Chapter 11 Chapter 10 Time of Death

September 20th in the Gregorian calendar. When I arrived at the police station, I was locked into the cell where I had stayed the night before.I was concerned about the progress of Sergeant Wu, and I didn't want to sit still, just wandering anxiously in the room.This wait lasted for several hours, and it was almost noon, my stomach couldn't bear it anymore, and I began to growl.In order to save a little energy, I went to the broken bed and lay down.I seemed to close my eyes, but my thoughts did not stop for a moment. After an unknown amount of time, I finally heard the sound of the door lock.I sat up from the bed in response, only to see two policemen, one fat and one thin, open the door and come in. The thin man waved at me and said, "Go!"

I asked, "Where are you going?" "Why so much nonsense? Just follow me." The thin man scolded impatiently.His companion rushed to my side and squeezed my arm hard.So the thin man cleared the way, and the fat man escorted me. The three of us got out of the cell, walked a few steps to the east, and then turned a corner and got into another room. The room was slightly larger than the prison cell. In the center of the room was a long table. On one side of the table were two grand chairs side by side. Two police officers sat on the chairs.One of them was Sergeant Wu, but the other didn't know him.The stranger looked to be in his forties, and he was fair-looking. He held a teapot and drank mouth to mouth, with a leisurely demeanor.

Opposite the table is a long bench, and there is already a person sitting on the bench. I also recognize that person—it is the guy who stalked me last night and then fisted me. The skinny policeman pointed to the vacant seat by the bench and ordered me, "Sit down!" Sure enough, as soon as I sat down, Sergeant Wu asked, "Feng Yuanchi, did you go to Mrs. Meng's house last night?" I nodded and muttered to myself: Isn't this the job your old man assigned me? Sergeant Wu looked serious, and asked again with a business air: "Tell me, what did you do at Mrs. Meng's house? Tell me clearly what happened before and after, and don't miss it."

I cleared my throat and said, "Grandma Meng wanted to open a mourning hall last night to do something, so she entrusted me to go to the town to help her buy some things. I bought all the things and hired Ah Chuan to pick them up at Pozi Meng's house. Then Ah Chuan left That's right. I stayed again to help Mrs. Meng decorate the mourning hall, and I left after I finished. By the way, I drank two cups of tea and chatted with Mrs. Meng for a while." "Why did something happen to Mrs. Meng later?" "I don't know this at all... When I left, she was fine."

"When did you come to Mrs. Meng's house, and when did you leave?" When Sergeant Wu asked this, the policeman next to him raised his head and looked at me. Before, he was only drinking tea by himself, as if All this has nothing to do with him. I said, "I should have arrived at Granny Meng's house around five o'clock in the afternoon, and it was probably seven or eight o'clock when I left. I can't say the exact time." Sergeant Wu gave a "hmm", then he turned his head slightly and looked at the guy sitting next to me. "Wang Si." The old man pointed at me and asked the man, "What time did he come out of Mrs. Meng's house last night?"

Wang Sidao: "It's like seven or eight o'clock, that's right." "Tell me what happened afterwards." "After leaving Mrs. Meng's house, I followed him all the way to the town. Later, he falsely accused me of stealing his wallet, and we fought next to the police station. Then these two came over and took us back to the police station. "Wang Si pointed to the side while speaking, the so-called "these two" are the two fat and thin policemen standing next to him. "Then you two continue talking." Sergeant Wu pouted at the two of them.

The skinny policeman said: "We were on duty last night when we suddenly heard commotion outside. We went out to check, and it turned out that these two people were fighting in the street. We took them back to the police station for questioning. The matter of stealing the wallet It’s purely nonsense, it’s this Feng Yuanchi who deliberately provoked trouble. Let’s let him go, but he won’t leave. We have no choice but to lock him up in a nearby cell overnight.” "What time did you lock him up?" "Come at eight o'clock." "Okay." Sergeant Wu turned to look at Wang Si again, "I heard that after you came out of the police station, you went back to Mrs. Meng?"

