Chapter 129

"Hmm, you started this case yourself, you go handle it yourself. You can choose to go on a business trip, or you can choose not to."

"Let's go to the scene and take a look. It's been so many years, there's been no trace for a long time."

Over here, Chen Fan packed his clothes and things, and with Li Tian, they contacted the local police station and some authoritative local elders to form a team and headed straight for the location.

When the audience saw the live broadcast, it was already the next day.

Chen Fan and Old Liu were drinking Red Bull, sporting dark circles under their eyes, and found the graveyard from back then.

"Drowned. At the time, this case was huge; a dozen forensic doctors gave the same answer."

Chen Fan stared at the ground; grass had already grown here, and there were no footprints left for a long time, only photos.

The photos show footprints.

There were many footprints, and the footprints of the people who appeared were actually all investigated.

There were no problems.

The parents were the ones who sued Jiang Yuan for rape, and the family of the man the woman was going to marry also sued in the same way.

Chen Fan stared at the village's renovations and said, "The village is developing quite well."

Li Tian said, "Nonsense, that case was made very big, the compensation money was so much, and a lot of people donated money, okay?"

Chen Fan said, "But, what I'm curious about is, Li Tian, if a relative of yours had their daughter violated, what would you do?"

"I've thought about what you said. You're saying to leave and change to another place, right? You suspect this village is using the woman's death to put on a show, right? I'm telling you, it is indeed hype, attracting attention, pulling for sympathy, pulling for money, but did this matter happen or not?"

Chen Fan was speechless and said, "Damn it, are you trying to die?"

"Don't ask me. First of all, this woman is dead, and then what you need to do is prove that the woman's death has no connection to her having relations with Jiang Yuan. Only then will it work."

Chen Fan was speechless, holding the photos and comparing them to the footprints.

He said, "There are people, these footprints aren't right. Do you really think I have no clues and am just talking nonsense here?"

"These footprints belong to the deceased's future father. So what? Is there a problem?"

Chen Fan stood there and said, "You tell me, I'm standing here, what am I doing?"

"Traceology, I know you can do this, footprints, right? You give your judgment, and I'll give you the result directly."

Chen Fan stood in place and said, "Suppose it's a rainy day, and I stand here, how deep do you think the footprints could be?"

Li Tian was stunned.

He looked at Chen Fan.

He said, "Uh, I haven't thought about that."

"Someone died here, do you think many people would come?"

"Looking at the wild grass, you can tell—not many."

"Suppose the soil quality hasn't changed, let's do an experiment, conduct a rainfall evaluation. Under that humidity, how deep can a person stand and step?"

What kind of experiment?

Over here, Li Tian directly got some water and poured it straight onto the ground.

Chen Fan stood there.

"Hmm, I'm standing here, you look at the depth of these footprints."

Li Tian slowly lowered his head to observe, looking at his watch.

Time ticked away, second by second, and then, when the result was obtained, Li Tian felt terrible.

"One hour, a whole hour."

Chen Fan said, "Hmm, one hour, on a rainy day, standing here for an hour—was the old man reciting poetry here?"

Li Tian stood in Chen Fan's position and looked at the dilapidated house in the distance; he could just happen to see the window position.

He looked over here again.

After thinking for a moment, Li Tian ran to the grass on the side, took a shovel, and started digging.

Zhang Tianxiong helped.

Soon, they found a white plastic bag.

"Plastic bags are really a bad thing; even underground, they won't be destroyed. We're in luck."

Chen Fan said, "This thing, what do you think?"

"That's none of your business."

Li Tian took his men and arrested the old man directly. Holding the plastic bag, Li Tian questioned the man, saying, "At the time, you were smoking in the grass over there, why?"

The old man was scared and looked at Li Tian.

"I didn't, I didn't go."

"One hour—without more than an hour, how could the footprints be so deep and so firm? I was also curious, why were your footprints so clear?"

The old man didn't speak.

Chen Fan leaned over and said one sentence.

This sentence caused the entire live broadcast room to explode.

"Old man, this girl who married over, was she for you to use, or for your son to use?"

The old man instantly dodged his eyes.

This dodging action made Li Tian explode with rage, and he said, "Take him away, damn it, beast."

Chen Fan silently took out three cigarettes, placed them by the river, and said, "For you. I know you don't smoke, and I didn't bring incense, so just this—it's the thought that counts, don't mind it."

Subsequently, Chen Fan lowered his head, then raised it again.

Using Jiang Yuan's voice, he said, "I've come to find you, don't be in a hurry, wait for me."

In an instant, countless people in the live broadcast room were in tears.

Sometimes, rituals are just that useful. In fact, feudal superstition is not to be believed; ordinary people know this, but do rich people not know it?

Actually, they know it, but why are they still willing to spend money and be willingly deceived? It's actually because those words were spoken into their own hearts.

Because it's spoken into the heart, this kind of emotional value is rare, so these people are willing to spend money to pay for it.

There are actually quite a few people in the village who need to be arrested. If this matter is wrong, then this group of people actually all need to be punished.

Where did the money actually go?

Everyone knows it in their hearts; those who used this matter to live their lives should all be punished.

But the person is already dead, and the ridiculous thing is that after the person died, everyone started paying attention to the dead Jiang Yuan. When he was alive, no one paid any attention to Jiang Yuan himself.

Sitting on the high-speed train back, Chen Fan lay down to rest very early, while over here, Old Liu was leading the students to organize Jiang Yuan's belongings one by one.

Among the belongings were quite a few interesting things.

Stones given to this man by children in the mountain village, flowers given to the teacher by children in the mountain village, and shy letters written by this girl to the teacher in the mountain village.

And photos he liked very much; in the photos, she tilted her head, held up her fingers, and stood in front of the teacher's lens.

The letter was opened, and Old Liu handed it to Xiang Qinqin, who read it softly.

This was a suicide note.

"I never raped Xiaofang, we were truly in love."

"From the moment I entered the mountains, I saw those children, and I knew my choice was right. I could use the law to help many people, but I still hoped to use my knowledge to help these children."

"Xiaofang came to cook for me during that time; at that time, the things she made were many, many, and they were all made by the village pooling money for me."

"Xiaofang's parents actually liked me at first, and really hoped Xiaofang would marry me."

"But she was already engaged. Xiaofang cried to me every day, and I couldn't hold back. That day, I kissed Xiaofang."

"Xiaofang didn't refuse, she would come to find me every day, and go back quietly at night. That period was the happiest time for me."

"It's just, I don't understand why Xiaofang would jump into the river and commit suicide. It's impossible. I had already prepared a sum of money, I had already given that family a sum of money, and that family also said they wouldn't pester me anymore."

"Why, why?"

Xiang Qinqin choked up a bit as she read to this point.

"Xiaofang, wait for me, wait for me, I will come to find you."

Old Liu said, "Hmm, seal it up, right? These will all be used as evidence in court."

"Teacher, is this not allowed either?"

Old Liu said, "The child still has parents, a master, and friends; these people need it."

— Author's Notes —

PS: Seeking support, thank you everyone.

PS: Seeking everyone's data and follow-up reading.