Chapter 278

The slaughterhouse owner was slightly chubby and portly, with a bit of jowl.

The interrogation chairs at the case-handling center were widened, and he filled it up when he sat in, giving the feeling that no space was wasted.

At this moment, speaking of the homicide, the slaughterhouse owner was also nervous, yet carried a hint of relief. As soon as Liu Jinghui saw this, his expression became solemn.

He wasn't an actor; ordinary people couldn't fake this look unless they had something on their minds.

Liu Jinghui judged that he must be an important witness, and the situation he knew was likely not simple.

Liu Jinghui quickly looked to both sides, and seeing that Jiang Yuan and the others were there, he looked at the slaughterhouse owner and said: "Li Hungai, you say you aren't the killer, then do you know who the killer is?"

The slaughterhouse owner, Li Hungai, hesitated for a few seconds and said: "I know."

Liu Jinghui took a deep breath; it was just as expected, this guy's involvement was even deeper than he had imagined.

Liu Jinghui immediately asked: "Did you participate in the murder, or did you witness it?"

Li Hungai said: "Neither. But I know who it is."

Liu Jinghui asked: "Who is it?"

"Li Tangyi," Li Hungai said. "He's a distant nephew of mine."

He looked at Liu Jinghui earnestly, waiting for Liu Jinghui's response.

Liu Jinghui understood a bit, but still asked: "Which three characters make up Li Tangyi? What are his physical features?"

"'Li' as in Tang Dynasty, 'Yi' as in meaning. He's a cripple, quite sturdy, and the shoes he wears are custom-made..." Li Hungai rattled off a long list.

However, upon hearing that he was a cripple, Liu Jinghui and the others had basically already confirmed it.

There are millions of people in the world; the probability of encountering another suitable cripple by such coincidence should not be high.

Furthermore, this detail was unknown to the special task force before Jiang Yuan intervened; regardless of whether Li Hungai was making it up, his status as a witness was already solidified.

Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, confirmed that Wang Chuanxing next to him had finished taking notes, and asked: "Do you know where Li Tangyi is?"

"He went to Qiongnan. That's what I heard." Li Hungai said.

Liu Jinghui gave an "En" and asked: "Is there any contact?"

"No."

"Do you have any evidence?"

Li Hungai was silent for a few more seconds and said: "I do."

The several police officers watching the surveillance looked at each other, all looking a bit bewildered. This wasn't finding a witness; this was finding a criminal investigation lead for the special task force.

Liu Jinghui was also filled with both surprise and suspicion, asking: "What evidence? Where is it?"

"The bloody clothes Li Tangyi wore when he killed someone; I wrapped them in a plastic bag and hid them behind the plaque in the ancestral hall." Li Hungai said, describing the location in detail.

The ancestral halls in Dawan Village and Jiang Village were similar, both being permanent structures in the village; upon entering from the main gate, many plaques were hung up.

Li Hungai had hidden the bloody clothes behind a plaque that read "Filial Piety and Integrity"; it was highly probable that no one would go looking there.

Liu Jinghui immediately arranged for people to go find them.

Li Hungai didn't need to be asked again and explained himself: "After Li Tangyi killed someone, he and his wife came to the backyard of the slaughterhouse to find me. He had blood on him at the time and said he had fallen..."

Li Hungai paused, then slowly said: "I come from a background of slaughtering pigs; I know what blood from a fall looks like, and I know what blood from a spray looks like. Seeing Li Tangyi's state at the time, I directly called his father and told him that my distant nephew had arrived and that I would take good care of him..."

Li Hungai closed his eyes for a moment and added: "You see me as quite fat now, but back then, I was someone who could carry a pig with one hand. Moreover, I was the night watchman in the slaughterhouse yard at the time, and I had an iron rod right at hand. I pulled the drawer open and dumped all the money inside—there was about a few thousand yuan, used for buying pigs—and gave it all to Li Tangyi, telling him that it was hard for the couple to make the trip and that this was their relocation fee..."

Speaking of this, Li Hungai was a bit proud, yet also a bit emotional, and continued: "Li Tangyi discussed it with his wife at the time, asked me for a set of clothes, and then went out. After the slaughterhouse workers arrived, I took one worker to the trash can nearby to search, and found these bloody clothes."

"What's the worker's name?"

"Li Jinzhou. I had him write a statement and put it together with the bloody clothes." Li Hungai sighed and said: "I only found out later that he had killed a taxi driver, but he had already run away. Later, his father called me again, talking nonsense and even cursing my parents and children. I thought about it and didn't say anything more."

Li Hungai's preparation was so thorough that it made Liu Jinghui feel disappointed.

Honestly, the normal interrogation process for a current case is actually like this. You work hard to investigate some clues, find the suspect, make the suspect talk, and then listen to him tell some trivial reasons...

It is especially worth mentioning the trivial reasons here, because in modern society, trivial motives for murder are already a common component of homicide cases.

This is not an era of burning passion, but it is an era of passionate murder. Most people don't kill because they have thought through the conflicts of interest or emotional entanglements; they just lose their heads.

And the way they kill when they lose their heads is often even cruder than in theft cases.

It's just that some cases, due to various coincidences, happen to have missed the judgment of justice.

Just like Li Hungai's retreat.

Liu Jinghui looked at Li Hungai and applied a little pressure: "Do you know that by doing this, you are harboring a criminal?"

"He threatened to kill my whole family; what could I do? And besides..." Li Hungai looked at Liu Jinghui, a trace of sarcasm appearing at the corner of his mouth: "Li Tangyi's aunt was the mistress of a leader in Shahe Town, and that leader was later promoted to Changyang City. Li Tangyi's aunt even came to find me specifically at the time. Guess why I stopped doing business?"

