gentry

Chapter 44 Tragic Memories
Ye Changqing hurriedly led people to a tavern.

"Are you arrested now?" Ye Changqing's assistant couldn't wait.

Ye Changqing threw down the cigarette butt, reaching out to stop him: "Take your time, be careful that he has a gun on him."

Afterwards, Ye Changqing made a gesture, and everyone entered the tavern one after another.

The tavern was full of smog, and Ye Changqing and the others walked through it in plain clothes.The assistant pulled Ye Changqing and winked, Ye Changqing then looked towards the corner of the room.

In the corner of the room, Wang Jiade was very drunk and was pulling the people around him to talk.

Wang Jiade: "My wife...beautiful...prettier than a movie star...and very obedient...I told her to go east...she didn't dare to go west..."

A drinker next to him greeted people loudly: "Sitou, my house lacks one and three, so ask your wife to come to my house to play mahjong!" Suddenly Wang Jiade's eyes lit up and he jumped up.

Wang Jiade stared at his red eyes: "What did you just say?"

The drinkers mocked: "I asked someone to play mahjong, what's your business?"

"Playing mahjong...it's you! You shameless prostitute!"

Wang Jiade rushed forward to wrestle with the opponent, and the police broke in. They pushed Wang down and took out their guns.

The assistant pulled back the bullets and checked: "Not one is missing."

Ye Changqing stepped forward and took the gun.

"Wang Jiade, you have been arrested on suspicion of murdering three women.

Wang Jiade smirked: "Officer...does your wife often play mahjong too?"

Ye Changqing punched Wang in the face: "Take it away!"

Wang was taken away, Ye Changqing said proudly to himself: "Hmph, Luo Fei, Qin Xiaoman, want to take credit for me? Dreaming!"

In the night, a train was speeding with its whistle honking.Luo Fei was reading a book in the train compartment, while Xiao Man fell asleep by the window.

Luo Fei put down the book, and with the help of the dim light, he stared at Xiaoman's face, which melted into the face of the woman in white.

Luo Fei turned his head and looked out the window at the dark night.

In the darkness of night, under the streetlights on the alley in front of Sun Qixue's house.Two plainclothes stood in the dark, and Ye Changqing's assistant came and whispered something to them later.The three left in a hurry.

Inside Sun Qixue's house, Sun was mending clothes by the window, when the phone rang, Sun froze for a moment, then got up to answer it.

"Hey?"

A vague female voice came from the phone: Sun Qixue, please come to the patrol room.

"what's up?"

"We have caught the murderer, please come and identify him."

"Now?"

"Yes, I'm afraid of disturbing your family, so I won't come to pick you up, please come here by yourself."

Sun Qixue nodded hesitantly: "Okay, I'll come."

Sun Qixue put down the phone and was about to go out when Zheng coughed from the back room.

"Whose phone number?" Zheng Song asked.

"It's nothing. A student has something to do at home. I'll come as soon as I go."

On the dark path outside Sun's house, Sun Qixue walked a few steps alone, when a hunchbacked elderly woman suddenly appeared in front of her.

Sun Qixue looked at the black shadow in front of her and was shocked.

"Qi Xue, do you still know me?" said the old woman.

On a small street in Suzhou, there are few pedestrians, Luo Fei and Xiaoman are searching for something.

Xiaoman complained: "What the hell, there's not even a single person."

"This place is no different from Shanghai's Evernight City. Everyone went to bed after dinner and had nothing to do. When Man Ting Fang was open, this area was still lively. Once Man Ting Fang was down, it became even more deserted."

"How do you know, have you been here?"

"Deduction." Luo Fei pouted.

While talking, the two of them walked to a big house, and there was a broken plaque on the door, with the words "Man Ting Fang" written on it.

"The black light is blind, is there no one inside?"

Luo Fei didn't listen to Xiaoman's complaints, and pushed the door tentatively, and the door creaked open.

Two people walked in the dark room.

Xiaoman asked, "Is anyone there?"

Luo Fei found a piece of candle on the table, lit it, and shone around.The candlelight reflected a person lying down on the ground, Xiaoman was startled.Xiaoman and Luo Fei exchanged glances, and stepped forward to test.

The "dead man" on the ground moved and slowly turned over to sit up. It was an elderly woman in her 50s with a hunchback.

"Who?"

Xiaoman tried to ask: "Are you Qi's mother?"

