Li Nanke opened his eyes.
What caught his eye was a fair, round face with curved eyelashes and big eyes, almost touching his face, staring directly at him.
You can even clearly feel the hot breath coming from the girl's nose.
"Ouch, that scared me to death."
Seeing Li Nanke wake up, Meng Xiaotu patted the big cantaloupe and let out a sigh of relief. "I thought something had happened. If I had known, I would have used a firecracker to knock you back first."
The little girl Qinqin next to her has not yet woken up, but she no longer has nightmares.
"Where's Master Leng?"
Li Nanke asked subconsciously.
Meng Xiaotu pursed her lips towards the corner. "I woke up and saw her there. I didn't know what happened, but I seemed to be in a bad mood. Maybe it was because the internal injuries were too serious, so I couldn't fall asleep smoothly, and I felt very upset."
Li Nanke turned and looked at the woman in the corner.
The girl sat quietly on a low round stool, with her eyes lowered, staring blankly at the ground without realizing it. The slender figure imprinted a lonely outline on the wall with the dim light.
She didn't become alert until the man came to her side.
He looked up and found Li Nanke, with a faint smile on his slightly pale face. "Are you OK."
Li Nanke sat beside him. "I should ask you this."
Leng Xinnan shook her head and said in a self-deprecating tone: "I'm fine, but I made you laugh. I promised to protect you, but I failed to do it."
"Heal your injuries first, don't force it."
Obviously, Li Nanke also thought that the other party was frustrated because he was unable to enter the red rain dream due to internal injuries.
Leng Xinnan didn't want to explain. Faced with the man's concern, a warm current flowed through her heart. She stood up and said, "Since the nightmare has been safely eliminated, let's go back first."
"Although the nightmare has been eliminated, the secret of this girl has not yet been solved."
Li Nanke's eyes were filled with sparkle. "What exactly did you see in the valley that night? Also, was she accidentally lost, or was she deliberately left there?"
"Do you think there's something wrong with this family?" Leng Xinnan heard the problem.
Li Nanke nodded and walked out of the room.
In the courtyard, Butcher Zheng, Mrs. Zheng and Old Mrs. Zheng were waiting anxiously.
Seeing Li Nanke coming out, Mrs. Zheng hurriedly stepped forward to ask. "Master, how is my granddaughter doing? Is she going to be okay?"
"Don't worry, she's fine."
Leng Xinnan comforted.
Hearing this, everyone's hearts finally dropped.
Mrs. Zheng even cried with joy. She knelt on the ground with her daughter-in-law and kowtowed to Leng Xinnan and the others to thank her.
Leng Xinnan helped them up and said calmly: "This is what we should do, but you should also take good care of your children on weekdays. How can you just leave them outside?"
"Yes, yes, it's all our fault for being careless." Mrs. Zheng wiped her tears and scolded her son. "You are not allowed to take Qinqin to hunt in the mountains anymore! If my granddaughter is in trouble, you little brat will die outside!"
Butcher Zheng nodded repeatedly in assurance.
Mrs. Zheng lowered her cheeks and didn't know what she was thinking.
After the three of them thanked each other, they went into the house to visit, but were stopped by Li Nanke.
"Wait, I have something to ask you."
Mrs. Zheng forced a smile. "Master, I wonder what you want to ask?"
Li Nanke walked up to Butcher Zheng and asked, "Tell me about the specific situation six days ago. How did your daughter get lost?"
Butcher Zheng's bronze face was filled with self-blame, and he said slowly: "That day, as usual, I took her hunting in the mountains. I planned to go back as the afternoon approached, but I happened to find a young deer.
The deer fell into the trap I set and escaped in a hurry. So I asked Qinqin to wait where she was, and I chased after her. But when I came back, I found that Qinqin was missing. "
Li Nanke asked again: "Did you often take Qinqin hunting in the past?"
"That's right, this girl is like me, more outgoing and lively, and likes hunting." Butcher Zheng talked about his daughter, with a bit of doting on his face. "Sometimes I also teach her some hunting techniques."
Li Nanke raised his eyebrows. "So, when you were chasing prey, you often asked Qin Qin to wait where you were."
Butcher Zheng nodded. “This girl is very obedient, and the places I take her hunting are all relatively familiar areas. No matter how deep the forest is, it’s easy to get lost, so I don’t dare to take her there.
This time maybe Qinqin saw the hare she liked and chased it out of curiosity. Unexpectedly, she got into the deep forest and got lost. "
At the end of the sentence, Butcher Zheng couldn't help but slap himself hard.
It can be seen that he really blames himself in his heart.
