Chapter 10 The Disappearance of 50,000 Yuan
In the adjoining interrogation room, Li Rong huddled in an iron chair, her nails digging into the pale flesh of her palms. Tears washed out her black mascara, leaving two sinuous streaks. "I'm after his money..." Her voice was hoarse as if it had been sandpapered. "Qin Jun promised... promised to open a clothing store for me back home..." Zhang Min's pen paused on her notebook. She saw Li Rong's trembling shoulders and the crumpled tissues on the table. Guilt, far more real than grief, shone through this woman's sorrow. "I have a younger brother from my mother's family who's in college. Wang Shun is a philanderer and completely unreliable." ... "She and I are truly in love!" Qin Jun's roar echoed for a long time in the corridor of the Criminal Police Brigade interrogation room. * "It's all a mess." Liu Kai propped his legs up on the desk, his head pressed against the wall. "After a whole day of tossing and turning, I've just watched a clichéd drama of 'a gangster falls in love with a gold-digger's wife.'" In the Criminal Police Brigade meeting room, Lu Chao was sorting through evidence bags. The transparent bag contained Li Rong's train tickets—the January 22nd ticket had badly worn edges, while the January 23rd ticket was pristine. The sight of the entwined couple in the surveillance footage from Lover's Dam sent the entire criminal police team reeling. "At least we've eliminated two suspects," Zhang Min said, always able to soothe them when their teammates were feeling down. Yu Hao walked in, and Zhang Min handed him the case materials. Liu Kai sat up straight. "What? Are you discouraged?" Yu Hao reached out to take the materials and glanced at Liu Kai. "Not really," Liu Kai shook his head. "I just feel like I worked in vain." "There's no such thing as a straight path to solving a case. As criminal police, we least fear starting over." Yu Hao lowered his head to examine the case materials. Lu Chao glared at Liu Kai, signaling him to stop. "Oh, by the way, Liu Kai, how are you handling the night market security situation?" Yu Hao asked calmly, not looking up. "Tsk, those little hooligans, I don't believe they'll dare go out for a while." Liu Kai looked disdainful and leaned closer to Yu Hao. "Captain Yu, it's just that police station, ah, I don't know what to say about them." Yu Hao waved his hand. "Let's put this aside for now. Our priority right now is to quickly solve this murder case." Liu Kai clenched his fist, his knuckles making a crackling sound. "Once the murder case is solved, we'll have to have a good chat with that snobbish director. There must be something fishy going on." Lu Chao came to Yu Hao's side, pointed at the materials, and said, "Captain Yu, the next step...
In the interrogation room next door, Li Rong curled up on an iron chair, her nails digging deep into the pale flesh of her palms, and her black mascara was washed away by tears, leaving two winding marks.
"I'm after his money..." Her voice was hoarse as if it had been polished with sandpaper. "Qin Jun promised... promised to open a clothing store for me in my hometown..."
Zhang Min's pen suddenly paused on the notebook. She saw Li Rong's trembling shoulders and the crumpled tissue on the table.
Guilt is far more real than grief in this woman's sorrow. "I have a younger brother from my mother's family who's in college. Wang Shun is a philanderer and can't be trusted at all."
…
"She and I are truly in love!" Qin Jun's roar echoed for a long time in the corridor of the interrogation room of the Criminal Police Brigade.
*
"It's all just a bunch of crap." Liu Kai put his legs up on his desk, his head pressed against the wall. "I've been working all day, only to end up watching a clichéd drama about a gangster falling in love with a gold-digger."
In the Criminal Police Brigade meeting room, Lu Chao was sorting evidence bags.
The transparent bag contained Li Rong's train tickets - the edge of the ticket for January 22 was badly worn, but the one for the 23rd was smooth and new.
The sight of the entwined pair of mandarin ducks in the surveillance video of Lover's Dam made the entire criminal police team feel like they had swallowed a fly.
"At least two suspects have been ruled out," said Zhang Min, who always comforts her teammates when they are feeling down.
Yu Hao walked in, and Zhang Min handed over the case materials. Liu Kai immediately sat up straight.
"What? Are you discouraged already?" Yu Hao reached out to take the materials and glanced at Liu Kai.
"I'm not discouraged." Liu Kai shook his head, "I just feel like I've worked so hard for nothing."
"There's no direct way to solve a case. As criminal police, the thing we fear least is starting over." Yu Hao lowered his head to check the case materials.
Lu Chao glared at Liu Kai and signaled him to stop.
"Oh, by the way, Liu Kai, how are you handling the issue of night market security?" Yu Hao asked casually without looking up.
