Fake Divorce Turns into Murder Case (9)

Chapter 61

The barbed wire fence in the forest was also a patchwork of repairs, and Old Lady Yuan checked it every day to see if any large holes had appeared.

“I checked it yesterday and no one had dug a hole, so… this was dug out last night?” Old Lady Yuan said immediately.

It was impossible for the body to have been thrown into the reservoir last night; the corpse was already in a state of having been dead for a week.

Yun Song examined the gap. The opening was not large, and she estimated only a thin person could pass through it. The deceased was not small or thin.

Yun Song asked, “Besides this hole appearing today, have you noticed any similar situations before?”

Old Lady Yuan thought back. It had indeed happened once before. At that time, there was an exceptionally large hole, so big that she thought someone was coming around to cause trouble.

She quickly led Yun Song to the place where she had previously discovered the opening.

The hole in this section of the barbed wire had also been patched up. The elderly woman lived a very disciplined life, patrolling the reservoir’s condition, checking the wire fence, and mending any holes she found.

The opening had been large. Yun Song lowered her head and soon found fabric fibers snagged on the broken wire.

She carefully collected the evidence.

She looked down through the hole. Because several days had passed and it had rained in the meantime, many traces had already vanished.

Fortunately, the vegetation near the edge of the reservoir was dense. Although the wild grass here still stood upright, looking down revealed that the grass had marks of being flattened. Even though it had recovered now, the signs of the grass being pressed down by a heavy object at the base still existed.

Yun Song began to map out lines based on these traces, looking to see if the shape was caused by dragging or a natural fall.

Soon, looking at the narrow, straight marks, she had a clear idea in her mind.

Among these wild grasses were Cat-claw Thorns. The plant earned its name because it was covered in hooked barbs. Yun Song propped up the medicinal herb and quickly found fabric fibers left behind by the thorns. She remembered the small, fine wounds she had noticed on the body during her examination and how she had wondered at the time what could have caused wounds of that specific shape.

Yun Song took photographs of the evidence one by one. Beside her, Old Lady Yuan did not understand what she was doing, but she didn’t dare disturb her and waited quietly.

Once Yun Song finished collecting evidence, she looked out at the reservoir.

The water level of the reservoir was a certain distance from where they stood; one definitely couldn’t reach it by hand.

Seeing her staring at the water, Old Lady Yuan recalled something she had heard before.

The new police officer was very capable; she could tell where a body was just by touching the water… That was how she knew about the body of the thief who robbed the bank, and where the child of the old couple from Maotou Mountain was.

She hadn’t quite believed it before, though she also didn’t understand how the officer knew where the Maotou Mountain couple’s child was.

Now, seeing the person herself and watching her stare at the water’s surface.

Thus, Old Lady Yuan said, “Officer… do you need to touch the water?”

Yun Song didn’t want to touch the water. This was her first time seeing such a large reservoir, and she was inwardly struck by the scale of the engineering.

“No, I’m just looking at the reservoir.” Seeing that the woman seemed to have something to ask and kept looking at the water, Yun Song asked, “Is there something else in the water?”

Old Lady Yuan looked left and right. Seeing no one around and feeling it was a rare opportunity, she finally asked the question on her mind: “They say you can know things just by touching the water. Is that true?”

What?

“Like the child of that couple from Maotou Mountain…”

That matter.

Yun Song explained, “I have a classmate who is a geography teacher. They understand rivers and can roughly estimate a few locations. I called the police station over there to inquire.”

Old Lady Yuan listened intently, as if hearing about matters from another world, and a sense of regret welled up in her heart.

Fortunately, she still had a Great Reservoir.

Yun Song continued to explain as they walked up. They returned to the hole that had been broken open at the beginning and crawled out through it.

Old Lady Yuan followed, saying, “Walking this way should lead to the main road.”

Sure enough, after the two had walked for about ten minutes, they saw the crowd of onlookers again.

This time, however, the crowd was relatively silent, leaving only the sound of two people wailing.

The Yang family had arrived.

Even though everyone disliked them, and some even hated the family, no one said anything to their faces.

As Yun Song walked over, the old Yang couple was crying and shouting, “How unfilial! How could you be so unfilial! Making me, an old man, bury my own son!”

“Why did you choose this path!”

Hearing these words, it seemed the old couple was already certain that their child had committed suicide.

Yun Song found it strange. In her past experience with such situations, parents would first suspect their child had been murdered.

Not just Yun Song, but even Old Lady Yuan found it odd. She had handled many such incidents before.

Most parents would first rush forward to check the child’s condition, and once they confirmed the death, they would immediately start looking for trouble with her, the reservoir manager.

After all, the person died in the reservoir. In the eyes of the family, she, as the manager, bore responsibility.

But today was different. The old couple didn’t give her any trouble; they just kept blaming their son for making them bury their own child.

Old Lady Yuan thought to herself that perhaps it was because the police were here, so they didn’t dare make a scene.

However, Old Lady Yuan soon realized something was wrong.

Because the police needed to determine the cause of death, they required an autopsy, but the parents refused.

“The person is already dead, what more are you trying to put him through?”

Yun Song explained the situation: “While checking the wire fence, I found fibers from the deceased’s shirt at the bottom of the wire. At the same time, there were also fibers on the Cat-claw Thorns next to the bushes. The deceased has scratches from Cat-claw Thorns on his body. I suspect the deceased did not come to the reservoir of his own volition while conscious, but was dragged here. Therefore, we need a detailed autopsy to find the true cause of death, to give the deceased an explanation, and to give you, the family, an answer.”

