Chapter 10 Chapter Nine Past Enmity

Coming out of the People's Hospital, Zhou Ping drove back immediately.After approaching the mountain, he kept trying to call Luo Fei through the walkie-talkie, but he never heard back from Luo Fei, which made him faintly have an ominous premonition. When Zhou Ping returned to the Nanmingshan Police Station, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening.Before he stopped the car, Jiang Shan came up to meet him and told him that Wu Yanhua had been waiting in the office for nearly two hours. Zhou Ping hurried back to the office. When Wu Yanhua, who was originally sitting, saw him, he immediately stood up worriedly: "Officer Zhou, are you looking for me?"

"Sit down and talk." Zhou Ping gestured gracefully, "I want to ask you some questions about your father." "My father?" Wu Yanhua looked at Zhou Ping with delicate eyes, full of surprise. Zhou Ping looked at the woman in front of him, feeling a little heavy: she still didn't know how terrible her life had been upended in just one day.Zhou Ping didn’t have the courage to tell her the fact that her father and husband were both dead, so he improvised a lie: “Well...it’s like this...the Public Security Bureau is currently cleaning up a backlog of files. Your father has been missing for many years. The previous report became the number of deaths, and we must now re-verify this situation.”

"No, you lied. You have something to hide from me. Tell me, what happened?" Wu Yanhua said lightly, but her tone seemed very certain. Facing Wu Yanhua's persistent gaze, Zhou Ping subconsciously avoided his gaze. After hesitating for a moment, he finally decided to surrender to the woman in front of him. "This morning, a monk named 'Kong Wang' died in Kumu Temple. After preliminary investigation, he is your father Wu Jianfei." Zhou Ping scratched his forehead and told the truth. Wu Yanhua opened her mouth slightly, looking a little dazed for a moment.Her clear eyes slowly became moist, and finally, tears fell from them.

But soon, she controlled her emotions, raised her hand to dry the corners of her eyes, and asked, "Are you sure that is indeed my father? How did he die?" "The identity should be confirmed. It seems that he hanged himself to death at the scene, but other possibilities cannot be ruled out." Zhou Ping answered Wu Yanhua's question, but looked at the ring on the other's finger with interest. The ring is made of silver, although it is not expensive and the color is old, but the style is elegant and unique, full of charm. "Then what happened to Chen Jian's fall off the cliff? Can't other possibilities be ruled out?" Wu Yanhua suddenly looked at Zhou Ping with strange eyes.

Zhou Ping seemed a little caught off guard by this question: "What do you mean?" "Maybe it was my father who killed Chen Jian." Wu Yanhua said her thoughts without concealment, "If you know my father and the grievances between them, you will think so too." To be honest, Zhou Ping had also made such a guess, but Wu Yanhua's words aroused another curiosity in him: "What kind of person is your father? Can you tell me?" "Irritable, narrow-minded, and extremely vengeful. If he finds Chen Jian and Zhang Bin, he will not let them go." When Chen Jian and Zhang Bin were mentioned, Wu Yanhua's face showed a kind of Mixed with anger and pride, at this moment, the imaginary pleasure of revenge seems to have diluted the sadness of losing a loved one in her heart.

"You hate them too?" Zhou Ping caught the change in the other party's heart and asked tentatively. "They made me lose my father. No matter how annoying he was, he was the one who loved me the most in this world." Wu Yanhua's eyes glowed again, but his face was indifferent. "But as far as I know, the relationship between your family and Chen Jian and Zhang Bin is still good, and it seems that you don't hold grudges against them because of the past." Zhou Ping looked at the woman in front of him, and her inner world gradually revealed more and more. The discovery aroused his interest in continuing to explore.

"You know the past between us?" Wu Yanhua showed a slightly surprised look. "Zhang Bin told me about it." "Yeah." Wu Yanhua changed into a flat and gentle tone, "My husband is too tolerant. He forgave those who hurt us. For him, I can hide those hatreds." From Wu Yanhua's words, Zhou Ping clearly felt her love for Hu Junkai.Under the plain and elegant appearance of this woman, there is a strong love and hatred of her own.What kind of role should Hu Junkai play if he can conquer such a woman? "It was your husband who secretly rescued your father from the cowshed, right?"

"yes." "Then where did your father go, don't you know?" Zhou Ping slowly brought the topic to the direction of his attention. "At first, I knew about it. My husband took him to Nanming Mountain and asked him to hide in a local villager's house." "Then what happened later? Why did he disappear again?" Wu Yanhua sighed softly: "At that time my father ran away, and my husband and I were the main suspects. The gang of revolutionary young generals watched us both closely all day long. We didn't dare to have anything to do with my father at all. Contact. It was not until a few years later, when those days passed, that we went into the mountains to bring my father back, but by then his whereabouts were unknown.”

