Chapter 243 Liar Liar Liar
"Han Jiajia?" Tao Cong leaned against the door, one of his legs shaking like a sieve.
He thought for a moment, then cursed, "Are you fucking mentally ill? That's the idiot from Class 2 who has the same name as me. You got the wrong guy!"
Zhou Yi's face suddenly darkened and he said, "You're right, it's you."
Tao Cong was stunned for a moment, then his face changed instantly and he turned around and ran away.
Zhou Yi followed slowly. Tao Cong pushed down things beside him while running, constantly creating obstacles.
For a moment, the whole yard was in chaos, accompanied by the shouting and cursing of the old man and the old woman.
Tao Cong rushed towards the gate with his bare, bamboo-like legs and wearing flip-flops. He turned his head and saw that Zhou Yi was still some distance away from him, so he proudly raised his middle finger at him.
But the next second, he was suddenly tripped and fell flat on his face. Then he felt someone pressing his back with his knee, and his hands were tied behind his back with cold handcuffs on his wrists.
When Qiao Jiali was handcuffing the man, Zhou Yi happened to come over and pulled the man up from the ground.
"Boy, you run pretty fast. I've been on guard against you."
Tao Cong's face was covered in mud. He smiled awkwardly and said, "I was just joking."
"Come on, let's go back and have some fun."
In the interrogation room of the Municipal Bureau, Zhou Yi asked, "Name."
It was obvious that Tao Cong was experienced, and he immediately gave his basic information without hesitation.
"Do you know why I arrested you?"
Tao Cong nodded.
"Okay, then tell me yourself."
"Is it...about the Dinghua Group?" Tao Cong asked tentatively.
"Don't you know it yourself?" Zhou Yi's eyebrows stood up.
Tao Cong nodded immediately: "Yes, yes, that's it. Police officer, I am also a victim. I am innocent."
"I was also deceived by that Meng."
"Tell me everything from beginning to end. Tell me exactly how you met this person and what you did. Explain everything clearly." Zhou Yi tapped the table and emphasized, "Don't try to get away with it. You've been to prison, so you should know the consequences of lying."
"I know, I know."
Tao Cong said that he met Meng Qingtong on the train back to Hongcheng. The man was well-dressed and gave him cigarettes, which made him think that he was quite rich.
During the conversation, Meng Qingtong said that he was the sales manager of Dinghua Group and was sent to Hongcheng to develop business. He planned to open a branch in Hongcheng.
The two chatted happily. After learning that he was a local, Meng Qingtong enthusiastically invited him to help him. He said that although he had been entrusted with an important task by the group, the group was also testing him, so they didn't give him other people. If he could develop the Hongcheng market within the specified time, he would become the general manager of the Hongcheng branch in the future.
He promised that as long as Tao Cong followed him, he would become the vice president of Hongcheng branch in the future.
Then Tao Cong started to help Meng Qingtong, distributing flyers, setting up stalls to advertise, and recruiting people.
He said Meng Qingtong promised to give him 5% of sales as compensation. He said he would be officially hired once he passed the group's assessment and the branch was officially established.
But unexpectedly, around the beginning of March, Meng Qingtong suddenly disappeared one day.
"At first, I thought he'd gone back to the group for something. But I waited in the office for a few days and still didn't see him. One day, I went to the nearby public restroom to take a shit, and when I came back, I saw a lot of people rushing into that shabby little building. I knew that bastard surnamed Meng must have gotten away. He's a fucking liar."
"I was afraid I couldn't explain myself clearly, and I was afraid that the group would ask me for money, so I ran away."
Tao Cong had a sad face and said aggrievedly: "Comrade police officer, I worked for him for three months for free. Not only did I not get a penny, I even had to pay myself."
Zhou Yi nodded: "So, it was all done by Meng Qingtong, and it has nothing to do with you. You were also deceived by him, right?"
"Yes, yes, I am just like them. I am also a victim." Tao Cong nodded repeatedly.
"Do you think I believe it?" Zhou Yi's face turned cold instantly.
Tao Cong was stunned for a moment and tried to smile, but the muscles on his face twitched: "Wh...what do you mean?"
"If you were the victim, why did you run away when you saw me? I've already reminded you that you've been in prison. If you were the victim and didn't do anything wrong, tell me, why did you run away when you saw me?"
"I..." Tao Cong was speechless.
His reaction at that time was completely subconscious and instinctive.
But people who have been in prison shouldn't react this way. Prison isn't like a police interrogation room; if you don't obey, there are plenty of ways to punish you.
There are both compliant and non-compliant methods.
Therefore, many people with criminal records have an instinctive fear when they see law enforcement officers.
