Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven The Man Who Died Three Times

"Huang Deming can kill people. I really can't believe it." Village head Liu shook his big head with an incredulous expression, "When he was alive, he was known as an honest person in the village. Don't Said that he never caused trouble, even if others bullied him, he couldn't hold back his fart. His wife is also famous for her heart of Bodhisattva, who can offer incense in the nearby temples more than her? If you want to say the two of them There must be a compelling reason for committing a murder case at hand. Section Chief Zhou, you must ask clearly." At the end, he even patted his chest excitedly, "If it doesn't work, the whole village will You can guarantee them!"

Zhou Ping also knew that there must be hidden secrets in such a case, but now he is more concerned and surprised that if Wu Jianfei was killed by Huang Deming more than 20 years ago, as Zhou Xiuying said, then he died yesterday in the air in the Dead Wood Temple. How should the monk forget? He immediately took Zhou Xiuying to the back room for questioning alone. Zhou Xiuying uttered the secret that had been hidden in her heart for many years, and she seemed to be relieved, and her nervousness began to stabilize.Sitting in front of Zhou Ping, she chattered in a tone of seeing through the vicissitudes of life: "The whole life of me and my man has been ruined by this incident. I don't know how many candles have been burned in the past twenty years. Xiang, how many times have I fulfilled my vows, but the Bodhisattva has never been willing to forgive us. I gave birth to two children, both of whom died of illness before their first birthday. Later, I didn’t dare to ask for any more, and the child carried us behind my back. Damn it! If my baby survives, it's time to marry a wife and start a family."

Listening to these useless narrations, Zhou Ping licked his lips helplessly, but he couldn't bear to interrupt when he looked at the other party's sympathy. Zhou Xiuying sighed, the bitterness in her heart was not over yet: "Since that incident, my man has been careful in every way, and he has always been kind. No matter what the situation is, he has never even said a hard word to others. Sometimes he suffers a little. We were rather happy, thinking that it was a punishment given to us by the Bodhisattva, and it would alleviate our sins. But what is the use? The retribution that should come, it will come after all. On the roads outside the city, so many cars come and drive Go, how many years has it been? Who has encountered such unlucky things? On the day my man died, I was sad, but I was also relieved of the burden that I had carried for half my life. The Bodhisattva finally gave us the result and told him to go In this way, when we reach the underworld, we don’t have to suffer anymore. When my man was alive, we were worried about the police coming to our door all day long. After he died, I was no longer afraid. I am looking forward to it at home, and I know that you will eventually It will come. We have lied to other people's children before, and I will not be willing to die without an explanation."

Zhou Ping listened to her patiently, and finally had the opportunity to ask: "What's going on? Why did you kill him?" "Oh, I've figured it out now, it's all predestined." Zhou Xiuying curled her lips, as if smiling wryly, "That guy lives in our house and has food and drink, who would have thought he would leave secretly, and It happened to fall into the well dug by my man again." "Ground trap?" Zhou Ping interjected, "What is that?" "It is a trap dug by us mountain people to catch wild boars, mountain leopards and other beasts. It is usually two or three meters deep, and a few sharpened bamboo shuttles are inserted underneath. It was very common in the early years, but now there are few wild animals on the mountain. , basically no one digs that thing anymore.”

"Where was the well dug in your house? How did you trap Wu Jianfei, the man who lives in your house?" Zhou Xiuying rolled her eyes and recalled: "Well... There is an open field behind my house, and some sorghum is planted. The ground trap is dug next to the sorghum field to prevent wild boars from stealing the crops. We have all marked it, People in the mountains will understand when they get nearby. The man didn't know this, he ran around in the night alone, and fell down somehow." "Well, then what does he want to do when he comes out at night?" Zhou Ping didn't want to let go of any suspicious things.

