Chapter 279

Under the witness of many villagers, slaughterhouse owner Li Hungai pointed out the location of the bloody clothes in the ancestral hall again, harvesting a large amount of abuse:

"This is all black-hearted money he earned, all money earned from everyone."

"No wonder he ran away; he was afraid of being hacked to death, right?"

"What kind of good person can make money running a slaughterhouse? Putting bloody things in the ancestral hall—is he sucking everyone's blood?"

Li Hungai's face flushed for a moment, but he gradually got used to it.

He had consulted a lawyer before; for what he did, he wouldn't be sentenced for very long.

As for his reputation, he wasn't going to work in the village anyway.

"I'm showing the ancestors; it's not that I don't look after my nephews, it's that the thing he did himself was too big." Hearing the voices outside getting louder, Li Hungai also raised his voice and shouted back: "Coming to work is coming to work, but cutting off the head of a female taxi driver—could I have covered for him? Besides, I did everything I could. He even wanted to kill me. If I hadn't given him money at the time and had something in my hand, he might have cut off my head too. Could I have gone along with him then?"

This answer had a bit too much information, and the villagers or non-villagers watching the fun were speechless for a moment.

Then, everyone became excited.

"Eh, was that taxi driver a woman? Did he just cut off her head?"

"How much money did he give?"

"This owner is unlucky; how many years will he get for this?"

The criminal police officer in charge of the escort and identification glared at Li Hungai and said: "If you speak again, I'll put something on you."

Li Hungai hurriedly smiled with his chubby, jowly face: "I won't say anything, I'm done."

Although he had left Dawan Village, he didn't want to leave a bad reputation; being able to say a few words while he had the chance made him feel much better.

The police officer didn't say much more; they took the necessary photos, finished up, and then took Li Hungai back.

As far as this case was concerned, Li Hungai's status as a witness was quite important.

Once the worker Li Jinzhou arrived, the suspicion on Li Hungai would be close to zero.

The suspects, Li Tangyi and his wife, arrived a bit later.

The officers who arrested them encountered unexpected and stubborn resistance, especially Li Tangyi's wife, who at one point took their child to the rooftop.

After entering the Changyang City case-handling center, the resistance from both of them was also incredibly intense.

Liu Jinghui looked at their state and didn't even go in.

"This kind of thing needs to be ground down slowly. After being detained for a few days, once they get used to the current state, they will open their mouths." Liu Jinghui didn't seem worried and said familiarly: "They just can't accept the status quo; they probably thought they had already escaped."

"It was indeed possible to escape." Wan Baoming looked at Li Tangyi and his wife, who were in separate interrogation rooms on the surveillance screen, and said with great emotion: "When they committed the crime, they were 27-year-old young people, thinking about learning slaughtering from their uncle and then going back to open their own slaughterhouse... Who could have imagined that 11 years later, both of them would have become 38-year-old middle-aged people."

Liu Jinghui was very logical and looked at Wan Baoming sideways: "Do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

Wan Baoming laughed and shook his head: "When I was in my late thirties or early forties, that was exactly the age when I was most afraid of death."

Wan Baoming said with emotion: "Think about it, parents are just starting to go to the hospital, starting to get sick, and need someone to take care of them. The child is also just in adolescence, the most sensitive time. You yourself are starting to think about having a second spring, chasing back the lost time, and at the time when you can't die, you are arrested and imprisoned with the death penalty as the goal..."

"I'm just over forty this year, and I'm in great health." Liu Jinghui brushed his slicked-back hair back; if his hair were long enough, he could probably strangle Wan Baoming.

Wan Baoming patted Liu Jinghui on the shoulder: "Don't be in such a hurry. You'll have it all."

Liu Jinghui ignored him.

Wan Baoming continued to be sentimental: "Don't say that, this young couple Li Tangyi is not easy. They've been together for at least 11 years. They didn't dare to open the slaughterhouse they decided to do back then, and even for fear of being discovered, they secretly opened a Taobao store to sell beef jerky. For so many years, they've operated with integrity and didn't dare to commit any crimes.

Life finally got better, and they had a second child..."

Tang Jia couldn't help but listen from the side and said: "The female taxi driver who died was about the same age and also had a child who will be taking the high school entrance exam next year."

"Human joys and sorrows are fleeting and sad." Wan Baoming sighed heavily, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said: "Jiang Yuan, what do you think? Is Li Tangyi's life full of operatic tragedy?"

Jiang Yuan had been watching from the side and hadn't responded to Wan Baoming. Now that he was pointed out, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then took a step forward, his left hand forward, as if holding a watermelon, his right hand forward, making a fierce cutting motion, and then pulling hard...

Then, Jiang Yuan lowered his head, his left hand making a prying motion, his right hand hooking.

Finally, Jiang Yuan flicked his left hand and threw the watermelon in his hand away.

"The process of Li Tangyi cutting the head was probably like this." Jiang Yuan had reconstructed the crime scene through bloodstain analysis earlier, but it just didn't have a direct effect.

Wan Baoming was dumbfounded.

Jiang Yuan said: "I just don't think Li Tangyi is the type to do opera."

Wan Baoming recalled Jiang Yuan's actions, his romantic feelings greatly diminished: "Indeed, not like it."

"Murder and dismemberment, he's dead for sure." Liu Jinghui touched his hair oil and said calmly: "I don't know how his wife will be sentenced."

