After dinner, Liu Zhibin invited them to stay the night, saying, “The mountain roads aren’t easy to drive at night. Director Fang, why don’t the three of you sleep here?”
Fang Dewei had been drinking and was a little slow to react. Instinctively, he looked toward Han Huaixiao.
That single glance would make any onlooker think that Han Huaixiao was the one truly in charge among the three of them, that decisions went through him first. Yet Fang Dewei was, officially, the leader.
Han Huaixiao’s expression didn’t change. Calm and composed, he smoothly redirected Fang Dewei’s glance toward their schedule, saying, “Director Fang, your agenda for tomorrow is packed. You’re meeting the Party Secretary in the morning.”
Xia Hang immediately followed up with: “Yes, Director Fang. You’re seeing the Secretary tomorrow morning. If we stay overnight and head back then, we won’t make it in time.”
With that, Fang Dewei snapped back to himself and hurriedly reclaimed his leadership posture. “Village Head Liu, we really can’t stay,” he answered. “We’re just too busy. Thank you and your family for tonight’s hospitality. The meal was excellent. Here is some money for your wife’s effort. You must accept it. Otherwise, we’d be violating discipline.”
With that said, Liu Zhibin had no choice but to take it. He walked them to the front gate, and after they got into the car, he followed behind them all the way to the village entrance.
Only after the car had driven a fair distance away from Lingshan Village did Fang Dewei voice his concern.
“Captain Han… did I mess something up just now?”
“It’s fine,” Han Huaixiao said. “Is there a hotel in town?”
“Yes,” Fang Dewei replied. “There are a couple, but the conditions are average.”
“We’ll stay in town tonight.”
“We’re not going straight back to the county?” Fang Dewei asked.
“No.”
From Lingshan Village, Han Huaixiao had Xia Hang drive directly to the hotel closest to the town police station, but when they arrived, he made no move to get out of the car. Instead, he turned to Fang Dewei, saying, “Director Fang, you worked hard today. You should go rest first. Xia Hang and I still have some things to handle. No need to wait for us.”
Fang Dewei wanted to show more initiative in front of Han Huaixiao, so he quickly asked, “I’m not that tired. Is there anything I can help with?”
“Not for now. I’ll let you know if there is.”
At that, Fang Dewei looked a little disappointed, but he could only answer, “Alright. I’ll go get a room then.”
Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang headed to the town police station. The officer on duty, Xie Mingqiang, had been nodding off. When Han Huaixiao flashed his credentials, Xie Mingqiang immediately snapped awake, stood up, and tugged at his uniform, saying respectfully, “Captain Han!”
“How long have you been working here?” Han Huaixiao waved him off.
“More than three years.”
“Have you been to Lingshan Village?”
“Once,” Xie Mingqiang answered. “For an anti-fraud awareness campaign.”
“How familiar are you with the village? Anything strike you as unusual?”
Xie Mingqiang thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Lingshan Village is just an ordinary mountain village,” he replied. “I didn’t notice anything strange.”
“Do you know if there’s a pig farm in Lingshan Village?”
Xia Hang looked at him. A pig farm? He hadn’t seen one.
“This afternoon, from higher ground in the village, we saw a cluster of prefabricated buildings,” Han Huaixiao explained. “That area is a pig farm.”
“That…” Xie Mingqiang hesitated. “I’m not sure about that. Captain Han, is there a case connected to Lingshan Village? Should I call the station chief?”
“No need for now,” Han Huaixiao said. “Does your town have a slaughterhouse?”
“Yes. About a fifteen-minute drive from here.”
Han Huaixiao considered for a moment, then ordered, “Then do this: take my colleague and go to the slaughterhouse. Say a villager reported losing several pigs. Ask to see their intake records.”
Getting to work on a case with a Criminal Investigation captain from the municipal bureau made Xie Mingqiang feel deeply honored. He immediately drove Xia Hang out of town to the slaughterhouse.
The slaughterhouse hadn’t started work yet, as they usually began in the early hours of the morning. When they arrived, several people were gathered in a room playing mahjong. Seeing Xie Mingqiang in uniform, all of them panicked and hurried to deny everything.
“Officer, we’re just playing for fun, no gambling!”
Xie Mingqiang pretended not to see the money on the table and the playing cards used to keep score. Instead, he agreed, “Good. Where’s your boss?”
Hearing that, the group visibly relaxed. A middle-aged man in a gray T-shirt answered, “Our boss isn’t here. Officer, what’s this about? My name’s Lin Er, you can ask me.”
“We received a report from a villager saying several pigs were stolen,” Xie Mingqiang said. “We’re here to check.”
“Not here,” Lin Er replied confidently. “All the pigs we’ve taken in these past few days came from pig farms.”
However, Xie Mingqiang had been on the job for three years and knew how to probe, so he followed up smoothly with, “How many pig farms are there in the town?”
“Three,” Lin Er said. “One in Shigang Village, one in Lingshan Village, and one in Gaoshan Village.”
“Is that enough to supply the whole town?”
“It’s not just them,” Lin Er answered. “There are also some villagers who raise pigs on a small scale.”
“So, is that enough or not?” Xie Mingqiang asked.
“Well…” Lin Er replied, “The ones in Shigang Village and Gaoshan Village deliver here on a regular schedule. The pig farm in Lingshan Village… that one’s probably just something the owner runs for fun. They only send pigs here a few times a year.”
