Chapter 319 - 319 287 The Blood Robe

Words : 2337 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

319: Chapter 287: The Blood Robe 319: Chapter 287: The Blood Robe The slaughterhouse owner was slightly overweight and had a bit of a double chin. The interrogation chairs in the case center were all widened, and when he sat down, he filled every inch, as if not to waste any space. As he talked about the homicide, the slaughterhouse owner was also nervous, with a touch of relaxation. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui’s expression became grave. He wasn’t an actor; ordinary people couldn’t fake that kind of expression unless they were preoccupied with serious concerns. Liu Jinghui judged that he must be an important informant, and that the information he knew was probably not simple. Liu Jinghui quickly glanced around, noticed Jiang Yuan and the others were present, and then turned to the slaughterhouse owner, saying, “Li Huigai, you claim you’re not the killer, so do you know who is?” After hesitating for a few seconds, the slaughterhouse owner, Li Huigai, said, “I know.” Liu Jinghui took a deep breath. As expected, this guy was even more involved than he had thought. Liu Jinghui immediately asked, “Did you participate in the killing, or did you witness it?” Li Huigai said, “Neither. But I know who did it.” Liu Jinghui asked, “Who is it?” “Li Tangyi,” Li Huigai said, “He’s a distant nephew of mine.” His gaze was serious as he looked at Liu Jinghui, waiting for a response. Liu Jinghui understood somewhat but still pressed further, “Which three characters for ‘Li Tangyi’? What are his physical characteristics?” “Li from the Li family, Tang as in the Tang Dynasty, and Yi as in meaning. He’s a cripple, quite sturdy, and all his shoes are specially made...” Li Huigai went on to describe at length. However, when they heard he was a cripple, Liu Jinghui and the others had basically confirmed it. There are thousands upon thousands of people in the world; the chances of coincidentally encountering another suitable cripple should be quite low. Moreover, this detail was unknown to the special task force before Jiang Yuan’s involvement. Whether Li Huigai made it up or not is beside the point; his status as an informant had been solidified. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, assuring that Wang Chuanxing beside him had taken good notes, and then asked, “Do you know where Li Tangyi is now?” “He has gone to Qiongnan. That’s what I’ve heard,” Li Huigai said. Liu Jinghui let out a “hm” and asked, “Do you have any contact?” “No.” “Do you have evidence?” After another few seconds of silence, Li Huigai said, “Yes.” The officers watching the monitor looked at each other, all somewhat bewildered. This wasn’t just finding an informant; they had found someone who could be the head of criminal investigation for the task force. Liu Jinghui, too, was a mix of surprise and skepticism as he asked, “What evidence? Where is it?” “The bloody clothes that Li Tangyi wore when he killed someone, I wrapped them in a plastic bag and hid them behind a plaque in the ancestral hall,” explained Li Huigai as he described the location in detail. The ancestral halls in Dawan Village and Jiang Village were similar, both permanent buildings within the village, adorned with numerous plaques immediately upon entering the main gate. Li Huigai had hidden the bloodied clothes behind a plaque bearing the legend “Filial Piety and Integrity,” making it unlikely anyone would rummage through. Liu Jinghui immediately arranged for someone to search for it. Without waiting to be asked further, Li Huigai explained, “After Li Tangyi committed the murder, he and his wife came to find me in the backyard of the slaughterhouse. He had bloodstains on him at the time and said he’d fallen...” Li Huigai paused for a moment before continuing slowly, “I come from a background in butchering; I know what blood from a fall looks like, and I know what spurted blood looks like. Seeing Li Tangyi’s condition at the time, I immediately called his father and told him that his distant nephew had come and that I would take good care of him...” Li Huigai closed his eyes briefly, then continued, “You see, I’m quite overweight now, but in those days, I could lift a pig with one hand. Moreover, I was on night watch in the slaughterhouse yard, and I had an iron rod at hand. Right then, I pulled open the drawer and dumped out all the money inside, several thousand yuan, intended for buying pigs. I gave it all to Li Tangyi, telling him that it was hard for him and his wife to make the trip, and this was money to help them settle down...” At this point, Li Huigai was a mixture of pride and reflection as he continued, “Li Tangyi discussed it with his wife for a bit, then asked me for a set of clothes and left. After the workers at the slaughterhouse arrived, I took one of them to the nearby trash can to search, and we found the bloodied clothes.” “What’s the worker’s name?” “Li Jinzhou. I had him write a statement, and we placed it with the bloodied clothes,” said Li Huigai with a sigh, “I only learned later that the victim was a taxi driver, but by then, the killer had run. Later, his father called again, lecturing me and even mentioning my parents and children. After thinking it over, I chose to stay silent.” The thoroughness of Li Huigai’s preparations disappointed Liu Jinghui. Frankly speaking, the normal interrogation process for current cases is just like this. One works hard to follow some leads, identifies a suspect, gets a confession from the suspect, and then listens to some inconsequential reasons... It’s worth noting here that “inconsequential reasons” have become a common component of homicide cases in modern society. Today is not an era of burning passions, but an era of impulsive killings. Most people do not commit murder after carefully considering conflicts of interest or emotional entanglements; they act on an impulse. And impulsive methods of killing are often more crude than those in theft cases. Yet, some cases, due to various coincidences, serendipitously open up under the lens of justice. Take Li Huigai’s retreat, for instance. Liu Jinghui looked at Li Huigai, applied slight pressure, and said, “Do you know that by doing this, you’re shielding a criminal?” “He threatened to kill my entire family, what could I do? And besides...” Li Huigai glanced at Liu Jinghui, a hint of sarcasm on his lips, said, “Li Tangyi’s aunt has an affair with a leader from Shahe Town, and that leader even got promoted to Changyang City later. Li Tangyi’s aunt even came to see me specifically, guess why I stopped doing business?” Eleven years were enough to change a lot of things. Liu Jinghui