Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 358 This money was well spent

Fan Zhongliang turned around and saw that it was Fu Daqing.

This startled him.

Because in previous communications, each time was either outside or in the house he rented for Fu Daqing.

The key point is that he never told Fu Daqing where he lived.

This means that while Fu Daqing was keeping an eye on Zheng Guangming, he was also keeping an eye on himself.

Fan Zhongliang said he felt terrified at the time.

But he was more afraid of being seen with strangers by people in the neighborhood, which would arouse suspicion.

So he quickly pulled Fu Daqing out of the residential area.

A red car was parked diagonally opposite the residential area. Seeing the two of them come out of the residential area, Li Youqiang got out of the car.

Fu Daqing told him that they had killed Zheng Guangming last night and buried his body in the Xiaoqiushan Park that they had planned to do before.

Fan Zhongliang was skeptical and asked them if they had brought anything back as proof.

Fu Daqing took out an ID card from his pocket and handed it to him. He took it and saw that it was Zheng Guangming's ID card.

Startled, he quickly put his ID card into his pocket.

Fan Zhongliang asked them if anything unexpected had happened while they were handling things last night.

Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang exchanged a glance, smiled, and said everything went smoothly and nothing happened.

Fan Zhongliang pointed to the red car and asked where it came from.

This vehicle was not originally part of the plan.

Fu Daqing did suggest that Fan Zhongliang should get a vehicle, because moving the body would be very troublesome and a motorcycle would be inconvenient, or that Fan Zhongliang should give them his own vehicle to use.

However, Fan Zhongliang flatly refused. The car was designed to create an alibi, and lending it to them would be like walking into a trap.

Fu Daqing said that it had been agreed before that they would take care of getting things done, and he would not ask about the specific process.

This was a request made by Fan Zhongliang himself. He told the two men that he would not ask them where they killed the man, how they killed him, or even where they buried the body in Xiaoqiushan Park. He also told them not to tell him.

He only needed to make sure that Zheng Guangming was really dead, so he needed them to bring him a certificate.

The reason he did this was to distance himself from the details, so that even if the body were discovered one day and the police investigated the company, he could appear to be completely unaware and avoid accidentally saying anything that might reveal anything.

When confronted by Fu Daqing, he waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Don't tell me, I don't know anything. But you'd better get rid of this car to avoid any problems."

Li Youqiang said with a smile, "I've already killed him for you, now it's time to settle the final payment."

Fan Zhongliang was startled. Although there were few people around, they were on a main road after all. For Li Youqiang to say such things so openly, he must be crazy.

When Zhou Yi heard this, he had already figured it out.

First, the purpose of tracking Fan Zhongliang in reverse is very clear: to prevent him from changing his mind and defaulting on his debts. The goal is to find his home so that even if he can run away, he can't hide.

Secondly, Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang wanted to profit from both sides and didn't tell Fan Zhongliang anything about Huang Yanli.

Fan Zhongliang said he knew they were there to ask for money, and he was very scared and nervous at the time, so he just wanted to get rid of these two troublemakers as soon as possible.

So he agreed to give her the money, but said he had to go home to get his bankbook and withdraw the money.

Another issue is that they can't wait here; it would be troublesome if they were discovered.

Fu Daqing agreed, and Fan Zhongliang told them that there was a remote abandoned factory area nearby, and they would meet there after he withdrew the money.

Then he went home to get his passbook and ID card, and then drove his own car to a nearby bank to withdraw money.

When he got off the bus, he took out his bankbook from his pocket.

As a result, he accidentally dropped Zheng Guangming's ID card, which Fu Daqing had just given him.

Startled, he quickly picked it up, looked around, and thankfully found that no one was paying attention to him.

Looking at Zheng Guangming's face on the ID card, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. So he turned around and stuffed the ID card into the glove compartment of his car, covering it with a rag inside.

I plan to go back and find another place, buy some gasoline, and burn this ID card to ashes.

When he withdrew 20,000 yuan from the bank, he was cautious and made several phone calls from a nearby public phone booth to confirm whether Zheng Guangming was alive or dead.

The first call was made to Zheng Guangming's mobile phone, but the call could not be connected and the message indicated that the phone was switched off.

The second call was to Zheng Guangming's office. He had even thought of his reasons for calling Zheng Guangming should someone answer the phone.

But no one answered the phone.

The third call was to the accounting office. One of his female accountants answered the phone. He lied and said that he had something to confirm with General Manager Zheng, but he couldn't reach General Manager Zheng. He asked someone to check if General Manager Zheng had come to the company today.

The female accountant's answer confirmed his suspicions: Fu Daqing and his men had indeed killed Zheng Guangming.

The female accountant said that General Manager Zheng had not come to the company today, and the junior manager Zheng also came to ask, saying that he could not contact General Manager Zheng either.

