Chapter 320 - 320 288 Ejection

Words : 2195 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

320: Chapter 288 Ejection 320: Chapter 288 Ejection The butcher shop owner Li Huigai was again identified the location of the bloodied clothes in the ancestral hall in front of many villagers, earning a multitude of curses: “This is all ill-gotten gains, money made off everyone’s backs.” “No wonder he ran away; he must have been afraid of getting chopped to death.” “What good can come from someone who makes a living from a slaughterhouse, bringing bloody items into the ancestral hall, is it sucking everyone’s blood?” Li Huigai’s face turned red for a moment, but gradually he got used to it. He had previously consulted a lawyer, and for what he had done, the sentence wouldn’t be that long. As for reputation, he wasn’t planning on working in the village anymore anyway. “I was showing our ancestors, it’s not that I didn’t take care of family, but he got himself into too big of a mess,” Li Huigai responded loudly to the growing noises outside, raising his voice: “He came to work, not to cut off some female taxi driver’s head. How could I cover for him? Besides, I did everything I could. He even wanted to kill me. If I hadn’t given him money and had something in hand, he probably would have cut off my head too. How could I still be smooth with him?” This reply held quite a bit of information, rendering the onlooking villagers and non-villagers alike momentarily speechless. Then, they got excited. “Hey, was that taxi driver a woman? Just decapitated?” “How much money was given?” “This owner is out of luck; how many years is he going to get?” The criminal policeman in charge of escorting and identifying gave Li Huigai a sharp look and said, “If you keep talking, I’m going to gag you.” Li Huigai quickly smiled with his chubby, red cheeks: “Won’t say anymore, all done.” Although he had left Dawan Village, he didn’t want to leave a bad name behind. It felt much better to clear a few things up. The criminal police didn’t talk much either, taking photos and wrapping up before they took Li Huigai back again. In this case, Li Huigai’s status as a witness was still quite important. Just waiting for the worker Li Jinzhou to get in place, the suspicions on Li Huigai would be close to none. The suspects, the Li Tangyi couple, arrived a bit later. The officers who caught them encountered unexpectedly fierce resistance, especially from Li Tangyi’s wife, who at one point took their child up to the rooftop. After they were brought into Changyang City’s case handling center, both of their resistances were extremely strong. Liu Jinghui, seeing their defiant demeanor, didn’t even go inside. “This type needs to be worn down slowly. After being detained for a few days and getting used to their current situation, they’ll start talking,” Liu Jinghui confidently said, familiar with the process: “They just can’t accept their current predicament, probably thinking they had already escaped.” “They could really have escaped,” Wan Baoming said as he watched the couple in separate interrogation rooms on the monitoring screen, filled with myriad emotions: “When they committed the crime, they were just twenty-seven, young and pondering about learning butchery from their clan uncle, then setting up their own butcher shop... Who would have thought, after 11 years, both turned into thirty-eight-year-old middle-aged people.” Liu Jinghui, ever logical, glanced sideways at Wan Baoming: “Do you want to hear what you just said?” Wan Baoming laughed at himself, then shook his head: “When I was in my thirties and early forties, that’s exactly when I was most afraid of death.” Wan Baoming grew sentimental: “Think about it, your parents are beginning to go to the hospital, starting to get ill, needing care, and your kids are hitting puberty, the most sensitive time. You start to lose your own drive, become less sensitive, your urine starts to spray every which way, your wife starts thinking about rejuvenating herself in a second spring, chasing lost time, that’s the moment you can least afford to die. Yet you are arrested and incarcerated with the death penalty as the aim...” “I am just over forty this year, and I’m in great health,” Liu Jinghui slicked back his shiny pompadour. If his hair had been long enough, he might have been able to strangle Wan Baoming with it. Wan Baoming patted Liu Jinghui’s shoulder: “Don’t rush it. It happens to everyone.” Liu Jinghui ignored him. Wan Baoming continued to mourn the passage of time: “You know, that Li Tangyi couple has had it tough. They’ve stuck together through thick and thin for at least 11 years. They decided not to open the butcher shop they had planned and, fearing discovery, secretly opened a Taobao store selling beef jerky. After so many years, they operated honestly, never daring to commit any crimes. Just as life was finally improving, they had a second child...” Tang Jia, listening on the side, couldn’t hold back any longer and said, “The deceased female taxi driver was around the same age too, and she also has a child, who is preparing for the high school entrance exam next year.” “Human joys and sorrows, fleeting and poignant,” Wan Baoming sighed heavily, then looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, “Jiang Yuan, what do you think? Does Li Tangyi’s life seem to have that operatic sense of tragedy?” Jiang Yuan had been watching all along without engaging in Wan Baoming’s conversation. Now addressed by him, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then stepped forward, extended his left hand forward as if cradling a watermelon, made a sudden cutting motion with his right hand, and then yanked fiercely... Next, Jiang Yuan looked down, pretending to twist with his left hand while making slashing gestures with his right. Finally, Jiang Yuan flung his left hand, tossing the imaginary watermelon away. “The process of Li Tangyi’s beheading must have been something like this,” Jiang Yuan explained, as he had previously reconstructed the crime scene using bloodstain analysis, though it had no direct bearing on the case. Wan Baoming watched, dumbfounded. Jiang Yuan added, “I just don’t think Li Tangyi is cut out for opera.” Recalling Jiang Yuan’s motions, Wan Baoming’s romantic sentiments sharply diminished: “Definitely not.” “For murder and dismemberment, he’s done for,” Liu Jinghui said calmly, touching his slick hair: “I wonder how his wife will be