Animal Detective

Chapter 182 Green Plum
This area is full of old houses.

Li Dongsheng went up and knocked on the door, but there was no response.

"Her mother's name is Hua Juan. You know, once you get that stuff, you can't get rid of it. She's always going in and out of the house. I don't really know what she's doing now."

Shen Xin peeked through the window, and through the gap in the curtains, he could see that the room was a mess.

"So, in two and a half years, her mother didn't ask about Guan Hong at all?"

Shen Xin frowned; this mother was really something else.

Li Dongsheng nodded and said, "After her neighbor reported her missing, we also investigated and asked some people who often hung out with Guan Hong. They all said they had never seen Guan Hong."

“One of her friends said that Guan Hong wanted to go to Jiaozhou in the south to work.”

“We considered this possibility to be the most likely one. We didn’t find anything unusual, and Hua Juan didn’t care. We also had a lot of things to do at the institute, so we could only assume that the young girl had left Nanjiang.”

Guan Hong was already an adult at that time.

Moreover, Li Dongsheng felt that it was normal for Guan Hong to leave given her upbringing.

Shen Xin nodded and asked Li Dongsheng which neighbor's family he was referring to.

It's right next door.

This child's name is Jia Xiaojun. He is 17 years old and a high school sophomore.

He lives at school, and it's not the weekend, so he's not home.

His grandmother was at home. When she heard that the question was about Guan Hong, she looked disgusted and said she didn't know. She turned around, went back into the house, and closed the door.

That expression looked rather unlucky.

Li Dongsheng said, "How about I think of a way to find Hua Juan?"

Shen Xin considered it for a moment and nodded.

Based on what I've heard so far, Guan Hong's family situation is quite bad, so it's reasonable for her to choose to leave Nanjiang and start a new life in another city after she comes of age.

However, given the timing of her disappearance and her complex social relationships, the possibility is actually quite high.

Li Dongsheng went to find someone.

Shen Xin then took Ding Yuwei with him, preparing to go to Tingyang No. 2 High School to look for Jia Xiaojun.

According to Li Dongsheng.

On May 20, Jia Xiaojun went to the police station and claimed that Guan Hong had gone missing.

The reason was that he had not seen Guan Hong and her phone was switched off when he tried to call her.

Furthermore, his continued inquiries about the progress of the investigation suggest that he cares a lot about Guan Hong.

He is 17 years old this year. Two years ago he was only 15 years old and probably hadn't started high school yet.

Tingyang No. 2 High School wasn't far away, and when Shen Xin arrived, the school was in session.

Shen Xin found Jia Xiaojun's homeroom teacher, explained the situation, and called the teacher to the office.

He was a tall young man, wearing glasses, with a neat buzz cut and a mustache. He looked like a top student.

"Are you police officers?"

He asked somewhat nervously.

Shen Xin nodded, told him to sit down and not to be too nervous, and then asked about Guan Hong.

Upon hearing Guan Hong's name, Jia Xiaojun reacted strongly, eagerly asking Shen Xin if he had found Guan Hong.

Shen Xin didn't answer, but asked, "You seem to care a lot about Guan Hong. Did you two often play together when you were little?"

The two are neighbors.

Jia Xiaojun nodded and said, "When she was little, her mother used to beat her a lot, so she would hide at my house. Sometimes when she had no food, I would lend her money to buy her food."

“She was also very good to me. When I was a child, if someone bullied me at school, she would stand up for me.”

He described their relationship in a haphazard and disjointed manner.

Shen Xin raised an eyebrow slightly.

Judging from Jia Xiaojun's expression and tone, it's clear that the two of them, especially Jia Xiaojun, might have a childhood sweetheart feeling towards Guan Hong.

According to Li Dongsheng, Guan Hong is quite pretty.

For Jia Xiaojun, who is four years younger than Guan Hong, Guan Hong was like a beautiful older sister next door during his restless adolescence.

He described Guan Hong as someone who made money in society, and she would often take him out to eat good food.

The two often chatted together.

