“Are you Qi Chunchun? Where were you seven days ago? Who did you meet?”
Qi Chunchun cried out in a desperate, frantic breakdown, “Official, sirs, you surely don’t think I was the one who killed those two!”
“I am falsely accused! Seven days ago, our village happened to be holding the New Rice Festival. I was busy assisting everyone the entire day, and everyone present can vouch for me!”
“Besides, sirs, look at my frail frame! How could I possibly kill two people?!”
Even thinking with one’s big toe, it was impossible!
Qi Chunchun’s urge to whip their corpses grew even stronger.
Those two wretched scoundrels!
Even in death, they still brought her such immense trouble.
Heaven knew how horrified she had been when she opened the door earlier and saw two government officers standing at her threshold.
She had nearly dropped to her knees, saved only by Wen Caimei quickly catching her.
Wen Caimei, who had come over today to return a bowl, also spoke up in her defense.
“Sirs, I can testify to that. On the day you mentioned, our village indeed held the New Rice Festival. She was right under everyone’s watchful eyes the entire time and had no chance to go do anything bad.”
The officers believed most of their words. The coroner who accompanied them had already preliminarily confirmed the presence of wounds on both corpses.
Judging by the depth of the wounds and the force required to inflict them, they appeared to have been caused by a grown, strong man.
Apart from the fatal injuries on the back of their heads, they also discovered marks around the victims’ necks left by something tightly bound.
It strongly resembled a scenario where, after the victims died, the killer used hemp rope or vines tied around their necks to drag and move the bodies in order to conceal their own tracks.
This could be determined from the extensive abrasions on the backs of the deceased, as well as various marks left by heavy impacts.
Based on these points alone, the officers ruled out Qi Chunchun as a suspect.
However, since the deceased had the closest ties to Qi Chunchun before their deaths, and she was the person most likely to know whether they had enemies, they had only come here to make inquiries. They had never considered Qi Chunchun a suspect.
“Did the deceased have any enemies while alive? Or rather, did you notice anyone absent on that day?”
Both Qi Chunchun and Wen Caimei fell into recollection.
There were too many people that day, making it chaotic. With so many people coming and going—some going home midway to fetch things, others leaving and not returning—they had almost no clear memory of specific individuals.
Wen Caimei said, “Sirs, we were all busy with our own work. We really didn’t notice.”
The officer asked again, “Let me phrase it another way: Did you notice anyone acting suspiciously or looking unnatural, as if they had a guilty conscience? Particularly someone who kept close ties with this mother and son?”
The two fell into recollection once more.
Upon hearing the commotion outside, Song Meihua had tightly gripped Qi Chunchun’s hand, keeping her head lowered the entire time as if thoroughly terrified of the officers before her.
Qi Chunchun also did her best to block Song Meihua with her own body, keeping her from being frightened by the officers.
The two officers found nothing unusual about their reaction. Timid young girls often looked at them as though seeing ghosts; they were quite used to it.
Looking at Song Meihua’s petite and frail appearance, they felt even less inclined to suspect her of committing murder.
“Sirs, I really can’t recall anything. Everyone was busy working and didn’t pay attention to what others were doing at all.”
“My mother-in-law may not have been sharp-tongued, but her heart was exceedingly ruthless. She left no leeway in anything she did and offended many people.”
“Song Jiangshui was fairly honest in the village, but whether he offended anyone outside, I have no idea, because he never spoke to me about business outside.”
“Sirs, do you think the woman he got involved with in town hired someone to do this?”
“We will investigate that matter.”
“And you? Have you recalled anything?” the officer asked Wen Caimei.
Wen Caimei shook her head. “I wasn’t familiar with either mother or son.”
Having obtained no vital clues, neither officer looked particularly pleased.
“Do not run around carelessly during this period. We may summon you again later.”
“If you recall any important clues, you may inform your village chief in advance, and he will report them upward.”
“This is not a matter that can be settled as a private vendetta. Our concern is that a serial killer on the run might have slipped into your village to target the villagers.”
“So do not take this matter lightly just because you had grudges against the deceased.”
“An unsolved murder case like this closely concerns every single person in the village.”
Before coming here, the two had already learned about the actions of the Song mother and son from the village chief.
They thoroughly despised what those two had done.
