Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Domestic Violence Village Four [Xiu Zuo's Words]

According to Senior Qin Lin’s request, all of Dorm 405 returned to their rooms to take a nap.

Before going to sleep, Ming Yue seriously ran to the Medical School to find Senior Chen Hongmei, using alcohol-soaked cotton to wrap the tweezers and remove the first phalanx from the tip of the little finger of the skeleton hand. This drew a crowd of students conducting experiments in the Medical School building, who gathered in a flurry to watch.

"Crack!"

Werewolf Ming Yue decisively snapped the finger.

The ghost hand immediately spread open with full force, as if it was going to let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Ghost Hand: It hurts QAQ

Chen Hongmei: "..."

Chen Hongmei stood aside, arms crossed, rubbing her arms, feeling a cringing sensation just by watching.

Breaking the finger was as easy as cutting a radish.

The students gathered at the door of the laboratory let out a long "Yeh————" sound.

The ghost hand suddenly jumped up, unwilling to let its phalanx be taken, and tried to piece itself back together, turning into a claw shape.

It was then slapped out of the air by Ming Yue.

"......"

Chen Hongmei could not bear to watch and turned her gaze away.

"Alright," Ming Yue carefully soaked the phalanx in formalin, "I’ll leave this little treasure to you, Senior."

Chen Hongmei put away the bone fragment and nodded. "Don't worry, the affiliated hospital of Jin University has access to the police station databases in all districts of Jinling City. We can pull up the DNA information."

"What about you, junior? Be careful."

Ming Yue, who was still fighting with the struggling ghost hand, used one hand to tape the claw and trident together while baring her teeth in response to Chen Hongmei's words:

"Don’t worry, Senior, we can handle it all — hey, stop moving! — let alone just one hand — if you keep moving, I’ll snap you into pieces, do you believe it!"

Chen Hongmei: "..."

Chen Hongmei curiously looked at the steel fork in Ming Yue’s hand. She saw that the once ferocious and unruly skeleton hand, upon touching the metal surface, immediately ceased its struggles and trembled weakly, like a sieve."What is this?"

Chen Hongmei curiously touched the steel fork.

The cold metallic sheen was dazzling. The moment her skin touched it, faint ripples of light spread across.

It was warm, and pleasant to the touch.

Chen Hongmei thought to herself.

Ming Yue nodded. "This is my family’s trident. It’s been serving the toilet for years, helping with dredging and clearing work. It has strong yang energy, I hope you like it."

Chen Hongmei's hand froze.

This was too much information.

What would a steel fork in a toilet be used for?

The students from the same laboratory and those outside the door: "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Chen Hongmei: "..."

With the scalpel at her side, she suddenly felt an impulse.

Ming Yue, sensing danger, quickly opened the door and slipped away.

After waking up, the sun was still hanging in the southwestern sky.

Looking at the time, it was past three o’clock.

Her roommates had not yet woken up.

Ming Yue quietly finished washing up, then unrolled her yoga mat on the balcony to do some exercise while browsing the chat history in the Feng Shui and Calculation course group.

Yan Jun’s mission had been completed. The interrogations of Zhou Dafu’s statements and the information network from the Department of Computer Science had been combined to form a document titled [Yuehai Yuting Basic Information.pdf], which Qin Lin had posted in the group for first- and second-year students to download.

Looking at the download records, many senior students in the group had also downloaded it to understand the situation.

Meanwhile, ten second-year students, including Liu Tianran and Qian Qianshan, accompanied a small team from the Archaeology Department and went to the collapsed cave at Shuixi Gate Station before noon.The fourth-year students in the group were busy preparing for the certification exam, so not many people were talking.

The third-year students were not in Jinling City, as they were currently collaborating with Chang'an Normal University to handle the excavation of an ancient address layer from a university in Chang'an City. They were working day and night to eliminate risks and dispel negative energy. However, a few people did offer some advice in the group:

"Juniors, if any of you are investigating ancient address layers, make sure to bring some glutinous rice."

"If this is about domestic violence, remember to keep your mouth shut when encountering wronged ghosts. Don’t provoke them. Women who endure domestic violence without resistance tend to have extreme thoughts, so be cautious in what you say and do!"

"The person above is right. Think carefully about what to say before speaking. If you provoke vengeful spirits, we living people might not have it easy!"

Two things were happening at once.

This feeling of mobilizing two grades together was really great.

"......"

Ming Yue opened the PDF that Qin Lin had sent, started a speed-reading software, and practiced while listening.

The situation with Yuehai Yuting was truly a mess.

The community had been completed five years ago and could be considered a semi-new district.

Looking at the timeline, five years ago, the land was transitioned from agricultural to commercial use, and the high compensation for land expropriation had not yet been strictly enforced — this meant a high payout for demolitions.

Looking at the community’s demographic composition, all the residents of Yuehai Yuting had transitioned from rural to non-rural status — this indicated a populist tendency and a group with low educational backgrounds.

So, Yuehai Yuting was filled with former farmers holding large demolition compensation payments.

At this point, Ming Yue felt a bit disheartened.