Guan Hong also cared about his studies and urged him to study hard and get into a good university.

Shen Xin raised his hand to interrupt him. Shen Xin wasn't particularly interested in these kinds of teenage boy stuff.

"When you reported the case, you said that the last time you saw Guan Hong was on May 7th, the last day of the Labor Day holiday. Was there anything unusual about Guan Hong at that time?" Shen Xin asked.

Jia Xiaojun shook his head, saying there was nothing unusual.

“Officer, something must have happened to her. She never said she was leaving Nanjiang, and even if she really was leaving, she would definitely have told me.”

Jia Xiaojun clenched his fist and said with certainty.

Shen Xin neither confirmed nor denied, but asked about some details regarding Guan Hong.

For example, height.

Based on the skeletal remains, the female victim was estimated to be between 1.6 and 1.65 meters tall.

Jia Xiaojun immediately said, "She should be 1.63 meters tall. She compared herself to me and said I'm as tall as her."

Shen Xin then asked Guan Hong if she had dyed her hair.

Jia Xiaojun nodded and described Guan Hong's hair.

“She also dyed it red and asked me if it looked good. I said it was really ugly, but then she dyed it a regular brown.”

Jia Xiaojun's description is a bit long.

But Shen Xin perked up. Judging from Jia Xiaojun's description of the hair length, the fact that it was permed and brown, it really did match the characteristics of the corpse.

After hesitating for a moment, Shen Xin took out his phone.

Have you ever seen her wear this outfit?

Shen Xin showed him photos of the clothes.

Jia Xiaojun peeked out and his expression suddenly changed. He nodded urgently, "I've seen her before. She wore this short-sleeved shirt and these jeans. Look at the buckle on that belt. I've seen it before; it's her pants."

"Officer, have you found her? What's with these clothes?"

Jia Xiaojun asked in a panic.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei exchanged a glance and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

They found it!
If Jia Xiaojun's description is correct, then the female corpse is Guan Hong.

"Call Captain Chen."

Shen Xin said in a deep voice.

Ding Yuwei went out immediately.

Seeing the change in Shen Xin's expression, Jia Xiaojun panicked even more and kept asking Guan Hong what was wrong.

"Why are these clothes torn and covered in mud? Officer, what happened to Guan Hong?" Jia Xiaojun's voice trembled with anxiety.

Shen Xin waved his hand, telling him to calm down.

There's no need to tell him about the discovery of the remains for now.

Shen Xin then asked him in detail about Guan Hong's situation before and after he reported her missing.

For example, who you often hung out with during that period, especially whether you had a boyfriend or not.

Jia Xiaojun often chats with Guan Hong, so he should know about Guan Hong's situation.

"Boy friend?"

Mentioning this, Jia Xiaojun's expression became somewhat unnatural, then he nodded and said, "Yes, she's dated several men, but they all broke up. Once, after a breakup, she got drunk, lost her house key, and came to my house. I was the one who took care of her."

Shen Xin remained silent.

At this point, Jia Xiaojun added, "By the way, I remember she broke up with her boyfriend after the New Year, but it seems she started dating someone else in April."

"She didn't tell me who it was, nor did she tell me that she was in a relationship, but I could tell that she definitely was, because the guy seemed to buy her things all the time."

"But I don't know if they broke up later, because I remember at the end of April, when it was almost May Day, one night she came back very late and drank a lot of alcohol, and then she was cursing her boyfriend outside the house."

“My mom even found her annoying and scolded her, saying that she was affecting my rest during the high school entrance exam.”

Shen Xin reached out to interrupt Jia Xiaojun.

Did she mention names when she was swearing?

Jia Xiaojun nodded and said, "I listened to it specifically. I remember his name was Li Xiaofei, but I don't know which character it was."

Shen Xin's eyes lit up.

It has a name now.

If Li Xiaofei was Guan Hong's last boyfriend, and Guan Hong still scolded him, perhaps a conflict arose between them, leading to Li Xiaofei committing a crime of passion.

(End of this chapter)