"Tsk, those little hooligans, I believe they won't dare go out for a while." Liu Kai showed contempt on his face. He leaned towards Yu Hao and said, "Captain Yu, it's just that police station. Sigh, I don't know what to say about them."
Yu Hao waved his hand and said, "Let's put this matter aside for now. Our current focus is to quickly solve this murder case."
Liu Kai clenched his fist, his knuckles making a crackling sound. "Once we solve the murder case, we'll have to have a good chat with that snobbish director. There must be something fishy going on."
Lu Chao came to Yu Hao's side, pointed at the materials, and said, "Captain Yu, next, can we go to that Coast Construction Company?"
Yu Hao nodded.
The missing 50,000 yuan must be closely related to the murder case.
*
Yu Hao and his companions stood in front of the glass door of the Coast Construction Company. Through the blurry glass, they could vaguely see the dim lights inside.
The company's sign was faded, and the patent leather with curled edges trembled slightly in the wind.
"This place doesn't look like it can give out a 50,000 yuan bonus." Lu Chao shook his head, muttered softly, and reached out to push open the door.
The door hinges creaked harshly. The front desk was empty, with a layer of dust on the desk and circular water stains from coffee cups on a few scattered documents.
"Is anyone there?" Zhang Min asked in a raised voice.
There was a rustling noise in the corner, and a man in his forties poked his head out from behind the computer. His suit was wrinkled and his tie hung loosely around his neck, as if he had just woken up.
"Who are you...?" He narrowed his eyes and scanned the three people, finally landing on the police officer ID that Lu Chao showed, and his expression changed slightly.
"Criminal Police Team," Yu Hao said briefly, "Come over and find out about Wang Shun."
"Wang Shun?" The man rubbed his face, obviously unfamiliar with the name Wang Shun.
He stood up and gave a forced smile. "I'm Ma Tao, the office director. Please take a seat first."
He hurriedly pushed his chair aside and took out a yellowed employee roster from the drawer, flipping through it quickly. "Wang Shun... Wang Shun..."
"These days, there are still paper employee rosters." Lu Chao sat down and whispered to Zhang Min who was sitting next to him.
Yu Hao did not sit down, but walked slowly to the wall and glanced at the company photo hanging there.
The man in the middle of the photo is smiling, but he has a bald spot on his head and his belly protrudes to his toes.
"There's no such person..." Ma Tao closed the roster and looked up with a confused expression, "Are you sure he's from our company?"
"That should be right." Lu Chao stared at him.
Ma Tao's face was slightly sweaty. He checked the employee roster again and raised his head with a hint of guilt. "Really, no."
Lu Chao took the roster and scanned it from top to bottom. "Does this include migrant workers?"
Ma Tao shook his head. "That's not the case."
Lu Chao said to Yu Hao, "Wang Shun is most likely a migrant worker."
Yu Hao nodded.
"What's your latest project?" Lu Chao turned and looked at the office director who looked a little nervous.
"That...that..."
"What? It's hard to say?" Lu Chao's voice became stern.
"No, no." Ma Tao waved his hand quickly. "It's on Haibin Road. A factory is being built."
Lu Chao took out the map on his phone and asked him to mark the location.
"Is your boss Wang Kun here?" Yu Hao suddenly asked while looking at the photo.
"Boss Wang?" Ma Tao's Adam's apple rolled. "He... is out."
"Where did you go?"
"I...I don't know."
"When will you be back?"
"That... I'm not sure." Ma Tao laughed dryly. "How about you leave me your phone number? I'll have the boss contact you when he gets back?"
Yu Hao didn't respond, but gestured to Lu Chao to give him a business card.
His gaze turned to the office area. Several employees pretended to work with their heads down, but their eyes would glance over here from time to time.
"How is your company doing recently?" Yu Hao suddenly asked.
"It's... it's okay." Ma Tao's smile froze for a moment. "It's just an ordinary small company, taking on a few projects and barely making ends meet."
"Really?" Yu Hao nodded, his tone calm, "Then fifty thousand yuan in bonus shouldn't be a small amount, right?"
Hearing this, the people who had been listening here all looked puzzled and looked at Ma Tao with dissatisfaction.
Ma Tao's expression changed suddenly.
"What bonus?" His voice tightened slightly. "Our company has never given out bonuses."
Yu Hao stared into his eyes, "Really? Then we misunderstood."
Ma Tao's mouth twitched, and then he shook his head: "That's not what I meant, it's just..." He paused, as if suddenly realizing he had let something slip, and immediately changed his words, "I mean, our company doesn't have this tradition of giving bonuses."
