"Only half of Qian Weishi's words can be believed."
Gu Shen spread out the files, circled the table, and said, "This man is strange. He looks flustered as he spoke, and he keeps averting his eyes. It's as if he's afraid that I wouldn't doubt him."
"Dage, maybe he has something to hide, that's why he's afraid when he sees you." His subordinate stuffed several steamed buns into his mouth and said.
"He's afraid of me?" Gu Shen rapped on the table and scoffed. "He's not afraid at all. He just wants you to think he is afraid. This man is crafty. He must be hiding something."
"But all the neighbors are full of praises for him. There are five households in this alley; there's not one who has not received his kindness. Even beyond the alley on that street, others would still respectfully address him as 'Qian Fuzi'."
The subordinate drank cold tea to swallow down the bun and continued, "Besides, his arms are so skinny. It would be difficult for him to murder and dismember four people overnight."
"Is he from Jingzhen?"
"No. He is a native of Xitu. Five years ago, there was a great drought in Xitu. He fled the famine and came here to settle down. Several affluent families in the town wanted to hire him as a private teacher, but he rejected them all and continued to live in the alley."
The subordinate also found it strange at this point. "He obviously could not get along with Chen Ren, and yet he was unwilling to move out. Moreover, Chen Ren had extorted money from him several times as he was penniless due to his debt."
"How did he get along with the rest of the Chen household?"
"According to the neighbors' replies, Qian Weishi was amiable and approachable. Apart from Chen Ren, if the others from the Chen household had any requests, he would do his best to help." The subordinate flipped through the statements and continued, "He was especially good to the little girl of the Chen family, that seven-year-old Chen Caoyu."
Gu Shen closed the file and asked, "Then, how did the Chen household treat Chen Caoyu?"
"Naturally, they treated her well." The grizzled old widow leaned against her crutches and walked falteringly as she told Jing Lin, "Caoyu's mother was adored by her parents ever since she was a child. When she was young, Old Man Chen often took her out with him.
Although they were poor, he was never stingy with his daughter's clothes and snacks. They had prepared her dowry early, and the young man who asked for her hand was about to marry her. But that maiden somehow gave herself to someone in secret. Oh my, she got pregnant even before she had the wedding ceremony."
As Jing Lin helped her down the stairs, the old widow lamented." The lad ran away, so they could not marry the maiden off. She passed away just a few days after the child was born. Old Man Chen lost his baby, so naturally, he would treat his little granddaughter as the apple of his eye."
"I heard that the little girl's uncle was a good-for-nothing. How did he usually treat her?"
"Good." The old widow grabbed Jing Lin's wrist and said, "Don't let Chen Ren's reputation make you misunderstand his treatment of Caoyu. Although Chen Ren was nothing good, he was devoted to his niece. He married early, but he had no children.
