"It's a long story, Brother Zhang." Chen Chunsheng sat next to Zhang Yichi and began to tell the information he knew, "Brother, you also know that my sister-in-law was trafficked. Didn't she run away again that day? Uncle Shiren was on the mountain
I found it. My sister-in-law at that time
She refused to go back, so the two started fighting. In anger, Uncle Shiren found a stone and smashed his sister-in-law to death! Uncle Shiren was afraid that others would find out, so he moved his sister-in-law to the side of the mountain, making us mistakenly think that she was.
My sister-in-law fell and fell to her death."
"Uncle Shimin didn't know that at that time. How dare he tell Uncle Shimin when he went back? My father saw that he couldn't find anyone after searching all morning, so he asked Uncle Shimin to call the police. Uncle Shimin agreed.
Well, then you came over. That afternoon, Brother Zhang, you directly saw that my sister-in-law did not fall from the mountain road and died. Uncle Shiren panicked, and confessed to Uncle Shimin that night."
The information Zhang Yichi had was consistent with what Chen Chunsheng said, but he still couldn't understand why Wang Shiren was both the murderer and not the murderer.
"Uncle Shimin said that he went to school to spy on you that night, but you found out, and he didn't dare to go there again. The next day, Uncle Shimin told my dad about it and asked him to help.
Cover it up and get away with it. Isn’t this because you have always ignored my father’s advice and found a lot of clues, so my father stabbed you and wanted to kill you... That’s pretty much it.”
"I understand." Zhang Yichi nodded.
In other words, some of his previous reasonings were not wrong, but the results were wrong, causing him to mistakenly believe that his entire problem-solving idea was wrong.
As for why the idea of solving the problem is correct but the answer is wrong, Zhang Yichi believes that there is a bigger hidden secret.
Now we need to reorganize the timeline.
Based on the information currently available, the situation of that day can basically be reconstructed. As long as Zhang Yichi can find the contradictions, the real murderer should emerge.
On that day, Liu Cuilan left home before seven o'clock, passed by Uncle Sun's house, and arrived in the mountains.
At about ten o'clock, he met Zhang Nanyang on the mountain. During this period, the two sides had a quarrel. Zhang Nanyang went down the mountain and met Wang Shiren at the foot of the mountain.
At around 11 o'clock, Zhang Nanyang showed the way. Wang Shiren went up the mountain to find Liu Cuilan. The two sides had a quarrel. Wang Shiren killed Liu Cuilan and placed her under the mountain road to fake the traces of her death.
At twelve o'clock, the village chief suggested Wang Shimin call the police. Wang Shiren borrowed a tricycle from the canteen to pick up Zhang Yichi. Zhang Yichi arrived in the afternoon, and soon afterward came the news of Liu Cuilan's death.
Shortly before 6:30 p.m., Zhang Yichi and Wang Shiren arrived at the crime scene and found the first crime scene.
At 10:30 p.m., Wang Shimin went to school to spy on Zhang Yichi.
After roughly listing the timeline of the day, Zhang Yichi's first feeling was, could it be that Wang Shiren was taking the blame for Wang Shimin? But this doesn't make sense. If Wang Shimin committed the murder, he shouldn't have agreed with the village chief to call the police, and the crime happened.
The footprints at the scene did not match his.
From the current point of view, the person who killed Liu Cuilan should be Wang Shiren.
Unless Wang Shiren didn't kill Liu Cuilan.
"Liu Cuilan was not killed..." Zhang Yichi thought, "Will someone attack Liu Cuilan again after Wang Shiren committed the crime, and really cause Liu Cuilan's death?"
If this is the case, then it is understandable that this murderer has been hiding among many suspects. It also makes sense logically. Wang Shiren seems to be the murderer, and even he thinks so, but in fact the real murderer is
After him.
If this idea is correct, then another person also went up the mountain that day.
Could it be that Zhang Nanyang didn't leave at all that day?
"Chunsheng, do you know where Zhang Nanyang was on the day Liu Cuilan died?" Zhang Yichi decided to ask Chen Chunsheng.
Chen Chunsheng said: "He went up to the mountain and came down to the village committee to stay with us after ten o'clock."
Chen Chunsheng would not lie to him, so if Zhang Nanyang really came down the mountain after ten o'clock, it would be impossible for him to give Liu Cuilan the final blow after Wang Shiren.
"Besides Zhang Nanyang and Wang Shiren, was anyone else going up the mountain that morning?"
"No...I don't know..."
The clue was broken again.
Zhang Yichi was in a very bad state due to the high fever, and it was actually very difficult to concentrate on thinking. He frowned and closed his eyes, recalling what else he had missed that day.
That day, besides Zhang Nanyang and Wang Shiren, who else went up the mountain?
Who else...
Zhang Yichi suddenly opened his eyes.
There was indeed one person who went up the mountain that morning!