Criticizing someone’s background and origins was quite an improper behavior, very low and unworthy.

After all, as the old saying goes, "A hero’s origins don’t matter."

However, upon reviewing the nationwide big data on domestic violence, it was indeed true that in rural-background families, women suffered more oppression.

In terms of evaluative samples, Yuehai Yuting, as a small residential settlement, had a very high incidence of domestic violence.

As Ming Yue expected, the Department of Computer Science found the Jinling City government’s publicly available data on the Jinling City village records database. Yuehai Yuting’s original village had a serious preference for sons over daughters. Since the establishment of the country, the male-to-female birth ratio in the village had consistently been above 1.5:1. Now, Yuehai Yuting had an extremely high proportion of single men.

However, the village records also reflected another issue: this village did not value education. The records mainly praised the village government’s achievements and its response to development calls, but there were very few chapters discussing cultural education.At the same time, the original village had a very high rate of hereditary diseases.

Ming Yue: "......"

Ming Yue began to deduce.

In the information age, nothing is a secret.

Naturally, the male-to-female birth ratio is very close to 1:1, with any deviation usually only a matter of one or two decimal places.

The 1.5:1 ratio in Yuehai Yuting undoubtedly had a huge human influence.

Abortion, drowning of baby girls.

All of these, nothing more than that.

Moreover, since the village records indicated that Yuehai Yuting’s original village didn’t value education, the young people growing up in the village likely didn’t receive enough modern higher education to break the bad old customs of the traditional settlement. The preference for boys over girls would be passed down from generation to generation.

Of course, this could only be considered one factor.

Finally, the issue of hereditary diseases.

This indicated that historically, the village had severe cases of intermarriage within the same village, which was the most likely explanation.

No wonder there have been more wives from other places in recent years.

Ming Yue tidied up her clothes and prepared to take a shower. Meanwhile, the speed-reading software continued to read out the following information in a magnetic male voice:

"[Yuehai Yuting Household Domestic Violence Feedback] The first trace of this appeared online five years ago, one month after the completion of the community, when the police station made a point-to-point contact."

"Shuixi Gate Police Station received a report, went to the resident’s home, and the elderly couple and husband all gave the same story, claiming that the wife was not at home, and it was a false alarm."

"Similar situations have occurred many times since."

"According to available data, there are over 2000 records of domestic violence in Yuehai Yuting, of which 1934 are text records and 66 are audio files. The audio files come from live broadcasts and social media collection."

"Specific numbers of police interventions and investigations need to be coordinated with Shuixi Gate Police."

"Attachment: [66 Audio Files of Yuehai Yuting Domestic Violence]"

"[Yuehai Yuting Household Economic Situation Feedback]: This community’s demolition funds were from the peak settlement and are among the last batch of demolition residents. The assets are considerable. It is estimated that each household’s real estate value exceeds 20 million.""[Yuehai Yuting Household Population Mobility Feedback]: Shuixi Gate is located in the western part of Jinling City, acting as the gateway to the city. It has taken in a large influx of people from outside the city, which is also the primary reason for many new brides in the community being from other places — the need for household registration."

The voice of the speed-reading software was cold, but it couldn’t compare to the chill in Ming Yue’s heart.

The more you know about social news, the more it makes you question the two worlds of life and death, wondering who is truly vicious and who is truly evil.

Domestic violence, and yet, there are still people who livestream it.

Shuixi Gate Police Station...

The officers were busy handling their duties, but the atmosphere was far from good.

The fact that Zhou Dafu had been interrogated several times by the Department of Spiritual Studies at Jin University was now common knowledge within the station.

The police system and the Ghost Slayer system had always had a "cooperative yet awkward" relationship.

The older officers were fine with it, but the younger police force especially disliked when Ghost Slayers came in and made things difficult.

Whenever they arrived, it was a signal — something was wrong under their jurisdiction. Lives were at risk, and vengeful spirits and wronged ghosts had emerged. Heaven and earth knew it, and the cause and effect were clear and undeniable, with no possibility of covering it up.

The slap in the face was hard.

In the afternoon, when Yan Jun arrived, it was such a hot day, and they left him hanging for an hour without even offering him a cup of water.

However, Captain Yan was the third-generation heir of a famous real estate company in the capital. He could endure and handle such things. He just smiled and took the initiative to greet and make small talk with the younger officers in the station.

Captain Zhao didn’t hide it either. When Yan Jun asked about Zhou Dafu, Captain Zhao and a few of his brothers clearly sat nearby and listened in.

Zhou Dafu had thoroughly investigated the "domestic violence village" behind Shuixi Gate.

"To say this is really heartless."

"After all, even if you know, you can’t pretend you don’t."

"I personally went to that village — it’s the one now being surveyed in Yuehai Yuting. The men there all treated beating their wives as a great thing. They’d boast about it to anyone, showing off wherever they went."

"They even showed me photos. Oh, it was awful, limbs broken, it scared me."

Since Zhou Dafu knew that Yan Jun was a male, he didn’t hide anything this time — after all, the last time they met, it was three young girls, and the details of domestic violence were too much to bear.They're all delicate young ladies, some things are better left unknown.