"Did the original villager move away?" Zhou Ping guessed. "No, we found that family, but they said that my father only stayed for less than three months, then he left alone and never came back." After saying this, Wu Yanhua murmured to himself, " Could it be that he has spent more than 20 years in the Dead Wood Temple? Why didn't he come back to find us?" "It turned out to be like this." Zhou Ping was also thinking about this possibility in his heart: After Wu Jianfei suffered ordeal, he saw through the secular world, so he simply went up the mountain to become a monk?

In order to get a more definite answer, Zhou Ping felt that it was necessary to follow the clues and continue to trace: "Where does the villager live? Do you remember their names?" "The time I entered the mountain, my husband took me all the way. I don't know the exact name of the place. Anyway, it is a small village in the valley to the north. The owner's surname is Huang. As for the name..." Wu Yanhua shook her head , "I really have no impression." "It's pretty good that you can still remember his last name after so many years." Zhou Ping said with satisfaction. In the limited households in his jurisdiction, it shouldn't be difficult to find out the target based on such a clue.

"That person's articulate is not very clear. I asked many times before I heard clearly that his surname is 'Huang', not 'Hua', so remember this better." "Well, well, that's it for now, thank you for your cooperation." Zhou Ping said politely, "I will conduct further verification based on these circumstances." "How is my husband? Is there any news?" Wu Yanhua looked at Zhou Ping expectantly, "Is it because he knew my father's identity because he stayed on the mountain?" Wu Yanhua's guess was very reasonable, and Zhou Ping couldn't help secretly admiring the other party's keen thinking ability, but she would never have thought that Hu Junkai had followed Wu Jianfei into the yellow dust.Losing two of his most beloved relatives in one day, Zhou Ping could only sigh for her silently in his heart. "I'm not very clear about these situations. Now the mountain and the mountain have completely lost contact. As soon as there is news, I will notify you immediately." Wu Yanhua looked at Zhou Ping with some hesitation, obviously not satisfied with his perfunctory, but she still said in a very polite and soft voice: "Thank you." Coming out of the office, Zhou Ping called Deputy Director Wang, Xiao Liu and related comrades for a brief meeting.Zhou Ping exchanged the situation with everyone, and after discussion, it was decided: after dawn tomorrow, Zhou Ping will go to the village in the northern mountain valley to continue investigating Wu Jianfei's matter; Deputy Director Wang will arrange further search and rescue of the fallen cliff and send reinforcements according to the snow situation Work up the hill. After the planning was done, everyone found a place to rest for the night.Because Zhou Ping has been running around since last night, he got special treatment: he slept on the only bed in the duty room. At five o'clock the next day, just as the sky was getting brighter, everyone got up early.Zhou Ping stepped into the courtyard and was delighted to find that the snow had stopped. Comrades in charge of logistics got ready early, everyone hurriedly filled their stomachs and set off on the snow. Not long after entering the mountain, Zhou Ping parted ways with the rest of the army and walked towards the mountainous area to the north alone.After all, the road leading to the mountain village was much easier than the path up the mountain. After more than an hour, Zhou Ping arrived at his destination. Since the village households in the mountainous area live very scatteredly, it is impossible for Zhou Ping to visit every house.He went directly to the local village committee and went to the village head to explain his purpose. The village head, surnamed Liu, is a village man in his forties. He said carelessly: "There may be eight or nine households surnamed Huang in the village. If you want to go to these households, you will be exhausted. It's up to me." Send you a notification on the radio station." The broadcasting room is next to the village committee. Village head Liu interrupted the opera program that was being broadcast, grabbed the microphone and said, "Now broadcast an announcement. The resident surnamed Huang in the village, among you, which one of you took in in 1972?" A man from outside the mountain? This family hastened to the village committee, there are policemen who want to ask you about something. Did you hear that? If I didn’t hear it, the other villagers saw someone to help and supervise.” After finishing speaking, he happily shook the microphone: "I just installed it last year. With this thing, it's much more convenient to find someone and broadcast an announcement." "Even if that person hears it, the road is covered with snow, will he not be willing to come?" Zhou Ping was a little worried. Village head Liu looked confident: "If it doesn't snow and he has a job to do, he might not come here. Now, everyone is staying at home in a hurry, and the neighbors have heard it, so he dare not come here. ?” Sure enough, within an hour, a woman