However, lives had been lost now. Until the killer was found, everyone in the entire village could potentially be targeted.
At present, it remained uncertain whether this was a revenge killing, or if the two had stumbled upon someone else’s secret, or even encountered someone who took pleasure in killing.
Hearing the officers’ good intentions, Wen Caimei nodded repeatedly. “Thank you for your concern, sirs. If we think of anything unusual, we will certainly—”
Seeing that no useful clues could be extracted here, the officers stopped pressing the two women, turning away to question other households associated with the mother and son.
Once she saw that the men had walked far off, Wen Caimei offered her farewells. Just then, Song Meihua spoke up:
“Auntie, let me walk you back. Is my little aunt at home? I want to go play with her.”
Qi Chunchun assumed that Song Meihua had been frightened by the officers just now, so she instinctively gave Wen Caimei a pleading look, hoping she would take her daughter to the Wang house to play for a while.
After all, children playing together for a bit would soon put the matter out of their minds.
Wen Caimei would not make things difficult for a young girl over such a minor request, so she laughed heartily and said:
“Go ahead if you want to! Zhao’zhao doesn’t like going out anyway. She’s in frail health, so if you go visit her, look after her a bit more.”
Yesterday afternoon, when she tried to wake her daughter for dinner, no matter how she called, Wang Zhaoming would not wake up, nearly scaring the entire family to death.
They had wanted to take Wang Zhaoming to town overnight to see a doctor, but Wang Zhaoming refused to go, insisting it was normal and that she would recover after a while.
Her daughter was so persistent that no matter what anyone said, she refused to see a doctor.
Wen Caimei had come over today hoping to trade for a few eggs from Qi Chunchun to nourish her daughter’s body properly.
Thinking that her daughter must be bored at home by herself, having Song Meihua go over to keep her company and chat would be fine as well.
Besides, Meihua was a sensible girl in how she acted and handled things; she wouldn’t say anything inappropriate.
Song Meihua followed Wen Caimei, her heart pounding with unease all the way to the Wang residence.
Pushing open the gate, the two saw Wang Zhaoming sitting in the courtyard with a cattail fan in hand. She waved it gently, her eyes slightly half-closed as she basked in the sunlight filtering through the pomelo leaves.
It was early autumn, and around noon, the weather remained intensely hot.
Wang Zhaoming’s fair face glowed with a delicate, moist luster under the interplay of light and shadow.
She wore a pale green crossover-collar short tunic with sleeves rolled up to her forearms, paired with a peach-pink long skirt below.
Her hair was not styled into any elaborate bun; rather, a single hairpin gathered up all her hair, securing it loosely and lazily at the back of her head.
The breeze stirred by the cattail fan caused a few stray strands of hair slipping down to sway gently.
Seeing this quiet, beautiful scene, both Wen Caimei and Song Meihua instinctively halted their steps and softened their breathing, fearing they might disturb the person in the yard.
Wang Zhaoming heard the sound of the door opening.
She turned her head leisurely and saw the two standing outside the door.
A smile blossomed across her face. At that smile, even the dusty, gray courtyard seemed to brighten up with it.
It was a silent smile, yet it made one feel as though the entire room was bathed in spring warmth, planting an invisible seed deep within their hearts that sprouted with cozy warmth.
Wen Caimei instinctively puffed out her chest with pride.
*I gave birth to such a beautiful daughter!*
“Mother, Meihua, how did you two come together?”
“I went to Meihua’s place to trade for some eggs. Since Meihua was home alone, she said she’d come over to chat and hang out with you.”
“You two go ahead and talk among yourselves. I’ll put the eggs down, then head out to the fields to bring some water to your brothers and the others. I’ll come back to cook later—it’s still too early now.”
“As for those boys who went out to cut pig grass, don’t let them run out again once they return. Make them stay home properly so we don’t have to shout all over the village for them when it’s time to eat.”
Wang Zhaoming smiled and agreed.
Seeing her flower-like smile, the tension Song Meihua had carried all the way completely melted away.
She dragged over a small stool and sat beside Wang Zhaoming, resting her chin on her hands as she looked at this young woman who was similar in age to herself, yet belonged to a senior generation.
“The officers came to my house just now.”
“They came to ask about Song Jiangshui and Zhang Daju.”