Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

Other colleagues from the criminal investigation team came over and collected bloodstains for testing. Zhao Chongyun had just finished asking about the situation at Deng Jinru's house and came to Xie Qingfei to explain the news.

Deng Jinru had a boyfriend who was ready to get married, but before she disappeared, they had a quarrel over money and were already in a cold war. Deng's boyfriend said he hadn't contacted Deng Jinru for a few days and was planning to wait until both of them calmed down before talking about breaking up, but who knew Deng Jinru disappeared again.

However, Deng's mother said that on the evening of the 16th, her daughter sent a message saying that she would not be back for dinner, and also hinted that she would soon have a son-in-law, which indirectly proved that she was originally scheduled to meet her boyfriend in the evening. The two sides' statements are obviously contradictory.

"But Deng Jinru's boyfriend also said that he lost his phone that day. Not to mention that they are still in a cold war, even if he wanted to contact the other party, he couldn't do it. So what Big Mouth Brother means is that the murderer stole Deng's boyfriend's phone, forged the boyfriend's tone to send a message to Deng Jinru to meet at the Xiansheng Road warehouse, and may have said something that made Deng Jinru misunderstand that it was a marriage proposal to strengthen her determination to go to the appointment. Otherwise, who would go there for no reason." Zhao Chongyun said, and then doubted, "But even if the murderer could get close to Deng's boyfriend and steal things, the phone has a password, how could he open it?"

After Xie Qingfei finished listening, he thought for a few seconds and then said, "Is your mobile phone password 021224 or 980517?"
"The one in front..." Zhao Chongyun was shocked, "How did you know?"
"You look like someone who would use your birthday as a password." Xie Qingfei said, "And there was more than one chance to unlock the door. It's not surprising that the murderer was able to find the correct password within a limited number of attempts. After all, we all know that he is very smart."

Zhao Chongyun’s first thought was, Master actually knows my birthday.
His second reaction brought him back to the point. Thinking back on the scenes he had visited over the past few days, he discovered that if the residential area where victim No. 3, Kang Wenxia, ​​lived had not been temporarily painted with waterproof paint that caused the murderer to accidentally leave footprints, they would not have been able to determine any of this person's characteristics from the almost negligible clues obtained at other scenes. However, the other party seemed to be able to predict the direction of their investigation and was now directly provoking the police. How could this not be considered smart?

He spoke out his thoughts unconsciously. After he mentioned it, Xie Qingfei asked again: "Didn't they say that the crime scene No. 3 was destroyed by the family of the deceased later?"
Zhao Chongyun nodded: "Yes, it's the deceased's stepmother."
"I have a few more questions for her."
"Okay, I'll make arrangements."

Not far away, Wei Cheng saw Xie Qingfei looking at her, pointed to the phone next to her ear, and indicated that she had something to do and had to leave first.
Xie Qingfei nodded at him, thinking that he seemed to be getting busier recently and had more meetings than before.
She couldn't help feeling a little relieved.

"Xi Ming said that Li Mu handed over a list of people he suspected might frame them."
Her thoughts were pulled back when she heard Zhao Chongyun say.
"Who are they?"
Zhao Chongyun clicked on the form and couldn't help but exclaimed, "So long?"
The table is so densely packed that I can't scroll to the bottom at once.
"Did he write down everyone he could name?" Zhao Chongyun frowned and asked, "How are we going to check this?"

Xie Qingfei also saw several big guys at a glance, and thought that Li Guangming could not retire peacefully this time.
"Li Mu is considered a 'prince' in their small circle. He doesn't have many true friends, but he has a lot of bad friends. He goes to your dinner party today and his party tomorrow. He should know very well why others flatter him. Money and power transactions always have to have a legitimate cover. The group of people who benefit the most from him are the most suspicious."
Zhao Chongyun understood and found a few names: "Are these the people who paid a huge price to buy the copyright of his novel?"
"Yes and no, this is not something we should investigate." Xie Qingfei pointed at a few other names, "These are the key targets we will visit later."

Zhao Chongyun followed Xie Qingfei to an entertainment club and was led into a private room by the front desk.

Xie Qingfei stood at the door and turned off the music and lights. The room was brightly lit. A group of young men with the words "dandy" written on their faces started howling like zombies exposed to the sun, cursing and going to see which ignorant "Lin Zhengying" dared to invade their lair.