sentenced.” Tang Jia caught on to Liu Jinghui’s hint immediately and looked towards the screen, saying, “Right, if Li Tangyi takes all the blame and then says his wife tried to stop him at the time, they could get her off the hook.” “It’s difficult, and the prosecution won’t accept it. After eleven years, with no reports or confessions in between, and the couple maintained a life together. The crime scene doesn’t support it either. Murder and dismemberment are not simple actions or decisions. If there was any intervention, it hardly could have escalated to this extent,” Wan Baoming said, “From my understanding of these types of cases, the female offender might have even acted as a catalyst.” “Tang Jia said, “At least Li Tangyi should try. He’s doomed anyway.” “He might not see it that way.” No sooner had Liu Jinghui finished speaking than in the interrogation room, the officer conducting the questioning raised his voice and sternly said, “Li Tangyi, don’t delude yourself. If you were duped by someone, you still have a chance for a suspended death sentence. If you let go of this opportunity, you will regret it.” “Regret what? Dying a few years later?” “A suspended death sentence has a high probability of not being carried out, understand? As long as you don’t commit deliberate crimes within two years, your sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment. If you behave well during life imprisonment, after serving 20 or 18 years, you might be released. By then, you’re only in your fifties, with lots of good years ahead...” The officer conducting the interrogation spoke in a very tempting manner. Tang Jia pointed to the monitor in front of her in surprise and said, “He’s deceiving Li Tangyi, isn’t he?” Wan Baoming: “It’s not entirely deception...” “Deceived or not, isn’t deception a basic tactic during interrogation?” Liu Jinghui firmly interrupted Wan Baoming’s explanation. Immediately after, the police in the female offender’s interrogation room also started employing verbal techniques. Tang Jia looked at the expressions of the two and listened to their answers, coming to a very natural conclusion: Both of them were doomed! Jiang Yuan could draw the same conclusion, revealing a relieved expression. Jiang Yuan said, “The officers questioning these two are quite skilled.” “Right? Our detachment’s officers are really picked through careful selection. Like this Xiao Qiu, we always say he’s the kind who could trick earthworms into being cut in half for money. If he were a bit more ruthless, he could even deceive the earthworms into cutting themselves in half,” Liu Jinghui said. Jiang Yuandao immediately remembered Xiao Qiu and said, “That’s the spirit we need. I hope he can split a few more criminals.” In those seemingly ordinary words, a boiling killing intent emanated. Wan Baoming couldn’t help but softly recite, “Ningtai Jiangyuan, with his fierce flame billowing.” Jiang Yuan didn’t even blink; he always took it as a compliment. ... After lunch. Jiang Yuan was preparing to return to Ningtai. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had new cases ready to go, but both Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui preferred to go back and rest first. For a similar reason as before, no one knew how long the next case would take. Before starting, adequate rest was still necessary. As for the one-week deadline set by Liu Jinghui, he didn’t bring it up, and no one else mentioned it either. After packing his laptop and other items, Jiang Yuan said goodbye to the officers in the office and was about to leave when Yu Wenshu hurried in. “It’s been too busy today, all meetings,” Yu Wenshu said, and then, taking hold of Jiang Yuan, he said, “Don’t rush back just yet. The victim’s family has brought a banner of gratitude. Let’s meet them and take a photo.” Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, “Actually, it’s not necessary to see me; a representative of the detachment would suffice...” “It is very necessary. I’ve already told the family that it was because of you that this case was solved. If you hadn’t been here, who knows how much longer this eleven-year-old cold case would have remained unsolved,” Yu Wenshu said, insisting as he pulled Jiang Yuan along, “The family just arrived at the Political Office, let’s not keep them waiting.” After speaking, Yu Wenshu then said to the other officers of the Cold Case Squad, “Everyone come along, let’s take a commemorative photo together. A murder cold case from eleven years ago, for anyone, should be a highlight of their career.” The officers in the room all stood up and eagerly followed. Jiang Yuan could only follow Yu Wenshu out and take the elevator to the Political Office. In the bright and spacious office, the victim’s mother was wiping away tears, while the father was also teary-eyed, comforting his wife. The victim’s husband sat in the middle of the office with a child, looking somewhat lost. The teenage boy, at an age of rebellion, seemed somewhat cool on the surface. Sitting next to his father, holding his mother’s portrait to his chest, he appeared unwilling to engage with anyone. But when he saw Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan enter and listened to Jiang Yuan’s brief introduction of the case, when the time came to take the photo, the boy naturally glanced at the portrait and tears instantly surged forth. Seeing this, the father’s tightly drawn cheeks crumbled immediately, and he wept bitterly. The victim’s parents started crying loudly in unison. The officers who had previously harbored a slight sense of pride all fell silent, The anguish of losing a mother in early years, a wife in middle age, and a daughter in old age is difficult for outsiders to grasp. After a long while, the husband was the first to stop crying. With deep sorrow, he grasped Jiang Yuan’s hand and said after a long pause, “I had prepared words of thanks, but now I feel... great kindness need not be spoken. I...” The man suddenly knelt with a thump, his head hitting the floor heavily, without rising again; it was followed by a deep, howling cry. The torment of sudden bad news, the confusion without knowing the truth, the anger of the real culprit escaping punishment, the uncertainty of drastic family changes, the bitterness of life brought to a halt—all exploded in that moment. That howling cry, it pierced through everything.

Chapter 320 - 320 288 Ejection

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