Xie Mingqiang and Xia Hang nodded as Xie Mingqiang continued, “Even though you’ve said the pigs you’ve taken in recently all came from pig farms, we’ll still need to trouble you to show us the pigs you currently have. We’ll also need to see your purchase records.”
Lin Er quickly retrieved the purchase records and handed them to Xie Mingqiang. Xie Mingqiang passed them to Xia Hang and said to Lin Er, “My colleague will review the records. You take me to see the pigs.”
After Lin Er and Xie Mingqiang left, Xia Hang was the only one left in the office. He flipped through the purchase records and found that they did indeed match what Lin Er had said. The Lingshan Village pig farm only delivered a few times a year, and each shipment was small, around fifty pigs. The other two pig farms, however, delivered almost every quarter, with each shipment numbering in the hundreds.
Xia Hang also noticed that the Lingshan Village pig farm had only started supplying pigs to the slaughterhouse three years ago. He sent both the purchase records and this finding to Han Huaixiao.
Han Huaixiao received Xia Hang’s message just as he picked up a call from He Zhengye.
He Zhengye had worked as a forensic pathologist for nearly twenty years, and provincial departments and municipal bureaus across the country had all tried to recruit him. His abilities were outstanding, and many cases had been solved thanks to crucial clues he uncovered during autopsies, providing strong evidentiary direction for criminal investigations. Han Huaixiao, He Zhengye, and Liu Yan were privately referred to by many colleagues as the municipal bureau’s three most prominent aces.
As soon as He Zhengye arrived in Sanshan County, he and his assistant immediately threw themselves into work. Tang Gaoxiong had wanted to take him out to try some local specialties, but He Zhengye declined.
“No,” he said. “We still haven’t found any key clues in the case. If I go enjoy food now and Han Huaixiao finds out, he’ll curse me with diarrhea for three days and three nights.”
“…Heh,” Tang Gaoxiong could only say. “You and Captain Han are both very dedicated.”
On the way over, He Zhengye had already carefully reviewed the files and photographs detailing Guo Zhengqi’s previous autopsy reports. The wounds on his body were caused by an axe; on this point, everyone’s assessments matched that of the county bureau’s forensic doctor. The key now was to find DNA that could confirm the killer’s identity. Following Han Huaixiao’s instructions, He Zhengye focused first on the chest area of the clothing Guo Zhengqi had been wearing at the time.
He searched for several hours before finally extracting a needle-tip-sized, light brown stain beside the third button on Guo Zhengqi’s shirt.
So now, sitting in the car on the way back to the municipal bureau and eating a late-night meal that doubled as both lunch and dinner, He Zhengye called Han Huaixiao.
“The county forensic lab’s equipment isn’t great,” he said. “I’m on my way back to the city bureau with the sample.”
Han Huaixiao glanced at the message Xia Hang had sent him, answering, “How long before you can get results?”
“Don’t rush me,” He Zhengye replied. “I’ll keep working overtime once I’m back. As soon as possible.”
“Alright,” Han Huaixiao said.
At the same time that Xia Hang and Xie Mingqiang returned, the tracker Han Huaixiao had secretly installed on Liu Guangjie’s motorcycle showed movement.
More than twenty minutes later, Liu Guangjie’s motorcycle stopped at a location. Han Huaixiao opened the map and checked it repeatedly, while Xia Hang leaned over to look as well.
“Isn’t this the location of the Lingshan Village pig farm?”
“This looks like the pig farm.”
They spoke at the same time.
Thinking of Liu Guangjie’s mention of receiving “new goods” during the afternoon call, Xia Hang asked in a low voice, “Should we go take a look?”
However, Han Huaixiao asked, “What do you think is at this pig farm?”
Xia Hang glanced at Xie Mingqiang not far away and silently mouthed a single word.
Han Huaixiao shared the same thought. If there really were drugs at the pig farm, there would definitely be security, and possibly weapons. There were only two of them. Even if they pulled in the entire local station, manpower would still be insufficient. Besides, there was only one road into the mountains. Driving in at night with headlights would be too conspicuous and risk alerting them. They needed to coordinate with the narcotics unit and make a thorough plan.
“We won’t go,” Han Huaixiao said. “I’ll notify Captain Tang and have him bring the narcotics team over.”
……………….
After informing Tang Gaoxiong, Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang went to the hotel where Fang Dewei was staying. As soon as they walked in, the front desk clerk asked proactively, “Are you Mr. Han and Mr. Xia?”
“Yes,” Han Huaixiao replied.
The clerk handed over a room card. “Hello, this is your room key. Mr. Fang asked me to give it to you.”
Han Huaixiao frowned. “Only one room?”
“Yes,” the clerk explained. “There’s a matchmaking event at Heyuan in town early tomorrow morning. The organizers and many participants arrived in advance. Our hotel and the other hotel are both fully booked. When Mr. Fang arrived, there was only one room with a king bed and one standard room left. The king room had mold on the walls and hadn’t been repainted yet, so Mr. Fang took that one and left the standard room for you.”
Xia Hang looked at Han Huaixiao, saying, “You go up. I’ll sleep in the car.”
However, Han Huaixiao quickly replied, “It’s not like we haven’t slept together before. What are you afraid of?”
Xia Hang: …
The two of them went upstairs together, leaving behind a front desk clerk who was equal parts shocked and thrilled.
Front desk clerk: Not like they haven’t slept together before?! Is it the kind of ‘slept together’ I’m thinking of?! Ahhh! Ahhh!
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