Death Photo Gallery (3)

This new photo should be an advertising photo. The girl is about 21 or 22 years old, wearing a blue uniform with a special logo, and looks like an employee of a company.

She has a thin face with a pretty claw-shaped face, her hair is tied up, her eyes are bright and crescent-shaped, and she has a smile on her face. Her whole image is the kind of sweetness that you can remember at a glance.

She raised one arm and made a very standard guiding gesture, her palm pointing at a set of advertising slogans. Meng Siqi took a closer look and saw that it was something like "Silver Mall".

"Shangyin Shopping Mall." Zhao Leiting said.

Meng Siqi was slightly startled. Wasn't Shangyin Mall the mall run by her father Meng Hui and brother Meng Tingzhe? Why was this girl connected to the mall? She raised her head and looked at Zhao Leiting silently.

He explained, "It is indeed your mall. I passed by the entrance of the mall and saw this billboard. I felt it was very familiar, so I took a photo. What do you think?"

Meng Siqi picked up the two photos for comparison. Although the death makeup gave people a strange feeling and slightly distorted the original appearance of the person, the face shape, nose shape, and eyebrow width were relatively similar. They were basically the same person, or two similar people.

Meng Siqi nodded and said, "Yes, they are somewhat similar."

"Do you want to go to the mall together to ask?" Zhao Lei Ting's tone was somewhat tentative.

Meng Siqi knew that Zhao Leiting would be cautious because it was her own shopping mall. But this did not mean anything, so she agreed immediately.

After driving to the Shangyin Shopping Mall and parking the car, Meng Siqi discovered that the mall was larger than she had imagined. It was her first time here. The mall was a two-story square building, which meant that the mall could be entered from all directions. However, the main entrance was particularly lively, with a string of arched balloons over the gate.

The four big characters "Shangyin Shopping Mall" are right above the main entrance, which is very impressive.

The two followed the crowd into the main entrance. Looking around, the whole mall was full of dazzling and diverse things. Rows of small green pine trees decorated the mall, hung with colorful balloons and ribbons, and many children were chasing and laughing around.

Meng Siqi then realized that today was New Year's Day. The era had quietly entered the year 94. It was the beginning of a new year. The faces of the tourists were filled with happiness and hope, and the shopping mall was exceptionally bustling.

There happened to be a security guard walking around, and Zhao Leiting asked about the location of the mall office. The two of them walked through the crowd towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

Meng Siqi rarely goes out shopping, so her eyes wander around things near and far. There are many clothing stores filled with colorful clothes. In fact, she also loves beauty, but she hasn't bought new clothes for herself for a long time.

When she turned her eyes back to the right direction, she suddenly saw a man walking towards her. It was none other than Meng Tingzhe. Behind him were three or five other people, all in suits and leather shoes.

Meng Tingzhe was wearing a neat suit and a red tie, looking very imposing. He was talking loudly to the people around him as he walked.

As soon as he raised his eyes, their eyes met immediately. Meng Tingzhe stopped scolding his subordinates and put on a friendly smile, waving at her: "Sister, why are you here?"

The two stopped not far from each other, and Meng Siqi said with a smile: "I have a small matter to take care of in the mall."

"Looking at clothes?" Meng Tingzhe put his hands in his pockets and smiled very friendly. "Come on, I'll pick out some for you. This is your friend, right? Come with me!"

"It's like this." Meng Siqi interrupted him quickly, "There is a missing person case in the police station. It's possible that the missing woman is an employee of your mall, so I came to ask."

Meng Tingzhe frowned slightly and asked the people around him in a blaming tone: "Has anyone been missing from our mall recently?"

"No, Mr. Meng. The attendance is normal every day." The middle-aged man next to him immediately stepped forward and answered.

"Look, this is our logistics manager, he said no!" Meng Tingzhe responded in a righteous tone.

Meng Siqi said: "But this is our job, I hope..."

"I just got promoted and I received a missing person case," Meng Tingzhe interrupted her in a loud voice, with disdain, "It's amazing that they even traced it to my home..."

He raised the corner of his mouth, as if reminding her with ulterior motives: "Today is a critical day for our mall. I suggest you come at another time."

He deliberately emphasized the word "home".

Meng Siqi did not expect that today was New Year's Day, which was indeed very important for the mall's business, but she did not think there was anything wrong with her job.

Zhao Leiting looked at her and said hesitantly, "How about, Siqi, let's do it another day..."

Meng Siqi quickly took out his police officer ID from his pocket and showed it in front of Meng Tingzhe in a very standard posture. His expression was serious, which was quite different from before.

She said in a strong voice: "I am Meng Siqi, a criminal police officer from the Jinyang City Public Security Bureau. There is a missing person case related to your mall. I hope your mall will cooperate with the investigation!"

