Chapter 27
Chang Ting opened his eyes, rubbed his face to cheer himself up, started the car, drove straight to Zhu Zangmo's villa, and rang the doorbell.
The blue light on the doorbell lit up, indicating that the camera was on. He said to the doorbell, "Is Principal Zhu home?"
After a while, the door was opened by remote control. He pushed the door and walked into the yard. Zhu Zangmo had already come out of the house to greet him.
Zhu Zangmo was a little surprised by his sudden visit, but he still warmly invited him in and said loudly, "Auntie Wang, a guest has arrived. Make a pot of tea."
Chang Ting entered the living room and saw the nanny, known as Wang Ma, removing a set of purple clay tea sets from the tea table. Wang Ma looked to be in her fifties or sixties, with her hair tied back in a bun, looking neat and respectable.
Chang Ting glanced at the purple clay tea set in Wang Ma's hand and asked casually, "Are there any guests at home?"
"No, no, I drank it myself," Zhu Zangmo said. "I have the habit of drinking tea every day. Officer Chang is a distinguished guest, so of course I have to change to better tea."
Chang Ting noticed two purple clay cups. Zhu Zangmo might have other guests at home. Perhaps they were inconvenienced and had intentionally avoided the situation and gone to another room.
Who avoids the police?
Zhu Zangmo invited Chang Ting to take a seat and turned around to say, "Auntie Wang, open my box of green tea and have Officer Chang taste it. Remember to use the glass tea set."
Chang Ting waved his hand: "Don't bother, I'll just ask a few questions and then leave."
"Why are you being so polite to me?"
Aunt Wang came back quickly and placed a set of transparent glass tea sets on the table. Green tea had already been brewed in the teapot. Then she quietly left with the tea tray.
Zhu Zangmo placed a small crystal-like cup in front of Chang Ting. "This is my new Rizhao green tea. It's a rising star in recent years. I see your eyes are red. You've been feeling a bit irritable lately, haven't you? This tea has a rich chestnut aroma, a refreshing and sweet aftertaste, and has the effect of clearing the mind and improving eyesight. You should drink more."
Zhu Zangmo poured tea for him. The emerald green tea leaves swirled in the glass pot, and the bright light green tea soup poured into the cup.
"Thanks." Chang Ting drank it all in one gulp and asked, "There's a small art studio on the first floor of the Tibetan Ink Base. Does Principal Zhu remember it?"
Zhu Zangmo paused for a moment, holding the cup, and asked, "There are several studios on the first floor. Which one are you referring to?"
"On the west side of the corridor is the studio where you take premium classes and display excellent works." Chang Ting repeated Chen He's words.
"Oh, that one." Zhu Zangmo stroked his sleek hair, "I remember it. What's wrong?"
"Do you know who entered or left the studio around the time Qiu Yue disappeared?"
Zhu Zangmo looked embarrassed: "Oh, how can I remember this?"
"Please think about it carefully." Chang Ting's tone did not allow for rejection.
Zhu Zangmo frowned, thought for a long time, and said, "Qiu Yue disappeared on Thursday night. On Thursday, there should be a special class for a few outstanding students."
"Morning or afternoon?"
"Afternoon, I think."
"How many students?"
"About ten."
"Who is the teacher in this class?"
"I teach most of the elite classes myself, and only occasionally do I have other teachers cover when I'm busy. That day's class... I should have been the one teaching."
"Can you give me the list of students?"
"I really can't remember that. However, the students in the elite courses are basically fixed. I can ask other teachers to help find the list."
"Is Qiu Yue among them?"
Zhu Zangmo's brow twitched. "Yes. I remember she was there. Because she disappeared that night, I recalled the situation before the incident over and over again, so I remember."
"Has she ever been anything unusual?"
Zhu Zangmo shook his head: "No...Qiu Yue is a very well-behaved child. She sits quietly wherever she goes and never attracts much attention."
"Is Chen He here?"
"Chen He?" Zhu Zangmo thought for a moment. "She's so outstanding, she should be in this class. But I'm not sure if she came to class that day. It's common for students to ask for leave."
"What time does class end?"
"Classes usually end before dinner, around six o'clock."
"Is the studio locked after class?"
"No. The studio is usually unlocked so students can go in and see excellent works at any time."
Chang Ting frowned. This way, anyone could come and go, and those seeds could have been left behind by anyone, making it impossible to trace them.
Chang Ting lowered his head and clicked on the photo album on his phone. He opened a photo of red spider lily seeds that he had found online and showed it to Zhu Zangmo: "Do you know what this is?"
