Animal Detective

Chapter 303 Eyewitness Account of the Donkey
The mountain road was fine for cars, but it was a steep slope, and Guo Jin's beat-up pickup truck stalled halfway up.

I slammed on the gas, and the exhaust pipe spewed out black smoke, but it just wouldn't start.

Guo Jin was so anxious that he kept hitting the steering wheel, but he had no idea what to do. He quickly got out of the car and ran up the mountain.

Shen Xin and the others followed, panting as they ran up the mountain.

After passing the school, you can hear the sound of a child crying coming from Li Xingping's house.

There were people peeking in from the doorway to watch the commotion, and then faint shouts and curses could be heard coming from inside.

Upon seeing Guo Jin and his group, the onlookers at the entrance quickly made way for them.

Shen Xin rushed into the courtyard and saw two groups of people facing off.

There were seven or eight people on each side, all carrying handy farm tools.

The man in the lead was not tall, wearing dress pants and a navy blue polo shirt tucked into his pants, dressed like a typical small business owner.

But he was the fiercest of them all, holding a machete in his hand, and yelling, "Hey Fu, this is none of your business. If you stop me, I'll fucking kill you too!"

The middle-aged man in front of us, dressed almost identically with a side-parted hairstyle, must be the village party secretary, Fu Lianghui.

He also brought someone with him, who spread his arms to protect Li Yao and her grandmother.

The old man slumped down on the stone steps at the door, his silver hair disheveled, and one of his cloth shoes was missing.

Li Yao cried loudly in her arms, terrified.

The yard was a complete mess; the jars for pickling sauerkraut, the piles of firewood, and the haphazardly stacked miscellaneous items had all been overturned.

Upon seeing Guo Jin, Fu Lianghui felt as if he had seen a savior and hurriedly greeted him.

Guo Jin immediately shouted, "Zhang Kaisheng, what do you think you're doing? Put the knife down!"

Zhang Kaisheng pointed his wood-chopping knife at Guo Jin instead, shouting, "Guo Jin, you've come at the perfect time! Li Xingping killed my brother, what are you going to say about that?"

Guo Jin immediately retorted, asking him how he knew it was Li Xingping who killed Zhang Kaiyong.

Zhang Kaisheng said, "I fucking asked. Last night, so many people saw it. Li Xingping was arguing with my brother, saying that my brother was going to drive him to his death. Then my brother was beaten to death. Who else could it be but him?"

"Also, if Li Xingping has nothing to hide, he shouldn't be running away. Damn it, he dared to kill my brother, I'll chop him up!"

“Guo Jin, don’t fucking say I’m not giving you face. If you don’t give me an explanation and bring Li Xingping back to me, I’ll fucking kill his mother and daughter and make them pay for my brother’s death.”

"Damn it, they even tried to drag the Zhang family into this."

Guo Jin was old and ran up the mountain panting. At this moment, blood rushed to his head, and he became so agitated that his vision blurred and he couldn't speak.

Sun Yongjie immediately shouted, "Zhang Kaisheng, what do you think you're doing? You even tried to kill someone's daughter and mother! I'm standing right here, let's see if you dare!"

Zhang Kaisheng glared at Sun Yongjie and stood directly in front of him, staring at him and saying, "Hey Sun, my brother's dead, don't you fucking mess with me!"

A group of people pressed forward from behind him.

At this moment, the tension was palpable.

Shen Xin silently gripped Tian Kui's leash, pondering what to do if things really escalated.

Fu Lianghui hurriedly stepped in to stop him, shouting, "Zhang Kaisheng, stop making trouble, okay? The police are here, they'll give you an explanation eventually."

Zhang Kaisheng stepped back two steps and said, "Fine, confess. Guo, I'll say it again: if you don't bring Li Xingping back to me, this isn't over."

“I’m fucking waiting right here. Li Xingping, you’re something else, aren’t you? You don’t even want your own daughter anymore, huh? Well then, I’ll help him collect his mother’s body. You’ll see if I dare!”

Li Yao's crying grew louder.

