New Clues

After half an hour.

A police car stopped at the entrance of Yinhu Village.

Since it was already the third day of the Lunar New Year, and the construction schedule had been delayed due to rain, many workers had already started working even though it was still during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The entire village of Yinhu was filled with flying dust, resembling a large construction site.

"Cough cough, this is too pungent." After getting out of the car, Ling Yue covered her nose.

"Everyone is rushing to repair it because they're afraid the policy might change." Gu Huai jumped out of the passenger seat, took a mask out of his pocket, and handed it to Ling Yue.

Thanks.

"It's nothing," Gu Huai waved his hand dismissively. "But Sister Ling, you stayed up all night preparing the materials, don't you need to rest today?"

"With just that few ingredients, I finished in half an hour." Ling Yue put on her mask and looked at Gu Huai. "What's our next move?"

"If you ask me," Hou Hao suggested after parking the car, "let's go to the village committee first; they should know the situation better."

"I'll listen to Brother Hou," Gu Huai said, indicating that he had no objections.

Five minutes later, the three arrived at the entrance of the village committee of Yinhu Village.

The village committee members took the arrival of the two men in police uniforms very seriously.

When he learned that they had come for Zhang Zhenhua's sake, the village chief breathed a long sigh of relief. He had almost thought they were there to investigate the illegal construction.

After letting out a sigh of relief, the village chief still expressed his regret over Zhang Zhenhua's disappearance.

"Zhenhua is a good kid. I've never heard of him getting into any conflicts with the villagers."

Gu Huai was not surprised by the village chief's answer.

Shenzhen and even the southern coastal areas are basically clan societies. A village usually has only one or two surnames, and most people with the same surname in the same village are from the same clan.

Moreover, even those with different surnames are mostly related.

Under such circumstances, unless someone is an exceptionally scoundrel, they generally won't cause trouble in the village.

Although Gu Huai had learned about Zhang Zhenhua from many people in the past two days, he was well aware that these were all just their side of the story.

As a police officer, I must be suspicious of everything.

If one is influenced by a certain atmosphere or emotion beforehand, there will inevitably be oversights during the investigation process.

Therefore, Gu Huai did not completely believe the village chief's words, but continued to ask himself the questions in his mind.

"Village chief, please think carefully, has Zhang Zhenhua had any conflicts with anyone recently?"

Seeing Gu Huai's persistent questioning, the village chief's expression gradually turned serious.

"Officer, what happened to Zhenhua?"

Seeing the village chief's expression, Gu Huai realized that he was still unaware of Zhang Zhenhua's death.

On second thought, I heard that Liu Yanni was sent to the hospital to recuperate yesterday because of excessive grief, and Zhang Zhenhua's elderly mother was taken to Zhang Shengli's home to be cared for.

Given the suddenness of yesterday's events and the gruesome manner of Zhang Zhenhua's death, it is understandable that Zhang Shengli did not notify the village.

After thinking for a while, Gu Huai decided to inform the village of Zhang Zhenhua's death.

Of course, he only informed Zhang Zhenhua of the death; he kept the details of Zhang Zhenhua's death somewhat ambiguous.

After all, Liu Yanni still has her child and needs to maintain her reputation in the village.

Upon hearing the news of Zhang Zhenhua's death, the village chief's eyes widened in disbelief.

He kept repeating "Impossible, impossible."

Gu Huai did not interrupt the village chief's ramblings, but waited quietly.

Judging from the current situation, the village chief of Yinhu Village seems to have genuine feelings for Zhang Zhenhua.

After the village chief had been lost in thought for a long time, he finally raised his head.

"Officer, I remember now, Zhenhua did have a conflict with someone before the Lunar New Year."

-----------------

Outside the Yinhu Village Committee.

Just now, the village chief of Yinhu Village shared some news: a group of people caused trouble at Zhang Zhenhua's house just before the Chinese New Year.

According to him, he came to demand his unpaid wages.

Although the matter was temporarily resolved through village mediation, the village chief was unsure whether those people had contacted Zhang Zhenhua afterward.

"Ah Huai, do you think the information the village chief just mentioned was useful?" Hou Hao asked, scratching his head.

To be honest, this was his first time handling a case independently, and he wasn't yet adept at judging the authenticity of clues.

Ling Yue, who was standing to the side, did not speak, but instead looked at Gu Huai.

"It's probably not very useful." Gu Huai shook his head and said, "Zhang Zhenhua owes the workers money for construction work, and the workers are coming to demand their wages. This is a normal economic dispute."

Although, according to the village chief, it was quite outrageous of the construction workers to block Zhang Zhenhua's doorstep demanding money before the Lunar New Year.

However, if viewed from another perspective, construction workers work hard all year just to go home for the Chinese New Year, so their behavior of asking for wages is understandable.

Hou Hao nodded, then asked, "So what's our next step?"

"Of course, we should investigate that contractor!"

Hou Hao was puzzled. "Wasn't this supposed to be a normal dispute? Why are you investigating it?"

Gu Huai didn't directly address his question, but instead turned to Ling Yue, "Sister Ling, what do you think?"

"Because that contractor really didn't come back afterwards, otherwise Zhang Shengli wouldn't have never mentioned it again." Ling Yue keenly found the problem in this matter.

"This suggests that Zhang Zhenhua may have received some additional income during this period."

"Sister Ling is really amazing." Gu Huai couldn't help but give her a thumbs up. "We need to find the contractor now and ask him for details to see if this is really the case."

"Let's go then." Ling Yue wasn't embarrassed at all and strode out.

Watching Gu Huai and Ling Yue's back-and-forth banter, Hou Hao rubbed his hands together.

Gu Huai witnessed this scene and knew that he must be feeling terrible.

On second thought, he could understand Hou Hao.

Anyone would feel uncomfortable if someone suddenly appeared and stole their thunder.

If it were when I was younger, I would definitely have fought that person hard.

Hou Hao's decision to keep it to himself is already considered quite amiable.

In his view, Hou Hao was not the kind of person who was unwilling to work hard.

The reason he doesn't seem to be very good at analysis is largely due to Wu Feilin.

Hou Hao had gotten used to following Wu Feilin around. Whatever Wu Feilin said went, and all he had to do was carry it out.

The only way to improve this situation is to let him work independently from Wu Feilin as soon as possible.

However, this was a matter between the master and disciple, and it was not convenient for Gu Huai to interfere.

He didn't even have the right to say a word.

Thinking of this, Gu Huai reached out and patted Hou Hao on the shoulder, "Brother Hou is leaving."

Hou Hao looked at Gu Huai with a somewhat blank expression.

He originally thought that Gu Huai would say some words of comfort to him, as he had become accustomed to such words of comfort before.

They all say things like, "I don't have much experience now, but I'll work harder later"—that's all just correct but useless platitudes.

But Gu Huai simply put his arm around his shoulder and walked forward, which caught him somewhat off guard.

This feeling of being teammates was something he had never experienced before.

He turned his head to look at Gu Huai and muttered to himself.

It seems I really should start working harder.