Chen Shi said, "Do you know what you’re saying? If these two police officers are still in the village right now, then this is a kidnapping case. Right now, you guys are the only ones in the village besides the villagers. The villagers have no motive to kidnap the police, but you do!"

"Nonsense! Where’s your brain?!" The agent raised his eyebrows. "I saw someone dragging those two policemen into a warehouse that day."

"Which warehouse?"

"Why should I tell you? You can’t give Angela justice."

It came back to this question again. Chen Shi sighed and asked, "Okay, how much is the ferret?!" He planned to settle the matter by dipping into his own pocket.

"Angela has been Xiaoqing’s companion for many years. It's not a question of money." The agent became increasingly domineering.

"Usually, when people say 'this is not a problem of money', it means 'this is not a problem that can be solved by a small amount of money.' Don't even think about raising the price. That ferret could only cost over a thousand yuan at most."

There was a knock on the glass from within the minivan. The agent ran to the minivan’s window and discussed in a low voice with the person inside. After coming back, his attitude had improved a little. He said, "Our Xiaoqing is magnanimous, she said that we don’t need this money. The compensation doesn’t matter, but you have to get Angela’s murderers to come over here and apologize."

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue exchanged glances. Lin Dongxue said, "Okay, we promise."

"Aren’t things okay then? Let's go. I will take you to the scene where I witnessed the kidnapping of those two policemen."

The agent led the two into the village, and a cameraman voluntarily followed them, asking Lin Dongxue questions animatedly along the way, but Chen Shi kept interrupting him. As the saying goes, cameramen and photographers are sex-starved maniacs and it seems that there is some truth in it.

When they arrived at a warehouse built of clay bricks, the agent said, "This is it!"

Chen Shi glanced through the crack of the door. It was a tractor warehouse with an old tractor and some miscellaneous items inside. He asked, "How many people were there? How were they dragged and what was the specific time?"

"Old Ma, let's recreate the scene."

The cameraman stepped forward and pretended to throw a punch. The agent drooped his head to one side correspondingly, and then the cameraman dragged the agent into the warehouse from behind.

"The second one was about to run when things got grim, but was pressed down by another..."

The agent acted as the second policeman, pretending to escape. The cameraman came out from beside the wall and took something out of his pocket. His hand held something like a knife. Then he dragged the agent back while holding it against the agent’s neck.

"It was at about 11:00 in the morning. There was no one here."

"That's not right!" Lin Dongxue whispered to Chen Shi, "The villagers said they had lunch at Old Jia Number Four's."

The agent asked, "Can you believe what the villagers say? They only know how to protect their own. There were once several young people who went to the countryside to have fun, but they all disappeared en masse. The police searched but the villagers all said that they had never seen these people. A few years later, one of the girls escaped. She had given birth to two children for a villager. Isn’t that scary?"

"First of all, let's not talk about the veracity of your story. Policeman Little Jia is related to people from the village. In addition, what motivation do the villagers have to kidnap the police?"

"How would I know what the motive is? Wouldn't you know if you catch the perpetrators?"

"What do the suspects look like?" Lin Dongxue asked.

"Like farmers. They looked big and rough. They were definitely not as handsome as me." The agent licked his lips. "I can't remember that clearly. It's not like I encounter police kidnappings every day. I was also very scared at the time. I didn't dare to watch too much."

"Come here!"

Chen Shi took the agent to the intersection. From there, you could see the entrance of the village. Chen Shi said, "Their police car was parked there that day. The villagers said that the two of them drove away at about 3:00 in the afternoon. You should have seen them too."

"Did you see them, Old Ma?"

"I did. Two policemen went there and drove the car away that day."

The agent said, "Then I don't know what's going on? You can check it yourself. I only know this much about the situation anyway."

"One more question: Why did you pass by here at the time?" Chen Shi said.

"Little Qing said that she wanted to eat Chinese toon mixed with tofu, and asked me to pick some. I didn't want to ask around, so I wandered around the village and saw this scene."

"It's May right now. Were you able to pick any?"

"I did. It was really tender, though it tasted a little bitter."

Chen Shi thought that it was definitely not Chinese toon that he had picked, but judging from his expression, the agent wasn’t lying.

After the two left, Lin Dongxue said, "Now, there’s a second version. I think it is a good thing. If we ask more, the liar will reveal their mistakes and the truth will come out."

"Perhaps no one lied. I can't imagine the villagers or the celebrity team having any motives for kidnapping the police. They probably just saw different sides of the same thing." Chen Shi stared at the locked door of the warehouse and pondered. "The rice harvest collectors are the problematic ones. They kidnapped the police, but the police car had to be disposed of. Thus, they put on police uniforms in the afternoon, let themselves be spotted by the villagers, got into the police car, and drove it away. The local police station would conduct a search after they go missing for two days, so it’s definitely not safe for them to leave the police here. Therefore, they hurriedly collected Old Jia Number Four’s rice last night, hid the police in the rice, and carted them away."

"Is Old Jia Number Four also an accomplice?"

"Judging from his sudden departure this morning, Old Jia Number Four is likely problematic."

"Then, the motive..."

"I still can't figure it out. Maybe my brain would work faster after I'm full."

"Haha, I'm hungry too. Let's go!"

A bunch of police had just eaten at Old Jia’s and left some food for the two of them. Lunch was made up of rice, steamed cured meat and some stir-fried vegetables. Although it was a simple home-style meal, it had the flair of farmhouse cooking, probably because of the pots and stoves used.

"It’s the first time I’ve thought cured meat is so delicious." Lin Dongxue said, holding her rice bowl.

"It's truly very fragrant!"

After they finished their meal, Old Zhang settled the food expenses. After all, the village committee wasn’t wealthy, so Old Jia accepted it after declining for a while.

Chen Shi said, "We just acquired an eyewitness account. We’ll search a certain place this afternoon. By the way, call Old Peng over."

Xu Xiaodong called and said, "Captain Peng said that he might have to come a little later."

Lin Dongxue suggested, "Why don’t we find the harvest collectors first?"

"Okay!"

Chen Shi told the other police officers about the information he had just found out through questioning. Old Zhang said in surprise, "The agent didn't call the police when he saw the police being kidnapped? He didn't mention a word when he went to the city bureau to report the case either. A ferret is more important than human beings, right?!"

Old Jia who was cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks overheard. "I have to interrupt. At noon that day, I really saw Little Xu and Little Jia eating at Old Jia Number Four's house. I even greeted them. How could they have been kidnapped at 11:00?"