decisively paused the interrogation and simply said, “If what you’re saying is true, then people will be punished. I’m from the provincial department; Changyang City can’t touch me. I’ll contact the prosecutor right now...” When Li Huigai saw that Liu Jinghui didn’t seem to be lying, his expression drooped once again. For him, it was almost impossible to find a perfect solution to the situation. From the moment Li Tangyi appeared before him in bloody clothes, Li Huigai never had the option of getting out whole. With every step he seemed to have a choice, but in reality, no one cared about him. Liu Jinghui was no exception. ... In the surveillance room, Jiang Yuan and the others were also quite silent. After Liu Jinghui came out, he made several calls, and only after his phone had become somewhat hot did he finally put it away, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, “Don’t worry, we’re just preparing a foolproof plan. I’ve handled cases far more complicated than this one. Mudfish can’t stir up waves.” Jiang Yuan asked, “What’s next?” Liu Jinghui said, “Chief Yu sent people to catch Li Tangyi and to find that worker for questioning. Everyone also needs to pay attention to confidentiality.” When there was business, Liu Jinghui would refer to Yu Wenshu as Chief Yu, which was quite genuine. After a while, Yu Wenshu came over himself. He first met with Liu Jinghui and the others, then smiled and said, “Don’t feel burdened, every group has its outliers. Of course, the case isn’t over yet, so let’s not talk about the nature of the horse. But the investigation has been very impressive, a cold case of 11 years, and now we’ve cracked it in one go; I’m going to commend everyone for their work.” With his words, everyone’s mood also improved. Wan Baoming, who came with him, had an even brighter face and said with a smile, “The difficulty with this case was in pinpointing the slaughterhouse and identifying its owner. When the previous special task force was investigating, the slaughterhouse was actually running normally, and they didn’t focus on this aspect...” The previous special task force had also been made up of people from their own Criminal Police Detachment, and while Wan Baoming verbally said a few good things about them, what he really implied was how good Jiang Yuan was. Yu Wenshu smiled even more when he looked at Jiang Yuan. Solving cold cases was something that every criminal police team had to do, and it was a task that became more appealing the more they worked on it. Many teams didn’t do it, not because they didn’t like to, but because they didn’t have the capacity or the confidence to do so. For a Criminal Police Detachment like Changyang City’s, the costs of solving a cold case didn’t matter, as long as they were legitimate expenses. Even if they really needed thousands of people to investigate, Yu Wenshu would accept it. As long as the case was solved in the end, such expenses would only serve as proof of their determination. However, most teams genuinely couldn’t guarantee a case would be solved. In other words, they really couldn’t bear the situation where they spent a lot of time, effort, and money, only to end up with nothing. Having a subordinate capable of solving cases was an invaluable asset to any criminal police team. “By the way, are you getting used to the life here?” Yu Wenshu then approached Jiang Yuan, pitching concern. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, “I’m used to it; life here isn’t much different from what it was like at home.” “Being away from home always comes with various adjustments, especially on such a business trip. Oh, I almost forgot, you should write a report later and apply for a business trip allowance,” Yu Wenshu said while looking at Jiang Yuan, not sure how else to express his fondness for him, and ended up thinking of giving money in the spur of the moment. Jiang Yuan said, “The team has already granted me a travel allowance...” “That’s theirs, and this is ours. The staffing and treatment at Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment are pretty good,” Yu Wenshu said. Catching sight of Jiang Yuan’s police rank, he immediately said, “As for promotions and the like, things move much faster here.” Jiang Yuan pretended not to understand and changed the subject, saying, “Changyang City has a high population and many homicide cases, so the work is indeed more challenging...” “Yes, our Changyang City...” “Chief Yu, I guess I’ve finished my part with this case, so shall we rest for a few days before working on the next one?” Jiang Yuan interrupted Yu Wenshu’s words. With an indulgent smile, Yu Wenshu said, “Sure, sure, taking a few days off is only proper. Well, when the suspect is in custody, I’ll update you on what comes next.” “Li Tangyi just got lucky.” Liu Jinghui had recovered his composure by now and said calmly, “Li Tangyi’s family conditions are much better than those of an ordinary worker at the slaughterhouse, but he chose to work there, which is probably related to his family background and his physical condition. This is one point overlooked by the present special case team.” Liu Jinghui once again captured everyone’s attention and continued, “Li Tangyi and his wife both came to work at the slaughterhouse, which is also different from what ordinary workers do. I suspect he must have had some ideas about this industry.” “He probably chose to take taxis because of his limp. After killing the taxi driver for some reason, Li Tangyi drove and abandoned the car, then walked several kilometers back. With his walking capacity, he was probably at his limit.” “Under such difficult circumstances, he still sought out the owner of the slaughterhouse, Li Huigai. Either Li Tangyi acted in panic, turning to the only person he knew, or he needed somewhere to change clothes, or perhaps, he even harbored the thought of killing to silence him. Li Huigai was the only person who knew he would be at that place; if Li Huigai were killed, Li Tangyi would essentially become a non-existent person.” “Whether Li Tangyi’s wife played any role during this time is unknown, but logically, the couple must have discussed it,” said Liu Jinghui, humming twice before adding, “Once we’ve arrested Li Tangyi and his wife, we can actually ask them about it.” Yu Wenshu said “good” with a smiling face, but he clearly didn’t show the same affection for Liu Jinghui as he did for Jiang Yuan. What did it matter now whether guesses were right or wrong? He wasn’t running an amusement park. What he wanted was to solve the case and find evidence; as for whether the process was perfect, he wasn’t so concerned about that.

Chapter 319 - 319 287 The Blood Robe

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