The seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Si Wang received an admission letter from the university, and his college entrance examination score was the first in the liberal arts in the whole school, and he will report to the university in a few weeks. The cast on his right leg had just been removed, and he still had to recuperate carefully. He couldn't go to a fight club to play Muay Thai, and he was bored for most of the summer — but Lu Zhongyue was dead, and he had no reason to continue practicing.

Dad opened a franchise store of a brand supermarket next door to the bookstore in the deserted village, and he is busy decorating and recruiting workers these days. Father and son played two games of chess a day, and his chess skills were worse than when he was younger.

Although, when her husband, who had disappeared for twelve years, returned to his side, He Qingying's face had a rare smile, and Si Wang clearly felt that they were not sleeping in the same bed.

That night, Officer Ye Xiao came to Si Wang's house, chatted with Si Mingyuan alone for a while, and proposed that he wanted to go out for a walk with his wife and son.

"As long as you don't get caught, it's okay to go anywhere."

After staying abroad for so many years, Si Mingyuan's brain has become simpler.

So, Ye Xiao picked up He Qingying and Si Wang into the police car and drove to Nanming Road in the suburbs.

"Let's talk about something now," Si Wang sat in the passenger seat, looking uneasy, "why do you want to go there?" ”

"Wang'er, just listen to Officer Ye."

He Qingying, who was in the back row, looked out the window with a solemn face, passing by the door of Nanming High School, she rolled down the window and looked up at the sky, it was rare to have a clear starry sky.

The police car was parked in the wasteland outside the witch area, and Ye Xiao got out of the car and looked at the high chimney and walked straight into the dilapidated factory. He flashed a flashlight, bypassed the garbage and feces on the ground, and blindfolded his nose to illuminate the downward tunnel.

He looked back at He Qingying and Si Wang's mother and son, and saw that both of them were hesitating, so he beckoned and said, "Follow me!" Scared? ”

Ye Xiao's voice echoed in the empty abandoned factory.

"Let's go."

He Qingying patted his son on the shoulder, and followed the police officer into the tunnel, where there was a mottled hatch under the beam of the flashlight.

Suddenly, Si Wang rushed to the front and pushed the door open hard, but he heard a "squeak" sound from the door shaft, which was covered with rust and dust, and the door could only be opened halfway. He bit the flashlight handed by Ye Xiao into his mouth, and drilled sideways into the door, and the electric light emitted a thick cloud of smoke, choking him so hard that he couldn't open his eyes, and the flashlight almost fell to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, the three of them came to the underground of the witch's area. Deep in the dark walls, a few pieces of stagnant water stenched, perhaps the carcasses of rats or other animals.

"I'm sorry to call you two here, I wanted to tell you that since Lu Zhongyue's death, I have spent more than a month carefully investigating many people and their information, and I have made amazing new discoveries. I think it's better to tell you here, maybe it's more acceptable. ”

"Say it, Officer Ye Xiao!"

Si Wang retreated to the position by the door, and he could escape at any time.

"In 1983, the victim of the murder on Anxilu Road was a director surnamed Lu, named Lu Jingnan. And Lu Zhongyue's father is called Lu Jingdong, who also works in the government department. According to household registration information, Lu Jingdong and Lu Jingnan are siblings, which means that the deceased in the murder is Lu Zhongyue's uncle. ”

"That's right, that's what Lu Zhongyue said to me, that's why he lurks in the murderous mansion."

The only survivor and witness to the murder was the deceased's daughter, Lu Mingyue, whose information strangely disappeared later. I stayed up all night in the archives to find out that the missing file had been moved to another directory. Lu Mingyue is the adopted daughter of the deceased, and her biological father is a translator who committed suicide in that house in the 70s of the 20th century. After the murder in 1983, she was adopted by a couple and has since moved away from her old life circle. The files were moved, apparently deliberately to hide their identities, and it was easy for her second adoptive parents, her father to work at the post office and her mother to work at the archives office. ”

Suddenly, He Qingying made a low voice in the shadows: "Yes, my adoptive father arranged for me to work at the post office, and my adoptive mother hid the file for me, so that I can say goodbye to the past forever." ”

"In 1994, you were introduced to Si Mingyuan by a colleague who was a worker at the Nanming Iron and Steel Plant, where we are at the moment. The next year, you got married. In the spring of that year, Nanming Iron and Steel Plant held a workers' party, and the people who attended it recalled that you were also here as Si Mingyuan's new wife, and there was another person present, Lu Zhongyue, the youngest engineer in the factory. ”

"What are you going to say?"

