Four people are dead and 11 in a hospital as of Tuesday in the aftermath of a multiple stabbing on Sunday in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Li Nianyong, 41, of Xianglong village in Jintang, a county under the administration of Chengdu, has been taken into custody in connection with the stabbings.

According to the Chengdu-based Tianfu Morning Post, the stabbing spree has shocked Li's fellow villagers, as he is a man of few words and has never had an altercation with anyone.

Since his parents died six years ago, Li lived alone at a red brick house in the village.

But as he worked as a migrant worker, he was seldom at the house. When he did return home, he would keep to himself and did not visit others, according to one of his cousins.

Li has two brothers and two sisters.

The cousin told the Tianfu Morning Post that Li worked in the fields with his parents after graduating from primary school. He was very obedient to his parents.

After his parents died, Li worked as a migrant worker and failed to get his wages several times, his cousin said.

Six years ago, he fled an illegal brick and tile factory in Shandong province, where he was forced into slave labor. He has been more eccentric ever since, the cousin said.

"When we learned he had become a killer, we immediately thought he must have killed the boss who delayed payment of his wages," he told the Tianfu Morning Post.

The last person who saw Li in the village on Sunday was his aunt, the paper said.

"He was quiet but would greet me when we met. But when I saw him sitting on the back of somebody's motorcycle, I spoke but he did not reply" she was quoted as saying.