Uncle Sun’s grandson! He went up the mountain to cut firewood that morning! It was Uncle Sun’s grandson who said that Zhang Nanyang and Liu Cuilan had a quarrel on the mountain at ten o’clock!
Thinking of Uncle Sun's grandson, Zhang Yichi recalled an omission that was not too eye-catching. That was that Uncle Sun also went to spy on him and was caught by him! But at that time, Uncle Sun refused to explain to Zhang Yichi.
Yichi had no choice but to let Uncle Sun go for the time being.
He originally planned to have dinner at the village committee at noon and go to find out about Uncle Sun's secrets in the afternoon, but he was stabbed unexpectedly and didn't wake up until today.
Uncle Sun's grandson said that he went up the mountain at nine o'clock and came down at ten o'clock every day. It seemed that there was no time to commit the crime, but when Zhang Yichi and Zhang Nanyang came down the mountain at about eleven o'clock that day, they met the boy who was also going down the mountain!
At that time, the boy explained that he had not been here the day before, so he spent more time cutting more firewood today. This argument did not seem to be a problem at the time, but now there is every reason to believe that the boy was lying!
What if the normal time for the boy to go down the mountain is after eleven o'clock? Then it is very likely that he will meet Liu Cuilan on the way down the mountain after Wang Shiren committed the crime!
Although the boy was not old, it should not be difficult to kill Liu Cuilan who was seriously injured.
But... did the boy have any motive to kill Liu Cuilan?
"Chunsheng, do me a favor." Zhang Yichi looked at Chen Chunsheng, "Can you bring Uncle Sun's grandson here without Uncle Sun paying attention?"
"Yangyang? What do you want with him?"
"Ask something, he is an eyewitness."
"Okay, no problem."
Zhang Yichi warned: "When you call him, don't say it was me who called him."
Chen Chunsheng thought for a moment: "I just told him to come over and get something to send to his grandfather."
"OK."
Chen Chunsheng didn't waste any time, left in a hurry, and returned with the boy twenty minutes later. When the boy saw the weak Zhang Yichi lying on the kang, panic flashed in his eyes.
"Is your name Yangyang?" Zhang Yichi asked.
"...Hmm." Yangyang was a little nervous.
"How old are you this year?"
"...ten and a half years old."
Zhang Yichi stared at Yangyang for a long time: "You lied to me, right? You usually don't go down the mountain at ten o'clock to chop wood, so you saw Zhang Nanyang and Liu Cuilan arguing, it should be when you went up the mountain after nine o'clock, right?
What?"
Before Yang Yang could speak, Zhang Yichi continued in a deep voice: "That day when you went down the mountain at about eleven o'clock, you met Liu Cuilan who was seriously injured and killed her. Your grandfather also knew about this and even went to spy on me a few nights ago.
, right?”
Yangyang cried directly: "If it wasn't me, I would do anything! Woo hoo hoo..."
"Don't cry, I just want to know the truth. If you continue to lie to me, it will only drag your grandfather down and he will go to jail." Zhang Yichi said with some threats.
Chen Chunsheng, who was standing nearby, was stunned when he heard Zhang Yichi's words: "Brother Zhang, wasn't it Uncle Shiren who killed Liu Cuilan? This..."
"Yangyang, tell me." Zhang Yichi still looked at the boy.
After a long time, under Chen Chunsheng's comfort, Yangyang calmed down a lot. He sobbed and said: "I don't care about my grandpa's business, wuwuwu, I am the one who killed him!"
"Why did you kill her?" Zhang Yichi finally found the real murderer, but he was not happy at all.
"Yes, it was Grandma Liu who begged me to kill her." Yangyang wiped away tears, "I went down the mountain after cutting firewood and met Grandma Liu. When I saw her injured, I hurried over to ask for help. She, she just
She stopped me and told me to kill her. She, she said she didn’t want to live anymore and begged me to help her get rid of her. Wuwuwu, I didn’t dare. She comforted me and said something... said, pinch her.
Just the neck..."
Yangyang breathlessly recounted the secrets hidden that day.
Zhang Yichi and Chen Chunsheng were dull.
The room was eerily quiet.
"I, I just helped her. After that, Grandma Liu stopped breathing, and I, I ran away. I couldn't sleep at night, so I told my grandpa, and my grandpa couldn't sleep either, couldn't sleep..."
Zhang Yichi had a gloomy face.
Chen Chunsheng swallowed and looked at Zhang Yichi.
For a long time...for a long time...
"It's okay, you helped her." Zhang Yichi showed a sad smile, "You are not wrong, and your grandpa is not wrong either... I was late."
Yangyang's crying gradually stopped.
Powerless silence fell.
A group of villagers are still blocking the only way out of the mountains. The villagers in the village are still searching for Zhang Yichi on a large scale, just like they were searching for Liu Cuilan.
And the sky was filled with dark clouds, layer after layer, so dense that no light could be seen.