Wang Si said loudly: "Yes, Zhao Liangzi and I watched outside the courtyard all night." "No one has entered the courtyard again this night?" "Absolutely no one." "Are you sure?" "dare." "That's enough." Police Chief Wu clapped his hands together and rubbed them together, and said, "That's all for now, let's all leave." "Break up?" Wang Si was taken aback, then pointed at me and asked the old man, "He's gone too?" "It's gone." Sheriff Wu pouted and said, "He has nothing to do, why leave him here to eat and drink for free?"

"Why is there nothing to do with him?" Wang Si squinted and shouted, "He was the last person who was with Mrs. Meng yesterday. Now that Mrs. Meng is dead, who else is there if he didn't kill him?" Sergeant Wu looked at the other party coldly, and when he finished yelling, he pointed to the side and asked, "Do you know him?" Wang Si looked at the fair and clean policeman next to the old man, and said hesitantly, "This police chief...has a very strange eye." Inspector Wu asked the fat and thin policemen again: "You two always recognize him, right?"

"I recognize it." The two nodded repeatedly, with a submissive look.The fair policeman didn't even look at them, he just lowered his head and drank tea leisurely. Sergeant Wu pointed at the skinny policeman and said, "Introduce me, what is the background of this master?" The skinny policeman said with a contorted smile, "This is Sheriff Zhu from the county. He was born in three generations and is a well-known expert in autopsy. I heard that even if there is a murder case in the provincial capital, you have to invite this master to take a look. " Hearing this, the man called Sergeant Zhu giggled and put the teapot on the table with his backhand.Sergeant Wu next to him clasped his hands together and said, "Brother, it's been hard work for you to make this trip today. I have to ask you to give me some advice for these useless idiots."