Zhao Leiting: “…”

Meng Tingzhe's face suddenly darkened. At that time, the second floor was crowded with people, and Meng Siqi's behavior immediately attracted the attention of the crowd. Faint voices came over, "What are the police doing here?" "What happened?"

Gritting his teeth, Meng Tingzhe suppressed his anger and shouted, "Manager Ma, take the two comrades to find out the situation immediately."

"Okay, okay." Manager Ma responded immediately.

After Meng Siqi's back had gone far away, Meng Tingzhe clenched his fists, put them in his pockets, turned around, stared at his subordinates with a sinister look, and cursed: "You good-for-nothings, if you find out that someone in the mall is missing for no reason, you will all be punished!"

*

The mall was bustling with people. On the way to the office, Zhao Leiting leaned close to Meng Siqi's ear and said, "Actually, there's no need to do this."

Meng Siqi understood that Zhao Leiting was worried that she would cause trouble in front of her family. After all, the case was still under investigation and could not be considered a formal case. There was no need to go to such great lengths. However, Meng Siqi did not think she had done anything wrong. She pursed her lips and did not reply.

In the office, Manager Ma from the logistics department asked someone to make tea for the two men and said politely, "Officer Meng, please feel free to ask me anything you want. As a logistics manager at the mall, I will tell you everything I know."

Meng Siqi glanced at Zhao Leiting, who understood and immediately took out the beautiful girl's promotional photo and handed it to Director Ma. Meng Siqi immediately said, "Manager Ma, do you know this girl? Is she still working in the mall now?"

Manager Ma's eyes lingered on the photo for a while, then he looked up and said, "I know her. Her name is Hu Dingxiang. She used to work as a salesperson in our mall clothing store. Because of her excellent performance and good looks, she did an advertisement for the mall. Of course, we paid her for all this."

Meng Siqi listened carefully and asked, "You just said before? Is she still working in the mall now?"

Manager Ma said: "She asked to resign three months ago."

"Resigned?" Zhao Lei Ting's expression froze.

"Yes, she said she went to work in another city with her boyfriend."

Meng Siqi thought for a moment and asked, "Did she tell you in person? Do you know her boyfriend?"

"I don't know them. I just check their attendance and never interfere with their personal lives."

"What else did she say on the day she resigned?" Meng Siqi asked.

"Wait a moment." Manager Ma stood up, took out a letter from the drawer and handed it to Meng Siqi, "This is her resignation letter, sent to me from Henan."

Meng Siqi took it in his hand. The postmark was indeed Henan, but the address of the letter was not written.

“Can I open it and take a look?”

"Can."

Meng Siqi opened the letter. The handwriting was easy to read, although a little crooked. The meaning of the words was very simple, saying that she was going to her boyfriend's hometown to develop and expressing her gratitude to the shopping mall.

She handed the resignation letter to Zhao Leiting. She always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Zhao Leiting took a look and asked, "Manager Ma, are you sure she wrote this?"

"Sure."

"Are there any old handwritings of hers?"

"Yes." Manager Ma took out another notebook, flipped through a few pages, and pointed to a signature.

This should be an attendance register. The three words "Hu Dingxiang" signed on the book are almost exactly the same as the handwriting on the letter.

Meng Siqi asked: "Does Hu Dingxiang have any colleagues here? Can we ask her about the situation?"

"Yes, Hu Dingxiang used to work in a clothing store in the mall. She had a colleague there, but she's probably busy now. I'll go look for her."

Seeing Manager Ma standing up, Meng Siqi hurriedly said, "Manager Ma, let's wait for her until she has time."

"The mall is really busy today. How about this: you can have a quick lunch at the mall. She has some time to rest at noon, so I'll ask her to come to the office."

"Okay." Meng Siqi said immediately, "We'll take care of the meal ourselves. Manager Ma, thank you for your help."

"You're so polite. You're Mr. Meng's biological sister. I'll make arrangements for lunch."

Meng Siqi could only respond with a faint smile: "Manager Ma, there's really no need. I have other things to do. You decide when to come over is 12 o'clock." She stood up directly.

Manager Ma also stood up, looking a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry I didn't take good care of you. I'll call Mr. Meng."

"It's better not to bother him." Meng Siqi said, "Can you take this resignation letter and her attendance signature back to us?"

"Okay." Manager Ma immediately packed it up and put it in a folder.

At a roadside stall near the mall, Zhao Leiting held a cake in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. "I say, can you be full with just a cake?"

"Why, you still want to have a meal in this hotel? I can't afford it." Meng Siqi took a bite of the cake and said seriously.

Zhao Leiting smiled and said, "You, sometimes you have to handle official business, and sometimes you have to take care of the family's feelings."

"You mean, let Manager Ma arrange a big meal for lunch."

"That's not what I meant."

"Okay, let's go back quickly after eating. It's almost twelve o'clock." Meng Siqi put the biscuit in his mouth, his mouth bulging, and took a sip of water.