Just as Xie Qingfei was about to show his ID, a surprised voice called out from the corner: "Why are you here? Are you here to see me?"

The intimate tone made Zhao Chongyun frown. He looked in the direction of the voice and found that the little foreigner named Xu Siruo jumped over the obstacles in front of him like a hurdle and ran straight towards Xie Qingfei. He was as enthusiastic as the golden retriever that the uncles in their community usually walked.
What’s even more terrifying is that the big golden retriever can’t talk. It could be considered cute when it barks, but the one in front of him only says things he doesn’t like to hear every time he opens his mouth.

When Xu Siruo was one meter away from him, Xie Qingfei made a "stop" gesture: "I may have cat hair on me."
Hearing this, Xu Siruo fished out a medicine bottle from his pocket, poured out two pills and swallowed them with half a glass of wine on the table, then came over again: "It's okay now, I took the allergy medicine!"
Xie Qingfei: "..."

Zhao Chongyun thought, is this guy really that bad? He is so bold and daring.

Someone on the sofa came back to his senses and asked, "Mr. Xu, who are these two?"
Xie Qingfei explained his purpose to him, and Xu Siruo immediately took over the responsibility of maintaining order and asked the group of people to sober up and cooperate with the investigation.

The few people they were looking for were on the scene. They were the most frequent friends of Li Mu. They were good at flattering the central figure and had taken it to a professional level. They mainly played the role of an atmosphere group. In TV dramas, these types of younger brothers were often cannon fodder who followed the bandit leader and shouted at him, or lackeys who jumped out from the school bully to bully ordinary students. Although they didn't even have a name, they participated in all the main plots and had as much information as a monk sweeping the floor.
Their biggest advantage is that they are disloyal and will never help Li Mu hide the situation for the sake of brotherhood.
Xie Qingfei found them and successfully asked for what he wanted.

Three years ago, Li Mu and his group did have a conflict with a policeman.

The reason why they still remembered this person was because of the obvious physical defects under his tall and strong physique. From the conversation between Li Mu and him, they heard that the lame man was a policeman. He came to Li Mu mainly to scold the novel he wrote as shit, to seek justice, and to ask Li Mu to apologize. Li Mu was puzzled. He didn't know who the other person was. His proud work was criticized as worthless. He was also furious when he was called "eating human blood buns". Thinking about the identity of this person again, he felt that this lame man should have had some friendship with his uncle, Director Li, and wanted to take the opportunity to extort money after his job was lost, so he came to him.

Tired of being harassed, Li Mu called the security guard to drive the man away. The two sides could not reach an agreement and started fighting. A group of people were beaten by a cripple, but considering the other party's special status, Li Mu finally chose to keep the peace. After all, he was a graceful scholar to the outside world. All his achievements were achieved by his own talent, and he never bullied others by taking advantage of his power.

When they asked him what other characteristics he had besides his bad legs, everyone said that he was a gigolo.
The pretty boy in the eyes of men is actually a handsome guy.

After asking the question, Xu Siruo also put on his clothes and followed Xie Qingfei: "How is it? Is what they said useful? Is there anywhere else I can help?"
Xie Qingfei stopped and asked, "How did you get mixed up with this group of people?"
"No, no," Xu Siruo said, fearing that she would misunderstand him as an uneducated prodigal son, "I have serious business! The company plans to build a shopping mall over at Yingyue Avenue, and I'm here to discuss business. It's just that I didn't expect the place to be arranged here, otherwise I wouldn't have come. You must not like me like this. I won't deliberately do something that you don't like!"

Yingyue Avenue, which is where Fang Yutong lives, does have a fenced-off vacant lot. Xie Qingfei even saw the newly listed sales office when he went there last time.

Zhao Chongyun sneered when he heard this, and pushed people away from Xie Qingfei. He couldn't help but say, "You are too self-righteous. What you do has nothing to do with my master. Who cares about you?"
"What does my conversation with her have to do with you? Who are you?" Xu Siruo retorted. He had long seen that this person was hostile to him. "You call her Master, which means you are the junior. Why should a child butt in on an adult's conversation?"

