In fact, not only Zhang Yihan and I, as well as the villagers, were dumbfounded by Zhao Xiaotian's antics, but even Li Xia, who was kneeling in front of the coffin, almost lost it.
Her big, tear-filled eyes widened as she looked at Zhao Xiaotian in utter bewilderment. Her face was a picture of innocent confusion.
I could almost hear her thoughts: "How could my brother have such a ridiculous 'brother'..."
Only Zhao Xiaotian could pull off something like this. At that moment, I truly wondered if his actions were aimed at solving the case or just a ploy to flirt with the girl.
But, to be fair, his method seemed to work because Li Xia stopped crying and actually started talking to him.
With Zhao Xiaotian's silver tongue, it wasn't long before he had Li Xia standing up, her shoulders slightly more relaxed. Then, incredibly, he took her into a room and locked the door behind them.
Zhang Yihan and I waited outside for nearly half an hour before Zhao Xiaotian emerged. He immediately called us over and shared a significant lead.
Li Xia had told him that Xiao Li had bought a lot of land in the village over the past two years.
Zhang Yihan, quicker on the uptake, immediately asked Zhao Xiaotian, "Go ask Li Xia if the village is up for redevelopment."
"Heh, sure, but first give me a kiss..." he started to say, but was cut off by Zhang Yihan kneeing him in the groin.
"I'll bring her out here, you can ask her yourselves. Damn, you almost broke my gun," Zhao Xiaotian grumbled, then called Li Xia over.
I have to admit, he did have a knack for charming young women, though it clearly didn't work on Zhang Yihan.
"Li Xia, is your village being redeveloped?" Zhang Yihan asked.
Li Xia seemed momentarily confused, then looked at Zhang Yihan with wide eyes. "No, I don't think so."
"Li Xia, do you know if anyone else in the village has been buying a lot of land recently?" I interjected.
"Hmm, I think Dapeng-ge has bought quite a bit in recent years," Li Xia replied, still looking puzzled. "My brother was closest to Dapeng-ge. If you need more information, I can take you to him..."
I sighed inwardly. Such a naive girl. I wanted to tell her that it was likely Li Dapeng who had caused her brother's death.
After questioning Li Xia further, we didn't learn much more of value. We decided to head to the hospital next to check on Ge Lao and to discuss our findings with him.
Experience matters significantly in our line of work, and no amount of academic knowledge can replace the insights of seasoned investigators. We hoped Ge Lao could shed light on the new clues we had found.
By the time we reached the hospital, it was already noon. Ge Lao was in good spirits, reading a newspaper when we arrived.
After some brief pleasantries, we shared our new findings and our analysis of the case with him.
He listened carefully, then said, "You should go back and ask Li Xia which specific plots of land her brother bought. Check those out, and also have a closer look around the Guo family area. Xiao Zhang, investigate how much land Li Dapeng has bought in recent years and where it is. This is key to solving the case. Also, check with Li Dapeng's sister at the construction bureau to see if there are any redevelopment plans for that village. If there are, the motive behind these murders will be clearer."
"Ge Lao…" Zhang Yihan frowned, "What you're suggesting doesn't seem directly related to the motive for the murders. Even if the village is being redeveloped, why would Li Dapeng and Xiao Li kill people? If they had insider information from Li Dapeng's sister, they could have just secretly bought up land. Why murder so many?"
"Maybe he wanted to kill everyone in the village and take all the land for free," Zhao Xiaotian said smugly, as if he had just solved the case.
"…" Zhang Yihan and I just looked at him with a mixture of pity and disbelief. There was no helping this guy. Being a bit foolish was one thing, but being both foolish and ridiculous was another level entirely.
"Enough…" Ge Lao waved a hand dismissively. "Stop guessing. Follow the leads I've given you. You'll find new clues. I need to rest now."
"Ge Lao, do you think we need to share our findings with Jin Zhijian?" Zhang Yihan asked.
"Jin Zhijian just arrived yesterday. What useful information could he have? At most, he knows the identities of the two bodies from the well and the suspect that Xiao Lin drowned. The two women who died in the well aren't locals. Investigating their identities will waste a lot of time. As for the suspect, since he's dead and you know Li Dapeng is the mastermind, he's of little value. Focus on the key points. For a high-profile case with a deadline, you can't afford to get sidetracked by every lead. We have many leaders waiting for results. Chasing every lead will take forever."
