Midnight trial

  That day when I returned to Kunming, it was already past 8 o'clock at night. After several hours of bumping around, I was so tired that my whole body ached and my bones were almost scattered. So I casually got something to eat outside the station, took a taxi back to the rented house, and fell onto the bed as soon as I entered.

  But just as I was dozing off, the sound of knocking on the door rang out from outside. When I opened my mouth to ask who it was, it turned out to be the landlady's wife, saying that she had come to collect the rent. The building where I live is mostly owned by a wealthy old man, and this woman outside is the landlady's little wife whom he supports. Two years ago, she gave birth to a son for the old man, and in his delight, he handed over the rental income of this building as her living expenses.

  But it's not the end of the season yet, what kind of rent is this woman collecting? I reluctantly muttered to open the door for her. This woman is usually harsh and sarcastic, every time she collects rent, she coldly ridicules me, a poor guy, but after all, I still live in this house, so it's better not to offend her.

  Who knew that as soon as I opened the door a crack, several people pushed it open and rushed in, shouting something with their mouths, the scene was extremely chaotic. Two men twisted my hands behind my back, and the strong light of the flashlight made me unable to open my eyes.

  The landlady's wife shouted loudly on the side, Comrade policeman, it's this man, I've always thought he was a thief with a guilty conscience, definitely not a good thing.

  Police? I squinted and took a look, the ones who rushed in were indeed several police officers, but I'm just a law-abiding businessman, when did I ever get involved with the police?

  That woman was still talking about my bad behavior, as if I were some kind of evil villain. I really wanted to kick her. The police officer next to me shouted something like "be honest, don't move" and dragged me into the police car downstairs.

  My old man actually got taken away by the police, this is something I never thought would happen, and to make matters worse, I don't even know why he was arrested.

  What's even more bizarre is that there was a police station right on the street downstairs, but the police car took me all the way to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. This kind of treatment isn't something an ordinary pickpocket or petty thief would get to enjoy.

  What's going on here?

  I was pushed into a room, with my hands cuffed and sitting in the center of the house. Three policemen sat opposite me, but because the light was too dim and they were sitting too far away, I couldn't see their faces clearly. On the wall opposite me, the eight big characters "Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist" looked familiar no matter how I looked at them - damn it, wasn't this the typical scene from TV shows when interrogating prisoners?

  The policeman sitting in the middle, who claimed to be surnamed Jin, first asked me questions such as my name, hometown, and address. He sounded like a very kind old man, so I cooperated fully with his questioning. After answering some basic information, he asked if the C area of the Chinese herbal medicine wholesale market in Shijiu Village was mine, and I was taken aback when I heard this - could it be that there was another crackdown in the market?

  More than a decade ago, the daily management of Shi Jiu Village was still quite chaotic. Although it mainly focused on traditional Chinese medicine trading and wholesale, there were rampant underground transactions of wild animals, and some people even secretly sold opium. As a result, various departments would frequently come to conduct surprise inspections, which our merchants referred to as "severe crackdowns".

  Speaking of this, I was actually caught once. Last year, deer antlers and whips were selling well, so I stocked up on some goods, dried them in the wind, and passed them off as wild deer antlers and whips to make a small profit. Later, someone reported me, and the forest police investigated me. I had no choice but to confess honestly. The police didn't bother me afterwards, but instead, the industrial and commercial department fined me.

  As the saying goes, "once bitten, twice shy". I've never done something that has backfired on me a second time. Before that police officer even had a chance to ask me anything, I was already vigorously defending myself.

  "Slap"

  A policeman next to me slammed his hand on the table, giving me a fright.

  "Be honest with me and confess the problem without beating around the bush. Since we've caught you, it can't be a small matter!"

  That old policeman with the surname Jin wasn't so furious, saying "Little Ma, don't be in a hurry, pay attention to your emotions" while handing me a cigarette, and said "Officer Ma is also telling the truth, it's not up to their criminal police team to intervene just because of some wild animal trafficking."

  I often watch TV dramas when I'm free, and among them, detective dramas are the ones I've watched the most. At first glance, it's not clear what's going on, is this old and young duo of police officers playing "red face white face" with me? But Officer Ma's one sentence has made me worried, why did the criminal police team come to find me after all?

  "Hey kid, take a drag on your cigarette and spill everything you know." Officer Jin walked up to me, patted my shoulder, his face full of deep concern.

  I also responded to him with a sincere face, Uncle, if there's anything you want to say, just tell me directly. I just got back from Wenshan tonight and I don't know what happened in the store at all.

  "Have you just come back from Wenshan? How old were we when we fooled around as kids?" Officer Ma yelled again.

