Chapter 115 The Unlucky Victim (1/2)
When Bai Muchuan heard that, he gave Old Kong, who was pestering him, a kick before pulling Xiang Wan along into the bedroom.
The bedroom was still dark, only Tang Yuanchu's cold, white flashlight was seen in there. A man was lying under the halo of the flashlight, his hair rumpled and his body tied up by a rope that went around him many times that he looked like a huge worm. There was a pool of blood that came out from his body which seemed really dark-colored when mixed with the soil and was disgusting to see.
Bai Muchuan closed in slowly to the man.
He put on his gloves, squatted down, and turned the head of the man around.
Ah! Although Xiang Wan had mentally prepared herself to not be scared, she was still frightened by the sight before her.
That man's eyes were wide-opened with bruises around it. His mouth was taped up tightly, and he was not moving even an inch.
”I've taught him a lesson,” muttered a sobbing Old Kong who staggered his way into the bedroom at that moment.
”It's true… I really taught him a lesson…”
”It's the father's fault for not teaching his son… My son's sins are my own sins… Detective comrade… I've already taught him a lesson, could you please… spare him? I beg of you… please catch me instead… Let me go to jail in place of my son. Please, I beg of you…”
Nobody answered him.
Inside the bedroom, the atmosphere was unusually cold.
Bai Muchuan retracted his hands slowly from the dead man and got back up, shaking his head at Tang Yuanchu.
”Dispatch the forensics team to come investigate the scene!”
…
The deceased man was Kong Qingping.
He died inside his own house, inside his own bedroom.
When the police cars entered the village, it attracted even more villagers to surround the courtyard.
Cheng Zheng led another two of his team members to gather evidence and examine the crime scene.
At the living room, Old Kong had not come out of his drunken stupor. He would howl at one moment, and kneel or kowtow to the police at another. He behaved like a lunatic.
With his state being like this, it was certainly not suitable to interrogate him.
With that, Xiang Wan decided to chat with the villagers outside.
That huge, black dog was lying obediently at a corner. When it saw Xiang Wan coming out of the house, it barked at her two times before getting shouted at by a villager. The dog then backed off and rested on the ground.
Xiang Wan thanked the villager who helped her out and stood beside him, casually talking to him as well as the villagers around him.
”All of you have seen Kong Qingping come back home, right?”
The villagers shook their heads.
”Nobody saw him came back.”
”This young lad was always nowhere to be seen. He seldom kept in touch with his father. I've already not seen him coming home for two to three years.”
”He was a paranoid person. Perhaps he knew his life was coming to an end and came back to die inside his own house…”
No one had seen him coming back to the village which was in line with their investigations.
However, there was only one way that one could enter the village. How did he come back unnoticed?
Maybe he did it secretly. That was possible, too.
Xiang Wan analyzed the case inside her head and asked another question, ”Is the relationship between father and son good?”
”Good? No way, they would quarrel the moment they see each other and fight when they couldn't agree. When they fight, they did not care that they are related by blood at all. They're on bad terms…”
Xiang Wan inquired, ”So for the past two days, did anyone hear the two of them quarreling with each other?”
The villagers shook their heads and claimed that they had not heard anything.
”If Old Kong had not told us about his son when he bought wine, we would not have known at all…”
”His son committed theft and killed someone, and this is not something to be proud of, why did he want to tell everyone about it? This is too strange!”
”There's nothing strange about it,” a villager heaved a sigh, ”we're all used to it. His son had been stealing from others ever since he was a child. If not for his granny, he would have been bashed to death… Old Kong would always say his life has been ruined because of this son of his whenever he meets someone…”
”Well, he does have a point. Back when Old Kong went to jail, it was all because of his son who stole something that caused Old Kong to get into a fight with someone. He got charged for intentionally causing bodily harm and was jailed for years.”
Xiang Wan furrowed her eyebrows and chatted with the villagers for a little while more.
By this time, the forensics team had almost completed their investigation of the crime scene.
There were some snacks scattered around the entrance. There was also a packet of milk with visible blood stains on it. The forensics team colleagues were collecting all these evidence into evidence bags and carefully labeling them…
Kong Qingping's body had now been kept inside the corpse bag, leaving a pool of blood stains on the ground that still looked eerily shocking.
Everyone was busy working. Even though Xiang Wan had a lot of doubts, she did not raise them but looked on as an onlooker.
…
When they left Kong Village, it was already midnight.
Old Kong was also taken away, wailing and sobbing as he was led inside the police car.
”Let my son off… I beg of you all… Detective comrades… Let my son off… It's all my fault!”
Tang Yuanchu had already told him that his son had passed away.
However, it was unsure if Old Kong was really so drunk that nothing could go inside his head or he was avoiding to face the reality, nothing the police say could go inside his head. He only repeated one sentence throughout.
”It's the father's fault for not teaching the son… I want to go to jail in place of my son…”
…
The police cars were up ahead with the siren on.
Xiang Wan followed Bai Muchuan to go back in the car that she came with earlier.
After staying silent for a moment, she turned around and cleared her throat as she looked at Bai Muchuan's indifferent expression.