I became the Counterpart of the Winner in a Period Novel-Chapter 255 - 252: The Truth Behind the Rift Years Ago

Chapter 255: Chapter 252: The Truth Behind the Rift Years Ago

Magpie Street, on the table, there lay the work uniform and ID badge recently delivered by An Jian. Even the ID badge didn’t require a photograph as rigorously as it would in later generations; it only had a name and other details.

Jiang Mingyue, ID No: T04, this was her police number, but how come it’s just 04? Glancing at the type of work, she understood.

Her job didn’t require wearing a police uniform. Gan Institute sent it here, probably for occasions when it might be needed. Jiang Mingyue casually put it away, except she kept the ID badge with her.

From now on, she was also a proud worker.

The first task on her list was to meet Yuan Qingqing.

Three days ago, the Southern Institute received an anonymous tip-off letter. The letter alleged that Yuan Qingqing had poisoned her mother-in-law, Yao Qiu, to death eight years ago. Such tip-off letters were not uncommon; nine times out of ten, they were false after some basic inquiries. They usually stemmed from hatred or mere verbal disputes being exaggerated. They were used to it.

But this particular case, after further investigation, revealed that Yao Qiu had gone missing eight years ago, and it was actually this daughter-in-law who reported her missing back then. Gan Institute felt, from his many years of handling cases, that this letter might be true.

Yet without solid evidence, they couldn’t treat Yuan Qingqing as a suspect for interrogation.

They could only try to identify the whistleblower first.

The letter came from the post office, and An Jian traced the postmark on the envelope to that postal office.

Xiao Wu from Anping Lane Post Office was very familiar with them. It happened that he was on duty that day, so they called him in for questioning first. He had a good memory and remembered such a letter mailer.

An Jian: "Can you create a portrait?"

Xiao Wu laughed sheepishly: "I can try, I learned a little from my dad when I was young."

He casually took a pencil from the table, and with a few quick strokes, he sketched what he had seen.

An Jian: Is this just a little?

The sketch showed a young woman, her face half-covered by a scarf, but it was clear she was young, around twenty. The wind had lifted one corner of the scarf, revealing bandages on her face.

This?

"Is there anything else?"

Xiao Wu was troubled, "Captain An, so many people send letters and pick up packages every day, I really didn’t notice much else." What he remembered was already the best he could do, wasn’t it?

An Jian patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, if anything else comes to mind, be sure to let us know."

"Sure, sure."

Bandages?

Using the clue about the bandages, An Jian visited three hospitals in Nanxi City and managed to find the person.

Jiang Zhenzhu was brought to the Southern Institute for questioning, she cooperated fully and handed over the evidence she had prepared in advance.

This? But even this wasn’t enough to arrest someone!

Jiang Mingyue could probably guess, the evidence might have been obtained with help from higher-ups, and the reason Jiang Zhenzhu targeted Yuan Qingqing was also predictable, she had a fallout with Zheng Honglian.

You dare sleep with my man, I’ll mess with your whole family.

Even if Zheng Honglian had a bad relationship with her family, blood is still thicker than water, after all, feelings run deep.

Jiang Mingyue occasionally pondered over this "Mr. Fu," wondering what kind of person he was, but for now, her task was to meet Yuan Qingqing and uncover Yao Qiu’s long-buried body.

Jiang Mingyue pulled out a bicycle from the space she conjured, along with Lightning. Although it had appeared in Qingshan Village, and only mentioned by Jiang Beiyang and Yang the Third as the "big white dog," it was indeed the ferocious big white dog. In case someone connected with "big white," that wouldn’t be good. Fortunately, this problem had been solved.

Any problem before Yan Jinzhi was not a problem, combining various data, he prepared a plant-based waterproof dye for Lightning.

Thus, Lightning was now also called "Big Black."

"Woo~" Lightning protested, but the irresponsible owner ignored it. It wanted to flee to the mountains, but when it thought of the delicious pine-needle roast chicken, it hesitated and came back. For food, it’ll endure! In this world, only food must not be betrayed!

Jiang Mingyue, lost in her thoughts, didn’t have time to soothe Lightning’s mood.

She instructed: "From now on, you guard the house, An Jian will come with a letter and explain the matter, you have to entertain on my behalf, do well and you’ll get an extra pine-needle roast chicken that day."

"Howl!": Got it! Off you go! Off you go!

Lightning happily shooed her away, and Jiang Mingyue rode off on her bicycle.

But the trip was not smooth. When she reached Yuan Qingqing’s workplace, they said she had family matters to deal with and had taken three days off, with today being the first day.

This meant Yuan Qingqing wouldn’t be at work for the next two days.

The tactic of blocking her at the workplace wouldn’t work.

Jiang Mingyue began chatting with the gatekeeper, an elderly man with a bit of a hunchback and a good disposition, for whom she had a good impression. She took out a handful of Big White Rabbit candies from her green satchel for him: "Sweeten your mouth, Uncle."

His eyes lit up, and he politely declined while his hand had already moved the candies into his pocket.

Jiang Mingyue liked such straightforward old men.

She took the opportunity to ask a few questions.

"She’s a dutiful one, always brings back some meat for her mother-in-law from the factory canteen whenever she has some extra money."

"So they must have had a good relationship?"

"Of course."

"Does she have colleagues she’s particularly close to?"

"Yes, of course. Ding Fen, come here." Just then a female colleague passed by, and the old man raised his hand to call her over.

The woman who was called Ding Fen appeared to be around fifty, with a bit of gray in her hair, but she looked quite spirited.

"What’s the matter, Uncle Jiang?"

Ah, Uncle Jiang!

Uncle Jiang briefly explained the situation, and the woman named Ding Fen turned her gaze to Jiang Mingyue; her eyes didn’t wander disrespectfully, which made Jiang Mingyue like her a bit.

"What does this young comrade need?"

"May I have a word with you in private?"

Ding Fen thought for a moment and readily agreed.

"Auntie, what are your thoughts on Yuan Qingqing?"

Ding Fen clearly didn’t expect the young comrade to come up with such explosive words right away, and she was momentarily shocked, but only for an instant.

Then a look of disdain flashed in her eyes: "Young comrade, I don’t know why you’re asking me about her, for this person, I have nothing good to say."

Not very cooperative, yet her few words conveyed Ding Fen’s aversion to Yuan Qingqing, which was rather curious.

Could this Ding Fen be two-faced? One face for factory colleagues, another for outsiders?

Jiang Mingyue simply took out a notebook that wasn’t even warm yet, which caused the woman to quickly apologize and express her willingness to cooperate.

"Sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll speak. I used to be good friends with Yuan Qingqing, we grew up together and even worked at the same place. Our fallout was about... let me see, about ten years ago, when I suddenly paid her a visit intending to surprise her, only to catch her mistreating her mother-in-law. Most people didn’t know, but Yuan Qingqing’s mother-in-law was deaf and mute, spending all day cooking and cleaning at home, with no way to work outside.

I only learned about her mother-in-law’s disability after that day. Since getting married, Yuan Qingqing seldom invited me to her home. Even when she occasionally did, I had never seen her mother-in-law, so I wasn’t aware of the situation."

"Did Zheng Gang know?"

"He likely didn’t. Zheng Gang is a filial son, he brought his mother from the mountains to be filial to her! Wouldn’t want her getting bullied where he couldn’t see. Men are often careless, and Yuan Qingqing was a good actress. Think about it, I grew up with her and even I didn’t know she was that kind of person."