□ Correspondent Dong Guodong, Wu Yongfei, Wu Likou, and reporter Jie Liang
Yaozhao News - Before introducing the case of arson intentionally committed by a Guizhou native named Cen Xiong (pseudonym), we must first talk about his fellow townsman Hu Mou, who he did not know personally but looked somewhat like him.
Hu Mou, male, 40 years old, from Tongren City, Guizhou Province.
On July 22 this year, in the bustling Shilong Street of Songyuan Town, Lishui's Qingyuan County, the locally well-known "Qingyuan Gold Shop" lost over 260 pieces of gold and silver jewelry overnight, resulting in losses amounting to approximately 815,000 yuan.
The police quickly determined that Hu Mou was a major suspect in the crime and began hunting for him. At 10 a.m. the day before yesterday, Hu Mou was arrested in Oubei Town, Yongjia, Wenzhou.
During Hu Mou's escape, for Cen Xiong, who worked in Qingyuan, those were days of unbearable suffering.
Why? People around him all said that Cen Xiong's appearance looked very much like Hu Mou as captured on surveillance footage.
Cen Xiong was originally of a solitary nature, somewhat rigid in thinking. The more people said it, the more afraid he became. In Cen Xiong's view, both he and Hu Mou were from Guizhou, so there was a real possibility that things could get unclear.
Half a year ago, Cen Xiong met an online girlfriend surnamed Li, who was from Longquan. He cared deeply about her. What Cen Xiong feared most was that Li would also "judge a book by its cover" and mistakenly assume he was a fugitive. Unsurprisingly, this is exactly what happened.
Naturally, Cen Xiong felt wronged and wanted to explain himself. On July 28, he took a bus to Longquan. Cen Xiong was actually quite anxious, fearing that others might mistake him for a wanted criminal. If that happened, it would make it even harder to explain to Li.
Li lived in Badu Town, Longquan City, located at the Zhejiang-Fujian border, 21 kilometers away from the city center.
After much deliberation, Cen Xiong decided it would be better not to take a vehicle and simply walk instead. Thus, Cen Xiong spent about five hours walking to the vicinity of Li's home in Changyan Natural Village, Yejiao Village, Badu Town.
On the way, Cen Xiong encountered Li and tried to persuade her to leave with him, but she refused. He then left in anger.
At around 1 a.m. the next morning, a mysterious fire in Changyan Natural Village startled many villagers. Two motorcycles stored in a gray shed (a local type of simple structure) suddenly caught fire, burning up a lot of wood, wheat bran, and other materials.
This fire caused damage to four households in the village, including Li's family.
Based on relevant clues, the police also largely ruled out that Cen Xiong was highly suspicious.
At 11 p.m. on August 17, someone threw stones onto the roof of Li's house.
The police believed that it might still be Cen Xiong causing trouble. However, finding a person in the vast mountains under the cover of darkness was no easy task.
The Badu Police Station officers deliberately created a commotion near Li's house, making it seem like they were going to search the mountain. In reality, the officers heavily guarded the intersections, waiting for Cen Xiong to show up like in the idiom "waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump."
At around 1 a.m. on August 18, Cen Xiong, who had run to the roadside, was arrested. Confronted with the evidence, he admitted to his crimes and was subsequently criminally detained according to law.