At the Lin family’s third son’s house.
The wife of Lin the Third was squatting by the stove, busy preparing lunch. When she heard a commotion coming from the chicken coop outside, she immediately rushed out.
When she took a closer look, she saw three children rummaging around the chicken coop.
She instantly flew into a rage. “Lin Yihan, Lin Luoluo, you two little bastards without parents! How dare you steal chickens from my family?
“Gao Erniu, get lost right now! If you dare steal anything again, I’ll break your legs!”
The three children turned and ran as soon as they saw her.
Gao Erniu was very confused. Luoluo had been moving so slowly today. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have failed to catch a chicken and gotten discovered.
Lin Luoluo, however, had a calm expression on her little face. She didn’t look disappointed in the slightest.
“Let’s go, Brother Erniu. Let’s buy some candy!”
The first task was done. It was time to take care of the second one.
Lin the Third’s wife continued cursing for a while before turning toward Lin the Third, who was lying inside the house.
“Husband, your mother took the money early this morning to pay the betrothal gifts. Why hasn’t she come back yet?
“Gao Jinniu came early this morning too. I don’t know what that was about.”
Lin the Third lay sprawled on the kang, his face completely indifferent.
“Why bother about her?
“Let’s not worry about all those troublesome matters. Hurry up and cook. Make some meat. We haven’t had meat in ages, and I’m craving it badly.”
“Where would we get meat? We only have some leftover cracklings from last month. I’ll make cabbage with pork cracklings.”
Around noon, the villagers who had gone to work gradually returned home, and wisps of cooking smoke rose into the air.
Lin Jingwan had already made her way to the chicken coop at Lin the Third’s house.
She accurately picked out the fattest rooster.
She grabbed it firmly by the neck and stuffed the food mixture into its beak.
Not long after she left, Lin the Third’s wife came outside. The moment she saw the rooster, she cried out in alarm.
“Third! Third, come out quickly! Something’s wrong with our chicken! It’s all listless it looks like it’s about to die!
“It must have been frightened by those little brats running around earlier. They scared the chicken sick!”
Lin the Third stared at the plump rooster, which was barely breathing, and his eyes lit up.
His mother was stingy, and his wife was extremely frugal. The whole family hadn’t tasted meat in an entire month, and they had been craving it terribly.
“Then it’s perfect if it’s been frightened half to death.”
Lin the Third immediately made the decision.
“We can’t keep it alive anyway. It’d be a waste to throw it away, so let’s just slaughter it and stew it!”
His wife hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth.
“Fine. Today, Dayong and Daqiang are setting their engagement dates. Let’s stew this fat rooster to celebrate. Later, we can have Mom go to the Gao family and demand some more compensation. That way, the chicken won’t have gone to waste!”
The two immediately agreed.
They slaughtered the chicken, plucked its feathers, and put it into the pot, completing the entire process swiftly and efficiently, their hearts filled with delight.
Lin Jingwan quietly watched the scene in the courtyard, the corners of her lips curling upward.
Meanwhile, on the main road at the entrance to the village, Grandma Lin was glowing with happiness.
Early that morning, she had stuffed the money she received from selling Lin Jingwan into her pocket and taken Lin Dayong and Lin Daqiang to the neighboring village to deliver the betrothal gifts.
At long last, she had settled the marriages of both her grandsons.
Lin Dayong and Lin Daqiang were also visibly excited. Their steps were light, and their hearts were filled with the joy of getting married and starting families.
The three of them chatted and laughed as they walked toward the village.
But as soon as they entered the village, they heard a group of older children by the roadside chanting in unison while sucking on candy:
“Grandma Lin, your heart is black, You play favorites and know no right from wrong.
“You hated your second son, your heart turned cold, You poisoned five people and watched them die.
“Grandma Lin, your methods are cruel, You framed your eldest son and made him take the blame!
“Your vicious deeds can’t stay hidden, With countless crimes, you’ll go to Hell!”
