Chapter 62: The Corpse Dismemberment Case (VII) Using Portraits to Find Someone
Each of them held a portrait and began to visit and ask questions at various stalls in the market.
Ye Bai walked directly into a salted food shop. He handed the portrait to the proprietress to identify whether such a customer had come to buy anything.
The lady boss picked up the portrait and examined it carefully. Ye Bai looked at the lady boss's reminiscing expression and echoed, "She usually wears a beige floral dress to buy vegetables at the market."
"I'm sorry, I didn't pay much attention to the guest's appearance." The proprietress said, and handed the portrait back to Ye Bai.
Ye Bai expressed his understanding. After all, there was a lot of traffic in the market, with people coming and going every day, so it was normal not to pay much attention to the appearance of the customers.
In the following process, they encountered setbacks one after another in the huge market.
Han Jianye, who didn't believe in evil, took the portrait to a grain store at the back door of the market.
The boss adjusted his reading glasses and frowned deeply as he looked at the portrait. Then he turned his head and looked at a man carrying rice. "Ajian, come and see if this woman looks like Ms. Li who used to order rice from us?"
Ah Jian put down the rice in his hand and wiped the sweat off his face. He did not take the portrait, but took a closer look and said, "It looks very similar. It should be her."
Han Jianye immediately asked Ajian, "What's her name? Where does she live? Have you been to her house to deliver rice recently?"
"Her name is Li Meixiang. She lives in 302, 3rd floor, Nanwu Community, behind our market. Whenever we receive an order from her, it's annoying. You don't know how difficult she is to serve. The two of us who deliver goods get scared when we hear her name."
The man who was helping to carry the rice nodded and panted, "That's right. She complained if the delivery was 10 minutes late, saying that it delayed her from washing the rice and cooking. She also refused the rice if it was not fresh, and asked us to go back and exchange it for new ones. The problem is that the goods we received all had such expiration dates.
They complained that the rice this time was not as delicious as last time, saying that it must be adulterated and needed to be returned. They also complained that the price of peanut oil had increased by 5 yuan. Anyway, they always found fault with us and it was very annoying.
When delivering goods to her door, we have to help her take out the garbage, and she acts like it’s a matter of course. We are too lazy to pay attention to her. By the way, it seems that she hasn’t come to buy anything from us for two or three months. ”
Ah Jian had a disgusted expression on his face. "It would have been better if she hadn't come. I hate her so much. She also deducted 200 yuan from us because of her. I guess she knew we disliked her, so she went to buy from another store."
Han Jianye and Ye Bai looked at each other and basically knew what kind of person Li Meixiang was from what they heard.
Before they set out for Nanwu Community, they called Li Meixiang but the number was not in service.
Ye Bai said doubtfully, "Just now they said that Li Meixiang hasn't been to their store to buy anything for two or three months, and now the phone call is unreachable. This is indeed very suspicious."
Han Jianye had another idea. He turned to look at Ye Bai and said, "Is it possible... that they moved?"
Ye Bai felt that this was very likely, so he nodded and said, "I don't rule out this possibility."
Because they were not residents of the community and could not enter without access cards, they communicated with the security guard at the door, but he said, "Are you talking about the woman with glasses in Room 302?"
"Yes." Han Jianye responded immediately.
The security guard had an annoyed expression when he mentioned her. "She moved away a long time ago. I was annoyed with her. She said that I had a bad attitude and didn't smile at her enthusiastically enough. She complained to me several times."
Han Jianye asked, "Then do you know when she moved away, how many people were there in her family, and where did she move to?"
"They moved out at the end of June. They were just a couple. As for where they moved to, I haven't heard."
Ye Bai muttered to himself: "If they are a couple, the property management should have their contact information."
The security guard interrupted, “I’m not sure if the property has their contact information, but you can try to contact the second-hand landlord. They all moved in through the second-hand landlord’s introduction.”
Afterwards, the security guard handed Han Jianye the contact information of the second-hand landlord.
Han Jianye took the contact information and lied that he was a potential tenant who wanted to see the house, hoping to encourage the second-hand landlord to come as soon as possible to understand the situation.
After about ten minutes of waiting, an unexpected scene happened - the second-hand landlord who came turned out to be Zhang Xianan.
This discovery puzzled everyone present. No one expected that Zhang Xiannan was actually a second-hand landlord.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense and awkward.
As soon as Ye Bai caught a glimpse of Zhang Xianan, he couldn't help but recall the defiant smile he had when he left the police station, and an inexplicable feeling of discomfort surged in his heart.
Zhang Xiannan was the first to break the silence, smiling awkwardly: "This...what on earth is going on?"
Although Han Jianye was also surprised, he still followed his words and asked, "What a coincidence, I didn't expect you to be Li Meixiang's second-hand landlord, then you should have their contact information."
"Li... Li Meixiang?" Zhang Xiannan's face changed slightly when he heard the name, but he soon regained his smile and nodded, saying, "Second-hand landlord is just my side job to increase my income. I have their contact information here."
Ye Bai stood quietly by the side, observing the changes in Zhang Xiannan's facial expressions with sharp eyes.
Han Jianye continued to ask: "Do you know where they moved to?"
"I don't know." Zhang Xiannan answered while flipping through his phone. "She is very picky and particular about choosing a house. She is very difficult to please. I took her to see no less than ten houses before she decided to live here. But she moved out within a year and caused me a lot of trouble during that time. I have never met such a difficult person."
"As the landlord, didn't she ask you to help her find a new house?"
"I won't help her find it." Zhang Xiannan muttered as he checked his phone, "I'd rather make less money than be bothered by this troublemaker."
After a while, Zhang Xiannan handed Han Jianye the contact information of Li Meixiang's boyfriend, "His name is Fang Sheng, you can contact him directly."
After Zhang Xiannan finished speaking, he asked tentatively: "Excuse me, do you have anything else to do? If not, I will take my leave first."
"Well, thank you for your trouble. You can go now." Han Jianye watched him leave.
"Okay." Zhang Xiannan said, turned and left, leaving Han Jianye and Ye Bai looking at his back thoughtfully.
At this time, Han Jianye's face suddenly became serious, and he said to Ye Bai: "Ye Bai, ask the people who are following Zhang Xiannan to continue to keep an eye on him, and ask Qi Xiaolei to take people to the business hall to retrieve Li Meixiang's last call record and find out who she contacted last."
"I understand." Ye Bai stared at Zhang Xiannan's receding back. His suspicion towards him grew stronger. He picked up his phone and started making a call.
Han Jianye immediately dialed Fang Sheng's contact number. After a few rings on the other end of the phone, the other party answered.