Ouyang Wen's words startled Cao Yang, who swore several times. How could Hu Jia even conceive of such an improbable possibility?
No wonder Liu Hongru seemed a bit mature for his age.
With that thought, Cao Yang suddenly understood why Hu Jia had taken people to the Liu family's house to cause a ruckus that day. During their first visit, Yang Hua had been uncooperative, and another visit might yield the same result, preventing them from seeing Liu Hongru.
After all, if someone wanted to hide their identity, they could easily make up an excuse. No one had met Liu Hongru or Yuan Shan before.
It was possible that you could walk right past them and not recognize them as the person you were looking for.
Therefore, Hu Jia had chosen to cause a disturbance at their door. Only when the other party was unaware would the person who stepped forward be the real one.
"I brought someone from Jingkou Village to the scene that day, and he recognized Liu Hongru as Yuan Shan," Ouyang Wen said.
Good heavens, mother and son becoming lovers, plotting to seize the Liu family's fortune – it all made sense.
But what about Chen Zapi?
What was his deal?
"Chen Zapi was that thief. Yang Hua and her son probably hired him to steal something, but how it escalated into a murder case will only be known once the culprit is caught," Ouyang Wen explained. Hu Jia had specifically brought up Chen Zapi's case that day, deliberately leaving things half-said.
As expected, there was activity at the Liu residence that night. A figure, heavily wrapped, went out with a hoe in the middle of the night.
They went to check on the burial site of Chen Zapi.
"So, Chen Zapi's remains have also been found?" Cao Yang asked, delighted.
"Yes!" Ouyang Wen replied.
"Then, if that's the case, why didn't you apprehend them on the spot?" Cao Yang urged.
Ouyang Wen pouted. Captain Hu Jia refused.
Ugh…
Night fell, and these were the final hours of the seventh day. Hu Jia had completely entered a state of daze.
It wasn't that his consciousness was unclear; on the contrary, he was exceptionally lucid. He had already simulated the entire case in his mind and confirmed there were no loopholes. However, the only flaw was that the killer had not yet appeared.
Over the next two hours, he was wracked with pain, then overcome with weakness, then fell into a coma, only to regain his energy, tormenting him severely.
Liu Hongru, if you don't show up soon, I can't hold on any longer!
Luo Wenwu, who had been guarding Hu Jia's side, watched as Hu Jia's symptoms alternated. He grew more and more impressed with his boss.
The case could have been closed, but he insisted on catching the perpetrator red-handed and accumulating irrefutable evidence to refute any potential doubts.
For a moment, Luo Wenwu even considered rushing to the Liu family's house, dragging Liu Hongru out, and staging a confession scene in front of Hu Jia.
At the same time, he began to resent Li Yang in his heart: "That brat, I told him to do something, and he can't even do it properly. Useless."
Elsewhere, Li Yang, crouching behind a haystack, shivered. Huh? Did Xiao Yue Yue miss him?
A chill ran down his spine. Li Yang instinctively hugged his arms for warmth. Suddenly, a hooded silhouette entered his field of vision.
Yes, they were here!
The silhouette moved with agility, effortlessly scaling a courtyard wall in a few moves. This courtyard belonged to the villager who had accompanied Hu Jia to identify the suspect that day, and it was the target Li Yang was guarding.
The silhouette stood before the house door and, with something, fiddled with the latch until it opened. They then slipped inside.
Inside, only a faint moonlight illuminated the room. A cold blade gleamed in the moonlight. The figure raised it high and, without hesitation, plunged it towards the person in the bed.
But the moment the knife pierced the quilt, the figure seemed to realize something and immediately tried to withdraw. Just then, a shadow leaped down from the rafters and lunged with a punch.
Soon, Li Yang rushed in, just in time to see the silhouette kicked to the ground by Ouyang Wen. He didn't hesitate, stepping forward, twisting the figure's arm behind their back, and straddling them. He then yanked off their cap.
"It's you?"
"How could it be you!"
…
Torches illuminated the village of Shangtuwan, rousing all the villagers. After all, a murder case that had been unresolved for three years was finally being solved, and no one could sit still.
However, when everyone looked at the killer being presented before them, they were all bewildered.
Why was it a woman?
That's right, the person caught was Yang Hua!
Everyone had assumed the killer was a man, but in the end, they caught a woman. Given that all the victims were male, and to fight and kill a man required considerable strength.
"Because she raised her child alone for 20 years, handling all the household matters, doing all the dirty, difficult, and tiring work. If you think of her as a weak woman, you're mistaken," Hu Jia explained. "This is why I insisted on catching the culprit red-handed."
Everyone learned their lesson. Indeed, only direct evidence held sway.
If they had arrested Liu Hongru based on the initial suspicions of Li Yang and the others, it would have led to complications later. After all, whether Liu Hongru was the true culprit was not yet determined, and it had alerted Yang Hua.
It would have been difficult to lure out the killer using the same method again.
"Now, can you confess?" Hu Jia, enduring his discomfort, looked at Yang Hua, who was slumped on the ground.
Yang Hua stared blankly at the circle of people around her, then slowly closed her eyes.
She knew that everything was about to be revealed.
Indeed, everything unfolded as Hu Jia had predicted. After the real Liu Hongru died, Yuan Shan assumed Liu Hongru's identity.
They were nominally mother and son, but in reality, they were lovers.
The reason for this would trace back to an incident involving a knife four years ago.
Liu Shenyue met Yang Hua twenty-three years ago. After a single night of passion, Liu Shenyue completely abandoned Yang Hua. The unfortunate Yang Hua was still waiting to marry into the Liu family, only to be met with ridicule from Liu family's legitimate wife.
From then on, Yang Hua officially severed ties with the Liu family.
However, four years ago, Liu Shenyue's legitimate wife passed away, and Liu Shenyue remembered his illegitimate son. He then made multiple contact attempts with Yang Hua and her son.
This displeased Liu Shenyue's two sons, who then hired people to cause trouble, deliberately targeting Liu Hongru. Yuan Shan was among this group.
Seeing Yang Hua and her son in a pitiable state, and perhaps also attracted to Yang Hua, Yuan Shan secretly helped Yang Hua multiple times, and eventually, feelings developed between them.
But what no one expected was that during another incident where the Liu brothers instigated trouble, Liu Hongru was accidentally killed by the perpetrators.
Yang Hua, who had depended on her son for years, was deeply impacted by his death.
As a result, she was filled with hatred.
She first had Yuan Shan impersonate her son, then moved, and continued to extort money from Liu Shenyue using her son's name. Through Yang Hua, she met Chen Zapi and promised him a large sum of money if he killed Liu Shenyue's two sons. After the deed was done, Yang Hua, using the excuse that she "only had one son," tricked Liu Shenyue into leaving all his property to her. Throughout this process, Yuan Shan would visit Liu Shenyue whenever he was critically ill and his consciousness was unclear, and with his face hidden by a cap, he never exposed himself.
Only after all the property was secured did Yang Hua reveal her true identity and cut off Liu Shenyue's medical care, literally angering him to death.
"What about Chen Zapi? Why kill him?"
"Would you allow someone who knows your secret to exist?"
Yang Hua sneered.