words, Lu Xiaoshuang showed no confusion in her eyes, but said firmly, "Captain Wu, don't worry. No matter how difficult the road ahead may be, I will definitely walk with him. Unless one day he doesn't want me anymore."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Wu Yongcheng glared at him and said, "He wouldn't dare! If he ever dares to bully you again, just tell me, and Xiao Qiao and the others too, and we'll back you up."

Lu Xiaoshuang smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle Wu."

“Go ahead, go keep her company,” Wu Yongcheng said with a smile.

He stood there, watching Lu Xiaoshuang's retreating figure as she walked towards the ward, as if he were seeing his ex-wife's back on the day of their divorce.

As Lu Xiaoshuang reached the door, she turned back and smiled at him.

He was momentarily stunned, as if he were seeing that young face from his memory smiling at him.

……

Five days after being rescued, Zhou Yi returned to Hongcheng and stayed in a private room at the Third Municipal Hospital.

Whether by coincidence or not, the hospital room he stayed in was the same one he had stayed in after being injured in the food street incident. Looking at the familiar room, Lu Xiaoshuang smiled and asked, "Brother Yi, looking at this room, do you feel a sense of destiny?"

Zhou Yi smiled wryly and said helplessly, "I guess this is my second time being imprisoned."

"What does 're-entering the palace' mean?"

"It refers to those criminals who are arrested and imprisoned a second time."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaoshuang immediately objected, saying, "You can't say that, it's unlucky."

"Then how should we say it? A second victory?" Zhou Yi asked.

"What? This should be called a fateful encounter."

"Forget it, I don't want to run into that again."

Lu Xiaoshuang was about to say no, but then she suddenly remembered what Wu Yongcheng had said before, and her heart tightened.

Zhou Yi also noticed something was wrong and asked, "What's wrong? Is something on your mind?"

Lu Xiaoshuang smiled and shook her head: "No. Brother Yi, would you like some fruit? I'll go wash it for you."

Zhou Yi leaned against the hospital bed, reached out and pulled her hand, and asked, "Brother Biao said that you walked almost a kilometer by yourself to find the place where I fell?"

Lu Xiaoshuang sat on the edge of the bed and nodded.

"Don't do such dangerous things again, okay? That area is extremely dangerous. There was a heavy rainstorm recently. If you're not careful, you could run into danger, and the consequences would be unimaginable," Zhou Yi said earnestly.

Jiang Biao didn't tell Zhou Yi about this at first, so Zhou Yi always thought that the rescue team had found him. It wasn't until the three of them came to the hospital to visit him that he found out.

She couldn't help but feel a chill of fear. After all, due to Li Yanan and the others' deliberate misleading, the location was some distance from the search and rescue team's search area. If something had happened to Lu Xiaoshuang running there alone, the problem would have been serious.

“Brother Yi, things aren’t what you think.” Lu Xiaoshuang immediately recounted what had happened that night.

Zhou Yi was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "You...you didn't say that on purpose just to lie to me, did you?"

"I swear, I'm not kidding you."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but exclaim, "I never thought what Grandma said was actually true."

Zhou Yi clasped his hands together, bowed towards the void, and repeatedly said, "Thank you for your blessing, Ancestor. Thank you for your blessing."

Although he still found it incredible that the lantern had guided Lu Xiaoshuang to him, he was, after all, reborn, and couldn't explain everything with scientific logic.

"Son, where is my son?"

Before she arrived, her voice came from outside the ward.

Zhou Yi smiled at Lu Xiaoshuang, then whispered, "I'll pretend to be asleep, you cover for me."

He had just turned his head away and closed his eyes when Zhang Qiuxia and her family rushed in.

Just as she was about to speak, Lu Xiaoshuang immediately gave her a wink.

"Shh—" Lu Xiaoshuang whispered, "Auntie, Brother Yi just fell asleep. He's a little tired. Please don't wake him up."

Looking at her son on the bed, Zhang Qiuxia was caught in a dilemma. Finally, she pulled Lu Xiaoshuang and said, "Come on, let's go outside and talk. You tell Auntie what's going on. How come his grandma said on the phone that Zhou Yi fell down a mountain several hundred meters high?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi, who was pretending to be asleep, almost burst out laughing.

Good grief, how did this rumor spread? They're treating me like the Monkey King!

Lu Xiaoshuang couldn't help but laugh and quickly said, "It's not as exaggerated as Grandma said. Come on, let's talk outside."

Then Zhou Yi heard the sound of a group of people walking away, and finally the ward door closed, and the room became quiet.

