Cai Dingkun was just a butcher, all his mental energy focused on slaughtering pigs. Therefore, facing the gazes of Hu Jia and others, he quickly chose to surrender.
Cai Dingkun said the pair of pants did indeed belong to him.
But it was this person called Han Xiu who snatched them.
That night, Han Xiu came to his house wearing a wedding dress. To be more precise, he broke into his house.
Han Xiu was probably looking for clothes to change into, but unexpectedly, this man with a lascivious mind took a fancy to Dingkun's wife.
He actually molested her.
A person in a red wedding dress in the middle of the night, a man without pants, speaking disrespectfully and touching Dingkun's wife. How could Dingkun tolerate this?
He was furious.
He chased Han Xiu down the street.
"But I really didn't kill him. I didn't even catch up to him," Cai Dingkun said, admitting that although he was a butcher, he wasn't that bloodthirsty. After failing to catch the person, he went home.
As for Han Xiu's death, he only found out the next day. Because he had a conflict with Han Xiu before, he dared not admit it or point fingers.
"You chased him with your bare hands?" After all, Han Xiu was a鏢師 (bodyguard/escort), not some formidable fighter, but he did have some martial skills.
"I used my cleaver," Cai Dingkun said, then glanced at Hu Jia again, "the one you saw."
Ugh...
Hu Jia felt dejected and looked at the pork he was carrying. Thankfully, the blade hadn't been used to cut a person.
"Husband," Dingkun's wife walked over. Cai Dingkun glanced at her, put his arm around her shoulder, and shook his head slightly as a gesture of comfort.
"Did you not come out again after you went home? Did you encounter him again?" Yu Yi'an was not satisfied with Cai Dingkun's answer, feeling like the closer they got to the truth, the more it was hidden, making them feel suffocated.
"No. I haven't come out since I went home." Cai Dingkun replied.
If the man was stubborn, the woman would surely be softer.
Lü Qingqing looked at Dingkun's wife. Her eyes were fearful, her face full of tension, and her gaze was fixed on her husband.
Clearly, she was very worried.
"Your husband went out chasing with a knife, what were you doing?" Lü Qingqing decided to start with Dingkun's wife.
"She was at home, she was scared, she didn't dare to come out," Cai Dingkun answered first.
Lü Qingqing glanced at him, then looked at Dingkun's wife, "I'll ask again, what were you doing after your husband went out?"
Cai Dingkun was about to speak, but Lü Qingqing shot him a look.
Cai Dingkun then dared not speak.
"I was just inside the house. That person scared me, so I sat on the bed and trembled," Dingkun's wife said softly.
"Your husband went out with a knife to chase a strangely behaving person, weren't you worried?" Lü Qingqing asked again.
"I, I... I was very scared at the time, I didn't think of it," Dingkun's wife replied.
Lü Qingqing said nothing further, just stared at the woman, making Dingkun's wife feel uneasy.
"How about this, since Cai Dingkun is a suspect, let's take him back first. There are too many people here, and it's not convenient to question him," Lü Qingqing suggested to everyone.
When Cai Dingkun's wife heard that her husband was to be taken away, her face turned pale with fright. She tightly held her husband's hand, unwilling to let go.
It was evident they had a strong relationship.
"It's alright, I'll be out once things are cleared up," Cai Dingkun patted his wife's back, "You eat well at home. There's still pork from the stall, since it can't be sold anyway, keep it to eat. Don't starve yourself."
"Mm!" Dingkun's wife's eyes were red, "You be well, I'll bring you food. I'll make the fried cabbage with pork cracklings you like."
Cai Dingkun was taken away, and Ouyang Wen dispersed the crowd.
Only Lü Qingqing and Dingkun's wife remained standing there.
"Let's go." Lü Qingqing had Yu Yi'an take the man back because she wanted to talk to Dingkun's wife alone.
Lü Qingqing had a doubt. Dingkun's wife was not from a prominent family. Being a little frightened would cause her to hide and not dare to go out.
Looking at her interaction with Cai Dingkun, she found it hard to believe that Dingkun's wife would only hide and cry by the bed when Cai Dingkun went out chasing.
"When did he come back? What did he look like when he returned?" Lü Qingqing asked.
Dingkun's wife was still lost in sadness and didn't react immediately, "Come back with what?"
Lü Qingqing asked again. Dingkun's wife then remembered, "I didn't pay attention. I was hiding by the bed at the time."
Lü Qingqing thought for a moment, "What was he holding when he came back? What was his general state? What did he say to you?"
Dingkun's wife's expression was a little stiff, "He was holding a cleaver, and he looked very angry. Then he told me he had lost the person he was chasing."
"You saw him holding a cleaver at a glance?"
"Yes. It was very obvious."
Lü Qingqing teased, "Didn't you throw yourself into his arms? Or pull him to check if he was injured?"
Dingkun's wife blushed, "No, I was hiding by the bed."
Lü Qingqing smiled. This was very illogical. Normally, a woman who had been frightened, and whose man had gone chasing with a knife, would at least be worried. When the man returned, a normal reaction would be to at least check on him, who knows if he was injured? How could she still be hiding in a corner?
It's not as if she was mentally unstable.
Lü Qingqing escorted Dingkun's wife home. Walking through the small courtyard, Lü Qingqing immediately saw their bedroom. "Where were you hiding then?"
"Ah?" Dingkun's wife seemed to see her big bed clearly for the first time, "Right there!"
The house faced south and faced north. The bed was also placed north-south. This meant that upon entering, one could only see the foot of the bed. However, Dingkun's wife said she was hiding at the foot of the bed, in the inner corner.
Simply put, she had her back to the door.
Lü Qingqing frowned. When someone is in a panic, especially when an intruder has entered their home, a normal person's reaction would be to close the door, lock it, and keep an eye on the door. They wouldn't turn their back to it.
However, Dingkun's wife's actions were precisely the opposite.
Lü Qingqing was certain that this woman was lying!
...
Meanwhile, Cai Dingkun encountered a similar problem.
"Your pork stall is more than two hundred meters from your house. It must be tiring to set up and pack up every day, right?" Hu Jia asked casually.
"It's alright. This is a small town, not many people, and not many can afford pork. One pig sells for three to four days. So, I estimate the amount for the day and stock accordingly each time I set up. There's rarely a situation where it doesn't sell out." Cai Dingkun replied.
"So, you don't have to move goods in and out every day?"
"Occasionally, almost never!"
"That's quite relaxed then."
Hearing Hu Jia chat about everyday matters with him, Cai Dingkun's psychological defenses gradually weakened.
"By the way, where did you get the knife to chase Han Xiu?"
"From the kitchen. On the chopping board."
"How many knives do you have at home?"
"A lot, after all, that's my profession."
"So, the cleaver you took from the kitchen was just a regular kitchen knife you used at home."
"Yes, it's for home use."
Hu Jia pursed his lips, "Then why did you say it was the knife you saw?"
Cai Dingkun froze.
So, Hu Jia had gone to all this trouble just to verify what he had said that afternoon.
Now, Cai Dingkun started to panic, "This... then... I think I remembered wrong. They're all knives."
"Yes, they are all knives. One is for chopping vegetables at home, and one is for cutting meat at the stall."
Hu Jia's implication was clear: As a butcher, how could you confuse these two knives?