Chapter 153
When the police excavated Qiu Yue's body in the valley on the northern slope, Zhou Zhengzheng had been to the scene and knew what the valley looked like.
But the composition of the oil painting had been artistically processed, and Zhou Zhengzheng was unable to see it when he looked at the painting.
Chen He, who has a professional perspective in painting, can more easily distinguish them.
Chen He felt that the bird's-eye view in the painting seemed to be exactly where she fell off the cliff.
It seems as if the painter set up his easel on that stone step and painted this work.
Chen He squinted at the small picture, but no matter how hard she tried, she could only see shades of gray, unable to discern any color.
But he still relied on his keen talent to detect any abnormality.
She pointed to a spot and asked quietly, "Zhengzheng, is this red?"
Zhou Zhengzheng was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that Chen He was color blind, and his heart ached.
She looked at that spot, shock flashing across her eyes. "Yes. It's a little red."
Landscape oil paintings often don't depict distant views in detail, and this is a small reproduction, making it even blurrier.
Compared to the whole painting, that little bit of red is very small, like a drop of blood, condensed in the early autumn when the green fades and the yellow turns.
It clearly expresses a bunch of red flowers.
Zhou Zhengzheng swallowed his saliva and said, "That seems to be... the location where Qiu Yue's body was found."
Chen He's breathing quickened as she flipped to the instructions for the painting.
The painting is titled "Sleeping Bloom." It was sold...
Chen He's expression suddenly changed as he pointed at the date: "The date of sale was six months after Qiu Yue disappeared!"
Painting an oil painting takes a long time. One layer of paint must dry before the next layer can be applied.
With the delicate texture and complex scene of "Sleeping Bloom", it would take at least a month to paint.
At that time, the red spider lily seeds in Qiu Yue's body were far from awakening, let alone blooming...
No, that's not right.
Chen He looked at the painting and suddenly figured something out.
She clenched the paper tightly and slowly said, "The flower seeds... were sown by Zhu Zangmo!"
Zhou Zhengzheng didn't understand at first, but after a few seconds he suddenly realized what he meant.
Before that, after Xing Yao tied Song Zhou to the Qingde Auto Repair Shop, he thought he was about to send Song Zhou to death, and he "shared" the process of killing Qiu Yue very frankly.
However, Xing Yao did not mention the matter of the red spider lily seeds.
Xing Yao is so obsessed with the act of killing that he would not miss such an important detail.
The only explanation is that someone else is the one who planted the flowers.
At this moment, I finally figured out the details of this link.
It is Zhu Zangmo.
Zhu Zangmo went to the valley on the north slope shortly after Qiu Yue was buried.
He must have gone there with Xing Yao, because only Xing Yao knew the exact location.
He asked Xing Yao to point out where the body was to be buried, and then he planted flower seeds in the soil under Qiu Yue's body with his own hands.
As he embedded the flower seeds into the soil one by one, there must have been a twisted and bloody smile on his face.
Afterwards, he walked to the place where Chen He fell off the cliff, set up his easel, and deliberately looked for the perspective of Chen He standing there to draft the composition.
Finally, this landscape was painted.
In the painting, there seems to be no characters, but there are actually two invisible people——
A girl went all the way to the top of this cliff in search of her friend.
She looked down at the beautiful valley in despair, unaware that her friend was buried in the deepest part.
Then, she fell.
One will be shattered to pieces, the other will bloom.
When Zhu Zangmo painted this picture, he must have been very crazy, thinking that he was a crazy artist who was painting between life and death.
In reality, he was just a vampire crawling on the edge of the underworld.
Chen He pinched the paper in his hand, and the hatred in his chest was like magma, burning his blood vessels.
She lowered her head and spoke slowly, "This painting was inspired by Qiu Yue's murder. It depicts the murder hidden beneath the beautiful scenery."
Zhou Zhengzheng also figured it out. Pointing at the price of the painting, she asked Chen He, "Is it because of the meaning behind the painting... that they're selling it so expensive?"
Chen He looked at the price: the transaction price was two million RMB.
He estimated it in his mind: "Medium size. The buyer is a foreign collector. So it's a normal price."
"Wow!" Zhou Zhengzheng's eyes widened. "Is an oil painting so valuable?"
"The price of an oil painting isn't solely determined by artistic factors. Title and status also influence the transaction price."
Chen He raised his hand and drew a staircase in the air. "Zhu Zangmo is considered to be in the upper echelon of domestic oil painters. This painting itself is also a masterpiece, and the price is in line with his level."
The "levels" of painters are clearly divided based on the transaction prices of their works at major auction houses at home and abroad.
The top masters in the domestic art world can command prices in the tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.
But although Zhu Cangmo is known as the "Master of Oil Painting" and his resumes at various exhibitions also say so, these are actually flattery words from people in the circle and he is not considered to be top-notch.
Considering his net worth, it is normal for a fine painting to be sold for one to two or three million.
After Chen He finished explaining, he added, "As long as a gallery or art dealer can reach long-term cooperation with one or two painters of Zhu Zangmo's level, it will be enough to survive."
Not far away, at another computer, a bespectacled policeman overheard their conversation and looked up: "This art shop is amazing. They're probably making money."
The two followed the sound and looked over.
Zhou Zhengzheng first introduced them: "We are colleagues from the Economic Investigation Department."
Then he asked, “How is it so powerful?”
"Come and take a look. This is the business performance of the art store over the years." The economic investigation police pulled up a report.
The two of them leaned over to take a look.
"It's a small art house, but its turnover is staggering, with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan in annual turnover."
The economic investigation police officer's finger slid across several lines of the table. "Especially in the past five or six years, it's increased every year, adding up to more than 400 million. In the following years until now, it's been mediocre..."
Five or six years, four hundred million.
Hearing this astronomical figure, Chen He felt a pang of anxiety and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Only then did she realize that there were huge interests involved behind Xingchang Trading Company.
The amount is so huge that it is enough to drive the greedy crazy, and they will not hesitate to crush others to pieces for their own benefit.
Song Zhou was dragged into a whirlpool that was more dangerous than she had expected.
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