My Life with Narration-Chapter 368 - 365: End of the Visit

[A Bone-Carving Knife, honorably retired after 21 years, having butchered a total of 2421 cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys, and pigs, never tainted by human blood]

At this moment, Su Qing discovered a bone-carving knife on the windowsill of the side room in the courtyard, and instinctively picked it up.

Goodness, it’s truly a dedicated and diligent bone-carving knife. In the Mysterious World, it might even count as a little treasure.

It carries a heavy killing aura, capable of harming weak spirits, but unfortunately, it’s not under the jurisdiction of the supernatural here.

Although this knife has been retired for several years, there isn’t a speck of rust on the blade; instead, it seems to have a layer of oil film,

and in the crevices of the wooden handle, there’s a layer of darkened grease. The blade is covered with a layer of dust, sticking to the oil film; all in all, it doesn’t look very clean.

The oil on it is quite normal, as Zhang Guoxin used to sell pork at the market. Take a look at the butcher’s knives there; which one isn’t greasy?

"What are you looking at?"

Just then, Du Qiang popped his head out from behind. Luckily, it was broad daylight; if it had been nighttime, he might have been stabbed by mistake.

"Here, this thing is a bone-carving knife. I’ve seen it more than once at the meat market when I was a kid back in my hometown. Liu Xiaojuan was probably killed by a knife like this!" Su Qing explained with an open palm.

To this, Du Qiang snorted, "Don’t I know this is a bone-carving knife? Don’t bother looking; when we visited before, we checked thoroughly, not just one family, but we didn’t find any clues on anyone’s knife, or else this case wouldn’t have dragged on till now."

Hearing this, Su Qing didn’t argue and put the knife back on the windowsill. The Zhang Family is indeed not big, and there aren’t any useful clues. As for other bone-carving knives that might be hidden, he felt it was unlikely; if there were, or if old Zhang knew, the narrator would have hinted.

If the narrator doesn’t hint, even if it exists, he probably won’t find it, and he can’t dismantle the place bit by bit to search.

Just then, Li Zijun returned from the entrance. Seeing this, Su Qing hurriedly went forward and asked, "Sister Jun, where did you go?"

"Went out for a walk, met with some other colleagues," Li Zijun said softly.

"Other colleagues? Are there others? How come I didn’t know?" Su Qing looked puzzled. When they arrived, there was just one police car, and there were only four people in the car—three of them here, and another one inside chatting with old Zhang.

Ever since the narrator provided a hint about Zhang Heng’s whereabouts, he had no interest in listening anymore and came out to the courtyard for some fresh air.

As Lin Chengcai said, today was a rare good day. It was overcast but not raining, not humid, with a slight cool breeze—not too hot or too cold—just right for a walk.

"Wouldn’t let you discover us, how could we do our work otherwise? It’s the team led by Zhao, they’ve placed wireless monitoring equipment here, watching from a distance," Li Zijun explained.

Upon hearing this, Su Qing frowned, "They’re already surveilling? Didn’t they say it wasn’t yet determined, and how long are they going to keep watching?"

Zhang Heng currently was only somewhat suspicious, far from being convicted or arrested. Besides, he only knew his whereabouts roughly through the narrator, and monitoring him like this seemed a pure waste of police resources.

"Once we have a direction, we have to investigate. The other party just lost contact—there’s no movement at the high-speed rail, train, or plane, so they can’t go too far in a short time. If they return home, it would be within these few days. Besides, we won’t keep watching indefinitely; if nothing turns up in three to five days, maybe a week, we’ll have to rethink our approach."

Upon this, Su Qing understood that since Zhang Heng hadn’t been categorized as a suspect yet, the investigation had to be conducted discreetly, without formal arrests, unless new evidence emerged to significantly raise the level of suspicion to warrant a summons or arrest.

Police work relies on evidence, not like the Ming Dynasty’s secret police, where suspicion was sufficient for detention. Usually, in films and TV shows where immediate arrest occurs, it’s mostly because the police have already gathered substantial evidence.

Otherwise, they could only bring someone in for questioning, and even that has a time limit, sometimes without any coercion allowed.

The three young ones wandered in the courtyard, while the elderly inside worked, yet they felt no guilt; more capable people should do more work.

Du Qiang couldn’t understand; after all, his mind was still nine-tenths new and in maintenance. Li Zijun wasn’t good at this; she excelled more at on-site surveys. As for Su Qing, he was purely bored, uninterested in listening to probing tactics, feeling it wasted time.

After all, he didn’t know psychology, relying instead on his cheat features. Having come this far, expecting him to rely on ability seemed somewhat disrespectful to his narrator character!

"Alright then, Uncle Zhang, we’ll be leaving first. Go back home, and don’t forget to notify us if there’s any news!" On the police car, Lin Chengcai waved and smiled.

"Got it, don’t worry. As soon as there’s news, I’ll contact you first thing to complete the procedures. Sorry to trouble you all."

"You’re too polite. We’re leaving then!"

