Early the next day, a little after six in the morning.
Zhang Xiaoshan was comfortably sleeping in bed with Luo Meili when his phone started ringing.
He hung up irritably, but it quickly rang again.
Zhang Xiaoshan glanced at it in a daze.
He answered the call, muttering.
"Brother Luo, it’s so early, what’s the matter?"
"Something’s happened, a big accident, Wu Damming is dead," came the excited voice of Luo Yihua from the other end.
Zhang Xiaoshan, who had been groggy just moments before, suddenly became as alert as if he had been struck by lightning.
He sat up straight and asked Luo Yihua on the phone.
"You’re not joking with me, are you? How, how did he die?"
"Was it an accident? Or a disease?"
"Neither, it was suicide."
"Yes, where are you now? Can you come to the detention center?"
"Okay, I’ll be right there."
Zhang Xiaoshan hung up the phone and hurriedly began to get dressed.
Luo Meili asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Wu Damming is dead, he committed suicide."
Luo Meili was also startled.
"Why would he commit suicide?"
"I don’t know, I’ll go take a look first."
"Should we inform Jia Lanhua?" Luo Meili asked tentatively.
Zhang Xiaoshan hesitated for a moment then said.
"Let’s notify her, after all, they were husband and wife. Give her a heads-up and see how she decides to handle it."
After saying that, Zhang Xiaoshan hurriedly left.
About ten minutes later, he arrived at the detention center.
Luo Yihua and Director Wang, the person in charge of the detention center, were already waiting at the entrance.
"Dr. Zhang, you’ve come."
Luo Yihua and Director Wang brought Zhang Xiaoshan to the morgue.
The room was very cold.
In the middle, there was a single bed covered with a white cloth. Orıginal content can be found at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝙣𝙚𝙩
There was also a forensic doctor in a white lab coat on the side.
"The preliminary determination is suicide, death by suffocation from a ruptured throat and blocked trachea."
"If you want a more detailed result, we need to contact the family and get consent to do an autopsy."
Zhang Xiaoshan walked forward and pulled back the corner of the white cloth.
His medical expertise didn’t need to be mentioned; at a glance, he surmised the whole incident.
He even imagined the scene at the time in his mind.
"Let’s skip the autopsy."
He turned back to look at Luo Yihua.
"Security Chief, I agree with the medical examiner’s opinion, Wu Damming committed suicide. So, what’s next for handling this matter?"
Luo Yihua thought for a moment, then said.
"Wu Damming had admitted his guilt and took all the blame upon himself, this was suicide out of fear of punishment, and we’ve recovered the money too, so this simplifies things."
"This should be the end of the matter. I’ve contacted the prosecutor’s office to confirm and follow the procedures, then we can close the case."
"Alright, I’ll go tell his family then."
Zhang Xiaoshan was about to call the village committee when Director Wang immediately showed a worried expression, looking eagerly at Zhang Xiaoshan and said.
"This person died in our detention center, won’t his family cause trouble?"
Director Wang was genuinely anxious; as the saying goes, difficult people often come from difficult places, and the tribal clans in the mountains can be hard to deal with.
Zhang Xiaoshan reassured Director Wang.
"Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this matter, and our villagers aren’t unreasonable."
With that, he made a call to the village office.
Xiue’s voice came through the phone.
Two hours later, a tractor stopped at the entrance of Wanshan County Detention Center.
About seven or eight men from the Wu family and an old man got off the vehicle and entered the detention center.
They walked into the morgue and confirmed Wu Damming’s identity.
The expressions on the Wu family’s faces varied.
Wu Biao looked to the Wu family’s great-uncle.
"Great-Uncle San, what should we do?"
Uncle Wu San was the oldest elder in the Wu family.
"Damming was at fault, but the dead should be respected. Let’s put an end to this; take him back to the village and bury him in our Wu family cemetery."
After completing the formalities, they carried a stretcher wrapped in white cloth onto the tractor.
The tractor hit the road, rattling towards White Dragon Village.
In a corner of the room stood two women.
One was Luo Meili, and the other was Jia Lanhua.
Jia Lanhua, deliberately or not, was dressed very plainly.
Her eyes were fixed intently on the corpse of Wu Damming as it was taken away, her face expressionless, as if she were frozen in place.
"Lanhua, are you okay?"
Luo Meili asked with some concern, seeing Jia Lanhua so still.