Inspector Zhu returned the salute and said: "Hey, Brother Wu, you don't have to be polite. It's my job, so it's not hard work. I examined the corpse carefully. Its face was blue, its lungs were shriveled, and its neck was obviously bruised. Stretch marks, flakes of hemp rope under the nails—all of these were characteristic of strangulation; judging from the plaques, rigor, and look of the deceased, her death should have occurred six to ten months before the autopsy. Hours—I arrived at the scene at 9:30 in the morning, that is to say, the specific time of the death of Mrs. Meng was between 11:30 last night and 3:30 this morning." After saying these words, Sergeant Zhu picked up his small teapot again, and began to sip contentedly.Police Chief Wu glanced at Wang Si and the two fat and thin policemen, and asked, "Do you guys understand?" "Understood!" The skinny policeman was clever, and immediately stood up to express his opinion, "Since Mrs. Meng died between 11:30 last night and 3:30 this morning, it has nothing to do with this Mr. Feng. Mr. Feng Then he is locked in the cell of the police station, how could he fly out and kill Mrs. Meng?" "Yes, yes, yes." The fat man also echoed, "We can both testify about this. It seems that Mrs. Meng's death has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Feng." After listening to everyone's analysis and comments, Wang Si gradually tasted it, and quickly questioned: "Is this accurate? People are already dead, so how can we tell when they died?" Hearing a "snap", Sergeant Zhu threw the teapot heavily on the table: "Are you sure you can say it? I went to the provincial capital for an autopsy, and the commissioner of the provincial government didn't dare to question it. What?" His complexion changed as soon as he said it, and his eyes were so menacing that no one dared to look directly at him. Wang Si was overwhelmed by this momentum, and was stunned for a while, then murmured again: "This...I have to tell Mr. Ling about this." Chief Wu said: "Then hurry up, what are you still doing here?" Wang Sigan swallowed his saliva, and left angrily. "Mr. Ling's style is not small, a pawn dares to be so rude." Sergeant Zhu looked at Wang Si's back and said leisurely. Police Chief Wu sneered "Hey": "Isn't the entire Feng'an Town controlled by the Ling family? Ask these two if they dare to offend Mr. Ling." "You have to bow your head under the eaves." The skinny policeman salivated cautiously, "Of course you two police chiefs are not afraid of the surname Ling, but we brothers still have to make a living in Feng'an Town, right?" "Okay, I don't have time to listen to your complaints." Inspector Zhu interrupted the other party's words with a wave of his hand, then looked at Inspector Wu and said, "Brother Wu, I have already finished the inspection of this corpse and issued an autopsy report myself. That's all the little brother can do... The troublesome matter of investigating the case and chasing the murderer depends on Brother Wu's handwriting, so I won't bother you." Sergeant Wu cupped his hands and said, "I understand, brother please go ahead." "Okay, let's get together again when we go back to the county some other day." Sergeant Zhu said as he stood up, assuming a farewell gesture. The old man ordered the two fat and thin people: "You two give Sergeant Zhu a ride." The two of them dared not disobey, and followed Sergeant Zhu respectfully.In the interrogation room, only me and the old policeman were sitting opposite each other. The old man ignored me, took out a cigarette and lit it, staring in thought while smoking.I held back for a while, and finally couldn't help asking: "Is Chief Zhu really that powerful? Can you tell when Mrs. Meng died?" Sergeant Wu looked up at me, as if he was dissatisfied that I interrupted his thoughts, and then he replied impatiently: "What's the point? Even if he doesn't come, I can still see that he is pretty much the same. .Because you still call yourself a detective, but you don't understand the fucking shit." I muttered: "You can see it, why do you keep me locked up here?" "I don't want you to distract me." Sergeant Wu took a sharp sip of his cigarette, "Then I'll be busy watching the scene in the yard, how can I have time to take care of you?" "Why do I want you to take care of me?" I was stubborn on the surface, but there was warmth in my heart.I knew that the other party saw Ling Mufeng bringing people here, and he was afraid that it would be disadvantageous to me, so he imitated my method last night and sent me to the cell for protection.As soon as he finished his work there, he immediately brought Sergeant Zhu to rescue me.This kind of thought comes from a weird old man with a cold appearance, how can it not be touching? Sergeant Wu stopped talking to me and continued to concentrate on dealing with the cigarettes in his hand.He smoked very hard with each puff, so the cigarette was exhausted quickly.The old man threw the cigarette butt to the ground, and used this action to pull out his thoughts.Then he looked at me and asked, "You haven't eaten all day, have you? Are you hungry?" I nodded without hesitation.Can you not be hungry? "Go, eat a piece, I invite you." "You invited me?" I was very surprised, how did this old man become so generous today? The old man did not explain, got up and left.I hurriedly followed behind him.The two of us walked out of the police station and sat down in a restaurant on the side of the street.The old man ordered all the food and wine, and greeted me: "Eat." I was