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

Chapter 488 may be a murder.
Lu Guohua went to the village to return the bicycle, and Lu Xiaoshuang moved stools for the three of them and placed them in the shade outside the house.

Today the sun is shining brightly and the sky is cloudless. Although it is evening, it is still quite hot.

After sitting down, Director Chen gestured for Zhao Liang to explain the situation to Zhou Yi and ask him to help analyze it.

Zhao Liang nodded, and then began to recount the findings of yesterday's and today's investigation.

First, after receiving the call yesterday, Director Chen immediately sent people to Xipinggou to find the village chief and learn about the previous search.

The village chief said that all the wells had been checked, but there was no latrine, since people would instinctively avoid such things.

So the police officers and the villagers organized by the village chief searched through all the latrines, big and small, in the village.

To prevent any omissions, the police officers instructed everyone not to just look, but also to use sticks to search through the latrines to ensure that every household's latrine was thoroughly inspected.

But in the end, they found nothing. When several colleagues came to the office this morning, they could still smell a stench of feces, which shows how thorough their investigation was yesterday.

However, after this investigation, the possibility of Ge Fangfang's accidental death can be basically ruled out.

After all, we need to see the person, whether alive or dead.

Zhao Liang went to check on the downstream section of the river near Xipinggou this morning, but found nothing.

Besides, there's a distance between Xipinggou and the nearby river, so the child had no reason to run there.

Now that accidents have been ruled out, the remaining possibilities are human trafficking and murder.

However, the situation regarding similar missing child cases in the surrounding area is still unclear. Director Chen said he had called the county bureau, but he estimated it wouldn't be so soon.

Zhou Yi tentatively asked how long it might take to get a result.

Director Chen shook his head and said it was hard to say; it could take a few days or a few weeks.

Zhou Yi wasn't surprised by this. One reason was the work process; everything has a first-come, first-served order, and it's impossible for someone to immediately comply with your request.

Secondly, the nature of this case is not serious at present. The key issue is that there are no clear clues, whether it is human trafficking or murder.

Any relatively clear and directional clue will attract the attention of the county bureau.

Therefore, we can only passively wait for the result at present.

However, Director Chen had spent most of his life working at the grassroots level and was quite experienced. He found the village head of Xipinggou and asked him to use the loudspeaker hanging on the utility pole at the village entrance to call out to the villagers, asking if anyone had seen any strangers in the village on July 22nd, and if so, to come to the village committee office to report immediately.

But despite calling out several times and waiting there for a long time, no one came.

The village chief told him that almost everyone in the village was related by blood or marriage, so if a stranger came to the village, someone would definitely notice.

But the child has been missing for several days, and no one has reported seeing a stranger, so it's highly unlikely. After all, there are so many eyes in the village; even if there were human traffickers, they couldn't just fall from the sky.

This statement coincides with Zhou Yi's analysis; indeed, in rural environments, it is very unlikely that human traffickers will go unnoticed.

Moreover, as the village chief said, if there were human traffickers in such a village where people are related by marriage, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Although Zhou Yi had never encountered this in his previous life, he had seen similar cases online, where human traffickers would run into a village to steal children, only to be discovered and arrested by the villagers.

By the time the police arrived, the human traffickers had already been beaten to death.

It is clear that after catching the human traffickers, the villagers took the law into their own hands and beat them to death.

The problem is that when faced with the police investigation, the villagers insisted that no one hit him, saying they didn't know anything about it and didn't see it.

Therefore, with neither physical evidence nor witnesses, and given the principle of "the law does not punish the masses," it seems that the matter can only be left unresolved in the end.

Of course, netizens unanimously applauded this, believing that the human traffickers deserved to be beaten to death.

But from a personal emotional perspective, human traffickers do deserve to die; they should be torn to pieces and their bones scattered to the winds.

However, from a legal perspective, the terrifying aspect of this matter is that if this phenomenon is tolerated, sooner or later this knife will become a butcher's knife in the hands of criminals, and then it will be used to cut down ordinary people.