Eleven years is enough time to change many things.

Liu Jinghui decisively paused the interrogation and only said: "The situation you described, if true, will result in someone being punished. I am from the Provincial Department, and Changyang City cannot control me. I will contact the procuratorate now..."

Seeing that Liu Jinghui didn't seem to be lying, Li Hungai's eyebrows drooped again.

For him, there was almost no perfect solution to this matter. From the moment Li Tangyi appeared in front of him wearing bloody clothes, Li Hungai had no option to walk away unscathed. At every step, Li Hungai seemed to have a choice, but in reality, no one had ever cared about him.

Including Liu Jinghui, it was much the same.

In the surveillance room, Jiang Yuan and the others were also quite silent.

Liu Jinghui came out, made several phone calls, and finally put away his somewhat hot phone, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said: "Don't worry, we're just preparing a foolproof plan. I've handled cases much more complex than this. A loach can't stir up any waves."

Jiang Yuan asked: "What's next?"

Liu Jinghui said: "Yu Zhi will send people to arrest Li Tangyi and find that worker for questioning. Everyone should also pay attention to confidentiality."

When there's work to be done, Liu Jinghui calls Yu Wenshu 'Yu Zhi'; it's quite pragmatic.

After a while, Yu Wenshu himself came over.

He first met with Liu Jinghui and the others, then smiled: "Everyone, don't have any psychological burden. There are black sheep everywhere. Of course, the case isn't over yet, so we won't talk about the nature of the 'sheep' for now, but the case was handled beautifully. A cold case from 11 years ago, solved in one go; I will request commendations for everyone."

Once he said this, everyone's mood improved significantly.

Wan Baoming, who came with him, was even more radiant, smiling: "The difficulty of this case lay in identifying the slaughterhouse and identifying the slaughterhouse owner. When the previous special task force was investigating the case, the slaughterhouse was actually operating normally, and they didn't pay attention to this side..."

The previous special task force was also composed of people from their own criminal police team; Wan Baoming was ostensibly saying a few good words for them, but between the lines, he was saying everything good about Jiang Yuan.

Yu Wenshu was even happier looking at Jiang Yuan.

Solving cold cases is a task that every criminal police team wants to do, and it's a job that gets better the more you do it.

Many criminal police teams don't do it, not because they don't like it, but because they don't have the ability to do it, or don't have the confidence to do it.

For a criminal police team at the level of Changyang City, the cost of solving cold cases doesn't matter how much is spent; as long as it's a normal expense, even if they really use thousands of people to screen, Yu Wenshu can accept it. As long as the case is eventually solved, such expenses will only become proof of boldness.

It's just that most criminal police teams truly cannot guarantee the solving of a case; in other words, they truly cannot bear the situation of spending a large amount of time, energy, and funds, only to end up with nothing.

Having a subordinate who can solve cases is an incredibly precious production resource for any criminal police team.

"By the way, has Jiang Yuan been living comfortably lately?" Yu Wenshu ignored the others and walked to Jiang Yuan's side, asking about his well-being.

Jiang Yuan smiled and said: "It's comfortable; life here is about the same as it is at home."

"When you're away from home, there are always various discomforts. Especially on business trips like this. Oh, almost forgot, write a report later and apply for a business trip allowance." Yu Wenshu looked at Jiang Yuan, not knowing how to treasure him; for a moment, all he could think of was giving him money.

Jiang Yuan said: "The team is already paying me a business trip allowance..."

"Theirs is theirs, ours is ours. The staffing and benefits of our Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment are still quite good." As Yu Wenshu spoke, he glanced at Jiang Yuan's police rank and immediately said: "Your level is here; promotions and such will be much faster."

Jiang Yuan pretended not to understand and changed the subject: "Changyang City has a large population and many homicide cases, so it's indeed more challenging to work on..."

"Yeah, our Changyang City..."

"Yu Zhi, as far as I'm concerned, this case is done. Shall we rest for a few days and then do the next one?" Jiang Yuan interrupted Yu Wenshu.

Yu Wenshu still had a doting smile on his face and said: "Sure, sure, resting for a few days is appropriate. Oh, once the suspect is brought to justice, I'll notify you of the follow-up situation."

"Li Tangyi was just lucky." Liu Jinghui had recovered by now and said calmly: "Li Tangyi's family conditions were much better than those of ordinary slaughterhouse workers, but he chose to work at the slaughterhouse, which is likely related to his family background and personal physical condition. This is a point that the special task force for the current case overlooked."

Liu Jinghui regained everyone's attention and continued: "Li Tangyi bringing his wife to work at the slaughterhouse is also different from ordinary workers. I estimate he must have had ideas about this industry."

"I estimate it was also because of his limp that Li Tangyi chose to take a taxi. After killing the taxi driver for some reason, Li Tangyi drove, abandoned the car, and walked several kilometers back. With his foot strength, that was probably his limit."

"Under such difficult circumstances, he still had to find the slaughterhouse owner, Li Hungai. Either Li Tangyi was panicked and found the only person he knew, or he needed a place to change clothes, or perhaps he even harbored the idea of killing to silence him. Li Hungai was the only person who knew he was coming here; if he killed Li Hungai, Li Tangyi would basically be a person who didn't exist."

"I don't know if Li Tangyi's wife played a role in this during this period. Logically speaking, the two of them should have discussed it."

Liu Jinghui hummed twice and said: "Once we catch Li Tangyi and his wife, we can ask them."

Yu Wenshu smiled and said "Good," but he clearly didn't have the same affection for Liu Jinghui as he did for Jiang Yuan. What does it matter if he guessed right or wrong now? He wasn't running an amusement park.

What he wanted was the solving of the case and the evidence; as for whether the process was perfect, he didn't care that much.