The 1970s: Married First, Fell in Love Later-Chapter 80 - 79: A Family Massacre

After receiving a notice from the brigade, Xue Yue went out and happened to run into Li Gaihua, who was also just leaving her house.

"That wild boar last night scared me half to death! You heard the commotion, didn’t you?"

The moment Li Gaihua saw Xue Yue, she started recounting the terrifying events of the previous night.

"My main gate wasn’t very sturdy to begin with, and it collapsed after the boar rammed it. Da Qiang went out to look. Thankfully, he has quick reflexes and only got a few scrapes. I was hugging my Tie Dan, too scared to even get off the kang."

Xue Yue chimed in, "I was too scared to go out, too. The boar rammed my gate first. It didn’t break it down, so it ran over to your place."

Li Gaihua nodded. "We heard a bit of a commotion when it was ramming your gate, but we never imagined a wild boar had come down from the mountains. My Da Qiang said that boar weighed over three hundred pounds! It took more than a dozen young men to kill it last night."

The two of them went to the brigade office. The courtyard was already lined with people, all discussing how much meat their family would get.

When Mrs. He saw Xue Yue, she came over and asked, "He Lang wasn’t hurt last night, was he?"

Xue Yue shook her head. "No."

"That’s good."

When it was Xue Yue’s turn, she was given a jin of pork belly. It was a good cut, chosen for her in consideration of He Lang’s contribution the previous night.

Xue Yue took it home, planning to make dumplings for dinner. That morning, before He Lang left for work, she had told him to ask her brother to come over after his shift so they could all come back together in the evening.

Xue Yue had finished wrapping the dumplings by the afternoon, but when evening came, He Lang returned alone.

Xue Yue glanced behind him. "Where’s my brother? You didn’t ask him?"

He Lang said, "I made a special trip to the police station to get him, but your brother said there was a murder last night, so he’s too busy to come home for dinner."

Xue Yue’s heart instantly jumped into her throat. "A murder? Will my brother be in any danger?"

He Lang chuckled. "What are you thinking? Your brother is the one who catches bad guys. Besides, with his skills, I doubt any criminal could beat him in a fight."

Xue Yue sighed. "Well, it’s his loss. I’ll go boil the dumplings, and we can eat."

"Okay. It’s been a while since I’ve had dumplings."

Xue Xingzhou had no time to eat. A murder case had come in last night. A family of three had been slaughtered. The scene was too gruesome to bear, a mess of blood and gore. Even a baby, just a few months old, had been hacked to death in the bedroom.

The higher-ups were furious today and gave them one week to solve the case.

Although the Public Security Bureau had plenty of staff, they rarely handled murder cases, let alone a tragedy where an entire family was wiped out.

Xue Xingzhou was also worried. ’The facilities at the Public Security Bureau now are nothing compared to the criminal investigation detachment from my past life. They’ve probably never even heard of DNA identification.’

When he arrived at the scene today, Xue Xingzhou discovered another major problem: they had no concept of securing a crime scene. The site was trampled with footprints everywhere.

Xue Xingzhou felt like his head was going to explode. ’The scene is completely contaminated. All we can do now is rely on the slimmest of leads and canvass the area.’

It was also Zhang Hongjie’s first time encountering such a brutal case. Seeing Xue Xingzhou’s grim expression, he thought the young man was scared.

"It’s alright. It’s like this for everyone the first time at a scene. You’ll get used to it."

Xue Xingzhou said helplessly, "Master, don’t you guys wear shoe covers when you process a scene? Look, the place is covered in our own staff’s footprints. They’ve completely obscured any prints the killer might have left."

Zhang Hongjie glanced at the footprints on the floor and realized he was right.

He frowned slightly. "I’ll tell them when we get back. They’ll have to be more careful next time."

A full day of observing the scene, canvassing the neighborhood, and interviewing the victims’ relatives and friends yielded almost no results.

Working late into the night, Xue Xingzhou ended up crashing at the Public Security Bureau.

When Zhang Hongjie came in the next morning, he brought breakfast for Xue Xingzhou.

"You’re young and full of energy, but you can’t push yourself this hard. Look at me, I’ve been in this job for over ten years. No matter what happens, we have to eat when it’s time to eat and sleep when it’s time to sleep. That’s the only way to have the energy to work."

Xue Xingzhou replied, "Master, I’m not as experienced as you are. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is that poor family. Tsk, tsk... truly tragic."

Zhang Hongjie nodded. "This was most likely a revenge killing. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have even killed a baby that was only a few months old."

Xue Xingzhou agreed on that point.

At the morning meeting, they began reporting the results of the previous day’s canvassing.

"Captain, the two of us canvassed the neighbors yesterday. They all said the couple, Zhao Yanshi and Liu Wenjuan, seemed very friendly and weren’t known to have any enemies.

Oh, right. One old woman said that on the day before the murder, she saw Liu Wenjuan leave early in the morning, saying she was going to the meat processing plant to buy meat. She never saw her again after that."

"Captain Zhang, we looked into their relatives. Zhao Yanshi had an older sister and a younger brother. Their parents passed away from natural causes two years ago. The sister married and moved out of town, and the brother works at the flour mill. According to him, the two families haven’t been in contact for a long time. We also checked with people at his factory; his brother has a solid alibi."

Xue Xingzhou picked up the photos taken at the crime scene the day before and looked through them one by one.

He held up one photo. "At the time of the murder, Zhao Yanshi and Liu Wenjuan were eating in the living room, while the baby was in the bedroom. They were having a very nice meal—three meat dishes and two vegetable dishes on the table, barely touched. There were three sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, but only two adults and a child were killed. That means three people were eating, and besides the dead couple, there was one other person present. This person is very likely the killer."

Zhang Hongjie nodded. "We noticed that yesterday. Three people were eating. And according to our investigation, the family’s income was average. Only the husband worked, while the wife stayed home to care for the child. For them to prepare a five-dish meal for someone, it must have been an important guest."

Xue Xingzhou nodded. "Also, if there was only one killer, wouldn’t he have been injured while killing two adults? How did he manage to kill two grown people so easily? And we didn’t find a murder weapon at the scene."

Zhang Hongjie said, "The killer probably brought the weapon with him and took it when he left."

"Xiao Liu, what about Liu Wenjuan’s relatives?"

"Captain Zhang, we’ve been to Liu Wenjuan’s parents’ house. She was their only daughter. Their social circle is very simple. They were home on the night of the murder; a neighbor saw them."

Xue Xingzhou asked, "What do you mean, she *was* their only daughter?"

"Oh, well, they have a family portrait. In it, besides Liu Wenjuan, there’s another little girl. The two of them look very similar. But her father, Mr. Liu, said that was their younger daughter, who went missing years ago and was never found. That’s why they only have the one daughter now."

Xue Xingzhou asked, "How did she go missing?"

"We didn’t ask. The old couple seemed very upset about it."

Zhang Hongjie asked, "When will the M.E.’s report be ready?"

"Not until this afternoon."

That afternoon, the autopsy results came in.

"Captain Zhang, both adult victims had traces of rat poison in their stomachs. The child did not. We also detected rat poison in a water cup on the table."

Zhang Hongjie mused, "No wonder one person could kill two adults. They were poisoned. But where did the rat poison come from? Did we find any in the victims’ house before?"

"No."

"Then the killer must have brought it. Check all the places in town that sell rat poison. Find out who’s bought any recently."

"Yes, sir."