in her fifties approached the village committee. She leaned forward and stood at the door, looking in, and said with some timidity, "Village chief, you were the one who notified..." "Yes, I broadcast the announcement." Village Chief Liu took the lead, "So it's your house? Come in, this is Section Chief Zhou from the police station. He has something to ask you." Then he pointed at the woman , Said to Zhou Ping: "This is Zhou Xiuying from our village. You two belong to the same family. His man's surname is Huang, but he died three years ago." Zhou Xiuying is a typical mountain village woman, thin and small, and her dark face is covered with wrinkles left by the mountain wind.Maybe because she didn't understand the meaning of the section chief, she walked into the room, squinted her eyes and looked Zhou Ping up and down, and asked, "Are you the police comrade?" "Yes, I'm a policeman." Zhou Ping moved a chair and greeted him, "Come on, aunt, sit down and talk." "I can do it standing up, I can do it standing up." Zhou Xiuying was a little flattered, and repeatedly declined. Village head Liu was on the sidelines trying to smooth things over: "If I tell you to sit, you can sit. You haven't broken the law. What are you afraid of?" Seeing the village chief's words, Zhou Xiuying agreed, and sat carefully on the chair, leaning forward respectfully. "More than twenty years ago, was there a middle-aged man who lived in your house?" Zhou Ping asked. Zhou Xiuying nodded: "Yes, they are staying at my house. I rushed over as soon as I heard the broadcast." "Well, I just wanted to ask you something about this man." "I know." Zhou Xiuying moved her body uncomfortably, "You finally found me. I have been waiting for this day for a long time." Zhou Ping felt a little strange: "What? Did you know I would come?" Zhou Xiuying sighed, and said: "Sooner or later it will come, this matter will not be left as it is... They sent a big living person to you, and they disappeared for no reason. Who can agree? You can hide for a while." Years, two years, ten years, can you hide for a lifetime? I've always said that to my man." Seeing Zhou Xiuying's embarrassed look, Zhou Ping felt that this woman seemed to blame herself too much for Wu Jianfei's disappearance. He changed the subject to ease the atmosphere: "Is your man's surname Huang? What's his name?" "Huang Deming." The Shanli accent said "Huang" and it was indeed difficult to distinguish it from "Hua". "Huang Deming?" The name seemed familiar, and Zhou Ping searched for related memories in his mind, "Oh! That car accident at the foot of the mountain a few years ago..." "That's right! That's him." Mentioning this incident, Village Chief Liu showed a regretful expression, "What a wonderful person, but he happened to be involved in such a strange thing. It's really wronged to grandma's house." This Huang Deming was the victim of a bizarre car accident on a mountain road three years ago.At that time, he was walking normally on the side of the road. When a truck loaded with logs passed by, the front wheel hit a sharp stone on the road.The stone flew up like a bullet, impartially, and hit Huang Deming's head from the side, causing him to die.Zhou Ping was the first person to rush to the scene of the accident after receiving the police, and he was deeply impressed by the incident. "It's all God's will, no one's fault." Zhou Xiuying murmured, seeming to be quite open about her husband's accidental death. I originally wanted to help the interviewee relax a little, but the result almost backfired.Zhou Ping had no choice but to change the topic back: "Do you still remember when that person came to your house?" "Spring of 1972." This time coincided with what Luo Fei had already grasped. He nodded and asked again: "Who sent him here at that time?" "A young man surnamed Hu." Zhou Xiuying closed her eyes slightly, recalling the past, "He said that that man was his master, he would be killed in the city, and wanted to hide in the mountains for a while. First, we felt sorry for him, and second Then the young man also gave some money, so he agreed. Who knows what will happen in the future..." "How long has he lived in your house?" "About two months." Zhou Ping already knew something from Wu Yanhua's mouth. What he really cared about was the part of the situation that Wu Yanhua didn't know: "Did he leave by himself? Do you know the reason why he left?" Zhou Xiuying hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, and said slowly, "He didn't leave." "He didn't leave? As far as I know, that's what you said at the time." Zhou Ping frowned puzzled. There was a trace of helplessness hidden in Zhou Xiuying's cloudy eyes. She looked at Zhou Ping and said, "That's because his daughter and son-in-law came to the door. We have no choice but to make up such words to deceive them." "Is that so?" This was beyond Zhou Ping's expectation, "Since he didn't leave, where was he then?" Zhou Xiuying was silent, her hands constantly rubbing showed the fear and struggle in her heart.In the end, when she finally made up her mind to tell the truth, Zhou Ping's reaction could only be described as stunned. "He's dead." Zhou Xiuying's voice was slow and low, "He was beaten to death by my man."