Zhao Chongyun is one year older than Xu Siruo, but due to his status, he could not harass Xie Qingfei as shamelessly as he did. He was so angry that his face turned green when he was touched on a sore spot by him.
Xie Qingfei raised his eyebrows in surprise, thinking that Xu Siruo was quick to adapt to the local customs and was able to make Zhao Chongyun so angry that he was silent. Seeing that Zhao Chongyun was about to cry, he quickly advised: "You two should talk properly."

Xu Siruo showed a winner's smile, pushed the people aside again, and continued to say to Xie Qingfei: "Do you like the flowers I gave you last time? And the Christmas concert, will you come?"
"Come on, my master..." Zhao Chongyun wanted to retort, but his cell phone rang. He had no choice but to go aside to answer the call with a grim face.
Xie Qingfei later unpacked the bouquet of roses and gave one to each of the female colleagues in the unit. Everyone liked it very much, so she said the flowers were okay. As for his remaining invitation, she declined, "I don't have time."
"Are you busy later? Can I treat you to dinner?" Xu Siruo looked at her pleadingly without feeling disappointed. "I know you have a lot of work to do, but you still have to eat. I promise I won't delay your work, okay?"

He almost wagged his tail as he said, "I didn't even have the time to thank you formally for what you did last time. This is the second time you've helped me. Eight years ago was also..." "Master, there's news!" Zhao Chongyun ended the call in a hurry. He finally had a legitimate reason to interrupt Xu Siruo's nonsense about reminiscing about the past, and handed the phone to Xie Qingfei.

It is not uncommon for police officers to have to end their careers due to injuries. The man knew Li Mu, which meant he also knew Li Guangming. His former unit was most likely in Tianning District. By investigating the files of previous years within this range, a list was quickly obtained.
This time the list was not as long as the one sent by Li Mu. Every name and every achievement was remembered clearly.
Xie Qingfei took a quick glance and his gaze lingered on one of the names for a moment.

Xu Siruo was still trying to buy himself a chance, so he casually said, "Speaking of eight years ago, I met Officer Lei on Yingyue Avenue not long ago, and he didn't even recognize me."
Zhao Chongyun wanted to take this person away because he kept talking so much and dared to try to establish a relationship with her. He felt that Xie Qingfei must put work first. He was about to send him away when he heard Xie Qingfei say, "Okay."

Zhao Chongyun was startled.

Xu Siruo curved his eyebrows in surprise.
"Then let's have dinner together." Xie Qingfei threw the car keys to Zhao Chongyun and said, "You should go back first. You must be tired after a busy day."
Zhao Chongyun turned his head to look at Xu Siruo, and from his smiling face he could sense a strong sense of success. He said, "Can't I go with you?"
Xie Qingfei asked curiously, "What history do you have with him?"

Zhao Chongyun was speechless for a moment, and then he heard Xu Siruo lower his voice in his ear, saying in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "You are such a strange person, can't you see that she doesn't like you at all?"
When he moved his gaze to his face, Xu Siruo still had that innocent look, as if he had not said anything just now.

Xie Qingfei, with his little understanding of Zhao Chongyun's character, thought that he misunderstood that he looked down on him and thought he was incompetent, so he comforted him, "It's not appropriate to involve you in the matter between him and me. Can I treat you to a meal next time?"
This is not a question of whether to invite him to dinner or not. Zhao Chongyun's eyelashes trembled, and he heard himself say "hmm" obediently, and Xie Qingfei patted him on the shoulder.
A cold wind blew, chilling his heart. He could only watch the two people walk away.

He drove Xie Qingfei's car back to the Public Security Bureau alone, thinking about Xu Siruo's words all the way. Did Xie Qingfei not like him at all? Was it because he had never expressed his feelings, and she had never looked at him with the eyes of a man, so she ignored this aspect of the problem. What if she knew? She had always treated him differently. In the past, he would care about her motives for treating him well, but now he didn't want to care whether it was sympathy or something else. Even if it was just sympathy, would she agree because she felt sorry for him...

Zhao Chongyun went upstairs absentmindedly. What was Xie Qingfei doing at this moment? She should be sitting in the passenger seat of Xu Siruo's car. They would have dinner together face to face. They had memories spanning eight years to talk about, and Xie Qingfei would still smile at him.

