Chapter 684: Shovel, Part 2

Chapter 684 -568: Shovel, Part 2

“Then Suhua suddenly jumped off a building. We all gossiped about it behind her back, wondering if the guy cheated on her. We figured Suhua couldn’t handle the blow and that’s why she jumped. Isn’t that how it always plays out on TV?”

“When Suhua was buried, the guy didn’t even show up. That probably means he had a guilty conscience.”

“Then one day he showed up out of the blue, buying joss ingots and stuff. I found it strange and wondered what he was up to.”

After four years, it’s hard to remember a specific customer.

But if it’s a customer you know, and something significant happened, it’s possible to retain the memory.

Ding Yuwei quickly pointed at the security camera overhead and asked how long it stored footage.

Sister Huang knew what Ding Yuwei was getting at. She waved her hand dismissively. “You don’t even need to ask. Just a few days.”

Ding Yuwei nodded, took out her camera, and prepared to take a formal statement from Sister Huang.

The formal nature of it all made Sister Huang a little uneasy. She curiously asked Ding Yuwei if something was wrong.

Ding Yuwei didn’t answer, simply asking again about what happened back then.

She asked for great detail, trying to guide Sister Huang’s memory, starting from the moment Lu Weihong entered the store.

Some details could only be recalled with that kind of guidance.

Unlike the previous witness, Uncle Hu, Sister Huang’s eyes shone with the light of gossip. She was very cooperative, and after racking her brain, she actually managed to recall how many different items Lu Weihong had bought.

She even dug out a dusty old ledger from the back room.

“We have a cash register now, but we didn’t back then. I used to write everything down to make it easier to balance the books.” Sister Huang was a very organized person. After opening the shop in ’13, she had amazingly saved the ledgers from every single year.

She flipped to that day and pointed it out to Ding Yuwei.

“Right, this is it. August 10th. He paid 39 yuan.”

Following that was a record of what he bought: joss ingots, joss paper, incense… even a one-yuan lighter was written down.

Ding Yuwei quickly took a picture of it and praised Sister Huang for being so meticulous.

Sister Huang nodded, pleased with the compliment. “That’s how you have to do it. If you don’t keep clear records, you won’t even know how much you’re earning.”

As she said this, she suddenly paused. After a moment’s thought, she added, “Looking at this jogged my memory. I remember after he bought these things, he also asked me if I sold shovels.”

“I said yes and went to find one for him, but he said it was too big and didn’t take it. Is that useful, too?”

Ding Yuwei had told her to try and recall anything Lu Weihong had said.

“A shovel?”

Ding Yuwei was taken aback and asked what kind of shovel she had shown him.

Sister Huang turned and went to find one.

It was a common long-handled, round-point shovel.

Making a mental note, Ding Yuwei continued to ask if Lu Weihong had said anything else.

Sister Huang thought hard for another moment before shaking her head. “No. He paid and left. Used cash.”

Fearing she might have missed something, Ding Yuwei asked again, but the answer was the same.

At the time, she’d thought he looked familiar but hadn’t dared to ask if he was Li Suhua’s boyfriend. It was only after he left that she slowly realized it was Lu Weihong.

Ding Yuwei then waited in the shop for Sister Huang’s husband to return from playing cards and questioned him as well.

However, her husband didn’t really remember the incident.

“You’re just too carefree. You never pay attention to anything,” Sister Huang grumbled at her husband.

As before, Ding Yuwei left her contact information, asking them to call her if they remembered anything else.

After leaving the shop, Zhao Tianxing glanced around and asked if they should look for a store nearby that sold shovels.

“The main thing is, when Uncle Hu saw him, he wasn’t carrying a shovel,” Zhao Tianxing added.

Ding Yuwei nodded, her brow furrowed. “The key question is, why would he buy a shovel?”

‘To tend to the grave?’

‘But it wasn’t the Qingming Festival or the New Year. For a simple visit to pay respects, that shouldn’t be necessary.’

Zhao Tianxing shrugged. “Who knows? He wasn’t going to dig up the grave, was he? Or maybe, with his great revenge complete, he was planning to dig a pit for himself and die for love, like Liangshan Marsh and Zhu Yingtai?”

His wild guess, however, gave Ding Yuwei an idea.

‘Shen Xin always says that logic is crucial when handling a case.’

‘Lu Weihong wouldn’t have asked about a shovel for no reason. If he wanted to buy one, he must have had a purpose.’

‘The purpose of a shovel is to dig… ‘

At that thought, Ding Yuwei’s eyes shot wide open. She sucked in a sharp breath, hurriedly grabbing Zhao Tianxing and motioning for him to get in the car.

Confused, Zhao Tianxing started the car. But when he heard they were going to Li Suhua’s grave, he slammed on the brakes.

“Going there this late? It’s a little creepy.”

Ding Yuwei said, “Do you think it’s possible that after he killed them, he kept some kind of memento and then used it as a… sacrificial offering?”

Ding Yuwei searched for the right word.

“Or even the murder weapon? Buried it in her grave to prove to Li Suhua that he had avenged her?”

Zhao Tianxing paused, frowning. “I don’t think so. The autopsy reports didn’t say Wang Shulin and the other two were missing any… parts.”

“Also, you’re not planning to dig up the grave, are you?”

Zhao Tianxing shivered. ‘Digging up a grave in the middle of the night… that’s not appropriate, is it?’

Ding Yuwei shook her head and urged Zhao Tianxing to hurry up.

A short while later, the two parked the car on the side of the road and proceeded on foot toward Li Suhua’s grave.

There were no streetlights. It was already past ten o’clock. In the distance, the lights of a village twinkled, but their surroundings were pitch black. The occasional cries of unknown animals from the farmland and woods on either side sent a chill down Zhao Tianxing’s spine, and he suggested they come back the next day.

Ding Yuwei shook her head, saying she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if they didn’t go.

Soon, the two of them reached Li Suhua’s grave.

Zhao Tianxing quickly pressed his palms together and bowed in respect.

Ding Yuwei had already crouched down, using her phone’s flashlight to search for signs of digging.

Four years had passed. The grave was overgrown with weeds, making it difficult to see anything clearly.

Ding Yuwei decided to just use her hands and started clearing away the weeds.

“Don’t, Yuwei! Those are grave weeds, you’re not supposed to pull them out,” Zhao Tianxing hastily stopped her.

Ding Yuwei stopped, but not because of the superstition. She was afraid that if Lu Weihong really had done something back then, she might destroy evidence by disturbing the area.

She parted the weeds again and looked carefully, but still found nothing.

After some thought, Ding Yuwei called Shen Xin.

She was unsure of what to do next and wanted his advice.

At this hour, Shen Xin was still up, having not yet gone to bed.

After listening to Ding Yuwei’s detailed account, Shen Xin instantly perked up.

‘The act of buying a shovel was indeed unusual.’

‘For a normal visit to pay respects, it wouldn’t be necessary… unless, just as Ding Yuwei speculated, he wanted to bury something.’

‘As a sacrificial offering!’

‘It couldn’t be for a love suicide; he was about to start a new life.’

Glancing at the time, Shen Xin kicked the neighboring desk where Yang Zeran was dozing, tossed him the car keys, and said, “Yuwei, don’t touch anything. Wait for us. I’m heading over right now.”

His intuition told Shen Xin that something was off about this.

“We’ll probably arrive early tomorrow morning.”

The drive from Shanggu to Yi City was only about six hours.

‘In any case, I’ll go take a look first and decide from there.’