“Nonsense! I think you just want to use my son’s body for some kind of experiment!” Old Man Yang shouted, his face flushed with anger as he cursed loudly.

This was certainly a novel method of slander. Yun Song thought to herself that she had never heard of such a thing before, but the family’s reaction was truly bizarre.

Tang Chao also felt something was wrong and said, “When a person dies, they are like a lamp extinguished; he can’t feel anything now. If you refuse an autopsy, do you want the killer who took his life to remain at large?”

“There is no killer. My son committed suicide. Now we are taking him back to be buried so he can rest in peace.”

As soon as he finished speaking, several men began trying to snatch the body, intending to take it away for funeral arrangements and burial.

The police naturally couldn’t let them succeed and kept blocking their path.

The family had originally thought the four sons could reclaim the body, but they found themselves held back by the three officers.

As police officers, Yun Song and the other two had to maintain a level of restraint where they didn’t cause harm, so the situation fell into a stalemate.

Old Lady Yuan felt that as the reservoir caretaker, she was working for the state. Naturally, she felt obligated to help the police. She hurried to grab her bamboo pole and brought her dog over.

The dog was responsible for barking incessantly, while she was responsible for shooing people away with the pole.

Old Man Yang was both angry and anxious. Cursing under his breath, he prepared to personally snatch the body. Just as he stepped forward, Old Lady Yuan happened to swing her bamboo pole his way. It was a perfect coincidence.

Just like herding livestock, she struck Old Man Yang across the hand with the pole.

Being hit like that in front of so many people wounded Old Man Yang’s pride. He decided to take advantage of the moment and flopped onto the ground. “The police are hitting people! The police are killing people!”

Old Lady Yuan was startled. She hadn’t expected the man to act this way. She was experienced; she had only hit his hand, so why did he collapse?

At that moment, Tong Jin happened to be pushed by the eldest Yang son. She simply started shouting as well, “They’re killing a police officer! They’re killing a police officer!”

She actually wanted to fall to the ground too, but after a thought, she felt that maintaining the dignity of the police was also important.

Thanks to the Mobile Court, everyone knew that assaulting a police officer would lead to detention. The Mobile Court’s visits to the villages had given people a close-up understanding of such matters.

The Yang family immediately stopped their actions, muttering, “You people are going too far.”

Only then could Yun Song continue her explanation. “We are simply fulfilling our duties. There are suspicious circumstances surrounding Yang Xi’s death that require further examination. We aren’t trying to make things difficult for you, and we hope you won’t obstruct our work. There is no personal grudge between us, is there?”

The bystanders who had been watching from the sidelines grew wary and stepped in to mediate.

“Old Man Yang, I think what the police are saying makes sense. If there really was a murder, you can’t let the person who killed your son get away with it, can you?”

Someone added a frightening remark: “They are the police. Things aren’t like they used to be. If you insist on being difficult, they have guns…”

“That’s right. Look, they haven’t pulled out guns or even electric batons. They’re still giving you plenty of face.”

Old Man Yang felt bitter, but now that he had been given a way out, he feared that if he didn’t take it, there wouldn’t be another chance later. Thus, he followed the path they provided. “We’re just common folk; we don’t fight with the authorities!”

Yun Song and the others weren’t angry when they heard this. After all, the phrase was just a face-saving excuse; as long as he backed down, it was fine.

Old Man Yang then asked, “My son can’t just lie here forever, can he? You have to give us a time.”

Yun Song replied, “Investigators from the city will arrive this afternoon. The specific details will need to be coordinated with them.”

Hearing this, the Yang family decided to simply stay and wait there.

Yun Song noticed that the remaining brothers seemed to have very little affection for the deceased. They seemed stubbornly focused only on getting the body back for a funeral.

It was very strange.

The villagers eventually had to go home for lunch; they couldn’t just watch the excitement all day. Seeing that both sides had fallen silent, the other onlookers gradually dispersed.

Yun Song and her colleagues stayed behind to guard the site, worried the Yang family might tamper with the body.

The Yang family members were still angry with the police and ignored them.

Tong Jin looked at the deceased, then at the Yang family on the other side. She whispered, “I have a feeling.”

Tang Chao also whispered, “I have a feeling too.”

It wasn’t just them; Yun Song felt it as well. This family’s reaction was not right.

Meanwhile, Old Lady Yuan, feeling like a hostess, hurried back to her house to prepare food for the officers.

On the other side, the eldest Yang son saw the three police officers huddling together, whispering about something.

He whispered to his second younger brother, “Do you think what the police said is true? If there really is clothing caught under that wire, it really is a bit strange.”

Mainly, the location was wrong.

“Maybe the third brother just took a fall?” Yang Laowu suggested.

“He couldn’t have fallen at the wire fence and then fallen again further down at the Cat-claw Thorns, could he?”

Yang Laowu immediately snapped, “Don’t listen to that police nonsense. Why do you think they run those Mobile Courts? There’s definitely money in it for them.”

“They make it sound so good, but it’s all a business. Who knows how much money they got for coming here? Now they’re calling their colleagues over so they can get paid too. It’s all a business.”

He couldn’t actually explain what kind of business it was, nor had he ever heard of such a thing, but he made the assumption and treated it as fact. This cynical belief that everyone else was wicked and ill-intentioned made him feel better.

“They’ll probably claim they found some problem later. Then they’ll say he was murdered,” Yang Laowu added.

Old Man Yang glanced at his youngest son, sighed, and turned his head away.