The Case of Love

Chapter 27 The Missing Qiangzi

There are only two rooms in the house. One room contains a bed, a wardrobe, and a small TV. The other room is the kitchen. Apart from simple kitchen utensils, a table, two chairs, and mineral water bottles piled in the corner.

Obviously, as the old people in the village said, Qiangzi was very poor and there were only these shabby daily necessities in the house. This might be the reason why he did not lock the door.

"Captain Zhou, if Qiangzi makes a living by selling scrap, he should be in a hurry to sell these things instead of piling them up at home. Could it be that he hasn't been home for the past two days?" Su Xiaohan guessed.

Zhou Yifeng's eyes darkened a little, and he said, "Zhisong, go out and ask where there is a waste collector."

"Yes, boss!" Li Zhisong agreed and went out.

Looking at this house which was only slightly better than the bare house, Su Xiaohan felt a little sad. If Qiangzi was really a victim, then fate was too unfair to him. Although he was poor, he did not steal or rob, and he was working hard to live. No one could deprive him of his right to survive.

Zhou Yifeng walked around again, found a few strands of hair on the bed, and put them into the transparent pocket he carried with him. He took a closer look and found that the length of the hair was similar to the length of the hair left on the back of the deceased's head.

Soon, Li Zhisong came back from outside.

"Boss, I found out that the scrap collector is at the west end of the village, a little far from here."

"Let's go and ask somewhere." Zhou Yifeng walked out.

They got in the car again and drove along the village road to the west of the village.

Along the way, villagers looked at them from time to time, as if they were talking about something. Su Xiaohan rolled down the window and heard scattered discussions.

"I heard from Uncle Zhang that someone just drove over to look for Qiangzi, saying they were Qiangzi's distant relatives. They must be them!"

"If Qiangzi had such good relatives, he shouldn't be so poor, right?"

Su Xiaohan thought to herself, this village is really small, but in just a short while, the news that they came to find Qiangzi spread.

When they arrived at the scrap collection point, Zhou Yifeng approached to ask about Qiangzi. The person in charge of the collection point replied, which confirmed their guess that Qiangzi was missing.

The person in charge of the collection point said that Qiangzi came to deliver waste almost every day, but he hasn't come in the past two days. I don't know what happened.

All signs indicated that Qiangzi had disappeared. Back in the car, the three of them fell into deep thought.

"Captain Zhou, a question suddenly occurred to me. Although the car owned by Zhao Xiaogang has been parked at the building materials company, we can retrieve the surveillance footage of the nearby roads to see if the van that was burned on the night of the incident passed by here. If so, it is very likely that Zhao Xiaogang drove this old car that had not been driven for a long time here, killed Qiangzi, and then took him to the dry ditch and burned the car." After a long silence, Su Xiaohan broke the silence in the car first.

"Yes, why didn't I think of it! This is a good idea!" Li Zhisong was excited again.

Zhou Yifeng was about to say something when the cell phone in his bag rang. He took out his phone, answered it, and pressed the speaker button.

"Boss, we've got something! We asked the owner of the teahouse, and he said that Zhao Xiaogang was a regular customer of their store, but he hadn't been there for a long time. The last time someone at the teahouse saw him was about ten days ago. They said that a woman came to see him at that time, but he left before finishing his tea." The case had an important clue, and Ma Nan's tone was full of excitement.

"Check the surveillance footage from that day and see what the woman looked like!" Zhou Yifeng ordered. "Xiaofeng is checking the surveillance footage. I'll report to you if there's any new progress, Boss. I'll continue watching the surveillance footage with him later." Ma Nan flattered.

"You guys take a look first! We'll meet you after we finish our work here." After saying that, Zhou Yifeng hung up the phone.

"Boss, where are we going?" Li Zhisong asked.

"Go back to the team. I found Qiangzi's hair and asked Sister Sun to compare it. Then we will check the surveillance cameras near the village, maybe we can find something." Zhou Yifeng's idea was exactly the same as Su Xiaohan's.

"okay!"

After leaving the village, the road became wider and Li Zhisong excitedly sped up.

After returning to the police station, Zhou Yifeng handed the evidence bag containing the hair to Sun Yidan, and went back to find Li Zhisong and others to watch the surveillance video together.

In the office, Su Xiaohan and Li Zhisong were staring at the screen intently. Zhou Yifeng raised his hand and glanced at the time. It was already past noon, but Li Zhisong didn't even ask for food.

He opened the takeaway app on his phone, found a restaurant, ordered a few dishes, and was about to pay when he suddenly remembered that Su Xiaohan said that she liked to eat barbecue when she was tired, and that she would feel better after eating a few skewers. After thinking about it, he changed his mind, found a barbecue restaurant, ordered a variety of skewers, and placed the order.

"How is it, have you found anything?" Zhou Yifeng asked as he approached.

"Not yet, boss. There are too few surveillance cameras near this village." While speaking, Li Zhisong's eyes did not leave the screen.

"Brother, look, this seems to be the person we met at the garbage dump today!" Su Xiaohan pointed at the screen.

"Junior sister, how can you be sure it was him? He was wearing a mask and we didn't see what he looked like." Li Zhisong was a little unsure.

"Look at his walking habits. Look at him, it seems like there is something wrong with his right foot. When he walks, more force is applied to his left foot and his body leans to the left, just like the person we saw at the garbage dump today." Su Xiaohan explained.

"Great, Junior Sister, you observe so carefully!" Li Zhisong praised Su Xiaohan, but his eyes drifted to Zhou Yifeng, thinking, what do you think, Boss? Seeing how good my Junior Sister is, you won't discriminate against female police officers anymore, right?
Zhou Yifeng didn't say anything, but walked behind them and watched the surveillance video with them.

After a while, another person appeared on the surveillance screen. He seemed to be very familiar with the man, and the two of them walked forward together.

"Looking at this man's attire, he seems to be the one who collects waste with this man. Could he be Qiangzi?" Li Zhisong turned to look at Su Xiaohan.

"No, look carefully, this man is the one who went to pick up waste later." Su Xiaohan saw the man's face clearly.

As they were talking animatedly, Zhou Yifeng's WeChat notification sounded. He swiped the screen and saw a photo sent by Ma Nan. They found the surveillance footage of the woman with Zhao Xiaogang. Although it was not particularly clear, they could basically see her appearance. They were on their way back to the bureau. When they came back, they would upload the photo to the system and compare and analyze the identity information to try to confirm the identity of the woman.

The office was very quiet, so quiet that he could hear Li Zhisong's stomach growling. He was distracted for a moment and realized that it was already past dinner time. No wonder he was hungry.

Su Xiaohan suppressed her laughter and asked with concern: "Brother, what do you want to eat? I'll order."