Animal Detective

Chapter 367: Chapter 303: Eyewitness Donkey

The winding mountain road was fine for cars, but it was a steep slope. Guo Jin’s beat-up pickup truck stalled halfway up the mountain.

He stomped on the gas, and the exhaust pipe sputtered black smoke with a PUTT-PUTT-PUTT, but the engine wouldn’t start.

Frustrated, Guo Jin slammed his hand on the steering wheel. Seeing no other option, he quickly got out and started running up the mountain.

Shen Xin and the others followed, panting as they ran up the mountain.

They went around the school and could hear a child crying from Li Xingping’s house in the distance.

People were craning their necks at the gate, rubbernecking, and the faint sound of shouting could be heard.

When they saw Guo Jin’s group, the onlookers at the gate quickly cleared a path.

Shen Xin followed him into the courtyard and saw two groups in a standoff.

One side had seven or eight people, all holding whatever farm tools they could grab.

The man in the lead wasn’t tall. He was wearing slacks and a navy blue polo shirt tucked in, the stereotypical image of a small-time boss.

But he was the most vicious of the lot. He gripped a wood chopper in his hand and yelled, "Fu, this is none of your fucking business! If you keep getting in my way, I’ll fucking take you down too!"

’So this middle-aged man in front of me, dressed almost identically and with a side part, must be the village chief, Fu Lianghui.’

He had brought one person with him and was standing with his arms spread, shielding Li Yao and her grandmother.

The old woman had fallen onto the stone steps at the doorway. Her silver hair was a mess, and one of her cloth shoes had come off.

Li Yao was wailing in her arms, terrified.

The courtyard was a total mess. The pickling crock, the pile of firewood, and the haphazardly stacked junk had all been overturned.

Upon seeing Guo Jin, Fu Lianghui greeted him urgently, as if he’d seen the cavalry arrive.

Guo Jin immediately shouted, "Zhang Kaisheng, what do you think you’re doing? Put that chopper down!"

Zhang Kaisheng turned the wood chopper toward Guo Jin and yelled, "Guo Jin, you got here just in time! Li Xingping beat my brother to death. What do you have to say about that?"

Guo Jin immediately shot back, asking how he knew it was Li Xingping who had killed Zhang Kaiyong.

Zhang Kaisheng said, "I fucking asked around! Last night, so many people saw it. That Li Xingping was arguing with my brother, saying my brother was backing him into a corner. The next thing you know, my brother’s beaten to death. If it wasn’t him, who else could it be?"

"Besides, if Li Xingping has a clear conscience, why would he run? That motherfucker, he dared to kill my brother? I’m going to chop him to pieces!"

"Guo Jin, don’t fucking tell me I’m not giving you face. If you don’t give me an explanation and bring Li Xingping back, I’ll fucking kill his old mother and his daughter to have them buried with my brother."

"Fuck, shit, they really came after our Zhang Family."

Guo Jin was getting on in years. Having run up the mountain, he was out of breath. Now, with blood rushing to his head, he was so agitated that his vision went dark, and he couldn’t speak.

Sun Yongjie immediately barked, "Zhang Kaisheng, what are you trying to do? Kill a man’s daughter and mother? I’m standing right here. Let’s see you try!"

Zhang Kaisheng’s eyes widened, and he got right in Sun Yongjie’s face, glaring. "Sun, my brother is dead. Don’t you fucking mess with me!"

The gang of people behind him also pressed forward.

The tension in that moment was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Shen Xin silently tightened his grip on Tian Kui’s leash, wondering what to do if things truly got out of hand.

Fu Lianghui quickly stepped in to block them, shouting, "Zhang Kaisheng, can you stop this? The police are here. They’ll give you an explanation."

Zhang Kaisheng took two steps back and said, "Fine, an explanation. Guo, I’ll say it again: if you don’t bring Li Xingping back to me, this isn’t over."

"I’ll fucking wait right here. That Li Xingping, he’s something else. Doesn’t care about his mother or daughter anymore, huh? Fine, I’ll collect his mother’s corpse for him. We’ll see if I dare!"

Li Yao’s cries grew louder.

Li Xingping’s mother’s face turned pale with anger. Her lips trembled as she mumbled something unintelligible. Before she could finish, the blood rushed to her head, her vision went black, and she fell stiffly to the ground.