"As I said, he wants to leave. He even brought his luggage, so it can't be wrong. I don't know where we owed him, and we didn't even say hello. Something happened! The next day At dawn, my man found him in the well. At that time, he was speechless, and a bamboo shuttle passed through his waist, bleeding a lot." Although many years had passed, Zhou Xiuying When thinking of the scene at that time, there was still a look of pity on his face. "And then? What did you do?" "At first we wanted to rescue him. But I was so frightened that my hands and feet were all weak and I couldn't use any strength at all. My man asked me to go back to the house and said that he could handle it alone. I didn't think much about it. , I just listened to him.” Zhou Xiuying paused, and patted the back of her hand regretfully, “At that time, if I was more careful and stayed with my man, I definitely couldn’t let him do that. My man would listen to me. words!"

"What did your man...do?" Zhou Ping asked, already having a vague premonition of what might happen next. Zhou Xiuying replied faintly: "After a long time, my man came back to the house. He was covered in dirt, like a wooden man with no soul, staring at me blankly. I was deeply moved by him. He was furious, and hurriedly asked him what was the matter. After asking a lot, he finally came back to his senses and said: 'I buried that man.'” "You mean, buried alive?" Zhou Xiuying nodded, and closed her eyes in pain, the wrinkles on her face told her uneasiness and guilt.After a moment's silence, she sighed "ah" and murmured, "That man won't survive—even if we rescue him, he won't survive either. If someone dies in our house, let's say I don't know... He has descendants, how do we explain it? But burying people alive, committing crimes, committing crimes... My man's head was blinded for a while, so he did such a damned thing..."

Zhou Xiuying looked at Zhou Ping eagerly while saying these words.It was the first time in so many years that she revealed the secret she had kept for half her life. Now she didn't want to make any excuses. She just hoped that others could understand their dilemma at that time and say a few words of comfort, so that the guilt she had been carrying for a long time could also be relieved. relieved. But Zhou Ping didn't seem to care much about these things. He touched his forehead, as if he was thinking about something, and then he asked: "Are you sure your man buried Wu Jianfei alive with his own hands? I mean, did you see this process with your own eyes?" ?”

Zhou Xiuying was taken aback by the question, looked at Zhou Ping in confusion, and said: "I only see the well that has been filled. If it wasn't my man who buried it, who else would it be? My man also told me that he scooped up a few ladles The soil was splashed on the man's face first. The man's face was covered, and he could not move anywhere else, he could only blink his eyes. The soil on the eyelids opened after blinking, and a pair of eyes came out of the soil. It was exposed again, staring at my man. My man was hairy all over his body, and he filled the well like crazy until the man was completely buried in the well... Later, my man had I haven't been able to sleep well for half a year, and I always feel that those eyes are still staring at him..."

"That is to say, none of you saw Wu Jianfei's death with your own eyes? Is it possible that Huang Deming did not fill the hole tightly in the panic, and Wu Jianfei's injury was not as serious as you imagined. He later climbed out by himself. Well, and you didn't know it all this time?" Zhou Xiuying shook her head blankly: "How is that possible? With so much soil buried on it, how could he crawl out? Unless he turned into a ghost." "Can you still find the exact location of the underground trap?" "I can find it. Every year on the death day, I will go to that place to offer incense, hoping to alleviate our sins. But after so many years, when the retribution comes, I still can't escape it."

