Family murder mystery (6)

At ten o'clock in the evening, Meng Siqi finally returned home. She never expected that Ye Xiuhui was still awake. She was actually lying on the sofa in the living room watching TV with a thick blanket covering her lower body.

The first time she saw her, Ye Xiuhui frowned, "Why are you coming later and later now?"

"No, why are you getting later and later?"

"I wanted to talk to you this morning, but you ran away so early..."

Meng Siqi was about to go upstairs and asked, "What's the hurry?" Her legs were still aching slightly, and she wanted to quickly clean up and change the medicine.

"Hey, don't leave." Ye Xiuhui took off the blanket and waved at her, "Come here, come here."

"I'm so dirty. Don't you think I'm dirty? I'm all covered in stinky sweat!" Meng Siqi deliberately used this to urge Ye Xiuhui to end the conversation quickly. In fact, she had been running all day and was feeling unwell.

Seeing her standing still, Ye Xiuhui smiled a little: "Yesterday, Mr. Jiang, Jiang Sheng, how do you feel about that?"

"How does it feel?" Meng Siqi said expressionlessly.

"You received his business card yesterday. You can't say you have no intention towards him, right? The Jiang family is a wealthy family in Jinyang, much richer than ours. His father..."

"That's just right..." Meng Siqi obviously felt uncomfortable in his legs, and quickly interrupted her, "I'll go to his company tomorrow."

The smile on Ye Xiuhui's face spread, "I said, you are not a wooden man either."

"Nothing else, I'm going upstairs."

"Come back tomorrow and tell your mother about the progress!"

"Got it." Meng Siqi turned around and went upstairs.

"Wait a minute," Ye Xiuhui suddenly called her, "What's wrong with your legs?"

"It's okay," Meng Siqi said calmly, "I was accidentally scratched by a branch today."

Ye Xiuhui suddenly became serious: "What's so good about being a police officer? You either get hurt or you get scared, and the salary is pitifully low. With the conditions of the Jiang family, if you follow them, you will just have to work hard to get food for yourself in the future..."

As Meng Siqi climbed upstairs, he said, "I don't like the life of having food handed to me. I don't have that kind of life. Besides, what's the difference between that and a corpse!"

"I'm telling you..." Ye Xiuhui shuddered, "What bad luck, late at night!"

When she woke up the next morning, Meng Siqi felt her leg was much more painful than yesterday. She moved the injured leg under the bed with both hands and slowly stood up. As long as she could stand up, it shouldn't be a big problem. After a period of pain, she gradually adapted to it. It seemed that she had to go to the hospital to change the medicine.

During breakfast, Ye Xiuhui nags a few more times, insisting on confirming what time she will go to Jiang Sheng's company. Meng Siqi casually says a time, and then the phone rings. Aunt Chang answers the phone and turns around and says, "Siqi, your phone."

Few people called Meng Siqi, and even Ye Xiuhui was a little suspicious, but the corners of her mouth soon rose a little. She must have thought that the call was from Jiang Sheng.

Meng Siqi was also confused as to why someone would call home. When she picked up the phone, she realized it was Zhao Leiting. The two of them had agreed to go to Longcheng Enterprise together this morning. Zhao Leiting sighed and said, "Siqi, the car got stuck on the road. I guess it was because of a rock when we were driving on the mountain road yesterday. I can't pick you up now."

"Then, when will we go to their company?" Meng Siqi asked.

"I don't think I can do it for a while, how about I ask Xiaochuan to pick you up?"

"Oh, bye," Meng Siqi felt that this was too much trouble, and immediately said, "I'll go over there and wait for you. When you're done, come over."

"That's fine too."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Xiuhui asked again if it was Jiang Sheng's call. Meng Siqi took a mouthful of porridge and picked up the half-eaten steamed bun. "I'm leaving first. Hurry up."

"Hey, tell me, I can ask your brother to pick you up." Ye Xiuhui kept nagging behind him.

Meng Siqi took a taxi directly. Most buses had no seats at this time, and she was afraid that her legs would not be able to stand today.

Half an hour later, the car arrived at the gate of Longcheng Enterprise. She had learned in advance that Longcheng Enterprise was actually the company of Jiang Sheng's father. Jiang Sheng was the only son and had begun to take over the family business in recent years. Therefore, he was the second in command with real power in the company.

