Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Shan Zhuo (05)

05

Following Hai Shu’s question, Sui Xing said, “Flower Viewing Festival? Of course, there are all kinds of flowers.”

Hai Shu said, “But usually, aren’t they focused on one type of flower? Like the Peony Festival or the Peach Blossom Festival. Guibai Mountain is like a hodgepodge.”

Sui Xing thought for a moment. “Why does it matter to you? Some people like a hodgepodge too. Modern people watch videos at double speed—seeing so many flowers at once isn’t it more worth it than just seeing one kind?”

Hai Shu: “…That actually makes sense.”

When the First Criminal Investigation Team arrived at Guibai District, the sun had already set. The corpse that appeared mysteriously was currently at the mortuary awaiting an autopsy, and the area outside the shrine and Liu’s house was cordoned off with police tape. Some superstitious tourists had already checked out and left, but the vast majority stayed in Guibai Village.

Hai Shu got an intuitive understanding of Guibai District on this trip. Most of Guibai District is actually a new town, and Guibai Village is just a small part at the foot of Guibai Mountain. The tourist attractions are located there, but the villagers have limited capacity. Tourists who couldn’t book rooms in the scenic area, or who thought the homestay was too expensive, had to stay in the chain hotels of the new town.

Overall, it’s no small feat for a small mountain village to develop into its current scale through tourism. The person who led the villagers to promote tourism back then must have had remarkable vision and courage.

“This is the village chief of Guibai Village, Old Liu, Liu Buquan.” The police chief led a gray-haired old man over and introduced him to Hai Shu. “It was Chief Liu who led the villagers to prosperity. Hai Team, if you have any questions, just ask him.”

Hai Shu met the village chief’s gaze. Chief Liu was wearing a brown sweater and blue trousers, with the sweater fraying at the seams—he looked like a simple, honest farmer. Chief Liu’s face was full of worry; he clearly hadn’t recovered from the shock of noon and stuttered while speaking.

The chief said, “Old Liu, this is a leader from our city bureau, here to investigate the corpse at Liu’s house. Why are you trembling? The sooner it’s clear, the sooner we can report back, right?”

Chief Liu sighed deeply, “I’m scared!”

Hai Shu asked, “Scared of what?”

Chief Liu replied nervously, “It’s all my fault. I reacted too slowly and didn’t stop Liu from doing it. What do we do now? The internet is full of pictures of the corpse. Our Flower Viewing Festival’s reputation is ruined! If no one comes, how can I face the villagers, how can I face the government?”

The chief comforted him, “Hey, why worry about that now? We’re solving the problem. Besides, how do you know the festival’s reputation is ruined?”

Chief Liu wiped his tears. “Liu is from our village. Our village is part of the Flower Viewing Festival. He killed someone—will tourists still come?”

“Who said he killed anyone?” The chief grew impatient. “Isn’t Liu the one who loves picking up trash everywhere? Why can’t he have just brought it back? The autopsy hasn’t even been done! Why are you worrying? Cooperate with the city bureau leaders, and once we figure it out, everyone will be cleared!”

Chief Liu sat down uneasily. Hai Shu observed him for a moment and asked, “What’s Liu’s home like?”

“No one is home for him. He drowned as a child. He’s not fully aware, but he’s not completely foolish either. You can reason with him; he can understand,” Chief Liu said, pointing toward the sun, sighing repeatedly.

Liu, whose real name is Liu Xing, 27 years old, was clever and bright before drowning at nine, often scoring first in his class. Back then, Chief Liu was still a teacher at the village school and remembered clearly. After drowning, Liu stopped studying and stayed at home.

At that time, Guibai Village was just an ordinary village in Huiyong City. Most people were poor, but the Liu family worked hard and lived relatively well, considered well-off in the village. The courtyard Liu Xing now lives in was built then, and even now it’s not worse than newly built ones.

Liu Xing is the third son, with two older brothers, Liu Li and Liu Ming. The family reportedly wanted a daughter because a daughter could bring in a dowry, but the third child was a boy. Liu spent his days loafing at home, never finding a wife. How could he? Who would marry a fool?

