Chapter 71 Doubts
During the two days of preparing case-closing materials, the Serious Crime Unit 7 had a rare moment of leisure.
There is no need to go out for investigations, deal with suspects or the families of the deceased, or stay up all night for interrogations. All you need to do is organize all the materials on hand, go to and from get off work on time, and even take a short break when you have time.
Taking advantage of this time, Feng Xiaoyu took Xia Mufan to find a colleague in the Materials Department, signed and filled out forms, and received two bunk beds, two desks, two bedside tables, two bookshelves, and two wardrobes.
Although the furniture in the city bureau's staff housing building was old and had some minor wear and tear, it was free, so Xia Muchan happily moved the furniture into his new home.
In the past few days, Xu Shumei has cleaned the newly allocated two-bedroom, one-living room apartment thoroughly, and has also planted three vegetable plots in the yard. It was almost midsummer, and other vegetables were afraid of the sun, so we only planted some drought-resistant water spinach, cucumbers and beans. Climbing honeysuckle and rose stems are planted in the corners of the wall, waiting to bloom next year.
Seeing the furniture her daughter had brought back, Xu Shumei smiled and said, "It's still better to work in a public institution. The house is free and the furniture is free. My daughter is really capable."
Xia Mufan was very happy to hear his mother's affirmation. Seeing that the originally empty room was now full after adding furniture, he felt a sense of accomplishment. He looked around and said, "Mom, let's put a TV cabinet, sofa, and coffee table in the living room, and then we can watch TV comfortably."
Xu Shumei imagined that scene and smiled even more happily: "Okay, but there is no place to put the dining table."
Xia Mushige: "It's okay, we can eat on the coffee table."
Xu Shumei thought for a moment and said, "Then let's buy a folding dining table and eat in the yard if the weather is good. If your friends come over, we can also treat them in the yard."
Sun Xianbing grew up with his grandparents and was very good at pleasing his elders. When he heard Xu Shumei's words, he immediately smiled and said, "Auntie, you are so kind. It will be convenient for us to come over and eat for free in the future, hehe."
Feng Xiaoyu punched Sun Xianbing hard on the shoulder: "You only know how to eat!"
Sun Xianbing dodged while shouting, "Sister Feng, please spare me. From now on, I will be responsible for fertilizing and watering the vegetable garden. Is that okay?" Rural children get itchy hands when they see a vegetable garden, and they don't feel tired at all when doing this farm work.
Feng Xiaoyu smiled: "That's about right."
Watching this group of young people playing and fighting, Xu Shumei's eyes were full of love: "Mu Fan is lucky to have colleagues like you."
Gong Weiguo quickly took over the conversation: "It is our blessing to have Team Leader Xia in the Serious Crime Unit 7."
Sun Xianbing shook his arms and pretended to look at the ground.
Gong Weiguo rolled his eyes at him: "What do you mean?"
Sun Xianbing laughed: "Goosebumps all over the floor, didn't you see it?"
Suddenly, everyone in the room burst into laughter.
Gong Weiguo was both angry and amused, and muttered, "I told the truth, but you treated me as a flatterer, humph!"
Seeing that Gong Weiguo's face was a little red, Xu Shumei tried to smooth things over: "Don't go to the cafeteria. Auntie will make cold noodles for you, okay?" There was no preparation in advance today, and there were not enough ingredients. There was no time to prepare a table, so they could only make do with some cold noodles.
Sun Xianbing nodded repeatedly: "Okay, cold noodles are just right in hot weather."
The others also agreed.
Xia Mufan looked at his mother and said, "Mom, the cafeteria is actually quite convenient. Don't get too tired."
Xu Shumei glanced at her in disapproval: "Kid, how can a few bowls of noodles tire me out? Don't worry, I'll just cut some cucumbers and tomatoes and beat a few eggs. It'll be quick."
Xia Mufan and his team were cleaning the room while Xu Shumei was busy in the kitchen.
The kitchen was too small for two people to make room. Xu Shumei didn't want anyone to help her. She cut cucumber and kelp shreds by herself in the kitchen, opened the overhead cupboard, and planned to take out the noodles to cook.
Xu Shumei bought two kilograms of noodles in the store, one kilogram of silver thread noodles and one kilogram of wide noodles. The two bags of noodles had just been opened.
There are six people in total, and each person should eat three taels of noodles, so both bags of noodles have to be taken out.
While thinking about how to cook the noodles in several pots, Xu Shumei reached out to take the noodles.
The noodles are in cylindrical shape and cannot stand upright in the cupboard.
Before he knew it, the silver noodles were still in his hand, but the bag of wide noodles next to it rolled down.
"Oh no!"
Looking at the wide noodles scattered all over the ground, Xu Shumei cried out in annoyance.
The noise in the kitchen alarmed Xia Mufan and others, and everyone rushed to the kitchen door: "What happened?"
Noodles were scattered all over the floor. Xu Shumei placed the silver noodles on the stove, squatted down to pick them up, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's just spilled, just pick it up."
There were thousands of noodles, scattered all over the ground, making the scene look a bit messy.
Xu Shumei picked up the empty paper tube with her left hand, picked up the noodles that were not yet touched by the dust on the ground and put them back in their original shape, and put the remaining dirty ones aside.
Everyone wanted to help, but Xu Shumei stopped them: "Don't come in, don't come in, be careful not to step on it."
Xia Mufan looked at his mother's actions thoughtfully, his eyes flashing: "I know!"
Feng Xiaoyu asked her: "What did you know?"
Xia Mushige asked, "If both bags of noodles were spilled, could you tell them apart?"
