By the time the convoy arrived at Wangli Village, it was already 3:30 p.m.
Seeing Li Yi lead Xiao Zhanwu inside, everyone—from Ye Lingyun and Jiang Xue to Liu Juanjuan and Li Xiaoyan, as well as Factory Director Yang and the others—was stunned.
Everyone stared at Li Yi with wide eyes, their faces filled with astonishment!
“Xiao Yi, what’s going on here…”
Before his mother-in-law could finish, Li Yi said, “Mom, we ran into a bit of an emergency, but it has nothing to do with Aunt Juan and the others!”
Then, turning to the equally bewildered Li Xiaoyan standing beside him, Li Yi asked, “Comrade Xiaoyan, could you do us a favor?”
“What… what kind of favor? Tell me.”
“Take me to Yan Minsheng’s place!” Li Yi said.
“What for? That couple is a total pain in the neck. Don’t get involved with them unless you absolutely have to—otherwise, you’ll never be able to shake them off!” Li Xiaoyan said.
“Don’t worry, we just want to talk to them to get some information. It’ll be fine!” Li Yi said.
“Really… really?”
“Yeah, like I’d lie to you!” Li Yi said.
“All right, then!”
Li Yi then gave Jiang Xue a reassuring look and led Li Xiaoyan out of Liu Juanjuan’s house.
Although Li Xiaoyan was a married woman, she had grown up in the village and knew the layout of the area very well.
Before long, Li Xiaoyan led Li Yi and the others to a large courtyard with high walls at the eastern end of the village.
“This is Yan Minsheng’s house!”
The group glanced at the compound and found it somewhat peculiar.
It wasn’t anything else—it was mainly because the walls of this courtyard were simply too high, standing at a full 1.6 to 1.7 meters.
In contrast, most of the other homes in the village had walls no more than 1.2 to 1.3 meters high, and some were even less than a meter.
The Yan family’s house was just a mud-brick structure a little over two meters tall, yet the courtyard wall was built to a height of 1.6 to 1.7 meters—which seemed somewhat out of place.
Because the wall was so high, anyone outside the main gate could hardly see what was happening inside the courtyard.
Of course, people outside couldn’t see inside the courtyard either, unless they climbed onto the wall.
“Comrade Xiaoyan, you should head back first. Once we’re done here, we’ll meet up at your second brother’s place, and then we’ll all go back to the county seat together!”
Thinking of the terrifying scene he might witness, Li Yi didn’t want to involve this outspoken woman in it, so he asked her to leave.
“Can I—”
“Better not. Just listen to me!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, then!”
With that, Li Xiaoyan turned and left, though she kept glancing back every few steps—it was clear she was still very curious.
Li Yi couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly. “Sweetheart, I’m doing this for your own good.”
Just think of those terrifying scenes described in the news reports—if she actually saw them, she’d probably have nightmares for the rest of her life.
If she were to get so scared that something happened to her, that would be a real problem!
Once Li Xiaoyan was out of sight, Li Yi immediately turned to Xiao Zhanwu and said, “I already explained the situation to you in the car. There are only two people in the courtyard—a short guy who hasn’t grown much, and a disabled woman.”
“Once we go in, don’t hesitate—just take control of those two right away!”
“Are we really going in?” Xiao Zhanwu said in a low voice.
To be honest, he felt deep down that this whole thing didn’t seem quite right.
After all, Li Yi didn’t have any concrete evidence that the couple was up to something. He’d simply brought them here to arrest and search the place based on a hunch that the woman’s gaze seemed off. If word of this got back to higher-ups, he’d be in serious trouble.
“I trust my instincts!” Li Yi said.
“What if they’re not there?”
“We saw that woman coming back this way earlier; she should be home. Even if she isn’t, she’s disabled—where else could she have gone?” Li Yi said.
To be honest, Li Yi wasn’t worried at all that the evil couple might not be home.
After all, he’d come here today to find evidence. Whether the killer was there or not was none of his business—arresting people was the police’s job.
If Banbanhaobang wasn’t there, so much the better. That would give Xiao Zhanwu and his team a little more credit to claim. After all, if they found the body and caught everyone, the credit would be too easy to come by.
It would be almost embarrassing to write in a commendation request to their superiors!