Zhou Ping said "hmm" and stood up from the chair: "You go to the scene with me now and identify the location." Before arriving at the scene, Zhou Ping first hung up a phone call to the city bureau in the village chief's office, notified the old case that had unexpectedly appeared, and at the same time requested the support of the forensic doctor and other relevant personnel.At the same time, Village Chief Liu summoned four strong young men through the loudspeaker, equipped with shovels and picks, and made preparations for digging the pit to find the corpse. After everything was settled, Zhou Ping took the boys to the col where Zhou Xiuying's home was located, while Village Chief Liu waited in the office for support personnel from the Public Security Bureau. Half an hour later, Zhou Ping and his party arrived at their destination.This mountain depression is about 20 acres in size, and there are four scattered families. Zhou Xiuying's house is located in the north corner of the mountain depression, and the nearest neighbor is about 30 meters away. "It's here." Zhou Xiuying turned to the back of the house more than ten meters away, pointing to the ground under her feet. Zhou Ping observed the terrain behind the house.The place Zhou Xiuying pointed out was very close to the forest, and away from other residents, so it was appropriate to dig a trap for hunting here.Most people don't go there. But why did Wu Jianfei choose this direction?Zhou Ping thought about it, maybe it was more reasonable to explain that Wu Jianfei wanted to leave quietly without being discovered. "Start digging." Zhou Ping gave an order, and the boys swung their pickaxes at the frozen ground. Although it has just snowed, the freezing of the soil is not serious.After digging out the surface soil at a depth of ten centimeters, the soil below became much softer. The young men also worked hard, and the speed of advancement was not too slow. Some movement attracted a few other villagers who lived in the col. They walked over curiously, looked around, and then whispered around Zhou Xiuying.Zhou Xiuying stared at the bigger and bigger pit in front of her, her face was pale, and she kept her mouth shut. When the depth of the pit was dug to about one meter, Zhou Ping suddenly signaled the boys to stop, and he jumped into the pit lightly.The villagers immediately gathered around and watched with wide eyes. A gray-white hard protrusion appeared in the center of the pit. Zhou Ping pushed the soil around the protrusion with his hands. The sharp and smooth thing turned out to be a bamboo shuttle. The surrounding villagers couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but Zhou Xiuying's lips trembled slightly. In her memory, Wu Jianfei was pierced to death by this bamboo shuttle. Zhou Ping stood up and reminded the boys to take it easy and continue digging.The length of the bamboo shuttle floating out of the soil continued to increase, and when it reached about 20 centimeters, another gray-white hard object appeared in the soil not far from the shuttle shaft.Remove the surrounding floating soil, the hard object showed its whole appearance, this is a complete human rib. The villagers saw the clue and became commotion. They whispered, and at the same time they did not forget to look up and down the frightened and restless Zhou Xiuying with suspicious eyes. The bones in front of him confirmed what Zhou Xiuying said.Zhou Ping twitched his nose in a daze. He met a man who had died twice. At this time, there was another commotion among the villagers by the pit, and they turned their attention to the intersection of the col. Zhou Ping climbed up to the ground and saw Village Chief Liu walking towards here with reinforcements from the police.The person following the village chief was in good spirits, and it was Xu Lijie. Zhou Ping went up to meet him, with some surprise on his face: "Why are you here?" "Why can't I come?" Xu Lijie rolled his eyes at him, "I was the first person in the bureau to intervene in this case. Who of you knows more about Wu Jianfei's files than me?" What she said was well-founded. Zhou Ping smiled "hehe", turned his gaze behind Xu Lijie, changed the topic and said, "What do you call these comrades? You don't even introduce me." There were three male police officers who came with Xu Lijie. The tall man among them took a step forward, stretched out his right hand to Zhou Ping, and introduced himself, "Are you Section Chief Zhou? We are from the Criminal Investigation Team of the Municipal Bureau. My name is Zhang Yu." , these two brothers, you can call them Xiao Chen and Xiao Peng." Zhou Ping and the three of them shook hands one by one and exchanged greetings, and then turned to Xu Lijie: "How about it, Comrade Xiao Xu, let's shake one too?" "Come on." Xu Lijie opened Zhou Ping's hand, "Hurry up and show us the scene." A group of people came to the side of the dug pit. The boys in the pit saw so many people in police uniforms coming at once, they all stopped in a daze, and stood in the pit at a loss.In the soil under their feet, several pale ribs emerged again, and a complete human skeleton had taken shape. Zhang Yu observed the situation in the pit for a while, and said: "You all come up, we will do the next work directly." "Come up, come up, drink your water first, and the village committee will give you a credit." Under the yelling of Village Chief Liu, several young men climbed out of the pit one by one. Xiao Chen and Xiao Peng both carried a box in their hands.The three of Zhang Yu took out a set of white overalls from one of the boxes and put them on, then took the other box down into the pit. A second chest was also opened, containing some exquisite digging and sampling tools.Zhang Yu compared the positions of the bones in the pit for a while, and at the same time said something to Xiao Chen and Xiao Peng.Immediately, under Zhang Yu's command, the three began to dig carefully close to the edge of the exposed bones. Looking at their professional posture, Zhou Ping felt for a moment that he couldn't intervene.He scratched the back of his head and smiled wryly at Xu Lijie who was beside him. "You should study hard." Xu Lijie whispered against Zhou Ping's ear, quite proudly, "He is an expert with a professional background." "Let's leave it to the experts. I just happened to rest on the sidelines." Zhou Ping pretended to put on a straight face and left the pit. There was a row of stone steps at the door of Zhou Xiuying's house. Zhou Ping walked over and sat down, and Xu Lijie followed him and sat next to him. "Aren't you angry?" Seeing Zhou Ping's frown, Xu Lijie panicked, "I was joking with you just now." "I'm not as stingy as you." Zhou Ping held his chin and looked at the distant mountains, "I'm thinking about something." Xu Lijie laughed "Chi": "I know what you're thinking." "Oh?" Zhou Ping turned his face away, "Then tell me, what am I thinking?" "You must be thinking, didn't Wu Jianfei die in the Dead Wood Temple? Why did his body appear here again?" Zhou Ping gave a slightly exaggerated "hmm" to show his approval. "Actually, this question is too simple, I can answer it for you." Xu Lijie became proud again. "Then tell me, I'll listen." "Obviously, the Wu Jianfei on the mountain and the Wu Jianfei in the pit must be fake!" "Then which one is fake?" Zhou Ping asked with interest. "How would I know?" Xu Lijie looked at Zhou Ping with an innocent expression. Zhou Ping showed all his patience and said with a smile: "Then can I think that what you said is nonsense?" Xu Lijie raised her almond eyebrows, hummed, got up and left.Zhou Ping looked at her back, smiled, and lost himself in thought again.He knows Xu Lijie's temper. The more you coax her at this time, the more energetic she will be. If you ignore her, she will naturally come to you again after a while. Xu Lijie came to the pit again, and the work of Zhang Yu and others seemed to have attracted her, so she watched quietly from the sidelines.About an hour later, she seemed to have completely forgotten the previous unhappiness, and she turned her head and waved to Zhou Ping: "Come here, all the bones are coming out soon!" Zhou Ping stepped forward, and sure enough, the bones in the pit had completely escaped the cover of the soil, but they still maintained the posture when they were buried, with empty eyes looking at the sky, as if they were complaining about something. Relying on the small tools in their hands, Zhang Yu and others completed the work quickly and well in such a short period of time. Zhou Ping couldn't help but feel a little admiration from the bottom of his heart. Zhang Yu also saw Zhou Ping, and he greeted him friendly: "Come down and have a look." Zhou Ping nodded, and cautiously jumped into the pit. At this time, Zhang Yu was opening a small plastic bag for sampling and putting a small piece of plant root hair into it. "What is this for?" Zhou Ping asked curiously. "The roots of this tree grew into the bones. Analyzing its age can confirm the time when the bones were buried from one angle." This sounds a bit interesting, but what Zhou Ping is most concerned about is the following question: "How can we be sure whether this corpse belongs to Wu Jianfei?" "This is a bit more troublesome." Zhang Yu explained patiently, "You can take a photo of this skull, then scan it into the computer, and compare it with Wu Jianfei's head photo before his death, but this kind of technology is