"Grandma!"

Li Yao shrieked, shaking her grandmother desperately and helplessly.

Shen Xin and the others were startled.

Guo Jin rushed forward.

Sun Yongjie shouted from behind to pinch the philtrum point.

He did, but there was no response.

Fu Lianghui stomped his foot in frustration and roared at Zhang Kaisheng, "Zhang Kaisheng, stop your fucking bullshit!"

Zhang Kaisheng glared back. "What the hell does it have to do with me? I didn’t touch her."

Guo Jin waved his hand. "Stop shouting! Xiaochen, get her on your back, quick. Take her to the town clinic."

Xiaochen put the woman on his back and started to leave.

Zhang Kaisheng suddenly blocked their path, pointing at Li Yao. "The kid’s not going anywhere. If she leaves, who the fuck am I supposed to go after?"

Veins bulged on Guo Jin’s forehead. "Zhang Kaisheng, you get the fuck out of my way."

In that moment, he was like a furious lion.

Tian Kui suddenly lunged forward, barking furiously at Zhang Kaisheng and his men.

He was protecting Guo Jin.

Tian Kui’s undisguised ferocity made Zhang Kaisheng and the others fall back.

"Go."

Guo Jin waved his hand, and Xiaochen hurried away.

Now two more people were gone, but Tian Kui stood by Guo Jin’s side, baring his teeth, his menacing glare chilling them to the bone.

He alone was worth several men.

Guo Jin quickly calmed the dog, then turned to Zhang Kaisheng, forcing himself to suppress his anger and persuade him. "Zhang Kaisheng, I know you and your brother were close. His death is no small matter. Don’t worry, we’ll investigate it thoroughly and give you an explanation."

"And what are you doing stopping the girl? Trying to take a hostage? If you keep this up, believe it or not, I’ll arrest you first."

"Don’t think you can just cause a scene and no one can do anything about it. If anything happens to Xingping’s mother, you’ll be in deep shit too!"

Zhang Kaisheng snorted. "Are you trying to scare me?"

But his aggressive posture had clearly weakened.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Kaisheng said, "Guo Jin, I’ll give you face today. But I’m telling you right now, my brother can’t have died for nothing. If you don’t give me an explanation, this isn’t over."

After speaking, he gave a shout and led his men out the gate.

As soon as he was out, he immediately pulled out his phone as if to make a call, but after dialing, he hung up.

He grabbed a man beside him, pulled a set of car keys from his pocket, and handed them over. "De Li, hurry to town and find Zhang Xi. Don’t tell him his dad’s gone yet. Then go find Li Shi and bring that kid back to me."

"So Li Xingping doesn’t want his mother and daughter anymore. I don’t believe he’d abandon his son, too."

The man nodded and hurried off.

Inside the courtyard, Guo Jin anxiously asked Fu Lianghui where Li Xingping was.

"And that thing Zhang Kaisheng mentioned, is it true?" Guo Jin’s brow was furrowed.

’If Li Xingping wasn’t involved, why would he run?’

Fu Lianghui said, "I don’t know. I was trying to calm Gui Zhi down when someone over there—I don’t know who—said that Li Xingping argued with Kai Yong yesterday. As soon as Kaisen heard that, he got angry and brought his people up here."

At this point, Fu Lianghui suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh no! You told me to secure the scene, but Gui Zhi was screaming that she had to take the body back. I don’t know what happened."

Hearing this, blood rushed to Guo Jin’s head again, and he anxiously took off running.

Going up the mountain was hard, but coming down wasn’t easy either.

The weather was hot and humid. Running in a hurry, Guo Jin’s legs suddenly gave out, and he tumbled to the ground, grimacing in pain.

Tian Kui hurried over and tugged on Guo Jin’s sleeve.

"Good boy, Tian Kui. I’m okay."

Shen Xin helped Guo Jin up, and Guo Jin gestured for them to hurry.

They rushed down the mountain.

There was still a large crowd at the scene, but even more people had gone to Zhang Kaiyong’s house.

One look at the scene, and Shen Xin cursed inwardly.

The body was gone.

After asking around, he learned that Zhang Kaiyong’s wife, Tan Gui Zhi, had already taken the body back to her house.

