National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 515 - 515 473 Effort Made_2

515: Chapter 473: Effort Made_2 515: Chapter 473: Effort Made_2 “Got it,” Bai Jian paused before adding, “Jiang Yuan better not overlook anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Huang Qiangmin’s smile was like he was about to sprout teeth.

…

Ma Jiazhuang.

Mu Zhiyang followed the detectives from Shiting County, asking around from house to house, making records.

The work he was doing was very peripheral, the real detectives were with the local police, led by village cadres, sequentially inquiring the families related to the victim, Ma Jun.

Shiting County had their targeted list of suspects, which included villagers who bore grievances or even grudges against Ma Jun.

People had been resting and reproducing here for over a hundred years, some relationships were close, while others were laden with deep-seated resentment.

Bai Jian was more concerned about these vendettas, after all, the small benefits afforded by Ma Jiazhuang weren’t worth the murder of three people.

The detectives he sent out naturally prioritized questioning the villagers and their relatives on these lists.

Mu Zhiyang and several members of Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad were assigned here to bolster the efforts, naturally ending up with the less critical inquiries.

Even so, the detectives from Shiting County didn’t fully trust them and still sent someone to follow.

Being a detective was all about trusting no one, as if it were a professional hazard destined to wear oneself thin.

Mu Zhiyang’s condition was a little lighter.

He had been mixed up with Jiang Yuan for too long, having followed Jiang Yuan’s orders so often, he had no choice but to believe in certain things.

In the process of making inquiry records at Ma Jiazhuang, Mu Zhiyang didn’t have the urge to extract any particular information; his approach was more like casual chatting, pulling aside the elderly at home for a random conversation.

These days, it was mostly the elderly and children living in the village, chatting all day long, having discussed everything there was to discuss, and any novelty would spread throughout the village from morning to evening.

A young man like Mu Zhiyang, dressed in a police uniform and willing to chat with the old men and women, was almost more popular than the story of Ma Jun’s death.

Logically, there wasn’t much for the residents to hide.

Ma Jun was from Ma Jiazhuang, his entire family dead except for a son who had gone to work in Changyang City.

The villagers should have been helping the police to find the murderer.

However, when the police asked everyone to describe the ex-convicts among their relatives and friends, that made people somewhat murmur.

After visiting a few houses, Mu Zhiyang had gained some experience.

While chatting, he asked with a smile, “You usually don’t have dealings with the police, right?

What do you do if something is stolen from the fields?”

“Things missing from the fields aren’t considered stolen.

If it’s ripe, whoever takes it is just helping themselves a little.

If it’s not ripe and gets stolen, that’s just ruining things.

We don’t report it to the police,” the old lady said as she sat in the kitchen, lighting firewood to smoke meat, chatting with Mu Zhiyang and the others.

Smoked meat was a tradition in the surrounding areas of Shitin County because of the excessive humidity.

Without smoking the meat, the pork from the Spring Festival wouldn’t last until April of the next year without getting maggots.

Traditional Shitin County smoked meat would hang above the stove, getting smoked during daily cooking.

However, with people now consuming more meat, just a few pieces hanging above the stove weren’t enough to satisfy the appetite.

The village elders also had the task of providing smoked meat for their children, and some would smoke even more to sell to peddlers, earning a bit of extra money.

Smelling the aroma of the smoked meat, Mu Zhiyang continued to chat about it with the old lady.

He had no set quota of tasks anyway, and his day was spent going out and about.

In the discussion of theft, the old lady said, “In the village, it used to be Ma Zhongmou’s eldest grandson who was the naughtiest.

He even stole my smoked meat to sell for money, then spent the money playing games in the town.

That boy has grown up now, and once they grow up, they don’t come back.”

The old lady poked at the fire to send up more smoke, then added, “Now the village fields are lying fallow, with crops growing that nobody eats, so there isn’t even anyone to steal smoked meat anymore.”

Mu Zhiyang flipped through his notebook and asked, “The eldest grandson of Ma Zhongmou you mentioned, what’s his name?”

The old lady thought for a moment and said, “Ma…

Jiuhuang, that’s it.”

“Oh, so this Ma Jiuhuang, did he ever go to prison?” Mu Zhiyang took notes.

“He didn’t go to prison.

There was no need for that, just some issue with taking smoked meat.”

“Oh, then where did he go to work afterward, did he do odd jobs?”

“I don’t know about that, Ma Zhongmou died several years ago, and he too was not fated to enjoy life…”

Mu Zhiyang finished his notes and then chatted with the old lady aimlessly for a while before continuing with his record-keeping.

After walking out and switching to another household, Mu Zhiyang followed the same approach, even bringing up the information just obtained, tossing out a few words on the fly, and casually verifying one or two points.

Speaking of which, Mu Zhiyang had become quite familiar with the investigation process, having participated in two or three organized by Xu Taining himself.

The experts from the provincial department brought by Xu Taining, or the experts from Changyang City and other places, would give Xu Taining assistance in directing and so on, and there would always be some brief training each time.

If you let Mu Zhiyang lead the investigation himself, naturally, he would be inadequate, but having him participate in the investigation, he had already been doing quite well.

After making inquiry records at five families in a row, half a day had already passed.

Mu Zhiyang reported to the head of the detective squad in charge and managed to get the addresses of several people identified during the investigation, sending the information accordingly to the detectives dispatched to those areas.

There were several dozen detectives in Shiting County, currently floating around outside, following up on the addresses of the people identified in the investigation and continuous inquiries and investigations by the detectives assigned to the respective areas.

As for the local detectives, although they could ask for assistance or accompany them on the case, expecting to borrow their direct involvement in the case was not very realistic.

After Mu Zhiyang finished his tasks, he returned to Shiting County, had a good night’s sleep, and then went to help out the next day.

For two days, and then on the third, Mu Zhiyang got up early to catch a ride in front of the police station, only to see Bai Jian and others, already groomed to perfection, standing on the steps early, striking poses.

“What’s this?” Mu Zhiyang had a hunch and hurriedly caught a familiar detective to inquire.

“Ah, Officer Mu arrives,” the detective shouted, attracting the attention of Bai Jian and the others.

Mu Zhiyang, still confused, was pushed to the base of the steps, and the photo shoot began.

“Little Mu’s here.”

“Mu Team, look over here.”

“Mu Zhiyang, ah, you’ve been working hard.”

Familiar scenes and a familiar system of phrases made Mu Zhiyang subconsciously touch his arms and legs, thinking: Could it be that I was injured in the past two days, but I don’t know it?

Luckily, Wang Chuanxing came over and quietly explained to Mu Zhiyang, “The Ma Jiuhuang you identified, his cellmate in the detention center is the murderer.”

Ma Jiuhuang was just a fellow villager of Ma Jun, and their familial relationship was distant, at least five degrees removed; the cellmate from the detention center was an even more tenuous link.

Mu Zhiyang was surprised and said, “Such a distant connection can be made?”

“Height, weight, age, and shoe size – when you add up all these factors, there aren’t many ex-cons who fit the bill.” Wang Chuanxing paused, then said, “Ma Jiuhuang is already a habitual thief, and he seems eager to earn some merit.”