It had been half a year since Lin Meifeng last received a call from Chen Er. Hearing Chen Er's voice suddenly, she was overjoyed and cried. Her voice trembling, she replied, "Auntie's doing fine. I'm just worried about you. You're all alone. What can I do?"
Since Chen's father passed away, although there was a sum of savings in the family to cover her daily expenses, Lin Meifeng was still worried about Chen Er. She would do her best to send Chen Er living expenses every month.
The amount wasn't much, but Chen Er was very grateful to Lin Meifeng.
"Auntie, I'm fine. For the next month, you should go out for a while. If anyone asks, just say you've gone far away to visit relatives," Chen Er whispered to Lin Meifeng.
Lin Meifeng didn't ask many questions and readily agreed, "Okay, auntie knows. I definitely won't cause you any trouble. Take good care of yourself and don't let those with ill - intentions find any flaws."
Hearing the words "those with ill - intentions" in Lin Meifeng's words, Chen Er's eyes darkened. She chatted about some trivial family matters casually and then hung up the phone.
The drip was almost finished. Chen Er pressed the bell to call the nurse.
On the other side, Jiang Cong had already reached his destination.
He didn't waste any time. After putting his luggage in the hotel where the research institution was staying, he bought a bus ticket to the village.
The bus was bumping along the rough mountain road. Jiang Cong endured the discomfort in his stomach, closed his eyes, and leaned against the seat back.
The people on the bus were all dressed simply like farmers, neat and tidy. They were all very enthusiastic and chatting animatedly.
Jiang Cong paid attention to the words and deeds of the people on the bus. An old woman sitting next to him was chatting loudly with the person next to her, "Hey, when will this hard life end? For a woman, marrying the right man is the most important thing. Look at Lin Meifeng. She's quick - witted and kind - hearted, but her husband is a good - for - nothing."
"You're right!" The person next to her picked up the conversation and continued, "I heard that Lin Meifeng has a younger sister who died in childbirth! She was said to be working in the city. Among the Chen family, there's only a little daughter left."
Jiang Cong caught the surname Chen sharply. He opened his eyes and pretended to be casually curious as he asked, "Auntie, are you from Mengjia Village too?"
"Yes, young man. You don't seem to be from around here," the old woman sized Jiang Cong up and down. She couldn't help but wonder in her heart. She had never seen such a good - looking man in her life!
Jiang Cong rolled his eyes and half - truthfully said, "I'm really not from here. I'm here to find someone. The Chen family you just mentioned has my relatives in it."
The old woman nodded understandingly. Then she patted Jiang Cong's shoulder cheerfully, "Then you can just follow me when we get off the bus. I'll take you to find Lin Meifeng. Although the village is small, there are many small paths. There's no GPS navigation like you city people have."
Jiang Cong thanked her softly. As a newcomer, it was really inconvenient for him. For now, following the villagers was the safest option.
Finally, in the evening, the bus arrived at the village entrance.
At the enthusiastic invitation of the old woman, Jiang Cong got off the bus behind her. As he walked, he secretly observed the surrounding scenery.
There were mostly bungalows in the village. Occasionally, there were one or two small two - story buildings, which looked extremely out of place.
It's said that "out of poor mountains and bad waters come unscrupulous people", but Jiang Cong thought this statement was too absolute. To a large extent, it was because of the economic backwardness and being far away from the outside world that people's horizons were limited, leading to ignorance and backwardness.
It wasn't their fault, nor was it the fault of the times.
The villagers generally had a low level of education. If someone committed a crime, they would only choose to settle it privately and swallow their grievances instead of using the law to safeguard their rights.
That's why they felt unhappy, full of resentment, and showed malice towards the world. Jiang Cong had never experienced real hardships in life. He had been smooth - sailing since birth.
But from the bottom of his heart, he wanted more people to be brave enough to safeguard their legitimate rights and say "no" bravely to all crimes.
He would rather there be no crimes in the world than receive the unattainable glory for solving numerous cases.
But obviously, this was impossible.
There can't be only good people or only bad people in the world. All he could do was to bring the bad guys to justice as much as possible and give the good people a fair deal.
And this later became Jiang Cong's research topic, and he made outstanding contributions to it.
After walking for half an hour, the old woman leading the way stopped in front of a door with copper rust.
"This is the place. I'll call someone for you!" The old woman stepped forward and knocked on the door, shouting for the owner of the house.
But no matter how much the old woman shouted, no one came to open the door. The old woman was a bit confused. She turned around and murmured to herself in puzzlement, "It's impossible. I saw Lin Meifeng when I went to the market this morning. Why is she nowhere to be found now?"
The door was locked. The sound of their knocking attracted a neighbor.
The neighbor saw the old woman and explained, "Meifeng left early this morning. She said she was going to visit relatives. I don't know when she'll be back."
Jiang Cong's expression was gloomy. Why did Lin Meifeng leave as soon as he arrived?
Was there someone tipping her off, afraid that he would find out something through Lin Meifeng?
"Hey, well, okay," the old woman felt sorry when she saw Jiang Cong. She rubbed her hands embarrassedly, "Young man, I'm really sorry. You've heard it. If you're in a hurry, tell me. I'll pass the message on to Meifeng when she comes back."
Jiang Cong politely declined the old woman's kindness. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to see Lin Meifeng unless he left.
And he only had three days of free time. For the rest of the time, he had to devote himself fully to the research work. He probably wouldn't have the extra energy to conduct a special investigation.
In this case, he could only hire a private detective.
Although Jiang Cong was a bit regretful, he had no choice. He was just a human being, not a god. He couldn't calculate every step precisely.
The other villagers in the village only had a vague understanding of the Chen family's affairs. After all, the Chen family had only briefly returned to the village and wasn't very familiar with the villagers.
Since he was already here, Jiang Cong decided to make the best of it. He took advantage of these three effective days to visit the surrounding villages and learn about the criminal cases that had occurred in previous years. Most of the cases ended without a result. The wronged villagers reported the cases but got nowhere. They often spent all their savings but still couldn't bring the murderers to justice.
Jiang Cong carefully recorded the cries of every wronged villager as materials and included them in his research topic.