Li Xingping's mother turned pale with anger, her lips trembling as she mumbled something incoherently. Before she could finish speaking, her blood rushed to her head, her vision went black, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Grandma!"

Li Yao let out a loud cry and shook his grandmother anxiously and helplessly.

Shen Xin and the others were startled.

Guo Jin hurriedly stepped forward.

Sun Yongjie shouted from behind to pinch the philtrum.

I pinched it, but there was no response.

Fu Lianghui stomped his feet in frustration and yelled at Zhang Kaisheng, "Zhang Kaisheng, stop messing around!"

Zhang Kaisheng glared back: "What's it to me? I didn't touch her."

Guo Jin waved his hand and said, "Stop shouting, Xiao Chen, quickly carry him on your back and take him to the town's health center."

Xiao Chen carried the person outside.

Zhang Kaisheng suddenly blocked his way, pointing at Li Yao and saying, "The child isn't allowed to leave. If he leaves, who the hell am I supposed to find?"

Guo Jin's veins bulged: "Zhang Kaisheng, you fucking get out of my way."

At that moment, he was like a raging lion.

Tian Kui suddenly rushed forward and shouted at Zhang Kaisheng and the others.

He's protecting Guo Jin.

The ferocious Tian Kui frightened Zhang Kaisheng and his group away.

"Walk."

Guo Jin waved his hand, and Xiao Chen hurriedly left.

Two more people were gone, but Tian Kui stood next to Guo Jin, baring his teeth and glaring menacingly.

He's worth several people.

Guo Jin quickly tried to calm him down, but looking at Zhang Kaisheng, he could only suppress his anger and say, "Zhang Kaisheng, I know you two brothers are close. Your brother's death is no small matter. Don't worry, we will investigate and give you an explanation."

"And what are you doing stopping that girl? Trying to take her hostage? If you do that, believe me, I'll arrest you first."

"Don't think that just because you're making a scene, no one can control you. If something happens to Xingping's mother, you'll be in deep trouble!"

Zhang Kaisheng snorted coldly: "Trying to scare me?"

However, its momentum clearly weakened.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Kaisheng said, "Guo Jin, I'm giving you face today, but I'm telling you this: my brother can't have died in vain. If you don't give me an explanation, this matter isn't over."

After saying that, he called out and led everyone out.

As soon as he stepped outside, he immediately took out his phone to make a call, but hung up after dialing.

He grabbed a man next to him, took out his car keys from his pocket and handed them to him, saying, "Deli, hurry up and go to town, find Zhang Xi, don't tell him his father is gone yet, then go find Li Shi and bring that kid back to me."

“If Li Xingping doesn’t want his mother and daughter, I don’t believe he won’t even want his son.”

The man nodded and hurried away.

Inside the courtyard, Guo Jin anxiously asked Fu Lianghui and Li Xingping, "And what about what Zhang Kaisheng said? Is it true?" Guo Jin frowned.

If it has nothing to do with Li Xingping, then why did the person run away?

Fu Lianghui said, "I don't know. I was trying to persuade Guizhi when someone over there said that Li Xingping had a fight with Kaiyong yesterday. Kaisheng got anxious as soon as he heard that and came up here with his men."

At this point, Fu Lianghui slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh no! You said you wanted me to protect the scene, but Guizhi insisted on dragging people back. I wonder what happened to her."

Upon hearing this, Guo Jin felt his blood rush to his head again, and he hurriedly ran outside.

Going up the mountain is difficult, and coming down is not easy either.

The weather was hot and humid. When he ran too fast, Guo Jin's legs gave way and he fell to the ground, wincing in pain.

Tian Kui hurriedly came over and tugged at Guo Jin's sleeve.

"Tian Kui, be good, I'm fine."

Guo Jin was helped up by Shen Xin, who gestured for them to leave quickly.

They rushed down the mountain.

A large crowd still gathered at the scene, but even more people went to Zhang Kaiyong's house.

Upon seeing the scene, Shen Xin immediately knew he was in trouble.

The body is gone.

Only after asking did I learn that Zhang Kaiyong's wife, Tan Guizhi, had already taken the body home.

He Xiangcai and his group went to Zhang Kaiyong's house.