As the few waved and signaled, the car slowly drove away from the village, and the entire process lasted about over an hour.

In the first half-hour, a few of them were inside the house, and the latter hour was completely Lin Chengcai working solo.

As soon as the car exited the village, old Lin glared at them and spat, "Asked you to follow me; in the end, you left me there alone and went out for some leisure, right? Do you even know what respecting the old and caring for the young means?

We, as police officers, especially you young ones, if you don’t get more involved in cases and learn how to stand alone in the future. Don’t understand, don’t learn, learn but don’t execute, what are you suggesting I do with you?"

Hearing this, Du Qiang couldn’t help but say, "Captain Lin, you told me and Sister Jun to keep an eye on the surroundings, right?"

"Did you gather any useful information?"

"Uh... not at all!"

"Then what the hell are you talking about!"

Du Qiang: ...

He finally understood, Bald Qiang really is a simpleton, didn’t he see that even Sister Zijun, who is Master Lin’s apprentice, didn’t say anything? Why are you chiming in for no reason?

"Master, I met with our colleagues around the area, and they don’t have any news for now. As it stands, either we wait for Zhang Heng to contact us or show up himself, or we hope someone else finds something." Li Zijun, sitting in the passenger seat, said calmly.

Hearing this, Lin Chengcai nodded, indeed, although they didn’t find the clues they wanted today, it wasn’t entirely fruitless. He then asked:

"Xiao Su, do you think there’s anything wrong with Zhang Guoxin? Is he lying?"

Su Qing twisted his neck and spoke calmly, "Haven’t you noticed, Lin squad? Do you still need to ask me?"

At this, a smile finally appeared on Lin Chengcai’s face, "I’m just checking with you, you know, I might make mistakes, adding you is like double insurance."

The conversation between the two only intrigued Li Zijun and Du Qiang more. What did they discover? How come they see it, and we’re just confused?

It’s like someone performing a magic trick in front of you, some people get it, and some don’t. Those who get it smile knowingly at each other, while those who don’t are scratching their heads, wanting to know the trick. If not told, they probably won’t be able to sleep at night, feeling quite uncomfortable.

Seeing the two still bewildered, Lin Chengcai continued, "Xiao Su, why don’t you tell us, I can verify as well."

No one found it inappropriate, after all, Su Qing is young and not an official member. If Lin Chengcai spoke first and he agreed, it would mean nothing. Conversely, if Su Qing spoke first and Lin verified, the conclusion would be more convincing.

Then Du Qiang and Li Zijun looked over, upon which Su Qing smiled and began, "I listened for half an hour, I wasn’t sure about the rest, but found two points of concern.

The first was when we just arrived at Zhang Guoxin’s house and greeted him, there was a brief moment his expression didn’t seem right, not panic, but clearly worried.

The other was quite obvious, when Lin squad asked him if he had been in touch with his son recently, his eyes drifted, and his fingers had a notable inward movement. He said he contacted his son a few days ago, which is evidently a lie. Based on our checks, he most likely received a call from Zhang Heng last night."

"He actually lied? Could this be related to him too? Or does he know something?" Du Qiang appeared surprised, as he had visited Zhang Guoxin in recent days and found nothing unusual.

Su Qing shook his head, "Not really, he probably just made some bad assumptions due to our frequent actions."

"I’m generally in line with Xiao Su’s views. Given this, let’s lock down the phone number from last night and keep a close watch on Zhang Guoxin’s communication, especially calls from outside the city." Lin Chengcai gave Su Qing an approving glance.

He thought this was truly valuable; no wonder they spent money to hire him specifically. Fresh graduates from police academies are initially no different from ordinary people, and those hired through school recruitment are mostly rich in theoretical knowledge. However, special hires must have something extraordinary.

The group of four finally returned before six o’clock.

As they stepped out of the hall, they heard wild laughter coming from the report desk on the first floor to the side, drawing their attention.

They exchanged glances and all leaned forward to see a muscular man in a white short-sleeve sitting in a chair, laughing uncontrollably.

"Officer... officer, my wife is missing, I came to report it immediately, you must find her for me, hahaha."

The young officer in front of him looked speechless.

"Sir, please calm down, your continuous laughter makes it hard for me to make a record."

"No... no problem, officer, take your time finding, it’s not urgent... pfft~ sorry, I couldn’t hold it in!"

Everyone: ...

"His wife is missing, why is he laughing so much?" Su Qing turned to ask.

Lin Chengcai took a deep breath, looked at the three, and said mysteriously, "You two will understand once you get married, it is indeed something to be happy about."

Li Zijun: ???

"What do you mean, Master, is there something else to this?"

"Well... you wouldn’t understand, you probably can’t relate," said Old Lin, strolling off leisurely, leaving the three bemused.

Su Qing was especially puzzled; someone being cheated on and yet being happy, what kind of mindset is that?

[Cui Yongqiang, a severe late-stage henpecked patient, his wife went missing and he was finally freed. However, what he doesn’t know is that his peace is someone else taking charge in front of the hotel for him!]

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