Walking behind the two was a young man about thirty years old, about 1.75 meters tall, with a middle-parted hairstyle, and his hair was not short.

Wearing a suit with a blue shirt underneath.

On his feet, he wore a pair of black leather shoes - the shoes were spotless. looks polite and polite, and looks very refreshing.

The investigation will start with these three people, and Zhao Zimeng will have to look at them a few more times - anyone who is related to the case - or the environment in which the crime occurred, Zhao Zimeng will pay enough attention.

According to Director Jingzhang, Uncle Cao's name is Cao Runan, and his family lives on the east side of No. 117, and there are only a few banyan trees separated from the courtyard wall of No. 117 - in fact, it is only five or six steps away.

Cao Runan, a former storyteller, had a serious illness at the age of 65 - he had an operation on his throat, after which his voice was not good and he stopped telling stories.

The Cao family's property is private, and the Cao family has lived in the back village of Huaigu Village for four generations. Director Zhang felt that Uncle Cao was a close neighbor of No. 117 and should be familiar with No. 117, so he sent someone to find him.

After the demolition of the village, Cao Runan rented two houses near the former village of Huaigu Village.

Director Zhang learned that the reason why Uncle Cao did not leave this village was that it was difficult to give up Huaigu Village, and secondly, he didn't want to bother too much, so he found two houses nearby, and he didn't need to find a moving company, just used a tricycle, ran a few more times, and the furniture was moved.

The third is that there are many old neighbors and acquaintances here, and there is still a large number of houses in the front village of Huaigu Village that have not been demolished!

Although Uncle Cao's family moved away, he still habitually came here often to take a look, and every day after breakfast and dinner, he would go for a walk in the mountains, as long as he walked, he would take a little detour, walking in front of his old house and No. 117.

Zhao Zimeng is the best at capturing some important information from some small talk and casual exchanges: "Uncle Cao, recently, when you go up the mountain for a walk, do you often pass by here?" ”

"I go for a walk in the mountains every day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Every time I go up the mountain, I must pass by here, I have lived here for most of my life, and I am very reluctant to move away from my old house! "Uncle Cao's voice is relatively low, and he is a little hoarse.

"Did you go into the courtyard when you passed by here - I'm talking about number 117."

"The door to that courtyard is locked."

"Really?"

"That's right! When we moved out, we notified the people from the demolition and relocation office, and the people from the demolition and relocation office had to come to check and check that they had been vacated, and then the people from the demolition and relocation office would cut off the power and water, accept the key, and then lock the door. A woman in her forties interjected.

Uncle Cao just wanted to speak, but the middle-aged woman grabbed the conversation again and said, "Of course they are worried about irrelevant people-especially the rags who go into the yard." ”

"Actually, in addition to collecting the rags, who will come to get these things, this house is worth nothing more than doors, windows and wood, but there are termites in these things, and fools only take them home."

"Sister-in-law's surname?" Zhao Zimeng saw that this woman had a bit of worldly enthusiasm, and asked her with a smile.

"Me, my surname is Che."

"This sister-in-law's family lives in front of No. 117, and her house is also very close to No. 117." Director Zhang said.

"It's not because there is a well on the right side of the entrance of No. 117, we used to come to the well every day to wash things." Sister-in-law Che said.

"Wells? We didn't see it when we came, where was it? Zhao Zimeng immediately became alert, and he thought that this well was likely to be a very important point in this case.

"Oh, it's on the right side of the gate of this house, isn't it demolished, the well is covered by broken bricks and stones that have been demolished!" Sister-in-law Che waved her finger and pointed in the direction to the right of the gate and said.

Zhao Zimeng followed the direction she pointed and saw that outside the toppled wall of the West House where they were standing, there was indeed a pile of wall bricks on the same side of the gate.

"The relocation of more than 100 families is very fast, one is that there are too many termites in the house here, and a lot of wood has been hollowed out, and the other is that the demolition policy is good, as long as it is a family that hands over the keys on time, in addition to the demolition money, there is a reward of 20,000 yuan, so many people move as soon as they receive the relocation notice." Uncle Cao said.

"Uncle Cao, you pass by here twice a day, have you heard any movement in the yard?"

"No, though, I've passed by here a few times and smelled fireworks."

"The smell of fireworks?"

Zhao Zimeng secretly analyzed in his heart: Judging from the depth, length and earthwork of the robbery hole, it will take at least ten days, and it is impossible for tomb robbers to enter and exit No. 117 frequently, so the food and accommodation must be at No. 117. When you cook rice, there will definitely be a smell of fireworks.

"Yes, it's the smell of fireworks."

"Could you please recall when the smell of fireworks usually appears?"

"Evening."

Evening is the time to cook on the fire.