The bright sunlight outside the window fell on the white pillow of the hospital bed, accompanied by Zhou Yi's gradually even breathing.

……

Zhou Yi stayed at the Third Municipal Hospital for more than a week, supposedly to rest and recuperate, but in reality, people kept coming to see him, so he was never truly at peace.

Aside from relatives, people from the bureau, and Qian Hongxing's family.

There are many other people as well.

Jin Lei and Zhang Ning brought along their old colleagues from the Nanhu Street Police Station.

The old neighbors of Ergang Steel.

Some unfamiliar municipal leaders came to offer their condolences.

Yu Rong, representing the television station, came to visit him.

There were also Xu Junjie and Yan Lang. Xu Junjie brought Cheng Jiaojiao to see him. I don't know where he heard the news from, but when I asked, it was a long and roundabout way of asking.

Zhou Yi learned from Cheng Jiaojiao that Han Jiajia was already in a relationship, and it sounded like the blind date he met at the Western restaurant.

Lu Xiaoshuang innocently asked Han Jiajia who she was and whether she was also their high school classmate.

At first, Lao Yan thought Lu Xiaoshuang was Zhou Yi's sister. When he learned that she was Zhou Yi's girlfriend and a female college student who was only nineteen years old, his eyes widened. He kept asking Lu Xiaoshuang if she had any classmates she could introduce to him. In the end, Lu Xiaoshuang could only reluctantly say that she would ask for him after school started.

Old Yan was so happy he couldn't stop grinning, as if he had already found a girlfriend.

Then there were some colleagues I had worked with in previous cases, such as Officer Miao Cheng, and Director Wang from the Yong'an Township Police Station in Yanyang County also brought Hu Zi along.

Looking at the endless stream of people coming to visit him, chatting and laughing, Zhou Yi had a very strange feeling.

If I were living in a TV series, this would be the beginning of the finale.

But life goes on. In fact, there was no grand finale; Zhou Yi was discharged from the hospital without incident.

However, being discharged from the hospital does not mean a full recovery. For a moderate concussion, the doctor's advice is to strictly limit physical and mental activity for the first two weeks and ensure sufficient sleep every day.

If symptoms improve significantly after two weeks, you can gradually increase light activity, but you should avoid overexertion.

So after Zhou Yi returned home, Zhang Qiuxia came to cook for her son every day, three meals a day without fail.

Lu Xiaoshuang was interning at the tax bureau. After the Hongda case concluded, the anonymous tip-off was also dealt with. Since it was a tip-off made by the murderer to confuse the public, it was not considered a valid tip-off, so Lu Xiaoshuang continued her internship at the tax bureau as usual.

However, with July 20th fast approaching, Zhou Yi noticed that Lu Xiaoshuang seemed somewhat worried.

That day, Lu Xiaoshuang came to Zhou Yi's house after get off work. Zhou Yi asked her, "Xiaoshuang, you seem to have something on your mind lately. Are you worried about going home to see your parents?"

Lu Xiaoshuang quickly smiled and said, "It's okay. The doctor said I still need to rest for a while longer. Besides, you're going to Wuguang to report on August 1st, so you need to rest even more. We can talk about going back to see my parents next time. My parents aren't unreasonable people."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and said, "How about this, since you haven't been back for so many years, why don't you go back by yourself this time? I'll go with you next time?"

Lu Xiaoshuang was slightly taken aback, but immediately nodded and said, "That's fine too."

"I'll take care of the train ticket for you. I know someone in the railway police."

Lu Xiaoshuang said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother Yi."

But when he turned his head, there was a hint of loneliness in his eyes.

July 21st arrived in the blink of an eye at Hongcheng Railway Station.

Outside the ticket gate, Lu Xiaoshuang and Zhou Yi hugged.

"You must be careful when you're traveling alone, okay? When you get to your town, be sure to call me to let me know you're safe," Zhou Yi instructed.

"Okay, Grandpa, you've been talking about it the whole way," Lu Xiaoshuang said with a smile. "Then I'm off."

"Go."

"Okay, you should go back and rest now, don't overwork yourself."

Lu Xiaoshuang held the sleeper ticket Zhou Yi had given her, dragging her suitcase. Besides clothes, the suitcase also contained some things Zhou Yi had prepared for her parents.

Then, after passing through the ticket gate, he kept looking back at Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi waved to her until her figure disappeared from sight.

Zhou Yi turned around and quickly ran away.

On the train platform, Lu Xiaoshuang was looking for the carriage number on her ticket.

Suddenly, someone called out from behind, "Lu Xiaoshuang? Is that you?"

(End of this chapter)