A group of people rushed out and accused you of being a human trafficker, then beat you to death without saying a word.

Similarly, there were also cases of catching mistresses in the street. Later, there were specialized human trafficking gangs that, under the guise of catching mistresses, would work together to abduct young and beautiful girls in the street.

In conclusion, based on the current investigation, Director Chen believes that both accidental death and human trafficking can be ruled out.

So the remaining focus is the murder.

As Zhou Yi pointed out yesterday, the most likely suspect is Ge Fangfang's stepfather, Ma Weichang.

After all, it's impossible for a six-year-old child to have an enemy who wants to kill her because of her own actions.

In cases of child murder, the child victims are almost always the targets of the perpetrators' revenge, and the motives and the root of the conflict come from the adults.

Therefore, Director Chen instructed Zhao Liang and his team to conduct an external investigation into Ma Weichang.

The main approach is to investigate based on the directions Zhou Yi mentioned.

Zhao Liang said, "According to the information, Ma Weichang is a local resident of the city. He is 33 years old this year, five years older than Miao Genhua. They got married three years ago. We found that Ma Weichang had a previous marriage before marrying Miao Genhua."

Zhou Yi nodded: "So Miao Genhua is widowed, and Ma Weichang is divorced?"

"Yes, Ma Weichang has a son with his ex-wife."

Zhao Liang's words made Zhou Yi's heart tighten.

If Ma Weichang and his ex-wife already have a son, then based on the traditional concept of carrying on the family line, he wouldn't need to force Miao Genhua to have another child.

It's not worth risking killing someone for this; it's not worth it.

Unless there is another reason.

Zhou Yi immediately thought of Xu Jiaguang, who also had a son, Xu Hui, with his ex-wife, but Xu Hui had a terminal illness.

Could it be the same situation?
“Brother Zhao, I suggest you go back and look for Ma Weichang’s ex-wife and son, especially to see how his son is doing.”

Director Chen immediately understood Zhou Yi's meaning: "You want to see if Ma Weichang still has the idea of ​​having more children?"

"Well, if we suspect Ma Weichang, we first need to determine his motive. If his son with his ex-wife is in poor health and there is a risk of the Ma family line ending, then he would be eager for Miao Genhua to have another child, which could lead to a disagreement between them. If not, then we need to analyze his motive further."

Director Chen nodded repeatedly: "That makes sense, that makes sense. Xiao Zhao, write this down."

Zhao Liang was holding his little notebook, writing furiously.

After finishing writing, he looked up at Zhou Yi and said, "There's something else, something's not right."

"what's the situation?"

“Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua got their marriage certificate in June 1994, but Ma Weichang and his ex-wife Zhang Guifen got their divorce in May 1994, just one month apart.”

"What?" This information surprised Zhou Yi. "Divorced last month, remarried this month?"

Let alone in remote areas of the 1990s, even in first-tier cities, this kind of thing would be quite shocking, and you'd be constantly gossiped about behind your back by those around you.

Zhao Liang nodded: "Yes, the information from the civil affairs department is less than a month, about twenty-six days to be precise."

“Goodness, judging from this information, Ma Weichang probably cheated on his wife. He must have been having an affair with Miao Genhua a long time ago, which is why he was so eager to get married right after his divorce,” Zhou Yi said.

Zhao Liang scratched his head and muttered to himself, "You really can't judge a book by its cover. I never would have guessed."

However, Zhou Yi had some doubts. If Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang had an extramarital affair and then remarried, it would mean that the two had feelings for each other, rather than just living together as a couple in a remarried family.

In theory, whether it was to maintain the marital relationship and bind Ma Weichang, or for emotional foundation, Miao Genhua should have been the one who actively wanted to have a child.

In that case, Zhou Yi's original guess about the motive for the crime would not hold true.

"Do you know how Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang met?" Zhou Yi asked.

Director Chen and Zhao Liang both shook their heads. Director Chen said, "I asked their village chief, and he said it seemed to be through an introduction, but he didn't know exactly how the two met." This meant that they hadn't yet spoken to Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang themselves to find out the situation.

