South to North: A Prison Guard at the Beginning

"What do you mean by rich experience? I'm still not as experienced as you, Brother Yuan. You've only been here for a short time, and you've solved so many cases, big and small. I should learn from you." Mingyu waved his hand.

"You can't say that. You came earlier than me, so you are my senior." Yuan Mu said politely.

"Okay, now that you're here, stop being so polite to each other." Captain Jiang couldn't stand it anymore and reached out to stop the two of them.

"Captain Jiang, what case will be assigned to me next? Oh no, assigned to both of us?" Yuan Mu asked.

"Yes, there have been many robberies and gang fights near our railway recently, which have had a very bad impact. After investigation, it seems that the same group of people committed the crime, but their whereabouts are erratic and their whereabouts are not yet known."

"Your next task is to investigate the origins of this group of people and arrest them if possible!" Captain Jiang said to the two men.

Just as they were talking, a police officer knocked on the door and came in.

"Captain Jiang, there has been a murder in Xiahe Village. We need to go there."

Xiahe Village is a village near the railway and happens to be under the jurisdiction of this side, so the criminal police team needs to send police officers. After all, it involves homicide, and the police station needs to report it.

"You two, come with me!" Captain Jiang stood up, put on his hat, and said to Yuan Mu and Ming Yu.

"Yes!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Soon, everyone drove to Xiahe Village, which was not far from the Criminal Police Team and took less than twenty minutes to drive there.

The scene has been cordoned off by police officers from the police station, and surrounded by ordinary people who are watching the fun. Watching the fun is part of Chinese people's nature.

The three men crossed the cordon and entered the house. It was a separate courtyard with two tiled houses, which was considered good conditions in that era.

As they walked to the side of the house, they could smell a foul odor, and the three of them frowned at the same time.

"Old Zhao, what's going on?" Captain Jiang walked up to the head of the police station and asked.

"Captain Jiang, the deceased is Wei Honghua, female, unemployed, 31 years old, married, with one child, a boy, three years old."

"My husband's name is Tan Hui, he is 34 years old, and he is a worker in our railway locomotive section. His whereabouts are unknown now."

"Has the cause of death been determined? When did he die?" Captain Jiang asked with a frown.

"According to our preliminary investigation, the cause of death should be a sharp weapon, and the time of death is estimated to be at least two days, but this still requires further forensic examination."

After listening to the other party's narration, Yuan Mu put on shoe covers, gloves and walked into the house.

There weren't many facilities in the house, but it was well decorated and had everything it needed. Turning left into the bedroom, I saw a female corpse lying there in a weird posture with her eyes wide open, obviously dying with her eyes open.

There were two forensic doctors wearing gloves and masks examining the body next to the corpse. Yuan Mu walked over and carefully observed the body. He found that the woman's clothes were messy, her hair was disheveled, and there were some corpse spots on her body. It was obvious that she had been dead for at least two days.

"Comrade, how is the inspection going?" Yuan Mu asked.

"According to our preliminary examination, the victim had 17 stab wounds all over his body, 15 of which were not fatal, and the remaining two were fatal."

"One is on the back of the head, and the other is on the back of the neck. We did not find any obvious signs of sexual assault on the victim, but we have to take him back for a detailed examination." One of the forensic doctors said to Yuan Mu.

Yuan Mu nodded slowly. If that was the case, then the suspect would not use a knife, or he was not intending to kill anyone.

Yuan Mu walked out of the room, came to Captain Jiang and looked at the person in charge of the police station.

"Chief Zhao, hasn't the victim's husband returned yet?"

"No, we have contacted him, but his unit also said they couldn't find him." Director Zhao shook his head.

"Who discovered the victim?"

"It was found by the deceased's neighbor, over there." Director Zhao pointed to the woman who was taking a statement not far away.

Yuan Mu nodded and walked over.

"Hello comrade, I want to ask you something."

"Comrade Inspector, go ahead." The woman nodded, but her voice was a little trembling, and her hands were a little trembling, maybe she was scared.

After all, Wei Honghua's death was indeed tragic, and ordinary people would easily be scared after seeing it.

"Is this Wei Honghua on good terms with her husband?"

"Very well, they have always had a good relationship and I've never heard them quarrel." The woman thought for a moment and then replied.

"Then when was the last time you saw Wei Honghua?"

"It seemed like three days ago, and I haven't watched it since."

"Then how did you find out that Wei Honghua was dead?"

"Just today, my husband was on a business trip, and I wanted to chat with her. I knocked on the door but no one answered. Then I saw that the door was not locked, so I went in. I watched what happened. I was so scared!" The woman still felt scared when she mentioned this.

"What about their children?"

"The child is at Old Liu's house. They are helping to look after him. It's over there in the yard." The woman pointed to the yard on the other side.

Yuan Mu looked in the direction of the finger, then nodded and walked towards the yard with Mingyu.

I asked the Liu family again, and found out that what the woman said was basically the same. I also saw the child, but the child seemed to be unaware that their mother was dead.

It turned out that the child's father, Tan Hui, gave the Liu family a sum of money in advance, saying that he would take his wife back to her parents' home overnight. It was inconvenient for him to take the child with him, so he asked the Liu family to help take care of the child for a few days.

"Then didn't you go to their house in the middle?" Yuan Mu asked with a frown.

"No, my husband is busy at work and I have kids at home. I don't have time to leave them. Besides, they said they were going back to their hometown, so I didn't think much about it."

Now that the basic situation was understood, Yuan Mu took Mingyu back to the Tan family yard and found Captain Jiang.

"What's going on?" Captain Jiang asked.

"I suspect that this Tan Hui may have committed a serious crime, but based on the description of his neighbors, he should have no motive for committing the crime. We need further investigation to find out the details." Yuan Mu shook his head.

"Okay, let's go back and hold a meeting to study it first. Lao Zhao, we will go back first and follow up on the case further."

"Okay." Director Zhao nodded.

The three of them then took a car back to the criminal police team. At that time, there were not many people in the criminal police team. Finally, Captain Jiang handed the case over to Yuan Mu and Ming Yu for investigation.

The most important thing now is to find this Tan Hui first and check if he is the one.