already hungry, and I was not polite, so I picked up the chopsticks and ate.Inspector Wu seemed to have no appetite, so he lit another cigarette, held it in his mouth, looked at me for a while, and then asked, "Did anything unusual happen when you were with Mrs. Meng last night?" matter?" I didn't have time to swallow the food in my mouth, so I replied vaguely: "No." "Well——" Sergeant Wu asked again, "Then did she say anything to you?" "She told me what happened that night." "What night?" "It was the day Chu Yun was born." Sergeant Wu was shocked: "She told you everything?" I froze for a moment, and then understood what the other party meant by "everything".I hurriedly added: "She didn't tell me what happened to that 'monster'." "Oh." Sergeant Wu heaved a sigh of relief. He took a puff of his cigarette, frowning in thought. I tentatively asked, "Do you know that secret?" Sergeant Wu shook his head: "How would I know? Only Mrs. Meng knows about this." Speaking of which, the old man paused, and his tone became a little sad: "Now there is no one..." I also put down my chopsticks sadly.During her lifetime, Mrs. Meng cared for Chu Yun, and gave me a trust full of compassion from the elders.When I think of this, it feels like a big rock is blocked in my heart, which is extremely heavy and uncomfortable. Inspector Wu asked me again: "Did she tell you anything else?" "Other... what?" "For example, about summoning spirits at night." I thought for a while and said, "She said that she should wait until late at night to start summoning spirits, because at that time the yin energy in the world is the heaviest. Also, the purpose of hanging those white cloths is to block the yang energy from the outside world..." "I know all of this." Sergeant Wu interrupted me with a wave of his hand, "Did she tell you: how is she going to communicate with the undead?" "said." "Huh?" Sergeant Wu leaned over to me, showing great interest. "Grandma Meng plans to reveal the secret today. The purpose of her summoning the spirit is to explain this matter to the undead." "Wait..." The old man heard the hidden meaning of this sentence, frowned and asked, "Isn't she asking for the consent of the undead, but explaining to them?" "Yes. Mrs. Meng said that no matter whether the undead agrees or not, she will reveal the secret. Because only in this way can Chu Yun's illness be completely cured. No matter what consequences she will suffer, she doesn't care." Sergeant Wu showed a dazed expression.He held the cigarette tightly with his fingers and remained motionless.After a long time, he sighed, "So that's how it is." "What's wrong?" I was already half full, my attention was drawn by the old man, and I slowly turned from the food and wine on the table to the discussion of this matter. The old man didn't answer my question.He put the half-smoked cigarette on the table, then picked up the wine jug on the table, filled two glasses.He handed me one of the glasses, held the other in his hand, and said, "Do it!" The old cop drank it down.Naturally, I can't lag behind, and I can finish it with my neck raised.The old man wiped his mouth and asked me: "How about the food and wine?" "Okay." I said politely, "Thank you, Sergeant Wu, for your hospitality." Sergeant Wu nodded and looked at me.After a while, he took something out of his pocket and slapped it on the table, then pushed it in front of me.I took a look, but it was a train ticket, so I said in a daze, "This..." "Let's go after eating and drinking. This meal is my farewell to you!" I looked at each other inexplicably: "Go? Why should I go?" The old man suppressed his voice and said: "Mrs. Meng is dead, do you want to die here too?" There was a gloomy chill in those words, but it seemed to freeze the surrounding air.I realized that there was a mystery hidden here, so I narrowed my eyes and asked word by word: "How did Mrs. Meng die?" Inspector Wu let out a "ho": "You still can't see it?" I shook my head - now I just want to hear what the other person has to say. "You also entered the scene this morning, didn't you notice? There are no footprints in the yard at all, not a single one!" The old man gritted his teeth, and threw out the most crucial sentence: "This case is not done by a living person." of!" "Will someone step on the footprints when they enter the yard?" I questioned this at first. Inspector Wu asked me, "What time did it rain last night?" I spread my hands and said, "I didn't care. I was locked up in a cell." "I asked a lot of people in the town, and they told me that it started to rain around eleven o'clock at night." After Sergeant Wu finished speaking, he asked me again, "When did Mrs. Meng die?" "Didn't Sergeant Zhu say that? It was between 11:30pm and 3:30am." "Inspector Zhu found out through the autopsy. If you look at the scene, you can say it more accurately!" Inspector Wu looked at me intently, as if to enlighten my thinking. I thought for a while and said, "It should be after twelve o'clock in the middle of the night. Because the red candles and high incense on the altar have been burned out, it means that Mrs. Meng has already started the ceremony of summoning spirits before she was alive." I remember the altar There is a rain shelter on the top, so neither the candles nor the high incense are extinguished by the rain. The old man nodded and agreed with my analysis.Then he said: "From eleven o'clock to twelve o'clock, it has been raining for an hour. The yard is full of mud, and the surface must be a mess. If someone enters the yard at