A murder case like this in a remote little village was truly something that would shake the entire county.
On the way home, everyone Wu Jun saw and everything he heard was about this matter. The more daring villagers were even making plans to go see the commotion together.
“Jun, I heard your first work group dug up some skeletal remains—is that true?” Aunt Dazhu intercepted Wu Jun and asked. This was the first time since his rebirth that this woman had approached him without prying into his own affairs.
Before Wu Jun could answer, Widow Li, who was standing next to Aunt Dazhu, tugged at her arm and said, “Auntie, I told you I don’t want to go see it. I want to go home.” Her expression was flustered, and she looked utterly guilty.
“When something this big happens in the village, of course I have to go take a look. My, my, what’s gotten into you today? Normally, you’d be jumping for joy at the chance to see some excitement.”
“Auntie, I really don’t want to look at a dead body.” With that, Widow Li ignored Aunt Dazhu and ran off on her own.
“Widow Li is acting really strange today—so skittish. Hey, Jun, tell your auntie about it,” Aunt Dazhu continued, unabashed.
Annoyed by her pestering, Wu Jun finally replied, “Auntie, Uncle Dazhu had a little accident over there just now. Shouldn’t you be hurrying home to check on him?” Thinking about Uncle Dazhu’s soaked pants, Wu Jun wanted to laugh.
Who would have thought that a man usually so hot-tempered and foul-mouthed could be such a coward? It truly proved the saying: all show and no go.
As soon as Aunt Dazhu heard that her husband had run into trouble, she forgot all about watching the excitement and rushed home to check on him.
When Wu Jun returned home, everyone else was out, leaving only Gray Wolf to watch the house.
Wu Jun picked up the little puppy and smiled. “Gray, you’re the only one home? Why didn’t you go play with little Tong today? Something happened today—I wonder who the unlucky one is?”
Gray’s only response was to wag his tail like crazy.
Just then, a knock came at the gate.
Wu Jun opened the door and saw Li Gong, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Li Gong was still dressed in his crisp cadre uniform, a fountain pen clipped to his chest.
“What are you doing in the village?” Wu Jun asked, surprised.
“Someone reported a homicide to the county public security bureau. I happened to be in the area with the county magistrate on some business. When the county magistrate heard that such a heinous incident had occurred in a small village, he sent me over to check it out. I remembered that your family lives in this village, so I came by on the off chance I could find your house.”
“Shouldn’t you be focusing on official business? Go check out the scene,” Wu Jun said with a raised eyebrow.
“The investigating officers have already gone with the person who reported it. I heard that you were one of the first to discover the remains, so I came to find you.”
Without inviting the man inside, Wu Jun put down the puppy, closed the gate, and led Li Gong back to the scene.
On the way, Wu Jun told Li Gong again how the remains had been discovered. There wasn’t much to say, really—he had only seen an arm, and one with barely any flesh left at that.
At the scene, five public security officers were gathered. One of them was holding a pen and notebook, questioning the witnesses about what they had seen.
Uncle Dazhuang, the first to discover the remains, had already changed his pants. He was answering the officers’ questions with a composed expression—if one ignored his trembling voice.
“Captain Chen, any findings?” Li Gong asked one of the officers.
“Secretary Li, nothing of value yet. We’ll need to send some people down into the ditch to excavate the remains fully. Otherwise, the water flowing down from the mountain might wash away the evidence,” Captain Chen replied. He then glanced at Wu Jun standing beside Li Gong, thinking to himself that this must be the person Li Gong had come to find.
Captain Chen then assigned two officers to descend into the ditch and carefully begin digging using tools provided by the village.
“Uncle, any guesses who it might be?” Wu Jun asked, seeing the serious expression on his uncle’s face.
“Every family in the village knows each other. No one has reported anyone missing. The only ones who haven’t been seen since last year are Er Laizi and San Pangzi from the end of the village.”
From their names alone, it was clear they were the kind of petty troublemakers found in every village—daring enough to steal small things but not bold enough to commit any serious crimes. Most villagers were distantly related to them, so when they caused trouble, people usually just cursed them out and let it go.
As the two were talking, the officers had already finished excavating the remains.
Captain Chen asked the brigade captain to come forward and see if he could identify the body.
The brigade captain stepped forward and looked for a long time but couldn’t recognize who the unlucky person was.
After all, there was nothing left but bones. The clothes, tattered and torn, hung loosely on the skeleton, with various insects crawling in and out. Even if you called his mother to come identify him, she probably wouldn’t be able to.
The gathered villagers buzzed with discussion as the body was brought up. Among them, one person already had a look of panic on his face.
Just as Captain Chen was feeling disappointed that the brigade captain couldn’t identify the remains, a weak voice from the crowd said, “I think this looks like Er Laizi.”
The speaker was Wu Ergou, who lived at the end of the village. He was a lifelong bachelor who occasionally drank with Er Laizi.
When Wu Ergou saw the public security officers’ eyes all fixed on him, he didn’t dare speak further.
The brigade captain, who knew his own villagers well, walked over and said, “Ergou, tell us why you think this is Er Laizi. What did you recognize?”
Wu Ergou looked at his brigade captain, swallowed hard, and continued, “I used to drink with Er Laizi and San Pangzi quite often. I remember that he always carried a small black iron flask with him. He used to show it off all the time—said it came from the city. So I recognized it right away. Take a look—isn’t that a small black iron flask?”
Everyone looked and, sure enough, there was the flask lying beside the remains.
Although identifying the body as Er Laizi based solely on the flask wasn’t completely certain, it at least gave them a direction for the investigation.
Captain Chen nodded approvingly. “If we solve this case, we’ll give you credit for it.”
Wu Ergou shuddered at this and quickly continued, “Leader, I have something else to report.”
Licking his lips, Wu Ergou went on, “Er Laizi and San Pangzi disappeared around this time last year. It was during the ditch-digging back then. The two of them were always skiving off and causing trouble. Everyone was busy at the time, so no one paid them much attention. Later, when the ditches were finished and we started working the fields, those two still hadn’t shown up. I figured they’d gone to the county to try to make some money.”
Among the onlookers, someone heard Wu Ergou’s words and nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s right. I haven’t seen them since that day last year when we were digging the ditch either.”
Wu Ergou’s words slowly jogged the memories of many who had been present at the time.
One by one, they began to recount what they remembered. Bit by bit, these recollections pieced together a complete timeline…