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

Chapter 504 The Version of Miao Genhua (Seeking monthly votes for a chance to win an 888 RMB red envelope)

In the interrogation room of the former Beixian Public Security Bureau, Miao Genhua sat there nervously.

He kept stealing glances at the square-faced policeman across from him, his fingernails constantly digging into his skin.

Yang Chuan glanced at the empty seat next to him, wondering why the leader from the "province" hadn't arrived yet.

Director Li asked him to cooperate with Zhou Yi's work, so he naturally dared not neglect his duties.

So they immediately took Miao Genhua back to the county bureau.

Of course, Miao Genhua was not the only one who was taken back to the county bureau.

Logically speaking, once the person is brought back, they should be interrogated as soon as possible, so that if there are any problems, the person being interrogated will have enough time to prepare mentally.

This is common sense in criminal investigation work, but Zhou Yi only told him to watch over Miao Genhua first, and that he would come over in a while.

As a result, more than half an hour passed in just a short while.

Even Yang Chuan himself was getting impatient, let alone Miao Genhua.

Several times during this time, Miao Genhua couldn't help but want to ask, but Yang Chuan interrupted her each time.

"Has he forgotten about this?" Yang Chuan muttered to himself, unable to resist standing up to open the door and check.

Just then, the door opened, and Zhou Yi walked in unhurriedly, holding a cup.

He nodded to Yang Chuan in greeting, put down his cup, and closed the door.

Then he slowly sat down.

Yang Chuan took out his pen, ready to start taking a statement, but then he saw Zhou Yi pick up the cup of tea, blow on it, slowly take two sips, and spit out the tea leaves.

He was extremely anxious because Zhou Xiangdong was usually an impatient person.

If Captain Zhou were here, he'd probably be cursing.

But he didn't know that while he was anxious, Miao Genhua on the other side was even more anxious.

When Zhou Yi came in, he seemed to act casually, but he had actually noticed the subtle movements in her hands.

Her hands were almost raw from scratching, which showed how extremely anxious she was at that moment.

Surprise interrogation is generally used when a suspect has just been arrested, is still unsettled, and has not yet fully developed psychological defenses.

Conducting a surprise interrogation at this time allows the interrogator to take advantage of the fact that the person is not yet fully psychologically prepared, quickly break through their psychological defenses, and obtain a true confession.

However, in the Xipinggou case, if we start counting from Ge Fangfang's disappearance, a week has already passed. No matter what lies or hidden stories are behind this, Miao Genhua has already made sufficient mental preparations.

After all, she dared to commit suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.

So Zhou Yi deliberately wanted to wear her down until she lost her composure.

Moreover, making her wait is only the first step in enduring the ordeal.

The subsequent interrogation was the real slow and steady process.

"Miao Genhua, do you still recognize me?"

Upon hearing the question, Miao Genhua quickly raised her head and nodded repeatedly, saying, "I...I know her."

"It's enough that we know each other. The main reason I called you here today is that I need to ask you about some things."

"Okay...Ok..."

How old is your younger brother, Miao Zhuang, this year?

"Huh?" Zhou Yi's question was clearly unexpected by Miao Genhua. She paused for two seconds before answering, "Twenty-one... I'll be twenty-two soon."

Zhou Yi nodded: "Oh, how did your father die? Was it from illness? Or was it an accident?"

Yang Chuan frowned, but still recorded it truthfully.

I thought to myself, does this person even know how to conduct an interrogation? Why is he asking me questions in such a disjointed and haphazard way?

Moreover, the questions asked seemed to have nothing to do with the case, and there was no logical connection between the previous and next sentences. It was as if two strangers were forcing themselves to continue their conversation.

They asked Miao Zhuang one minute, Ge Fangfang the next, Ma Weichang the next, her parents the next, and even some people they had no connection with at all.

If he hadn't witnessed Zhou Yi performing an autopsy before, he would have thought this person was a complete novice.