Qi's mother forced herself to stand up straight: "You are..."

"We came from Shanghai, looking for you"

Before Xiaoman finished speaking, Qi's mother repeatedly begged for mercy: "I have no money, I really don't have any money, I will definitely pay back if I have money, please let me go, I only have half my life left."

"We are detectives, here to investigate..."

"You are reporters! You are the ones who ruined my Man Tingfang! Get out! Get out!" Qi's mother instantly became very scary again, looking furious.

Qi's mother picked up a tattered stool and waved it around. Luo Fei and Xiaoman hurriedly backed away. Luo Fei was hit by the stool to protect Xiaoman's hand.

Xiaoman hurriedly checked Luo Fei's wound: "How are you?"

Luo Fei said lightly, "It's okay."

Xiaoman's eyes were very moved.

Qi's mother didn't move for a long time, Luo Fei signaled Xiaoman to go and see Qi's mother.

Xiaoman walked over: "Hello, Mama Qi?"

Qi's mother suddenly sat up again: "It's dark, it's time for supper, it's time for supper, it's time for supper..."

While grunting, Qi's mother pulled the dry grass on the ground into her mouth, chewing while pulling.Xiaoman and Luo Fei glanced at each other.

Inside Suzhou Police Station

Outside the door of the "archive room", an old policeman stood and talked with Luo Fei.

"It's enough for you to travel so far away in this horrible weather."

Luo Fei didn't respond.

"Isn't the police station over there busy?" The old policeman spoke again.

Luo Fei still didn't respond.

"Why isn't the girl here?"

"You'd better not call her a girl in person, she is a police detective." Luo Fei said.

"Yes." The old policeman nodded repeatedly and then muttered in a low voice, "I can talk, I thought he was a mute."

At this time, Xiaoman walked quickly.

"I made a phone call. Detective Javert said that the patrol room just hired a new psychological consultant, and now he will be sent over overnight to see if he can help."

"Psychological consultant." Luo Fei looked puzzled.

"Two police detectives come with me, the file room is here." The old policeman said.

The old policeman unlocked the file room and pushed the door open.

The three walked into the file room.

The old policeman spread his hands: All the files are here, and I don't know where they are from which year, you can find them yourself.

Luo Fei covered his nose with a handkerchief, a little unhappy: "Aren't they classified?"

"We are a small place, how can we compare with the patrol room in big Shanghai, with less manpower and low wages, it would be good if these files can be kept, you check slowly, I will go to the duty room to sleep."

Luo Fei asked again, "Is there any coffee?"

"No."

The old policeman yawned and left.

"What are we looking for?" Xiaoman asked.

"Qi's mother is crazy. The clues we have so far are the connection between the victims: one is that they all lived in Man Ting Fang, and the other is that they met to commit suicide but escaped by chance." Luo Fei walked in front of the file rack, pinched said with a nose.

"That's right, Sun Qixue told us all about it."

"About what happened back then, Sun Qixue didn't fully tell us the truth."

"How do you know?" Xiaoman wondered.

"She told me that the three of them had nowhere to go when they first arrived in Shanghai. They had worked as servants and female workers in a spinning mill. Have you ever seen the hands of a spinning mill worker? The skin on the three of their hands is white and tender, well maintained, by no means Hands that have worked hard."

"So maybe the files of the incident from that year can tell us what kind of lies this Qi Xue lied about."

Looking at the mountain of materials, Xiaoman was a little worried: How can I find this?
"One person on one side, let's start." Luo Fei said with firm eyes.

Immediately, Luo Fei and Xiaoman searched for information.

In the early morning, the streets of Shikumen alleys in Shanghai.

A cleaner came sweeping the road.Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something, so he stepped forward to check.But seeing Sun Qixue lying on the side of the road, there was a puddle of dried blood on the ground.

The cleaner asked in panic, "Miss...Miss..."

The cleaner turned over and saw undoubtedly another scratched face!

"what--!"

Then there was another terrified cry from the street in the early morning.

In the file room of the Suzhou Police Station, Xiaoman was sleeping soundly lying on a pile of documents.

After a while, the sunlight on his face was blocked, Xiaoman slowly opened his eyes only to find Luo Fei's face in front of him, and was immediately startled.

"What are you doing?"

Luo Fei handed over a piece of paper: I found it.

Xiaoman took the note: "What is this?"

