"old lady."
Su Jianguo weighed the cane in his hand and said with a smile.
"I remember you were very agile, why do you suddenly need a cane?"
Old Mrs. Zhang's expression changed, and she began to curse even more fiercely.
"None of your business! I'm old, is it wrong for my legs to hurt? There's not a single good person in your Su family. First you brought that idiot to bully me, and now you're picking a fight!"
Su Jianguo remained unmoved, turned around and walked to Officer Li's side, lowering his voice.
"Officer Li, there's something wrong with this old lady. She never used a cane in the city, and she walked all the way back from Beijing by herself. I suspect she has a leg injury she's hiding from people."
Officer Li's eyes lit up, he nodded, and turned to Grandma Zhang, speaking seriously.
"Grandma Zhang, please walk a few steps so we can see you."
The villagers who had been watching began to whisper among themselves.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Old Mrs. Zhang's forehead, and her face turned deathly pale.
"You...you're bullying an old person! My legs hurt and I can't walk!"
"Just two steps."
Officer Li insisted.
"If you really can't walk, we can take you to the hospital for a check-up."
Seeing the police officer's resolute attitude, Grandma Zhang finally gritted her teeth.
"Fine! Let's go! Let's show you heartless people what's what!"
She took her first step shakily, her left leg clearly hesitant to put weight on it, her body leaning to one side.
On the second step, her left leg suddenly went weak, and she fell forward.
"ah!"
With a scream, Grandma Zhang fell heavily to the ground.
The villagers gasped in surprise.
On her gray pants, a dark red bloodstain was slowly seeping from her thigh.
Su Jianguo strode forward, pointed at the bloodstains, and shouted.
"Look everyone! The old lady has an injury on her leg! How did she get this injury?"
Grandma Zhang frantically tried to cover the bloodstains, her voice already trembling with tears.
"I...I fell yesterday! Is that any of your business?"
"You fell yesterday?"
Su Jianguo sneered.
"Fell? You fell and hit your thigh? Grandma, show us how you fell."
Officer Li's eyes were fixed on Zhang's bleeding left leg.
The old lady instinctively covered herself with her hand, but Officer Li grabbed her wrist.
"Grandma Zhang, what happened to your leg injury?"
Officer Li's voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable authority.
"I...I fell!"
Old Mrs. Zhang was somewhat intimidated, and then she started acting out.
"You police officers aren't going to arrest the murderer, but instead you're making things difficult for an old woman like me!"
Officer Li sneered and pulled a dagger from his waist.
The villagers watching immediately became agitated, and some exclaimed in surprise.
"Comrade Li, what are you doing?"
Village Party Secretary Lao Zhang hurriedly stepped forward.
Officer Li did not answer. With a flash of light, the knife slashed open a gash in the old lady Zhang's trouser leg.
The old woman let out a scream.
"Murder! The police are killing people!"
As the trouser leg was lifted, the onlookers gasped in shock.
Because Grandma Zhang's wound had only been simply bandaged and no medicine had been applied, it had become inflamed and suppurated overnight.
Officer Li confidently examined the wound and then said decisively.
"It's a knife wound, and it's a fresh wound from last night."
"The wound is approximately five centimeters long and four centimeters deep, with a clean surface, clearly caused by a sharp instrument. Judging from the degree of infection, the injury occurred no more than twelve hours ago."
Seeing this, Su Jianguo asked Old Mrs. Zhang with a sneer.
"Grandma, where did this injury come from?"
"I...I accidentally chopped vegetables..."
The old lady stammered.
Officer Li interrupted him sternly.
"Cutting vegetables to the groin? That's clearly a stab wound!"
He turned to the other police officers.
"Search Old Mrs. Zhang's house carefully!"
The police officers sprang into action. Suddenly, the elderly woman rushed towards the door.
"You can't go in! This is trespassing!"
Officer Wang stopped her.
"Mrs. Zhang, please cooperate with the investigation. If it is indeed unrelated to you, we apologize."
The search lasted about ten minutes.
Suddenly, a young police officer shouted from the corner of the kitchen.
"Captain Li, we've found something here!"
The crowd gathered around and saw a pile of trampled dumplings in the corner.
"These should be the dumplings Zhao Xiaoyan brought last night."
Officer Li said in a deep voice.
Just then, another police officer tapped the ground in the yard and then pulled out a small object.
"There's an earring here."
In the sunlight, a delicate silver stud earring sparkled.
Zhao Dashan rushed forward and took the earring with trembling hands.
"This...this is my daughter's! It's part of her mother's dowry. One earring is engraved with the character '贵' (meaning 'noble') and the other with the character '福' (meaning 'fortune')!"
He turned the earring over and, sure enough, saw the character "福" (fortune/blessing) clearly on the back.
Grandma Zhang suddenly collapsed to the ground and burst into tears.
"Injustice! A terrible injustice!!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