Miao Genhua was also confused by Zhou Yi's one inexplicable question after another, and soon her mind couldn't process it, so she gave mechanical answers.

What was your junior high school homeroom teacher's name?

"I think his surname is Zhang, but I forgot his given name."

Does Ge Hongqi have any bad habits?

"No...no, he's actually a very nice person. He doesn't smoke, drink, or gamble. He's just not very hygienic. Every time he comes back, his pants are all dirty and he doesn't change them before lying on the bed."

"You should inherit all of Ma Weichang's estate, right?"

"I...I don't know if he left a will, but I wasn't with him for his money. I just felt he was a reliable person who could take care of us. I..."

As Miao Genhua spoke, she gradually froze, and her voice grew softer and softer.

She finally realized something was wrong!

Zhou Yi's haphazard questioning completely turned her mind into a jumbled mess, and with one question after another, she barely had time to think.

This is Zhou Yi's playing style.

There are two key characteristics when a person tells a pre-fabricated lie.

Logic and memory.

To make lies sound more real and convincing, lies are often more logical than the facts.

Sometimes reality is not so logical.

Once there is a solid logical foundation, the brain must expend brain cells to memorize it.

Therefore, the worst thing about a lie that has been prepared in advance is when you don't ask questions according to the logic she has already constructed.

Asking questions clockwise will play right into the other person's hands.

Therefore, Zhou Yi chose this seemingly illogical interrogation method.

He was certain that Miao Genhua, this uneducated rural woman, was not smart enough.

If you confuse her, she'll answer questions based on instinct.

Before a lie is uttered, it needs to be confirmed in the brain, because it is false information and needs to "fool" the brain first.

But the truth is unnecessary.

Logically speaking, Miao Genhua had no reason to know that Ma Weichang was dead!

At most, she knew that Ma Weichang was unreachable because the hospital had tried to contact him but failed.

How can disappearance and death be directly equated?

Zhou Yi's question was: "Will Ma Weichang's estate all go to you?"

He didn't ask "how Ma Weichang's estate was distributed," nor did he tell Miao Genhua "Ma Weichang is dead, so I want to know if he told you how he planned to arrange his estate."

He hid a leading word in the question: "Next."

This is a commonly used conjunction in spoken language. In Miao Genhua's confused state, these three words would mislead her, causing her to have a disordered memory and making her think that Ma Weichang's death had already been mentioned.

The problem is that you can't fit a completely non-existent memory into a person's brain.

So, Miao Genhua misspoke.

Because they couldn't react in time.

However, the reason she stopped talking was because she began to doubt herself and started searching her mind to see if she had mentioned this information before.

The reason Yang Chuan was made to face Miao Genhua was to exhaust her physical and mental strength under high pressure, making her unable to think clearly.

But it's too late to shut up now!
Zhou Yi didn't ask another question, and the long, awkward conversation came to an abrupt end.

The interrogation room fell into a deathly silence.

Miao Genhua's face turned pale. She felt her head was very heavy, and she still couldn't remember whether she had said it before.

But the problem was that the tense atmosphere at that moment made her realize that something was wrong.

She swallowed hard, her voice trembling slightly as she said, "I...I mean...if he made a will..."

Zhou Yi picked up the still-warm teacup, took a sip, and said coldly, "Miao Genhua, save your breath, it's too late."

Zhou Yi slammed the teacup on the table with a bang, startling Miao Genhua.

"Miao Genhua, tell me, how did you know Ma Weichang was dead?"

Zhou Yi's tone left no room for argument.

Miao Genhua stood there blankly for two seconds, then suddenly burst into tears, covering her face.

Yang Chuan, standing nearby, breathed a sigh of relief, because this behavior basically meant that he had given up resisting and was going to tell the truth.

At the same time, she felt a little guilty, since she had doubted Zhou Yi earlier, but fortunately she didn't show it.