"Captain Zhao, we found some wood chopped with an axe in the kitchen stove." Captain Xiao said, "This is a demolition site, there are a lot of old planks and old wood, and there is no shortage of fuel for cooking on the fire. ”

"Now that I think about it, the smell of fireworks I smell must be wafting from the courtyard of 117." Uncle Cao added.

"How long did this smell of fireworks last?"

"At least more than ten days. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, because there were often some rags around the area, and they often burned wires. ”

"What are they burning wires for?" Lin Di Dao.

"There is copper wire in the wire, and it is easy to sell it for money by burning the outer skin, and in recent years, copper has been more expensive."

"Uncle Cao, when you passed by here, the door of this courtyard was never opened?"

"No, I don't. The gate is always closed, and the lock is hanging. Sister-in-law Che said.

The man's surname is Duan, and the sister-in-law lives in front of No. 117, and there is a well in front of No. 117, and more than a dozen families in the vicinity will come here to get water.

Sister-in-law Che's brother-in-law's family lives in the front village of Huaigu Village, and the brother-in-law's family has more houses, and it costs money to rent a house outside, so the brother-in-law took the initiative to vacate a room for the eldest brother's family to transition, and the younger brother-in-law and daughter-in-law are also very talkative, so the sister-in-law Che's family moved to the brother-in-law's house to live.

The young man in his thirties next to him didn't speak.

His surname is Rao, his name is Rao, and he has lived in the East Wing at No. 117 for more than half a year.

More than half a year ago, his younger brother talked about a partner, because there were many villains in the house - his family lived in the former village of Huaigu Village, and in order to make room for his younger brother to get married, Rao Yan lived in No. 117.

"Uncle Cao, are these two door panels the doors of the East and West Wing Room No. 117?" Zhao Zimeng asked.

"Yes, these two door panels are the doors of the east and west wings, and the couplet on them was written by me?" Uncle Cao said proudly.

Zhao Zimeng looked at the two door panels, and sure enough, there were fragments of couplets on them, the paper had faded, and only two-thirds of one of the pieces of paper remained, and the words on it were "Today is better than the past".

"This couplet is 'the tiger is better than the past, and the world is turned upside down and generous'."

"Yes, this couplet was written by Mr. Cao, and the couplet on my door was also written by him." Rao, who had been silent, suddenly said.

Three broken cotton tires were laid on the two door panels, and two old bedding nested together.

Zhao Zimeng noticed that there were dozens of cigarette butts next to the door panel and on the ground below—only the filter was left, the same as the cigarette butts in the thief hole.

He guessed that after the tomb robbers entered No. 117, they would not come and go as often as they wanted to attract attention, so they would smoke the cigarettes they carried.

There are two green bricks underneath the door panels.

Director Zhang found three cigarette cases under the door panel: one Hongtashan brand cigarette case, one Ashima brand cigarette case, and one Peony brand cigarette case. In this era, there are more people who smoke Hongtashan brand and Ashima brand cigarettes, and fewer people smoke Peony brand.

Ling Hu Yunfei picked up the old bedding nested together, and a Chinese brand cigarette case fell out of the old bedding.

When the Zhao team and the comrades looked at it, they all thought that these four cigarette boxes showed that the four people were smoking different grades of cigarettes, the Zhonghua brand was the most expensive, followed by the Peony brand, and the Hongtashan brand and Ashima brand were the second.

Whether the tomb robbers were four or not is difficult to say. The door panels, cotton tires, and bedding indicate that the tomb robbers have been living in the west room of the main house at No. 117 since they entered No. 117.

Rao's words also prove this: "Comrade police, these three cotton tires were left behind by the Cai family's move. ”

"I moved away on the same day as the Cai family, in addition to these two broken cotton tires, the Cai family also left a lot of old clothes, broken furniture, you see, this bench and small table are also left by the Cai family, when my family moved away, I also threw a lot of things, these two bedding, one bed I threw here, and the other bed was thrown by Cai Lao."

Qin Dazhao also found a kerosene lamp under the small table. This kerosene lamp may also have been left at No. 117 by tomb robbers.

"The Cai family never used kerosene lamps, and before the demolition, there were sometimes power outages here, and as long as there was a power outage, the Cai family would light candles, and my family would also light candles. After we moved out, the electricity and water at 117 were cut off. Rao added.

"When did you move out?"

"When did you move out?" Rao frowned slightly, "Captain Zhao, let me think about it, September 10th is the deadline for relocation, Uncle Cao, am I right?" ”

"Yes, those who move before September 10 and hand over the keys can get a reward of 20,000 yuan from the government." Uncle Cao said.

"I remembered that my family and the Cai family moved on September 6 to hand over the keys - I took leave on September 6." Rao said at a glance.

Zhao Zimeng sorted out the information he knew in his heart.

The time for the two deceased to be killed was about half a month, from September 7 to today, it was exactly 29 days, and the time for the tomb robbers to dig the robbery hole took about half a month. Fourteen days coincided with the initial judgment of Ling Hu Yunfei and me.