Animal Detective-Chapter 46: Guilt
Shen Xin jumped in surprise, wondering what had gotten into Wu Zhicun.
He hadn’t even touched the man. It was just the afternoon sun casting his shadow over Wu Zhicun’s body.
The old man cried out twice, then, still shaken, muttered something about "no one there" and "just a feeling" before calming down.
Watching this, Shen Xin sighed to himself. ’Honestly, it feels like Wu Zhicun has completely lost his mind. He’s totally unhinged.’
But just then, a thought struck Shen Xin like a jolt of electricity.
"Xiaoshen, what’s wrong?" Chen Chao, having been alerted by the commotion, walked over to ask.
He clapped Shen Xin on the shoulder, and Shen Xin flinched, snapping back to reality.
"Captain Chen, I just remembered something."
Shen Xin’s eyes widened as he spoke urgently. "I talked to Wu Zhicun before about why he believed his grandson was murdered. He gave me several reasons at the time."
"He said his grandson visited him in a dream, which is obviously just his imagination. Then he mentioned Wu Jiawang’s dog, which is what made me notice Lele." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
"But he gave one other reason."
Shen Xin sucked in a sharp breath.
At the time, listening to Wu Zhicun, he had just thought the old man was rambling incoherently.
But now, knowing about Gao Jinrui and looking back, it all seemed rather intriguing.
"He told me that after Wu Jiawang disappeared, someone was loitering around his front door. He also said his hearing was still sharp, that he could hear a person’s heartbeat."
"Back then, I just figured he was hearing a random passerby."
Chen Chao nodded with a serious expression. Shen Xin’s assumption had been a reasonable one.
"But..."
Shen Xin turned to look at Wu Zhicun. The old man’s reaction just now had been terrifying.
"Captain Chen, look. I’ll show you."
Shen Xin had Chen Chao stand at the entrance to the main hall. He then went into the inner room and reenacted Wu Zhicun’s panicked cries.
The performance sent a shiver down Zhao Shouchuan’s spine as he watched from the side.
It was a little creepy.
Especially with the three funeral portraits staring at you from the depths of the main hall.
Chen Chao hadn’t yet grasped what Shen Xin was getting at, his brow merely furrowed in thought.
Shen Xin said, "Uncle Wu is blind, but his hearing is very sharp. He’s old, and being blind, he hasn’t been able to move around much for years. When a person lives like that for a long time, their mind is bound to get confused. Especially during that period, right after his grandson went missing, he must have been under immense mental strain."
"But his reactions... they might be real. They might be things he actually experienced."
"So, Captain Chen, what do you think that scene just now looked like?"
Shen Xin asked pointedly.
Chen Chao froze for a second. His eyes gradually widened as understanding dawned, and an icy dread crept into his heart.
"Are you saying that after Wu Jiawang disappeared, someone, for some reason, snuck into his home? That they appeared before Wu Zhicun, just like you acted out, standing right beside him, watching him in total silence?"
Shen Xin nodded frantically.
’Exactly!’
Wu Zhicun’s reaction just now was exactly as if he had been lying in bed in the inner room, and in the darkness, a person stood silently by his bedside, just watching him.
He was startled awake, but being blind, he could only scream in panic.
"If that’s the case, then who do you think would sneak into the Wu family home?"
Chen Chao instinctively wanted to say Gao Jinrui’s name but forced himself to stop. He beckoned to Shen Xin, and they hurried out into the courtyard.
Zhao Shouchuan had already figured it out. He shivered and whispered, "Xiaoshen, are you saying that after Gao Jinrui ran over Wu Jiawang, he secretly snuck back into the house? What for? To kill him to silence him?"
"I doubt it would go that far."
Shen Xin shook his head, offering a guess. "Maybe it was guilt."
"That’s how it always plays out in movies and TV shows. When an ordinary person accidentally kills someone—that’s a human life—who could just brush it off? He must have been tormented by it."
"His family lives right here in Jinyang Village. With the police station making such a big deal of the search at the time, he definitely knew about Wu Jiawang’s situation. Maybe out of guilt, he snuck into the Wu family’s home to see Wu Zhicun. Maybe saying a silent apology to him would have brought him some peace of mind."
Zhao Shouchuan frowned. Was that even possible? It sounded like something out of a TV drama to him.
