In the early morning, when the first glimmer of light shone down, vehicles were already coming and going on the highway in Wannan City.
Lin Jinran and Su Qinian were sitting in the back seat while the driver was driving in the front.
Su Qinian carefully told her what he had learned: "Ranran, according to the investigation, Duan Dongwei moved around a lot in the first year or two. In the third year, he finally settled down in a remote village in the neighboring city. I heard he's gone crazy and babbles all day long."
"He's actually gone crazy?" Lin Jinran was stunned, her mind blank for a moment.
If it weren't for his guilty conscience, why would he have gone crazy? Vaguely, she seemed to have grasped a clue.
"Yes, he's completely out of his mind. People usually say you can't trust the words of a madman. Assuming Duan Dongwei was acting on someone's instructions, he probably wouldn't end up well after completing the task. So he might be feigning madness to deceive the person who ordered him."
"Duan Dongwei's father caused casualties in a car accident ten years ago. Strangely enough, someone covered up his crime. But the next year, his father was run over by a large truck while crossing the road and died on the spot. That's when Duan Dongwei went completely crazy."
"I understand. Someone wanted to silence them," Lin Jinran quickly grasped the key point and spoke clearly. "Duan Dongwei's father accidentally caused a death in a car accident. Then someone approached him and coerced or bribed him. After Duan Dongwei agreed, his father's crime was naturally covered up."
"After my mother was really killed by him, he immediately took his father away from the place of trouble. Maybe those people didn't trust Duan Dongwei. They believed only the dead could keep secrets, so Duan Dongwei and his father fled from place to place. The next year, his father was killed, and Duan Dongwei went completely crazy."
"He may be really crazy or just pretending. Those people must have tested him many times and finally believed he was really crazy. Moreover, the words of a madman can't be trusted and have no legal effect."
"It's too much trouble to deal with a person, so those people gave up trying to get rid of Duan Dongwei and just let him fend for himself."
"Yeah, that's right. Ranran is really smart," Su Qinian praised without hesitation, his eyes smiling as he reached out and ruffled her hair.
"The purpose of our trip is to see if we can find any clues. For some reason, my intuition tells me that Duan Dongwei isn't really crazy."
Could a really crazy person have survived alone for ten years?
Su Qinian looked thoughtfully at Lin Jinran. Her mother was buried at the highest point in Wannan City, but Lin Jinran hadn't gone to visit her grave, not even mentioned it. She still hadn't let go of her grudge.
The day when the truth was revealed would also be the day when Lin Jinran finally let go of her obsession.
He thought it might even be the day when he paid homage to Xiang Yanhua.
After driving for two hours, they arrived in the neighboring city. The terrain of the neighboring city was mountainous. As they drove into the countryside, they mostly encountered winding mountains.
The car drove carefully at a slow speed. Three hours later, they finally reached their so - called destination.
As soon as the car door opened, Lin Jinran quickly jumped out and bent over to retch. Su Qinian took out a bottle of water and patted her on the back. "Drink some water later, or you'll feel too uncomfortable."
The clear and cold purified water slid down her throat, and Lin Jinran felt much better. "This place is really remote. It's so hard to get in here."
She looked up and saw a few scattered low houses not far away. Occasionally, a few chickens crowed behind the houses. The place was sparsely populated and lacked vitality.
"Let's go in and ask someone for directions," Lin Jinran said impatiently. She couldn't wait to see Duan Dongwei. As soon as she rested, she immediately pulled Su Qinian towards the village.
They were strangers and dressed stylishly. As soon as they entered the village, they immediately caught the inquisitive looks of the old villagers.
They randomly asked an old man nearby for directions. He said to follow this small path all the way in, and on the left at the end of the path was Duan Dongwei's house.
After giving directions, the old man shook his head. "Young man, it's a pity. He was a very famous doctor, but what a waste. You should be careful when you go to see him. He's crazy and thinks everyone is the murderer who killed his father."
Lin Jinran thanked him and walked down the path with Su Qinian. At the left of the end of the path, there was indeed a dilapidated house, and a man was sitting in front of the house.
Lin Jinran's eyes lit up. She tugged at the corner of Su Qinian's clothes, her voice trembling. "This must be Duan Dongwei. It must be him."
Su Qinian looked up at the man. The man at the door of the house seemed to have noticed the two strangers and stared at them blankly.
"If he's really crazy, he might do something unexpected. Ranran, stay away from him later. I'll do the questioning."
Lin Jinran hesitated for a while and then nodded in agreement.
In a blink of an eye, they were in front of Duan Dongwei. Lin Jinran looked at Duan Dongwei whom she hadn't seen for ten years and stared at him in shock.
A man not yet forty had most of his hair turned gray. His back was hunched, and his face was like dry black soil covered with cracked wrinkles.
His eyes were cloudy and listless. He was wearing ragged clothes. When he saw the two people come in front of him, he didn't look up but still stared at a certain place in front of him. His mouth was slightly open, and saliva dripped down.
"The last time I saw him, he wasn't this old at all," Lin Jinran stared blankly at Duan Dongwei and didn't make a sound until a while later.
He looked not just ten years older but at least twenty or thirty years older.
"It's his own retribution," Su Qinian squinted at Duan Dongwei, not missing any subtle movement on his face.
He told Lin Jinran to stay away, then bent down slightly to look at Duan Dongwei eye - to - eye and asked softly, "Duan Dongwei, do you remember her? Lin Jinran, the daughter of your last patient, Xiang Yanhua."
The cloudy eyeballs moved up to look at Lin Jinran. Duan Dongwei didn't say a word but still stared blankly at Lin Jinran, drooling.
No reaction at all? Su Qinian frowned slightly.
Lin Jinran lowered her eyes, her voice cold. "Then do you remember Lin Cheng and Yang Jinzhi? Did they instruct you to harm my mother?"
It seemed that the names of these two people slightly touched Duan Dongwei. He trembled all over, raised his cloudy eyeballs, and stared at Lin Jinran fiercely.
"It's you, it's you. You're the murderer. You're the murderer."
The originally quiet Duan Dongwei suddenly stood up, pushed Su Qinian down forcefully, picked up a stick on the ground, and ran towards Lin Jinran.
Su Qinian was shocked. Without caring about his scratched arm, he quickly got up to stop Duan Dongwei. In the chaos, he seemed to hear a sentence.
He didn't have time to think about it carefully. He pushed Duan Dongwei hard, and Lin Jinran was also so frightened that she stepped back again and again. Duan Dongwei was thin and was easily pushed down.
He lay on the ground and suddenly burst out laughing, crying while laughing. "I'm the murderer. I'm the murderer. I'm the murderer..."