He Xiangcai and the others had gone to Zhang Kaiyong’s house.

Guo Jin was so angry his vision swam, but there was nothing he could do. He quickly left one person behind to maintain the scene and hurried toward Zhang Kaiyong’s house with Sun Yongjie.

Shen Xin didn’t go with them.

’Compared to the body that was moved, the crime scene is more important.’

’Besides, I think the scene was already disturbed before Fu Lianghui was told to secure it.’

’In this situation, it’s even more critical to gather useful information from the scene immediately.’

’We can definitely get the body back, and the information it holds will be easy to examine. But if we don’t examine the scene now, some clues might be lost forever.’

The person left behind was named Dong Bo. He was very young and seemed a bit flustered while setting up the police tape; he dropped it, and it rolled a long way.

Shen Xin quickly went over and helped him push the crowd back.

The crime scene was just outside Duan Dongqiang’s courtyard. Shen Xin directed Dong Bo to block off both ends, sealing off that section of the road.

Then they herded everyone out.

When a murder occurs, it’s usually the local police station officers who arrive first.

Their duty isn’t to conduct any kind of investigation but to maintain order at the scene, put up a cordon, and keep everyone out.

Because even when the criminal investigators arrive, the forensics team goes in first. Only after they’ve examined the scene can other personnel enter.

He told Dong Bo to watch the west side and not let anyone in.

Shen Xin watched the east side, near the fork in the road leading up the mountain.

The onlookers were all herded to this side, chattering amongst themselves.

"You must be Duan Dongqiang."

Shen Xin looked toward a middle-aged man with short, salt-and-pepper hair.

The man had just muttered that with all this commotion, he wouldn’t even be able to get back to his own house.

"I am."

He nodded.

"Sir, please stand over here and wait a moment."

Shen Xin had him stand on one side, outside the police tape, then pushed the onlookers back a few more meters. Only then did he loudly ask who, besides Duan Dongqiang, was the first to arrive.

About a dozen people exchanged glances, and a middle-aged woman answered that it was her.

"Ma’am, please come over here too."

Shen Xin asked her to come over and learned she was the neighbor to the east of Duan Dongqiang’s house.

Shen Xin pointed to the west and said, "So, you’re saying that when Uncle Duan went west to find Village Chief Fu, you heard a commotion and came out to look?"

The middle-aged woman, named Huang Huifang, nodded. She clutched her chest, saying with lingering fear, "It scared me to death. I ran over to look and saw Zhang Kaiyong lying face down on the ground, not moving, with blood all around his head."

She pointed to a spot not far away.

Duan Dongqiang’s house was also an old-fashioned wooden building with black roof tiles and a low courtyard wall.

The road outside was paved with concrete.

The crime scene was on the side of the concrete road, east of his courtyard gate.

Shen Xin told Dong Bo to keep an eye on this area and not let anyone through. He then hurried to the neighbor’s house and borrowed a pen and a student’s notebook.

He returned and used the pen to make a simple sketch of the scene.

Then he carefully questioned Huang Huifang and Duan Dongqiang about the condition of Zhang Kaiyong’s body.

Was he face down or face up? Which way had he fallen?

This was all very important information.

Shen Xin then asked Duan Dongqiang what time he went to bed last night and whether he had heard any commotion afterward.

Duan Dongqiang nodded. "I did. I think I fell asleep a little after nine. Later, I thought I heard people arguing, but I didn’t get up to look, so I don’t know what time it was."

"I got up a little after five this morning. I didn’t know he was dead then. I had just harnessed my donkey and was about to head out when I saw Kai Yong lying by the gate."

"It gave me a fright. I thought he was drunk. When I went over to check, I saw his head was covered in blood. That’s when I rushed to get help."

He gestured, describing the scene.

"A donkey?"

Shen Xin paused, then turned to look.

Through the low wall of Duan Dongqiang’s courtyard, he could see a shed built in the southeast corner.

This spot was just inside the wall from the crime scene.

Shen Xin saw a pair of huge ears. It was, indeed, a donkey, currently tied to a post in the shed with its back to him.

’Come to think of it, at such a close distance, if the donkey hadn’t been tied up last night, would it count as an eyewitness-donkey?’