The main reason is that they are used to Zhou Xiangdong's straightforward approach.

After all, in Captain Zhou's eyes, once someone is in the game, no criminal suspect can withstand being intimidated.

If so, it means the scare wasn't enough.

But Zhou Yi didn't relax for a moment. Whether the target was lying or not never depended on his emotions, but on whether the content he gave was reasonable.

After all, humans are the most cunning animals.

“Ma Weichang…he deserved it! He’s a pervert…” Miao Genhua cried, “He’s the one who killed my daughter, it must be him, sob sob sob…”

Zhou Yi remained calm and said in a deep voice, "Tell me everything you know, down to the last detail!"

Miao Genhua nodded through her tears, then gave a version that differed considerably from what Ma Weichang had told her before.

As Ma Weichang said, her marriage registration with Ma Weichang was indeed for the purpose of quarrying.

Because the villagers had been cheated by the previous boss, they all disagreed with him, an outsider, coming to their village to do business.

Ma Weichang had no choice, because it wasn't just the villagers who were making trouble; the quarry had to pass through Xipinggou to transport raw materials out, so he had no other option.

So Ma Weichang took the initiative to find the village chief and asked him to come up with a solution. Then the village chief found him and said that he could use a fake marriage to shut up the villagers.

Ma Weichang agreed to give her 100 yuan a month as compensation. But she estimated that the village chief would receive even more.

Because the village chief was very proactive in this matter, especially after she initially refused, he kept persuading his mother.

In the end, she had no choice but to agree because her mother pressured her so much at home.

She said that although she was a widow, she was still very disgusted by things that damaged her reputation.

The two then went to get their marriage certificate, and the village chief even showed it to the villagers, which allowed the quarry to start operations smoothly.

According to the original written agreement, she and Ma Weichang should have divorced a year later.

She originally requested six months, but the village chief suggested she leave a year later when the quarry business was more stable, to avoid any further problems.

Let alone a year, she noticed something was wrong with Ma Weichang in less than six months.

For the first few months, Ma Weichang was busy with the quarry business, so things were pretty normal. He would only come to Miao's house to see her when he delivered that hundred yuan each month.

Every time they come, they are very polite, sit for a while, chat with the old lady for a bit, and then leave.

However, Ma Weichang's visits to the Miao family increased significantly afterward. Each time he came, he would buy meat and vegetables and help with household chores, acting like a typical Miao son-in-law, which made his mother very happy.

Miao Genhua has been a widow for several years; how could she not know what he was thinking?

In particular, the way Ma Weichang looked at him always seemed to be spitting fire.

But she knew that her marriage to Ma Weichang was a transaction.

Ma Weichang is a married man with a son. She said she didn't want to be a third party and didn't want to ruin someone else's marriage.

But she didn't want to, and her family didn't think so.

One day at home, during dinner, her younger brother Miao Zhuang suddenly said that his brother-in-law had promised to arrange a job for him.

She was startled and quickly asked him which brother-in-law.

Then her mother said, "And who else is my brother-in-law? Weichang. Last time Weichang came over for dinner, I told him, 'Your brother is getting on in years. He won't be able to get by without a proper job. It'll be a problem for him to get married later.' So I asked Weichang to help him out; we're family, after all."

Miao Genhua said she was stunned at the time and asked them if they were crazy. "My marriage with him is fake."

She also told her mother that next time Ma Weichang came, she shouldn't ask him to stay for dinner.

Unexpectedly, the old lady immediately became unhappy upon hearing this, and said with a long face: "What do you mean by fake? I knew you got a marriage certificate, so it's legal. Besides, everyone in the village knows and can testify to it!"
Then they started to persuade her, to work on her mindset, and even used both soft and hard tactics.

The gentle approach is to make her face the truth: a big boss like Ma Weichang is one in a million in the countryside. You've seen all the mediocre people the matchmakers have introduced you to over the years; none of them can compare to even a single one of Ma Weichang's talents.

