Chapter 37: Fishing Out Liu Hongying

Hu Meili’s cousin, Hu Tuohua, was even a year older than Lin Xiangnan’s brother, Lin Xiangdong. She was 23 this year. She was lucky, the year before the start of the “Down to the Countryside” movement, her family spent some money to arrange for her to work as an operator at a pharmaceutical factory.

Because her job was bought by her family, she only kept 1 yuan as pocket money every month, and the rest was given to her family.

Two years ago, she found a boyfriend in the factory, but her family didn’t like the temporary worker, and they also wanted their daughter to make money for the family, so they delayed the marriage. As a result, the marriage was broken off.

Now Hu Tuohua is getting older, if she continues to stay at home, she will be gossiped about by others. So her aunt finally agreed to let her go on blind dates and get married.

When Lin Xiangnan arrived at Hu’s house, Hu Tuohua had just returned from work. She washed her face, changed into a slightly newer outfit, and came out.

“Let’s go, I’m taking you to the state-owned restaurant for dinner today.” Hu Tuohua took Lin Xiangnan’s arm and walked out quickly, “My aunt said you’re too young and haven’t dated anyone, she asked me to teach you. But I don’t believe it, you look like this, weren’t there any boys in your class who were interested in you?”

Lin Xiangnan shook her head, “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t notice anyway.”

“It’s good that you didn’t date in high school, everyone wasn’t settled back then, many students had to go down to the countryside after graduation. If you weren’t firm, you would have gone down to the countryside too, my aunt would have cried to death.”

Hu Tuohua sighed when she talked about this, “My third younger brother just sent a letter home two days ago, my mom cried after reading it.”

They have five children in their family. She was lucky, she was arranged a job before going down to the countryside. Her elder brother got his grandfather’s job, her second brother went down to the countryside, her third brother also went down to the countryside, and her younger brother is still studying.

The family asked their two younger brothers to go down to the countryside, but they didn’t ask Hu Tuohua to give up her job.

Just because of this, Hu Tuohua didn’t resent her family for keeping her for so many years.

Even though she wasn’t in a hurry to get married, she still treated the blind date seriously.

Lin Xiangnan was there to watch the fun, not to be a third wheel. As soon as they reached the entrance of the state-owned restaurant, she let go of Hu Tuohua’s hand and took a step back.

“You go ahead, I’ll follow behind.”

During the meal, Lin Xiangnan also took the initiative to say, “You two sit at one table. I’ll sit over there.”

“Then you bring a dish over here.”

Lin Xiangnan refused decisively, “No need, I’ll eat noodles.”

Perhaps she was very satisfied with this blind date, Hu Tuohua blushed the whole time, and her voice was particularly gentle. It was completely different from when she was chatting with Lin Xiangnan before, when she was so carefree.

Lin Xiangnan stared for a long time, but she couldn’t see anything different. When she went on blind dates, besides not being shy, everything else was pretty much the same.

Just as she was tilting her head and looking intently, two strangers sat down at her table.

“Comrade, can we share the table?”

Lin Xiangnan didn’t even look at them, she just nodded.

There were few tables in the state-owned restaurant, basically everyone had to share. They were too embarrassed to disturb Hu Tuohua and the other couple, so they had to disturb her instead.

But it was peak meal time, and soon, Hu Tuohua and the other party’s alone time was interrupted. The two of them started to eat quietly and stopped talking.

Lin Xiangnan sighed regretfully as she slurped her noodles, muttering softly, “They really don’t know how to choose a place. Why choose a restaurant for the first meeting, they can’t even say a few words.”

“Little girl, you don’t understand.” The man who had just come to share the table whispered to Lin Xiangnan, “See what they ordered, braised pork, green pepper and pork stir-fry, two meat dishes, it’s a good way to show off their financial power. Even if the girl doesn’t like him, she won’t dislike the meat he ordered?”

Lin Xiangnan tilted her head to look, Hu Tuohua really loved this meat. She ate gracefully, but she didn’t eat less at all.

“Look again, that man has a pen clipped to his chest, he must be a small leader. He has a high salary and is generous, it’s easy to win over a girl.”

“You’re really observant.”

Lin Xiangnan turned her head to look at the two people sharing the table with her, and found that these two young men were actually quite good-looking. Two such handsome guys came in, she was just staring at Hu Tuohua and didn’t even notice them.

It’s just that the one who was talking had a scar on his eyebrow, the other one who wasn’t talking had a rebellious look in his eyes, he didn’t look like a decent person.

The other party wanted to continue talking, but Lin Xiangnan felt that they weren’t good people, so she ate her noodles on her own.

After they finished their meal, Hu Tuohua took her along, making her a little tail.

