The wooden floor of the police station was quite old, worn and uneven from being walked on. There were several scratches of varying depths, which looked like knife marks.
The horseman sat back in his chair, his body swaying with the movement of the chair, and his shadow on the ground shrank into a ball, moving around with it.
Xu Keke looked up at him. The smile on his face was perfunctory, faint, and carried the nonchalant mockery of a street thug.
“I did indeed feed a little monkey. When that person came in yesterday, he was on the balcony and was scratched by the monkey first. I was afraid my family would scold me, so I didn't say anything yesterday. Please keep this a secret for me, Captain Ma.”
"Feed?" The horseman raised an eyebrow.
This person was very astute; he immediately caught the problem in her words.
She mentioned feeding them, trying to mislead the listener into thinking she was the one raising them. But it seems she didn't succeed. The horsemen understood.
Xu Keke dared not say the whole story. If she did, it would be revealed that the monkey had come on its own, and her sixth aunt and her fellow villager who performed the monkey would be exposed.
She didn't know where they had hidden or whether they had escaped immediately. All she could do was buy them a little more time.
"Could you tell me how Miss Chen obtained that monkey?"
"I found it after it came to the Chen family. It usually stays on the drying platform. Last night, after it scratched that person, I was afraid it would attack people again, so I released it."
"Release them?"
Ma Dui looked at her with a meaningful smile, and Xu Keke knew that he didn't believe what she said.
"I don't think I need to elaborate on what the Chen family did. You've probably already guessed it: that person wanted to go in, arrest you, and then..."
Ma Dui opened his mouth, but then remembered that no matter how much she pretended to be an adult, she was still just a little girl. So he didn't say the lewd things the man had said.
"They're trying to scare you. I've already spoken to Master Zhang about this. Master Zhang asked me to ask for your opinion. The burglar will definitely be severely punished. As for the others, should we treat them as accomplices, or should we just teach them a lesson and let them go?"
"Did you take the money?" Xu Keke asked him.
The horse team chuckled, "Taking money? It's not our place to take it. Understand? Someone like me can't take big money. Only the roadside vendors would give me a pack of cigarettes."
Xu Keke nodded, "I don't have money to give to your superiors, so my word doesn't count."
She's definitely a slippery character. Whether she releases the man or severely punishes him today, Master Zhang will owe the police station a favor. She's saying nothing at all...
Ma Dui laughed and said, "Alright, then we'll see how they connect with their superiors."
Xu Keke didn't care what happened to the Chen family or whether they could get out. What worried her most was the burglary case. But she didn't dare ask too much and could only wait for an opportunity to bring it up.
After leaving the police station, Mr. Zhang took her back to his mansion.
The Zhang mansion features purely Chinese-style furniture and decor. At the entrance stands a life-sized statue of Guan Yu, and the incense burner in front of it is clearly a place where people worship daily.
If they used the same trick they used to fool Master Long—saying they'd take photos and publish them in a foreign magazine—to fool Master Zhang, it definitely wouldn't work.
Because Master Long has a scholarly complex, while Master Zhang comes from a martial arts background and then uses business to whitewash his image.
Master Zhang led her to the study and introduced her to someone—the manager of the Lü family, who had played mahjong with Chen Zikang and the others at the Chen family home.
This was Xu Keke's second time seeing him. Originally, they were planning to find someone to lure Chen Zikang into a trap. But unexpectedly, Chen Zikang dragged the Lü family into it as well.
It just so happens that the manager of the Lü family is someone Master Zhang knows; he used to be involved in the underworld.
"The money has already been transferred to their account. I've checked, and the Chen family has indeed put up all their savings. They even borrowed some from Daxing Bank. The Lü family, keeping a backup plan, only contributed a small amount."
Ever since the shopkeeper heard Xu Keke share her thoughts last time, he no longer treated her like a child. How could a child think so comprehensively?
Even the information disseminated was intended to alert Chen Zikang to unusual activity in the opium market, allowing him to trace the source and find the sellers who had stockpiled the opium.
Then, without authorization, they used Master Zhang's name to blackmail people, asking them why they were hoarding goods.
The man told him that the government was about to ban opium, and that opium would become very difficult to buy.
The military also received the news and wanted to prepare in advance.
That's why they wanted to hoard the goods and sell them to the military at a high price.
"Once the goods are in their warehouse, send someone disguised as an inspector to search the area. I reckon the Chen family is out of money, and the Lü family, wanting to protect what they've invested, will also try to get more in."
"Why bother hiring someone to impersonate someone? If you're going to investigate, you should investigate the real thing. Why bother hiring a fake one?"
Master Zhang twirled the jade ball in his hand. "Perfect timing. The government's finances have been tight. We can just give them the money the Lü family has invested."
Xu Keke frowned slightly. "Then when the Chen family's money reaches me, I'll split it 50/50 with you."
Xu Keke originally planned to give the money collected from the subsequent recovery of the fines to Master Zhang. But since they were going to take it seriously, they could only split the final amount with Master Zhang.
"Haha, you little rascal, now that I know that money is your future dowry, why would I want it? Don't worry, once you get the money, we can do some legitimate business together, it's the same thing."
Xu Keke didn't try to stop them. It wasn't that she was stingy; she had taken the money to start a business.
In business, the more capital you have, the better. You can give the money to Master Zhang later; it's the same thing.
With Zhang Ye's family's wealth and influence, he certainly wouldn't care about this small amount of money.
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