After his parents and two older brothers passed away, Liu Xing had no one to look after him and became completely disliked by everyone.

Hearing this, Hai Shu interrupted, “How did the whole family disappear?”

Chief Liu wiped his sweat and continued. Over ten years ago, Guibai Village sought development. Many went out to work. Liu’s two sons went south to work in construction, had conflicts, and got beaten. Liu’s parents hurried to resolve it and never returned.

Hai Shu felt increasingly uneasy, “Missing?”

“Officially missing, but after so many years, we all believe they’re dead,” Chief Liu said. “The roads are long, the skies high. We villagers can’t seek justice for them. Once people can’t be found, they can’t be found. After the village developed, Liu basically became someone we took care of. He’s confused, but how did he end up with a corpse?”

Learning Liu’s whole family had disappeared, Hai Shu felt a string tighten in her mind. Liu was in the interrogation room at the police station. When Hai Shu entered, he looked up, his eyes shining like two clear glass marbles.

If she didn’t know he was 27, Hai Shu would have thought he was just in his early twenties. This fool, though somewhat scruffy, had delicate features and a good appearance, clearly never suffered much hardship.

He curiously studied Hai Shu, then showed a happy, foolish smile. “Hello, my name is Liu the Fool.”

“…” Hai Shu paused, “Who did you bring to the shrine today?”

“My wife, her name is Xiao Wei. I’ve said it many times, but they don’t believe me,” Liu said, pouting aggrievedly. “They say I don’t have a wife.”

Hai Shu asked, “Then how did your wife die?”

Liu blinked, “Dead is dead!”

“I’m asking why she died.”

“She’s dead! So I’m taking her to ‘Facing Death to Live’!”

It was completely nonsensical.

Hai Shu changed direction, “How did you meet Xiao Wei?”

Liu the Fool chuckled, “Because she’s my wife, she voluntarily became my wife!”

Hai Shu asked, “How long has she been your wife?”

Liu the Fool: “Since last year! But she was smelly. After joining ‘Facing Death to Live,’ she became fragrant!”

Hai Shu asked, “What about your parents? Did they know you had a wife?”

Liu the Fool suddenly lowered his head, very sad, “They’re gone. They died.”

Hai Shu asked, “How did they die?”

Liu the Fool curled up and sobbed loudly, no longer answering.

Hai Shu rushed to the mortuary and met Wen Xu, who was about to rush back to the city bureau overnight.

“Hai Team, you came just in time.” Wen Xu placed the autopsy report in her hands. “I need to go back and do DNA comparison.”

The air was thick with the stench of decay. Before the body was put into the freezer, Hai Shu glanced at it. The decomposition had already left the corpse unrecognizable, and at first glance, even the gender was hard to tell. It was hard to imagine why Liu the Fool would keep such a body at home and then expose her to tourists at the peak of the Flower Viewing Festival. If Liu were normal, Hai Shu would suspect he did it deliberately to attract attention. But Liu the Fool was not normal.

Opening the autopsy report, Hai Shu saw that Wen Xu concluded the direct cause of death was a heart attack; the deceased had a history of tachycardia. But the likely trigger was beating or intimidation, because although the body was severely decomposed, subtle signs of impact and struggle were still detectable. She did not die naturally; she was murdered. This was a homicide case.

The victim was between 32 and 34 years old. The face and fingerprints were destroyed, and no items proving identity were found. To determine the source of the body, DNA comparison was necessary.

Confirming it was a homicide, Hai Shu immediately reported to Qiao Heng. Qiao Heng was somewhat surprised, “You said Liu the Fool’s parents have been missing for ten years?”

Hai Shu said, “Liu the Fool’s two older brothers were contracting small projects in Jianglu City. The whole family of four went missing and reported to the local police. Captain Qiao, I think we need to communicate with Jianglu City.”

Qiao Heng said, “Leave that to me. I’ll find out.”

It was already very late, but tourists’ curiosity grew. Tourists with live-streaming phones were everywhere in the village, causing some trouble for the investigation. The police couldn’t control it, fearing any minor dispute posted online might spark public opinion and police-villager conflict.

