After listening to Zhou Dinghai's statement, Zhou Jun began to ask the former about several key questions and learned the following.
Jiang Yu lived in a small courtyard in Yonghefang. The property was not owned by his family, but rented from others.
Jiang Yu studied in Chang'an, and his family and friends all lived in Weiqu, two hundred miles away from Chang'an.
According to Zhou Dinghai's observations after several contacts, Jiang Yu's daily expenses for food and clothing did not appear to be poverty-stricken. On the contrary, they were not much worse than those of ordinary wealthy families in Chang'an.
Asked this, Zhou Jun questioned: "Father, don't you find it strange? Jiang Yu claimed that his family was in a poor state and was heavily in debt, but he rented a small courtyard in Chang'an and spent a lot of money on food and clothing.
"
Zhou Dinghai replied: "I thought it was strange at first, but then I thought about it. It's not uncommon for scholars to show off."
Zhou Jun shook his head, his intuition telling him that there must be something weird in this.
Zhou Jun asked again: "During the entire slave tooth transaction, Jiang Yuzhen didn't show up even once?"
Zhou Dinghai sighed and said: "No, I handle all the slave procedures alone."
Zhou Jun didn't give up: "Then when you handed over the money for selling yourself to Jiang Yu, was there a witness or a third party beside you?"
Zhou Dinghai sighed again: "No! The place where the money was given was Jiang Yu's house, and he was the only one at home that day. I saw that after Jiang Yu received the money, he wrote a receipt on the spot and signed it. To his care, there was no more
Think about it."
After saying this, Zhou Dinghai slapped his thigh suddenly, tears welling up in his eyes: "I'm so confused! I just thought that Jiang Yu was a scholar, and he was a health practitioner at the Taichang Temple Medical Office, so he wrote the letter from beginning to end.
I killed him, but he turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing!"
Zhou Jun comforted his father with some kind words, and then began to think about the entire case and where to start to break through.
First of all, Jiang Yu did not come forward in all aspects of the slave tooth transaction, so naturally no one could prove that he recommended himself as a slave.
The absence of a witness to the transaction gave Jiang Yu a sufficient alibi and intensified Zhou Dinghai's suspicion of surreptitious selling.
Therefore, there is no way to start with witnessing.
Secondly, Jiang Yu used fake signatures and fake fingerprints to deceive Zhou Dinghai and others.
Even if it was explained to the county government that signatures and fingerprints could be faked, it still could not prove that Jiang Yu was the culprit of all this.
Therefore, there is no way to question the physical evidence.
No human or physical evidence could be used to break through the case. The case of Zhou Dinghai's betrayal of his beloved was seen to be a dead end, and there was no way to save it.
Zhou Jun frowned, put his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth in the room.
County Magistrate Shao Chang looked at Zhou Jun with interest, and the Chang'an County Recorder beside him, and whispered that the visiting time was over. The former waved his hand to indicate that he would wait a little longer.
At this moment, Zhou Jun suddenly stopped, walked quickly to Zhou Dinghai, and asked: "Father, when you handed over the money for selling yourself to Jiang Yu, do you still remember the specific time?"
Zhou Dinghai nodded: "I remember when I gave him the money, it was five days ago, at noon on the sixth day of April."
Zhou Jun: "Be more precise."
Zhou Dinghai lowered his head and thought for a while before giving the answer: "On the sixth day of April, at two quarters of noon."
Zhou Jun noted this time, came to Shao Chang's side again, bowed and asked: "Shao County Prime Minister, I want to ask you something."
Shao Chang: "What's the matter?"
Zhou Jun: "When did the Xu family, the plaintiff in this case, go to find Jiang Yu?"
Shao Chang: "The sixth day of April, the last moment."
Zhou Jun calculated it carefully in his mind.
Zhou Dinghai delivered the money to Jiang Yu around 11:30 p.m. (a quarter past noon), and the buyer arrived at Jiang Yu's home at 1:15 p.m. (a quarter past noon).
Before and after, there was only more than an hour between them.
Thinking of this, Zhou Jun asked Shao Chang again: "Shao County Cheng, after Jiang Yu was arrested and imprisoned, did anyone visit him or write any letters to others?"
Shao Chang: "No one visited me, no letters."
When Zhou Jun heard this, he secretly thought that there might be a glimmer of hope for a comeback in Zhou Dinghai's case.
Seeing the expression on Zhou Jun's face, Shao Chang said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, your father's case of betraying his beloved will be tried at the Chang'an County Government tomorrow at midnight. If you have evidence to prove his innocence, remember to hurry up and prepare.
.”
Zhou Jun saluted Shao Chang and nodded vigorously.
After coming out of the county jail, Luo Sanniang and Zhou Ze kept looking back and couldn't stop wiping away tears.
Zhou Jun said, "There is less than a day left before the trial of my father's case begins. Instead of feeling dejected here, it is better to take advantage of this time to make more preparations."
Zhou Ze puffed up his chest and said, "I have a close friend in private school, and an elder in his family is an official in the court. We can ask him to help us negotiate."
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "This is a major case of betrayal of a loved one. Once convicted, you will be sentenced to hanging! For such a disaster, will your friend be willing to ask his parents for the sake of classmate friendship?"
Zhou Ze thought about it for a while, but sighed and remained silent.
Luo Sanniang looked at Zhou Jun, who had a determined look on his face. She always felt that this child was very different from before, so she asked: "Jun'er, in your opinion, what should we do now?"
Zhou Jun: "Mom, brother, you go back now and write a review of my father's daily behavior. There is no need to exaggerate or embellish it, just tell the truth. Then find the neighbors who were familiar with my father in the past and ask them to sign."
Luo Sanniang nodded in agreement, looked at Zhou Jun and asked, "Then where are you going?"