Tang Jia immediately understood Liu Jinghui's meaning and couldn't help but look at the screen, saying: "Oh, right. If Li Tangyi takes all the blame on himself and says his wife tried to dissuade him at the time, couldn't that get his wife out of it?"

"It's very difficult; the prosecution won't believe it either. Eleven years have passed, and there was no reporting or surrender in between, and they maintained a state of living together as husband and wife. The state of the scene doesn't support it either; murder and dismemberment are not simple actions or decisions. If there had been any obstruction in the middle, it would have been very difficult to proceed to this step." Wan Baoming said: "From my understanding of such cases, the female offender might be a catalyst."

Tang Jia said: "Li Tangyi should at least try. He's dead for sure anyway."

"He might not think so."

As soon as Liu Jinghui finished speaking, he heard the police officer in charge of the interrogation in the interrogation room raise his voice and say sternly: "Li Tangyi, don't be stubborn. If you were misled by others, there is still a chance for a suspended death sentence. If you let this opportunity go, you will regret it."

"Regret what? Dying a few years later?"

"There is a high probability that a suspended death sentence will not be executed. Understand? As long as there is no intentional crime within two years, it can be commuted to life imprisonment. If you perform well during life imprisonment, and serve another 20 years, 18 years, it's possible to get out. By then, you'll only be in your fifties, and you'll still have plenty of good years ahead..." The interrogating officer's words were very tempting.

Tang Jia pointed at the surveillance screen in front of her in surprise and said: "He's lying to Li Tangyi, right?"

Wan Baoming: "It's not exactly a pure lie..."

"Lying is lying; isn't lying during interrogation a basic operation?" Liu Jinghui decisively interrupted Wan Baoming's explanation.

Immediately after, the police in the female offender's interrogation room also began to use linguistic means.

Tang Jia looked at the expressions of the two and listened to their answers, and couldn't help but come to a very natural conclusion: they are both dead for sure!

Jiang Yuan could also reach the same conclusion and couldn't help but show a gratified expression.

Jiang Yuan said: "The interrogation level of these two is quite high."

"Right? The officers in our detachment are truly hand-picked. Like this Xiao Qiu, we all say he's the type who could trick an earthworm into cutting itself in half to sell for money; if he were a bit more ruthless, he could continue to trick the earthworm into cutting itself vertically."

Jiang Yuan immediately remembered Xiao Qiu and said: "That's the spirit; I hope he can hack a few more criminals."

In the somewhat ordinary words, a soaring murderous aura dissipated.

Wan Baoming couldn't help but whisper: "Jiang Yuan of Ningtai, the murderous flames are surging."

Jiang Yuan didn't even blink; he had always taken it as a compliment.

After lunch.

Jiang Yuan packed up, preparing to return to Ningtai.

The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had already prepared a new case, but whether it was Jiang Yuan or Liu Jinghui, both were more willing to go back and rest.

Similar to the last time,

no one knew how long the next case would take, so before starting, a full rest was necessary.

As for Liu Jinghui's one-week deadline, he didn't mention it himself, and everyone else wouldn't mention it even more.

After packing up his laptop and other items, Jiang Yuan greeted the officers in the office and was just about to leave when he saw Yu Wenshu rushing in.

"Too busy today, all meetings." Yu Wenshu said, then took Jiang Yuan's arm and said: "Don't rush back yet; the victim's family is here to deliver a silk banner. Let's meet and take a photo together."

Jiang Yuan hesitated and said: "Actually, there's no need to see me; the detachment can represent me..."

"It's very necessary. I've already told the family that this case was solved because of you. If you hadn't been here, who knows how much longer this 11-year-old cold case would have sat there." Yu Wenshu pulled Jiang Yuan along without question and said: "The family just arrived at the Political Department; don't keep them waiting."

After saying that, Yu Wenshu said to the other police officers of the cold case task force: "Everyone come too; let's take a group photo. An 11-year-old homicide cold case should be a highlight in anyone's career."

The police officers present stood up one after another and followed actively.

Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow Yu Wenshu, go out, and take the elevator to the Political Department.

In the bright and spacious large office, the victim's mother was wiping away tears, and the father was also comforting his wife with moist eyes.

The victim's husband sat in the middle of the office with their child, looking somewhat lost.

The middle-school-aged boy was at the age of rebellion; on the surface, he still looked a bit cool, sitting next to his father, holding his mother's portrait in his arms, but he didn't want to pay attention to anyone.

When he saw Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan enter, and then heard Jiang Yuan's brief introduction to the case, when it was time to take the photo, the boy looked at the portrait naturally, and tears instantly gushed out.

Seeing this, his father's originally tense cheeks instantly collapsed, and he burst into tears.

The victim's parents cried out in unison.

The police officers, who had originally had a hint of joy on their faces, were all silent. Losing a mother in childhood, a wife in middle age, and a daughter in old age—the pain of a family is something others can hardly understand.

After a long time, the husband stopped his voice first, held Jiang Yuan's hand with great sorrow, and after a while said: "I had prepared words of thanks, but now I feel... great kindness cannot be expressed in words, I..."

The man knelt down with a thud, his head hitting the floor heavily, and he didn't lift it again. Immediately following was a heavy, howling cry.

The pain of the sudden bad news, the confusion of not knowing the truth, the anger of the real killer escaping punishment, the anxiety of the family's great change, the bitterness of life stopping—at this moment, it all burst out.

That howling sound pierced through everything.