Guo Jin was so angry that his vision blurred, but he was helpless. He quickly left one person to maintain order at the scene and hurriedly took Sun Yongjie to Zhang Kaiyong's house.

Shen Xin did not go with them.

The scene is more important than the body that was dragged away.

Moreover, Shen Xin felt that the scene had already been disturbed before he notified Fu Lianghui to protect it.

In such situations, it is even more important to collect useful information from the scene as soon as possible.

The body can definitely be recovered, and the information left behind is easy to investigate. If the scene isn't investigated soon, some clues may be lost.

The man who stayed behind was named Dong Bo. He was very young. He panicked a bit when he was pulling the cordon tape, and it fell to the ground and rolled a long way.

Shen Xin quickly stepped forward and helped him urge the person out.

The crime scene was just outside Duan Dongqiang's yard. Shen Xin directed Dong Bo to block the road from both sides.

Then kick everyone out.

In cases of murder, it is usually the local police station that arrives at the scene first.

Their job wasn't to conduct any investigation; it was simply to maintain order at the scene, set up a cordon, and prevent anyone from entering.

Even if criminal investigators arrive, technical investigators will go in first; they must complete their investigation of the scene before anyone else can enter.

Tell Dong Bo to go to the west side and keep watch, and not allow anyone to enter.

Shen Xin kept an eye on the side of the road leading up the mountain to the east.

The onlookers were all drawn to this side, and they started talking all at once.

"You must be Duan Dongqiang."

Shen Xin looked at a middle-aged man with short, gray hair.

He just muttered that if things went this way, he wouldn't even be able to go home.

"I'm."

He nodded.

"Sir, please stand over here and wait a moment."

Shen Xin pulled him to stand outside the cordon, then pushed the onlookers a few meters away before loudly asking who, besides Duan Dongqiang, was the first to come over.

The dozen or so people exchanged glances, and a middle-aged woman answered that it was her.

"Auntie, please come over here too."

Shen Xin invited her over, and only after asking did he learn that she was Duan Dongqiang's neighbor to the east.

Shen Xin pointed to the west and said, "In other words, when Uncle Duan went to the west to find Secretary Fu, you heard the noise and came out to see what was going on."

The middle-aged woman, Huang Huifang, nodded, clutched her chest, and said with lingering fear, "I was terrified. I ran over to see what was happening and found Zhang Kaiyong lying on the ground, motionless, with blood all around his head."

He pointed to a spot not far away.

Duan Dongqiang's house is also an old-fashioned wooden house with black tiles and a low courtyard wall.

The road outside is paved with cement.

The scene was right outside his courtyard gate, on the east side of the cement road.

Shen Xin told Dong Bo to keep an eye on things and not let anyone in. He then hurried to the neighbor's house, got a pen, and a notebook for a student to do homework.

I went back and sketched the scene briefly with a pen.

Then they carefully questioned Huang Huifang and Duan Dongqiang about the condition of Zhang Kaiyong's body.

Whether lying face down or on your back, and which side you fall to.

This is all very important information.

Shen Xin then asked Duan Dongqiang what time he went to bed last night and whether he heard any noise after he went to bed.

Duan Dongqiang nodded and said, "Did you hear that? I think I went to bed around nine o'clock. Later I heard people arguing, but I didn't get up to check, so I don't know what time it was."

“I got up at around 5 a.m., and I didn’t know he was dead. I had harnessed the donkey and was about to go out when I saw Kaiyong lying at the door.”

"It startled me. I thought he was drunk. When I went up to check, I found his head was covered in blood, so I quickly went to call for help."

He gestured to illustrate the situation.

"donkey?"

Shen Xin was taken aback and turned to look.

Through the low courtyard wall of Duan Dongqiang's house, a shed could be seen in the southeast corner of the yard.

This location is inside the wall surrounding the crime scene.

Shen Xin saw two huge ears; it was indeed a donkey, currently with its back to him, tied to a pillar in the donkey shed.

Speaking of which, given how close it is, if the donkey wasn't tethered at night, wouldn't it be considered a witness donkey?

(End of this chapter)