"Introduced by someone?" Zhou Yi pondered. If it was an introduction through legitimate channels, the marriage shouldn't be like this.

If Ma Weichang's divorce from his ex-wife wasn't due to infidelity, but rather a normal divorce, then why would he get married to Miao Genhua, whom he had just been introduced to, the very next month?

Their marital situation looks very strange no matter how you look at it.

"Brother Zhao, what's Miao Genhua's personal situation like? Do you know anything about her?" Zhou Yi asked.

Zhao Liang flipped through his notebook and said, "Miao Genhua, wait a minute."

Zhou Yi saw that his notebook contained all sorts of information, not only case details but also accounts, and even crayon drawings every now and then.

Zhou Yi asked with a smile, "Did your child draw this?"

Zhao Liang replied with a smile, "Ah, it was drawn by my daughter. She's four years old and very mischievous."

Although he said that, his face was full of doting affection.

No wonder he couldn't help but bring up the Xipinggou missing person case yesterday; it turns out he empathized with it, after all, he also has a daughter.

“Miao Genhua’s situation is like this: she is a local of Xipinggou. Her father has passed away, and she has a mother and a younger brother. Her brother’s name is Miao Zhuang, he is 21 years old and unmarried.”

"Her previous husband was named Ge Hongqi, and the two...were not legally married..."

"Huh? You didn't get a marriage certificate? What's going on?" Zhou Yi asked in surprise.

"Wait a moment, let me take a look..." Zhao Liang said, flipping through the notebook. His handwriting was so messy that even he could hardly recognize it.

"Oh, found it. Miao Genhua and Ge Hongqi held their wedding in the countryside, but they never went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage. Later, Ge Hongqi died of a work injury while working on a construction site. Miao Genhua and Ge Hongqi's families only discovered that Miao Genhua and Ge Hongqi were not legally married when they were seeking compensation from the contractor."

This situation used to be quite normal. In many rural areas, what people considered marriage was holding a banquet, not obtaining a marriage certificate.

Many people don't even have the concept of getting a marriage certificate. Some have gone through most of their lives with ups and downs, and only when they have a house full of children and grandchildren do they realize that they are not legally married at all.

"Miao Genhua went to the Civil Affairs Bureau several times to make a scene over the compensation issue, wanting to get a new marriage certificate. But Ge Hongqi is dead, how could they give a marriage certificate to a dead person? The Civil Affairs Bureau said that she made too much of a scene later, even bringing her child, and they were afraid that someone would die and things would get out of hand, so the Civil Affairs Bureau made a special exception and asked her to get a stamped certificate from the village committee to prove that she and Ge Hongqi had a de facto marital relationship."

"Then the compensation issue was resolved. As for how Ge Hongqi's work injury compensation was distributed, that's unclear."

Zhao Liang didn't know, but Zhou Yi had already deduced the answer from this information.

Miao Genhua is from Xipinggou and lives with her mother and younger brother. Given the previous incident involving proving their marital relationship, it's clear that Miao Genhua and Ge's family have completely broken off relations over the distribution of Ge Hongqi's pension.

Since Ge Fangfang is a girl, the Ge family naturally didn't care who the child lived with, since their daughter would eventually get married and wouldn't be able to carry on the family line.

"Does Miao Genhua have any jobs?" Zhou Yi asked.

"There shouldn't be any; we couldn't find any records related to labor relations," Zhao Liang said.

Director Chen said, "Here, apart from state-owned enterprises and government agencies, there are relatively few jobs with proper contracts. So, you have to ask the person in charge to get an accurate picture of the job situation."

Zhou Yi nodded and said he understood. What he really cared about wasn't whether Miao Genhua had a job, but how Miao Genhua and Ma Weichang met.

I have a feeling that something is off about this, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

"Chief Chen, Brother Zhao, you just said that there's something strange about this case. What exactly are you referring to?"

"Oh, is that so?" Director Chen said in Mandarin with a strong regional accent.

