Cao Changming?
How could it be him?
Everyone turned to look at Liu Yuxin.
Liu Yuxin's face was ashen, clearly shocked by the news.
"Are you sure? It's Cao Changming?" Lu Qingqing asked again for confirmation.
"Yes, it's him. I heard it from Yu Yian," Guan Jinsong said.
"Let's go and see." Hu Jia could no longer contain his anger. Yue Gu's image had just collapsed, and now Cao Changming was involved.
He might not care much about Yue Gu, but Sister Yuxin was different. They had played together often when they were young, and their bond was deeper.
Everyone followed, but Liu Yuxin stood still.
Lu Qingqing thought he was overwhelmed by the blow and had become withdrawn, so she stepped forward to comfort him, "Don't worry, Yu Yian just went to check. Those pants might not be his."
"No, you don't understand," Liu Yuxin shook her head, her eyes clearly reddening. "They are his."
Ouyang Wen also looked uncomfortable seeing him like this. He stepped forward to pat her shoulder but stopped himself, feeling it inappropriate.
"Actually, you recognized those pants earlier, didn't you?" Hu Jia recalled Liu Yuxin asking him all sorts of questions about pants when she met him on the street earlier.
"Mhm!" Liu Yuxin nodded. "It wasn't exactly recognizing them, but I guessed."
Liu Yuxin said that very few people in town wore pants other than black or gray, but Cao Changming was an exception. Since Liu Yuxin liked blue, Cao Changming naturally had many blue pants.
"I didn't say anything earlier because I..." Liu Yuxin stammered, unsure how to continue.
"Because you didn't believe it was Cao Changming's," Lu Qingqing comforted her, taking Liu Yuxin's hand. "No one blames you. If it were me, I wouldn't have said anything either."
Hearing Lu Qingqing's words, Hu Jia frowned slightly but didn't argue.
It would take a long time to travel back to the village, so Hu Jia headed directly to the town's patrol station.
As expected, Cao Changming had already been brought back.
Seeing Hu Jia and the others, Cao Changming's face lit up with joy. "Brother Hu, save me. I really don't know that person. I just lent him a pair of pants."
"So, those pants are really yours?" Hu Jia knew things wouldn't end well upon hearing Cao Changming's words.
"Captain Hu, you know each other?"
"An acquaintance of my sister."
Yu Yian was utterly frustrated. The first suspect, Yang Yuegu, turned out to be Hu Jia's sister. Now, the next suspect was also an acquaintance of Captain Hu.
An acquaintance of his sister?
They were calling her "Yuxin," "Yuxin," which could be considered an acquaintance, right?
Knowing what Yu Yian was thinking, Hu Jia turned his head. "According to procedure, we, as acquaintances of the suspect, should recuse ourselves."
Yu Yian was about to wave it off when Hu Jia added, "However, this town is small. Everyone knows everyone. How about this, Officer Yu will lead the investigation, and we'll just listen in."
Yu Yian was stunned. What he said was that the town was small, and everyone knew everyone, meaning you couldn't avoid it if you wanted to investigate?
Since avoidance was impossible, the only option was to not avoid it.
"Don't worry, I, Old Yu, handle things thoroughly," Yu Yian said, patting his chest. He picked up a stack of confession papers. "Look, this is everything he confessed earlier. I've written it all down."
Hu Jia took the notes and scanned them with a single glance. He couldn't help but look up. "When you saw Han Xiu that night, was he already wearing the bridal gown?"
"Yes, I was startled then. A bride wandering outside in the middle of the night, and he was chasing me. But when I heard his voice, I almost lost my life. I thought, why does this girl have such a heavy accent?" Cao Changming hastily explained again.
According to him, he had woken up needing to use the restroom. He intended to go out to relieve himself but saw a woman in a wedding dress standing on the wall.
The woman probably didn't expect someone to come out suddenly, and she almost lost her balance from the shock.
As her leg lifted, Cao Changming clearly saw she wasn't wearing pants. Wait… no, it was a man, wasn't it?
Cao Changming's explanation almost made everyone present burst into laughter.
"Be serious!"
"Okay!"
Cao Changming was truly honest.
He said that the man in the wedding dress fell from the eaves and repeatedly apologized. He also realized the man wasn't malicious. The man said he just wanted to steal a piece of clothing, as the bridal gown was quite ugly.
Seeing his embarrassment, Cao Changming gave him the pants that were drying in the yard.
"I didn't give him the clothes, as I don't have many myself," Cao Changming said. "I also asked him why he was wearing women's clothes. He said it was all due to his philandering. He met someone who already had a partner and was nearly stabbed to death by that man, barely escaping after running a street."
Cao Changming thought for a moment. "I suspect he was involved with some bride and came out wearing her wedding dress."
Uh…
Hearing this, everyone showed strange expressions.
What would Cao Changming think if he knew that wedding dress belonged to Liu Yuxin?
"Ahem!" Liu Yuxin coughed awkwardly. What nonsense was this idiot spouting?
Everyone heard the cough and composed themselves. "Continue!"
"Oh, oh!" Cao Changming began to recall again. "That person saw I didn't give him the clothes and didn't say anything. He just pulled the pants up from under the skirt and left. He left in such a hurry that he left his pants at my house."
Huh?
"Wait!" Hu Jia interrupted Cao Changming. "What did you just say? His own pants?"
"Yes, his own pants. I wanted to give them to him, but he said he didn't want them, saying he was almost stabbed to death for wearing them." Cao Changming looked bewildered, as if there was a problem.
Everyone present heard the inconsistency, and their expressions changed.
Didn't Yue Gu say she didn't give Han Xiu pants? Why did Cao Changming say Han Xiu had pants?
"That's not right. Didn't you just say you saw him without pants, and recognized him as a man?" Yu Yian questioned.
"Yes, he was holding them. I assume he stole them from somewhere else and found they weren't suitable, so he came to my house," Cao Changming's explanation seemed plausible.
However, something still felt off.
Where was the problem?
Hu Jia's mind went blank. Pants, pants, always about pants!
Seeing his expression, Lu Qingqing knew Hu Jia had fallen into his contemplative state again.
Suddenly, Hu Jia opened his eyes. "Find him, keep looking for the owner of the pants."
Huh?
Yu Yian was confused. Wasn't the owner of the pants Cao Changming?
Hu Jia shook his head. "Find the owner of *those* pants!"
Hu Jia finally realized what was wrong.
Yue Gu said she didn't give Han Xiu pants, but when Han Xiu found Cao Changming, he was holding pants. There were only two possibilities: he stole them, or he snatched them.
Cao Changming had just said Han Xiu mentioned, "I met someone who already had a partner and was nearly stabbed to death by that man, barely escaping after running a street."
At first, they thought Han Xiu was talking about Yang Yuegu. But upon closer consideration, Yang Yuegu and the others didn't even know Han Xiu was missing, so how could they have chased him for a whole street?
Besides, Dai Bihua and Yang Yuegu only had a friendly relationship. Why would he stab Han Xiu to death?
Therefore, the "someone who already had a partner" that Han Xiu mentioned wasn't Yang Yuegu.
Hu Jia speculated that Han Xiu, unrepentant, had left Yang Yuegu's house and set his sights on some married woman. Perhaps he was about to commit an indecent act when the husband returned.
As a result, he was chased for a street, and the husband almost killed him.
Right, the word "stab."
Wasn't Han Xiu's final cause of death being impaled through the chest by a cylindrical sharp object?
So, it was highly likely that after leaving Cao Changming's house, Han Xiu encountered the husband of that married woman again, but this time he was not so lucky and couldn't escape.