There was a rest area in the lobby. She waited for a long time but didn't see Zhao Leiting, so she decided not to wait for him anymore and explained the situation to the company's front desk.

The receptionist said she would call the person in charge of the company immediately, and she vaguely understood the content of the call.

The receptionist said on the phone, "It's Officer Meng, a police officer from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. He wants to inquire about the demolition of the Hong Kong Hotel two years ago."

"Okay, Mr. Jiang, I'll contact the administration department then."

The receptionist nodded repeatedly into the phone and looked at Meng Siqi, "Officer Meng, may I ask your full name?"

Meng Siqi showed his police ID again, "Meng Siqi."

"It's Officer Meng Siqi." The front desk lady replied on the other end of the phone, seemed to be listening carefully, and then nodded heavily.

After hanging up the phone, she raised her head with a smile on her face, "I'm sorry, Officer Meng, I'll take you to Mr. Jiang's reception room right away."

"Okay, thank you."

After taking the elevator to the fifth floor, Meng Siqi was taken into the reception room, where she took out the notebook she had prepared in advance.

The door was open. Jiang Sheng, dressed in a high-end suit, quickly appeared at the door. He closed the door and said with a smile, "Miss Meng, you have my business card. Just give me a call and I'll pick you up."

Meng Siqi smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, it's just business as usual."

Jiang Sheng's smile faded a little. He sat on the sofa, loosened his tie, and slowly raised his eyes to look at Meng Siqi. "Well, I've asked someone to make coffee. We can chat casually before we talk about business."

Meng Siqi did not refuse. She came to inquire about the situation. As long as the other party cooperated, everything would be fine. Therefore, the guest should follow the host's wishes.

As she pursed her lips and smiled, Jiang Sheng said, "I heard that Miss Meng studied at the police academy."

"Yes, I will go directly to the police station for internship after graduation." Meng Siqi said as he took out the pen from his notebook.

"I'm really jealous of you."

Meng Siqi was puzzled, "Jealous?"

"Aren't you jealous of your fight against criminals? When I was a child, I had a dream, which was to marry a police officer when I grew up." Jiang Sheng smiled lightly, took out a cigarette box from his pocket, and took out a cigarette. "At that time, I was young, weak, and worried about being bullied. I just wanted someone to protect me, haha..."

Meng Siqi didn't know how to respond, but Jiang Shengtan's eyes never left her even when he was laughing. He suddenly stopped smoking the cigarette that was about to reach his mouth. "Hey, you said, I'm used to this. I have to quit smoking in this kind of situation!"

He then said in a tone that seemed to see through the world: "The women around me are not like you. They all approach me with a smug look on their faces, without any thought."

Meng Siqi still pursed her lips and smiled, without saying a word.

As Jiang Sheng took back the cigarette box, there was a knock on the door. Jiang Sheng said, "Come in," and a waiter gently opened the door and brought him coffee.

After the door closed again, Meng Siqi decisively picked up the pen and said, "Mr. Jiang, can we start now?"

Jiang Sheng smiled and said, "Just call me Jiang Sheng, don't be so formal."

Meng Siqi pursed his lips and said slowly: "Two years ago, Longcheng Enterprise wanted to develop a hotel and bought a piece of land on the old pedestrian street. You should have been responsible for the demolition compensation at that time, right?" Meng Siqi checked and found that Jiang Sheng was indeed the person in charge at that time. It should be his father who entrusted him to handle it.

"Yeah." Jiang Sheng nodded vigorously.

"Do you still remember that a brother and sister were fighting with you over compensation?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"You Meihua and You Shenghua."

Jiang Sheng's expression froze for a moment, as if he was trying to interpret something. After a while, his face darkened a little, "Is You Meihua the one who died at home recently..."

It seems that everyone has seen the news. Meng Siqi nodded and said, "Yes, it's her."

Jiang Sheng's smile faded a lot. This was a murder investigation. He played with the cigarette in his hand for a few times and asked in a faster tone: "Meng Siqi, you don't suspect that I have anything to do with this, right?"

"Of course not. The demolition compensation may be a clue to this case, so I came to find out from you as usual."

"Oh." Jiang Sheng nodded slightly, "So that's how it is. Ask me, I may not remember it so clearly."

