The Vanished Wife (9)
On the way, Xie Wei asked, "Are we still going to Golden Rose's house to break through the wall?"
Professor Pan analyzed, "I think the walls in Jin Meigui's and Jin Mingyue's houses are probably in a similar situation, and nothing can be found."
Jian Tanxi said, "But it's really strange that several families are renovating their walls at the same time... The probability of four households thinking about renovating their walls at the same time is too low. Yu Antai's mother just passed away, and he started renovating his house; Wu Yaoyao was just fired, and she started painting the walls. It's just awkward no matter how you look at it. They shouldn't be in the mood for it."
But there really wasn't anything inside their walls..."
Xie Wei: "Perhaps Yu Antai and Wu Yaoyao really only want to renovate the wall. Maybe the wall is really in such a dilapidated state that it has to be repaired, and they don't care about their own mood. But they won't feel at ease unless they break open the wall of Jin Meigui and Jin Mingyue's house to take a look."
Professor Pan said, “I have an idea. Instead of going directly to Jin Rose’s house to break through the wall, we should go to Mr. Liang and say that we suspect Ms. Jin is being hidden in the wall of Jin Rose’s house, and ask Mr. Liang to come forward and discuss the matter of breaking through the wall with Jin Rose.”
If Mr. Liang is eager to break down the wall of Ms. Jin's house to take a look, it likely means he didn't harm Ms. Jin, but rather wants to bring her back. If he hesitates, makes excuses, and refuses to break down the wall, it suggests he's up to something.
Xie Wei praised, "This is a brilliant move! This way we can both test whether Mr. Liang is sincere towards Ms. Jin and get Mr. Liang to step in and solve the problem, so we don't have to offend Jin Rose directly."
Jian Tanxi agreed, so the three of them drove to the Jin family's house.
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The Jin family.
It was already dusk when the nanny, Han Ma, knocked on the guest room door and asked, "Is anyone home?"
Qin Man opened the door and said to Han Ma, "My son and I are here; the others have gone out to investigate."
"Okay. It's dinnertime now, would you like me to cook for you?"
"No need, we have a special constitution and don't need to eat often."
"Okay, if you need anything else, just let me or Aunt Zhang know."
"Hmm. By the way, is Mr. Liang at the restaurant now?"
"No, he always eats in his room."
"Okay, I'd like to talk to him after he finishes his meal."
"Then please take a rest. Mr. Liang's meal will take about 20 to 30 minutes."
"OK."
After Han Ma left, Qin Man pondered what to talk about. She wasn't good at chatting, but she wanted to use casual conversation to keep Mr. Liang occupied.
At this moment, Qu Chen suddenly pulled her outside.
Qin Man was confused, but Qu Chen walked very firmly, so Qin Man followed him.
After a while, Qu Chen led Qin Man to the kitchen.
Qin Man said, "Xiao Chen, are you hungry? That shouldn't be the case, didn't you just eat a few days ago?"
However, Qu Chen did not look for food or cry. Instead, she stood in the center of the kitchen and kept making "ah ah" sounds.
Qin Man asked, "Do you want to talk? What do you want to say?"
However, Qu Chen couldn't speak, but continued to make "ah ah" sounds.
Qin Man wanted to leave, but Qu Chen held her back, preventing her from going.
Qin Man stood there for a while, then looked around boredly.
Then she noticed something strange.
The nanny had just finished cooking, but there was no smell in the kitchen. There was no food waste in the trash can, and the whole kitchen looked very clean.
Even if the nanny takes care of the trash promptly and turns on the range hood while cooking, there will still be some odor.
When Qin Man opened the refrigerator, she saw that it was neatly filled with fruits, oatmeal, biscuits, milk, and the like. There were no vegetables or meats, and no food had been cut up and put back in.
This is completely unbecoming of the situation after cooking.
The rice cooker is empty, and the steamer is also empty.
So, what is Mr. Liang eating?
Just then, Han Ma walked in and asked Qin Man, "Detective Qin, what are you doing here?"
Qin Man: "I was just passing by and came in to take a look. By the way, I wanted to ask, Mr. Liang, what did you have for dinner tonight?"
"Mr. Liang has not had a good appetite lately, so he only eats some fruit and oatmeal at each meal. Tonight he ate two tomatoes."
"So it was for eating tomatoes..."
No wonder there was no smell of cooking oil, meat, or stir-fried vegetables in the kitchen.
Qin Man asked, "Mr. Liang, are you full from eating so little?"
“Mr. Liang takes nutritional supplements every day. These supplements contain many nutrients that the human body needs, so it doesn’t matter if he eats less at each meal.”
"I see. And what about you? You still need to eat normal meals, right?"
“We also take nutritional supplements and occasionally eat some fruit with our meals, just like Mr. Liang. My wife eats the same way.”
"Don't you have any desire for delicious food at all?"
"We have low requirements for food; as long as we can eat our fill, we're fine."
"Really? Could it be that you ate too much meat the past few days, so you can only eat light meals these days to help digest?"
"No, why do you ask that, Detective Qin?"