“Alright, since you put it that way, brother, I’ll go along with your crazy plan!”
He immediately issued orders to the police officers standing nearby: “Xiao Liang, you enter the courtyard from the left wall; Xiao Zhu, you go in from the right. Awei and Dabing, take up positions behind the house. If anyone tries to climb over the wall to escape, subdue them immediately. Xiaoyun, you take Huzi (the police dog) and enter with us from the front!”
“Roger that!”
With Xiao Zhanwu’s command, the operation began immediately!
Once everyone was in position, Xiao Zhanwu took the lead, appearing right at the Yan family’s front gate and pushing open the wooden gate.
Immediately after, Xiao Yun, accompanied by the police dog as well as Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang, quickly made her way into the courtyard.
At the same time, Xiao Liang and Xiao Zhu scaled the wall surrounding the Yan residence.
The sudden commotion startled Yan Minsheng inside the house. He immediately grabbed the dagger hidden under his pillow, tucked it into his waistband, and then slipped on his cotton shoes before running out to investigate.
When he saw several uniformed police officers entering the courtyard, accompanied by a large wolfhound, he was instantly startled.
Without hesitation, he turned and ran toward the side of the house, where a ladder stood.
In no time at all, he had scrambled up onto the roof, then leaped directly to the ground, ready to flee.
However, the moment his feet touched the ground, he was pinned down by two men in uniform!
Instantly, cold sweat broke out on Yan Min’s forehead; he knew he was finished…
Xiao Zhanwu hadn’t expected the short man to run off the moment he saw them, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
They’d seen this kind of thing too many times; clearly, this guy had something to hide.
As for whether the guy could escape, Xiao Zhanwu wasn’t the least bit worried.
He had served as a reconnaissance soldier in the military; capturing prisoners on the battlefield was a basic skill. And the soldiers under his command were mostly elite veterans from the front lines—they might not be great at solving cases, but hand-to-hand combat was their forte.
Sure enough, before they even reached the house, they heard Dabin and the others’ voices coming from behind it—clearly, the guy had already been caught.
Without waiting for Awei and Dabin, Xiao Zhanwu and his men strode into the house.
Once inside, the group was instantly taken aback.
They saw that, apart from a filthy woman sitting on the kang, there was no one else in the entire room.
Not only were there few people, but the furnishings were pitifully sparse: two large earthenware jars and a wooden cabinet so weathered its original color was unrecognizable.
Other than that, there was nothing but a thick stack of quilts on the kang!
“You… you… who are you? What are you doing in our home?”
As she spoke, a look of fear and anxiety spread across the woman’s face, leaving Xiao Zhanwu and the others at a loss for words.
Just as Xiao Zhanwu was at a loss for words, Li Yi immediately spoke up: “I lost something very important from my car. A moment ago, you were sneaking around our vehicle, so we suspect you stole it. We’re going to search your house now!”
“I… I didn’t steal anything from you… I didn’t!”
“If you didn’t steal it, then why did your husband run away?” Xiao Zhanwu barked.
“I… I don’t know…”
Just then, Dabin and Awei escorted Yan Minsheng in, handcuffed.
As soon as they entered, the woman suddenly burst into tears, wailing, “Husband, they say I stole their stuff, but I really didn’t…”
Hearing this, Yan Minsheng silently breathed a sigh of relief.
He had thought it was… but it turned out they were only suspecting his wife of stealing. That made things much easier.
“My wife definitely didn’t steal your stuff. She’s a cripple who can’t even walk straight—how could she possibly steal anything? Even if you gave it to her for free, she couldn’t carry it away!” Yan Minsheng said.
“If she didn’t steal anything, why did you run?” Xiao Zhanwu asked.
“I wasn’t running. I just saw a brick had fallen off the chimney on the roof. I wanted to put it back in place, but I ended up falling off the roof. I’m a good person, you know…”
Before he could finish, Dabin cut him off: “You’re lying. What kind of good person carries a knife tucked at their waist?”
Li Yi didn’t want to get tangled up with this pair of devils any further, so he turned directly to Xiao Zhanwu and said, “Captain Xiao, let’s search him!”
“Alright, let’s search…”
Before Xiao Zhanwu had even finished speaking, a commotion erupted outside, and immediately afterward, seven or eight men and women burst into the Yan family’s courtyard…
………