Hai Shu was well aware of this, so she didn’t forcefully stop the tourists. If she could gather information from them, it would still be a gain.

She lifted the police tape and entered Liu the Fool’s courtyard. Although the body had been moved, the stench seemed to cling to everything in the yard, persistent, and even stronger inside the house.

Sui Xing shouted, “Hai Team, come look.”

Liu the Fool’s home was a three-story building, older than the surrounding houses, showing signs of age everywhere. All the lights were on, and when Hai Shu entered, the strong stench made her squint.

On the wooden sofa in the living room was a dried stain, with similar stains on chairs at the dining table and on the bed in the second-floor bedroom.

“From the body,” Hai Shu said, looking at the double set of dining utensils on the tea table and dining table. “Liu the Fool was playing ‘house’ with the victim.”

Thinking of Liu moving the body around, eating together, watching TV together—even the experienced Sui Xing felt a chill. Cheng Wei silently conducted the investigation, collecting traces left by moving the body from places like the TV cabinet and walls.

Hai Shu raised her chin to Sui Xing, “What do you think?”

Sui Xing said, “Liu Xing is a fool, but a fool his age can kill. He was often mocked for not having a wife, living alone these years. He has the need for a wife.”

Hai Shu said, “But he can’t control a living person, only a corpse can be his wife. Last year, he fixated on a woman, killed her, and has been playing wife-and-husband games with her.”

Sui Xing nodded, “That’s the most likely scenario. But there’s another possibility: Liu the Fool didn’t kill anyone, but he got this corpse. Like…”

Hai Shu said, “Like Guang Yong Guo got those nameless corpses.”

Sui Xing was shocked, “No way!”

Hai Shu said, “It’s just speculation. But for now, Liu the Fool is the most suspicious. His parents and brothers’ situation is also unusual.”

Cheng Wei completed the preliminary investigation of Liu’s home, reconstructing the life of Liu the Fool and the corpse over the past few months. Liu even put a big red “Double Happiness” character in the second-floor bedroom, arranged wedding candies on the table, and replaced the bedding with a wedding quilt. But the murder weapon was still not found.

Cheng Wei said, “This Liu the Fool is a pervert.”

Soon, Wen Xu called. The DNA comparison result was disappointing—unable to confirm the victim’s identity. That is, no one had reported the victim missing, and the police had never collected biological data on her before.

That left only kinship comparison. If someone in the database had high DNA similarity with the victim, it could provide a lead.

Hai Shu told her team to rest before morning checks. Leaving Liu’s home, she suddenly heard a sound from the courtyard wall, immediately looked, but saw no one.

Sui Xing said, “Stray cat?”

Hai Shu felt something was wrong; that didn’t sound like a stray cat. She quickly moved over, leapt onto the wall, and outside it was pitch black—no figure in sight—but there was a footprint on the wall that looked fresh.

“This shoe…” Cheng Wei made a rubbing of half the shoe print, “It’s an outdoor shoe, but the tread is quite rare.”

“At this hour, climbing onto Liu’s wall… the moment I noticed him, he left immediately. The shoes aren’t ordinary either.” Hai Shu asked herself, “Who could this person be?”

Cheng Wei said, “I need to compare the tread back at the office, maybe build a model or something. As for who it is… a killer? Unlikely. Knowing the police were here, who would still climb the wall? Could be a curious villager, but the speed is too fast.”

Hai Shu nodded, then searched outside the courtyard by herself for a while. She didn’t see any matching footprints on the outer side of the wall. This made it even stranger. Considering the wall’s height, an ordinary person would need to use the wall itself for leverage—sprinting, kicking off the wall, then leaping up.

But this person seemed to leap lightly, using astonishing jumping ability to get on top of the wall. The escape speed was so fast; it was impossible without training.

The next morning, the investigation began. These days, Huiyong City was full of pink blossoms, but in the village, petals drifting in the morning breeze had a more natural feeling.

