Chapter 1867: Chapter 882 Evidence_2

But Cui Zhangfei felt that simply verifying if a person was an impostor could skip these procedures.

With the expansion of the cattle farm, all kinds of connections have been established. With just one phone call from Heizi, Cui Zhangfei managed to get two tickets at the last minute.

Cui Zhangfei drove to the airport, where a special lane was opened for him to board the plane at the last minute, avoiding the regular ticket inspection time.

When the plane landed, Hou Dayong was still thinking about where to get information for transferring buses at the station, but Cui Zhangfei had already pulled him to a police booth outside the airport to ask how far it was to a certain place and how much a taxi would cost.

After getting the information, they found a taxi and bluntly asked how much it would cost to go to a certain place.

The taxi driver was dumbfounded, “You want to go there? It’s quite far, isn’t it?”

Cui Zhangfei replied promptly, “We know. Eight hundred for a trip. Are you in?”

“Eight hundred seems a bit low?” The taxi driver hesitated a bit.

Cui Zhangfei understood the driver’s hesitation and pointed towards the distant police booth, “Normally, it costs six hundred to go there, I’m offering eight hundred because it’s urgent. Don’t overthink it. I just inquired at that police booth. If you’re not convinced, we can go back and let them confirm our identities, how about that?”

In these times, taxi drivers dislike long-distance trips due to safety concerns. However, hearing this, the driver felt assured—it would be pointless for someone with bad intentions to start by exposing themselves.

Despite still being slightly uneasy, the driver really took them there.

This time, Cui Zhangfei simply took out his ID, “We came to see a relative whose family is in urgent need. Here’s my ID, you can verify it to ease the driver’s concern.”

The driver finally felt relieved, cheerfully driving the two of them on the road—originally a six hundred yuan journey, they offered two hundred more, and furthermore, reassured as non-criminals, he was more than pleased.

After one in the afternoon, the two arrived at a small town.

The driver could do no more since the road ahead was mostly mountainous and impassable by car.

Cui Zhangfei had a plan; at the roadside, he found a repair spot and bought two old bikes for one hundred and sixty yuan and they each rode one and set off.

The journey was truly challenging. In some places, it was humans riding bikes; in others, it seemed bikes rode humans. Traveling this route wasn’t just travel, it was a gamble with life.

Upon reaching the small mountain village, they stopped at a distance, leaving the rest to Hou Dayong.

This was why Cui Zhangfei had brought Hou Dayong along; despite having a criminal past and numerous experiences, his appearance was fitting, like an honest rural lad, putting others at ease.

It wouldn’t work for Cui Zhangfei; firstly, he didn’t look the part, and moreover, wasn’t an actor—some things, even if experienced, were hard to fake.

Hou Dayong rode his worn-out bike, with a few gifts bought in town tied to the back seat, lazily pedaling onward. Arriving at the village entrance, he dismounted and asked a group of old men sunbathing at the village gate, “Old masters, may I ask, where is Hu Shanchuang’s home?”

Immediately, an old man exclaimed, “Hey, you’re looking for Shanchuang? It’s been years since he came back, that guy was ungrateful. Left for work and never returned, though he used to send money back a while ago, but nothing in recent years.”

Hou Dayong was dumbfounded, “What are you saying, sir? I don’t understand!”

In his Sancha River accent, if spoken slowly, the old men could barely understand, but the moment they opened their mouths, he was left stupefied.

After all, someone who had seen the world came forward, using slightly awkward Mandarin to act as his ‘translator’.

With a translator, Hou Dayong learned that there hadn’t been news of Hu San for years, and he began to lie, “Hu Ge and I work far off right now. Sir, do you know Xin Province? Like in the song, Daban City’s girls with long braids, her eyes are so beautiful…”

He sang the latter part, amusing the old men so much their white beards perked up, “Alright, lad, your singing might scare off all the dogs in the village.”

Seeing the conversation could continue, Hou Dayong parked his bike, squatted among the old men, “When I came back, Hu Ge specifically asked me to check on the old home’s changes and have a chat with you, sirs.”

“Alright, alright.” The elders liked the courteous and honest lad, even making room for him to sit comfortably.

Next, the old men inquired about what Hou Dayong and Hu Ge did in Xin Province, while he directed the conversation towards Hu San, listening to them recount his past.

In the elder’s stories, Hu San had three brothers, and he was the youngest. When they went off to work, the eldest stayed to look after the house, while the second and third left together. Later, the second worked diligently at a factory and returned with a wife.

But Hu San was different; he didn’t work long at the factory before claiming to pursue business, leaving to wander about, making even the second brother lose touch with him.

After some time, Hu San’s eldest brother got the news, and the whole family rushed over.

Although Hou Dayong appeared simple, he’d been toughened in jail and was adept at lying. Someone simple can often be the best deceiver!

He claimed that Hu San had been wandering, lost money in business in the early days, incurred debts, and was too embarrassed to contact the family. He’d now settled down in Xin Province, finally clearing the debts. However, he had recently engaged with a woman and didn’t have much money to send back.

The family was ecstatic to have news at all, not minding the absence of money too much.

By the time dinner was over, Hou Dayong had a grasp of the situation.

Then it was time for him to leave; though the family insisted he stay, he was firm on departing, citing someone waiting for him in town and needing to catch a ride urgently. The family relented but gifted him a flashlight.

He found Cui Zhangfei munching on instant noodles once outside, and by the time they returned to town, only a single bike and an extra wheel remained—the road was so poor one bike had a blowout, and fearing this bike would also blow, they had removed the remaining functional wheel from the blown-out one.

Here, mobile signal was available, so Cui Zhangfei quickly made a call—over the ten years, as people began recognizing the hazards of pollution and missing the scenic beauty of the past, they forgot how poor mobile signals were in those days.

…

After Lin Baoguo received the call and reported it, the bureau immediately sprang into action.

Hu San had just had dinner and was lying down to take a nap before heading home!

There wasn’t any evidence to keep himself detained indefinitely, right? But just before he fell asleep, he was abruptly woken up.

This interrogation was different; first, he was stripped and his body examined, then pulled into the interrogation room. Then, interrogation began, shocking Hu San, “Who exactly are you? Why are you impersonating Hu Shanchuang? Where is Hu Shanchuang now?”

Hu San loudly cried out his innocence, “How could I be impersonating? I am Hu Shanchuang!”

“You are Hu Shanchuang, then where is the birthmark on Hu Shanchuang’s lower back? He was a mischievous child and has a scar on his body; do you know where that scar is? Let me tell you frankly, our people have already arrived at Hu Shanchuang’s hometown, bringing his family to identify you.”

Hu San immediately fell silent!

He truly hadn’t expected that in just one day, they could pinpoint Hu Shanchuang’s home. Could these policemen be so dedicated?

“We now suspect Hu Shanchuang has met with foul play. Unless you can provide his whereabouts, you are the murderer,” the interrogators continued.

Lin Baoguo added, “If you persist in your stubbornness, unable to prove your identity, we have reason to suspect you as a foreign subversive, and will immediately notify the relevant departments…”