Siheyuan: Hang Jia Dongxu, smash Banggeng to death!

Yang Ruihua's gaze passed over Yan Bugui's shoulder, first landing on Xiao Wang's face, and then drifting towards the door.

She is looking for her sons.

His gaze swept around the area outside the door.

I only saw three people in police uniforms.

Yan Jiecheng is not present.

There was no Yan Jiefang.

There was no Yan Jiekuang.

What about her sons?

Yang Ruihua's lips moved, but she didn't speak; her unease grew stronger.

Yan Bugui's gaze swept over the three people's faces, and then he noticed Xiao Wang's expression.

That hesitant, heavy, and compassionate expression.

He's been a primary school teacher for thirty years, how could he not understand?

He heard the footsteps of three people, but his three sons did not return, and his body swayed.

One hand involuntarily gripped the door frame, the knuckles pressing white against the wood.

"Officer, where are my sons?"

This is also what Yang Ruihua wanted to ask.

Xiao Wang opened his mouth.

He had prepared a set of official statements, such as "Please accept my condolences," "We will solve the case as soon as possible," and "Please cooperate with our investigation," but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't utter a single one.

Because behind Yan Bugui, Yang Ruihua was looking at him with an almost pleading gaze.

Those eyes clearly said: Don't say it, please don't say it.

"Teacher Yan, Auntie San."

Xiao Wang said apologetically, "Could we... talk inside?"

Yan Bugui didn't move, his cloudy old eyes staring straight at Xiao Wang. "Let's talk right here."

He wasn't making a request.

It is a command.

Xiao Wang remained silent for a few seconds.

"Comrades Yan Jiecheng, Yan Jiefang, and Yan Jiekuang met with misfortune on the road and have been confirmed dead. Teacher Yan, Auntie, please accept our condolences."

He tried to say it as quickly as possible.

It's like tearing off a plaster; if you tear it off quickly, the pain is short-lived.

But he actually knew that this pain wouldn't be short-lived.

The air freezes.

In that instant, everyone in the courtyard seemed to be frozen in place, their movements still and motionless.

The hurried footsteps coming from the middle and back courtyards stopped abruptly upon hearing these words.

There was silence for about a breath's time.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

"My dear child, sob sob..."

Yang Ruihua's heart-wrenching cries rang out, and she fell backward.

She couldn't accept this fact.

Although I had expected it, I still had a sliver of hope, but now that last illusion has been ruthlessly shattered.

"Jiecheng... Jiefang... Jiekuang... My son... My son... How could you leave your mother like this? How can I live like this..."

Yan Bugui trembled all over, unable to believe that Jie Cheng, Jie Fang, and Jie Kuang were really gone.

Just two hours ago, they were all perfectly fine inside the house, lively and happy...

just now……

How could it just disappear?

"How did he die?"

Xiao Wang didn't hide anything: "At the end of Nanluoguxiang, the three of us... split up and acted separately. By the time we found out, it was too late."

The deceased refused to name the killer, so we are investigating.

Should we split up and act separately?

Isn't this just like being decapitated?

These four words were like four knives, stabbing Yan Bugui's chest one by one.

His body jerked violently, and then he cried.

An old man in his fifties, a primary school teacher who had taught for thirty years, stood at his own doorstep and cried in front of all the neighbors in the yard.

"I was so stupid, really."

Yan Bugui suddenly spoke, his voice broken and intermittent, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were speaking to everyone.

"I knew it... I knew something was wrong tonight... Four people died in a row, and after they left, my right eyelid kept twitching, it made my heart race..."

I kept telling myself, it's okay, three grown men, what could possibly happen to them...

I shouldn't have let them call the police... I should have stopped them... I'm the one who ruined their lives...

"Dad! Mom! What's wrong?"

A girl's voice came from inside the house.

Yan Jiedi heard the commotion outside, her mother's wailing, and her father's mournful cries before coming out.

His gaze first swept over the three policemen at the door, then over his mother slumped on the floor, and then over his father, who was trembling with sobs.

"My eldest brother, second brother, third brother... what happened to them? Dad, say something, what happened to them?"

They're gone.

Yan Jiedi's body stiffened, and then she understood.

My three older brothers died.

Her older brother Yan Jiecheng, who used to dote on her the most when they were in school, would secretly slip her a few cents every time he got paid, saying, "Take this and buy some candy. Don't let Mom and Dad know."

Although her second brother, Yan Jiefang, had a bad temper and never backed down from fighting with others, he always spoke gently to her. If anyone dared to bully his sister, he would chase them to their house and make a scene.

Her third brother, Yan Jiekuang, was only three years older than her. The two were playmates and secretly raised a lame stray cat together behind their parents' backs.

They're all gone.

Suddenly, they were all gone.

"Brother! Big brother, second brother, third brother, sob sob..."

Yan Jiedi burst into tears, buried her face in Yang Ruihua's arms, and cried uncontrollably. The two of them embraced and wept bitterly.

A family of seven—no, now there are only four left.

My brother just got married, how could he be gone already?

Will my sister-in-law Yu Li get a divorce after returning from her parents' home?

My poor older brother.

More and more people gathered in the courtyard.

But no one spoke.

Everyone stood there, silently watching the Yan family of three cry.

Some people lowered their heads, some turned their faces to wipe the corners of their eyes, and some clenched their fists, their knuckles cracking.

Every family has children, every family has brothers. This kind of pain needs no explanation; everyone can empathize with it.

Especially Liu Haizhong and Li Zhaodi, who had just lost their second and third sons, they understood the pain of losing children.

But amidst this grief, another emotion was silently spreading among the crowd.

fear.

Like a venomous snake, it crawled up everyone's spine, opening its cold mouth...

Jia Dongxu, Liu Guangfu, Liu Guangtian, and Banggeng all died.

I thought that was the end of it.

I didn't expect there to be such an expert.

Now the three Yan brothers are dead.

On my way to the police station to report the crime, in an alley just a few hundred meters away from the station, someone chopped up my watermelon.

What does this mean?

Everyone was thinking the same question, but no one dared to say it aloud.

The killer knew they were going to call the police.

The murderer intercepted them before they reached the police station.

The murderer killed them.

In other words, the murderer is nearby.

Or what's even more terrifying is...

The murderer might be in this courtyard.

He was staring at them.

Liu Haizhong said, trembling, "The three Yan brothers went to report to the police, and that's it. People in our compound are being watched."

……