Rebirth 90: The Long Road to Finding a Son

Not long after the Qian family had lunch, people from the town police station came to investigate the case of the Qian family losing one thousand yuan.

When Mrs. Qian saw the police in uniform, she was startled. It was because the "big hat" had been coming to her house too often recently.

When she heard that the police were here to investigate the theft at home, Mrs. Qian breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed the police officer's hand as if she had seen a savior and refused to let go: "Police officer, you have to help us. If we can't get the money back, it will cost us our lives..."

In this era, for rural families, one thousand yuan is not too much, but not too little either. If you only rely on farming and have no other means of livelihood, it will take a long time to save up this money. Many children have to drop out of school because their families cannot or are unwilling to pay two or three hundred yuan for tuition per semester.

The police comrades looked at the crying old lady Qian and the sighing and worried old man Qian, and they felt very sympathetic towards their plight.

But the case cannot be solved just by saying it, they have to investigate the scene first to look for clues.

The police said to Mrs. Qian and Mr. Qian, "Auntie, uncle, don't worry, take us to the scene first! Oh, by the way, you didn't destroy the traces at the scene, did you?"

When Mrs. Qian heard this, her heart skipped a beat. Before she could think of how to respond, the police had already followed her into the house.

The scene inside the house really shocked the two policemen. They saw all kinds of pillowcases, quilt covers, and old clothes scattered on the floor and on the kang, and the scene was in chaos.

They frowned, looking at the empty cabinets and the room with nowhere to step, and asked, "Were all these robbed by a thief? This thief is really wicked. He just stole the money and made it look like a burglary!"

Old Mrs. Qian stammered in response, "Well, police, police comrade, I found it myself. I went to the cabinet to look for the money at noon, but I couldn't find it. I got anxious and started to look through everything. In the end, I turned out everything in the cabinet, but I still couldn't find the small flowered cloth bag containing the money. This is killing me."

I don’t know which bastard would do such a wicked thing that would destroy my entire family line. If I catch him, I’ll chop off his hands and paws~”

As Mrs. Qian spoke, she became more and more emotional, and began to curse and swear. If she knew that the money was stolen by her most proud grandson, I wonder how she would react.

The police didn't have time to listen to Mrs. Qian's nagging, so they interrupted her directly: "Auntie, Auntie, calm down first. The key to the problem now is to have clues to solve the case. You see, you have destroyed the scene so much that there is no trace left. This is going to be difficult."

When Old Man Qian heard this, he became a little anxious and said quickly: "Comrade police, you must help us investigate this matter, you can't just ignore us~"

Old Lady Qian followed suit and said, "Aren't you responsible for finding evidence to solve the case? If the evidence is out in the open, we can find it ourselves. Why do we need to report it to the police?"

I tell you, if you don't bother to take care of my family's affairs, I will go to your unit to complain. I want to see how many idle people your unit has. You can't even catch the people who lost the money, so what else can I expect you to do?"

It didn't take long for Mrs. Qian to pretend, as her unreasonable nature was exposed.

What little sympathy the police officer had for the old couple had completely disappeared because of what Old Lady Qian said.

A police officer said to the old lady, "Auntie, handling cases is our job responsibility. We will definitely do our best to investigate, but not all cases can be solved.

Now, let’s not talk about other things. First, tell us specifically when the money was put in the cabinet, whether the cabinet was locked, and what the cabinet was like when you found out the money was stolen. Have there been any suspicious people in your home in the past two days…”

The police asked a series of questions about the case. Old Mrs. Qian stopped being unreasonable and began to respond seriously.

She said: "My second son came back yesterday and gave me 1,000 yuan. My second son is filial. He works outside to make money and can't come back all the time, but he sends money to my husband and me every month. Yesterday he had time to come back and gave me so much money again..."

The police officer interrupted, "Madam, let's not talk about anything else first, let's talk about the lost money first!"

Old Mrs. Qian replied, "Oh, my second son gave me this money. I put it in my pocket for fear of losing it, so when no one was in the room, I wrapped it in a small floral cloth and stuffed it inside a small cotton mattress in the middle of the cabinet."

As she spoke, Old Mrs. Qian took out the small cotton mattress that was one meter square from the pile of clothes.

The police asked again: "We just checked, and the locks of your cabinet are all in good condition. Did you lock the cabinet after you put the money in it?"

Old Mrs. Qian replied, "I locked it. This cabinet has always been locked. I am the only one with the key. I am in charge of all the money in the family. I dare not be careless! If something hadn't happened to my eldest grandson today, I would not have noticed that the money was gone if I needed it!"

"You mean, when you found the money missing, the cabinet was still intact and there was no sign that it had been touched?" the police asked.

Old Mrs. Qian nodded and said, "That's right. The money was gone during my sleep. Something happened at home today and many strangers came. I don't know if some wicked person took it away."

The police officer said, "From the current situation, it is more likely that the crime was committed by an acquaintance. Where do you usually keep your keys? Does anyone else know?"

Mrs. Qian answered truthfully: "The key is always tied to my belt, and no one can get it. I can only take it off when I take off my clothes before going to bed."

At this point, the police made a rough judgment: "Auntie, please don't mind me saying this, but we cannot rule out the possibility that a family member or other acquaintance committed the crime. Especially someone who knows where you put your keys and where you hide your money, how could an outsider take the money without anyone noticing?"

When Old Mrs. Qian heard this, she thought it made sense, but who in the family was so bold as to steal her money?

How could I not notice someone coming into the room, taking the key and opening the cabinet when I was sleeping at night?

Even if I didn't hear it, didn't the old man hear it? Oh, by the way, the second son's wife and two children slept in the same room with them last night. Could it be the second son's wife?

Then she shook her head and denied this speculation. Not to mention that the second son gave the money voluntarily, even if the second son's wife disagreed, she was a daughter of a wealthy family after all, how could she do such a sneaky thing? She automatically blocked the idea that the second son and his wife stole the child.

Then she thought of her eldest daughter-in-law Yu Min, and she felt that she had revealed the truth.