Pu’an Street, Li Qiao Town, in the Wutang District of Yanling City.
Street Office Director Liu Dan led Shen Xin, Sun Zhao, and their group to Sun Yongxi’s ho.
"Xiaosun’s story is actually quite pitiful. His father used to be a worker at the motor factory. Back in ’87, he was on the night shift and accidentally got caught in a machine. They couldn’t save him."
"Xiaosun was only five at the ti. A widow and her orphan son. His mother set up a small stall in town selling wontons, so she didn’t have much ti to look after him."
"You know, Xiaosun has a problem with his hand."
Liu Dan gestured with her right hand and continued, "Back then in school, a lot of the kids were cruel. They were always calling him nas, making fun of him. Because of that, he dropped out before even finishing elentary school and just holed up at ho, never going out."
"His mother couldn’t do much about it. He was her only son, and she doted on him sothing fierce. She managed to raise him all on her own, relying on just that little bowl of wontons."
"Then, in ’03, so thugs in town started bullying his mom, almost flipping her stall over. And who would’ve thought that Xiaosun, who was usually so quiet you couldn’t get a word out of him, would just snap? He went after them with a kitchen knife and hacked at them several tis."
"Because of that, his family had to pay a lot of compensation, and he himself was sentenced to three years in prison."
"And while he was in prison, his mother got sick. Stomach cancer. She passed away. She’d been putting it off, not wanting to tell him. It was a neighbor who couldn’t stand it anymore and finally notified Xiaosun."
"But it was too late. By the ti Xiaosun filed a request with the prison and got out, he didn’t even get to see his mother one last ti."
"Anyway, after he was released, Xiaosun was like a madman. His mind wasn’t right. He stayed at ho for half a year, then disappeared. The next ti anyone heard anything was in ’12, when the shelter sent him back."
After explaining the situation, Liu Dan couldn’t help but sigh, and tears fell from her eyes.
Beside her, Ding Yuwei quickly took out a tissue and offered it to her.
Shen Xin was driving. He glanced at Liu Dan in the rearview mirror and asked, "So, Director Liu, what’s Sun Yongxi’s situation now?"
Sun Zhao, in the passenger seat, also turned his head to look.
Liu Dan sniffled and said, "After the shelter sent him back, he was still a little ntally unstable. He doesn’t talk to anyone. He absolutely refused to live in his old family ho, so in the end, the community and the village committee discussed it, swapped out his old house, and built him a three-room bungalow."
"The main thing is, he’s able-bodied and still young, so there’s a limit to how much the village can help. That’s why he still makes a living by collecting junk. Anyway, his yard is piled high with trash. Usually, there’s not even room to stand."
At this point, Liu Dan finally asked, "Officers, why are you looking for Xiaosun?"
Sun Zhao smiled. "We just need to ask him about sothing."
Soon, the car arrived at its destination.
It wasn’t a large village. There were several factories nearby, and Sun Yongxi’s house was on the side of a road on the west end of the village.
It was next to a utility pole. You could sll the stench from a long way off.
"It’s even worse in the sumr. The villagers have tried to help him clean it up a few tis, but he refuses. He cos out with a kitchen knife, ready to fight to the death. With him like that, who would dare provoke him?" Liu Dan sighed and led the group over.
There were six people in Shen Xin’s group.
An officer from the Li Qiao Town police station accompanied them.
Shen Xin fell a step behind and ca up beside Sun Zhao, asking in a low voice, "Captain Sun, with Sun Yongxi’s condition, would he be considered ntally ill?"
His file from the shelter in ’12 had no record of any ntal health issues.
But if he was ntally unstable, as Liu Dan described, that would be a serious complication. It would be very troubleso.
"Whether he’s ntally ill or not is for a professional doctor to determine."
Sun Zhao’s gaze seed distant. He added with a sigh, "You know, this case has been cold for so many years. Gao Liyun has been hounding us the whole ti. I don’t think she’s looking for compensation or anything like that. More than anything, she just wants a resolution."
"Even we need a resolution," he added.
He was the one who had handled the case from the beginning, and it was ultimately shelved under his watch.
How could he not want a resolution himself?
The yard didn’t even have a main gate, and it was filled with piles of trash everywhere.
It seed Sun Yongxi didn’t just collect scrap; he might have had a bit of a hoarding problem too.
Liu Dan called out twice from the yard entrance, but there was no response.
