Chapter 45 Rope Murder Case (7) The Right Words on the Wall
There are currently two investigation directions in the case. One is the "treasure" mentioned by Lan Jianguo, and the other is who has access to the rope in Hu Maoshan's home.
The three teams were divided into two groups as usual. Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu went to investigate the "baby", while Ma Shi Tu took Xie Ling'er to investigate the rope.
After they separated, Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu started a discussion. Yuan Xiaohu felt very strange: "Lan Jianguo is so poor, where did he get this treasure? Assuming that his treasure really exists and is worth a lot of money, he should have lived a good life a long time ago. Why is he still living such a hard life?"
Sang Luo thought for a moment and said, "It's very possible that he just got this thing recently and hasn't had time to sell it yet. It's also possible that he is waiting for it to appreciate in value."
Yuan Xiaohu touched his chin and said, "It's still very strange. He is just a scrap collector, how could he have such a valuable treasure? Did he go to rob someone? Or did he win the lottery?"
Before Sang Luo could say anything, Yuan Xiaohu rejected his idea: "No, if it was a robbery, someone would have reported it to the police. It's more likely to be a lottery ticket. But he is so frugal, asking him to pay for lottery tickets would probably be worse than taking his life!"
Sang Luo shook his head: "I do have an idea - this treasure may have been obtained when he was collecting scraps. Maybe the original owner didn't even realize that it was lost."
"Scrap collectors..." Yuan Xiaohu rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement, "It's possible. Many times people hide important things and forget about them later. When they go to sell scraps, they mistakenly sell the important things, allowing the scrap collectors to take advantage of them."
"When we visited her before, the woman said that there was 20 yuan stuck in her old books. It was her husband's private money. She accidentally sold it to Lan Jianguo, and Lan Jianguo returned it. Although he returned the money that time, what if he encountered a bigger sum? What if this money was enough for him to retire directly? I don't think he would return it."
Sang Luo crossed his arms and said, "I think so too. Lan Jianguo accidentally found a valuable treasure while collecting waste. He spread the news at the dinner table, and as a result, he was targeted and eventually died. Our top priority now is to find the treasure."
Yuan Xiaohu asked the question he was most concerned about: "After all, what on earth is that treasure?"
Sang Luo thought for a while. The concept of "luxury goods" was not popular in that era, and stamps and antiques had a certain threshold. Lan Jianguo might not be able to understand them. It couldn't be a lottery ticket, because Lan Jianguo didn't care about lotteries. He didn't even know the winning numbers of the lottery. Even if the lottery ticket came into his hands, he would treat it as a piece of waste paper.
Anything that Lan Jianguo can recognize must be a "good thing" in the popular sense.
"I think it's probably gold or jade." Sang Luo said, maybe in this small county town, a "Crazy Stone" is being performed.
Yuan Xiaohu started the car: "Let's go to Lan Jian's house to look for his treasure!"
Lan Yue has already gone to school. Although everyone hopes that she can rest for a few more days, she still grits her teeth and goes to school. This child really has an extremely strong personality.
The police searched the house and needed her cooperation. Yuan Xiaohu drove to the gate of No. 3 Middle School first. A few students who were not doing their homework gathered at the gate. Although they were wearing school uniforms, their hair was dyed in various colors. Some of them had tattoos. Yuan Xiaohu couldn't help but sigh:
"Look, they are both high schools, but No. 3 Middle School is far inferior to No. 1 Middle School. There are many scoundrels here. If I have a child in the future, I will definitely not let him go to No. 3 Middle School!"
The head teacher called Lan Yue out. Her eyes were red, but she was much calmer than yesterday. She took the initiative to get into the police car and even said hello to Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu. It seemed that she had accepted the reality of her father's death.
The car drove to Shuangjiang Street and stopped in front of Lan Jianguo's house. Lan Yue took out the key and opened the door. Sang Luo and Yuan Xiaohu went into the house to search.
This time they searched very thoroughly, even looking through all the waste Lan Jianguo kept at home, but still found no useful clues.
"What treasure is there here? Forget treasure. There is not even a single valuable thing here. If a thief comes in and sees the situation at home, he will just turn around and leave," Yuan Xiaohu whispered beside Sang Luo, "Could it be that there is a mistake? The treasure is not at home at all and has been taken away by someone?"