Many tourists were staying in homestays. After yesterday’s incident, some stayed to watch the commotion. But after a night’s sleep, that curiosity faded. Hai Shu stood at the village entrance and saw more than ten vehicles leaving—spring outings interrupted by discovering a corpse, a homicide corpse no less. Too unlucky.

Traffic police reported real-time highway conditions. Usually, at this time the roads would be congested, with tourists rushing to see flowers. Today, the roads were clear. However, on the opposite lanes, vehicles gradually increased—those staying in the village and new town were heading back.

This basically meant the Flower Viewing Festival in Guibai District was over for this year.

The villagers were all bitter, resenting tourists for not honoring reservations, blaming Liu the Fool for moving a corpse and ruining everyone’s livelihood, and even resenting the police for cordoning off areas and interrogating people. They believed it was the police who scared the tourists away!

With the tourists gone and Liu the Fool still in the police station, the villagers had no one to vent their anger on, so they subtly showed their displeasure to the police, answering evasively and refusing to cooperate.

Hai Shu’s most urgent task was to confirm the victim’s identity. Since DNA results were not yet available, they had to start from Guibai Village.

Liu the Fool’s activities were confined to Guibai District. Whether he had a living person or a corpse, it most likely happened within Guibai District. He mentioned the corpse’s name was Xiao Wei; the surname was unknown, so no household registration information could be found, but the villagers might know.

“Xiao Wei? Never heard of her, don’t know. Ask someone else.”

“There’s no one named Wei in our village. There were guests, but didn’t you scare them away?”

“Hey, can you investigate quietly? How are we supposed to do business like this?”

Going door to door, not only did they find no information about Xiao Wei, but the team also received many glares.

Hai Shu gathered the team for a meeting. “Let’s organize our thoughts first. The victim died in December last year. What tourism activities were happening in Guibai District then?”

Sui Xing said, “Climbing to appreciate autumn. But Guibai Mountain has no ginkgo or maple trees that turn yellow or red, so autumn scenery is ordinary. Even with strong promotion, few tourists came. Far less than in spring or summer.”

Hai Shu said, “But some tourists still came, right?”

“Of course. Even if not for autumn, climbing to relax is fine.” Sui Xing marked something in his notebook. “The victim may have come during this period and encountered Liu the Fool.”

Hai Shu nodded. “Yes, this is the most obvious lead, but it’s difficult to investigate. One, time has passed; two, this person has no registration info. We can only track Liu the Fool’s movements at the time and hope the villagers provide information.”

Sui Xing shrugged. “They probably want to drive us out.”

Hai Shu continued, “Another approach is to check if anyone in the village went missing. Villagers all say there’s no Xiao Wei, but the name could itself be fake.”

A team member said, “If Liu the Fool captured someone from the same village and kept them at home, this is really scary.”

Hai Shu agreed. “Liu the Fool might be complicated. Don’t forget, before his brain injury, he was the top student at the village school—everyone would praise his intelligence. Plus, his parents and older brothers have been missing for ten years. We still don’t know what happened.”

Another team member said, “Investigation is difficult; villagers run when they see us.”

Hai Shu thought, “I’ll talk to Village Chief Liu.”

In a place like Guibai Village, the village chief has high authority. Even if he doesn’t want to reason, he must maintain face. Hai Shu asked the police chief to call Liu Buquan, the village chief. Liu arrived with a worried expression and immediately complained to the chief, saying this year’s Flower Viewing Festival might be ruined.

Hai Shu exchanged pleasantries, then quickly got to the point. “Village Chief Liu, I understand the situation and I’m sorry. But a case has occurred. If we do nothing, it would be our failure as criminal investigators.”

Village Chief Liu quickly said, “Yes, yes. Solving the case depends on you. We feel uneasy leaving it unresolved.”

Hai Shu said, “Village Chief Liu, we need you to work more with the villagers. You know, Liu the Fool isn’t mentally clear and can’t express himself properly. We can’t get much information from him; we mainly rely on the villagers. But now the villagers are upset with us, feeling we affect business, and don’t want to say anything.”

Village Chief Liu sighed, “They’re not easy either. Bear with them a bit.”

