Chapter 2445 2446 Approaching the Truth

Chapter 2445: Chapter 2446: Approaching the Truth Chapter 2445: Chapter 2446: Approaching the Truth “When you were selling this house, didn’t you think about its rightful heir?” Lin Yi said to Wang Shengxi:

“Any mistake could expose you.”

“I thought about that too, he has a son, but when he collected mountain goods, he would take his son with him, so I thought maybe something happened to both of them. But I didn’t dare act immediately, I waited a few more months, over a year had passed and no one from their family had returned, so I quietly sold their house.”

Wang Shengxi sighed, “It’s my greed to blame, I thought I could deceive everyone, but it didn’t take long before I was discovered and ended up spending three years in prison, and I lost my job after I got out.”

“How were you discovered? Didn’t he have any other relatives?”

“It was a colleague of mine, he was also eyeing that house, then I was reported.”

Lin Yi paused for a moment, “You said he has a son, right?”

Wang Shengxi nodded slightly, “His son’s name is Li Long, that kid is very clever, like his father, seems like someone who could handle big things.”

“After you got out of prison, did you look into this matter?” Lin Yi asked:

“Did they truly disappear or just leave temporarily?”

“I think something happened to them, otherwise, they wouldn’t abandon their house like that.” Wang Shengxi said:

“After I was released, I heard that the house remained empty. Four years passed and still, no one returned, and it was eventually auctioned off.”

Lin Yi’s expression grew grave, the circumstances surrounding Li Xianggui lined up with traits of the victim.

He went missing before Fang Daye and the others left the village.

Besides that, when he collected mountain goods, he also gathered old valuables, which were worth money back then.

According to Zhang Wenhua’s testimony, Ma Haiqiang had personally mentioned wanting to get something valuable from the town.

Tying this with Li Hongzhu’s statement, when he went to Yanjing that year, he must have taken quite a sum of money.

Similarly, this was the case for Fang Daye and the others.

Lin Yi’s mind was spinning rapidly, consolidating all the pieces of the case together.

Fang Daye and others might have known that Li Xianggui had obtained some valuable treasure and planned to get it, and then killed Li Xianggui and fled with the treasure.

Lin Yi’s eyes shifted, seemingly onto another thought.

Zhang Wenhua had once said, Ma Haiqiang mentioned that after getting the money, he would come back to marry her, indicating they initially had no intention to kill. But Li Xianggui’s death might have been an accident, causing them to flee the village and even after many years, they were afraid to return.

Thinking of this, a light dawned on Lin Yi.

The whole outline of the case suddenly became clear.

Li Xianggui was killed, but his son might not have been!

The murderer could very likely be his son, Li Long!

“Do you still remember where that house is?” Lin Yi asked.

“I have a bit of an impression.”

“Could you come with me? You don’t have to do anything, just help me recognize the house.”

“No problem.”

Since he is a policeman, Wang Shengxi knew he had no ground to refuse.

“Let’s go.”

Lin Yi stood up, and after Wang Shengxi got dressed, the two took a taxi and arrived in Yuanbao Town more than an hour later.

Wang Shengxi pointed at a red-brick house in the town and said:

“That’s the house.”

“Are you sure?”

“Confirmed,” Wang Shengxi said with a bitter smile:

“Because of this house, I served three years in prison, this place is deeply imprinted in my mind.”

“The house looks much better than I remembered, it doesn’t resemble an old house of thirty or forty years at all.”

“I heard someone bought it and fixed it up over the years, it looks quite decent now.”

“If someone really lives here, there shouldn’t be weeds in the yard, right?”

“Huh?”

Wang Shengxi was suspicious for a moment, “That’s true, if someone lived here, they would tidy up and it wouldn’t be like this.”

“Let’s talk about this later, now that we know the location of the house, the rest can be easily discussed. I’ll have the driver take you back.”

“Okay, okay, okay.”

Afterward, Lin Yi got out of the car, had the driver take Wang Shengxi back, and paid the fare.

Based on Lin Yi’s guess, the murderer probably didn’t know he was in Yuanbao Town, and taking advantage of this time difference, he decided to go in and take a look.

After getting out of the car, Lin Yi walked along a side path, looked around, saw no one was watching this area, and jumped into the yard.

Although the backyard was full of various weeds, the front yard looked fairly tidy.

It was somewhat disorganized but did not feel deserted.

Everything in sight was very ancient, permeating an old-time charm.

Inside the yard, there was a donkey shed with a stone mill next to it.

On the other side, there was a small wooden shed, probably used as a storage house for miscellaneous items.

In the corner, there were many miscellaneous items piled up. Lin Yi walked over and found many things he couldn’t name.

But it was clear, all were antique back then.

Lin Yi looked around, as if he was caught in a whirlpool of time.

Although this was the economically underdeveloped Yuanbao Town, the living standard of the people had clearly improved, with quite a few high-tech items visible.

Yet this house seemed especially ancient.

Everything visible carried the taste of time, even if placed thirty years ago, there would be no sense of incongruity.

Lin Yi even felt vaguely that nobody could be living in this house because such an environment would be completely unacceptable to modern people.

Lin Yi picked up a stick from the ground and gently pushed open the door.

Inside the house, there was a faint musty smell, and the layout was very simple, with one room on each side, a very old-fashioned setup.

Lin Yi used the stick to push open the door on the left. Inside was a double bed, and next to it was a wardrobe, but it was completely empty, without any clothes.

Then, Lin Yi went to the room on the right to take a look, but as soon as he entered, he froze in his steps.

In front of Lin Yi was a red wardrobe with a photo frame on it, containing a black-and-white photograph.

In the photo was a middle-aged man with a faint stubble on his chin, wearing what appeared to be a leather jacket, his hair messy like a bird’s nest, but his smile was confident.

This style of photo was very popular back in the day.

At Zhao Quanfu’s home in Yang City, there were many such photos, and he often showed them off, talking about how handsome he was when he was young.

Looking at the person in the photo, Lin Yi had a hunch that this should be Li Xianggui.

But for some reason, Lin Yi felt his eyes looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before.

Lin Yi took out his phone and snapped a picture of the black-and-white photo, planning to go back and verify this person’s identity.

But just as he was about to leave, something caught his attention…

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.