Chapter 188 Hair Tie

Chapter 188: Hair Tie

After a long silence, Shen Qingye finally spoke, "Where was she dragged to?"

The poplar tree thought for a moment, its leaves rustled toward one direction. "Over there."

Shen Qingye followed its indication and frowned slightly—it led deeper into the woods.

After a brief consideration, she pressed, "At the time of the incident, did the girl or the old man leave anything behind? Or were there any traces left somewhere?"

The tree replied, "There were traces, but the scene was chaotic, and the girl struggled fiercely. But after all these years, they’re long gone. Not to mention, the old man deliberately cleaned up the area afterward, making it look almost the same as before."

The tree sighed. "Later, some village police officers came to investigate, but they found nothing."

Undeterred, Shen Qingye asked, "So nothing was left behind at all?"

"Let me think," the tree murmured. After a pause, it added, "Oh, right. I remember now."

"The girl seemed to have dropped a hair tie here. The old man buried it later."

Shen Qingye's eyes brightened instantly. "Where?"

The tree indicated a small area not far from itself. "It should be around here. It’s been a long time, so my memory’s hazy."

Shen Qingye took a deep breath. "Do you remember what color the hair tie was?"

"I think it was white? With some colorful beads on it—gaudy."

"It was wide, not like those thin little elastic bands. Pretty noticeable."

Hearing this, Shen Qingye had a rough idea. She immediately grabbed a slightly thicker branch nearby and began combing through the marked area.

The tree had mentioned that Li Youliang hadn’t taken hiding the item too seriously—it wasn’t buried very deep. Shen Qingye dug carefully, with the tree occasionally guiding her. After about ten minutes, she froze.

Amidst the mixture of soil and leaves, an anomalous object appeared.

Shen Qingye held her breath. She quickly pulled out a pair of gloves from her pocket, discarded the branch, and excavated the object manually.

Yes, it was a hair tie.

Caked with dirt, its original color was indistinguishable. Only the overlapping folds of the fabric hinted at traces of white beneath.

She avoided excessive handling, merely removing the larger clumps of dirt to reveal its general shape before carefully sealing it into an evidence bag.

The moment she sealed the evidence, her phone rang. Recognizing the caller ID, Shen Qingye exhaled deeply.

"Yue Lingchuan, I found something."

·

When the two met up, Yue Lingchuan reported first:

"I didn’t find anything on my end, but I noticed that where the woods end, there’s a field with some graves."

"Graves?" Shen Qingye said. "So it’s possible that after killing her, Li Youliang buried her in one of those graves nearby?"

"That would be convenient. And since that field is a bit farther from the village, it would attract less attention."

Shen Qingye mused. "I wonder who's buried there..."

Yue Lingchuan said, "Let’s circle back to the village later and ask around."

He paused, then added, "Wait, what was it you said you found?"

Shen Qingye took the evidence bag out of her bag and handed it to Yue Lingchuan. "This."

Yue Lingchuan examined it closely. "A girl's hairband?"

Shen Qingye nodded. "I found it behind a dirt slope. Not sure if it ties to Lin Manman."

Yue Lingchuan carefully placed the hairband aside. "Whether it ties or not, we can ask Auntie Liu later. She should be able to confirm if this hairband belonged to Lin Manman."

Shen Qingye agreed, and the two returned to the village together.

Liu Cuihua was surprised by their return but cooperated fully. After examining the hairband, she confirmed without a doubt that it belonged to Lin Manman:

"Back then, we didn’t have hairbands like this here. Man Man brought it back from the south. The Shuang girls were so envious when they saw it and pestered their parents until Dayu’s folks had to get someone to bring one back from out of town."

"I’d know these beads anywhere! This is Man Man’s!"

They locked eyes. Shen Qingye thanked her and said they understood. She then asked who owned the dirt slope behind the woods, and the answer surprised them.

"Behind the woods? Oh, you mean the southern plot! That land belongs to Li Youliang’s family."

Shen Qingye’s eyes widened. "Li Youliang’s family?"

Liu Cuihua’s face darkened with disgust. "Yes, it’s his! His folks worked that land when they were still around. After they passed, Li Youliang didn’t bother much with it, and it’s been going to seed ever since."

"Those burial plots are all his family’s."

Shen Qingye couldn’t hide her shock. After leaving, she discussed with Yue Lingchuan, "So, after committing the crime, Li Youliang actually buried the body in his own family’s grave?"

Yue Lingchuan pondered for a moment. "That tracks. First, it’s close and secluded, making it convenient for burying the body. Second, planting it in someone else’s property’s too risky, like in Ding Dayong’s case. But burying it in his own family’s grave eliminates that worry."

The Li family tree’s pretty sparse—some dead, some gone. The only one left in Shanghe Village who would visit the graves was Li Youliang himself.

Nobody’s gonna go poking around another family’s ancestral graves, which explains how it remained hidden until now.

In a way, this was good. If it were someone else’s ancestral grave, digging up the grave would’ve been a headache. But since it was Li Youliang’s own family’s grave, they wouldn’t have to worry about that.

With the picture coming together, the two didn’t linger and returned to the station.

The team buzzed about how Deng Hailong’s case had led to another name. After Shen Qingye briefly explained the situation, she rushed the hairband over to Captain Qin. When Captain Qin examined the evidence bag, his brow furrowed.

"It’s so heavily contaminated?"

Shen Qingye shrugged helplessly. "No choice—it was buried directly in the soil. I got lucky spotting it at all."

Captain Qin wasn’t optimistic. "Even though this material kept it from rotting much over the years, with so many impurities, odds of pulling anything usable are low."

Shen Qingye sighed softly. "Worth a shot, Captain Qin. Fingers crossed we get something."

Even if nothing useful turned up, with so many officers, they’d crack Li Youliang one way or another.

Captain Qin said, "I’ll give it my best shot."