"Take a shower in the morning?" Wang Shen turned around, glanced at Han Lin, and then closed the bathroom door.
"Yes, to be honest, Cheng is a pretty hardworking person. He's always the first one to arrive every day. I usually check all the facilities in the store before the other employees come in, and I've seen Cheng there several times. But after he finishes showering, the other employees start to arrive one after another. So I think he's trying to avoid the peak hours for bathroom use."
Wang Shen listened carefully to Han Lin's words, going over them in his mind, but found no logical errors. Just as Wang Shen was deep in thought, a waiter entered the changing room at some point.
"Where's my wallet? Where did it go?" Not far from Wang Shen and Han Lin, a waiter was seen rummaging through his locker. It seemed his wallet was missing.
Wang Shen walked up to the sales clerk and glanced at him. He realized the clerk was the owner of locker number "25." Wang Shen patted the clerk on the shoulder. "Hello, is this your locker?"
The waiter stopped his frantic rummaging, turned to look at Wang Shen, and noticed Han Lin standing behind him. Seeing Han Lin's serious expression, the waiter silently lowered his head.
"Is this cabinet yours?" Wang Shen smiled at the salesperson in front of him, his tone becoming very gentle.
The waiter heard Wang Shen ask the same question twice, then slightly raised his head to glance at Han Lin, and answered softly, "Yes."
"This cabinet belongs to Acheng, right?" Wang Shen walked around to the waiter's side and asked, pointing to cabinet number "16".
The waiter turned around and looked at the cabinet again, then nodded.
"Can you tell me what kind of person Acheng is usually?"
“Him?” The waiter’s eyes lit up at the mention of A-Cheng. “Overall, he’s not bad. It’s just that he seems a bit arrogant. He thinks he’s above everyone else just because he’s hooked up with the boss…”
"Enough!" Han Lin, standing behind Wang Shen, suddenly shouted, interrupting the waiter. "What nonsense are you spouting in front of Officer Wang?" Han Lin controlled his emotions, but his expression remained serious as he reprimanded the waiter.
Upon hearing Han Lin's words, the waiter immediately lowered his head and stopped speaking.
"Manager Han, it's alright, don't get so worked up." Wang Shen looked at Han Lin and laughed twice.
"Officer Wang, these people like to gossip all the time." Han Lin also looked at Wang Shen and chuckled twice.
"I heard that Acheng had a big fight with one of your chefs recently, is that right?" Wang Shen shifted his gaze from Han Lin and turned to the waiter in front of him.
This time, the waiter didn't dare to say anything out of line, but instead looked up at Han Lin.
"Officer Wang is asking you a question. Just tell the truth," Han Lin instructed the waiter not far away.
The waiter looked away from Han Lin and answered Wang Shen, "Yes, it happened just a couple of days ago. They were making a huge scene in the kitchen."
Do you know why?
The waiter looked at Wang Shen, thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "The chef who argued with Acheng also has a bad temper. We don't usually get along with him. We've gossiped about it privately, but we still don't know what caused their argument."
Wang Shen nodded, observing the waiter's expression. Suddenly, Wang Shen smiled and looked at the waiter, saying, "By the way, you said you lost your wallet? Have you found it?"
"No. That's so strange. I remember it being in the cabinet, how come it's gone?" The waiter scratched the back of his head, looking completely bewildered.
"Do you have anything important in your wallet?" Han Lin interrupted the waiter.
The waiter glanced at Han Lin's expression and shook his head.
"Since there's nothing important, don't bother Officer Wang with such a small matter. You always lose things, and it's always because you put them in the wrong place. Go look for them yourself later."
After hearing this, the waiter couldn't help but laugh at himself. "Then, manager, I'll head out now." With that, the waiter dashed out of the changing room.
"Manager Han, you have a lot of authority among the employees," Wang Shen said with a smile, looking at Han Lin.
“Officer Wang, this store can’t be managed well without doing this.” Han Lin’s smile returned to his face.
"By the way, did you know about the argument that Acheng had with one of your chefs the other day?"
"Yes, I know." Han Lin nodded readily.
"Do you know what caused the argument?" Wang Shen looked at Han Lin, waiting for his answer.
Unfortunately, Han Lin shook his head and replied, "I don't really know the reason. Because Acheng's relationship with the other employees in the store hasn't been good these past two years, there have been constant frictions, big and small. At first, I would try to find out why, but as time went on and there were more and more frictions, I no longer had the energy or the inclination to deal with these things. Besides, given Acheng's current relationship with our boss, it's not really appropriate for me to interfere in his affairs."
Wang Shen nodded. "Is the chef still at the restaurant? I'd like to go see him."
“Sure.” Han Lin nodded. “Officer Wang, why don’t you come outside and rest for a bit? I’ll have someone call the chef over.”
Wang Shen followed Han Lin and chose a new seat in the lobby. Wang Shen made one more request to Han Lin: that all witnesses from the day the conflict occurred be present. Soon after, five chefs and two waiters lined up in front of Wang Shen. Wang Shen glanced at the people standing before him, smiled, and pointed to the empty seats in front of him, "Please sit down."
Just as Wang Shen finished speaking, one of the chubby chefs suddenly knelt down in front of him. Startled, Wang Shen immediately stood up and helped the chef up. However, the chef refused to get up, muttering, "Officer, I didn't start the fire! Don't listen to their nonsense! I have a wife and children to support; you can't wrongly accuse me!"
Wang Shen was both amused and exasperated after hearing this. He could only comfort the man and help him up from the ground. "No one said you started the fire. They just called you over to find out what happened. Don't worry about it." Wang Shen helped the chubby chef to a chair, breathed a sigh of relief, then sat back down in his own chair, looked at the chef, and took out his notebook and pen.
"Now please tell me why you two had that argument a couple of days ago." Wang Shen stared at the chef in front of him.
The chef lowered his head, glanced at the person beside him, and stammered before finally speaking. "Actually, it wasn't a big deal, just because of a lighter. It was just bad luck that day; my stove wouldn't light no matter what I did, so I took his lighter. He said he needed to use that thing to serve the food immediately. And then, we started arguing."
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