"I also heard—quite a few wives have died in this community, and yet, women still keep marrying in one after another."

"You’re telling me it’s just one or two million? Is it really worth it?"

Zhou Dafu was wealthy and bold, with a straightforward nature. After speaking his mind, he brightened up.

As for whether it was worth it or not...

The greater the wealth gap, the more it matters.

Yan Jun thought to himself, making notes with his hand, and smiled without commenting much.

The whole afternoon, Captain Zhao, sitting beside them, had a face that alternated between pale and flushed red.

The new district government had little interest in managing Yuehai Yuting, showing laziness and negligence, and Captain Zhao knew this.

Before he transferred to this team, he had heard that the previous team had done a poor job of managing the area, and Captain Zhao was well aware of that.

But who would have thought that, not only was domestic violence rampant in that community, but there might also be multiple cases of homicide?

Domestic violence is difficult to manage, and the country's marriage laws have always favored men.

The preference for sons over daughters is also an ingrained problem that's hard to fix.

However, the situation in Yuehai Yuting had long surpassed the realm of "a wise official can’t solve family matters."

Captain Zhao could harden his heart and ignore the tear-filled eyes of the beaten women, but he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the blood and tears of the deceased.

The river under the old Shuixi Gate bridge flows from the west.

The west is Yuehai Yuting.

Captain Zhao was waiting.

Waiting for the report from the search team he had sent out earlier that morning.

He still remembered Ming Yue’s bold guess about "the riverbed being full of human bones."

As long as something unusual was found, he would have grounds to investigate the domestic violence village and turn Yuehai Yuting upside down.That evening, at 6:50.

Most of the first- and second-year students from the Department of Spiritual Studies had arrived.

With the collapse pit exploration about to begin, everyone was organizing their gear, trying to pump up their spirits, working to keep their energy high and maintain strong yang energy.

Ming Yue and Yan Jun were together, leaning against the tall tea trees on the west side, chatting with a few young officers from the police station who were here to assist with the investigation.

Captain Zhao was on the other side, negotiating with Qin Lin.

"About this domestic violence case, even though we’re a newly assigned team, we’ve heard of it."

"At first, we were thinking of handling it properly, but..." The officer glanced awkwardly at Ming Yue. With such a beautiful girl standing there, how could he bring himself to say anything inappropriate?

Ming Yue: "Master, it’s okay. You can speak freely."

"I don’t mind."

The officer sighed, "Sorry, young lady."

"But, you know, people tend to think this way."

"They’re all family, right? They argue at the head of the bed, but they make up at the foot of it. So, they fight, what’s the big deal? Can't they just get divorced?"

"A woman, especially an outsider, she marries in for the money. What can she do outside?"

"Moreover, in Yuehai Yuting, many families live with two generations under one roof, and with an outsider wife, you know how it is. When they beat the wife, even if we come to mediate, the old man and woman defend their son, crying and yelling at us. What can we do?" The officer shrugged nonchalantly.

Ming Yue lowered her eyelids and didn’t say anything.

Yan Jun glanced at her and then asked, "Doesn’t the new district government do anything about this?"

The officer sighed, "Who says they don’t care?"

"It’s just a coincidence, really."

"At first, after the new district boundaries were drawn, they wanted to clean up this area around Shuixi Gate, but domestic violence is already a gray area in the law. It’s hard to manage. If we don’t deal with it, there are complaints. If we do, there are still complaints."

"And then, with the civilizing district initiative underway, the new district just decided to turn a blind eye. They didn’t want to get involved with these dirty matters."

Yan Jun felt a chill in his heart upon hearing this: "And now, a homicide has occurred. Are they still not going to do anything?"The officer noticed the "guest" was angry and quickly waved his hand: "No, no, life is precious."

"Don't worry, we will handle it properly. You can trust us, young lady."

After chatting for a while, Qin Lin came over to communicate with the officer. Yan Jun noticed that Ming Yue’s expression wasn’t quite right. He thought for a moment, but didn’t try to console her.

Having a sense of justice and standing up for it is a good thing.

But given the situation, one must also have a clear understanding.

Ming Yue was not a weakling.

Yan Jun wouldn’t lie to her with some fake words like, "That officer exaggerated it, men and women are equal in society," or anything like that.

After a moment, Ming Yue gently sighed, "In my family, we don’t make much of a distinction between boys and girls. It’s all the same."

"As for matters like this, I’ve only heard of them before. Experiencing it for the first time... it’s complicated."

"Sorry for laughing, Squad Leader," she said, cupping her hands in apology.

Yan Jun shook his head, his tone calm: "There’s nothing to apologize for."

"Recognizing ugliness and feeling disturbed by it proves your kindness."

"And your thoughts are very objective."

Ming Yue suddenly smiled. "What, do you think I’d say something like 'men are all bad'? I wouldn’t be that extreme."

"Hitting everyone with the same stick is too radical."

"I’m not a brainless internet populist."

Yan Jun also smiled: "I’m glad you haven’t lost faith in men."

"I’m really glad."