when the moon whispers

Chapter 416: Accomplice - Unmarried (Part )

Six accomplices in the case
Seventy-three Unmarried (Part 2)
"I really do know her... It's in the old building where my mom lives - behind the No. 2 primary school, there's a three-story building with an open corridor. It's now filled with flowers and grass and is a place for tourists to check in. I guess there aren't many families left living there. It's a mess with people coming and going... At that time, she lived upstairs from our house, at the door on the far right. She seemed to be their daughter-in-law, but I'm not sure of her name. I can't remember the names of the uncles and aunts upstairs, but I know their son is called Yang Zhi, who is two years younger than me and went to the same elementary and junior high school as me... I don't usually live with my mom, but there were two weekends when I accompanied my brother for a walk outside, and we ran into each other upstairs and downstairs two or three times and said hello."

Uncle Fu's cousin hurried to Nanyang Road, slumped on the stool next to Uncle Fu, panting and wiping the hot sweat from his head. Uncle Fu pushed him away with disgust. He shrugged his shoulders and played with him for a while, then looked at the policemen in front of him who were on high alert and withdrew his hand awkwardly. He stood up slightly and took the printed photo and paper cup handed to him by Director Zhou. While sipping the rim of the cup, he tilted his head and looked up and down and left and right to carefully examine the delicately made-up face in the photo.

"But she didn't have such wavy hair back then, and her aura didn't have that strong woman vibe... From my memory, she seemed quite well-behaved. Both she and Yang Zhi looked gentle and polite, unlike my brother and I, who were strong since childhood. She looks so different in this photo. If it weren't for my brother today, I wouldn't have dared to recognize her..."

Jiang Mo looked up with some doubt in his heart, looking at Zhou's expression that showed he was nodding in approval, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Does Uncle Fu have more contact with Xue Yilian? When we visited the area near the three-story old building, it seemed that no one recognized Xue Yilian?"

Uncle Fu's cousin didn't seem to be tired of the reasonable doubts of others. He smiled and drank a paper cup of cold water, and waved his hand to disperse the apology that had been wrinkled between his brows after Jiang Mo blurted out the question: "It's okay... My brother is like this, it's abnormal for you to believe that he has a good brain. Hiss... I heard from my mother that it seems that it's because the young wife upstairs seems to often buy snacks for my brother, so he must remember clearly if there is anything delicious... It's normal that the strong uncles and aunts in the neighborhood can't recognize her. This Xue Yilian - 'Lianlian', is married, right? She hasn't lived here for a long time, and I don't think I've heard of any wedding. If the old people upstairs and downstairs get up early and go to work late, they can only remember the general outline of this girl with dim eyesight. She has changed so much, how dare they recognize her casually-"

"... Senior sister, there seems to be a surveillance camera in a small shop outside the back wall of the second primary school that captured Xue - having a wedding? What wedding? Xue Yilian was married?" Xiao Letian happily sprinted to Jiang Mo with a computer in his arms. He bumped into his senior sister's shoulder with his front foot, and then he heard her chin click and spoke in a dumbfounded manner. After a howl, he was kicked by Jiang Mo. He glanced at the police reception hall where there were no people, half covered his mouth and whispered: "Xue Yilian's household registration information says she is unmarried..."

Uncle Fu was so amused by Xiao Letian's startled movements that he raised his head in laughter. He didn't know how much he understood. He reached out and tugged at his clothes, and said vaguely, "...shit-uh..."

Xiao Letian was shaken by him, his head drooped and he didn't hear clearly. He blinked and muttered to himself twice, then suddenly raised his head: "Dead...dead?"

"It's normal that everyone doesn't know each other."

Uncle Fu's cousin sighed and nodded heavily, "I guess Uncle Yang and Aunt Yang were probably afraid that the news of living together without a marriage certificate would spread and it would be embarrassing for the girl's family. They told others that they were married, but it seems that there was no ceremony and no marriage certificate. They were married for half a year? Only half a year... Yang Zhi died in a car accident. When I went to the funeral home to see him off, I didn't even have the chance to see his body. He was hit by a truck and his body was in pieces. Uncle Yang and Aunt Yang had planned to return to the countryside to retire after their son got married, and they would keep the house for Yang Zhi to use for his marriage whether it was demolished or not... Unexpectedly, Yang Zhi was gone before they had time to transfer the house title. My mother said before that the young wife upstairs lived here for a while, but she was nowhere to be seen all day. Later, I don't know when she disappeared quietly. Looking in from the window in the corridor, the house was covered with blankets."

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In the past two years, the old three-story building has been discovered by various self-media travel bloggers and has been framed as four or five popular check-in spots for taking photos. The corridor on the top floor of the third floor is full of traces of footsteps coming in and out, and even the end of the corridor on the far right is piled with garbage almost half a person high with various check-in beverage cups. Qing waited for the community street cleaner to come upstairs and clean it up early the next morning.

The door lock was so old that it was sluggish. The spare key for picking the lock was stuck in the keyhole for a long time. Jiang Mo didn't dare to touch the door frame that creaked endlessly. He tried it awkwardly left and right for a long time before he reluctantly opened the door panel intact and fell into the darkness silently. Jiang Mo slowly stepped sideways and blocked it with his hands behind his back. After confirming that there was no one in the room, he sighed silently, then frowned and sniffed hard, as if he smelled a familiar damp and rotten dampness.

"Why does this room feel like... I just smelled something similar--"

"…It smells a bit like Tu Siyao's home."

Xiao Letian leaned over and poked his head into the house, crossed his legs, put on gloves and shoe covers, and stupidly tiptoed into the narrow living room. He walked around the two bedrooms like a pioneer scout, turned around and shook his head, "There are only bed boards left in the two rooms, and there is so much dust... I saw that the switch in the corridor outside was also turned off. Didn't Zhou You just say to ask the meter checker? No one has paid the electricity bill in the past six months."

"Turning on the lights and using electricity is too obvious, especially at night. It's easy for people to notice you, so you must not touch the electricity casually..."

Jiang Mo leaned over and shone the flashlight on the ground near the sofa. He looked at the smooth, dust-free painted floor and raised his eyebrows slightly. He turned around and ran straight to the bathroom. He first glanced at the toilet, which showed obvious signs of use, paused for two seconds, and then carefully reached out to cover the faucet, which was still wet.

"…Someone has definitely lived in this house recently."

After following the tiny clues on Xue Yilian and going around in circles, they didn't expect that this suspicious person might have been hiding quietly under their noses and watching them make a fool of themselves at the very beginning of their investigation.

Jiang Mo frowned a little, feeling a bit amused and helpless, took a deep breath, turned around and waved at Xiao Letian.

"Try to stay still and see if you can find any clues."

Due to work and health reasons, I will be working on another day~
"Every time you go alone when you are happy, you will know your victory in vain."