Considering that he had to talk about things in the evening, Li Jing ordered an old Western restaurant. "His foie gras is delicious." Li Jing introduced me.

"I'm still ordering the most ordinary filet mignun." I flipped through the menu.

"No taste." Li Jing muttered.

"But there's no jajangmyeon here." I deliberately him off.

Li Jing ignored me and instead recommended the signature soup and baked beef to Jin Yuan, who was sitting across from me. In the end, Jin Yuan still ordered the ordinary steak tartare like me, and Li Jing looked at the two of us in disbelief and ordered himself scallops and grilled cheese.

We don't say anything about his good taste either, and I don't always like cheese very much.

During the meal, we only made small talk about inconsequential topics such as work situations, and when we knew that dessert was served, we officially talked about the old case from twenty years ago.

Li Jing spoke first: "I have noticed your testimony at that time. You said you called your mother at 9 o'clock on the day of the crime. ”

Jin Yuan nodded: "That's right, I remember clearly that it was 9 o'clock, and when we were doing recess exercises, I called my mother." ”

"Did you look at the time?" Li Jing asked him.

He hesitated, but still said truthfully: "No." But you don't have to look at the watch, our school's recess time is always after the first class. ”

Li Jing nodded, lost in thought, and stopped talking.

I remembered what happened in the afternoon, so I said to Jin Yuan: "Jin Yuan, in the afternoon, we went to ask Grandma Zhang, the director of the German Neighborhood Committee, about your mother. ”

Jin Yuan heard Grandma Zhang's eyes redden, he turned his head and coughed when he saw this before turning back to me and asking, "How is Grandma Zhang now?" ”

"She's fine." Although I didn't quite understand Jin Yuan's reaction, the moment of grief he felt just now must be related to the fact that he was sent to another place for adoption back then.

As I expected, Jin Yuan paused before saying to me, "That's good." ”

"Why don't you go and see him, he misses you a lot." I remembered the distressed look on the old lady's face when she kicked it.

"It's not convenient for me to go back." He opened his mouth and closed it again, and finally hesitated for a long time before deciding to say it: "At that time, before I was sent to a new family, I said very excessive things to Grandma Zhang because I had nothing to do. I told her that I never wanted to see them again in my life, that is, I saw my mother crying and signing, and then I was sent to a new family, and I thought that it was Grandma Zhang and them who never let me see my mother again. It wasn't until I was older that I realized it was my mom who made the choice herself. Mom wanted me to forget about her, forget about the past, and start living again. So at that time, I misunderstood Grandma Zhang and them, but I didn't know how to apologize. ”

"Did your adoptive parents tell you that?" Li Jing suddenly raised his eyelids and asked Jin Yuan.

Jin Yuan was stunned by Li Jing's question, and it wasn't until he reacted that he quickly denied it: "No, I knew it in a letter from my adoptive parents when I got married. ”

"Letter?" I asked, and Lee Kyung also cast a puzzled look at Jin Yuan.

Jin Yuan nodded, took out a few pieces of stationery from his handbag, and handed it to us carefully: "It was a letter written by my mother when she was on medical parole, and she instructed Grandma Zhang to give me this letter after I got married." Grandma Zhang probably learned about my marriage from the couple of my adoptive parents' colleagues and asked them to forward the letter to my adoptive parents, who handed it over to me the day before my wedding. ”

Li Jing took the letter and read it, because I couldn't see the letter, I could only continue to chat with Jin Yuan: "Did you have any doubts about your mother's murder after reading the letter?" ”

Jin Yuan shook his head: "No." Although I have always been unwilling to accept my mother's death, I am only guessing. I remember it was nine o'clock, but I wondered why it was ten o'clock when I went to the telephone office. But I had no other evidence that my mother did not kill anyone, and although I had been investigating in secret, there was no progress until last month, when I received a secret phone call telling me that the murderer was not my mother. I was trying to ask him something else, and the other party had already hung up. I checked that number, and it's a one-time number."

"Is it a man or a woman calling you?" Li Jing removed the realization from the letter and carefully handed it back to me.

"I don't know, the voice sounds processed." Jin Yuan looked confused.

"Do you still have that phone number?" Li Jing took out the notepad he had brought with him.