"Do you still remember this brother and sister? I heard that they had a big fight at your place because the demolition compensation was not distributed evenly."

Jiang Sheng's gaze wandered on Meng Siqi's face, as if he was thinking about her, but his eyes were so hot that Meng Siqi had to turn his head away.

However, at this moment, he suddenly realized and said, "Now that you mention it, I really remember that there was indeed a brother and sister fighting in our lobby. The man was bigger and the woman was not to be outdone. We were in a mess, and the security guards finally pulled them apart."

"Do you remember the specific reason for their quarrel? Or how the demolition compensation was distributed, which led to the discord between the two?"

"I remember this incident. The house was jointly owned by a sister and a brother. At that time, they paid NT$60,000 as compensation for the demolition. These written documents were prepared by the people below. If you need them, I can find someone to print them out for you. Anyway, the woman ended up getting an extra NT$20,000."

"You mean the elder sister paid 40,000 yuan and the younger brother paid 20,000 yuan?"

"Well, because it was a contract they were signing, it's possible that the sister used some tricks to sign first, and the brother then suffered a loss."

“Isn’t this a bit unreasonable?”

Jiang Sheng sneered and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. We only have so much compensation, and we can't control how they divide it. Besides, we definitely want to sign it sooner rather than later. If we delay, we won't be able to catch up with the project."

Meng Siqi also expressed his understanding and asked, "Did this brother You Shenghua come to visit you later?"

"I did, more than once, and he was quite naughty, so I remember it vividly. Our legal department showed him the contract in black and white, but he couldn't make trouble."

Meng Siqi nodded. She quickly reviewed the whole thing in her mind. The storefront was bought by the brother and sister together, but the compensation for demolition was unfair. Combined with the testimony of You Shenghua's wife Xu Hongxia, it was that the sister once swallowed the 20,000 yuan under the pretext of supporting the elderly. However, this was the root of the conflict between the two, and also the motive of the suspect You Shenghua's murder.

After asking for more details and finishing the record, Meng Siqi tucked away the pen, put away the notebook, put it in his bag, stood up and said with a smile: "Thank you so much for cooperating with the investigation today, Mr. Jiang. I'll leave now. If you need any information later, I hope Mr. Jiang can help provide it."

"Siqi," Jiang Sheng also stood up, "Let's have lunch here at noon."

"Sorry, I still have to go back to report on my work. I'll probably have a chance next time."

Jiang Sheng looked at her with a slightly burning look in his eyes, as if he was looking her up and down from a close distance. She was tall, had golden proportions, her windbreaker was open, and her olive green police uniform was very close to her body. He smiled and said, "If that's the case, I won't try to persuade you to stay. I'll see you off."

“Really.”

"I just happened to be going downstairs." He walked forward and pushed the door open.

After entering the not-so-spacious elevator, she deliberately stood by the side, but Jiang Sheng seemed to intentionally stand in the middle, almost close to her, making it impossible for her to avoid being away from him.

Every time the elevator door opened, the company's employees didn't dare to come in, so there were always two people going downstairs. Jiang Sheng was taller than her and stood closely next to her. The smell of tobacco seemed to be blowing next to her ears.

She even felt that Jiang Sheng was secretly sniffing her, and his breath was very heavy. She felt very uncomfortable in her heart. With a ding sound, they arrived at the first floor.

The two of them walked towards the door of the hall together. Just when they were not far from the glass door, three or five people came towards them. The man in the lead was tall and stood like a crane, walking like the wind. Meng Siqi recognized him at once. It was Lu He.

Meng Siqi's eyes met Lu He's. His eyes were indifferent, and his gaze was like a deep sea, steady and restrained, with a hint of coolness.

However, it was very strange that the light in it seemed to have penetrating power and was reading her.

She smiled slightly as a greeting, but Lu He and the others stopped right in front of her.

When she was wondering, Lu He showed his police ID, "Are you Jiang Sheng?"

It turned out that he was looking for Jiang Sheng. Meng Siqi took two steps to the side.

Lu He's magnetic, righteous and aloof voice echoed in her ears: "I am Lu He, the captain of the first criminal police team of Jinyang City Bureau. According to reports, there have been many cases of organized prostitution in the hotels under the name of your company. Please cooperate with the investigation!"