Luo Fei pointed to the note: "Read it carefully."

Xiaoman began to read: "Heavenly, I am a slave who was abandoned in the Church of Notre Dame in her infancy, and never knew who her biological parents were;
Man Ting Fang Qi's mother adopted us and forced us to engage in cheap business. From then on, my mother beat and scolded me, and the clients tortured me day after day. I was in unspeakable misery; Go, cut off bosom friends;
Although we were born as human beings, we have never had the dignity of being a human being, and now we have nothing else to think about but to get out of this swamp; the four of us sisters do not wish to be born in the same year, the same month, and the same day, but to die in the same year, the same month, and the same day..."

Xiaoman put down the note in surprise: Four people's suicide note?

Luo Fei asked: What do you think is special about this suicide note?

Xiaoman thought for a while: "Is the suicide note fake?"

Luo Fei shook his head: "No, the suicide note is real. There are four different handwritings on it. It should be written by four people one by one. The police also compared the other handwriting left by the four people back then, and it is confirmed that they wrote it themselves. , It is almost impossible to perfectly imitate the handwriting of four people."

"Then what else is wrong?"

"Look carefully at the paper of the suicide note."

Xiaoman picked up the suicide note and read it carefully, then turned to the light and shook her head: "This is just ordinary letter paper."

Luo Fei pointed to the bottom of the paper: Look, the bottom edge of the paper has been artificially cut, and it is one inch shorter than ordinary letter paper. "So what, I can't find the whole paper for a while, so it's not surprising to write on the cut paper."

Luo Fei pointed to the creases on the paper: This is the trace of the letter paper being folded. Generally, if it is only folded once, it will be folded in half, and it will not be folded like this.

"So... this suicide note is incomplete, someone wants to cover up the content below, what could it be?"

"Go back to Shanghai and ask Qi Xue to find out." Luo Fei stood up and said.

At this time, a policeman entered the door.

"You are police detectives from Shanghai, I have your long-distance numbers."

In the communication room of the police station, Luo Fei and Xiao Man walked over and picked up the handset.

Luo Fei picked up the phone: "Hi, I'm Luo Fei... Sun Qixue was killed?"

"Damn it! I'm a step late." Luo Fei hung up the phone with a snap.

"It's hard to get a clue, but all the insiders are dead, and Qi's mother is crazy. Could it be that this case has reached a dead end?"

Luo Fei's expression was serious: "It's too early to say."

There was another voice who said this sentence together with Luo Fei.

Luo Fei and Xiaoman turned their heads, only to see a gentle and elegant young man in a suit and leather shoes walking.

Xiaoman was puzzled: "You are?"

The man stretched out his hand towards Xiaoman: "Hovens, the police psychological consultant, is here to assist you in investigating the case."

Xiaoman shook hands with this extraordinary man in front of him, feeling like his whole body would melt in his warmth: The inspector said that you have stayed in Germany for many years...

Hovens nodded: "Detective Qin thinks I should be a white-bearded grandfather, right? This is called psychological expectation. I'm sorry for disappointing your expectations. I hope we can have a happy cooperation."

Hovens extended his hand to Luo Fei again: "Detective Luo, happy cooperation."

Luo Fei didn't reach out, and looked cautious: "I never cooperate with others in handling cases, I'm sorry that I let your psychological expectations fail.

After Luo Fei finished speaking, he took the reluctant Xiaoman and left. "

Hovens looked at the backs of the two and muttered to himself with a smile on the corner of his mouth: "I never cooperate with others..."

Xiaoman followed Luo Fei out of the gate of Suzhou Police Station.

"Luo Fei, why don't you shake hands?" Xiaoman peeked at Luo Fei.

"You know I'm a clean freak."

"Lie, did you have a problem with that person?"

"No, I just don't believe in any psychoanalytic shenanigans."

Xiaoman smiled and pointed at Luo Fei: "Hahaha, I think you are jealous that the patrol room hired two consultants at the same time, right?"

Luo Fei turned his head and said with a dry smile: "Hahaha, you have a lot of imagination... rickshaw."

Luo Fei summoned a rickshaw, and the two got into it.

The coachman asked, "Where are you going, sir?"

Without even thinking about it, Luo Fei said, "Weiqing River."

"What are we going to do?" Xiaoman was still confused about the situation.

"You'll know when we get there." Luo Fei closed his eyes habitually.

(End of this chapter)