Novice Forensic Doctor

Chapter 397: Chapter 376 Hitting Someone_1

The woman was just about to open up when she turned around and saw Mr. Zeng, a new face to her. Although he wasn’t in uniform, it was evident he was a police officer, as very few people sported a crew cut like his. The woman seemed to recoil a bit.

"Don’t be nervous. Just tell the truth. Did she divorce her ex-husband because she intentionally injured him? We just want to understand the situation, as it’s beneficial for the subsequent trial. After all, the child is innocent. If you were in Chen Xiaodong’s shoes, you’d probably have all sorts of thoughts, wouldn’t you?"

The woman looked around at the others as if making up her mind and then said:

"The man is from Xi Anzi Village, named Zhang Peiji."

...

In the Chen Family’s house in Yingtaogou Village.

The rooms had been thoroughly searched. Sun Gaotie wore a look of apology, his earlier confidence now gone.

"Mr. Yang, was I too hasty? We’ve almost turned the place upside down and still haven’t found the bottle. If Director Tao were here, he’d probably have a more accurate hunch."

Yang Xuetong glanced at him.

"Your analysis made sense. Even our director hadn’t thought of that before. After all, in the rush of time, our attention was focused on finding the child. But if you said the poison was consumed with milk, could it be a plastic bottle, kept to sell for some cash?"

No sooner had Yang Xuetong finished speaking than they both ran to a corner of the courtyard.

There was a storeroom here, piled with tools and all sorts of clutter. Cardboard boxes weren’t even unpacked and were just thrown haphazardly around. However, hanging on the wall was a bag full of liquor bottles and plastic drink bottles.

They both lifted a high-powered flashlight, refraining from hastily removing the bag. Sun Gaotie stepped up on a metal bucket to stand a bit higher, squatting in front of the bag, he sniffed. From this distance, a strong ammonia scent was noticeable, a discovery that made Sun Gaotie smile.

"Ammonia scent. It seems our guess wasn’t wrong."

Yang Xuetong reached out, directly removed the bag from the wall, and brought it out into the courtyard. Tao Zhenshan and a few other officers gathered around. They searched and sniffed, and before long, they found a yellow bottle of "Nutrient Express" on the bottom layer. When opened, a strong smell of ammonia wafted out.

Yang Xuetong excitedly held up the evidence bag, signaling to Sun Gaotie to carefully place it inside.

"Hurry up, no more talking. Bag it. I suspect fingerprints must be on the surface. Zhu Weihua isn’t well educated. She might not have even thought to wipe them off. Keep looking to see if there’s a Paraquat bottle," he ordered.

Before Yang Xuetong finished speaking, another officer rummaged through the contents and pointed downwards, shouting:

"Here, here, this green bottle must be Paraquat, right?"

Sun Gaotie also became excited. They’d found both items. Zhu Weihua’s denials would be meaningless now.

Tao Zhenshan took a deep breath and glanced towards the direction of the room, restraining the excitement and joy in his heart. After all, the child was still fighting for life in emergency care, and Liu Yufei’s aunt had stayed home instead of accompanying her to the hospital, probably more worried.

"Quickly, get these tested. I’m going back to interrogate them both— oh, where did Mr. Zeng go?"

While speaking, Mr. Zeng entered quickly, out of breath, and said:

"I found out something in Hanjia Village. Zhu Weihua divorced her ex-husband because she cut off his ’third leg.’ To save his life, her ex-husband gave all his money to Zhu Weihua and didn’t even dare to ask for the child. He just went south to work.

"This ex-husband is from Xi Anzi Village, named Zhang Peiji. I’ve just asked around and got Zhang Peiji’s number. I called and asked. He said that Zhu Weihua has mental illness—not that she curses people, but she actually has an illness, something called manic syndrome or manic disorder, and she had been prescribed medication at a hospital. So he doesn’t want to pursue matters any further."

This revelation made Tao Zhenshan pause, then he became serious.

Sun Gaotie was anxious, recalling that ever since Zhu Weihua had been arrested, during interrogations or inquiries with Mrs. Zhu, she was indeed quite volatile. Rarely had a female suspect reached such a degree. But if it were mental illness, would she be exempt from criminal responsibility?

"What do you mean, will Director Tao exempt her from criminal responsibility? Not all mental illnesses lead to exemption. Everything depends on our director’s judgment, to determine whether her mental state was normal during the premeditated murder. As long as it’s proven normal, she can be held legally responsible," he declared.

Tao Zhenshan patted Sun Gaotie on the shoulder comfortingly,

"What are you getting worked up about, kid? Nothing’s settled yet. Let’s head back to the precinct, no wait, straight to the city bureau, to avoid the Zhu Family from going there, which could interfere with our trial process. This way we also get the test results firsthand. Let’s go quickly. Mr. Zeng, you escort Zhu Weihua personally and keep the law enforcement recorder on the entire time!"

...

Outside the emergency room. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Liu Yufei was beside herself with worry, standing at the door, peering inside through the small glass window. Mr. Zhao kept comforting her, freewebnøvel.com

"Don’t worry, Mrs. Fei. Zhou Xiaozhou has gone in with them. Inside, there’s Mr. He and the rescue team he has organized, all prepped and ready. You shouldn’t worry now; panicking won’t be of any help at this moment."

Liu Yufei nodded. She understood everything Mr. Zhao was saying, but she couldn’t control her worry. She turned around and saw Chen Xiaodong squatting to the side, staring blankly, just squatting on the ground dumbfounded. Liu Yufei grabbed the collar of Chen Xiaodong’s shirt and yanked him to his feet, taking off her police uniform short-sleeve top and tossing it to Mr. Zhao quickly.