Just as she was about to suggest he might be out collecting junk, a person walked out of the main room of the house.
His hair was a ss and he had a beard. Though it wasn’t very long, for a split second, Shen Xin had the strange feeling that the face before him was overlapping with Zhang Nanhai’s composite sketch.
After coming out, he stood in the doorway, staring at the group without a word.
"Xiaosun, these are police officers. They’re here to ask you a few things, so please cooperate with them," Liu Dan urged, but she didn’t step into the yard.
Shen Xin noticed that after Liu Dan revealed they were police, Sun Yongxi’s expression didn’t change at all. It remained just as wooden and calm.
Sun Zhao didn’t hesitate and led the way in.
"Sun Yongxi, on February 16th, 2011—the day before the Lantern Festival—where were you?" Sun Zhao asked, getting straight to the point.
Six years had passed. There was no direct evidence.
Only Liu Shuying’s testimony.
Shen Xin noticed that on Sun Yongxi’s lowered right hand, there was indeed an extra small digit attached to his thumb.
Sun Yongxi shook his head.
"You don’t know, or you don’t rember?" Sun Zhao pressed.
Sun Yongxi shook his head again.
Sun Zhao pulled Xiao Hong’s photo directly from his bag, showed it to Sun Yongxi, and asked, "Have you ever seen this man?"
Sun Yongxi tilted his head slightly, studying the man in the photo. A change gradually ca over his eyes.
He seed to recognize him.
"I’ve seen him." He finally spoke, his voice sowhat muffled. Then, in the sa flat tone, he said, "He cursed my mom, so I killed him."
His one sentence sent a chill down the spines of Shen Xin and the others, making their scalps tingle.
’Just like that... he confessed?’
’And his tone was too calm. As calm and casual as if he were saying he’d killed a chicken yesterday.’
"Are you done asking questions?"
Sun Yongxi retorted, then turned to go back inside.
Zhao Tianxing quickly stepped forward to block him.
"What are you doing?" Sun Yongxi glared at Zhao Tianxing.
Zhao Tianxing’s eyebrow twitched. He instinctively wanted to retort, ’You murdered soone, and you’re asking what I’m doing?’
Before he could get the words out, Sun Zhao raised a hand to stop him.
"Sun Yongxi, you said this man cursed your mother. Can you tell what happened?" Sun Zhao pressed.
He hadn’t expected it to be this easy.
But seeing Sun Yongxi’s reaction, he found it understandable.
’Perhaps inside Sun Yongxi’s head, killing a person really was no different from killing a chicken.’
Sun Yongxi frowned, a hint of impatience in his expression. He said, "What’s there to talk about? I was walking on the road, he ca over and cursed at , and he cursed my mom. So I stabbed him with a knife. He was dead after two stabs."
Sun Zhao suppressed the chilling feeling in his heart and pressed, "Was it two stabs, one, or three?"
Xiao Hong had been stabbed three tis.
Sun Yongxi looked at Sun Zhao indifferently, then gestured at his own neck, chest, and abdon.
Shen Xin’s heart tightened.
’It’s exactly the sa as in the case file.’
The dical examiner had speculated based on the angles of entry. The first stab was an overhand, horizontal strike, directly to the neck. The second stab was also overhand, striking the abdon.
After those two stabs, Xiao Hong should have been unable to stand.
Therefore, the third stab was a downward thrust, directly into the chest, piercing his lung.
To be able to recount such precise details, there was no doubt: Sun Yongxi was the one who had murdered Xiao Hong.
Shen Xin just hadn’t expected the motive for the murder to be sothing like this.
According to Sun Yongxi’s account, it was possible that he had been crossing the national highway and was almost hit by Xiao Hong. Xiao Hong got out of his vehicle and angrily cursed at him a few tis.
Then, after hurling a few insults involving mothers, he had enraged Sun Yongxi, who then coolly and dispassionately killed him.
At this thought, an idea suddenly struck Shen Xin.
’He still didn’t know exactly what Xiao Hong had said, but if re insults were enough to trigger Sun Yongxi’s murderous intent, then during his years of wandering, surely more than a few people must have cursed at him.’
’Furthermore, he had killed Xiao Hong with three fatal stabs, moved his body back into the driver’s cab, and even rummaged through the cab to take the money.’
’That level of proficiency... it didn’t seem like his first ti.’
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