After leaving the Wu family, Su He and the others went to the home of an old man in the tenement. The first suspect, Aunt Wang, became nervous as soon as she saw them coming.

Before they could even ask, he spoke up, "Officers, it really wasn't me. I didn't kill anyone. Although I didn't get along with that fox... Hu Meiling, we only exchanged a few words. It wouldn't have led to murder. I really didn't kill anyone!"

Seeing her anxious expression, Su He reassured her, "Don't worry, ma'am, we're just here to find out what's going on."

Aunt Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief. She looked quite unwell, probably because the incident had frightened her. Her two daughters-in-law carefully followed beside her.

After entering the house, Aunt Wang asked, "Officers, what do you want to know? I'll tell you everything I know. I really didn't kill her, and I don't know why she was in my vegetable garden."

"I'm innocent! I haven't been to my vegetable garden since the autumn harvest. Who knew they'd find someone buried there? They're trying to pin this on me!"

Upon hearing this, Su He asked, "Where is the vegetable garden? Can I go take a look?"

"Yes, it's right behind here." As she spoke, Aunt Wang opened the back window, and she could immediately see the vegetable garden behind her.

So close?

The vegetable garden isn't very big, it looks like only two or three acres, and there's a fence in the middle, so the other side must be the neighbor's.

Aunt Wang explained, "This plot of land is right behind my house. Although it came with our house when we bought it, it can be accessed from both sides of the house."

I originally wanted to build another shed, but there was a public toilet right behind the wall, which was too smelly, so I used it to grow vegetables instead.

But now that winter has arrived and it's cold, I haven't opened the windows lately. I put some branches I collected in the suburbs last autumn there, intending to use them for firewood in the winter. Who would have thought someone would dig a hole under those branches?

Su He frowned upon hearing this. "You didn't even know they were digging a hole in your backyard?"

Aunt Wang shook her head. "I really don't know, we didn't hear a thing that night!"

Then she thought of something else, "Could it have been dug up the day before? The day before the accident was my mother's 70th birthday, and we all went back to my parents' house to stay. Maybe someone came and dug it up then?"

What a coincidence?

"What about the neighbors? Did they hear anything either?"

Grandma Wang shook her head. "It's just the two of them, and they're hard of hearing. They can't even hear thunder, let alone dig a hole."

Su He frowned upon hearing this; what a coincidence!

If it wasn't done by Grandma Wang, then the murderer must have planned it all out. It doesn't seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision; they probably found a place to bury the body beforehand.

"Is it easy to dig in the ground now? Has the soil frozen over?"

"No, it's just the surface layer that's a bit hard. It's not difficult to dig it out. In fact, I put a lot of effort into this plot of land just to grow these vegetables. I dug it very deep, and the soil was loose. I even brought some soil from the suburbs to put on top. It's very soft and easy to dig."

As he said this, Captain Yu nodded, clearly confirming the statement.

Su He didn't say anything more.

I then asked her what she had done that day.

Aunt Wang also answered frankly: "I went back to my parents' home the day before and slept there at night. I didn't come back until the next morning. All the men in my family went to work, so I stayed home with my two daughters-in-law to pickle sauerkraut."

After a busy day, I cooked dinner, ate, and went to bed. Oh, I went to the bathroom, but I came back quickly. I definitely didn't do anything else!

Su He nodded, asked a few more questions about Hu Meiling, and then left.

When she left, Aunt Wang was still afraid of being suspected, so she kept explaining to her.