Jin Yuan flipped through the call records and gave his mobile phone to Li Jing: "It's the number above." ”

Li Jing copied a string of numbers on the notepad, put down the pen, and saw that I was still reading the letter, so he asked Jin Yuan: "Are you sure this is your mother's handwriting?" ”

Jin Yuan nodded without hesitation: "That's right." I absolutely recognize my mother's words. ”

Li Jing didn't speak, and when he saw that I had finished reading the letter, he asked Jin Yuan's opinion: "Do you mind if I take a picture of the content of the letter?" ”

Jin Yuan thought for a while and agreed, but when Li Jing was taking pictures, he couldn't help but say the question in his heart: "Is there a problem with this letter?" ”

Li Jing pursed his lips and took the last photo: "It's not clear yet." I'd like to give it to our technicians to do a handwriting comparison, and I would like to study some of the information in your mother's mind. ”

As if hearing some kind of hope, Jin Yuan's eyes lit up suddenly: "You, you also think that my mother was wronged?" ”

Li Jing was taken aback by Jin Yuan's reaction, and he hurriedly explained: "Don't get me wrong, I just have some doubts that haven't been solved yet. Your mother's heart is just one of the clues. ”

Jin Yuan's eyes darkened again, and he said a little self-defeatingly: "Actually, a few days after receiving that call, I also had the same suspicions. How did the person who called me know that my mother had been wronged? Who is this person? Is he teasing me? ”

"No one is going to joke about that." Li Jing comforted Jin Yuan, "Can you tell me what that person said on the phone?" ”

Jin Yuan recalled for a moment, with a confused expression on his face, "There is nothing specific, just suing me to make me believe that my mother was wronged." ”

"Can you tell me about your mother's condition?" Li Jing asked him, "If you don't mind, I wonder if you can recall the relationship between your mother and Xu Zilong." ”

Hearing the name of 'Xu Zilong', Jin Yuan's expression suddenly became hideous: "Xu Zilong, Xu Zilong, he has been bullying my mother." Jin Yuan's chest rose and fell violently as he said this, and he gasped and couldn't speak. I quickly asked the waiter to get a glass of boiled water. After drinking the water, Jin Yuan's affection began to gradually stabilize: "If you have visited Grandma Li in the neighborhood committee today, you should have heard about Xu Zilong's atrocities. Because he always bullied me and my mother, we thought it would be okay to hide in the house, but he actually broke the door and came to our house to get something. If he asks for money and my mother doesn't give it to him, he will beat me up and scare my mother. ”

How could you be such a bastard, and I asked him angrily, "Didn't you call the police at the time?" ”

"We've heard of him running to that person's company after someone else has taught him a lesson. At that time, my mother's work was the only source of our livelihood, and my mother was afraid that he would lose his job after making trouble in the factory. A person who can only swallow his anger bears all the sadness. My mother once told me that she wanted to move secretly, but it didn't take long for me to say that something happened later. Jin Yuan's expression was painful when he said these words.

If you have a plan to move out and live, you probably won't have the idea of killing, is it really just a mistake? Or was it really wronged? If she was really wronged, then why did she turn herself in? Several questions have been swirling in my mind.

"When did you find out your mother was sick?" After listening to this, Li Jing asked Jin Yuan.

"My mother has been in poor health because of overwork. But I only found out about cancer when I was growing up and secretly went to the two sisters, and my adoptive parents and I later confirmed it. Jin Yuan lowered his head in shame when he said this, probably because he didn't care enough about his mother.

"At that time, you were still young, and if the adults didn't tell you, you wouldn't know about cancer." I saw that he was uncomfortable and quickly comforted him, but his face never improved.

After Jin Yuan's face recovered slightly, Li Jing asked him, "Is there anyone in the area where you lived at the time who worked in the same factory as your mother?" ”

Without even thinking about it, he blurted out, "Yes." Many people work in a garment factory with my mother. But I asked them, and they all said that my mother had gone to the factory after 10 o'clock that day and was an hour late. This kind of thing is really rare with my mother, who had never been late before that time. ”

"Then did you ask them about your mother's love at the time?" Li Jing looked at Jin Yuan.

Jin Yuan shook his head: "No." They said they had only heard the factory radio about my mother's tardiness, and they didn't really see my mother herself. ”

"Where you live there is no one in a production group with your mother?" Li Jing's eyes were fixed on Jin Yuan.

"Nope." Jin Yuan said with certainty, "At that time, the garment factory was afraid that people in the same group would cover up each other's lateness, so they would change the team members every few months. My mom's group didn't have anyone who was particularly familiar with her. Moreover, my mother's production team is responsible for putting on the collar, and the work content of other aunts' working groups does not coincide with her. ”

Li Jing nodded and stopped talking.

"If it's possible. Please help my mom. I've been dreaming about her lately, and he's been smiling at me in my dreams, and I'm sure that such a gentle person would never choose to kill someone so cruelly no matter what the situation is. "Before Jin Yuan said goodbye to us, he kept pleading with Li Jing. Jin Yuan's expression was very sad, and I think he must have missed his mother very much.