The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 325 - 296 Clues, Insults, Speculation_1

Chapter 325: Chapter 296 Clues, Insults, Speculation_1

Third Grandma Qi, after hearing this, soothed her, "We haven’t done anything wrong, and we’re not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. The deaths of Hu Erlai and Hu Goudan have nothing to do with us. They destroyed the things in our village, and not going after them already showed great benevolence. Whoever gossips is the one with a guilty conscience."

"Yes, mom, the deaths of those two have nothing to do with our family," He Tiantian advised, even if there was a connection, it was because they acted as accomplices to a villain, and now that things are exposed, the others have started to silence them by killing.

Wang Shuping nodded and said, "In any case, we are innocent, and no one can wrongly accuse us."

"Hu Erlai died falling into a trap and being stabbed, but how did Hu Ergou die?" He Tiantian asked. The death of Hu Goudan might bring a breakthrough to the baffling case.

To kill Hu Goudan, especially with the police at Hujia Village, already shows desperation.

The more they do, the more tracks they leave behind.

"Pushed off a cliff behind the hill and fell to his death," Third Grandma Qi answered. "Who idles about going up the mountain? Probably up to no good..."

He Tiantian took note of this in her heart.

At the same time, He Tiantian also felt some regret. Why hadn’t she let Snake King read Hu Ergou’s memory too at the time? Ah, she thought she was being smart, assuming Second Leprosy was the mastermind, and that Hu Goudan was just a minor follower. Not knowing who was behind everything, she didn’t go the extra mile!

She forgot that Hu Erlai had no wife or children; the one who knew him best was his follower, Hu Goudan.

But now it was too late for regrets; Hu Goudan was already dead.

At Hujia Village, Qi Ling was completely perplexed by the confusing case.

Just when Qi Ling was at a loss, he heard Old Wu coming with an elder, saying, "Captain Qi, Hu Goudan’s father has come. He says he has something to report."

Qi Ling stood up to personally greet Hu Goudan’s father.

This was a man in his fifties, with gray hair and a face full of wrinkles.

"Elder, my condolences. We’re currently investigating urgently, trying to find the real culprit as soon as possible, to get justice for your son," Qi Ling began, trying to soothe the old man’s grief, "If you have any clues, think carefully and tell us."

The old man wiped his eyes and choked up, "Officer, I only had one son, though he messed around sometimes, he didn’t commit any major wrongs. After Second Leprosy died, something was off with him. He locked himself at home, laughing one moment and then acting scared and restless the next. I thought he was scared witless and wanted to take him to the doctor, but he said he was fine. After much questioning, he told me he was going to be rich."

"Rich?" Qi Ling frowned. In this era, there were no chances to get rich overnight!

"Yes, he said someone would bring him money in a few days," the old man continued. "I asked who would bring him the money, but he wouldn’t tell me. He just told me that from then on, we’d eat well, drink well, and no one in Hujia Village would bully us anymore. I didn’t take it seriously. The day before yesterday, I called him to work, but he refused, saying he wanted to walk in the back hills. I couldn’t persuade him, so I went to work by myself. He didn’t come home at night. It wasn’t unusual for him not to come home; I didn’t worry. But when he still hadn’t returned by yesterday afternoon, and people went looking for him... well, they found my son..."

Everyone already knew what had happened next.

Hu Goudan fell into the ravine and died!

Qi Ling pondered the old man’s words carefully.

Someone was giving him money?

Who would give him money for no reason?

Enjoying the good and drinking the spicy, no one in Hujia Village dared to bully them anymore?

That sentence was key, Qi Ling could deduce that Hu Goudan must have benefitted from someone, and that person had to be from Hujia Village. Hu Goudan and his father had always been looked down upon; only a village official could have improved their status in Hujia Village.

As for why a village official would be willing to help Hu Goudan, it was definitely not out of sympathy for Hu Goudan, but because Hu Goudan had something on him that compelled him to act this way.

Similarly, perhaps Hu Erlai’s death was also because he knew this secret and was silenced because of it.

"Old sir, think again, are there any details that have been overlooked? Anything related to your son, you must say it all, and it’s best not to leave anything out," Qi Ling said. From the old man’s words, he already had a basic scope.

In a village, there are only a few village officials; he would investigate them one by one.

After carefully thinking, the old man, with nothing to lose now that his son was dead, said, "Although my son was a scoundrel, he rarely cursed anyone. But recently, I heard him cursing ’whores,’ ’nasty women,’ ’bitches’... I scolded him a few times and asked him who he was scolding. He told me not to ask further."

Qi Ling was overjoyed; he had obtained another piece of evidence—the mastermind might be a woman.

However, there was also another possibility—this woman might be one of the masterminds.

After all, Hu Erlai and Hu Goudan were both young men with considerable strength.

If there was only one woman, it would be unlikely that she could have pushed Hu Goudan down the cliff after killing Hu Erlai, especially with Hu Goudan on his guard. From this, he deduced there might be an accomplice!

"Thank you, old sir. If you think of anything else, make sure to tell us," Qi Ling said, having gained extremely useful information from Hu Goudan’s father.

The old man wiped his eyes and said, "I’ll leave it to the police then. If I think of anything, I’ll come over and tell you."

After the old man left, Qi Ling, Old Wu, and Xiao Chen held a meeting to narrow their focus onto a few village officials.

"Old Wu, what do you think?" Qi Ling asked. "We’re currently clueless, but based on what Hu Goudan’s father said, we can boldly imagine all sorts of scenarios."

Old Wu chuckled and said, "I think the people who killed Hu Goudan and Hu Erlai should be from the same group."

"You also think they’re not from the same group?" Qi Ling asked in return, his thoughts aligning with his own.

"Yes, the pair of murderers should be a man and a woman. They were caught in their affair by Hu Erlai and then blackmailed by him. The fact that Hu Erlai died in that remote grove, in a trap that was deliberately dug, suggests this was premeditated. It’s possible the male and female, unable to bear the extortion, decided to kill him," Old Wu said slowly, taking a puff of his cigarette to refresh himself.

"I think so too. They thought that by killing Hu Erlai, there would be no more trouble, but they never expected Hu Goudan also knew about their affair. Moreover, Hu Goudan knew not only about their affair but also about a murder. So they decided to finish it once and for all and killed Hu Goudan too," Qi Ling added, reasoning in the absence of more definitive clues.

Making reasonable speculations was also one of the methods of solving the case.