The case had been stalled for five days in the search for the missing person, and Hu Jia began to doubt his judgment. Could the primary scene of this murder not be outdoors?
After all, a strange man wandering around town in a wedding dress wouldn't be invited into a house by anyone with a brain.
Therefore, Hu Jia had been focusing his attention outdoors.
But after so much time, and with the town not being large, there was no suspicious crime scene to be found. This forced Hu Jia to change his line of thought.
Could it really have happened indoors?
Hu Jia sat dazed in the police station. Han Xiu's body had already been dealt with by his companions, leaving only Han Xiu's belongings.
Wedding dress, phoenix crown, embroidered shoes, jewelry...
The only incongruous item was the pair of black underpants, which he must have worn beneath the wedding attire.
This disharmonious image made Hu Jia's mind chaotic. A sea of red, unexpectedly interspersed with a pair of dirty blue pants, was highly discordant.
Pants...
Pants...
Pants...
Suddenly, a flood of images surged into Hu Jia's mind.
All sorts of pants.
Pants from Yue Gu's courtyard, pants worn by Dai Bihua, pants of that group of escorts, and pants of the pedestrians on the street...
These images flickered in Hu Jia's mind like a flipbook, crossing and flying, so fast that he couldn't freeze any of them.
Hu Jia's facial expression began to change, and he felt a wave of dizziness. He desperately wanted to grasp one or two of these images, but they flashed by too quickly.
Suddenly, one image froze before his eyes.
Pants!
It was the image of Han Xiu wearing pants when his body was first discovered.
Hu Jia abruptly stood up, grabbed the blue pants in front of him, and tightened his grip. He seemed to sense something.
"Qingqing, Qing..."
"What is it?"
Lu Qingqing hadn't heard such an urgent call from Hu Jia in a long time.
"Let's go, we need to visit Yue Gu's place."
...
"You're saying you didn't put his original clothes and pants back on him?"
"Yes, that wedding dress was originally for women. It was already difficult to put on a man, and if I had put on his original clothes and pants, they wouldn't have fit."
Hearing Yue Gu's words, Hu Jia became somewhat excited. This information also indirectly confirmed his judgment.
All along, he had overlooked one issue: when Han Xiu's body was found, besides the outer garment, he was also wearing a pair of blue pants.
These pants clashed severely with the red outfit.
However, Hu Jia had assumed these were Han Xiu's original pants. But then he remembered that day's group of escorts; they all wore uniforms, and their pants were all martial attire. It was unlikely that Han Xiu alone would wear loose, common trousers.
Therefore, it was highly probable that these pants did not belong to Han Xiu.
And Yue Gu's answer now confirmed this. She had only changed Han Xiu into the wedding dress at the time and had not put on any pants. To prove her words, she even dug out the pants Han Xiu had originally worn.
Yes, they had been buried in the small courtyard.
Hu Jia took a look and saw that they were indeed martial attire.
So, this was sufficient proof that after leaving Yue Gu's place, Han Xiu had gone somewhere and taken the pants from there.
And that place, or rather, the original owner of these pants, was likely connected to the murderer.
With this realization, Hu Jia immediately took the pants and went to the area around the well. Such pants were common in a way, yet uncommon in another.
They were very ordinary pants.
Common because they had almost no decorations or style; everyone on the street had a pair.
But uncommon because of their color. Most people in the town worked, and the colors of the pants they chose were either black or gray. Blue was indeed rare.
For a moment, Hu Jia was at a loss.
He stood on the street for a long time, questioning many passersby. However, when they saw him holding up a pair of pants and asking about their owner, everyone tacitly chose to distance themselves from him.
Crazy!
Hu Jia had no choice but to turn back.
"Xiao Jia!" From afar, he saw Liu Yuxin approaching, with Ouyang Wen following her.
"Where are you going?" Ouyang Wen asked, and as soon as he spoke, he saw the fabric in Hu Jia's hand. "What's this? Pants? Why are you carrying a blue pair for yourself?"
Hu Jia gave him a look. Did these pants look like mine?
Lu Qingqing chuckled beside them, "What? Blue pants can't be seen in public?"
Liu Yuxin also smiled, "Exactly, blue is so nice. I really like this blue."
"Where are you guys going?" Hu Jia asked.
"To the pawnshop. The one run by my sister's husband, well, ex-husband," Liu Yuxin replied.
"Oh? What happened? Did something come up?" Clearly, Hu Jia thought Liu Yuxin was in urgent need of money.
"It's nothing. She's just taking me to meet Cao Changming," Ouyang Wen answered for her.
Cao Changming?
Hu Jia then remembered. Wasn't this the man Yuxin's sister liked?
"What? Are you going to vet him for her?" Hu Jia teased.
"It's not vetting, I just want to get acquainted," Ouyang Wen didn't want to be misunderstood.
"I'm going too!" Lu Qingqing was very excited. She also wanted to see what that man looked like.
Hu Jia sighed and glanced at Yu Yi'an, who had been following him. "Perhaps you could go investigate the origin of these pants?"
Yu Yi'an nodded, took the pants, and left.
"What did you mean just now, these pants aren't yours?" Liu Yuxin suddenly asked Hu Jia halfway.
"Mm, no," Hu Jia smiled. "I can't pull off wearing blue pants like these."
"You're asking Officer Yu to investigate the origin of these pants, why? Is there something wrong with them?"
Hu Jia nodded, not saying much. He was afraid that revealing the pants were from a corpse would frighten Liu Yuxin.
However, it was Ouyang Wen who spoke too quickly, "It must be related to the case of the drowned man in the well, right? Maybe these are the pants he wore."
"What?" Liu Yuxin paled upon hearing this. "These are the pants the drowned man wore?"
Hu Jia could only curse Ouyang Wen in his heart. He truly deserved to be single!
Soon, the group arrived at the pawnshop. Cao Changming worked as a bookkeeper there.
He looked like a very dull person, perhaps like Yang Shaoquan said, a bit foolish from too much studying.
Cao Changming greeted everyone. They chatted casually for a bit. Hearing that they were Yuxin's childhood friends, Cao Changming was very hospitable, running up and down to serve tea and water.
Lu Qingqing looked at him, then at Liu Yuxin. She could clearly feel that the two of them didn't seem to be a good match.
Liu Yuxin was an enthusiastic and lively woman; her boldness was evident from her public declaration of "I have someone I like." Cao Changming, on the other hand, was dull and honest.
Their personalities didn't quite match, but perhaps it was a form of complementarity.
After sitting at the pawnshop for a while, everyone bid farewell. After all, the shop was still open for business.
"He's alright. He's honest, but life will probably be quite bland in the future!" This was Ouyang Wen's assessment of Cao Changming.
"An honest person also knows how to cherish someone, and you can trust him," Lu Qingqing quickly added.
"Exactly. Why do you care if his life is bland or not? As long as they are happy, it's fine, right, Sister Yuxin?" Hu Jia couldn't stand Ouyang Wen's bluntness.
Liu Yuxin nodded slightly, "What I value is his honesty. He listens to whatever I say and doesn't have too many other thoughts."
Everyone: ...
Lu Qingqing even glanced sideways at Ouyang Wen, wondering if this was a hint directed at him.
Just as everyone was in thoughtful silence, Guan Jinsong ran over from a distance, panting heavily.
"What's wrong?" Lu Qingqing had never seen him so flustered.
"The owner of those pants has been found."
"Ah? Who is it? Where?"
Everyone became excited.
"Cao Changming, the Cao Changming you just met!"