In fact, he had thought several times that Xie Qingfei would get back together with Wei Cheng, because their way of getting along was almost the same as before, and their tacit understanding and intimacy did not fade after they were no longer lovers. But now he began to doubt. If her feelings for Wei Cheng had not changed, there was really no reason for her not to get back together with him. Could it be that she was really interested in Xu Siruo?
There were not many people in the office. After thinking it over, Zhao Chongyun walked to Wei Cheng's desk.
Wei Cheng: “?”
"I want to tell you that just now my master and that Xu Siruo, the two of them, made an appointment to have dinner alone." Zhao Chongyun was secretly looking forward to Wei Cheng's reaction.
Wei Cheng was stunned for a moment, then looked at his watch and said, "It's indeed time for dinner."

Seeing that Zhao Chongyun was still staring at him, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "You are looking for me. Do you want to go to the cafeteria with me?"
Zhao Chongyun: “…”
He thought to himself, no wonder the master wanted to break up with him. He had no sense of crisis at all. How could he endure this!
Forget it, I still have to rely on myself.
He became more determined.

However, where he couldn't see, Wei Cheng had already rushed over to question the culprit.

Xie Qingfei had just gotten off Xu Siruo's car, and the two of them were at the restaurant where she and Lei Heng had eaten last time. It was a weekday and not many people were around, so she chose the same seat she had sat in last time. Before she could even warm up her chair, she received a message from her ex-boyfriend checking up on her.

Xu Siruo's aggressive aura in front of Zhao Chongyun had long disappeared. Sitting alone with Xie Qingfei, he became embarrassed unusually. He poured her tea and handed her the menu. Every time the waiter was about to raise his hand, he did the job first and the waiter had to stand aside at a loss.

Xie Qingfei replied with two words and got straight to the point, "When did you meet Lei Heng?"

"Just three days ago, I went to Yingyue Avenue in the morning to check out the on-site planning, and I ran into him by chance."

Xu Siruo had a deep impression of Lei Heng because he was a gentle and good-tempered policeman. At that time, Xie Qingfei was still too young and unfamiliar with handling things, so when he was taken back to the police station and had no food or water that afternoon and was almost starving to death, she didn't even think of feeding him. In the end, Lei Heng returned to the office after finishing his work and saw that the little fat boy was so hungry that his face was deflated, so he quickly bought him some bread, and Xu Siruo came back to life.
Xie Qingfei, who had been sitting next to him and reading the files for a long time, finally realized that she had forgotten something. She was still laughing at him as he was eating voraciously. She was not afraid of being criticized by Lei Heng, and she poured each of them a cup of hot tea to apologize with a giggle.

"I greeted him but he didn't recognize me and said he had stopped being a police officer a long time ago."

As Xu Siruo was speaking, Xie Qingfei accidentally glanced behind him and his heart sank.

She was now sitting in the same place where Lei Heng had sat last time. On the wall opposite her seat was a felt board, which was covered with densely packed sticky notes with messages written on them. A few lines of words caught her eye:

[I went back to his hometown Yanji with my pig and had barbecue. The snow in the north is so beautiful. 】
[Dali is a really good city for relaxation. When can I settle down there? ]
【You must go to Weihai in winter with your good friends! 】

The content of her conversation with Lei Heng that day suddenly appeared in her mind, and every word matched.
Why didn't she see that he was lying? When a person is describing objective facts, he won't show the micro-expressions that he should have when he is making up a lie, and even his heart rate won't change at all. He is a policeman with strong psychological quality and sufficient coping ability.
The doubts in his heart were almost confirmed at this moment, and Xie Qingfei felt that the blood in his body had stopped flowing.

"Why didn't he quit?" Xu Siruo's surprised voice brought her back to her senses. "Don't civil servants have stable jobs in China? I thought they worked there for life."
Xie Qingfei's breathing suddenly tightened, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Don't you know why he quit?"
Xu Siruo touched his head in confusion, thinking that he was too stupid to understand what she meant, and did not speak for a while.
Xie Qingfei grabbed his hand and continued to ask: "Can't you see why he doesn't want to be a policeman?"

Xu Siruo's ears turned red instantly. He felt her hand was cold, but this feeling was dispelled by his great surprise. While he was greedily enjoying the touch of her palm, he racked his brains for a moment, but his mind was still blank.

"…Should I know?" he asked stutteringly, not understanding why she suddenly lost her composure.

(End of this chapter)