National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 719 - 662: Pork Head Meat

Chapter 719: Chapter 662: Pork Head Meat

Xinghe Electronics Factory.

Xia Liucheng followed the line, shuffling forward step by step.

The scorching sun was high in the sky, and there was not a hint of shade for the heads of those queuing. The line was crowded, the passage narrow; even though they weren’t crammed shoulder to shoulder, the agitation in the heat wave was almost intolerable.

Xia Liucheng’s work uniform was completely soaked through. He wanted to take it off, but since he wasn’t wearing an undershirt, all he could do was unbutton a few more buttons to let off some steam, while wiping sweat with his towel and using it to fan himself.

"What are you doing? Acting indecent? Button up your shirt," a female supervisor came over from the adjacent air-conditioned room.

Xia Liucheng pouted, "In this heat, who has the energy to act indecently? At least provide a sunscreen umbrella."

The female supervisor wasn’t entirely stern. She changed her tone and said, "We’ve got air conditioning and cold drinks inside. If you’re willing, come in with me."

"I’m not going." Xia Liucheng was in line to resign. Ever since a call came from his hometown Fang Xia Village a couple of days ago, his mood became tenser by the day, and today, he simply resigned.

However, at electronic factories now, there were many resigning and few joining. Many young people would resign after just a few days; those who could last a few months were considered veteran workers.Instead of raising wages or adding benefits to reduce the number of resignations, the electronic factory adopted various methods to create obstacles. For example, as it was now, standing under the blazing sun, people could faint from exhaustion at any minute. Those who couldn’t bear it either gave up on resigning or simply bolted without taking their wages.

Not only that, people like the female supervisor specifically enticed resigning employees to rest. Unable to withstand the temptation, some would leave the line for the air-conditioned room to enjoy a bottle of free ice-cold cola, only to find out they had to rejoin the queue to resign, leading many to give it up altogether.

Xia Liucheng’s determination to resign couldn’t be stronger.

He was a murderer!

What was a bottle of cola to him? He had killed a distant uncle and his family years ago, and the money he took could have bought a warehouse full of cola.

Too bad he had spent it all.

If only he had held back then and bought a house.

Reflecting on this, Xia Liucheng felt a trace of regret.

Now, he had just over a thousand yuan left on him. Fortunately, resigning would mean he could still get some wages, move to a smaller place, and maybe even afford to not work for a while, holed up playing video games for months. Laying low like this, he figured the rumours would eventually die down.

Although, thinking back to the last time the police checked fingerprints and didn’t find his, Xia Liucheng had broken out in a cold sweat.

That time, when avoiding them seemed impossible, he thought hard and considered that since he had been wearing gloves, he couldn’t have left any so-called fingerprints. So he boldly joined the fingerprint comparison, and as expected, no one was caught in the end.

A few days earlier, Xia Liucheng would even deliberately reminisce about that moment and think of himself as both brave and clever!

Unfortunately, you can’t brag about a murder case. There were times after drinking that Xia Liucheng nearly blurted out the truth and scared himself into drinking less afterward. When he did drink, it was only a bit of beer.

What frustrated him the most was that this did not help him find a girlfriend. "Where are the women who ’like a man who doesn’t drink’ to honor their word?" All the women he met were fools who couldn’t appreciate him!

"Forget it; I’m going in for a coke." The worker who had been standing behind Xia Liucheng suddenly tossed his towel aside and headed into the air-conditioned room.

Influenced by him, a few more people also gave up.

Xia Liucheng snorted, suspecting that this man was a plant from the factory, but he didn’t care too much. He had seen all sorts of strange things in the factories he had worked at over the past year and had grown accustomed to it.

"Hey, where do you plan to switch to?" Two people ahead were whispering to each other.

"How about checking out Juxin Factory? I heard they pay 28 per hour."

"No one would go to Juxin; you have to wear a dust suit there."

"But 28 an hour, if you work for a whole month, you might make over ten thousand!"

"You haven’t worked there, that dust suit is suffocatingly uncomfortable. Not only is it hot, but you can’t even scratch an itch, going to the toilet is a hassle, drinking water is inconvenient, and you daren’t drink too much, otherwise you’ll have to hold it in. And when you want to ask for a toilet break, it’s not as simple as just asking. You know what’s the worst part? It’s hard to talk. Trying to chat with the person next to you is just uncomfortable. In the end, no one on the line wants to talk; it’s more suffocating than jail."

Xia Liucheng, listening, was intrigued. Wearing a dust suit that covers the whole body meant no one could recognize your face, and staying silent was even better to avoid prying questions that could eventually reveal your accent.

He had two identity cards he’d bought from fellow workers who had taken flight from the factory; they weren’t complete sets, but were just enough to get into a factory.

Xia Liucheng decided to keep this as an option. Maybe he would just move to somewhere near the Juxin Factory, stay put while he had savings, and once the money ran out, work at Juxin for a couple of months before going back into hiding for half a year. By then, he was sure everything would have blown over.

