A 64-year-old villager who allegedly killed his wife after her long affair with a 61-year-old fellow villager will face criminal charges, Fangshan district police said on Thursday.
Pei was arrested on Feb 25 following a manhunt in and around their home in Zhoukoudian, Fangshan district.
Beijing News reported that the man's wife, Li, was found dead by her lover on Feb 23 after the 61-year-old man, Wang, returned home from work.
Li and Wang shared a home in Zhoukoudian, according to the police.
Wang told police he left for work in the morning and locked the door, so police suspected the murderer might have gotten into the house through a window.
Li's husband, Pei, became the prime suspect after police noticed he was missing from his home.
He was found two days later in a cornfield in a neighboring village and reportedly told police he had been there for two days, with no food or water.
According to the newspaper, Pei explained to police that he had been married to Li for many years. The couple had two sons and a daughter.
However, he said, his wife had been having an affair with Wang for a long time and that made him a laughing stock in their village.
Wang's wife died in 2005. In 2007, Li divorced Pei and moved into Wang's home.
Pei told police that Li had a stroke in 2009 and was paralyzed. Pei took her back and took care of her, and the couple remarried in January.
But he told police that Wang "seduced" his wife again and she left him for a second time.
"The Chinese believe, even if a wife dies, she still belongs to the husband," Pei said. "But I am still alive and they are living together. Wang is destroying my family."
The paper reported that Pei said he could not bear the humiliation and he snuck into Wang's home and killed Li.
Wang told the newspaper he had always been true to Li and explained that the couple had been living together for years. He said he always regarded Li as his wife, the report said.
Wang said Li never liked Pei, and even though they remarried, he pointed out that Li still decided to return to him.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is fluent in Korean and has a 2-year-old son.