Chapter 465: A Poverty-Stricken Family
Chapter 465: A Poverty-Stricken Family
Chen Shi asked, "How do you know? Did you see her that day?"
"Yeah... I happened to look for my brother that day for the matter I told you about last time. When I got to his door, I happened to see him coming back with Second Aunt. And then Second Aunt said that she won’t disturb us and left.”
"Why did your second aunt go to see your brother?"
"How would I know? At the time, I was in a fit of rage. I fought with my brother as soon as I entered the door, so would I have bothered to ask him about this?"
"How long did your second aunt linger at the door?"
"She just said that and left. Maybe not even a minute."
"Okay, thank you!"
Chen Shi hung up the phone and asked the security guard Little Sun, "You said that this woman left after half an hour?"
"Yeah, it's clear in the footage. I brought it with me."
"Leave it here. I'll take a look later."
"Officer, is this clue important?"
"When you dig out an ore, can you tell if it’s gold at a glance?"
"Aiya, don't talk in riddles with me. I just want to know if this can make up for my crime."
"We won't arrest you, don’t worry!" As Little Sun was about to cheer, Chen Shi added another sentence. "But there is a condition. We need to know who are the people buying these photos as well as all the forums and QQ groups.”
Little Sun was a little reluctant, but in order not to go to prison, he agreed. Chen Shi sent him to Lin Qiupu and asked Lin Qiupu to arrange for a police officer who specialized in this to get involved in the investigation.
Chen Shi reviewed the footage brought in by Little Sun. As he said, the second aunt and the deceased entered the entrance together at around 8:00 PM on July 22nd, and then the second aunt left at 8:30 alone.
Chen Shi had visited the housing district several times, and even the elderly who weren’t able-bodied wouldn’t take half an hour to get in and out.
Song Yuqiang didn’t need to lie about the length of his second aunt’s stay. That is to say, the woman did stay in the housing district for a while after saying goodbye to the deceased that night. But what did she do?
She was also the mother of Wanjun. This woman had appeared in Chen Shi's field of vision again.
Chen Shi went over to Old Zhang. "Hasn’t the Australian university responded yet?"
"No, maybe it's summer vacation."
"Find a way to get in touch as soon as possible. If you can't, just call them... Dongxue, let's go out."
Lin Dongxue ran out and asked, "Where are we going?"
"To see someone!"
Chen Shi obtained the address of the second aunt from Song Yuqiang and the two drove there. The second aunt lived in an old dormitory of a closed-down state-owned enterprise. There wasn’t a property manager there and they relied on a neighborhood committee auntie to collect bill payments door-to-door from every household.
Knocking on the door, a trembling middle-aged man opened the door, and asked who they were looking for. Lin Dongxue presented her badge. "We are looking for Ms. Song Xiulan. Are you her husband?"
"Yes, she will be back in a while. Please come in first!"
The man let the two enter the house. Chen Shi noticed that the house was dark and messy. The bedside table was covered in medicine bottles. The man ran to the bathroom, coughed for a while, spat up some phlegm, and then returned to the bed. “Please excuse me. My health isn’t very good… I know why you came. That child did die really suddenly. We didn’t expect it either. Haii, how sad his parents must be!
"I heard that both your families are very close." Chen Shi said.
"The main reason is that my wife often goes over. In the past, Song Yuwen’s parents were too busy to take care of their family. My wife took care of their children for several years. Then my health deteriorated over the past two years. Song Yuwen’s family gave a lot of financial support to our family and we’re very grateful for it.” As he spoke, the man lapsed into a fit of coughing again.
"Your daughter is studying abroad?"
"Yeah, she’s studying in Australia. She originally said that she was going to come back during summer vacation, but she wasn’t able to do so in the end because of some matter at school.”
"Do you talk on the phone often?"
"Her mother often calls her, and they would chat for a very long time. As a father, I don’t have much to say... Actually, Wanjun doesn't know that I'm sick like this. If she knew, I'm afraid it would interfere with her studies."
"What interference with her studies? I think it’s but the one-sided thinking of adults. I think it would be better to tell your daughter." Chen Shi said.
"No need!" The man waved his hand. "When she comes home for New Year, I wouldn’t be able to conceal it even if I wanted to."
"When was the last time Wanjun came back?"
"Last year... No, the New Year the year before last. Look, that's the gift she bought for us. It's some Western novelty." The man pointed to a handicraft on the shelf. The Western handicraft didn't match the crude home at all.
Chen Shi took it to have a look and asked, "Mr. Shi, I have a question. Please don’t be offended! Your family is not particularly wealthy. Why did you think of sending your child to study abroad?"
"Haii, this was the child's own desire. Of course, as parents, we must satisfy her wishes... Besides, the tuition fees abroad are actually not that expensive. It is about 50,000 to 60,000 every year. In addition, she was awarded a scholarship at school and works part-time to earn money. We can just barely manage to support her studies. "
"How much is your salary a month?"
"I haven't been able to go to work like this. My wife works two jobs outside and with everything combined, we manage to get by somehow. In fact, we only need to suffer for another year before our daughter graduates and comes back to China. Us two old ones will be waiting to enjoy our blessings when that time comes." The man displayed a heartfelt smile.
"What’s Wanjun’s major?"
"I don't know much about that kind of stuff, but I think it was something like import and export trade. Our family has lost out due to having no education and only knows the truth that knowledge changes one's destiny. So no matter how hard it is, we have to raise a university student."
"That's very true!" Chen Shi smiled. He noticed that the man seemed too talkative. Every time Chen Shi asked a small question, he would say a great deal, as if he had prepared in advance.
The spear of suspicion in his heart had already been pointed towards this family. Only that it wasn’t clear yet who he should point it towards.
At this time, Ms. Song came back and wasn’t too surprised to see the police in her home. She put down the vegetables she was holding and wiped her hands. "Aiya, our home is small and messy, and there’s no place to sit. Sorry for troubling you. Shall we speak outside?"
When the three came outside, Chen Shi asked, "Ms. Song, your relationship with Song Yuwen is..."
"Oh, I’m the sister of Song Yuwen’s father.”
"Biological brother and sister?"
"No, we’re first cousins. If we go back in the family tree, my father and Song Yuwen’s grandpa were brothers.”
"Do you know why we came to find you?"
"I do. Something happened to Song Yuwen. He was such a good child. How can he die just like that?” As she said this, Ms. Song wiped her tears away sadly, and shortly returned to normal. "I know that you police would definitely question each and every family. Go ahead. I’ll tell you everything I know. "
"When was the last time you saw Song Yuwen?"
"Let me think about it... Three days ago, I think?"
"Why did you look for him?"
Ms. Song laughed. "It's really embarrassing to say, but I wanted to ask him to lend us some money."