Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 140 Fourteen Years of Pursuit 6
"Jiao Hua'an, is that right?" Wu Yang stepped forward expressionlessly and showed his ID.

"We suspect you are involved in multiple robberies and thefts in Lin'an County and Wuqu County, as well as a murder case from fourteen years ago. Please come with us."

Jiao Hua'an's expression suddenly changed.

The sticky rice dumpling the child was fed poked in the face, making him uncomfortable. He writhed and struggled like a caterpillar, whimpering.

He put the child down and told him to go find his mother. Judging from his expression and actions, he seemed quite flustered.

But the child didn't want to go inside; he just wanted to play with his toys outside. If you pushed him a few times or urged him a few times, he would start crying loudly.

Jiao Hua'an was flustered and quickly glanced at the group of expressionless people at the door. He then bent down and tried to comfort the child in a low voice. When he couldn't comfort him, his expression became a little irritable. His eyes, which had a lot of white showing, looked gloomy. He scolded with anger and panic: "I'll let you in! If you don't listen, you'll be beaten!"

"Why be so fierce? We're not here to take the child away," Xiao Chen said with a forced smile. "Let's go, the police car is parked outside."

"What police car?" The man and woman who heard the child crying came out and looked at them in confusion.

Jiao Hua'an's anxiety and panic were written all over his face. He spoke first, "It's nothing. They came to see me about something. You can take the children inside."

Wu Yangcai was unwilling to whitewash him and mocked, "It seems your family is unaware of what you've done. They didn't know you were swindling and robbing people under the guise of a knife seller, and even killed someone. Now you want to protect your reputation? Isn't it a bit too late?"

"What robbery? What murder?" his children asked in disbelief. "Dad, you..."

"They've mistaken me for someone else..."

"Jiao Hua'an!" Wu Yang interrupted him sharply, "Fourteen years have passed, and now that we've found this place, you should know that we have solid evidence pointing to you. Are you sure you want to continue making excuses here?"

Jiao Hua'an fell silent, a pleading expression on his aged face, as if pleading for at least some dignity to be left in front of his grandchildren.

Wu Yang ignored his pleas and decisively handcuffed his hands.

"Let's go, we'll have plenty of time to argue back at the police station."

The police cars and the noise attracted other people. When they saw Jiao Hua'an being handcuffed and put into the car, the people who came to watch looked incredulous and whispered among themselves.

Jiao Hua'an lowered his head almost to his chest, not daring to look up at all.

The Jiao family's children chased after them to the front gate, still asking, "What happened, Dad?" Their faces were filled with panic, and the sound of their cries was so loud it hurt my ears.

Before getting into the car, Tan Jia looked back at the Jiao family's villa and several other family members.

The three-story villa looks like it was built many years ago. It must have been quite a sight back then, as none of the surrounding houses were three stories high.

Where did the money for repairing the house come from? Was it earned normally by the Jiao family, or was it obtained through robbery and theft by Jiao Hua'an in the past?
Did the Jiao family really not know what their father was doing outside? Were all the money and goods he robbed attributed to the knife-selling gang's income?
Her gaze swept over the faces of several anxious men and women, then glanced at the three children, all under ten years old, before she got into the car.

The car carrying the murderer drove back from the source of evil to the place it should have entered fourteen years ago.

……

Police station.

Jiao Hua'an hadn't been in the interrogation room for long when Zheng Yan and Wu Yang sat down in the interrogator's seat.

Wu Yang had already been psychologically prepared, so he didn't rush to interrogate Zheng Yan about the murder case from fourteen years ago. Instead, he listened to Zheng Yan's explanation, starting with the charge of robbery on credit.

The information on more than a dozen robbery and theft cases was laid out before Jiao Hua'an, along with sketches of suspects from various locations from that year, which he examined carefully. Zheng Yan said, "Look, it's all you. It seems you 'earned' a lot during your more than ten years as a knife-selling peddler, which is why you had the money to build a three-story villa, right?"

Jiao Hua'an stared absently at the tips of his shoes.

He never imagined that after so many years, they would still be able to trace it back to him. He was so panicked at home that his mind went blank, and he still hasn't recovered. His mind, which had been pampered for many years, had lost its former alertness, and he couldn't come up with any excuses.

My mind was filled with thoughts like: How could this be? So many years have passed, how could this be? How could it have been discovered? It's over, it's completely over.

Zheng Yan slammed his fist on the table: "Don't be so negative! Didn't you use the daytime to sell knives on credit, and secretly scout out locations to commit theft and robbery?"

“…Yes.” Jiao Hua’an nodded mechanically, looking somewhat like an honest and simple man.

"How did you come up with this idea? Did you have any accomplices?"

"No, it's just me. Someone introduced me to this business, and I learned a bit. I wanted to do this, but... the business of selling knives on credit is still very tiring. It's like a monk begging for alms; it takes a long time to walk around. And many people get those knives for free. Moreover, it's getting harder and harder to make prophecies now, because many people have cell phones..."

He downplayed the issue, but that didn't prevent Zheng Yan from understanding his explanation.

Simply put, he had been selling knives on credit for a long time and felt that it wasn't profitable. There were more and more people buying them for free. Even if there were people like Sister Qin who were willing to chase after him to pay for the knives, the so-called high profit was only a few hundred yuan, and there were still several years in between. In the short term, he was still losing money.

One day, after giving a knife to an old man on credit, he discovered that the old man was always alone at home and quite wealthy. This kind of person was perfect for swindling and robbing, so he began to set his sights on this "free money" business.

After seemingly leaving after buying knives on credit during the day, he actually observed the old man's money storage location and the type of lock on the door. Two days later, he carried out his first theft.

He got away with it this time and, having tasted success, started a second and third attempt once things calmed down.

People who are usually lazy become tireless when it comes to doing such wicked things. They commit two or three crimes and then move to a different place. In order to mislead the police investigation, they even disguised themselves to ensure that the investigation would not lead to the knife peddler.

Until they almost had a car accident in Wu Yang's hometown.

At this point, we should revisit what happened fourteen years ago.

Wu Yang took a deep breath and took out the murder weapon.

"Jiao Hua'an, do you still remember this knife?"

An unassuming folding knife can be bought anywhere. Jiao Hua'an honestly couldn't remember; he had bought and sold countless knives without ever really examining them closely.

Seeing that he didn't recognize her immediately, Wu Yang was filled with sorrow and anger.

"What? It's only been fourteen years. The victim's family hasn't forgotten, but you've already forgotten? Look closely! Back then, you used this very knife to kill someone in a field of rapeseed flowers while you were evading capture! Afterwards, you hurriedly fled back to Baicaoba and sold all the knives to a scrap yard!"

"Impossible!" Jiao Hua'an retorted subconsciously, but then carefully considered the words after they left his mouth.

He remembered, because that was the only accident that had ever happened.

But after reflecting on it, he still refused to admit the crime.

“I accidentally stabbed someone, but I didn’t kill anyone. Those few stabs wouldn’t kill anyone! There was someone behind the rapeseed flowers at the time who saw me and the old man fall down. Calling an ambulance would definitely have been timely. How could he have died?!”

(End of this chapter)