"What?"
"Lu Xiaoliang?"
When Xiaowei heard this name, he was suddenly taken aback.
Second Uncle Wei and Third Uncle Wei also couldnât help but show expressions of surprise.
"Do you know this Lu Xiaoliang?"
Seeing the three react this way, Old Ma couldnât help but ask.
"Yes, we do!"
The uncle and nephew trio nodded in succession.
With a complex expression, Xiaowei sighed, "Uncle Ma, when I was in junior high, my father abandoned my mother and me and left."
"For the next two years, there was no news or communication from him."
"So my mother went directly to court to file for divorce."
"After the divorce, my mother remarried her first love from back in the day."
"And this first love is named Lu. His son with his ex-wife is Lu Xiaoliang!"
Second Uncle Wei and Third Uncle Wei also sighed.
No one expected that the murderer was so far yet so near, right in front of them!
Lu Heng continued, "Since Xiaoweiâs mother remarried, she seldom returned to this old house."
"Lu Xiaoliang often stole the keys to the old house and brought Zhang Xiaohua and others to play."
"Zhang Xiaohua had a bad relationship with his stepmother. In one conversation with Lu Xiaoliang, he learned that Lu Xiaoliang planned to go south to find work."
"So, Zhang Xiaohua also thought about leaving home and shared his idea with Lu Xiaoliang."
"Lu Xiaoliang readily agreed and set a date to meet at the old house the following week."
"Zhang Xiaohua was very excited and secretly took the pig-sale money from home to meet Lu Xiaoliang."
"After meeting, they agreed to set off early the next morning."
"But in the middle of the night, Lu Xiaoliang sneaked into Zhang Xiaohuaâs room intending to steal the money Zhang Xiaohua had taken out."
"Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiaohua couldnât sleep out of excitement for leaving his stepmother the next day."
"Just as Lu Xiaoliang was about to steal the money, Zhang Xiaohua caught him, and a conflict erupted."
"During the physical struggle, Lu Xiaoliang, in a moment of malice, took out a knife he was carrying and stabbed Zhang Xiaohua in the chest."
"Zhang Xiaohua couldnât believe that the brother he trusted so much would actually kill him."
"As the blood loss worsened, Zhang Xiaohua fell silent..."
Although Lu Heng didnât finish the story, anyone could guess the subsequent development with a bit of thought.
Nothing more than Lu Xiaoliang committing murder and burying the body in the dead of night.
Because there were rarely any people at Xiaoweiâs old house, Zhang Xiaohuaâs body went undiscovered.
Until Xiaowei started having those strange dreams and felt someone was sending him a message through dreams, which led him to seek the Taoist priest.
And thus, everything that happened tonight unfolded!
"Zhang Xiaohuaâs death was truly in vain!"
"Itâs likely that Zhang Xiaohua thought that like him, Lu Xiaoliang also had a bad relationship with his stepmother, which is why he trusted Lu Xiaoliang so much."
"Yes, but he would never have expected that Lu Xiaoliang would be tempted by money!"
"That Lu Xiaoliang is really something else!"
"Anyone who carries a knife around canât be up to any good!"
"Right, who in their right mind carries a knife just in case?"
"I bet this little brat is just a petty gangster!"
"Come on, what kind of good kid drops out of school and plans to go work right when they come of age?"
"Thanks to the old Taoist priest, we now know the whole truth behind this crime! Honestly, we all overthought it before."
"Earlier when we were suspecting Butcher Zhangâs family, we wasted so much brainpower reconstructing the entire murder... but none of us expected the truth to be so simple!"
"Indeed, weâve all complicated this case unnecessarily."
"Lu Xiaoliang was tempted by money, killed, then buried the bodyânothing complicated at all."
"I mean, we canât blame us folks on the stream. Itâs mainly because none of us knew about Lu Xiaoliang!"
"Exactly, if we knew about the meeting between Zhang Xiaohua and Lu Xiaoliang, with our wisdom on the stream, this kid wouldnât escape suspicion!"
"Nonsense! We suspected everyone related to the burial site and the deceased..."
Old Ma nodded gravely after hearing this.
He turned to Third Uncle Wei and asked, "Third Brother, tell me about this Lu Xiaoliang?"
"What else? Just a petty thug!"
Third Uncle Wei replied disdainfully, "That kid dropped out of junior high and often mingled with some thugs in town."
"Parents in the surrounding villages would always tell their kids not to be like Lu Xiaoliang..."
Hearing this, Xiaowei almost laughed out loud.
Oh boy!
He really is one of those "other peopleâs kids," just of a negative kind.
Second Uncle Wei picked up the thread and continued, "Old Lu is actually quite decent, a reliable guy."
"But who knows where Lu Xiaoliang picked up such ways; heâs been crooked since he was a child."
"In elementary school, he often got into arguments with classmates, causing teachers to call in his parents."
"Later on, things got worse. He frequently associated with people outside the school."
"Once, he and some town thugs broke into a shop to steal, only to find the shop owner was sleeping inside."
"Instead of fleeing when caught, they beat the owner seriously..."
At this, Old Ma nodded lightly.
From this record of wrongdoing, it was undoubtedly Lu Xiaoliang!
"Thank you so much, venerable Taoist priest, for your help tonight!"
"If it werenât for you, this murder might have gone unresolved!"
With that, Old Ma saluted Lu Heng and then led two police officers away, seemingly to apprehend the murderer.
At this point, the case that had troubled them for nearly three hours finally reached its conclusion.
Second Uncle Wei shook his head, "I never would have thought that kid Lu Xiaoliang would actually commit murder!"
"Why is that surprising?"
"That kidâs been a no-good since childhood, brawling and stealing were common for him."
"Even if Zhang Xiaohuaâs death wasnât discovered, I bet heâd end up sentenced to death sooner or later!"
Third Uncle Wei responded with a sneer.
Xiaowei scratched his head awkwardly and said with a smile, "I guess all those weird dreams I had were just ordinary nightmares, nothing to do with any messages from beyond."
He then looked toward Lu Heng in the livestream and waved, "Old Taoist, the case here has been solved."
"I wonât delay you from doing readings for the next lucky stream viewer."
"Goodbye!"
After sending a few Cloud-Piercing Arrows, Xiaowei disconnected and vanished from the live stream.
[System Notification: Host has successfully altered the Heavenly Dao, absorbing Life Span, please check shortly...]
At this moment, the system notification sounded too...