Every line was sharp, every word struck straight to the bone!
Lin Dayong’s face turned livid. He stepped forward and shouted, “Shut up! Who taught you to sing that nonsense? Stop spouting rubbish!”
Seeing this, the children scattered in all directions, leaving only the lingering echoes of their chant at the village entrance.
Lin Daqiang tried to comfort Grandma Lin, whose face had gone deathly pale.
“Grandma, don’t listen to those little brats babbling nonsense. You can’t take it seriously!”
“That’s right, Grandma. How could you possibly have killed Second Uncle’s entire family?”
“Exactly!”
But Grandma Lin felt ice-cold all over, and a wave of panic surged from the depths of her heart.
The rhyme was neatly structured and clearly had been deliberately composed by someone.
“Let’s go! Hurry home!”
She had a terrible feeling about this.
Behind a tree not far away, Lin Jingwan watched every bit of Grandma Lin’s panic and once again confirmed her suspicions.
Before long, rumors spread throughout the village that Grandma Lin had killed her own son and framed her eldest son for the crime.
People were discussing it everywhere in the fields, along the paths, in courtyards, and beside walls.
Especially at Grandma Zhao’s house next door. As she picked green beans, she sighed to her husband.
“I knew something was wrong from the very beginning! Everyone used to say that the eldest Lin son’s wife was timid and weak. Why would she kill someone for no reason? Now that I think about it, there must have been something else going on!”
An old man sighed.
“Who can say otherwise? But Grandma Lin was Lin the Second’s own mother. She couldn’t have killed her own son just to frame her eldest son, could she?”
“Who knows how he really died?”
At another house, someone asked, “Old woman, have you heard the rumors?”
“I have. Let me tell you, before Lin the Second died, I saw his wife picking a basketful of mushrooms. Those mushrooms were all sorts of colors every color you could imagine! There’s definitely something suspicious about the cause of death!”
Meanwhile, Grandma Lin hurried home.
The moment she stepped through the courtyard gate, a rich, savory aroma hit her nose.
Lin Dayong called out loudly, “Mom, what delicious food are they making? Why does it smell so good?”
Lin the Third hurried forward to take credit.
“Some of those Gao family brats came over earlier to steal our chicken and scared it half to death. It would’ve been a waste to throw it away, so I just stewed it! After we eat, we’ll go demand compensation from them!”
“Dayong and Daqiang are setting their engagement dates today, so we should celebrate!”
Grandma Lin instinctively asked,
“You didn’t stew it with mushrooms, did you?!”
As soon as those words left her mouth, everyone in the courtyard froze.
The entire courtyard fell silent.
Grandma Lin instinctively asked, “You didn’t stew it with mushrooms, did you?!”
The moment she said this, everyone in the courtyard froze, and the entire place instantly fell silent.
The Third Son’s wife hurriedly waved her hands. “Of course not! I wouldn’t dare touch mushrooms for the rest of my life!”
Hearing this, Lin Dayong and Lin Daqiang also breathed a sigh of relief.
“That’s good. Hurry up and eat!”
Lin the Third eagerly ladled soup into Grandma Lin’s bowl.
“Mom, drink more soup! Our whole family depends on you to hold everything together. You have to enjoy your life while you can!”
The fat free-range chicken they had raised for an entire year had produced an incredibly rich broth. Grandma Lin drank it with great satisfaction.
She put down her bowl and asked, “Did you hear the rhyme those children were chanting at the village entrance?”
“What rhyme? Those kids have nothing better to do all day, so they just make up nonsense. Don’t take it seriously. Mom, hurry and eat this chicken leg!”
Lin the Third put a chicken leg into the old woman’s bowl, then quickly grabbed the other one for himself.
“Exactly, Mom. Don’t overthink it. After we eat, you should have a nice, comfortable nap!”
“All right.”
Grandma Lin filled another bowl with soup and drank it with a look of complete satisfaction.
