"Do you know Old Xie's full name?"
"No. I never paid attention. I was little back then, still young. People just called him Old Xie. Nobody used his full name. Probably nobody in the whole village knew it. When the police came looking for him, they didn't seem to know it either. We were sure his surname was Xie, but the name he'd given the village chief might've been fake."
"What about his nephew?"
"His nephew stayed behind and said he knew nothing. He lived pretty well around here. To be honest, he was a decent guy, about as good as me, I'd say. He was a good kid from the start, easygoing. If someone picked on him, he'd even cry. A little... girly... but still, he was fine. He really was a good guy. He lived here for years, got married, had a daughter. She was good at school, so for her sake, he sold the house and land here, moved to the city, and opened a little shop, I think. He still comes back to visit the old village chief on holidays sometimes, and he keeps in touch with us too, calls and all that. If anyone from our village needs to go into the city to take care of something, he's happy to help."
"What did he think about his uncle's affairs?"
"What could he think? He was stunned when the police showed up. My dad told me he was completely taken aback. He really didn't know anything about his uncle. He even tried to explain things to the police, and took them out to the fields to look. When they wanted to search the house, he was very cooperative. The police only had to raise their voices a little and he'd start trembling. He wasn't brave,