Hai Shu sympathized, “It’s fine if they vent on us, but we can’t let it delay the investigation, right?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

“So, the reason for meeting today is to ask you to inform the villagers. Let’s work together to solve the case and try not to affect summer tourism.”

Hai Shu spoke gently, but when Village Chief Liu heard the latter half of her sentence, his shoulders twitched. “You mean… this could affect summer too?”

Hai Shu smiled, “You never know. If the case isn’t solved, the investigation will just continue.”

Village Chief Liu sighed and patted his thigh. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely handle the villagers properly!”

After Village Chief Liu left, the police chief gave Hai Shu a thumbs-up.

Thanks to Village Chief Liu’s mediation, the villagers, though reluctant, spoke more when it was their turn. The investigation focused on whether anyone in the village had gone missing and what kind of person Liu the Fool was. For the first, villagers all said everyone was fine—no one missing. For the second, they had more to say.

Before Liu the Fool drowned, he had a close friend who was his elementary school deskmate. In his impression, Liu the Fool was good at schoolwork but really didn’t like studying. Wherever the class planned to play, Liu the Fool would be there, and his ways of playing were strange—arranging a few stones in different patterns could keep him entertained for a long time, which no one could understand. The Liu family was strict; Liu the Fool’s two older brothers were accomplished, so the parents probably wanted Liu the Fool to be successful too. They couldn’t stand his idleness, and the deskmate often heard the Liu family scolding the children.

Regarding Liu the Fool becoming mentally impaired, the deskmate felt both regretful and, in a way, that it might have been a good thing for Liu the Fool.

“If he wasn’t foolish, he’d have gone to the city for high school and university, become a scientist or a big boss, and have a life better than the whole village combined. But he didn’t want that—he loved rolling in the mud in the village. Later, I thought… maybe he jumped into the pond on purpose? Even three-year-olds know not to go in that pond, and he was nine. Could he not know? Being foolish was fine—he didn’t have to go to school anymore, his parents couldn’t control him, and while we studied, he ran wild in the back hills every day.”

Besides the deskmate, a few other classmates said his drowning was strange.

Hai Shu also found Liu the Fool’s former homeroom teacher. The teacher expressed regret, saying Liu the Fool, though mischievous, was truly talented. Even with his brain impaired, he could keep up with studies. The Liu family shouldn’t have given up on him.

Hai Shu grew more puzzled. “What do you mean ‘brain impaired’ but could keep up with studies?”

The teacher said Liu the Fool, after being rescued, was first declared gone by doctors. Later, sent to the city, he was saved but became mentally impaired and unable to care for himself. So the Liu family arranged a year off from school. Once he could care for himself, he returned to school. Teachers thought Liu the Fool was ruined by this misfortune. Surprisingly, though he repeated a grade and appeared dazed in class, his exam results were still above average.

“This is talent!”

The teacher, excited, talked to Liu the Fool, telling him his condition would improve and that she would help him recover. Liu stared blankly at her, then suddenly burst into tears.

She thought he cried from being moved and cried with him. Yet Liu the Fool’s strange performance was fleeting. Every subsequent exam placed him dead last.

Gradually, the Liu parents were completely disappointed. Liu the Fool refused to go to school, and the teacher’s enthusiasm was finally extinguished by reality. Liu the Fool left school again and never returned.

Hai Shu’s doubts grew heavier. Liu the Fool’s drowning was suspicious; his first exams back at school were suspicious; crying in front of the teacher was suspicious. Together, it suggested that the talented Liu the Fool may have deliberately jumped into the pond to escape the brilliance expected of him.

He didn’t want to succeed, only to be a fool free from societal constraints.

No—or not necessarily. His rescue was real; he truly nearly drowned.

Did he genuinely want to die back then? After being saved, did he pretend to be foolish? Being too young, he was careless, so he revealed himself in the first exam? The teacher’s generous words didn’t move him, but instead sounded a warning?

Then what about the current Liu the Fool? If his foolishness back then was feigned, now even more so!

Liu the Fool might not be foolish at all!