Sang Luo thought about it calmly and said, "I don't think so. Let's discuss it in two situations. First, if the treasure is hidden at home, Lan Yue has been living at home since the incident, no outsiders have been there, and there are no signs of damage to the doors and windows, then the murderer can't have entered the house and taken the things."
"Secondly, if the treasure was always carried by Lan Jianguo and taken away by the murderer after his death, we have confirmed the bloodstains at the scene. The bloodstains are intact and there are no footprints or wheel marks. This means that no one approached Lan Jianguo after he was injured. How did the murderer take away the treasure from him?"
"It wasn't taken from the house, nor was it taken from him," Yuan Xiaohu concluded. "From this point of view, it seems that this treasure doesn't exist at all!"
"Yes," Sang Luo sighed lightly, "The so-called treasure may just be something Lan Jianguo boasted about after drinking too much."
"Oh no!" Yuan Xiaohu slapped his thigh in annoyance. "If he was really bragging, then our whole afternoon would have been wasted! Why would Lan Jianguo want to brag about this? He was targeted by a villain who was after money, and he even lost his life!"
"For money—" Sang Luo repeated these two words, and suddenly he was startled, "I think we can rule out the possibility of killing for money."
"Why?" Yuan Xiaohu was a little confused.
"We thought before that the murderer wanted the treasure on Lan Jianguo's body and killed him for money, but now it seems illogical," Sang Luo said, "The murderer didn't even search the body after killing him, so how could this be a murder for money?"
"Could it be that the murderer saw that there was too much blood at the scene and was afraid of leaving footprints, so he gave up the plan?" Yuan Xiaohu asked.
Sang Luo asked back: "It's just the last step. The cooked duck is at your fingertips. If it were you, would you give up?"
Yuan Xiaohu touched the back of his head and said, "Yes, how can someone who is capable of killing people be afraid of a little blood?"
"So," Sang concluded, "this is not a murder case for money. There must be deeper reasons behind this case!"
When the search was about to end, Sang Luo noticed a few inconspicuous scratches on the wall next to Lan Jianguo's bed. She took a closer look and found a crooked Chinese character "正". She looked around and found another five "正" characters.
What do these “positive” characters mean?
With doubts, Sang Luo called Lan Yue into the house. Before, when the two of them were searching the scene, she had been waiting outside the door obediently. Now that the search has yielded no results, they can only pin their hopes on her. Lan Jianguo is dead, and many things can only be asked to Lan Yue.
"Lan Yue, have you ever heard about any treasures your father has?" Yuan Xiaohu asked first.
Lan Yue shook her head in confusion: "I've never heard of it. With our family's current situation, what kind of treasure can we have?"
Yuan Xiaohu wrote this down in his notebook and became more convinced of his previous inference. It seemed that this so-called treasure did not exist at all.
Sang Luo thought of the previous hint about [混] and asked, "Does your father know any hooligans? Or, has he ever been bullied by hooligans or street urchins?"
Lan Yue still shook her head: "How could that be? My father is very honest and never associates with people of questionable character. I have never heard him say that anyone has made things difficult for him."
Sang Luo asked again: "There are a few positive characters on the wall of your father's room. Do you know what they mean?"
"I don't know." Lan Yue answered briefly.
While saying these words, Lan Yue kept her head down, trying her best to avoid the two people's sight, and kept blinking.
"How is your relationship with Lan Jianguo? Do you hate him?" Sang Luo suddenly asked.
Lan Yue's expression became very strange: "Officer, what are you talking about? He is my father, he raised me, how could I hate him?"
Before Sang Luo could ask further questions, Lan Yue stood up from her chair and said, "Okay, I don't want to be questioned by you anymore. I want to go back to school!"
Going back to school is her legitimate right and no one can stop her. For her safety, Yuan Xiaohu offered to drive her back to school. Lan Yue agreed. In order to avoid further stimulating her emotions, Sang Luo did not get in the car.
Before Yuan Xiaohu got on the car, Sang Luo secretly pulled him aside and whispered:
"When you get to school, check Lan Yue's alibi for that day."
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