False evidence

Chapter 160 The Mystery Customer (Part 1)

Liu Yier smiled and said to me, "The antique business is a deep and murky place, but if you really find a great bargain, the money can come really fast. Sanqi, do you want to do this? If you do, I'll have Xiao Hong teach you."

Before I could answer, Xiao Shensan shook his head and said, "He's just not cut out for business. A businessman has to be greedy! It's not that he's not greedy, but this kid is stubborn and inflexible."

"How exactly do you mean by being stubborn?" Liu Yier asked with great interest.

Xiao Shen San turned to Yan Fengwei and asked, "Do you remember that birdcage? Do you know what happened to it in the end?"

He pointed at me: "I was buried alive as a coffin for a cat."

Yan Fengwei grinned. "Buried alive? Sanqi, you're really taking money for granted!"

"What birdcage? A birdcage with hidden gold?" Liu Yier asked.

Yan Fengwei said with a regretful look, "It's Mao Zangjin. The cage hook set was a gift from Emperor Zhengde to Prince Ning."

Liu Yi'er paused for a moment, then asked me, "Are the people who buried the cat with you all reliable?"

"We're all friends, and neither of us is greedy."

When I first met Liu Yi'er, he seemed to only drink tea. This time, when I met Yan Fengwei, he drank alcohol.

However, he didn't seem to be a good drinker. Halfway through the night, he mumbled that Yan Fengwei was Lin Qin'en, and in the end, he just passed out.

I helped Liu Hong put him in the car and told him that I had something to talk to Yan Fengwei about and asked him to take the old man home first.

Liu Hong loudly agreed, but with his back to the car window, he stuffed a piece of paper into my hand.

As I watched the car drive away, I walked back while unfolding the note. It read:

Brother, you already know about what happened to our Liu family when we got together last time.

Your hasty departure under some pretext must be because an outsider has a clearer perspective and has thought of another way to break the Liu family's curse.

What you're thinking of, my father already thought of when he was alive.

However, as children and grandchildren, they all hope that their parents will be healthy and live long lives, even if it means shortening their own lives.

Therefore, I implore my brother to keep the secret he knows.

Liu Hong was deeply grateful for the great kindness and virtue, and naturally wanted to repay it.

After tearing up the note, I sighed deeply, finally confirming what Liu Hong meant by the 'truth' he told me not to tell.

Back at Yan Fengwei's shop, Xiao Shensan had already taken out two drawings and was asking Yan Fengwei and Meng Zhen questions about them.

Yan Fengwei remained clear-headed. After looking at the place repeatedly for a while, he turned to Meng Zhen and asked, "Do you remember these two places?"

Meng Zhen shook her head: "I've never seen these two places since I can remember."

Yan Fengwei then turned to me and said, "Your sister-in-law said she's never seen them, which means those two houses didn't exist thirty years ago, or at least not in our city."

Honestly, I'd say no one could build a house like that. Look at this one; it's more like a tower than a house, but it only has two stories. You could also call it a pavilion, since it has bells on each of its six corners.

This doesn't resemble modern architecture, but as far as I know, no dynasty's architecture would produce something like this. The other one is similar; it's just a hodgepodge. Just imagining the layout doesn't suggest it's a house for people to live in.

To be honest, this was just something someone who knows how to draw created based on their imagination. Those two places don't actually exist!

"If not, then there won't be."

The discovery of a human skin map in such a valuable birdcage would pique the curiosity of even the most indifferent person.

But after my initial curiosity wore off, I lost the energy and felt there was no need to find anything.

After Liu Yier left, Meng Zhen's gaze towards Yan Fengwei changed again.

Finally unable to hold back any longer, he threw a broken phone in front of Yan Fengwei and asked me sullenly, "Did he call you to come and save him?"

He then grabbed Yan Fengwei's ear and yelled, "You think calling for reinforcements will work? You think I'll let you off the hook? Dream on! If you don't explain this clearly today, I'm going to the hospital right now and get the child aborted!"

"Hey, hey, hey! Sister-in-law, don't talk nonsense!" I quickly winked at Pidan.

After separating the two, I asked Yan Fengwei, "What's this all about? Didn't you break up with that woman from last time?"

Yan Fengwei looked aggrieved and said, "It broke up a long time ago. It wasn't that one, it was another one... no, no..."

I really have no experience in handling this kind of thing.

Xiao Shen was quick-witted; his eyes darted around a few times before he tentatively asked:

"It's not because you have any relationship with other women, but the trouble started because of women, isn't it?"

Yan Fengwei nodded quickly: "That's right. I only met that woman once, in the store, for less than twenty minutes! I swear I've never seen her before!"

Meng Zhen got angry again upon hearing this, "You little brat, that's not what you told me! You told me you'd met that woman and even had dealings with her. I'm asking you, what kind of 'dealings' did you have?"

Xiao Shen suddenly waved his hand: "Calm down, all of you! Just say one thing: can you still live together? If you can, sit down and talk calmly. If you can't, then get a divorce!"

I must say, his old advice on how to persuade couples to stop arguing is really effective every time.

Upon hearing an outsider suggest divorce, Meng Zhen immediately fell silent.

I was both amused and exasperated. I said to Yan Fengwei, "You called me to come and mediate this fight. Now that Grandpa Liu is gone, your wife is still angry. So we need to sort this out. All you need to understand is this: whatever you say or do, the goal is to calm your wife down."

Yan Fengwei looked distressed: "I didn't mean to upset her, and I didn't have anything going on with any other woman. I just kept nagging her a bit. It's her... she has prenatal depression, she's paranoid, and she started arguing with me without saying a word."

"Depression? She's only been pregnant a few days and she's already depressed?"

I turned to Meng Zhen and said, "Sister-in-law, please don't get angry anymore. The first three months are the most vulnerable to stress."

I then asked Yan Fengwei, "Could you tell me about this from the beginning?"

Yan Fengwei nodded, but got up and walked to a shelf, lay down on the ground, stuck out his buttocks, and pulled something out from under the shelf.

It was a small, exquisitely decorated box, usually used to store small pieces of jewelry such as rings.

Yan Fengwei opened the box, and inside was indeed a ring.

Pidan was definitely on Meng Zhen's side, and asked coldly, "Who are you planning to give this ring to?"

Yan Fengwei immediately replied, "It wasn't a gift; I just received it this morning!"

I told him to calm down and speak slowly.

After he finished telling the whole story, Shen San and I both felt that Meng Zhen seemed to be a bit 'depressed' and also had some menopausal mania.

But everyone also felt that Yan Fengwei had confessed to the whole thing.

The cause of the matter is very simple—

The couple arrived at the shop early in the morning.

Meng Zhen went to play mahjong with some friends on the next street as usual, while Yan Fengwei looked after the shop alone.

Around mid-morning, a customer came into the shop and said he had something to sell to Yan Fengwei.

Once the price was agreed upon, the money was exchanged for the goods.

Shortly after the guests left, Meng Zhen returned before noon because she had an argument with a mahjong player.

Yan Fengwei first 'reported' to her that he had made a deal.

After examining the items, Meng Zhen asked about the purchase price and said it wasn't a loss.

Then, she casually asked, "Male or female?"

Then, the conflict began.

(End of this chapter)