"Okay." Zhao Lei Ting looked at her with a unique smile, and after Meng Siqi rolled her eyes at him, he also wrapped the cake in one bite and ate it like a hamster.

It was exactly twelve o'clock when they returned to the mall. Hu Dingxiang's colleagues were already waiting in the office. Manager Ma probably wanted to avoid suspicion, so he said he was going out to check the mall situation.

Her name was Liu Min, a woman in her thirties, wearing the blue uniform unique to shopping malls. When she saw the two people enter the room, she stood up and greeted them.

After talking to Liu Min about the situation, the information was roughly the same as what Manager Ma said. Hu Dingxiang resigned suddenly without informing her.

"So you don't know she has a boyfriend?" Meng Siqi asked.

"Yes, Dingxiang usually doesn't tell us about that because there is a big age gap between us. She is younger and always says she is not in a hurry to have a relationship. But suddenly she started dating someone and then quit her job."

"Do you think she's the type to just walk away?"

Liu Min seemed to think for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. Young people think differently from us. But she told me that if she finds a rich boyfriend and gets married in the future, she won't do this."

"Did she really say that?" Meng Siqi asked seriously.

"Yes." Liu Min's tone was quite affirmative.

"Did Hu Dingxiang have any conflicts with anyone before she resigned? For example, did she have an argument with a colleague or a customer in the store?"

"No, she has a good personality and never quarrels. You can see why she has good grades. It's because she has a good personality and she is beautiful."

"Have you ever had any unpleasant experiences with customers who gave her trouble?"

"No." Liu Min answered briskly, as if she had remembered something. "But there is one thing, I don't know if it can be considered unpleasant."

"You say."

"Once there was a female customer who tried on a lot of clothes. Hu Dingxiang was always very nice. Finally, she ran out of clothes, so she told the truth. The female customer was a little unhappy and said that Dingxiang didn't respect her."

Zhao Lei Ting asked hurriedly: "What does she look like? Did she leave her name?"

"To be honest, I really don't remember because I was also selling clothes, but the woman was wearing white clothes, had long hair, was tall and very beautiful. Because I didn't buy any clothes, I didn't leave any information."

Although this information may not be important, it is at least a turbulent piece of information in the otherwise calm clue.

After asking about Hu Dingxiang's personal life, including her previous rental situation, Meng Siqi finally asked a question: "Did Hu Dingxiang tell you that she was going to take art photos?"

Liu Min said: "No."

"Okay, thank you very much for your help today." Meng Siqi looked at Zhao Leiting, and after confirming that he was fine, the two stood up.

Before leaving, Zhao Leiting took out the "corpse" photo and asked Liu Min: "Do you think this is Hu Dingxiang?"

Liu Min's eyebrows were furrowed for a moment, and she was even a little panicked. "It doesn't look like it, but it looks like it. Why does it look like a dead person? Did Ding Xiang get into trouble?"

Zhao Lei Ting said hurriedly: "I'm just here to investigate, don't think too much."

After the questioning, the two left the mall. Back in the car, Zhao Leiting asked, "Do you think they are the same person?"

"In any case, Hu Dingxiang's sudden resignation is also very strange."

"So even if Hu Dingxiang was missing, no one called the police because the message chain she left for others was always intact."

Indeed, even if Hu Dingxiang disappeared from this world, no one would notice, because everyone who knew her got the same answer: she and her boyfriend went to a faraway place.

"Should we go to her hometown to confirm it?" Zhao Leiting asked.

Meng Siqi thought about it carefully and said, "I feel that the answer you get should be the same. Otherwise, why don't you contact the police station in her hometown and ask about the situation first?"

Zhao Lei Ting nodded quickly: "That's fine. How about we go visit Hu Dingxiang's landlord this afternoon."

In the afternoon, the two met the landlord of Hu Dingxiang's previous house. The landlord said that except for important items such as her identity card, almost nothing was taken away from Hu Dingxiang's house, so he disposed of many things later.

When he left, the room was not tidied, and he didn't even ask for the last half month's rent. He just left a hasty note saying he was leaving the house. He must have gone to another city.

As for the question about her boyfriend, the landlord said he didn't know she was in a relationship and he rarely paid attention to the tenants' lives. He also asked some nearby residents but didn't get any useful clues. After all, Hu Dingxiang's life was too secluded and she hardly interacted with her neighbors.

A day later, Meng Siqi learned from Zhao Leiting that Hu Dingxiang's parents in her hometown had also received a letter. The gist of the letter was the same: she had a boyfriend and was going to her boyfriend's home for the New Year. She said she would write to her family after she settled down. The address was from Henan, but there was no specific mailing address.

Her parents thought that their daughter did have a boyfriend. Although they complained, they were happy, so they didn't think much about it.