Before anyone could react, she had already punched Chen Xiaodong in the stomach. Chen Xiaodong doubled over in pain on the ground, and Mr. Zhao was shocked silly, quickly rushing over.

"Mrs. Fei, my dear sister, let’s keep it under control. This is a hospital. If anyone around here takes a video, it could be misconstrued out there. Besides, what’s the use of hitting him? Will it make the child suffer any less? I’ll thrash him for you, you just say the word!"

Liu Yufei’s fingers were trembling with anger as she finally let go of Chen Xiaodong and pointed at his nose, scolding,

"If you can give birth, you ought to be able to provide. You leave the child at home, your mother’s blood pressure is so high, she can hardly take care of herself. They are both your own mother and son—are you expecting others to offer filial piety beside their bed, and to raise your offspring?

And about the wife you found, tell me the truth. I don’t believe she would poison the child for no good reason, let alone leave them in a cave. She wanted the child dead. Beyond what you’ve told me, what else are you hiding? Don’t leave out a single word, speak!"

Mr. Zhao raised his hand to intervene, but seeing it was ineffective, he quickly grabbed the two of them and headed straight for the doctors’ office.

Along the way, he continuously bowed and apologized to the emergency doctors and nurses. Having been in the ER for so long, they’d seen a lot and didn’t pay much attention to these events, especially since He Shancun had already briefed them; they wouldn’t say anything more.

Once in the doctors’ office, Liu Yufei let go of Chen Xiaodong’s collar. Looking at Chen Xiaodong, who had turned a ghastly pale, she pulled over a chair and sat down.

"Speak!"

Chen Xiaodong remained standing, actually feeling somewhat relieved after being hit by Liu Yufei.

"I’m not hiding anything. In the spring, my mother’s blood pressure was high, and we switched medications several times, but it wouldn’t come down. The doctor said she needed to rest, but with two kids at home who needed care for all their basic needs, it wasn’t easy to rest in peace. One eats pastries, the other wants rice, and making meals became a competitive event—how could she possibly rest with that?

After much deliberation, I sent Yu Liang to his grandma’s. I send money every month, and when Zhu Weihua is not working, he brings the kids back. It worked fine when we started this arrangement in June. At that time, someone in the village also drove their kid to school every day, so I just paid him to take mine along.

But after school started in September, that person had a car accident and broke a leg, which wouldn’t heal quickly. Finding a car at the last minute was inconvenient. It was possible for me to ride a motorbike to drop them off, but picking them up became a problem.

So, I let the two kids walk back on their own. After all, it wasn’t winter; the days were still bright. Zhu Weihua got mad at me, saying I didn’t care for the kids. They were too young to walk back and forth on their own. I lost my temper too and argued with her.

She works in a hotel and doesn’t earn much in a month, sometimes leaving for ten to fifteen days at a stretch, not caring about home at all. Normally, isn’t it the old women who take care of picking up and dropping off kids? Now it’s the busy season for fruit harvesting, and a morning run to school can delay work by two hours, with many tasks left undone.

I said we’re not desperate for her two thousand yuan salary. If she would quit her job and stay at home, apart from usual household expenses, I’d give her a salary. Then the kids would be taken care of, and she could also look after her own family. I never even thought she’d do anything for my mom—it’s my mom, not hers, and I understand that.

Then she exploded at me, and even had a fight with my mother, claiming the old lady instigated it. My mom knew nothing; what could she possibly instigate? I couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. After all, we have both been divorced once; we couldn’t just get divorced again. I guess I might not have handled things well.

That’s why these past days, I just stayed up in the mountains, trying to see her less, so at least if we didn’t meet, there would be no quarrel. But she hasn’t been back at all these days. I was still holding back my anger. I never thought that when she finally came back, she would go after my son. I regret it profoundly!"

By the end, Chen Xiaodong glanced in the direction of the emergency room.

He squatted down, holding his head, and his tears came pouring down. It was evident; this man truly loved and was dutiful to his child and his old mother.

But during the tourist season, it was indeed the busiest time for fruit farmers. If they didn’t work hard to earn money now, wouldn’t the whole year be wasted? Mr. Zhao helped Chen Xiaodong stand up and consoled Liu Yufei.

"Mrs. Fei, don’t be so upset. Your cousin didn’t know he’d encounter such trouble. We’ve seen a lot of cases, and many people act unreasonably. Maybe Zhu Weihua just got overly fixated. The child is still in resuscitation. What good will your anger do to your cousin?

"Alright, everyone just calm down. I’m going to check on the emergency room. Nothing is more important than the child’s resuscitation. Control your emotions and don’t go there for now."

Mr. Zhao rushed out, exhaling deeply once outside. There was a crowd blocked outside the emergency room doors, their voices louder and more clamorous than Liu Yufei’s group, faces red and necks swollen with anger.

Mr. Zhao moved closer and found Mr. He in the middle, surrounded by four people who each had a resemblance to him; clearly, they were siblings.

He Shancun started with gentle persuasion, but the more he spoke, the more agitated the siblings became. He Shancun, too, became irritated and abruptly shook off the siblings’ grasp.

"After so many years in the emergency room, I’ve seen my fair share of life and death. It’s the first time I’ve come across siblings arguing over property while their elderly parent is being resuscitated. And you’ve even dragged me into this to hear you out—what, do you expect me to play the judge?"