Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

"Has he never come back since he went out to work? Have any villagers seen him return home recently?" Wang Shuai quickly asked. "Do you know which construction site he works at? Do you have his contact information? Is his elderly father at home now? We want to ask him about the situation."

“After he went out to work, he never came back. No villagers have seen him return recently,” the village official said. “I don’t know which construction site he’s working at, and we don’t have his contact information. When he left, he didn’t tell anyone in the village or leave his contact information. His elderly father is now at home, bedridden all year round, and not very lucid. He has difficulty communicating with people. Even if you go, it will be difficult to get any information from him.”

After hearing the village official's words, Wang Shuai's last glimmer of hope vanished. Sun Hao had been working away from home for most of the year and had not returned recently, which did not match the time of death three days prior. Furthermore, his height (168 cm) and slender build did not match the suspect characteristics deduced from the on-site investigation. He also spoke with a local accent and did not have the habit of wearing a mask, which did not match the suspicious male characteristics described by the shop owner.

Wang Shuai did not slacken his efforts despite the series of setbacks. He knew that the breakthrough in a case often lay in the overlooked details. The cause of Li Yongbao's death was still unclear, and the motive was even more elusive—both the possibility of a revenge killing stemming from an economic dispute and the discovery of any other enemies or romantic entanglements were ruled out. The fact that the murderer chose to commit the crime in a remote, vacant farmhouse and deliberately took the victim's identification documents and cleaned up the scene clearly indicated that the perpetrator had come prepared and was not acting randomly.

Soon, the case took a turn for the better.

On the morning of the third day after the incident, just as dawn was breaking, Wang Shuai led his team to Lijia'ao Village again. He didn't continue investigating clues related to Zhao Lei and Sun Hao, but instead focused on Liu Mei, the wife of the deceased Li Yongbao. In the first two interrogations, Liu Mei consistently appeared grief-stricken and emotionally distraught, her words filled with longing for her husband and resentment towards the murderer. However, her accounts mostly revolved around Li Yongbao's work away from home, debt disputes, and interpersonal relationships, never mentioning anything about herself. Wang Shuai keenly sensed that while Liu Mei's grief was genuine, she seemed to be deliberately concealing something, especially when discussing the specific reasons for Li Yongbao's work away from home. She was always vague, only saying it was "to earn money to build a house and pay off debts." But considering that Li Yongbao's debt was only 30,000 yuan and his income from his work, this debt was insufficient to keep him away from his family for six months, wandering alone. There must be more to the story.

Wang Shuai and his team arrived at Liu Mei's home again. Liu Mei was sitting on the stone steps in the courtyard, staring blankly into the distance, tears still streaming down her face. Li Yongbao's elderly mother lay in bed, emitting weak groans. A heavy atmosphere of sorrow and oppression filled the courtyard. Seeing Wang Shuai and the others arrive, Liu Mei slowly raised her head, a flicker of panic in her eyes quickly replaced by grief. She stood up and said, "Officers, you've come. Do you have news of my husband? Have you found the murderer?"

Wang Shuai spoke gently, not pressing for answers directly. Instead, he first comforted Liu Mei for a few moments, then inquired about the health of Li Yongbao's elderly mother, gradually closing the distance between them. "Sister Liu, don't worry too much. We've been doing our best to investigate the clues and will definitely find the murderer, giving you and your family some closure," Wang Shuai said softly, sitting down beside Liu Mei. "We came here today to ask you about some things. Think carefully about Yongbao going out to work. When he left, besides saying he needed to earn money to pay off debts and build a house, did he say anything else? Did he show any unusual emotions? Like restlessness, anxiety, or worry about something?"

Liu Mei's body stiffened slightly, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly until her fingertips turned white. After a long silence, she slowly said, "No, he just said he wanted to go out and earn money as soon as possible to pay off his debts so that my elderly mother, children, and I could live a better life. He didn't say anything else, and his emotions seemed normal." As she spoke, Liu Mei's eyes darted away, avoiding Wang Shuai's gaze, and her voice trembled slightly, clearly indicating that she was lying.

Wang Shuai didn't expose her lie, but continued to guide her, "Sister Liu, I know you're very sad right now and don't want to recall those unpleasant things, but in order to find the murderer and get justice for Yongbao, we must understand all the details, even some seemingly insignificant little things, which may become the key to breaking the case. Think about it, was there something that forced Yongbao to go out to work? Did something happen at home that made him unable to stay in the village?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Mei's tears fell again. She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly, and remained silent for a full ten minutes before choking out, "Officer, I'm sorry to Yongbao. I shouldn't have concealed this matter. This matter may be closely related to Yongbao's death."

Wang Shuai's heart tightened, knowing that he had finally found a breakthrough. He quickly said, "Sister Liu, don't blame yourself. Tell us slowly what happened and we will find out the truth. We will not let Yongbao die in vain."

Liu Mei calmed herself down, slowly raised her head, her eyes filled with guilt and regret, and said slowly, "The reason why Yongbao rushed out to work half a year ago was not only to pay off his debts and build a house, but more importantly, because of some rumors in the village, he couldn't stand those gossips, so he chose to go out and hide for a while, hoping to come back after the storm had passed."

"Rumors? What rumors?" Wang Shuai asked hastily, his tone tinged with urgency, while signaling his team members to take detailed notes.

“It’s about me,” Liu Mei’s voice was so low it was almost inaudible, and a look of shame appeared on her face. “About a year ago, when Yongbao was still at home, I often went to the village store to buy things and sit around. That’s how I met Zhang Laibin, an unemployed young man who lived next to the store. Zhang Laibin is 28 years old this year and is also a villager in our Lijia’ao Village. He has been idle and irresponsible since he was a child. He does nothing all day long and lives off the support of his family and the occasional odd jobs. He also likes to chat and joke with the people in the village.”

"At first, I just thought Zhang Laibin was a very warm person. Every time I went to the convenience store, he would greet me and chat with me. Sometimes, if I bought a lot of things, he would even help me carry them home. I didn't think much of it and just treated him as an ordinary fellow villager. But gradually, rumors started to circulate in the village, saying that my relationship with Zhang Laibin was inappropriate, that we had an ambiguous relationship, and some people deliberately pointed fingers behind my back and said some very hurtful things." (End of Chapter)