National Forensic Doctor

In just one day, the laboratory had identified the murder weapon from the 68 hoes collected.

This is also a major feature of rural cases; the motives may be complicated and confusing, but the villagers’ counter-surveillance measures are notably lackluster.

The family had merely washed the hoe, not even bothering to dispose of it or replace its bamboo handle. Moreover, they had stored the hoe in a warehouse, and it was only when the neighbors came to borrow a hoe that someone pointed out, "Didn’t your family buy a new hoe?"

This hoe was prominently marked by Lei Xin and sent to the laboratory, where it was immediately matched.

"The murderer is the victim’s uncle by marriage, and the root cause was a dispute over the families’ burial grounds..." Lei Xin explained briefly, then shook his head in confusion, adding, "In short, it was all about trivial, stale grudges. According to the murderer, the two were talking in the backyard and started arguing over a canal repair, which escalated into a brawl."

Lei Xin went on to detail parts of the case, then spread his hands and said, "If we were to look for clues in the motive, a lifetime wouldn’t be enough."

"So you mean if that family had properly dealt with that hoe, this case could have been different?" Wang Chuanxing, who was sitting nearby typing on a computer, couldn’t help but ask.

Liu Jinghui shook his head, "Not necessarily. As long as we figured out what the murder weapon was, it would not be difficult to ask around whose hoe had gone missing."

"That’s true. In the village, there aren’t many secrets that can be hidden. This time, the murderer’s next-door neighbor also helped out," said Lei Xin, who himself came from a rural background. While speaking, he couldn’t help but shake his head, "The two families argued over building houses, fixing canals, and even burial sites, but they never escalated to criminal cases."

"Heard quite a lot of gossip, have you?" Liu Jinghui asked with a chuckle.