strictlysupreme Chapter 179 Trainee Detective 17
Chapter 179 Trainee Detective 17
After the family massacre a few years ago, the population of Zhangjia Village has dwindled, with only a few elderly people stubbornly remaining there.
Today, this group of thirty people is responsible for retaking statements from these four hundred households. If there is still no progress, everyone will start their happy, free-roaming life, scattering to all corners of the country to take statements from the migrant workers from Zhangjia Village.
Fortunately, this place is close to the capital, so most people who go out to work don't choose to go to places further away.
When Ling Yi stepped into the neat but desolate village, she frowned.
It's hard to imagine that there would be such a hollowed-out village in the capital.
Whether by coincidence or not, Xiang Ke was assigned to Ling Yi's group.
Following their assigned task, the two of them first knocked on a family's door. When the old lady opened the door and saw that they were police officers, she was startled: "What's going on?"
At this moment, the old woman had already thought of all the unfilial descendants outside, wondering which bastard had committed a crime that led the police to her home.
“Grandpa, we’re just here to investigate that case from two years ago,” Ling Yi quickly reassured the old man, giving him a gentle and kind smile. “Your family is all well, so please don’t worry!”
Upon hearing this, the old man immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "I was so scared, I thought something really had happened."
As she opened the door to let the two people in, she cursed and muttered, "Zhang Lao Er is a scoundrel too! He didn't even warn anyone when the police came to the village!"
Ling Yi didn't say anything. Their purpose in coming today was to catch everyone off guard, so naturally they didn't notify the village secretary.
These days, village party secretaries are probably at home taking notes; they have no time to notify the villagers.
The old lady poured water for Ling Yi and Xiang Ke before sitting down: "Go ahead and ask, but let me be clear from the start, I'm old and my memory isn't very good, so there are some things I can't remember."
When Ling Yi saw that the old man was about to give them more melon seeds, she quickly said with a wry smile, "Please don't bother, we won't eat them."
As the old man tore at the plastic bag containing the sunflower seeds, he said, "Whether you eat them or not is one thing, whether I entertain you or not is another. We don't have a rule here that we don't entertain guests!"
After being given a handful of sunflower seeds, Ling Yi could only laugh and cry as she handed the notebook to Xiang Ke: "Director Xiang, would you please take some notes?"
With a notebook shoved into his hand, Xiang Ke obediently lowered his head and uncapped the pen.
The old lady glanced at Xiang Ke and laughed, "Oh, the young man is quite good-looking."
Everyone changed into casual clothes because they were going out.
Xiang Ke wasn't wearing his white shirt at this time, but just ordinary clothes. Ling Yi's attitude was too natural, so the old man didn't think of Xiang Ke as a leader at all.
She even asked Ling Yi with great interest, "Is the young lady married yet?"
Ling Yi: "...No."
Even she found it difficult to keep up with the old man's train of thought.
"Oh, it's a pity that my ugly son is too old to be a good match for you, otherwise I would have introduced him to you." The old lady said with a smile while munching on sunflower seeds. "But I think the young man behind you is quite nice. If you can't find a suitable one later, you can live together."
“…Auntie, let’s talk about something serious.” Ling Yi abruptly interrupted this strange topic: “Let’s talk about whether you noticed anything unusual, or any unusual people, or…whether anyone behaved in any unusual way on the day of the incident.”
This one sentence completely ignited the old lady's thirst for conversation.
She went from an old man in the village not washing his dentures in the morning, to someone not washing his face to watch the spectacle, to an old man touching a corpse, and then being so frightened that he died less than half a year later.
They talked for almost an hour, but not much useful information was provided. Ling Yi still didn't interrupt.
She kept recalling the compiled information in her mind and comparing it with what the old man was saying now.
The useful information differs slightly, but not much, and is within the acceptable range of the elderly's forgetfulness spectrum.
After the old lady had drunk two cups of strong tea, Ling Yi finally said goodbye.
The elderly man saw them to the door, and didn't forget to say, "Come again when you have time!"
Upon hearing this, Ling Yi and Xiang Ke exchanged a glance and both smiled.
It's clear that the elderly person lives alone and is lonely, yet they can chat with these strangers for so long.
In other places, the situation was much the same for everyone.
They're either reclusive old people who don't want to talk to them, or they're people who keep talking to them.
By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted.
"This is the last one." Standing in front of the last door, Ling Yi took a deep breath and knocked: "Hello, is anyone home?"
The dog in the yard barked because of her words, and Lingyi heard someone open the door; it was another kind old lady.
After being turned away twice, Ling Yi breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this face.
"I know, I know, you're the police officers who investigated the murder of Old Zhang's family." She smiled and ushered the two in: "I've been waiting for you for hours after I heard the news in the village group chat, and you've finally arrived!"
Ling Yi followed behind, looking at her yard full of yellow and white corn, and was stunned for a moment before saying, "You planted so much corn?"
The old man sat on his small stool next to the pile of corn and slowly peeled the corn cobs.
As she worked, she smiled and said, "That's right. I don't know how to do anything else besides farming."
"I've farmed this land my whole life. I can't just stop farming because of the demolition!"
Don't be fooled by the fact that the elderly people in this village are all alone at home. In reality, they are all elderly people who have benefited from the development of Beijing and have been relocated due to demolition. They are not short of money at all.
This old lady's farming can only be described as... a hobby.
"I picked these ears of corn myself, one by one, without using any machines!" the old woman said proudly. "Those guys, they use machines for this little bit of stuff, they're not as good as this seventy-year-old lady!"
"You're still so vigorous for your age!" Ling Yi praised, and then naturally sat down next to the old woman to help her with the chores.
A sly glint flashed in the old man's eyes. He then looked at Xiang Ke, who was about to write something in a notebook, and said with a smile, "Oh dear, young man, why are you writing all this down?"
"Don't you all have body cameras now? Record it first, and then watch it when you get back to work!"
She tossed the husked corn into another pile and said with a smile, "You police officers have to investigate countless cases in your lifetime, but this might be your only chance to husk corn!"
He accidentally revealed his hometown accent.