Chapter 2068: Chapter 2068: Framing Ruan Jinqian
As soon as Shu Yu spoke, the villagers all looked up at her in unison.
It might be because Shu Yu had been friendly all day, treating all the villagers who wanted to plant sunflowers with great kindness.
As a result, the moment she appeared, the villagers approached her and said, "County magistrate, county magistrate, youāre here, you must stand up for us. Itās impossible for our villagers to commit murder. Please speak for us in front of the county magistrate; we canāt be slandered for no reason."
As the villagers spoke, they turned to look at the two constables blocking the road.
Constables have been handling cases for many years and understand that villages with people of the same surname living together are the hardest to deal with, externally they are very united. Especially now, as village chief Ruan Hai was the first to speak, it was clear he was shifting the conflict onto the entire village.
Luckily, there were over twenty constables here this time, so there was no need to worry too much.
If it werenāt for the concern of exacerbating the conflict and Constable Jiangās instructions not to respond too much, they would have drawn their swords from their waists to intimidate these villagers.
Now that the county magistrate was here, the two constables turned and made way for her.
A constable followed behind Shu Yu; she raised her gaze to the villagers and asked, "Without discussing anything else, can someone tell me whose hoe this is?"
As soon as she spoke, the constable behind her stepped forward with a hoe.
Ruan Haiās pupils shrank, and the villagers immediately stepped forward to identify it.
When Ruan Jinqian saw it, his eyes widened, "This hoe is mine. It suddenly went missing over half a month ago, why is it here?"
After saying this, he reached out to touch it.
Shu Yu, however, blocked him, saying solemnly, "This hoe was buried with the corpse in the pit. Based on Constable Jiangās preliminary judgment, the deceased was bludgeoned to death with this hoe."
"What?!" Ruan Jinqian instantly took a few steps back, looking at the hoe before him in horror.
The other villagers instinctively moved three steps away from Ruan Jinqian, staring at him with suspicion on their faces.
Seeing this, Ruan Jinqian waved his hands anxiously, "Itās not my doing, it has nothing to do with me. Really, county magistrate, bailiff, my hoe went missing half a month ago. At the time, I even asked the village chief to help me find it, maybe someone had stolen it, many people know about this."
Some villagers still remembered the matter, Ruan Jinqian was very distressed about his missing hoe and clamored about it for a long time.
Ruan Hai naturally couldnāt deny this, so he nodded, "Indeed, one morning half a month ago, Jinqian came to me saying his hoe was stolen, and we searched around here."
Ruan Jinqian just breathed a sigh of relief, but Ruan Hai suddenly changed his tone, frowning, "But the story about the hoe being stolen is your account; if youāre the one who... shouted thief to catch the thief, we wouldnāt know."
Ruan Jinqian stared wide-eyed in disbelief, "Village chief, what are you talking about?"
Ruan Hai sighed, "Iām just reasonably speculating; after all, the murder weapon is your hoe, itās very odd. Moreover, you said that you left the hoe on the field ridge and rested in the shade for a while, then the hoe went missing. Thatās very strangeāif someone really came to steal your hoe, you would definitely see it from the shade."
As soon as this was said, the other villagers began to discuss.
Shu Yu knew Ruan Hai was being disruptive, so he simply shifted the blame and pinned the crime on Ruan Jinqian.