Maomao ran between the two of them and grinned at Long Kui. "No wonder my big boss and boss like you so much. You're not stingy like her!"
"What? I'm stingy?"
Tang Xuejian kicked Maomao in the backside. "I'm stingy, and she's generous?"
At the village entrance.
"Everyone!"
Xu Changqing addressed the villagers gathered around him. "We need your help catching the killer!
"He's extremely violent, vicious, and bloodthirsty. Will you help us catch him?"
"No way!"
"Exactly! If he's as terrifying as you say, running into him would get us killed!"
"Hero, I have an eighty-year-old mother and a baby who isn't even a month old. Forgive me, but I can't help!"
Not one of the villagers took Xu Changqing's words to heart. Within moments, they had all left.
"White Tofu!"
Jing Tian stepped forward and clapped Xu Changqing on the shoulder, his face full of displeasure. "Look what you've done, blurting all that out. Now they're all gone!"
"I only told them the truth!"
Xu Changqing looked baffled. "Besides, people should look out for one another. How can they just stand aside?"
After covering the corpse with its white cloth, Yue Chu stood and looked at them. "If it doesn't concern them, they won't get involved. Self-interest is human nature."
Jing Tian frowned. "That miser's jade ring wasn't taken. What does that tell us?"
"It wasn't a robbery. It was revenge!" Xu Changqing answered without a moment's thought.
"Uh..."
Jing Tian swallowed, then changed tack. "So who's the likeliest suspect?"
"Well..."
Xu Changqing paused, remembering the conversation between Master Liu and Wan Yuzhi at the Peaceful Inn last night. His eyes lit up. "Could it be Wan Yuzhi?"
Just as Yue Chu, Xu Changqing, and Jing Tian were at a loss, Maomao, Tang Xuejian, Long Kui, and