Unexpectedly, Chen Chao nodded in agreement. "It’s possible. For an ordinary person, killing someone is a truly monumental event. The psychological pressure can be crushing. Over the years, I’ve seen several people who turned themselves in because the pressure was too much to bear."
"And under that kind of immense psychological pressure, a person might do all sorts of irrational things. For example, just as Xiaoshen said, he knew Wu Jiawang only had this one grandfather, that they depended on each other. So he might have wanted to come back and see the old man in Wu Jiawang’s place."
"Besides, Wu Zhicun is blind. He wouldn’t have been able to see him."
Zhao Shouchuan grimaced and fell silent.
After a moment’s thought, Chen Chao raised an eyebrow. "Xiaoshen, if Gao Jinrui really did sneak into the Wu’s house, do you think he might have touched anything? Like, maybe he went through Wu Jiawang’s belongings?"
Shen Xin paused, then shook his head. It seemed unlikely.
’Wu Zhicun probably screamed, and Gao Jinrui got scared and ran off.’
"Not necessarily. Let’s do this: we’ll check Wu Jiawang’s belongings anyway," Chen Chao said.
After all, re-examining the victim’s personal effects was part of the standard procedure.
He went back into the main hall and asked Wu Zhicun where Wu Jiawang’s things were kept.
Since Wu Jiawang had never officially been declared dead, Wu Zhicun had likely kept all his belongings.
Wu Zhicun was just mumbling to himself, not taking in a word.
Just then, Zhao Shouchuan spoke up. "I remember now. The community service people came by several times, and they helped him clean up. Hold on, let me ask."
He ran out to make a phone call.
He returned a short while later, nodding. It was indeed the community service that had packed things up.
He pointed to the adjacent room, He Cuimei’s place, and said that it used to be Wu Jiawang’s room.
Back when the boy first disappeared, Wu Zhicun refused to let them touch anything in the room, no matter what, insisting that Jia Wang would come back.
"But a few years ago, when they were renovating his house, they bricked up the door on this side of the main hall and made a new entrance. They also packed up all the things in his room. Director Li from the community center said she personally came over to help. At Wu Zhicun’s request, everything was put into that trunk in the inner room."
Chen Chao immediately walked into the inner room.
In the far corner sat a large, black trunk.
It looked like one of those old-fashioned dowry chests.
Chen Chao stopped Shen Xin, who was about to open it, and sent him to get a pack of disposable gloves from his car. Only after they put them on did he open the trunk.
Shen Xin put on a pair as well and peered at the contents.
There were clothes, some of Wu Jiawang’s books, and a few toys.
There weren’t many toys, and the clothes were old and worn. It was clear the grandfather and grandson had been living in poverty.
"Let’s move it out," Chen Chao said, deciding to move the whole trunk out for a better look.
Shen Xin asked what they were looking for.
Chen Chao shook his head. He didn’t know either. "Just look for anything that seems out of place."
’Out of place.’
Shen Xin began taking items out one by one. Suddenly, he paused as he picked up a small medicine box.
It was a small box for sodium hyaluronate eye drops.
The seal on the box was torn.
Shen Xin instinctively started to hand it to Chen Chao but stopped short, his eyes darting to the production date.
January 13, 2010.
These were seven-year-old eye drops.
"Captain Chen," Shen Xin called out urgently.
"What is it?" Chen Chao looked up.
Shen Xin showed him the production date on the eye drops. "Look at this. These are from seven years ago. And they were packed up from Wu Jiawang’s room. Wu Jiawang’s eyes were fine; he wouldn’t have needed eye drops."
As he spoke, Shen Xin quickly pulled out his phone to look up the use for sodium hyaluronate eye drops.
"They’re for treating dry eye. These must have been for Wu Zhicun."
’So what are they doing in here?’
Chen Chao examined the box. "Maybe it was packed in by mistake," he suggested.
He opened the box and took out the bottle inside.
It was a common type of medicine bottle.
The safety ring was still intact. It had never been used.
But Chen Chao’s eyes suddenly flew wide open. On the bottle were two—no, one and a half—faint, brownish fingerprints, as if left by dirt or dust.
In that instant, Chen Chao’s heart pounded wildly in his chest.