Seeing the three of them walking together, the man with the scar awkwardly patted his mouth, looking regretful, “Why didn’t I notice that the three of them were together?”

His companion couldn’t help but laugh, “You idiot. Didn’t you see that even though this girl was eating noodles, her toppings were braised pork and green pepper and pork stir-fry?”

“I’m so embarrassed! You didn’t remind me! No wonder you didn’t say anything.”

“Wasn’t I stepping on your feet underneath the table?”

“How would I know that’s what you meant. I thought you were encouraging me to talk to the pretty girl. You didn’t even make a sound.”

“Make a sound? I know the girl on the blind date, and I also recognize the girl eating noodles. If they recognize me later, it’s me who’ll be embarrassed.”

Regardless of their muttering behind them, Lin Xiangnan and the others had already walked far away.

Hu Tuohua was very satisfied with this blind date, and the blind date was also very understanding, he took the initiative to send them home.

“Let’s send my cousin back first.”

They only dared to talk about other things after sending Lin Xiangnan away. They were both quite embarrassed when Lin Xiangnan was around.

Lin Xiangnan had seen enough of the excitement and didn’t want to disturb them anymore, so she took a shortcut home.

That alley was secluded, and there were few people walking there. Coincidentally, as soon as they walked into the alley, they saw a person lying in the corner, covered in blood, pale, and quiet like a corpse.

The three of them were immediately scared stiff, even the air became quiet.

A ‘clanging’ sound came from somewhere, like two knives colliding, making people’s hair stand on end.

Hu Tuohua’s voice trembled, “I’m so scared…”

Before she could finish her sentence, her very satisfactory blind date abandoned the two girls and ran away as fast as he could.

Hu Tuohua put away the shyness on her face and started to scold, “You coward. There are three of us, I don’t believe that murderer would dare to attack us with a knife.”

After scolding, she also pulled Lin Xiangnan to run.

“Cousin, didn’t you say you weren’t afraid?”

“I wasn’t afraid before. But now there are only two of us girls left?”

After running out of the alley, Lin Xiangnan finally felt a little relieved. She pulled Hu Tuohua to report the case to the police station.

After bringing the police on duty to the scene and recording their statements, Lin Xiangnan returned home.

She thought that was the end of it, and the rest would be handled by the police. Who knew that the next day, the police would come to her house again to ask about the situation.

It was a familiar face, the one with the scar on his eyebrow who had shared a table with her yesterday.

Seeing him again, Lin Xiangnan blurted out, “Scar Brother.”

A ‘pfft’ sound, the other party directly laughed.

“No, I’m a policeman, not a gangster. Just call me Ma Pingchuan. I’m here to ask you about something.”

Lin Xiangnan was puzzled, “Haven’t you figured out what happened yesterday?”

“How could it be so fast. The victim died last night after failing to be rescued, we are currently investigating the victim’s social interactions.”

“Then how did you find me? I said everything I knew yesterday.” Lin Xiangnan frowned, “You’re wearing a uniform to find me, the aunties in the courtyard will suspect that I’ve done something wrong.”

Originally, they, street urchins without jobs, were the easiest to be gossiped about. Lin Xiangnan stood in the room, looking out with her peripheral vision, and saw many children sneaking glances at her.

“No. When an auntie asked just now, I said you were my friend.”

Lin Xiangnan was satisfied with this, she said, “Ask whatever you want. I know that much anyway.”

“Hu Tuohua said that you heard a ‘clanging’ sound before you left, do you know which direction the sound came from?”

“Right front.”

“We’ve checked the surroundings, there’s no blood, no footprints, and the murder weapon hasn’t been found. Can you come with me, let’s go take a look.”

“Okay.”

Lin Xiangnan had nothing to do anyway, so she agreed readily. She closed the door and followed Ma Pingchuan.

Before, no one asked Lin Xiangnan when she went in and out, but today everyone came over to find out.

“Xiaonan, where are you going?”

“Just going for a walk on the street.”

“Oh~~” A group of aunties looked at her with meaningful glances.

Lin Xiangnan rolled her eyes, it was because she was afraid of trouble and didn’t tell Hu Meili about this, otherwise, how would she receive these teasing glances.

When she reached the scene of the crime with Ma Pingchuan, Lin Xiangnan stood there and looked around. She turned her head and saw someone sneaking around on the wall, looking at her, which made her jump.

“What’s wrong, are you scared?” Ma Pingchuan asked curiously, “My colleagues said you were very calm yesterday.”

“There was just someone on the wall, and now they’re gone.”

Ma Pingchuan was also a little helpless, “It must be someone watching the fun.”

“Someone died here, normal people would think this place is unlucky.”