Zhou Yi immediately perked up and listened carefully, because if he wasn't careful, he might not understand.

Director Chen said that this morning they went to Xipinggou again to find out more about the situation from the village chief.

Originally, I wanted to question Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua, since there hasn't been much progress in the case yet.

But the village chief said the couple wasn't in the village right now because Miao Genhua had been completely distraught and cried all the time ever since the child went missing.

Ma Weichang was worried that her body couldn't handle it, so he took her to the county hospital for an IV drip yesterday, and she hasn't returned yet.

So Director Chen first asked the village chief to find out some information, and then asked the village chief to call Miao Genhua's mother and younger brother, as well as some neighbors, for questioning.

I learned some information.

First, regarding Ma Weichang's work situation, the village chief said that there is a small quarry on the back mountain north of Xipinggou, which mainly extracts limestone as a building material for cement and lime.

The owner of this quarry is Ma Weichang.

Many young and middle-aged people in the village work in this quarry, which is the main source of income for the villagers besides farming.

The village chief said that Ma Weichang had previously run a building materials business in the city. After marrying Miao Genhua, he discovered that limestone could be mined in the back mountain of Xipinggou, so he opened this quarry.

So everyone usually respects Ma Weichang, after all, he's the boss, and Miao Genhua has also risen in rank, so everyone looks up to her.

After all, in the traditional perception in rural areas, young widows, without a man to back them up, are easy targets for bullying.

This is why widows are usually fierce; otherwise, they cannot protect themselves, as they are forced by circumstances.

Then there's Ma Weichang's attitude towards Miao Genhua, especially towards Ge Fangfang.

According to Miao Genhua's mother and younger brother, as well as the neighbors, Ma Weichang really liked Ge Fangfang and treated this stepdaughter like his own daughter.

When Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua got married, Ge Fangfang was only three years old, an age when she was still too young to understand.

So in the child's mind, Ma Weichang was her father, since she was too young when Ge Hongqi died and didn't know anything.

Miao Genhua's mother said that Ma Weichang is usually very busy with his business, spending most of his time traveling outside.

Every time he came back, he would buy Ge Fangfang delicious food and toys.

Several neighbors also confirmed that they had seen Ma Weichang taking the child out to play, behaving affectionately.

The neighbors even joked that they were as close as father and daughter. Ma Weichang retorted, saying, "What do you mean 'as close'? Fangfang is my own daughter."

Upon hearing this information, Zhou Yi frowned deeply.

The words of the Miao people and neighbors proved that Ma Weichang not only had no hostility towards Ge Fangfang, but also liked her very much, even treating her like his own daughter.

Doesn't this further prove that Zhou Yi's previous analysis was wrong?

Based on this situation, Ma Weichang has even less motive to harm Ge Fangfang.

"If that's the case, then maybe I was wrong," Zhou Yi admitted frankly.

He doesn't care about saving face; all he cares about is the truth.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Liang said with a serious expression, "No, Zhou Yi, you might not be suspecting the wrong person."

"Huh? What do you mean?" This confused Zhou Yi. "Is there something else going on?"

Zhao Liang nodded: "Yes, Miao Genhua's mother mentioned something during the conversation that made us feel something was off."

"what's up?"

"She said that when Ma Weichang came back from doing business outside, she thought that the young couple rarely saw each other, so she let her granddaughter sleep with her so that the young couple could have...marital life. But Ma Weichang took the child back, saying that he didn't want his daughter to be separated from her mother."

Hearing this, Zhou Yi frowned. If it were her biological daughter, it wouldn't be a big deal, since daughters are usually closer to their fathers.

But she's a stepdaughter. Even if Ge Fangfang is too young to know what a stepfather and stepdaughter are, she still has a problem.

But Ma Weichang is an adult. Doesn't he know this basic sense of propriety and boundaries?
Zhao Liang continued, "There's another thing. Miao Genhua's mother said that Ma Weichang would also help Ge Fangfang take a bath."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi gasped and stroked his chin, saying, "This Ma Weichang... could he be a pedophile?"

(End of this chapter)