Yu Hao stared at his slightly flustered face, then looked away after a moment. "Okay, if you remember anything, feel free to contact us."
"Okay, okay."
"Thanks. We'll go back first." Yu Hao glanced at him, turned and walked towards the door, and Lu Chao and others followed.
Ma Tao was obviously relieved and hurried to see him off: "How dare I, how dare I, take care. When the boss comes back, I will definitely ask him to contact you..."
Walking out of the door, Lu Chao lowered his voice: "He is lying. There is something wrong with this company."
"Yeah." Yu Hao opened the car door without turning his head, "He must know something."
In the rearview mirror, Ma Tao was standing at the company door. He didn't turn around and walked back quickly until their car drove away.
*
At a construction site on Haibin Road, dust billowed in the air, and the roar of the mixers was ear-shattering. Yu Hao looked at the workers busy on the scaffolding.
"Hello, big brother, we are from the criminal police team. We want to know something from you." Lu Chao showed his ID and said to a middle-aged worker with dark skin and calloused hands.
The man wiped his sweat, looked at them warily for a few seconds, and then slowly climbed down the scaffolding. The other workers also stopped their work and gathered around in twos and threes.
"Wang Shun?" The middle-aged worker curled his lips when he heard the name. "That kid, I haven't seen him for several days. I wonder where he went."
Lu Chao and Yu Chao looked at each other and found that Wang Shun had been here before he died.
"Is he often not at the construction site?" Zhang Min opened the notebook.
A young worker nearby interjected, "He's always slacking off. He doesn't do much work, but he's always flattering people."
The workers burst into laughter and added in a flurry of voices:
"When the boss arrived, he ran faster than a dog and served tea and cigarettes with such attentiveness."
"Once, the boss's leather shoes were covered in mud, and he just squatted down and wiped them with his sleeves!"
…
Lu Chao's look of disdain flashed across his face. He turned to the middle-aged worker who had just spoken and asked, "Have you heard that he received a 50,000 yuan bonus?"
"How much?" The onlookers fell silent for a moment.
"fifty thousand."
"Fifty thousand?" Everyone looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter.
"What? Nothing like that?"
The young worker doubled over with laughter. "Comrade police, let me tell you, let alone 50,000, we haven't even given out a bonus of 500, let alone that Wang Shun."
"Oh, is that so?" Lu Chao frowned and continued, "What else do you know about Wang Shun?"
Everyone started talking again, and one person's words caught Yu Hao's attention.
"I heard that he often accompanies the boss to sing..."
"Singing? Which one?"
The workers exchanged glances, and one of them lowered his voice, "It's the 'Golden Coast' KTV, the boss's place."
Yu Hao's heart suddenly sank.
"The boss's place?" Lu Chao raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, I heard the boss often takes people out to play." The worker rubbed his fingers and smiled ambiguously, "Wang Shun always brags every time he comes back, saying that the boss treated him to a drink and even called in a lady to sing with him..."
As he was speaking, a short, fat man in a hard hat hurried over, dispersed the workers, and said with a smile on his face, "Officers, I'm Foreman Lao Zhao. How can I help you? Just come to me directly."
Yu Hao observed him calmly - his forehead was shiny, the gold chain was faintly visible at his collar, and there was an exaggerated gold ring on his right little finger.
"Has Wang Kun been to the construction site recently?"
Lao Zhao's smile froze for a moment. "Boss... I've been busy lately and haven't been around much." He rubbed his hands. "How about you give me your phone number? I can pass it on for you?"
The same excuses as in the company.
Yu Hao didn't respond. His eyes swept over the workers who were still not far away and their evasive gazes, and finally fell on a brand new black Mercedes-Benz in the distance - the license plate had three 8s at the end, which was Wang Kun's car.
"Let's go." When he turned around, he caught a glimpse of Lao Zhao secretly wiping his sweat.
Back in the car, Lu Chao couldn't wait to ask, "Are we going to Gold Coast now?"
"No rush." Yu Hao fastened his seat belt and stared at Wang Kun's car, "Wait a little longer."
At around six o'clock, Wang Kun's car drove away from the construction site. Yu Hao and others followed all the way to the Golden Coast KTV.
Yu Hao stood at the door, his steps heavy.
"What's wrong? Captain Yu." Zhang Min noticed the change in Yu Hao's expression.
"Oh, it's okay. Let's go in." Yu Hao walked forward and Lu Chao pushed open the heavy door of the KTV.
Yu Hao was worried because he knew that Luo Xin was in this store...
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