“He wasn’t dead at that time, he died in the hospital.” Ma Pingchuan corrected.

“Many murderers will return to the scene of the crime after killing someone, some to tidy up the scene, some to watch the investigators’ reactions.” Lin Xiangnan said belatedly, “I shouldn’t be targeted by a psychopathic killer, right?”

Ma Pingchuan was speechless, “Where did you get a psychopathic killer from? Don’t worry, we’ll catch the murderer soon.”

“Do you have any leads?”

“Not yet.”

Now it was Lin Xiangnan’s turn to be helpless. There were no cameras, no DNA or fingerprint auxiliary detection methods, the investigation speed was much slower than in the future.

She didn’t want to get involved in this kind of murder case at all, who knows what kind of trouble it would bring. She just hoped that the case would be solved quickly.

So she answered whatever Ma Pingchuan asked, diligently and responsibly. After she was done, Ma Pingchuan sent her back.

At home, she just slept in, read books, and didn’t even go to the construction site of the new house. She planned to go out and wander around after this case was solved, anyway, she didn’t have any real business outside.

But she didn’t stay at home for two days before Ma Pingchuan came again. This time he was wearing plain clothes, not attracting any attention at all.

“That…” Ma Pingchuan hesitated to speak, he hesitated for two seconds before asking, “What you said last time, was it true or false?”

“Which sentence?”

“The one about the murderer possibly returning to the scene.” Ma Pingchuan scratched his head awkwardly, “This case, we haven’t found any useful clues yet. So I wanted to ask what the person you saw looked like.”

“I only saw a head of hair, I didn’t see the bottom half of their face.”

“Then you come with me to the police station, take a look at the photos and recognize them. We have a few suspects, but no evidence.” Ma Pingchuan suggested.

“I can go recognize them. But I really didn’t see their face, I can’t recognize them.”

Lin Xiangnan wasn’t lying, she went to the police station, five photos, she thought three of them were very suspicious, because those three all had long hair.

Not to mention Ma Pingchuan, even Lin Xiangnan felt that this identification was unreliable. She suggested, “Why don’t you create some fake evidence, make a big fuss, and then use it for entrapment?”

“But our chief doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it, he’s afraid of causing public panic. Besides the few households living here, many people don’t know about this.” Ma Pingchuan scratched his head.

“Then you do it privately. Just leak the fake news to those few suspects, and then bring some familiar policemen to lie in wait.”

Lin Xiangnan hoped more than anyone that Ma Pingchuan and the others would catch the murderer quickly, so she actively offered suggestions.

Anyway, this case was stuck, no matter what suggestion it was, Ma Pingchuan was willing to try it. After sending Lin Xiangnan back, he started fishing.

As a result, he didn’t catch the murderer, but he caught Liu Hongying instead.

Ma Pingchuan frequently went in and out of Lin’s house, and Liu Hongying set her sights on him. Liu Hongying didn’t know about the murder case, she only knew that Lin Xiangnan had a close relationship with him, so she wanted to try.

Ma Pingchuan was wearing plain clothes, with a hat on, brushing the slogans on the wall, when Liu Hongying fell at his feet, the firewood she was holding in her arms also scattered on the ground.

Just by falling like this, Liu Hongying couldn’t help but burst into tears in front of Ma Pingchuan.

“Where did you fall?” Ma Pingchuan put down what he was doing and went to help her up.

He had talked to Liu Hongying when he was looking for Lin Xiangnan, so after helping her up, Ma Pingchuan also enthusiastically helped her pick up the scattered firewood and tie it up.

“I twisted my ankle. Can you send me back?”

“No. I have something to do here.”

Hearing this answer, Liu Hongying cried even harder, “If I go back late, I won’t have time to cook, and my dad will beat me again. You’re a policeman, can you help me deal with him.”

As she spoke, Liu Hongying rolled up her sleeves and showed Ma Pingchuan the bruises on her arm, trying to arouse his sympathy.

But Ma Pingchuan only heard the word “policeman”, he wished he could stuff her mouth shut.

“I still have something to do here, I can’t help you for now, you go back quickly.”

“Aren’t you a policeman? Why can’t you help me.” Liu Hongying continued to act crazy and stupid, rolling up her sleeves wasn’t enough, she directly lifted up her clothes, “Look at the injuries on me, they were all inflicted by my dad.”

Seeing her take off her clothes, Ma Pingchuan almost screamed like a groundhog, he directly used a takedown move to push Liu Hongying to the ground.

The two colleagues who were ambushing nearby saw this and excitedly ran over, “Is it her? Is it her? Let’s go, take her to the station for interrogation.”

Ma Pingchuan looked serious, “She definitely has a problem, let’s take her back for interrogation.”