Following Ge Lao's advice, we split up. Zhang Yihan went to find Li Dapeng's sister while Zhao Xiaotian and I went to find Li Xia. Zhao Xiaotian insisted we borrow two police uniforms and two sets of police inspector epaulets from the county station, saying, "If we're going to do this, we might as well look the part…"
However, instead of heading directly to Guojia Village, Zhao Xiaotian drove around the small county town for a while, finally buying a bouquet of roses before heading to the village at dusk.
I remember asking him, "Zhao-ge, it's so late, can we see the land clearly?"
"Of course not. But how else am I going to get some alone time? I didn't buy these roses for nothing, you know?" he replied, leaving me speechless.
On the way to the village, he spent most of the time comparing Zhang Yihan and Li Xia, discussing who had the bigger chest, who had the bigger butt, and who could bear sons.
Just before we got out of the car, he reminded me, "Stay here and keep watch. If you hear Li Xia shouting for help or calling out for you, pretend you didn't hear anything. Got it?"
He left to get Li Xia, leaving me standing there in the cold night wind, utterly bewildered.
Was he planning to assault her? At that moment, I seriously questioned how he managed to join our team.
He didn't seem like a police officer at all, more like a thug.
Surprisingly, Zhao Xiaotian quickly returned with Li Xia. She had changed into jeans and a white T-shirt, looking simple and clean, a picture of innocence. No wonder Zhao Xiaotian was so eager to take advantage of her.
We didn't drive from Li Xia's house. Instead, each of us carried a flashlight and headed into the dark fields.
I thought Zhao Xiaotian was going to inspect the land Xiao Li bought, but our first stop was the cemetery where I had followed Xiao Hong the other night.
Damn it, if you want to scare a girl to take advantage of her, fine, but don't drag me along as a third wheel!
I was exasperated. Playing the third wheel in a cemetery, of all places.
"What are we doing here in the middle of the night? Weren't we supposed to check the land?" I couldn't help but ask, even though I knew his intentions.
Li Xia also looked confused and frightened. "Tian-ge, what are we doing here?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"We're here to catch the suspect!" Zhao Xiaotian replied nonchalantly. "I just got word that Li Dapeng is still in the county. I suspect he's hiding in the village. Don't you think the quickest way to solve this case is to catch him?"
"He's still here? That's impossible," I said, skeptical. The police had been searching the entire city for Li Dapeng since this morning. I couldn't believe he would still be hiding in the village after being exposed.
But Zhao Xiaotian was right. Catching Li Dapeng would indeed be the quickest way to solve the case.
"What? Dapeng-ge is a suspect?" Li Xia was incredulous.
"Xia, to be honest, we suspect Li Dapeng is behind your brother's death," Zhao Xiaotian said, putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her up the hill.
"Tian-ge, I'm scared. I don't want to go up there," Li Xia protested, refusing to move.
Despite Zhao Xiaotian's reassurances, Li Xia was too terrified to proceed. Eventually, Zhao Xiaotian told her to wait at the foot of the hill with me while he went up alone.
After he left, Li Xia and I stood in the dark. The night was pitch black, with no stars in the sky. To ease her fear, Li Xia started talking to me.
"Are you and Tian-ge both colleagues of my brother?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied, hesitating only briefly before telling a small lie. Technically, all police officers in the country could be considered colleagues, so I wasn't exactly lying.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" she suddenly asked.
"Heh, there's no such thing as ghosts!" I laughed. "How can someone as educated as you believe in ghosts?"
"I didn't believe it at first, but so many people have died in our village over the years, all in that well. Everyone in the village believes it's haunted," Li Xia said.
"That's something your brother made you believe, right?" I asked, probing for information. We had already suspected that the rumors about ghosts were spread by Xiao Li to scare the villagers. In rural areas, people were more likely to believe in superstitions, especially if someone took the lead in spreading such stories.
As expected, Li Xia replied, "My brother said he saw it with his own eyes..."