This was the first ti since the murder case that the Criminal Investigation First Squad didn’t work overti.
Instead, the case made significant progress.
Everyone trusted Li Xiang even more deeply.
Ever since Li Xiang returned from an overseas mission, his capabilities seed to have improved.
After work, Li Xiang drove to the market to buy so groceries before heading ho.
"You’re back! I missed you..."
"Hold on, what’s that sll on you?"
As soon as Li Xiang walked in, Lin Feifei sprinted over and jumped on him for a hug.
She took a deep breath to express her affection.
But today, sothing was different about Li Xiang. He usually slled nice and fragrant, but today that scent was gone.
Lin Feifei sniffed carefully on his shoulder and then was overwheld by a nauseating feeling, causing her to jump back: "Ugh~ did you empty a septic tank today? You stink!"
"I picked up a case today. I’ll go take a shower first."
Li Xiang quickly ran to the bathroom, planning to take a shower. He wasn’t going to tell Feifei that the sll was corpse odor—otherwise, how could they cuddle and play cards tonight?
In the bathroom, Li Xiang used shampoo, body wash, and sulfur soap all over. As long as it slled nice, he didn’t care what it was.
This should cover it, right?
After all, he only had minor contact, unlike Ning Hua, who was steeped in the forensic lab for so long that he absorbed the sll.
When he ca out after his shower, Lin Feifei had already washed the groceries he bought.
Li Xiang went over to help with the preparations. As he got close, Lin Feifei leaned in again for a careful sniff: "Hmm, much better than before."
Together, they quickly finished preparing dinner.
Cooking together, eating together—sweet and blissful.
anwhile, their dog, Coalball, munched on its kibble, a hearty portion to fill up.
The next day, everyone arrived at the office early. Li Xiang held a brief morning eting once he saw everyone, arranging for the day’s tasks.
"When we get to the Peach Garden, we’ll split up. One team will continue investigating the fertilizer bags; the other team will focus on the bone chopper."
"Yes."
"Understood!"
With a lead in hand, everyone’s motivation increased. They split into groups and headed to the town where the Peach Garden was located to gather information.
Which family has an orchard?
Who’s selling fertilizer?
Has anyone gone missing lately?
Where can we find a shop selling bone choppers?
Once you find the right direction, things beco much more efficient.
The direction Li Xiang pointed out was indeed a clear lead. Based on this clue, everyone conducted extensive visits in the town’s marketplace, and soon all the small clues ca back to him.
He then evaluated the clues gathered by everyone to determine their importance.
Soon, a clue that Mao Ji’s team found caught Li Xiang’s attention.
"A month ago, Yongtai Knives sold a bone chopper. Since not many people buy these, the boss rembers clearly. The ti of the purchase is close to the victim’s ti of death, so I believe there’s a high likelihood of suspicion. However, the person who bought the knife was a woman."
"A woman?"
Li Xiang was taken aback to learn it was a woman, as he had deduced the killer should be a man.
Yet, the knife purchaser was a woman.
Could it be that this woman was an accomplice?
Or perhaps she is incredibly strong, rivaling a man’s strength, capable of chopping bones herself.
"Yes, a woman. The shop has surveillance, and the boss said the video is stored for three months. I’m retrieving the footage now and will send it to you once I have it."
After about half an hour, Mao Ji sent the store’s surveillance video over.
In the video, the woman buying the knife looked to be in her 30s or 40s, slender in build, unlikely to be the perpetrator since she lacked the strength to chop bones into pieces.
The cut surfaces of the victim’s bones were very clean, severed in one stroke, without any signs of repeated hacking.
This indicates that the perpetrator was incredibly strong, able to chop bones in one strike, without the need for a second.
If she really purchased the murder weapon, then there’s a possibility she’s an accomplice.
"This clue is very important. Investigate this woman’s identity information imdiately."
At this point, it’s the most useful clue and the one closest to the truth.
Thus, Mao Ji and his team quickly started a reverse investigation based on this lead.
First, they contacted the traffic departnt, used public security surveillance to trace the woman’s movents, and see which direction she went.
With the full cooperation of the traffic police departnt, Mao Ji and his team quickly located the place where the woman was last seen.
She hadn’t gone far but was residing in the Fuyang Settlent Area in the town. Video surveillance showed her entering the settlent, where she then disappeared.
Mao Ji imdiately took a clear photo of the woman from the surveillance video and went to the Fuyang Settlent Area, asking the idle grandmothers chatting at the gate for information.
"Grandma, may I ask if you recognize this person?"
In every neighborhood, there’s an information office chief who loves gathering and exchanging information when free.
The wife of the family next door is pregnant with their third child, the husband of the family across lost everything to gambling, resulting in a broken family, the child from the south family got into a prestigious university, and Old Wang from the north has his eye on a widow.
Their ability to disseminate information is so incredible that even the CIA would be impressed.
So when it cos to gathering information, these grandmothers are the best choice.
As expected, after asking around several groups, an elderly lady recognized her.
"Isn’t this Li’s daughter-in-law? Why are you looking for her?"
Mao Ji was surprised to hear soone recognize her and beca interested:
"Hello, Grandma, I’m a police officer and I want to ask you about this person."
"Okay, let tell you, Li’s daughter-in-law is sothing else."
Once the grandma learned that Mao Ji was a police officer seeking information about this person, she imdiately started talking incessantly about the woman’s life, not even sparing the rumors and hearsay.
Mao Ji was quite intrigued by the gossip!
It turned out the woman was nad Dai Qiaoling, had a son in college, and was rumored to be involved with Old Wang from next door, even caught in the act.
"How exciting... I an, Grandma, who is this Old Wang? What’s his story?"
"This Old Wang is no good, doesn’t do any decent work, just a loafer who likes playing mahjong. They say he got involved with Dai Qiaoling this way."
"Does Old Wang’s wife know?"
"He doesn’t have a wife. He’s not from around here, and the house he was living in was rented. After getting caught, he moved out!"
"Moved out? When did he move?"
"Over a month ago, can’t rember the exact day."
Once Mao Ji heard it was over a month ago, the timing lined up. It seed this lead was accurate.
They were a step closer to the truth.
After bidding farewell to the grandmother, Mao Ji happily reported the information to Li Xiang.
"Moved away? I suspect he was thrown in the river!"
Based on their instincts as police officers, both Mao Ji and Li Xiang were inclined to think along these lines.
Bold assumptions, cautious verification.
Li Xiang suspected that since Dai Qiaoling got caught in the affair and to gain her husband’s forgiveness, she and her husband might have murdered and disposed of her lover’s body, rather than conspiring with the lover to kill her husband, especially since Dai Qiaoling was still living with her husband’s family.
Sothe truth can only be one thing.
"I’ll co over right away. Quickly find out where this Old Wang rented, and bring the landlord over. We’ll inspect his room."
"Yes."
Seeing that Mao Ji had a breakthrough, Li Xiang took the forensic equipnt and technicians and drove to the Fuyang Settlent Area to et up with Mao Ji.
"Captain Li, this is the landlord, Old Li. He happens to be looking for tenants, and I called him over based on the phone number since the place has been empty since the last tenant moved out and hasn’t found a new one."
"Hello, Old Li."
"Old Li, this is our captain."
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