Chapter 166: Hawker
When Qian Hongxing heard Zhou Yi say he was leaving, he immediately became anxious.
"Officer Zhou... aren't you going to stay?"
Zhou Yi said, "Mr. Qian, to avoid suspicion, I disguised myself as a repairman. If there really were accomplices of the kidnappers following us, it would be easy to arouse suspicion if I, a repairman, entered the community and didn't come out."
Qian Hongxing was startled. "That shouldn't be the case, right? There are so many people coming and going here, they wouldn't be watching so closely, right?"
"Not necessarily. This is the most upscale villa complex in Hongcheng. There are basically two types of people coming in and out. One is the owner, who always drives. The other is the nanny, who goes in and out to buy groceries. Anyone else would be very conspicuous. Besides, this concerns the safety of the hostages, so we can't take any risks. It's better to be safe than sorry."
"Yes, yes, Officer Zhou, what you said makes sense." Qian Hongxing nodded repeatedly.
"Then...will you come tomorrow? The kidnappers demand that we withdraw the money tomorrow. This one million in cash is a huge sum of money, even for me. I'm really unsure."
"Don't worry about that. I'll definitely come back. But I can't go with you to withdraw the money. Tell me the bank address where you plan to withdraw the money. We police will make arrangements in advance to ensure the safety of you and the ransom." Zhou Yi said a little embarrassedly, "But I definitely won't be able to disguise myself as a maintenance worker tomorrow. It will easily arouse suspicion."
"Officer Zhou, how about I get you a set of our security uniforms?" said the property manager.
Zhou Yi thought it was possible and was about to agree when Qian Hongxing said, "No, no, no. What if they already know the security guard's face? It would be too dangerous if a stranger suddenly showed up."
The reason why Qian Hongxing said this was because Zhou Yi's words just now made him feel as if he was always under the surveillance of the kidnappers.
Zhou Yi didn't think so. It was very likely that the kidnappers were following them, but it was a bit exaggerated to expect them to recognize every security guard. It was impossible for the kidnappers to observe everyone's appearance up close.
Unexpectedly, Qian Hongxing said, "I have another car in the company's underground garage. Officer Zhou, you can drive in directly. It's safer."
Zhou Yi thought this was a good suggestion. If he had a car, when Qian Hongxing went to withdraw the money, he could follow him and take advantage of the situation. So he readily agreed.
Qian Hongxing immediately took out the car keys and explained the specific location of the car and the bank where he was going to withdraw money.
Before leaving, Zhou Yi told Qian Hongxing that he and his colleagues had saved Qian Lailai once, and they could definitely save him again.
Qian Hongxing said almost with regret that he should have listened to Zhou Yi at the beginning. He didn't expect that Liu Jianshe would be so cruel.
But Zhou Yi was thinking about the relationship between this matter and Liu Jianshe.
Because there are too many blind spots in the clues.
When Zhou Yi came out of Hongcheng Baodi, he pretended that his shoelaces were untied and squatted down to tie them.
In fact, it is an opportunity to observe the surrounding environment.
During the Sun Kun case not long ago, Zhou Yi observed the surroundings of the villa area and made sure that there were no buildings with high visibility that could be used as surveillance points.
The environment inside the villa area naturally cannot be monitored, and the call from the kidnappers just now also proves this.
In particular, the kidnappers extorted money from Hongxing to test whether he would call the police.
If the kidnappers really had the ability to monitor the interior of the villa area, their whereabouts would have been exposed long ago.
Therefore, the only place the kidnappers can monitor is the gate of the villa area.
On the left side of the villa area is a park, which is where Sun Kun kidnapped Qian Lailai.
On the right is a cadre sanatorium, and there is no place for surveillance.
The only place that can be monitored is across the road from the main entrance of the villa area, because there is a row of shops there.
However, the shops opposite the luxury villa area are not fly-infested restaurants, they are all high-end stores.
While tying his shoelaces, Zhou Yi took a quick look around: a Western restaurant, a large hotel, a beauty salon, and several clothing stores. Basically, they were all tailored to the wealthy people across the street.
The only grocery store with a hint of life was a small shop, sandwiched between two ornately decorated shops. An old man was the only one in charge.
There is a road intersection a little distance away from these shops where a few small vendors are setting up stalls, and their position is just right to observe this side.
After tying his shoelaces, Zhou Yi stood up and walked towards the street vendors.
There is an open space on this side of the intersection, which is perfect for setting up a stall.
There are currently four small vendors here.
An old man in his early fifties was pulling a half-load of apples on a flatbed cart. Zhou Yi pretended to look at the apples as he passed by, then casually glanced at the old man. His rough, dark skin, the thick calluses on his hands, and the deep wrinkles on his forehead, like those carved by a chisel, confirmed that he was a genuine farmer.
These details cannot be disguised; they are the traces left by years of working in the fields.
He looked at Zhou Yi and himself, smiled innocently, took out a red vest bag, and asked in a thick local accent: "Come... some? Sweet..."
