Lu Qingqing seized on this temporal marker. "Auntie, tell me about that man's story. I want to see how he got rich."
Aunt Luo, perhaps too lonely to have someone to talk to for a long time, recounted the story with great detail.
That family also surnamed Wang, with two elderly people raising a grandchild. But the elders passed away early, and Wang Xia, the grandson, turned out to be a bad seed, stealing and fighting with the village peers all day long.
But just 10 years ago, Wang Xia suddenly changed his ways. He started tidying up his room, dressing himself up like a gentleman, and said he was going to join the army.
In the end, no one knew which army he joined, but when they saw him again, he had a slicked-back hairstyle, wore fine clothes, and could casually flash silver dollars to show off.
"Perhaps he was afraid people would ask him for money, so he secretly left the village, saying he was moving to the city to live."
"Saying?"
Lu Qingqing caught another piece of information. "Who said that? Didn't he say it himself?"
"How could he explain anything to us country bumpkins? This news about moving came from Wang Yanlin at the head of the village. He said he saw him in the city."
What?
Wang Yanlin again?
Lu Qingqing lay in bed, a hunch telling her she might be about to uncover something.
After much thought, Lu Qingqing got up. "Auntie, I just remembered I have something to do. You should sleep."
"It's so late, what could you possibly have to do? You police officers are so hardworking."
"Hehe, every effort is worth it to find the truth."
As soon as Lu Qingqing left Aunt Luo's house, she headed straight for the dirt road. She was going to visit Wang Xia's house.
She believed that Tong Meng had gone to Wang Xia's house that afternoon.
This uninhabited wasteland, coupled with the night wind and thin mist, was indeed a little eerie.
Lu Qingqing walked on and finally saw Wang Xia's house.
But as she got closer, she couldn't help but wonder, why would Tong Meng come to this dilapidated ruin?
The door was barely a door, and the window was barely a window. Was she overthinking things?
Lu Qingqing entered the house. It was still empty inside, and one glance could take in the entire room. There was nothing worth investigating.
Hmm, the marks on the wall were quite new. The entire wall was scratched up and messy, making it difficult to tell what had been painted on it originally.
Just as Lu Qingqing was about to move to another room, she heard footsteps outside.
Someone's here?
Anyone arriving at this hour was likely not well-intentioned. Lu Qingqing darted behind a corner.
The footsteps sounded heavy; it should be a man.
Lu Qingqing slowly gripped the dagger at her waist. In the quiet night, she could even hear her own heartbeat.
In the moonlight, a figure first appeared before Lu Qingqing. Closer, and closer.
The moment the man stepped through the doorway, Lu Qingqing lunged forward with her dagger.
The cold glint of the blade flashed before the man's eyes. "It's you?"
Lu Qingqing looked at the person before her, utterly bewildered.
"Hehe, surprised? Delighted?" Hu Jia's hand still held Lu Qingqing's wrist, not letting go.
Lu Qingqing never expected Hu Jia to be here.
He claimed he sensed Lu Qingqing was in danger and rushed over. Lu Qingqing scoffed at this.
Sweet talk needed to be genuine, right?
Hu Jia said that at noon, he received a call from Luo Wenwu, saying that a group of people he used to monitor had appeared in Huayan.
A group of people he used to monitor?
Facing Lu Qingqing's confusion, Hu Jia explained that after returning from their training in the Jinyun Mountain range last time, he had asked Luo Wenwu to keep the Jinyun Mountain range under surveillance. A few days ago, those people had been searching the mountains, but starting two days ago, the people in the mountains had been withdrawing one after another.
Luo Wenwu initially thought they had given up their search fruitlessly, only to discover later that the group was secretly gathering and heading towards Huayan Village in large numbers.
Hu Jia, thinking that Lu Qingqing was also investigating a case in Huayan, connected the two and rushed over.
"Wait, why did you ask Luo Wenwu to monitor the Jinyun Mountain range?" Lu Qingqing interrupted Hu Jia.
"Uh..." Hu Jia hesitated. "Because of a strange person."
If it were the previous week, Hu Jia wouldn't have told Lu Qingqing about the wild man. But his mindset had changed this week.
"A strange person?" Lu Qingqing pondered. Could it be?
"That person lives in the mountains. Someone is chasing him, and I want to investigate the reason behind it."
Indeed. "You're talking about that wild man?"
"Mm."
Hu Jia didn't find Lu Qingqing's reaction strange, as she had been present during the wilderness training.
However, Lu Qingqing was greatly shocked. Hu Jia knew that the wild man was being hunted? Had Feng Si already found him?
"How do you know that wild man is being hunted? Do you know him?" Lu Qingqing asked.
"I don't think so. I don't have much of an impression of him. I just saw a record of it in my memo," Hu Jia said.
Lu Qingqing was speechless. This was the first time she felt that Hu Jia's amnesia was not a good thing.
But judging by Hu Jia's words, Feng Si hadn't come to him. So how did he know Feng Si was being hunted?
"Did you talk in the mountains?" Lu Qingqing asked. If they had talked in the mountains, did that mean Feng Si already knew Hu Jia?
If Feng Si already knew Hu Jia, did that mean Hu Jia had met Feng Si before?
Seven years ago, Hu Jia had found clues about Hu Shilong's death and was ambushed while pursuing the killer, leading to his amnesia. Everyone found it strange back then why Hu Jia had a clue about the killer. Now it seemed that clue must have been given by Feng Si.
Unfortunately, Hu Jia had completely forgotten the past.
"I don't know. My notebook isn't that detailed; it just recorded the events," Hu Jia said, confused as to why Lu Qingqing was so interested in this matter.
"Oh!"
Hearing Lu Qingqing's disappointed tone, Hu Jia also grew a little anxious. "Did I forget something important?"
Hearing Hu Jia's somewhat crestfallen tone, Lu Qingqing cursed herself for being an idiot.
She knew perfectly well that Hu Jia's memory was his sore spot, yet she poked at it.
"It's okay. In a lifetime of a few decades, there aren't that many things worth remembering."
Lu Qingqing smiled at Hu Jia. "The most important thing is to remember me. Clearly, you've done that."
...
Hu Jia felt a swell of happiness, so much so that he almost forgot to mention the important matter.
"By the way, that Tong Meng is suspicious!" If Lu Qingqing hadn't asked him why he came to Wang Xia's old house, he might have remained lost in his own blissful thoughts.
"What did you find out?" Hearing this, Lu Qingqing guessed that Hu Jia might have discovered something.
"Look at that wall..." Hu Jia pointed to the wall.
Huh?
Where were the words?
Hu Jia strode quickly to the wall. He had clearly seen Tong Meng scraping the wall that afternoon, and there were still a few large characters remaining on it. But now, it had been completely scraped clean.
After Hu Jia told Lu Qingqing what he had seen that afternoon, Lu Qingqing was also surprised.
She hadn't expected there to be words on the wall, and judging by Tong Meng's reaction, these words were clearly something to be ashamed of.
Finally, she understood Tong Meng's purpose for coming here.
"Tong Meng has been under my surveillance. Who destroyed the words on the wall?" Hu Jia asked, puzzled.
"Could it be those people from the mountains?" Lu Qingqing asked.
"No, Wenwu is watching them," Hu Jia replied.
The two looked at each other. It seemed there were still many secrets hidden in this village.
Just as they were lost in thought, a commotion came from the village. Rushing out of the dilapidated house, they saw flames soaring into the sky in the distance!