Comforted by these thoughts, Xia Liucheng felt better, even the heat while lining up didn’t bother him anymore.

He had been queuing since the morning, and it wasn’t until the afternoon that the line began to move. By that time, half of the queue had dissipated.

The inhumane HR department moved to the very end of the line, directly pulling down the gate behind them, and then erected a sign instructing anyone else who came to please come early the next day.

The next day would naturally require queuing for such a long time as well.

A conflict was inevitable, and several people from the HR department, along with the security guards, surged out. This kind of thing happened every few days, so they were used to it.

Xia Liucheng was tall and sturdy, but he kept his head down, deliberately avoiding looking that way.

He had business to attend to now and didn’t dare stir up more trouble, otherwise, as soon as the police station came to investigate, detention wouldn’t be enough to solve his problems.

After finally reaching the front of the line and some more dallying, Xia Liucheng took less than two weeks’ pay and silently left the factory.

It was getting dark.

Xia Liucheng ate a bowl of knife-cut noodles outside the factory, wiped his mouth, and then walked back to his rented room.

On the way, Xia Liucheng couldn’t help but stop when he saw a marinade shop, he went over and said, "Boss, give me two pounds of pig’s head meat, don’t cut it."

"Not cutting it, huh? Alright," the boss replied with a nod.

Xia Liucheng grunted and said almost to himself, "It’s for a memorial."

"I’ll round it down for you," the boss said, showing a good business sense.

Xia Liucheng thanked the boss, took the pig’s head meat, and then said to him, "It’s for my uncle. My uncle treated me very well when he was alive. It’s a shame."

"Condolences," said the boss.

Xia Liucheng nodded, "There’s no other way. He came across someone who was desperately needing money, went to borrow from him, he wouldn’t lend, and ended up getting attacked in his bedroom. Just like that, they killed him all in one go... If he had just lent the money, he would have been fine."

The boss shook his head, "These days, when people borrow money, how many are willing to pay it back? They either deny the debt or find some excuse to borrow more. Then you’re faced with the question, to lend or not to lend? If you don’t, isn’t that just inviting trouble again?"

Xia Liucheng suddenly looked up, glaring, and said, "Everyone has a time of hardship. When you lend money to someone in need, and they get past the hard times, they’ll surely find a way to repay you. Even if they can’t, it’s better than losing their life."

"What kind of trouble is so bad that it leads to murder?" The boss chopped half a pig’s ear, placed it in a bag, and handed it to Xia Liucheng, "This one’s on the house, a little token from me."

Xia Liucheng’s expression softened as he took the bag and let out a sigh, "You’re a good person, boss. You don’t know, when debt collectors come knocking on your door, they’re really after your life."

"Every family has its own troubles. I used to borrow money for my daughter’s education. Now it’s about the same. Even with a small shop like this, the transfer fee costs hundreds of thousands," the boss said, who saw all kinds of people every day and felt something was off about Xia Liucheng’s gaze, chatting away with one hand holding a knife.

Xia Liucheng nodded silently and turned to leave.

The boss breathed a sigh of relief and immediately went to lock the door, turning to his wife who heard the noise and said, "Those people living in the factory area are always on edge. We should find some sucker to take over the shop."

...

Underneath the rental flats of Jinglin New Village.

Mu Zhiyang was leaning against a tree, idly scrolling through his phone.

He had come over with two police officers from the Zhengguang Bureau. When Huang Qiangmin sold people, he included Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad, so naturally, the hardship of business trips couldn’t all fall on their benefactor. Moreover, for the detectives of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team, was there really much difference between a business trip to Beijing and to any other city?

Although Mu Zhiyang often followed Jiang Yuan, he had no official title and so couldn’t ask for special treatment. This time, he picked a big city, thinking a quick flight there and back would be relaxed enough.

Mu Zhiyang never expected that his first appearance at the Zhengguang Bureau would happen at this moment.

No sooner said than done, as soon as Xia Liucheng, carrying the pig’s head meat, saw the two policemen under the rented flat, his first instinct was to turn and run.

This action seemed like one he had practiced a thousand times, or perhaps rehearsed a thousand times in his mind, so Xia Liucheng instinctively used it straight away.

All his most valuable possessions were on him; if he escaped, he could just live under a false name.

At the same time, Mu Zhiyang and another detective, both in uniform and on their phones, were somewhat startled.

In that instant, without thinking, Mu Zhiyang took two steps forward while drawing his right hand back and rotating his right shoulder to the side, facing Xia Liucheng sideways. Then, without hesitation, he hurled his Huawei phone at Xia Liucheng.

The detective who came with him was only just starting to move when he heard a "thump," and his colleague had already sent the third-class merit tumbling to the ground.

Within the time it took to stagger and fall, the two detectives had thrown themselves on him.

Xia Liucheng was pinned down, first stunned and then desperately resisting, arching his body while clinging to the bag of pig’s head meat and letting out a wail, "Uncle, uncle, why were you so foolish? Why were you so foolish!"