"Could you tell me exactly what happened?"
"Huh? Well, he was bitten to death."
"Was he bitten to death in the Tang family's courtyard?"
"No, no. That dog got out. It chewed through its leash and escaped. The little boy was playing outside when the dog chased him down. It ran after him for a long way. That's what the other kids who were playing with him said. They threw stones and yelled, but nothing could drive the dog away. When they tried to get closer again, they got bitten too. That little boy... it was awful. His arm was bitten off and eaten."
"Didn't any adults rush over to stop it?"
"There wasn't time. By the time someone got there, his stomach had already been ripped open. Sigh..."
"What was done about it afterward?"
"They paid them some money, I guess. The Tang family denied everything at first. By the time people arrived, the dog had run off. The children said... they all said it was a big dog, that it was the one from the Tang family, but no one caught it... Later, when Tang Yingxiong came back and asked about it—the same thing you just asked, exactly what had happened—the children couldn't get their stories straight anymore. They said maybe a stray dog had killed him. They said his dog had never bitten anyone, had never even guarded the house. It was just a pet the city folks kept to feed and pamper. It wouldn't bite anyone or anything like that. The whole thing was a muddled mess. After that, the dog was caught..."
"Let me interrupt you. Did Tang Yingxiong bring his wife here during that time?"
"Oh, yeah. They came once. Old Tang's wife hadn't wanted to pay a single cent at first. She even