On the way back, I became more confused.
When the coffin was brought ashore, Officer Liu was also watching. If there were valuable burial objects in the coffin, he would definitely notify people from the relevant departments to take over.
Being able to leave the coffin to Lao Song and the others for their own disposal means that there should be nothing valuable in the coffin.
But what happened to those two antique jars?
Realizing that there was something complicated behind this, I did not return to the shed, but took a taxi to the funeral parlor.
Lao Chen was the first deceased. After his body was fished ashore, it was transferred to the funeral parlor. Counting the days, it seems that there will be no cremation today. I plan to go there to pay homage and take a look at Lao Chen's body. Maybe there will be one. Discover.
Outside the funeral home, I heard crying from afar. Lao Chen's family members, wearing sackcloth and mourning, knelt in a row in front of the mourning hall.
There were many people attending the funeral, so I found a secluded corner to wait. I waited until the banquet started at noon before I had the chance to get close to the body alone.
The body was placed in an ice coffin. Compared with when it was first salvaged, the face of the body became much more peaceful. This should be the work of the makeup artist.
Across the ice coffin, I looked at the body repeatedly, and soon my eyes were fixed on the curled fingers of the body.
I remember that when he was first fished ashore, Lao Chen’s fists were clenched tightly, as if he was holding something in his palms.
At that time, I wanted to open his fist and have a look, but the contractor, Lao Song, stopped me and urged me to go back to the work shed to change clothes.
Now seeing the body again, his fists had been opened and smoothed, but the fingers were slightly bent, as if there were signs of fractures.
It was obvious that someone had used violence to break it apart.
I was full of doubts, and just wanted to get closer, when a crying voice came from behind me,
"Young man, are you also here to pay homage to my old Chen?"
I turned around and saw a woman in her fifties, wearing a mourning cloth on her head, walking towards me wiping tears. She must be Lao Chen's wife.
Perhaps because she thought I looked a little suspicious, Old Chen's wife had some wariness in her eyes and asked me to stay away from the body and not to disturb the deceased's purity.
I had no choice but to step back and say, "Sister, I am Lao Chen's coworker. After his accident, I was the one who salvaged his body."
Old Chen's wife said oh, wiped her red eyes, and squeezed out a few tears.
"I remembered, you are Zhou Xuan, right? When I went to the construction site to claim the body, I heard other people talking about you. Thank you for helping to recover the body of my old Chen."
Old Chen's wife knelt down to me while crying. I quickly supported her and said, "Sister, you're welcome. Old Chen and I work at the same construction site and have known each other for several years. This little thing is nothing."
Lao Chen's wife cried and wiped away her tears and said, "My Lao Chen is so unlucky. He called me a few days ago and said that he had received a lucrative business and he would make a lot of money soon. Who knew he would make a lot of money soon?" This is the result..."
etc.
What occurred to me, I quickly asked my eldest sister, "Did Lao Chen tell me on the phone what kind of business he got to make a fortune?"
The eldest sister burst into tears and shook her head, unable to explain clearly.
"Old Chen has a bad temper and doesn't like others to interfere with his work matters. I have been taking care of my children in my hometown and have never asked him about his work on the construction site."
That's it.
With a look of regret on my face, I pointed to the body under the ice coffin and asked about Lao Chen’s broken finger.
The eldest sister still shook her head, saying that it was already like this when she first claimed the body, and she didn't know how his fingers were opened.
All right.
I couldn't find any valuable clues, so I had to ask my eldest sister for a stick of incense, bowed to Lao Chen's body, and turned around to leave the funeral parlor.
But just as I was about to walk out of the door of the funeral home, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure from the corner of my eye. My heart skipped a beat and I immediately stopped.
It was just after lunch time, and many relatives and friends who came to the funeral home to express their condolences had finished their meals and were about to leave.
Among the bustling crowd, I saw a guy wearing a coat and a hat, standing suspiciously outside the door of the funeral home, peering towards the place where Lao Chen's body was placed.
Although he wrapped himself well, I still recognized him at a glance.
It’s my contractor, Lao Song!
He actually came too.
I raised my eyebrows and couldn't wait to walk towards Lao Song, but just halfway out, I stopped in confusion and found a place to hide myself.
Since Lao Chen's body was salvaged, I have never seen Lao Song again.
This guy seemed to have disappeared from the world and had been missing for two days.
In the two days since he disappeared, two other deceased people also appeared on the construction site, and I also found the antique pottery pot at Lao Song's house...
All signs indicate that Lao Song is related to this matter.
I hid myself and planned to find out the purpose of Lao Song coming to the funeral home, but he just stood at the door of the funeral home, as if he was afraid of something, and never had the courage to go in.
It took two hours like this. Taking advantage of the afternoon when there were few people, Lao Song walked into the funeral parlor nervously. However, he did not directly go to pay homage to Lao Chen's body. Instead, he carried a black plastic bag and left suspiciously. Arrived behind the funeral home.
I followed him all the way and hid not far from him. I saw Lao Song open the plastic bag, take out a large stack of ghost money and ingot candles, light them in the direction of Lao Chen's body, and kneel on the ground and kowtow vigorously. , said with a trembling voice,
"Old Chen, I didn't harm you. If you want to find the person who harmed you, go find the person who harmed you, but don't pester me again."
Lao Song's voice was trembling, and his body was shaking so much that he couldn't even hold on to the lighter to light the incense. He looked trembling as if he had experienced something particularly terrible.
I couldn't help it, so I strode towards Old Song, coughed and said, "Old Song, why are you..."
"Ah! Don't come to me, don't come to me. I'm innocent. I didn't harm you."
Before I finished speaking, Lao Song started trembling all over as if he was nervous. His cheeks were so frightened that he got up and ran towards the woods behind the funeral home.
"wait!"
I felt that this old boy's reaction was very strange, so I hurriedly caught up with him, shouting as I ran,
"Why are you running away? I'm Zhou Xuan. Wait, I have something to ask you."
"Zhou, Zhou Xuan...why is it you?"
Lao Song continued to run forward for a while, until he heard my voice, he stopped hesitantly, turned around and saw that it was me, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but still kept the frightened look on his face, and asked me What are you doing here?
I smiled and said, "I still want to ask you. Since Lao Chen's body was recovered, you disappeared. I have been looking for you for two days."
Lao Song was stunned for a moment. He probably misunderstood what he meant. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said,
"Isn't it just the 10,000 yuan salvage fee? I won't rely on you. Send me your bank card number and I will send you the money in the afternoon."
I remained motionless, with my hands behind my back, looking at Lao Song with a half-smile.
He was so stared at by me that he took a step back unconsciously and said, "Don't look at me like that, it makes me look like a criminal."
I smiled and said straight to the point, "I'm not here for the 10,000 yuan salvage fee. I just want to find out what happened at the construction site."