Meanwhile, after receiving a message from Hanhan and the dozen or so other children, Lin Jingwan went straight to the village chief’s house.
The moment the village chief saw her walk through the door, he felt a massive headache coming on.
“What happened this time?”
“Village Chief, come with me to collect evidence.”
Village Chief: “……”
Apparently, she wasn’t going to let this matter go until everything was figured out!
“Can’t we go later? I haven’t even had lunch yet.”
Lin Jingwan raised her eyes and gave him a cold look. Her expression said everything that needed to be said.
The village chief felt uncomfortable under her stare and immediately surrendered. He resigned himself to his fate and stood up.
Soon, with the village chief accompanying her, Lin Jingwan successfully obtained statements from the four people who had helped bury Lin the Second back then.
All four gave exactly the same answer!
Their lips had turned purple, and black blood had flowed from their mouths and noses.
Lin the Second and his entire family had died from poisoning!
Not long afterward, Li Zhaoye returned, bringing two stern-looking government officials with him.
Lin Jingwan handed over all the villagers’ statements and the village chief’s written confirmation to Li Zhaoye.
The group immediately set off for the back mountain, intending to open the grave and examine the corpse directly.
The village chief followed behind the group, staring at Lin Jingwan, who insisted on personally participating in the exhumation. He was completely at a loss for words.
Grandma Lin hadn’t actually killed her mother. Was it really appropriate for Lin Jingwan to dig up her son’s grave like this??
Just look at that! You’ve already dug up the skeleton!
Ahhh! What are you doing?!
The village chief watched in horror as Lin Jingwan’s shovel became lodged directly in the neck of Lin the Second’s corpse.
Ahhh! His head has been separated from his body!
Why is this woman so vicious?!
Wait, isn’t anyone going to stop her from abusing a corpse?
He turned around.
At some point, Comrade Li had taken the two government officials aside to smoke.
What? You’re neglecting your duties!
It wasn’t until Lin Jingwan swung the shovel down and severed Lin the Second’s neck, completely separating his head from his body, that she finally felt satisfied.
She turned around and walked toward Li Zhaoye.
“The rest of the autopsy will be up to you. Oh, right. There’s one more thing.
“What if Grandma Lin argues that she was so panicked and confused that she misremembered everything, and then turns around and claims that my mother didn’t kill them with her own hands, but poisoned them instead? My mother isn’t here, so she has no way to prove her innocence. What should we do?”
“I already filed the case with the police. I also requested that a special investigator be brought in to conduct the interrogation. He’s already on his way and should arrive within an hour.”
As a member of the victim’s family, he needed to avoid any conflict of interest and therefore couldn’t directly participate in the interrogation.
Hearing this, Lin Jingwan felt completely reassured.
This man was handsome, thorough in his work, and sharp-minded. She certainly wasn’t losing out by having him as her partner!
Li Zhaoye lowered his eyes to look at her, a trace of indulgence in his gaze.
“There isn’t much time left.”
Lin Jingwan immediately understood what he meant.
Once the interrogation personnel arrived and the authorities officially became involved, everything would have to follow proper procedures. She wouldn’t be able to act so freely anymore.
Although she had already poisoned Grandma Lin with a slow-acting poison, she still hadn’t personally dealt with her yet!
Lin Jingwan’s eyes curved into crescents, her smile bright and radiant.
She quickly moved to Li Zhaoye’s side and planted a kiss on his slightly cool cheek.
“Smack!”
The village chief, who had been standing nearby and had witnessed the entire thing clearly: “!!!”
Were these two moving a little too fast?!
Things were developing too quickly. They spoke too quickly. He still hadn’t even figured out what they had meant just now, and somehow they were already kissing!
Lin Jingwan paid no attention to the stunned expressions of the four people present. She hurried away and, in no time, had rushed back toward the village.
Grandma Lin, I’m coming for you!