She also said: "You're not a virgin anymore. You're a dead woman with a little child to support. Where are you going to find such a good man? If you weren't my daughter, I wouldn't even think you're good enough for Weichang."

The harshest approach was to reprimand her, saying that he had supported her for several years since her husband died and she was kicked out by her in-laws.

Now that she's already married to Ma Weichang, if she doesn't seize the opportunity, then don't blame her for being ruthless and making her move out with her little burden to fend for herself.

Unable to resist her mother's persistent pleading, her attitude towards Ma Weichang gradually softened. At her mother's urging, she even delivered meals to Ma Weichang a few times while delivering meals to Miao Zhuang.

But the two never took another step forward because she said she couldn't get over the fact that Ma Weichang had a wife.

Later, when Ma Weichang came to deliver money, her mother prepared a large table of dishes and bought good wine, asking Miao Zhuang to keep her "brother-in-law" company for a while.

So that night, Ma Weichang, who was completely drunk, stayed at the Miao family's house and was helped to Miao Genhua's bed.

The old lady even took her granddaughter away, leaving her daughter to take care of her son-in-law.

When Zhou Yi pressed for details about what happened that night, Miao Genhua hesitated and seemed a little embarrassed, but in the end she told the truth.

She said that Ma Weichang wasn't actually drunk that night, and she later learned that Ma Weichang had a high alcohol tolerance.

After she helped the drunken Ma Weichang to the bed, he suddenly grabbed her and started touching her inappropriately. She wasn't prepared and instinctively began to resist.

The two struggled for a long time, but Ma Weichang, who had not succeeded, was probably tired and simply turned over and went to sleep with a dark expression on his face.

She didn't sleep well all night, so she leaned against the bed without even taking off her clothes.

The next morning, she didn't even know when Ma Weichang had left.

All she knew was that her mother, with a dark expression, asked her what the two of them had done last night, saying that Ma Weichang looked terrible when he left and didn't even say goodbye.

She told her the truth, but to her surprise, her mother chased after her with a rolling pin and beat her, scolding her for pretending to be a chaste and virtuous woman.

After that, Ma Weichang didn't visit the Miao family for a long time.

Miao Zhuang, who was originally Ma Weichang's driver and assistant, was also assigned to do manual labor.

Even the money for those two months was brought to Ma Weichang by the village chief, who said that the two of them would get the certificate when the time came.

She knew that she had truly angered Ma Weichang by preventing him from succeeding that night.

Despite her mother's anger, she scolded her every day for being a spendthrift and for dragging her younger brother down with her.

But since things had come to this point, and Ma Weichang's attitude was indifferent, there was nothing she could do.

Then, something happened.

Her younger brother, Miao Zhuang, was beaten by Ma Weichang for stealing money from the quarry.

Ma Weichang even threatened to call the police to arrest him.

Her mother and brother could only beg her to go and plead with Ma Weichang for leniency.

For the sake of her younger brother, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Ma Weichang.

It just so happened that there was a torrential downpour that day, which flooded the road out of the village. She heard that Ma Weichang hadn't been able to leave, so he was alone in the quarry office.

So she cooked a meal and went to find Ma Weichang in the heavy rain.

What happened next was pretty much exactly as Ma Weichang had described.

The only difference is that Ma Weichang said the two were like dry wood meeting a raging fire, while Miao Genhua said she was only half-heartedly willing.

Yang Chuan may not be fully aware of the situation, but Zhou Yi heard Ma Weichang recount the events firsthand yesterday.

What Ma Weichang said was generally consistent with what Miao Genhua said, but there were significant differences in the details.

According to Ma Weichang's description, he was "seduced" by Miao Genhua, who used her care, tenderness, and affection to lure him into a life of pleasure.

But according to Miao Genhua's confession, she was the one who had no choice in the matter.