I won't turn around and run away unless I know I have done something wrong.
Because if they are caught, they will have to go to jail again, and that is what they are really afraid of.
"Do you think I'm easy to fool? Or are all of you ex-prisoners just as naive as you? You just met someone on the train and followed them like a fool to a deserted building, working tirelessly for three months without asking for a penny?"
Zhou Yi said with a wry smile, "It seems that the reforms at Luohe Prison have been very successful, making you so simple and honest. How about we send you back for another year or two? You can be considered a success story, so we should promote it."
When Zhou Yi was speaking, Tao Cong was visibly nervous.
He is a seasoned man, but he is only twenty-two years old after all, not that old, and he doesn't have much education.
When he heard that he was going to be sent back to Luohe Prison, he immediately shouted anxiously: "No, no, no, police comrade, no! I'll tell you, I'll tell you."
"What, no more joking?"
Tao Cong waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, I really won't open it this time."
"Okay, I'll give you another chance." Zhou Yi pointed at him and said, "This is the last time. Take care of yourself."
"I understand, I understand." Tao Cong began to explain with a smile on his face.
"Meng Qingtong and I are actually... partners. We met when Luohe was in prison. He was in jail for defrauding an old man and woman of their money. After I got out, I couldn't make it in Luohe anymore, so I went to Taicheng to play for a while, and one day I just happened to run into him."
"While we were drinking, he said he had recently learned a new trick that was quite impressive. It was a popular scam in other provinces and it made money much faster than scamming old men and women. He asked me if I wanted to do it together. I was broke at the time and thought any money I could make was good, so I agreed."
"So we rented an office in Taicheng, hired someone to make a bunch of flyers, and set up an office. But to our surprise, someone in Taicheng had already done the same business, so no one was fooled. Not only did we not make any money, we even lost thousands of dollars."
Tao Cong couldn't help but curse: "These bastards are liars."
Zhou Yi knocked on the table: "Watch your words!"
"Yes, I paid attention, I paid attention." Tao Cong continued, "Then I came back from Taicheng, because I really had no money. If I didn't come back, I would starve to death. At least I could have something to eat when I got home."
Tao Cong's household registration information shows that there is a considerable age gap between him and his parents, indicating that he was an elderly parent. Moreover, his father died of a sudden illness when he was fourteen years old.
The old lady spinning that Zhou Yi saw before should be his mother.
"Around the end of last year, that bastard Meng Qingtong came to Hongcheng and even came to my house to see me. I didn't want to talk to him at first, thinking he was unreliable, but he said he'd treat me to hotpot, so I went."
"Then during dinner, he told me that he still wanted to do the business we hadn't done in Taicheng before. He even brought over the leftover flyers."
"I don't think it's reliable. I lost a lot of money last time, so I just thought I'd just have the meal and forget about it. But he told me that he had done all the research and no one in Hongcheng had ever done this kind of business. So we have to learn from this lesson and seize the opportunity to make a living."
Tao Cong said seriously, "I thought what he said made sense at the time, so I did it."
He said that because he had spent all his money last time, he had no money to build an office this time. In the end, he found the small, dilapidated building and knew that there was no one there.
Sure enough, what Meng Qingtong said was right. No one in Hongcheng had ever used this kind of fraud before, and soon someone fell for it.
However, when someone followed them to the so-called "office", they still became suspicious.
"Meng Qingtong is a real con man. He just kept saying he'd already bought the land and was about to build a brand new office building, and he fooled people into it. Anyway, about ten people fell for it and paid money. The most he paid was one idiot, 30,000 yuan. Hahaha."
Bang--
Zhou Yi slammed the table and scolded, "Be serious."
"Oh well, I was wrong, I was wrong."
"How did you get discovered later? What led to you quitting?" Logically speaking, this model of annual returns would have a longer period of collapse, and it shouldn't run away in just two or three months.
Especially the scammers, who are actually more greedy than those who have been deceived. They only think about getting as much as possible and will never stop easily when they feel they have cheated enough.
And with this kind of financial fraud, the victim only realizes they’ve been scammed after the person runs away. So something must have happened to them.
"Later... one day, someone came to our house and accused us of scamming them. He'd asked a friend in another province, and they'd found out there was no Dinghua Group. Meng Qingtong was afraid things would get out of hand, so he refunded the money and gave him a thousand yuan, saying it was dividends. As soon as the man left, Meng Qingtong told him to pack up and leave immediately, saying the whole thing would be exposed."
Tao Cong stamped his foot and said, "Oh, I shouldn't have trusted that bastard back then. He and I agreed to meet at the train station that evening and we'd move to another city to continue our work, but this bastard didn't show up and ran off with the money! Damn it!"
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