Zhu Zangmo squinted his eyes, looking at the handful of black particles. He looked at them from a distance for a while, and said in confusion, "I don't recognize them. What kind of seeds are these?"
Chang Ting put his phone away without answering. He picked up his shot glass and drank it in one gulp. "Do you remember anything unusual about that elite class?"
Zhu Zangmo thought hard about his memory. "If something special had happened, I would definitely remember it. Now I can't remember anything, so that means there's nothing unusual, right?"
Zhu Zangmo obviously tried his best to recall, but after five years, it was normal that he could not remember these things.
"Please verify the list of students and provide it to me as soon as possible."
"Of course, of course."
"By the way, do you read comics online? The serialized ones?" Chang Ting asked abruptly.
Zhu Zangmo was stunned for a moment, then smiled and raised his hand to gesture at the oil painting on the wall. "I still prefer more elegant art. Comics, especially those online nowadays, are too crude and childish. I never touch them."
Chang Ting wondered: If Chen He were here, she might have argued with her teacher. But… that comic had already caused quite a stir, with entries on trending searches across various news platforms. Had Zhu Zangmo really not noticed?
Perhaps this kind of artist is out of touch with the real world and doesn't even go online?
Chang Ting looked at the painting and thought it was just a blob of inexplicable paint. He said bluntly, "Is this just a mounted paint tray?"
Zhu Zangmo laughed heartily: "Officer Chang is really humorous."
Chang Ting swore that he was not joking, but was speaking the truth.
"Excuse me, I really don't understand." He pointed to another smaller painting frame not far away. "I can only understand the kind that look like something. The butterfly painting is quite beautiful."
In the black frame, several butterflies of different sizes seem to be dancing.
Zhu Zangmo turned around and looked: "Officer Chang has good taste. But that's not a painting."
"Really?" Chang Ting stood up and walked to the picture frame, only then did he see clearly that it was actually a butterfly specimen.
The gorgeous wings are pinned to the base painted with flowers with fine needles. They are lifelike, yet exude a sense of decay.
Zhu Zangmo couldn't help but reveal his pride. "Besides oil paintings, my favorite thing is collecting butterfly specimens. The trembling of the soul is sealed in the frame, and beauty is frozen into eternity by death. Don't you think it's very touching?"
"Oh..." Chang Ting nodded, pretending to understand. "There won't be any insects in the summer, right?"
"..." Zhu Zangmo paused. The words "playing the lute to a cow" were practically written on his face.
Chang Ting pretended to admire the specimens, then turned his gaze to the depths of the big house.
The villa had three floors, including the attic, and a fourth floor with the basement, so it must have a lot of rooms. He didn't know which room the guest who didn't want to meet him was hiding in, if he really existed.
Nanny Wang Ma and his wife Fu Weiru also seemed to have disappeared silently in this big house, and seemed to be spying on him, the uninvited guest, from some corner.
The entire villa is so big and so quiet, exuding an indescribable atmosphere.
Chang Ting didn't sit down again and said, "Sorry to bother you today. The tea is good and refreshing! Don't you really have any big cups at home?"
"Oh, I've been careless again! I will definitely change it for you a bigger one next time!" Zhu Zangmo smiled, and the words "ox chewing peony" were almost written on his face again.
That evening, after leaving Zhu Zangmo's house, Chang Ting received a list of twelve students for the elite course, including Qiu Yue and Chen He.
He forwarded the list to his colleagues in the task force and asked them to contact each of them except Chen He, asking the students whether they knew about the flower seeds and whether any unusual circumstances had occurred in that high-quality class.
Colleagues were only able to contact some of the students. According to their recollections, Qiu Yue was indeed present at the elite class that afternoon, but Chen He was absent. This was because, not long before, Chen He had been punished for fighting with a classmate and had been removed from the elite class list.
Chang Ting remembered the scene in the comics where "Chen He" fought with "Xu San" and others for "Qiu Yue".
Chen He was probably punished because of this.
But Zhu Zangmo seemed to have forgotten about it. Then again, as the head of a school, it was understandable that he didn't remember such a small thing. If he remembered every detail, that would be suspicious.
The students unanimously said that nothing special happened in the boutique class.
In addition, no flower seeds were found in Chen He and Qiu Yue’s online shopping records from five years ago.
The investigation once again fell into a quagmire.
Just then, something happened.
Xu Candong was burned to death in an alley.
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