Chapter 337 - 335: Three Hundred Taels Are Nowhere to Be Found?

"Uncle Ma, even though no child has gone missing in our village, it seems there is in another village!"

At this moment, Xiaowei suddenly spoke up.

"Which village?"

Old Ma asked urgently upon hearing this.

"I think it’s Shangxi Village?"

Xiaowei frowned as he recalled, then continued, "It was about three years ago, Uncle Ma, before you were transferred here, a child went missing in Shangxi Village."

Saying that, he turned his head and looked at Third Uncle beside him, and continued, "Third Uncle, you should remember, right?"

"At that time, you even sent me a short video on Douyin about searching for the child."

"I remember too!"

Upon listening, Third Uncle Wei also recalled some impressions in his mind.

He quickly continued, "I remember the family that lost the child should be Butcher Zhang’s family in Shangxi Village!"

"Butcher Zhang is very skillful at slaughtering pigs, but he’s somewhat hot-tempered, and after drinking, he likes to hit his wife."

"Later, his wife couldn’t take it anymore, so she initiated a divorce from him, leaving the child to Butcher Zhang."

"Within half a year, Butcher Zhang found another woman from somewhere."

"After they got married, life was pretty good, but it’s said that the woman wasn’t very nice to Butcher Zhang’s son."

"It was about three winters ago when Butcher Zhang’s son suddenly disappeared."

"Both Butcher Zhang and his wife said that the child took a payment for pigs from home and then vanished."

"Villagers from nearby all mobilized with the police to help search."

"But after nearly half a month, they couldn’t find even a shadow of the child."

"Later, Butcher Zhang and his wife shot many missing-person videos and uploaded them to Douyin and Kuaiyin, hoping to leverage social power to find the child."

"But after a considerable period of fuss, they still couldn’t find the child, and ultimately, Butcher Zhang found a note in the child’s backpack."

"The note was left by the child, saying that he couldn’t stand the stepmother’s abuse and took the pig payment to go work in the south..."

Third Uncle Wei recalled the situation at the time and recounted everything.

Second Uncle Wei also pitched in, adding some details.

Old Ma listened and nodded thoughtfully.

He was transferred here two and a half years ago and wasn’t very familiar with the case of Butcher Zhang’s son disappearing.

After hearing these two recount, he couldn’t help but frown and looked again at the white bones on the sheet.

Then, he said in a deep voice, "Looks like the child’s disappearance was fake, and the murder is real!"

The livestream audience listened closely to the dialogue of these people.

In the blink of an eye, various bullet comments flooded the entire livestream chat.

"I didn’t expect that the deceased was actually a twelve or thirteen-year-old child!"

"I’m guessing the murderer is probably Butcher Zhang and the woman he later married!"

"Indeed, it is very likely! The stepmother disliked the child, so she found a way to kill him."

"No, but if the murderers were the couple, why would they bury the body at Fatty Brother’s house?"

"I feel it’s strange too, not burying the body in the wild, but in someone else’s yard?"

"The village isn’t unoccupied either; if Butcher Zhang and his wife dared transport and bury the body, they would’ve been seen long ago."

"The murders must be committed by Butcher Zhang and his wife! After killing the child, they executed a series of actions to avoid suspicion."

"Right, right, shooting short videos and all; their actions completely show a guilty conscience."

"Isn’t there a possibility, I’m saying a possibility... Because Fatty Brother hasn’t been home for years, and Fatty Brother’s mother remarried somewhere else, leading the old house to be idle though not decayed, making it a pretty good spot for burying a body."

"Very likely! Butcher Zhang must know about Fatty Brother’s home situation, thinking the old house would remain abandoned, so that’s why he buried the body in the yard."

"Then how did he transport and bury the body? Are Fatty Brother’s villagers blind and deaf?"

"Butcher Zhang and his wife said the child took pig payments, meaning Butcher Zhang could be out collecting pigs, hiding the child in a pig collection van too."

"Collecting pigs or vegetables, you need to be early! I reckon Butcher Zhang used collecting pigs as an excuse, brought the child’s body to Fatty Brother’s village, buried the body while villagers were still asleep, and continued collecting pigs..."

"Ingenious! This way, processing the body becomes out of sight, out of mind!"

"Amazing! This couple’s main trick really is hiding in the light!"

"Terrifying upon detailed consideration! Terrifying indeed!"

As the discussion continued, more sensed Butcher Zhang and his wife as the culprits.

Firstly, Butcher Zhang’s later wife was bad to the child, providing a motive for murder.

Secondly, Butcher Zhang could utilize his pig collection work to easily transport and bury the body.

Thirdly, the couple’s actions when the child went missing.

Uploading videos and such were utterly absurd!

This was absolutely a case of having no silver here!

Xiaowei saw the barrage of comments, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Moreover, he had previously seen a case of a child disappearing and being murdered.

In that case, the deceased was murdered due to abuse from the child’s mother and stepfather, and the body was buried in the stepfather’s grandfather’s tomb.

Afterwards, the couple pretended to be innocent and shot many videos crying about searching for the child.

They even cooperated seamlessly with the police in the search, a performance perfectly foolproof!

Until the police announced the discovery of the child’s remains, it revealed the ruthlessly evil nature of the biological mother and stepfather.

Recalling this case mirrored the current one almost perfectly.

So Xiaowei relayed the viewers’ speculations and the case he knew to Old Ma.

Old Ma had also been suspicious of Butcher Zhang and his wife before.

Now, after listening to Xiaowei, he found the couple increasingly suspicious.

"Could it be Butcher Zhang and his wife committed the murder and then deliberately acted in front of everyone to clear suspicion?"

As he pondered, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Xiaowei’s phone not far away.

The livestream is still on!

The adept Daoist is still in the livestream chat.

Perhaps he could ask the Daoist to help with some divination?

Thinking of this, Old Ma shared his thoughts with Xiaowei.

"Alright, Uncle Ma, hold on for a second, I’ll ask the old Daoist to help with some divination!"

Xiaowei didn’t hesitate at all, nodding immediately.

Then he returned to the phone’s camera and cautiously asked, "Old Daoist, the police have conducted preliminary examinations of the body just now, and found no useful evidence."

"Without evidence, solving this case seems difficult."

"Could I please ask you to help divine the past of the deceased, to see who the culprit really is..."