Zhou Jun turned around and walked towards the street, leaving a sentence: "Crack the case."
From Chang'an County's Changshou Fang to Yonghe Fang where Jiang Yu lived, passing through Jiahui and Daixian Erfang in the middle, the journey was not too far.
When Zhou Jun arrived next to Jiang Yu's house in Yonghe Square, the sun was in the middle and there was an endless stream of pedestrians on the street, rubbing shoulders one after another.
Standing on the roadside, Zhou Jun looked towards Jiang Yu's family courtyard from a distance.
At the gate of the small courtyard, there is a Chang'an County government official's sign (bi the fourth tone), which says something like no entry.
Zhou Jun walked into a restaurant opposite Jiang Yu's courtyard, found a seat by the window, and ordered some wine and food.
The waiter in the wine shop was a young Sogdian man. Seeing Zhou Jun's well-dressed and handsome appearance, he guessed that he was an extraordinary person, so he did not dare to neglect him. While bringing the wine and food, he smiled and said hello.
Zhou Jun glanced at the young boy with a smile on his face, calmly took out a small handful of Kaiyuan Tongbao from his arms and threw it on the table.
The boy smiled happily and collected the copper coins on the table, and sang: "Thank you, sir, for the reward!"
Zhou Jun picked up the wine and took a sip, but was turned off by the astringent taste of the wine.
Putting down his wine glass, Zhou Jun pretended to glance out the window casually and asked, "What's going on over there?"
The boy glanced at the small courtyard opposite and said, "Lang Jun, the house opposite is the home of scholar Jiang Yu. I heard that he was arrested."
Zhou Jun looked at the young man and noticed that the latter had a subtle expression when he said the word "scholar".
The boy's lips were pressed gently, and the corner of one lip was slightly raised.
In his previous career as a police officer, Zhou Jun had been specially trained in a police academy course called "Micro Expressions, Subtext".
This course aims to judge the suspect's mental state and potential consciousness by observing the suspect's subtle expressions and words spoken unconsciously.
When he first took this course at the police academy, Zhou Jun always thought that what was taught in this book was all nonsense.
However, after in-depth understanding, Zhou Jun learned that micro-expressions, as an interrogation method, have been widely used at home and abroad, and have achieved good results in criminal investigation.
For example, in a previous life, a coastal city established the country's first micro-expression investigation studio in 2011, and in five years, used this technology to solve more than 520 crimes, including murder, explosions, arson, poisoning, etc.
96 major and difficult cases.
Back to business.
Zhou Jun saw the boy's expression and recognized that when the latter said the word "scholar", his lips were pressed lightly and the corner of one lip was slightly raised. This was a very obvious micro-expression of contempt and disgust.
Zhou Jun suppressed the questions in his mind and deliberately quoted: "The scholar was arrested? But which dignitary was offended?"
The boy sneered and said: "How can Jiang Yu have the backbone to offend a noble official? He is just a scoundrel who gambles excessively."
Excessive gambling?
After hearing this important news, Zhou Jun continued to ask calmly: "Scholars only focus on reading the books of sages, how can anyone gamble excessively?"
Thinking that Zhou Jun didn't believe it, the boy swore: "Mr. Lang, don't believe it. I swear to God, if you tell a word of nonsense, I will be gutted and torn to pieces!"
"Everyone knows Jiang Yu's reputation for excessive gambling. He came to Chang'an to study, and not only lost all the money he brought with him, but also lost the rent money for his house to the casino."
"A few days ago, the landlord came to collect debts. In front of so many neighbors, he scolded him and told him to get out immediately if he couldn't pay the rent."
Zhou Jun: "The landlord is collecting debts? When will it happen?"
The boy thought for a while and said, "It happened at the end of last month, probably about ten days ago."
Zhou Jun asked again: "Jiang Yu owes rent, so no one can help him?"
The boy smiled and said: "That scoundrel, who else is willing to help him? Even if he borrows money to help him out, he will be taken to the gambling house to squander it all."
Zhou Jun nodded, took out five Kaiyuan Tongbao from his arms, and gave them to the boy as a reward.
Watching the young man walk away with a lot of gratitude, Zhou Jun turned around and looked in the direction of Jiang Yu's courtyard, and fell into deep thought.
Jiang Yu gambled excessively, not only losing all his savings, but also paying for his rent.
The landlord came to his door and ordered him to pay the rent within a time limit, otherwise he would be evicted from the small courtyard.
Looking at it this way, Jiang Yu took a desperate risk and defrauded money under the guise of prostitution, and the motive for the whole thing became clear.
Judging from the timeline, the landlord gave Jiang Yu an ultimatum to pay the rent at the end of March.
Jiang Yu found Zhou Dinghai in early April and implemented the fraud plan.
On April 6th, Zhou Dinghai gave the money from selling his body to Jiang Yu and was arrested.
The time is also right.
The next problem is to find evidence to prove that Zhou Dinghai is innocent.
Zhou Jun looked at the endless stream of pedestrians on the street, and then looked at the boy standing at the door secretly counting the reward money, and suddenly his heart brightened.
Focusing on the small courtyard of Jiang Yu's family, Zhou Jun observed carefully. Most of the private buildings in Chang'an City had similar layouts and structures.
The outer perimeter is surrounded by rammed earth walls and green tile walls, while the layout of the inner courtyard is mostly symmetrical around the central axis.
There are three buildings in the courtyard, namely the central hall in the middle, the bedrooms in the left wing, and the dining room in the right wing, which are symmetrically distributed and connected by corridors in the middle.
Calling for the boy again, Zhou Jun asked him the name and address of Jiang Yu's landlord. After getting the answer, he got up and left the wine shop.