Li Nanke thought for a while and asked, "Have you ever been to the deep forest for hunting?"
"Of course I've been there."
Butcher Zheng didn’t hide anything. “I am quite familiar with the deep mountains and forests in this place. The reason why I hunt is because my father taught me how to hunt when I was a child.
At that time, he often took me hunting in the mountains and forests, and sometimes my mother would go with him to pick some game ingredients. When I don't take Qinqin with me, I go to the deep forest, and my wife sometimes goes with me, but she is a bit of a wanderlust and almost got lost several times. "
Road crazy?
Li Nanke glanced at Mrs. Zheng, thoughtfully.
He asked Leng Xinnan to continue questioning him while he slowly walked around the courtyard and other rooms.
His intuition told him that there must be something inside.
There are some hunting tools, animal skins and smoked meat placed in the courtyard. Except for a tree, there are no other flowers and plants.
Li Nanke entered the house and checked in turn.
I found that there was a statue of a god enshrined directly opposite the door of the main house, and there were some strange talismans and seals painted on the pillars on both sides.
Entering Mrs. Zheng's house, there are also large and small statues of gods enshrined inside.
It can be seen that this old lady has great faith.
After wandering around for a while, when Li Nanke walked to the side room, his eyes were suddenly attracted by several pairs of shoes ready to be cleaned in the bamboo basket.
The shoes are a little dirty, both for children and adults.
It looked like they were the shoes they had changed into after they came back from looking for Qinqin in the mountains six days ago.
Maybe I'm too busy and haven't had time to clean it yet.
Li Nanke picked up the shoes one by one and observed them. Gradually, the corners of his lips curved into a sneer: "There is indeed a problem."
Li Nanke returned to Butcher Zheng's family and happened to hear Leng Xinnan questioning Mrs. Zheng.
"I heard that your child died two months after giving birth?"
Mrs. Zheng was stunned, with a sad look on her face, and nodded slightly. "Yes."
"what reason?"
"I caught a cold and saw a doctor. He said he had a lung infection. Even though he was prescribed medicine, it didn't get better. Then..." Mrs. Zheng shed tears.
"Cold by the wind?"
Li Nanke was shocked and became suspicious. "Are you sure you died from the cold? Can you tell me about the situation at that time?"
Mrs. Zheng choked and said: "My mother-in-law and husband were not around that day, so I took care of the child at home alone and gave the child fever-reducing medicine. While the child was asleep, I thought about going to a nearby pharmacy to grab some more medicine to avoid unnecessary pain. My husband and the others came back late, and the drug store was closed again.
After I came back from taking the medicine, I saw that the child was still asleep, so I didn't pay attention and went to the kitchen to cook. Unexpectedly, after a while, when I looked again, I found that the child was no longer breathing. "
"Who else is in the family after you leave?"
"Qinqin was alone. She was asleep in another room at the time."
"Do you remember what happened when your child died?"
Originally this was just a casual question from Li Nanke. After all, it has been so long and it is difficult for anyone to remember.
But Mrs. Zheng said sadly with tears in her eyes: "Of course I remember. Even now, I can occasionally dream about what my child looked like when he died."
Li Nanke's eyes narrowed. "Can you describe it in detail?"
Mrs. Zheng tried to recall and said: "At that time, when I picked up the child, his body was very cold, his fists were clenched tightly, and his abdomen looked a little swollen. Moreover, the child's face and body looked a little red, and his mouth and There was blood flowing out of the nose, it was sticky..."
"This is obviously death from drowning! How come it was due to a lung infection caused by wind and cold? Didn't you report it to the government for inspection at that time?"
After hearing the woman's story, Li Nanke's face turned cold and he asked sharply.
Drowning?
Butcher Zheng and his family were stunned.
Judging from the reaction, it is clear that the family did not report the incident to the police at that time.
"Master, how could my son have drowned? He has been lying on the bed. Where did the water come from on the bed!"
Butcher Zheng blushed and didn't understand.
After all this time, he always thought that his son died from the cold, but now it turned out to be drowning.
How to get him to accept it.
Li Nanke asked Mrs. Zheng: "Let me ask you, did the baby have any other injuries on his body at that time?"
"Aside from a little bruise on the ankle, there are no other injuries."
Mrs. Zheng said.
After hearing this, Li Nanke already made a judgment.
He walked to the kitchen, patted an old large water tank standing at the door, and said calmly: "The baby was poured into the water and finally drowned. And judging from the time, it was definitely not an outsider's crime. That is explain--"
Li Nanke stared at Mrs. Zheng. "It's someone from your family!"
