Chapter 714: Chapter 714: The Dumplings Taste Off
Chen Shuxian’s husband, Zheng Aiguo, is also in his fifties. He used to work on the farm in the countryside for many years, so he’s in good health.
In recent years, there has been a labor shortage in the city, with many young people unwilling to work on construction sites.
It’s still these over-fifty-year-old men doing the hard work.
When Zheng Aiguo heard that city jobs paid more than farming, he brought Chen Shuxian to the city a few years ago.
Zheng Aiguo himself has no special skills and doesn’t know masonry or electrical work.
He followed fellow villagers to work as a laborer on a construction site and could still earn a good amount of money.
Today, upon returning, he immediately heard the sound of his wife chopping dumpling filling in the kitchen.
"Improving meals today?"
Though life in the city was unfamiliar, the living conditions were indeed much better than in the countryside.
Back in the countryside, the couple could only eat meat a few times a year.
But in the city, they could improve their meals every now and then.
Even though Zheng Aiguo worked as a laborer on the site, his skin was much fairer, and his originally dark wrinkles had faded a bit.
Last year before Lunar New Year, Chen Shuxian even got a perm and bought a gold ring.
If they were still in the countryside, Zheng Aiguo wouldn’t even dare to think about it.
Chen Shuxian called out from the kitchen, "Today, while cleaning, I picked up a bag of meat. It looked pretty good, so I brought it back to make dumpling filling for you."
"Sure!"
Zheng Aiguo didn’t care whether the meat was picked up or not. Back when he was starving, he’d even gnawed on tree bark.
Soon, the steaming hot dumplings were brought to the table.
"Pure meat filling."
Chen Shuxian poured some vinegar and soy sauce into small plates.
Since moving to the city, even the act of eating seemed more refined.
Back in the countryside, soy sauce and vinegar were just poured directly into the bowl.
But Chen Shuxian saw in restaurants that they had special plates for pouring vinegar and soy sauce.
If plates were chipped or broken, the restaurant would throw them away, and she would pick them up for her and her husband to use.
Zheng Aiguo ate a dumpling: "Huh? What’s the filling in today’s dumplings? The taste seems a bit off."
"Is it different? It should be pork; the meat looked good and wasn’t spoiled."
Chen Shuxian picked one up and tasted it...
"It does seem a bit different."
The meat used in restaurants is usually just a few types: pork, beef, lamb, or some poultry.
Chen Shuxian thought it was pork she picked up.
Because beef has very distinct coarse weaving, with very coarse muscle fibers, lamb has a gamy smell.
So these two types of meat were easy to distinguish.
But this time, the meat that Chen Shuxian brought back was quite fatty, and she assumed it was pork.
But once the dumplings were eaten, they lacked the fishy smell of pork.
Soft and sticky, a bit strange.
Zheng Aiguo put down his chopsticks: "Did you mince all the meat?"
"No, there were about ten to twenty pounds in the bag, I only minced two or three pounds, the rest is all in the fridge."
Zheng Aiguo stood up, opened the fridge, and took out the meat to inspect it thoroughly.
He didn’t care if the meat was picked up or bought, but it can’t be spoiled at least.
Eating bad meat not only affects health and prevents earning money, but it also costs money for hospital visits.
Inside and outside, a lot of matters could be delayed.
Chen Shuxian’s eyesight wasn’t good, with some blurred vision, so she might not see clearly. Zheng Aiguo wanted to check personally.
Opening the plastic bag, the meat inside was all cleaned by Chen Shuxian.
Spotless.
At first glance, from the color and fat, it looked like pork.
And it seemed to be from the hindquarters.
But why is the skin of this meat so fine?
Pig bristles are thick and feel rough...
As Zheng Aiguo continued looking, his face suddenly changed dramatically.
"Stop eating! Call the police quickly! This... this is human flesh!"
After speaking, he started to vomit immediately.
Upon hearing it was human flesh, Chen Shuxian’s stomach seemed to churn as well.
The dumpling she was chewing suddenly felt like the most disgusting thing in the world.
Vomit!
...
Half an hour later.
Lu Chuan had already arrived at the scene.
After receiving the report, the police center first dispatched nearby officers to seal off the scene, then directly notified the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team to respond.
Previously, when arriving at a crime scene, Lu Chuan would go straight to the site for investigation.
But this time was different. As the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, Lu Chuan needed to oversee the overall investigation of the case.
While crime scene investigation is crucial, it is just one part of the whole process.
This time, to be honest, was the real test for Lu Chuan.
If it had been two years earlier when Lu Chuan just got the system and had to fully command the murder investigation, he wouldn’t have managed.
But now things are different.
After two years of experience, Lu Chuan’s growth in all aspects is quite complete.
Even though, in the Criminal Investigation Team, Lu Chuan mainly dealt with crime scene investigation,
he had participated in missions with the action group a few times.
Regarding interviews, suspect apprehension, and other major tasks of the action group, he gained some understanding.
Additionally, he learned a lot from Qin Yong during the process of handling cases.
So now, he arranged everything methodically.
"Team One, make a record for the complainant, and ask where and when they found these things."
"Team Two, interview the neighbors around."
"Team Three, come with me to the scene to conduct the crime scene investigation."
This was the first murder case Lu Chuan encountered after being transferred to the Criminal Investigation Team.
Moreover, it was one of the rare dismemberment cases.
So Lu Chuan decided to personally handle the scene investigation this time.
The technical personnel at the Criminal Investigation Team here are significantly inferior to him.
And in a dismemberment case, the most important part is to identify the source of the body through these fragments.
The High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team’s crime scene investigators and forensic doctors were all part of Team Three.
So Lu Chuan had them come over to assist with the investigation.
But unfortunately, the fragments found at the scene did not provide more clues to Lu Chuan and his team.
Because the fragments had been washed by Chen Shuxian, any traces that might have been present had already disappeared.
By piecing them together, Lu Chuan could only confirm the location of these fragments.
The buttocks and waist area.
Together with the part Chen Shuxian minced into dumpling filling, the total weight was about twenty-one pounds.
Once pieced together, it should be a complete buttock, leaning towards the upper waist.
Based on the thickness of the fat and the shape of the entire buttock, Lu Chuan preliminarily judged that the deceased should be female.
Due to physiological differences, the distribution of muscle and fat thickness in the buttocks of men and women varies significantly.
Since the fragments in the bag were relatively complete when pieced together, their shape, size, and fat thickness allowed for a rough estimation.
Furthermore, the skin surface of the fragments was tight and smooth, suggesting the deceased was quite young, likely between thirty and forty years old.
After roughly determining the gender and age, these fragments could no longer provide any more information.
"Send it to the technical center for DNA testing first."
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