Chapter 70: Old Liu Investigates the Case

  By dusk, the police from the town arrived. This time, there were three policemen in total. The leader was Old Liu, who was known by everyone in Shimawan Village. The other two were young policemen who had been assigned to the police station at the beginning of the year, one surnamed Zhang and the other surnamed Ma, whom everyone called Little Zhang and Little Ma.

  After arriving at Shimacun, Old Liu immediately took Little Zhang and Little Ma to the old well, where they checked around but found nothing.

  At this time, the villagers had already brought ropes and water pipes. Old Liu asked the villagers to help, first draining the water from the old well, and then retrieving the bodies in the well.

  After busy for more than half an hour, the villagers have drained all the water from the old well. However, this old well is over ten meters deep, although there is no water, it is still dark and unclear inside.

  At this time, Old Liu tied the hemp rope that was nearly twenty meters long and as thick as a wrist to the big pagoda tree beside the old well, then let Little Ma hold onto the rope and go down.

  That little horse, he's got a big nerve. As soon as Old Liu finished speaking, without saying another word, he grabbed the rope and climbed down into the well. After about ten minutes or so, Little Horse crawled out of the well mouth covered in mud.

  "How about it, is the corpse down there?" Old Liu asked anxiously.

  The little horse shook its head helplessly and said, "Nothing at all?"

  "Nothing at all?" Old Liu was somewhat skeptical of Little Ma's words.

  Then, after saying this, Old Liu himself grasped the rope and went down into the well.

  After about a quarter of an hour, old Liu crawled up, covered in mud all over his body. However, in his hand, there was an additional axe wrapped with silt.

  "There isn't a corpse, but I found an axe." Old Liu said, waving the muddy axe in his hand.

  "Ginger is still spicy when it's old, Sixth Team, you're still the best. I just searched downstairs for half a day and found nothing. You went down for just a short while and found such an important piece of evidence. I have to follow you and learn from you." Seeing Old Liu coming up with a hatchet in his hand, Little Ma immediately started flattering him.

  As soon as he heard Little Horse patting himself on the back, Old Liu immediately became self-satisfied.

  "You young people! Each and every one of you is clever, but you're all too careless when it comes to doing things. If you can get rid of this carelessness, I'm sure you'll become excellent public security police in the future!" Old Liu said.

  Facing Old Liu's earnest teachings, Little Zhang and Little Ma nodded repeatedly, indicating to Old Liu that his education was correct. After Old Liu finished a round of ideological and political education, Little Zhang spoke up.

  "Liu, I'll go fetch some water and wash this axe. Let the villagers take a look and see if they can identify whose it is. Maybe we can find a useful lead from now on." Little Zhang said.

  "You little scamp, your brain is quite quick, but you only know how to take advantage of me." Old Liu waved his hand at Little Zhang and said, "You can go!"

  Soon, Little Zhang went to fetch a bucket of clear water. Old Liu put the axe into the bucket and washed it clean. After washing, Old Liu found some small notches on the blade.

  Lao Liu is also a rural person, he knows what kind of notch is left on the knife when chopping firewood. From the shape of these notches, it doesn't seem like they were left when chopping firewood, that is to say, these notches were likely left by the murderer after chopping someone.

  "This axe, don't you people recognize it?" Old Liu asked, holding the axe and facing the villagers present.

  The axe, every household has one, and the key is that each household's axe is almost identical. The axe in Old Liu's hand doesn't have any special features either. Therefore, the villagers can't tell whose it is.

  Old Liu also knew that the villagers would only recognize their own axe at most. Moreover, even if this axe belonged to one of the villagers present, it was definitely not recognizable in such a situation.

  Although he was just a police officer in a rural police station, Old Liu had been doing this job for many years. Therefore, when it came to investigating leads, he still had some tricks up his sleeve.

  "Villagers, since no one knows who this axe belongs to, please go back home and bring out your own axes. If everyone's axes are still at home, then it proves that the owner of this axe in my hand is not from Shimawan Village," said Old Liu.

  In the countryside, a family would only have one axe, and generally, an axe is used for many years. So, if the murderer was really in Shima Village, Old Liu's trick could directly lock down the suspect.

  In Old Liu's opinion, those who can't produce a chopping knife or produce a new one are likely to be suspects.

  Originally, Old Liu thought that with this one move, he could clarify the whole case. Unfortunately, however, he was wrong. Because all the villagers of Shima Village took out their own axes from their homes.

  The chopping knives taken out by the villagers were all old and used, not a single new one. In other words, the chopping knife in Old Liu's hand was unlikely to be from the villagers.

  The dawn that had just appeared in front of Old Liu was gone, and he couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

  "This knife, could it be Liu Zhuo's own?" Little Ma suddenly blurted out.

  This sentence by Little Horse has a somewhat enlightening effect on Old Liu.

  "Right! Let's go take a look at Liu Laozi's house!" Old Liu patted his forehead and strode forward, heading towards Liu Laozi's house.

  Old Liu, along with Little Zhang and Little Ma, searched for half a day in Liu Lai's kitchen but couldn't find the chopping knife from Liu Lai's house. This confirmed Old Liu's suspicion that the chopping knife was indeed Liu Lai's own.

  However, Old Liu was a meticulous person, and at that time there were no DNA testing or fingerprinting techniques. To really confirm whether the axe belonged to Liu Qigui's family, they had to find someone to verify it.

  In Shimǎ Village, the person closest to Liu Zhuāng was his older brother, Liu Dàqiáng. Therefore, Old Liu handed the axe to Liu Dàqiáng and asked him to take a good look at it to see if it really belonged to Liu Zhuāng.

  As soon as Liu Dajiang saw the axe, his heart began to panic. To be sure, it was this very axe that Liu Dajiang had used to chop off Liu Zuo's crippled leg. Therefore, upon seeing the axe, Liu Dajiang immediately recalled what had happened at dawn.

  The more afraid of being exposed, the easier it is to be exposed. Liu Daqiang wanted to pretend to be calm, but when he took the axe, his hands trembled involuntarily.

  This detail may have gone unnoticed by the villagers, but Old Liu had absolutely seen it clearly.

  "Is this Liu Lao's axe?" Old Liu asked.

  "I'm not clear either," said Liu Daqiang.

  Liu Dajiang answered this way because he didn't want to say more. Liu Dajiang knew that if he said it was Liu Qian's knife, Old Liu would definitely continue to ask questions. The more you talk, the easier it is to reveal the trap.

  Liu Dajiang's answer undoubtedly made Old Liu even more convinced of his judgment. However, before getting conclusive evidence, Old Liu will not make a move on Liu Dajiang.

  After all, we are all fellow villagers. If I misjudged and wrongly accused a good person, I would not be able to hold my head up in the future. Also, Old Liu really wanted to give Liu Daqiang an opportunity to surrender himself.

  "That's it, if you remember anything, be sure to come to the town and tell us." Old Liu said meaningfully to Liu Daqiang.

  Lao Liu's words had a hidden meaning, which Liu Dajiang understood. Lao Liu was telling him that if he really committed the crime, it would be best for him to go to the town and surrender himself.

  After saying that, Old Liu had Little Zhang and Little Ma conduct a thorough search of Lao Liu's house again. The two young policemen searched the house for almost an hour, checking both inside and outside, but except for the lady's pants, they didn't find any new clues.

  After Little Zhang and Little Ma finished searching, Old Liu put the woman's pants and the axe into one pocket, and the broken foot into another pocket, then packed up.

  After packing up, Old Liu said to the villagers: "If you find any clues or discover Liu Zuo's body, be sure to come to the town police station to report it!"