chapter 5

Just as I was about to leave, Master added, “Chat with the shop owner a bit more.”

I agreed and went on my way.

I stayed at the convenience store for two hours. Figuring that Master and Captain Jiang had almost finished their conversation, and that I had gathered enough gossip from the shop owner, I went back to the village office to find Master.

Master asked if I had any news.

I said the convenience store owner told me that at seven o’clock that night, he went out to relieve himself and saw the Village Party Secretary leading a woman into his house.

Curious, he peeked in, and saw the woman leave a little after nine.

That woman lived at the west end of the village.

Master acknowledged with a sound and said he would take me to do a group interview.

After a rain, the village roads were extremely muddy.

We visited from the east end of the village to the west, and by then we were covered in mud.

The last house stood alone at the edge of the village, seemingly uninhabited.

It felt like Master let out a sigh of relief.

I remembered what the convenience store owner had said, so I called out a few times, unwilling to give up, but no one responded.

There was a large water vat at the entrance. I thought I’d scoop some water to wash off the mud.

In our area, it’s common for passersby to use the water vats at the gate if they’re thirsty-a sign of the village’s simple and honest customs.

Just as I approached the vat, a voice sounded: “Officers, thank you for your hard work. Are you looking for me?”

I turned around to see a woman in her thirties slowly walking toward us.

She wore heavy makeup and revealing clothes, but her voice was surprisingly pure and pleasant.

Master politely said we just wanted to understand a few things.

She gestured for us to come inside, then subtly positioned herself between me and the water vat.

Inside the house, Master looked around and asked a few simple questions.

It turned out that only this woman lived here. She usually worked elsewhere and rarely returned to the village.

She only came back every August to pay respects to her deceased sister’s family.

After about ten minutes, we were ready to leave.

I went back to the water vat, using the excuse of washing off mud to scoop some water.

The woman enthusiastically brought out a ladle to help.

I observed carefully but found nothing unusual about the vat.

Master glanced at the vat, thanked her, and pulled me away.

Master asked why I insisted on washing off the mud. I answered truthfully, “I thought that vat was suspicious.”

“The woman clearly didn’t want to appear, but only showed up when I approached the vat.”

“And she kept standing between me and the vat, as if she didn’t want me to touch it.”

“But in the end, I didn’t see anything in the vat.”

Master looked at me and said, “Think carefully-was there anything special about the vat?”

I closed my eyes and replayed the process of opening and closing the lid, and suddenly realized: “It was the water’s surface, right?”

Master signaled with his eyes for me to continue.

I said, “That vat has been sitting there all along. If no one touched it, the water’s surface should be calm, and the water marks should match the water level.”

“But when we opened the vat, the water’s surface was still rippling; there was only half a vat of water, but the water marks were wet up to the rim.”

“This means someone had just moved the vat.”

Master nodded.

I couldn’t help but wonder: Who would dare make a move right under our noses? What exactly was hidden in that vat?

The Special Case Team gathered together, nervously analyzing the case.

Suddenly, Master’s phone received a message. He glanced at it, and his expression changed dramatically.

We hurried over to look. There were eight bold characters: Five strokes of the character ‘Zheng’, two strokes missing.