only available in the criminal investigation analysis center in the province. only then.” "Oh, how long will that take?" "This...it's hard to say. Optimistically, it will take half a month. If there are too many cases, you have to wait in line..." Half a month?Zhou Ping was obviously a little disappointed. How could he be able to go up the mountain after such a long time? When the time comes to compare Kong Wang's body with the photo, it will be revealed immediately which one is real and which one is fake. How much trouble does it take? In the suitcase next to Zhang Yu, there were some other samples that had already been taken. Among them, a large plastic bag caught Zhou Ping's attention.The things inside were very miscellaneous, there seemed to be pieces of paper, keys, and an old and dilapidated cotton case. Zhang Yu noticed Zhou Ping's gaze and said, "This is a relic next to the dead body." "Can I have a look at that condom?" Zhou Ping's eyes showed that he seemed to have discovered something. "Okay, but it's best not to take it out and look through this bag." Zhang Yu handed over the plastic bag. Zhou Ping looked at the cotton cover carefully.It was a flat cylindrical thing, about 20 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. Although it had been rotten badly, it could be seen that it should have a certain degree of elasticity. A confused look appeared on Zhou Ping's face, and he turned his gaze to the skeleton under his feet. The skeleton lies quietly, but sometimes it can tell you something without making a sound. The skeleton and the cotton cover confirmed each other, which confirmed Zhou Ping's guess. He suddenly smiled in relief, and said to Zhang Yu, "Maybe I can give you another suggestion about how to determine the identity of the corpse." "What?" Zhang Yu stopped what he was doing and looked at Zhou Ping. "You can check the household registration records of Lindong Village and Guyang Village in the mountainous area to see if any adult men disappeared in these two villages in 1972. If so, compare the man's photo with the corpse , maybe you can avoid some detours.” "But, why?" Zhang Yu looked a little at a loss. "Don't ask so much, the facts will prove that I am right." Zhou Ping stood up with a pensive expression on his face, "Now this corpse is not very helpful to my investigation case, I have to see a few people immediately. Individuals may be able to solve the mystery inside." Zhang Yu looked at Zhou Ping and then at the skeleton, becoming more and more confused. Zhou Ping stopped talking and patted Zhang Yu on the shoulder: "Goodbye, let's have another drink when the case is over." Then he smiled friendly and rolled over to the ground. Xu Lijie came over and stared at him with wide eyes: "What did you mean just now?" "If you want to know, come with me. The focus of this case is no longer here." Zhou Ping said as he walked out of the mountain. Xu Lijie greeted Zhang Yu and the others in a hurry, then chased after her, and asked dissatisfiedly, "Tell me quickly, did you find anything?" "Did you see that sack I was holding in my hand just now?" "I saw it, but I didn't see it clearly, what's wrong?" "You may not have seen that thing. But I grew up in the mountains, so I am very familiar with it." Zhou Ping showed a slightly smug expression, "It's a cotton case that the porter puts on the middle of the pole, so that the pole is placed on the shoulder. Not to break the skin." "Then you mean..." "The person who died in the pit was a porter. I looked at the skeleton carefully, and the right shoulder was obviously lower than the left shoulder. This kind of acquired bone deformity is the characteristic of a porter." "That's not right, the porters also switch jobs?" Xu Lijie raised some objections. "But there is still a difference in the strength of the two shoulders. Generally speaking, the right shoulder bears weight longer than the left shoulder. If you have been in contact with these people for a long time like me, you won't have such doubts. What I said The two villages were famous professional porters in the past, and the adult men there were basically engaged in this industry—there were no such good mountain roads at that time, and the material connections inside and outside the mountains were all completed by porters.” After hearing Zhou Ping say so much, Xu Lijie understood: "Then this person is not Wu Jianfei, but a porter in the mountains?" Zhou Ping nodded. "But how did it happen? Zhou Xiuying and his wife saw him fall into the pit with their own eyes, and then buried him with their own hands?" "You still don't understand?" Zhou Ping curled his lips, "The person Hu Junkai sent to Zhou Xiuying's house back then was not Wu Jianfei at all!"