this time, how can they not Leave footprints?" When Sergeant Wu and I entered the yard in the morning, the yard was indeed muddy from the rain, and there were clear footprints when we stepped on it.I understood the other party's thinking, and pondered: "Is it true that no one has entered that yard after twelve o'clock?" "No one..." Sergeant Wu murmured, "That's a curse given to Mrs. Meng by the undead, because she violated the oath she made back then." When Pozi Meng made the decision to reveal the secret, she did break her oath.When it comes to saying that the undead killed people, isn't this really unbelievable? Sergeant Wu saw my disapproving expression, and he sneered "Hey": "You don't believe it? You were at the scene this morning, and you saw it too. The rope that strangled Mrs. Meng got entangled and finally sank to the bottom of the well. There are two spirit cards tied to the end of the rope, how could the spirit cards sink into the water? If there is no extraordinary power, how can this be explained?" The spirit card is made of wood, so of course it cannot sink into the water.And I was at the scene in the morning, and I also witnessed the process of Sergeant Wu pulling the two spirit tablets out of the water.I frowned and thought about it for a while, and said, "This matter is really weird, and I felt a little scared when I saw it at the time. But after I was locked in the numbered room, I calmed down and thought about it carefully, and I came up with an explanation..." The old man's eyes jumped: "You say." "The two spirit cards are connected to the base with a rope, and the two pieces of rope are entangled together and stretched very tightly. So the two spirit cards should be stretched in the end, right? Their bases will be tightly pressed against each other. They are in one piece, and the other end is split open and raised to the sides.” As I spoke, I picked up the chopsticks in front of me, divided them into two and gestured, “Look, as long as the two pieces are split to a certain extent, the two ends will It can be pushed against the wall of the well. In this way, the spirit card can sink into the water, and the tight rope will not be loosened again. The spirit card will not fall off the wall of the well until you pull the rope hard.” Sergeant Wu looked at the chopsticks in my hand, nodded and said, "That makes sense...but I still believe that this was not done by a living person. The murderer who strangled Mrs. Meng was on those two spirit cards!" The murderer on the spirit card—Of course I understand the meaning of the other party. There are two bright red names on the spirit card: Du Yuhong and Chu Hanshan. "You have to leave quickly." The old man urged me again, "This matter has exceeded your imagination, and that power is beyond the power of mortals." "But why do you want me to go?" I showed a very incomprehensible expression, and asked back, "Why don't you go?" The old man looked at me for a long time, with a very strange look in his eyes.With a bit of pity, but also with a bit of fear.Finally he sighed and said, "The third spirit card this morning, do you know what was written on it?" I shook my head.The third spirit card?Is that the one on the altar?At that time, Sergeant Wu's expression changed drastically when he saw the spirit card, and he immediately drove me out of the yard.Of course I didn't see what was written on it. Inspector Wu told me: "There are three spiritual tablets written side by side on it." I asked, "Which three people?" "The first one is Mrs. Meng, and the second one is Ah Chuan." Sergeant Wu paused and finished speaking in a hoarse voice, "The third one is you, Feng Yuanchi." I was silent for a moment and asked, "What is this, a death list?" There was a strange smile on the old man's face, and he asked, "Is there any other explanation?" yes.The name is written on the spirit tablet, what else could it mean?I smiled wryly, and murmured to myself, "Why me?" "Because you participated in this summoning of spirits, and Ah Chuan too. It was the two of you who bought the ritual supplies from the county seat. So the curse also haunted you." The old man took a deep breath, painful and apologetic Looking at me intently, "I was the one who implicated you in this matter. Brother, I'm sorry for you in this matter." I understood what the other party meant—the work of buying funeral supplies was exactly what Sergeant Wu assigned me to do. "This matter has nothing to do with you. If you don't go, the name on the spirit card should be replaced with the three words 'Wu Chunlei'." When the old man said this, he didn't know whether it was fear or guilt, and his voice was slightly weak. trembling. I have no intention of blaming him.In my opinion, the curse is not so frightening.I don't even understand each other a little bit.As a police chief, a man who looks so wretched but is extremely powerful inside, why did he become so cowardly in the face of that curse? "What are you afraid of?" I couldn't help asking him, "What does the curse have to do with you?" The old man didn't answer directly, he looked at me and asked, "Aren't you afraid?" "I'm not afraid." "Yes, you're not afraid...you haven't experienced it, so of course you don't know that kind of fear." While talking, the old man picked up the jug and poured wine for himself.During this process, his eyes slowly fixed, the wine in the glass was already overflowing, but he didn't realize it. Obviously he thought of something, it was some shadow buried in the depths of memory for many years...