The village chief used her as a tool, her mother pressured her, her younger brother tricked her, and Ma Weichang always wanted to sleep with her.

She presented herself as a victim.

It's not surprising that people only say what's in their own interest. This applies not only to criminal cases but also to ordinary conflicts and disputes.

That's why the news on the internet became a mix of truth and falsehood, with so-called reversals and reversals constantly occurring.

It's essentially due to the selfishness of human nature.

As for whether Ma Weichang and Miao Genhua's claims are true or false, that needs to be verified by questioning other people.

There are three key figures here: the village chief, Miao Genhua's mother, and her younger brother, Miao Zhuang.

These three people, except for Miao Genhua, were brought back to the county bureau by Li Linglong at Zhou Yi's request.

We are currently also being questioned and investigated.

"Miao Genhua, you said earlier that Ma Weichang harmed your daughter Ge Fangfang. Do you have any evidence?"

Miao Genhua's face still bore traces of tears, but she had calmed down somewhat. However, the mention of this topic caused her to become agitated again, and she lowered her head and sobbed, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

“Since we got together, he stopped working in the quarry office and started staying at my house every few days. At first, whenever he came, my mother would take the baby away. But after a while, he stopped letting my mother take the baby away and said that he could sleep in our room.”

“I actually felt quite awkward. Even though the child was asleep, I felt ashamed to be doing that with another man right next to the child.”

Zhou Yi wasn't sure if Miao Genhua genuinely felt ashamed or was faking it.

If she truly feels ashamed, it means she has a sense of guilt, after all, this man is not the father of her child.

In his previous life, Zhou Yi handled a case that was extremely simple, but the truth behind it was incredibly infuriating.

A woman took her two-month-old baby to a hotel to have an affair with her lover.

The child lay in bed while the adulterous couple engaged in their illicit affair.

The adulterer felt that the baby watching him was affecting his mood, so the mother covered the child with a hotel towel, thinking that out of sight, out of mind.

After the two of them had finished having fun and were completely satisfied, they remembered the child and discovered that the child seemed to have stopped developing.

Upon lifting the bath towel, they discovered that the child had already suffocated to death.

To cover up her crime, the woman ran to the hotel terrace with her child, then pretended to accidentally throw the child's body off the terrace.

This poor child, who was only a little over two months old, fell directly from the 20th floor and crashed onto the hard ground.

Meanwhile, the woman upstairs was acting as a heartbroken mother.

The hotel immediately called the police.

Zhou Yi and Lu Zhengfeng were in charge of investigating the case, and they solved it in just three hours.

Because the woman's testimony was full of logical flaws.

Since regular hotels had surveillance cameras at the time, a lot of irrefutable evidence quickly broke down the woman's psychological defenses, leading her to confess and submit to the law.

The case was simple enough, but the truth was so infuriating that it made one grit their teeth in hatred.

So if Miao Genhua really feels ashamed because of this, it means she hasn't gone to the point of being heartless and insane, and that she still has a conscience.

“Miao Genhua, get to the point. What exactly did Ma Weichang do to Ge Fangfang?” Zhou Yi reminded him.

"Okay... He... he gets really excited every time he does that with me while we're around the kids, and he always says some really weird things."

"What?"

Miao Genhua hesitated before saying, "He praised Fangfang for being beautiful, even more beautiful than me. He said... that rather than letting her grow up and be taken by another man, it would be better for... it would be better for both of us, mother and daughter, to stay with him..."

Yang Chuan was immediately taken aback, thinking, "Is it really that perverted?"
Although Zhou Yi remained outwardly calm, he was inwardly slightly startled. Could it be that his previous suspicions about pedophilia had come true?

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of the interrogation room.

Zhou Yi got up and opened the door. It was Li Linglong, with a solemn expression.

Zhou Yi knew that there must have been some new discovery.

"Take a look at this!" Li Linglong said, handing over a piece of paper.

(End of this chapter)