  "What a fine of ten for a fake one! I haven't even thrown away the ticket yet." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the crumpled ticket.

  "So you're saying that for the first three days, you weren't even in Kunming?" Officer Jin's face was filled with suspicion as he took the ticket and glanced at it, then handed it to his two colleagues.

  I nodded like a stapler and then said that it wasn't just three days, I stayed in Wenshan for a whole week.

  "Who can prove it?"

  "Dog root, I'm saying Wen Shan local tyrant Gou Da Fu." I secretly congratulated myself, fortunately there was Dog Root as a witness.

  Officer Jin took out a form for me to register the witness's contact information and details as soon as he heard that I had a witness, but the young policeman surnamed Ma next to him was still picking faults, asking how I could prove that Gu Daifu would not perjure himself, and even said that Gu Daifu might be my accomplice.

  This time I'm really furious, from the start this little cop has been against me, now saying this is almost framing me. I've never provoked a police officer, let alone offended him.

  I slammed my hands on the table in front of me and shouted at that guy with the surname Ma, "What's going on here? You're telling me our country practices the presumption of innocence, but you haven't even told me what happened, and yet you've brought me here for questioning. This is a huge dereliction of duty." Luckily I'd watched enough TV to know how to say all this in one go, and that little policeman with the surname Ma just stood there silently, coldly smiling.

  In the end, it was Officer Jin who came out to smooth things over. He said that he had asked me to come over mainly to understand the situation and also told Officer Ma not to bring his emotions into work.

  Officer Jin has already said it, if I continue to hesitate, it would be self-inflicted suffering. Lightly turning the page on this matter, I directly asked them: "It's so late, you've brought me here, is something wrong with my store?"

  Officer Jin looked at me calmly and said that three days ago, someone reported a case saying I was involved in a murder case at the entrance of Shijiu Village. They came to investigate and happened to find that I wasn't at the store, so naturally they listed me as the number one suspect.

  Look at me, I'm so unlucky. I hastened to reiterate that I had been in Wenshan for a whole week. If they didn't believe me, they could ask Dog Root entirely about it. As for what happened at my store, I knew nothing about it.

  "We will definitely verify the situation you mentioned. You have to believe in our people's police, we will not wrong a good person and will not let off a criminal." Officer Jin said a polite phrase and asked again:

  "How often do you usually interact with Miao people?"

  As soon as I mentioned the Miao people, I became vigilant - how did I get involved with the Miao people again?

  "Officer, you also know that in our line of work, we can't avoid going into the mountains to collect some medicinal materials. And Miao medicine has always been quite popular." I had no choice but to confess honestly, Miao medicine, Tibetan medicine and other ethnic minority medicines have always been in good demand, so my store always has a steady supply.

  "It's not about medicine, I'm asking you, do you know this person in the photo?" Officer Jin handed me a photo.

  I took a closer look under the lamplight, and my heart skipped a beat. The man with a scar on his left cheek, wasn't he Hei Zha, the spy from Shuizhao Village who had sold me the fake dragon's gallbladder?

  "I know him, he used to sell me medicine. What's wrong with him." To be honest, now whenever I mention the Miao people, I get a little scared.

  "He's dead." Officer Kim observed my expression carefully.

  "The abdominal cavity was ripped open, and the internal organs were all tangled up in a mess. Three days ago in the morning, you were found dead on your bed, with the door wide open, no murder weapon or any signs of the perpetrator were found at the scene, except that things in the store were rummaged through as if someone was looking for something."

  What can be found, it's all about the dragonfly, but unfortunately, this Wu Zha came a step too late. But how did he end up dying in my store? And his death is so ugly, completely like the symptoms of a poisonous dragonfly attack. Who killed him after all? The Hua Miao people or the Hei Miao people?

  "Listen, kid, I'm not going to lie to you, this murderer has extremely high anti-detection abilities. We still haven't made any progress so far, so I hope you can cooperate with the public security department and tell them everything you know."

  I secretly laughed, if I really died from the poisonous insect, you would be able to find any clues. But on the surface, I still have to keep a distance, getting involved in this kind of thing is extremely troublesome.

  I told Officer Kim that I had only done one deal with this person, just a few thousand yuan, and didn't even know his name.

  Officer Jin asked me what I bought from Wuzha, and I said it was some dried insects, which many rich people buy to nourish their yang.

  "Is it an aphrodisiac?" Officer Jin shook his head and handed me another photo, asking me to take a closer look.

  I don't know this person, but it's clear that he is a member of an ethnic minority and his eyes are full of murder and arson, as fierce as the Black Miao people I saw at Shuǐniúbà.

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