After hanging up the phone, Fan Zhongliang was finally relieved.

With Zheng Guangming dead, my position is secure. Even if Guangming Trading Company's business declines, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. As long as Young Master Zheng takes over the company methodically and doesn't mess things up, the company's business won't be too bad.

If this company survives for a few more years, I'll find a way to extract more money from the books.

It doesn't matter if the Zheng family's business collapses; as long as we're well-fed and clothed, that's all that matters.

Thinking about this, he suddenly felt that the 30,000 yuan was well spent.

So he took the money and went to meet with Fu Daqing and the others.

Of course, he couldn't help but put on an act, pretending that he was forced into it because Zheng Guangming had gone too far.

After taking the money, Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang left satisfied.

Fan Zhongliang knew that he would never see these two people again in his life. This was a secret known only to heaven, earth, and the three of them, and he kept it completely buried in his heart.

In high spirits, he immediately drove to pick up his wife, Chen Ting, from get off work. Then, he took his wife to the boarding high school where his daughter studied. After greeting the teacher, he picked up his daughter, and the family of three had hot pot outside.

Although Chen Ting and her daughter didn't know why he was so happy, the family was still very happy together.

He also drank quite a bit of alcohol and got quite drunk.

When Fan Zhongliang woke up the next day, he found himself at home with a splitting headache.

However, he still forced himself to go to work, because just to be on the safe side, he wanted to go to the company in person to see if Zheng Guangming was really gone.

Judging from Zheng Tianlan's anxious expression, he was certain that Zheng Guangming had indeed vanished without a trace.

Moreover, judging from Zheng Tianlan's expression, even the proprietress didn't know.

He was relieved. Firstly, he didn't want to harm innocent people because of this, even though Fu Daqing said that if the murder was discovered, the only option was to silence those who knew about it. Secondly, since only Zheng Guangming was missing, the impact would be much smaller.

The later Zheng Guangming's body is discovered, the better; ideally, it should never be discovered at all!

But what he didn't know was that soon people realized Zheng Guangming was dead, and even suspected that it might be related to him.

The interrogation of Fan Zhongliang lasted a long time, and the amount of information was so large that Xia Yu felt a little dizzy. The complexity of this case far exceeded his experience. Only then did he realize how important Zhou Yi's psychological encirclement and suppression of Fan Zhongliang had been.

Because if his wishful thinking isn't broken, he'll inevitably resort to all sorts of lies to get away with it.

Xia Yu didn't know what Pan Hongjie was thinking, but he felt very fortunate that Hongcheng had assisted in the investigation; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

It might all turn out to be an unsolved mystery.

"Then...you all know what happened next..." Fan Zhongliang said, his tongue a little stiff, because he had said so much in one breath.

Zhou Yi didn't say anything, but stood up, opened the door, and went out.

Fan Zhongliang and Xia Yu were both somewhat surprised, not knowing what had happened.

After a while, Zhou Yi came in with a glass of warm water and handed it to Fan Zhongliang.

"Thank you." Fan Zhongliang took it and drank it down in one gulp.

"Would you like more?" Zhou Yi asked kindly.

Fan Zhongliang felt a little uneasy looking at him. He stammered that it was okay, but then licked his lips.

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "Just wait."

Then he turned around and went out again.

A little while later, Zhou Yi came in with a cup and closed the interrogation room door behind him.

"Here you go." Zhou Yi handed over the cup.

"Thank you, officer." This time, Fan Zhongliang drank less in a hurry, taking small sips and holding the cup in his hand.

Zhou Yi didn't go back to his seat, but stood to the side and casually asked, "What you told us, you weren't lying, were you?"

Fan Zhongliang was startled and shook his head repeatedly, saying, "I swear, every word I said is true, and I am absolutely not lying."

Zhou Yi nodded, patted his shoulder with the back of her hand, and asked, "Hey, you just said we know what happened after that, what are you referring to?"

"It's...it's about what you were investigating. You arrested Zheng Tianlan and Huang Yanli because you discovered Zheng Guangming's body, didn't you?"

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "So he's not stupid after all."

He's at least much smarter than Zheng Tianlan.

"So that's why you ran away?"

Fan Zhongliang nodded cautiously.

"But didn't you say that when Fu Daqing and his gang killed Zheng Guangming, you deliberately went back to your rural hometown to create an alibi for yourself?" Zhou Yi asked with a smile. "If you had an alibi, why did you run away?"

"I..." Fan Zhongliang was speechless. He opened his mouth to explain, but didn't know how to say it.

The smile on Zhou Yi's face slowly disappeared, replaced by an increasingly cold gaze.

Fan Zhongliang felt another chill run down his spine, as if the cat had returned.

(End of this chapter)