Si Wang stopped in front of Ye Xiao, but was easily pushed away, and the police officer stared at He Qingying in the dark and said: "I have asked many relatives of the Lu family, in the summer of 1983, Lu Zhongyue was thirteen years old, and he once lived temporarily in the house on Anxilu Road, that is, his uncle's house, for two months. At that time, you were also cousins, of the same age, and lived under the same roof, so it was impossible to forget him, right? ”

"Yes." He Qingying paused for a long time, "I remember him." ”

"Your husband Si Mingyuan still has an impression of Lu Zhongyue, he said that after that party, you became sad all day long, but he didn't say anything, it seems that he still has reservations about his wife. I've asked you several times about Lu Zhongyue, and every time you say you don't know him, you haven't even heard of his name, even though you're in the same factory as your husband, but you rarely go to the Nanming Road Iron and Steel Factory, and you only invite a few guests when you get married—obviously, you're lying. ”

"Mom, you don't have to answer."

He Qingying shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, I lied to you, I know Lu Zhongyue, we have known each other since childhood, after the murder when I was thirteen years old, I never met him again until 1995." ”

"I wonder what motivates you to lie?"

"It's my secret."

"Here's my analysis - I don't think the real culprit who killed Shen Ming was Lu Zhongyue, because the goal had been achieved: Shen Ming was completely destroyed, lost everything he originally had, and on the night of June 19, he became a real murderer, and he was either on the run or caught and sentenced to death. Therefore, Lu Zhongyue did not have a motive to kill. ”

"My mom didn't have a motive to kill either! Her life has nothing to do with the statement! ”

"Wrong, she has two intersections with Shen Ming, the first is that when Shen Ming was a teenager, he used to live in the basement opposite the murderous house on Rest Road, and he may have had a relationship with Lu Mingyue and Lu Zhongyue back then. The second is that He Qingying and Lu Zhongyue must have intersections, and there are some hidden secrets in it, according to your uncle and aunt, Si Mingyuan suspected that his son was not his own when you were about five years old! That's why he was cold to you, and his relationship with his wife deteriorated dramatically. Who is he suspicious? Affirmation teacher? Or Lu Zhongyue engineer? I think it should be the latter, after all, Si Mingyuan and Lu Zhongyue work in the same unit. ”

Si Wangxiang was punched hard and grabbed He Qingying's arm hard: "Mom, who is my biological father?" Don't tell me it's that person! ”

"Please don't doubt your mother, you are Si Mingyuan's biological son, I swear by God!"

Ye Xiao interjected confidently: "I'm sorry, I have no doubt about this. However, why should Si Mingyuan be suspicious of you and Lu Zhongyue? It has something to do with the fact that you lived together when you were kids, right? It's just my speculation that the 1983 murder on Sabbath Road was controversial at the time, and many people believed that the killer did not break in from outside, but no one would suspect the deceased's daughter. But I'm going to say it now: the murderer is one of the three people He Qingying, Lu Zhongyue, and Shen Ming, and maybe even all three at the same time. This secret was hidden for twelve years, until someone wanted to reveal the mystery, and that person was Lu Zhongyue, when he recognized He Qingying's face again. What happened next was all kinds of threats and fears, some people wanted to use this secret to get what they wanted, and some people wanted to hide the secret, including killing people and killing people......"

"You have no proof."

"Yes, so it's just speculation that on June 19, 1995, at ten o'clock in the middle of the night, in the basement of this witch district, kill the person who declares - the person standing in front of me at this moment."

Ye Xiao's flashlight beam accurately hit He Qingying's face.

"Nope."

Si Wang snatched his flashlight, protected his mother with his body, and said in a deep voice: "Ye Xiao, you are not speculating, but imagining, this is not the way the police do things. ”

"I admit it!" Ye Xiao delicately tripped Si Wang to the ground, barely letting him feel pain, so as not to hurt his fragile right leg, he took back the flashlight and shone it on the ground in the witch area, "Most of the key evidence is gone, including the murder weapon that killed Shen Ming, which has never been found in nineteen years. And the most important witness, Lu Zhongyue, also brought all the secrets to the grave. Therefore, you can deny it outright, and I have no evidence to arrest a suspect. It's just that tonight, I have a block in my chest, and I really don't vomit or be unhappy, after all, I have known your mother and son for a long time, and I must give an explanation, so as not to let your kid say in the future - Officer Ye Xiao, it's just a waste of fame. ”

"Can we go home?"

"Of course, I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time on the night of Qixi Festival, so let's go home and reunite."

Si Wang grabbed his mother's hand, every pore was trembling, and he was about to leave outside the cabin door, but He Qingying broke free from him and returned to Ye Xiao's flashlight beam. This forty-four-year-old woman, with big tears welling up in her eyes, was as charming as rain hitting pear blossoms.

Shaking off her son's hand again, He Qingying raised her head and said calmly: "On June 19, 1995, at ten o'clock in the evening, the person who killed Shen Ming here was me. ”