13: Village Overlord Qingshan
After Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng left the forensic department, they immediately visited the victims' families and quickly confirmed that all three deceased had undergone hemorrhoid surgery.
The time difference between their surgeries was less than three days, and they were all performed at the same hospital, which was located in Qinghe Town.
This was a small town hospital, and most of its patients were rural people from the suburbs.
As is well known, after hemorrhoid surgery, patients stay in the hospital for about a week. In other words, the three of them were in close proximity for several days.
This was the 'intersection' Lei Zhen mentioned earlier.
Lei Zhen decided to investigate the hospital next.
On the way to the hospital, Gu Qingcheng asked, "Do you think it's possible that the three of them offended someone during their hospital stay, which led to their murders?"
"That's highly possible," Lei Zhen replied while pondering.
"Could it be the doctor who performed their surgeries?" Gu Qingcheng suddenly proposed a hypothesis.
This was because there had been news recently about a doctor molesting a patient during a digital rectal exam.
"Probably not," Lei Zhen shook his head. "If there had been a conflict with the doctor, the Special Task Force would have known during their previous investigation. They likely offended someone over a trivial matter, something they themselves didn't even pay attention to."
Indeed, to know the answer, further investigation was needed.
Soon, the two arrived at the hospital. Gu Qingcheng revealed her identity as a police officer, and only then did the doctor realize that the victims of the recent serial murders were all patients from his hospital.
Lei Zhen asked the doctor to recall if the three victims had any conflicts with others during their hospitalization. After a long period of thought, the doctor suddenly remembered.
"There was a middle-aged patient, who also had surgery around the same time as them. Actually, they had all been discharged by then, but they needed to come to the hospital daily for dressing changes.
That man had a rather overbearing personality and several times demanded that the doctor let him cut in line for dressing changes. The first two times, everyone thought he had an emergency and didn't mind, but then he tried to cut in line a third time.
This time, the people in front of him firmly disagreed. They even had a few arguments with that man, but it was just a few arguments. It couldn't be because of that, could it, that he killed them?"
Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng listened, their faces full of surprise: "Do you have this man's information?"
"Yes, all registered with ID cards," the doctor said, then sat down at the computer to search.
Soon, the man's information was in Lei Zhen's hands.
[Wang Qingshan, Male, Born April 1982, from Lugou Village, Qinghe Town, Nanwan District, Jiangcheng City]
When Lei Zhen saw the man's bald head in the photo, he was momentarily stunned.
He recalled Captain Wan mentioning that the killer had left no hair.
This guy looked like he had a mean face, indeed possessing the 'aura' of a killer.
The hospital only had this person's identification information and knew nothing about his specific situation, so Lei Zhen took Gu Qingcheng, preparing to go to his home to understand the situation.
It would be best to meet him in person; then, a glance would confirm if it was him.
The Eye of Sin's ability indeed brought great convenience to solving cases.
With a suspect, even Gu Qingcheng began to get excited.
"Lei Zhen, do you think this person could be the killer?"
Lei Zhen grinned and said, "I'd say it's highly likely."
"Oh my god, you're amazing! How did you know they all had hemorrhoid surgery?" Gu Qingcheng looked at Lei Zhen in the passenger seat with a puzzled expression.
"Want to know?" Lei Zhen gave a charmingly evil smile.
"Yes," Gu Qingcheng blurted out.
"If you want to know, come on, give me a kiss," Lei Zhen said with a chuckle, tilting his head.
"If you don't want to say, then don't," Gu Qingcheng pouted, turning her head to continue driving.
"I'll tell you the reason after you become my wife," Lei Zhen said this time with a serious expression.
Gu Qingcheng, however, didn't respond.
Soon, the car arrived at Wang Qingshan's hometown, Lugou Village. Upon hearing Wang Qingshan's name, the villagers' faces all showed two words: fear.
They asked three people, and all of them waved their hands, saying they didn't know.
How could villagers from the same village not know? The only reason was that they dared not mention this person.
Finally, they found a fourth person. This person seemed to have a grudge against Wang Qingshan, and as soon as he heard they were police, he immediately began to speak volubly.