"It's nothing, I was just asking casually. By the way, if there were an animal that was 1.7 meters tall and weighed 110 kilograms, I wonder how long its meat would last for four adults?"
Han's mother looked puzzled: "1.7 meters tall and weighing 110 jin? What kind of animal is this? A bear? Bears weigh 600 or 700 jin, right?"
"I had misjudged the bear's weight; it was actually six or seven hundred pounds."
"We've never eaten bear either, so I don't know how to answer that question."
Qin Man laughed and said, "Haha, I was just kidding, no need to answer."
Qin Man led Qu Chen away from the kitchen, and this time, Qu Chen did not stop her.
After they left the kitchen, they ran into Mr. Liang coming downstairs.
Qin Man asked, "Mr. Liang, what did you have for dinner?"
Mr. Liang paused for a moment, then said, "Two tomatoes. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I'm just curious, what do wealthy people like you usually eat?"
"Actually, we got tired of eating delicacies in our younger years, so we started eating very simply. These days, my wife and I often take nutritional supplements to stay alive, and we only eat simple fruits, biscuits, and oatmeal for our three meals a day. If you want to eat something better, I'll have the housekeeper go out to buy some."
"No need, we don't need to eat for now."
Seeing that Mr. Liang's account was consistent with that of the nanny, Qin Man's suspicions lessened somewhat.
Qin Man asked, "By the way, Mr. Liang, besides the one at the entrance, do you have any other security cameras in your house? I'd like to see all the cameras."
“We used to have a lot of security cameras at home, but as fewer people lived there, we removed many of them. In the end, only the one at the front door remained. We store our valuables in a safe, which can only be unlocked with my wife’s fingerprint, so we’re not afraid of theft. Therefore, there’s no point in having too many security cameras.”
"I see... We only looked at the surveillance footage from the day your wife left the Jin family home. Could you please show me the footage from the days before and after that?"
"Sure. But that surveillance camera always malfunctions, sometimes losing some footage. I don't know if it will meet your requirements."
Mr. Liang pulled up the surveillance footage and showed it to Qin Man.
Qin Man watched the video at three times the speed and wanted to see footage from the days before Ms. Jin disappeared.
However, the earliest footage only goes back to the day Ms. Jin disappeared, and there is no footage before that.
Mr. Liang said, "It's probably malfunctioning; the previous footage has been lost. This surveillance camera often does this; it's probably because it's been there for too long."
Qin Man asked, "Haven't you considered replacing the surveillance camera?"
"No, because surveillance isn't necessary, we didn't change it. Unexpectedly, it has now become an obstacle to the investigation."
"It's alright, let me take a look at the footage after the disappearance case."
The subsequent footage was fragmented and contained little of significant content, mostly showing Mr. Liang and several servants coming and going. Occasionally, footage of Golden Rose entering and exiting was captured, but otherwise, there was little else.
Qin Man said, "Since Ms. Jin's accident, only Jin Rose has come? Yu Antai and the nanny Wu Yaoyao haven't come?"
"No. Yu Antai hasn't come since he failed to borrow money, and the nanny Wu Yaoyao hasn't come back after she was fired. Rose is Mingyue's younger sister, and she often comes to ask about her sister's situation. Apart from that, the police came a few times at first, but the footage may have been lost."
Have any witnesses seen Ms. Jin in the past two weeks?
"No. The police issued a notice saying that anyone who has seen my wife can go to the police station to provide clues, and there is a high reward. However, no one has come to provide clues these days."
"I see. By the way, Mr. Liang, didn't you suspect your nanny and gardener? Could it be that they had a conflict with Ms. Jin, which is why they hid her, tormented her, or even killed her?"
"Probably not. All the maids in my house are carefully selected, and those with questionable character are not hired. Besides, my wife has never had any conflicts with Han Ma or Zhang Ma."
"Um."
At this moment, Jian Tanxi and the others returned and reported on the investigation.
Mr. Liang asked in surprise, "You demolished the walls of Yu Antai's and Wu Yaoyao's houses?"
Jian Tanxi said, "That's right. They painted the walls, and we suspected they were hiding something shady inside, which is why they did it. But we didn't find anything. They just want us to pay them back. We said that once we find Ms. Jin, Mr. Liang will give us a reward, and we'll use that to pay them back."
Mr. Liang said, “That’s no problem at all. As long as you can find my wife, I will give you a large sum of money. However, you can’t use the currency of City B by taking it with you. You can spend it in City B.”
Xie Wei asked, "Mr. Liang, have you been to Jin Rose's house during this period?"
"No, she's my wife's sister and she's single. I usually don't go to her house. She's the one who comes to my house to visit her sister."
"Then you probably don't know that the Golden Rose's family also renovated their walls?"
"I don't know. But it's normal to renovate walls. City B is quite humid, and the walls get damp, causing the plaster to peel and turn black. People in City B often renovate their walls."
"So, according to you, this is a perfectly normal thing?"
"Yes."
"But what if some people take advantage of the wall renovation to hide things inside? Mr. Liang, could you please ask Golden Rose to chisel through her own wall and take a look?"
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