Xu Mingzhi looked at him, smiled slightly, and didn't rush to answer. He leaned over and took the cup of golden cinnamon tea soup. After taking a sip, he raised his eyebrows and praised: "Good tea."
"The tea here is bought by the proprietress herself from the place of production, so the quality is pretty good. If Captain Xu likes it, he can bring some back later." Zhang Liangcheng also had a smile on his lips. At this time, the two of them seemed to be just Friends sit here and chat as usual. The tension just now seemed like an illusion.
"No need. I don't usually drink tea. Tasting tea also requires time and mood. In our kind of work, even drinking tea is a waste of money." Xu Mingzhi said and took another sip.
Then, he put down the teacup, picked up another snack, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Seeing this, Zhang Liangcheng reached out and pushed another plate of tea cakes in front of him and said, "Try this, it's a specialty here." What he pushed over was a plate of black pastries, and the ingredients could not be seen.
Xu Mingzhi took a piece and took a bite. There was no taste in the mouth at first. After chewing a few times, there was a sour and slightly salty taste. It was a very unique taste.
Xu Mingzhi nodded and said, "It tastes good." Then, after finishing all the pastries in two mouthfuls, he took the cup and poured the remaining tea into his mouth.
Seeing this, Zhang Liangcheng poured him another glass.
Xu Mingzhi looked at the tea soup swirling in the cup, and the smile on the corner of his mouth seemed to have some deep meaning.
Suddenly, he asked: "Is your brother over thirty this year?"
Zhang Liangcheng's hand that was pouring tea paused, and then he replied: "Well, he's 32."
"You're not too young then. You still don't have a girlfriend?" Xu Mingzhi asked again. His tone was like that of an elder who loves to worry and gossip.
"I had a relationship when I was in college, and then they broke up because of some things. After that, he couldn't get out, and it's been delayed until now." Zhang Liangcheng said as he took another tea cup and poured it into the cup. He gave Xu Mingzhi a cup of Dianhong in the Gongdao cup: "This is Dianhong. Try it. It will be a little different from cinnamon."
Xu Mingzhi glanced at the crimson tea soup, then raised his eyes to look at Zhang Liangcheng: "That happened almost ten years ago, right?"
Zhang Liangcheng nodded: "My mother passed away the year we broke up, and he has been unable to come out, which has something to do with it. He has always had a good relationship with my mother, and he may not be able to accept it."
"How is your relationship with your brother?" Xu Mingzhi asked again.
Zhang Liangcheng pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "It's not bad. However, he is introverted and not very good at expressing himself, but he still cares about anything I have."
"Your brother should be very good to him, right?" This seemed to be a casual sentence, but it made the expression on Zhang Liangcheng's face a little unnatural.
He lowered his eyes and looked away from Xu Mingzhi, but did not answer.
Seeing this, Xu Mingzhi tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa twice, and then asked, "Where was he on the night of the 1st?"
Zhang Liangcheng raised his head to meet his gaze and said, "If I don't know this, Captain Xu should ask him directly."
Xu Mingzhi smiled and said: "Since you have already made a choice in your mind, why bother to hide it from me anymore. By cooperating with me now, you are not only helping yourself, but also helping him."
Zhang Liangcheng couldn't help but frowned when he heard this, and said displeasedly: "What Captain Xu means by this is that there seems to be conclusive evidence that this case is related to my brother?"
"Do you think I would come to you if there was no evidence?" Xu Mingzhi asked.
Zhang Liangcheng's expression froze, and something silently shattered in his eyes as he stared at Xu Mingzhi.
He lowered his eyes again and said softly: "I really don't know."
"Then what do you know?" Xu Mingzhi asked.
Zhang Liangcheng didn't say anything. He sat there, his back seemed to be more bent. After a while, he reached for a cup of tea, took a sip, and then said, "I have met that girl once."
When Xu Mingzhi heard this, his expression changed. This can be considered a big gain.
"However, I did not recognize the body when I identified it before. I didn't hide it on purpose. I only remembered it after two days." Zhang Liangcheng was probably worried that Xu Mingzhi thought he had perjured himself, so he hurriedly explained.
"It was probably at the end of April, I can't remember the specific day. I went home to see my dad, and Xueyi also went back. Not long after we got home, he said he wanted to go out. I didn't take it seriously at first. But he didn’t come back after dinner, and I didn’t answer my phone calls. So I went out to look for him, and then I saw him near Huangli Village. He was standing with a little girl talking. I haven’t seen him for a long time. I had seen a girl he was interacting with, and it was near his home, so I wanted to go over and have a look. As soon as I passed by, the girl left. I just saw her from a distance, which is why I didn't see him that day. Reason for recognition.”
After Zhang Liangcheng finished speaking, he raised his hand and drank the tea in the cup. Then, he leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and murmured softly: "He has been very good since he was a child. He will help the family when he is six or seven years old. When I went to college outside, he just entered junior high school, and he Worried that I don’t have enough money to spend outside, I will save my pocket money, and then secretly stuff it in my schoolbag when I get home..."
Speaking of this, Zhang Liangcheng choked for a moment, and then he opened his eyes and looked at Xu Mingzhi: "After my mother passed away, he suffered from depression. I took him to see a psychiatrist and took medicine, but in the past few years, he has... Okay. Although he is introverted and doesn't talk much, he is not a cruel person. He even..." Zhang Liangcheng closed his eyes before continuing: "He saw cats and dogs that were killed on the road. They would stop the car, wrap things up for them, take them back, and find a place to bury them. How could he kill someone?" Zhang Liangcheng stared at Xu Mingzhi, but there was no look of disbelief in his eyes. Instead, they were filled with sadness. . Obviously, this last question was just his unwilling struggle.
Xu Mingzhi had no sympathy for the murderer, but looking at Zhang Liangcheng in front of him, he felt somewhat unbearable. He reached for the teapot, filled the cup in front of him, and said: "Human nature has always been multi-faceted. Just because a person is full of compassion for cats and dogs does not mean that he is also the same towards people."
"Can you tell me why you doubt him? Is it because the body was found in my mother's grave?" Zhang Liangcheng asked reluctantly.
Naturally, Zhang Liangcheng cannot explain the process of doubt and verification in detail. But, it’s not like you can’t say anything. He looked at Zhang Liangcheng, thought about it, and said: "Of course it's not just because of this, but it is indeed because of this that I doubted you in the first place. Your mother's graveyard is not on the roadside, that place is very hidden. The road is not easy to walk, and it is difficult to find it during the day, let alone at night. Therefore, the murderer definitely did not choose where to meet by chance, but had a clear goal. There are many people who know the location of your cemetery, but these people I also know that you two brothers often go to your mother's graveyard to visit her. In this case, if someone else buries the body in your mother's graveyard, it will be easily discovered by you. Only you can find out. Make sure no one else comes to touch your mother’s grave, right?”
Zhang Liangcheng looked ugly and remained silent.
After Xu Mingzhi glanced at him, he forked a piece of fruit and stuffed it into his mouth. After just chewing two mouthfuls, Zhang Liangcheng still refused to give up and struggled again: "What you said can only be regarded as an inference, not evidence. Since you are so sure that the murderer is Xueyi, there must be other evidence."
"Of course there is, but the murderer hasn't been brought to justice yet, so naturally I can't tell you."