Next to the old man was a woman selling pancakes. She used a tricycle to set up shop. On the tricycle was a stove made of simple wooden boards, with an iron plate on it, and some ingredients for making pancakes next to it.
It was afternoon, not lunchtime. A woman in an apron was sitting on a red plastic stool, resting. When she saw Zhou Yi approaching, she immediately stood up and greeted him enthusiastically, "Young man, would you like some pancakes?"
Unlike the honest old man next to her, the older sister is obviously much more active and pays attention to "customer experience".
Zhou Yi walked to the elder sister's stall and put the toolbox on the ground: "Okay, then give me one."
"Okay." The elder sister quickly got busy, but then smiled and said, "Young man, are you in a hurry? You may have to wait a few more minutes. The stove needs to heat up."
Zhou Yi had come here to observe the situation, so if he had a legitimate reason to stay longer, that would be great. "It's okay, I'm not in a hurry."
"Okay, it's not dinner time yet, so we won't keep the stove burning all the time to save some money on coal." The elder sister skillfully added coal slag into the stove.
Zhou Yi looked out and saw a little girl of about five or six years old with two pigtails squatting in front of another red plastic stool drawing behind the tricycle.
"Sister, is this your daughter?"
"Yes." Seeing the stove was heating up, the eldest sister began to prepare pancakes.
"It's really hard for you to take care of children and run a business at the same time."
The eldest sister smiled brightly. "Hey, what's the hard part? I just need to make a living. Her father works on the construction site and can't take care of her. I'm just taking care of her at home and don't make any money. Her father is too hard-working, so I thought I'd start a small business to earn some money for food. You know, life is always hard, but with a child by my side, I still have hope in my heart. Don't you agree, young man?"
"Yes, elder sister, you said it very well." Zhou Yi smiled. This is the true state of all living beings.
"Nier, call me uncle."
The little girl turned around and called out to Zhou Yi, "Hello, uncle."
"Be good, Ni'er. Don't run around while your mom is working." Zhou Yi said softly.
The eldest sister smiled and said, "No, she's very well behaved. Young man, do you want some chili?"
"Less spicy, I can't handle it."
Zhou Yi took the opportunity to chat with the elder sister and observe the other two people setting up stalls.
One was an old lady selling hats and gloves, all of which were absolutely handmade, because Zhou Yi saw the old lady knitting.
The one farthest away was a man in his thirties or forties, who was selling pirated videotapes at a stall.
The man was very thin, with a crew cut, and was wearing a loose coat. He stood there with his neck hunched and his hands in his pockets, looking around from time to time.
From the four people setting up stalls, only the man selling videotapes is a suspect.
After paying for the pancakes, Zhou Yi said goodbye to the elder sister and walked towards the man’s stall while eating the pancakes.
When the man saw him approaching him, he shrugged and asked, "Dude, do you want to buy a tape?"
Zhou Yi didn't say anything and pretended to look down at the videotape on the ground.
"I have Hollywood blockbusters here. They're awesome. Look at this one, 'Twister,' and this one, 'Mission Impossible.' And this one, 'Independence Day,' which was the hottest movie in America last year. All the kids loved it."
The man introduced enthusiastically, gesturing on the stall with his feet, his hands still in his pockets.
Seeing Zhou Yi chewing on a pancake in silence, he pointed at the others with his foot and said, "Don't like foreign films? How about Hong Kong films? There are films by Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, and Chow Yun-fat."
Zhou Yi looked up at the other person, who had an obvious look of impatience on his face.
The man was immediately annoyed when he saw Zhou Yi looking at him. He angrily asked, "What are you looking at?"
Zhou Yi did not respond with the classic answer: What are you looking at?
Instead, he said calmly, "Just take a look."
The man immediately flew into a rage: "If you don't want to buy it, you should have said so earlier. I've been talking for a long time and you haven't said a word. If you don't want to buy it, get out!"
The lady selling pancakes heard the commotion over here, took a look, and wanted to come over and say something, but in the end she didn't dare to, and just stood in front of her daughter.
Zhou Yi didn't argue with the other party because he had basically confirmed that the guy in front of him should be a criminal with a criminal record, and judging by the length of his buzz cut, he probably had not been out of prison for long.
Zhou Yi didn't say anything, just sneered and turned away.
The man thought he had seen a lot of things, but he was still startled by the smile.
The man cursed at Zhou Yi's receding back and spat on the ground.
When the lady selling pancakes saw Zhou Yi leave, she felt relieved, breathed a sigh of relief, and started playing with her daughter.
About ten minutes later, the elder sister noticed that the man was packing up his stall. He put all the videotapes into a blue cloth bag, then turned around and left with it on his back.
The man walked in the other direction of the intersection with his bag on his back. After walking about three or four hundred meters, he turned into a narrow path.
"Damn, where does this guy come from? Could he be an urban management officer?" The man cursed and swore continuously.
Suddenly, a dark shadow jumped out from the side.
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