Feng Xiaoyu looked at the snow-white noodles on the ground and shook her head. Even if the noodles are of different widths, how can you tell them apart if they are mixed together?
Xia Mufan asked again: "What if it's cat food?"
Sun Xianbing and Gong Weiguo exclaimed at the same time, "It's even harder to tell the difference!"
Xia Mufan then asked, "Yes, how did the poisonous and non-toxic cat food get switched?"
This question made everyone fall into deep thought. There was something wrong with what Zhu Liang said.
How did he switch the two boxes of cat food?
When we asked Zhu Liang why his fingerprints were on the shoe box, he took everyone to the kitchen and said that he was a little nervous when he was rummaging through the cupboard and accidentally knocked over the shoe box, spilling the cat food all over the floor. He gathered everything up and put it back, accidentally mixing up the shoe boxes in the process.
However, if they were scattered on the ground at the same time, the scene would be chaotic. It would be impossible to distinguish the two types of cat food clearly with the naked eye and they would definitely be mixed together.
In that case, how come the test results of the cat food in the red shoe box above the cupboard showed that it was all non-toxic, with only a small amount of strychnine on the bottom?
Everyone turned their eyes to Xia Mufan: "What should we do? Should we still close the case?"
Xia Mufan shook his head: "Since there are doubts, let's not rush to close the case. Let's eat noodles today and bring Zhu Liang to the brigade for questioning tomorrow."
After hearing what they said, Xu Shumei couldn't help but laugh: "You kids, you still don't forget to work after get off work. I'm going to cook noodles, you wait."
Xu Shumei has already equipped the kitchen with basic utensils. The scrambled eggs with tomatoes and soybean paste are bright in color and fragrant, making everyone hungry.
After the noodles are cooked, rinse them with cold boiled water and let them cool, add shredded cucumber and kelp, scoop a large spoonful of seasoning, and then drizzle with scallion oil. The noodles are chewy and refreshing, and the seasoning is fresh and delicious.
Sun Xianbing ate and praised: "Auntie, your cold noodles are really amazing!"
Yu Jing also took the time to praise it: "It's delicious!"
Gong Weiguo didn't like noodles originally, but this bowl of cold noodles was really delicious. He finished a whole bowl without realizing it, and still felt a little unsatisfied: "You can open a noodle shop."
Feng Xiaoyu eats slowly. She picked up a piece of noodles covered with sauce with chopsticks and said happily, "Really, if Auntie opened a noodle shop, I would go there every day."
Xia Mufan enjoyed the meal the most.
While eating noisily, Xia Mufan glanced at his teammates when he heard them say, "My mom is not only good at making noodles, she is also good at cooking, pancakes, and stews. You should be content to be able to make noodles for you once. Do you want to open a noodle shop? That would tire my mom to death, please don't do that!"
Xu Shumei smiled with her eyebrows curved.
Xia Mufan has been domineering since he was a child. He has never been willing to share the food his mother cooked with others. Now he can invite his colleagues to dinner at home, which shows that he has grown up.
When Xu Shumei was young, she took care of the housework and prepared three meals a day for the whole family. She was tired of the kitchen fumes. She wanted to open a noodle restaurant? Forget it. She was satisfied when she cooked and saw her daughter eating happily.
Gong Weiguo and Feng Xiaoyu, who proposed the idea of opening a noodle restaurant, immediately responded: "Okay, okay, then don't open it." The two made up their minds that they would immediately obey Xia Mufan's instructions in the future, just to have a meal of noodles occasionally.
After eating the noodles, the group of people were full of energy. They wiped all the furniture clean, borrowed a tricycle to help with the moving, and put all the bedding rolls, clothes, daily necessities from the single dormitory... into the new home.
At night, Xia Mufan and Xu Shumei lay on their new bed, the moonlight streaming in through the window. Looking at their newly renovated home, they sighed with satisfaction, "Ah, we have a home now, it's great."
Although the mother and daughter each had a bed, they were used to sleeping together on the first day of moving. Xu Shumei touched Xia Mufan's head and whispered softly, "My Mumu is really capable. He was able to get a new house so quickly. Mom will enjoy the happiness with you."
Xia Mushige was a little embarrassed by the compliment: "Actually, it's not that good. I almost let my emotions get the better of me and missed a suspicious point."
Xu Shumei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, just check it out again."
Xia Mufan uttered a soft "hmm".
As a cat lover, Xia Mufan hated Zhu Shengrong very much. The law cannot punish such a wicked person. Now someone is punishing him and letting him reap what he has sown, letting him experience the pain of having his cat poisoned to death. To be honest, Xia Mufan felt very happy.
Therefore, from the beginning she had a position and a tendency.
But, she is a police officer, and solving a case is a process of seeking the truth.
If the case is closed hastily now and the court finds Zhu Liang not guilty based on the principle of presumption of innocence, is it possible that she has missed a potential murderer?
Since the murder was innocent and he received no punishment, would the evil thoughts in Zhu Liang's heart be magnified?
If he encounters someone who abuses animals again, will he take the same extreme action?
It was not until tonight when Xia Mufan saw Xu Shumei busy in the kitchen and the noodles scattered on the floor that he suddenly became alert.
She is a police officer and the leader of the Serious Crime Unit 7. She should solve cases based on facts and the law, and abandon emotional tendencies.
Otherwise, why should there be the principle of relative avoidance?
A ceiling fan was installed in the new house. I turned it to the lowest level before going to bed. It blows slowly, making the room cool.
In such an atmosphere, Xia Mufan's heart became more and more calm.
Whether Zhu Liang is a suspect of murder and whether Ke Lu should bear legal responsibility is the judge's business.
And she is only responsible for pursuing the truth.
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