"Wang Qingshan is our village bully. This guy went out to society in his teens and even went to jail for murder.
This man is utterly despicable. Not only does he bully his neighbors, but he also beats his own wife. When he was thirty, his wife couldn't bear the humiliation and jumped into the river. Guess what he did? He just took the body back to his father-in-law and didn't care anymore.
Later, he had an affair with a young married woman in the village, and her husband caught them in the act. Wang Qingshan not only felt no shame but actually beat up her husband.
What's more, he even forced the husband to stand at the head of the bed and watch him with his wife. Do you think these are things a human being would do?"
Gu Qingcheng was stunned after hearing this. This person's level of scoundrelism completely shattered her worldview.
Are village bullies this arrogant nowadays?
The villager continued, "Everyone in the village is afraid of him, only I dared to confront him with a knife. Although I got cut by him once, I've never been afraid of him."
After speaking, the villager even showed Lei Zhen the 'battle scar' on his arm.
Gu Qingcheng clearly saw that it was a knife scar over ten centimeters long.
Lei Zhen asked, "What was your conflict with him?"
The villager said, "Oh, it's a bit embarrassing to talk about, it's related to Xiaomei."
"Xiaomei?" Gu Qingcheng was surprised.
"She's the wife of the guy who got cuckolded, her full name is Chu Renmei. Actually, I was with Xiaomei first, but guess what? He actually used this to threaten Xiaomei and forcibly took her. That's why I confronted him with a knife."
Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng's faces instantly darkened upon hearing this. So, you're not a good person either!
"I'm just a kind-hearted person, I can't bring myself to be ruthless," the villager said. "Otherwise, Wang Qingshan would have been killed by me long ago. Oh, by the way, officers, has he committed another crime this time?"
Gu Qingcheng awkwardly smiled, "I can't tell you yet. Do you know where he is now?"
The villager said, "He moved to the town a long time ago. A few years ago, he met a young and beautiful girl while playing mahjong, and now they have a two-year-old child."
"What does Wang Qingshan do now?" Lei Zhen asked.
"He opened a paint shop in town, on Bayi Street, I think it's called Dulux or something," the villager said. "I heard business is pretty good."
"Sells paint?" Lei Zhen was startled.
Now, the possibility of Wang Qingshan being the killer was even greater.
"Are there still people at his old home?" Lei Zhen asked.
"He has an eighty-year-old mother," the villager replied. "This guy is not only a scoundrel but also an unfilial son. He got a wife and forgot his mother. Now he rarely comes back even once in half a year."
After the villager finished speaking, he directly shouldered his hoe and left.
Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng looked at each other. Lei Zhen said, "It seems it's probably this guy. We'll go directly to his shop to check. If he's there, we'll arrest him immediately."
As the two were about to head back, another villager walked over.
"Officers, who are you looking for?"
It turned out he was the village chief, and also Wang Qingshan's maternal uncle.
Speaking of Wang Qingshan, his own maternal uncle also looked disgusted, but when Lei Zhen mentioned the previous villager, the chief also showed a look of disdain.
"Him? He's just a coward," the chief said. "He said he confronted Wang Qingshan with a knife, but even if you gave him a hundred times more courage, he wouldn't dare.
At that time, he was indeed with Chu Renmei first, but then Chu Renmei's husband found out. Chu Renmei wanted to break up with him, but this guy pestered her relentlessly, forcing Chu Renmei to seek Wang Qingshan's help.
Wang Qingshan actually did help, chasing him for several miles with a knife. Finally, he knelt down and begged for mercy, and only then did Wang Qingshan spare him. Who would have thought that Chu Renmei had just driven away a jackal, only to throw herself into a tiger's den?"
Lei Zhen was stunned after hearing this: "Then what about the knife wound on his body?"
"When he was little, he was cutting corn stalks, and his brother accidentally cut his arm," the chief replied.
Lei Zhen and Gu Qingcheng's faces once again showed several black lines upon hearing this.
However, regarding Wang Qingshan's other matters, that villager hadn't lied. He did indeed open a paint shop in town and had married and had children.
"Let's go, we'll go meet this village bully."