Chapter 36
At noon, the two of them just had a bowl of rice at a roadside fast food restaurant. Chen Pu ordered spicy beef, and Li Qingyao ordered shredded pork with green pepper.
However, when the two of them were picking up their meals at the window, Chen Pu stared at the braised chicken legs in the cupboard and glanced at Li Qingyao hesitantly. Li Qingyao said coldly, "Chen Xiaopu, if you dare to give me chicken legs, I will break your legs."
Li Qingyao has decided that the evil tendencies must be nipped in the bud in the bud - she will start controlling her diet from noon today.
Chen Pu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll make one myself."
Although the tone Boss Li used when speaking to him became more and more lawless. But Chen Pu helplessly discovered that he was quite useful...
After the meal, Chen Pu went to pay the bill and Li Qingyao went to the milk tea shop next door. Chen Pu sat in the car and waited for a while, then saw her drinking from a cup and holding another cup in her hand.
Li Qingyao sat in the passenger seat and placed the cup on the center console. Chen Pu immediately reached out to take it: "For me? Thanks."
"No." Li Qingyao said slowly, "I put it there so it looks good. Don't you want to stop drinking these things now?"
Chen Pu looked at the label on the cup: Sugar-free Osmanthus Latte. He smiled, poked the straw in, took a big sip, and then put it down, saying, "I was young and ignorant at that time, and I dared to refuse your tea. Please forgive me, and remember my share of tea in the future."
Wow, look at this clever idea, with a double meaning. Li Qingyao glanced at him, but even though he was a bit of a thorn, he knelt down very happily. Li Qingyao decided not to bother with him considering that he was broad-minded.
"Drink your tea well." She gave the instruction, "Let's talk business." If there hadn't been so many people in the fast food restaurant, she would have wanted to ask him about the old detective's affairs.
Chen Pu started the car and drove to the intersection. He picked up the milk tea with one hand and took a sip happily. He said, "The first thing that was wrong was that I asked him why he divorced Xiang Siling, and he asked me if I suspected that he was related to Luo Hongmin's death."
Li Qingyao thought for a moment and said, "But it's understandable that he has this reaction. He divorced Xiang Siling, and not only did he lose his love and marriage, but his child also went to Xiang Siling, and he also lost the possibility of inheriting the Huayu Group in the future. He lost both his money and his life. Most people would be more cautious when facing the police. He was afraid that we would suspect that he turned his love into hatred, and that he couldn't get what he wanted, so he took his anger out on Luo Hongmin."
"There is no problem here. The problem lies in the words he took the initiative to explain next."
Li Qingyao immediately opened the notebook, glanced at a few lines, and his heart moved.
Qian Chengfeng denied that he would kill Luo Hongmin because Luo Hongmin was his biggest supporter in the company, and if Luo died, it would do him no good.
Chen Pu looked at her expression and asked, "Do you understand?"
Li Qingyao said: "The normal reaction is that he should explain why he and Xiang Siling divorced, and thus explain that there was no hatred caused by love, and he did not covet their property, so naturally he had no motive to kill Luo Hongmin - because the implicit meaning of the question you asked is actually this aspect.
But he didn't. He skipped it and told us that the reason he couldn't kill Luo Hongmin was because of interests. ”
Chen Pu smiled approvingly: "You are right. It is reasonable to answer this question according to the former logic. It is also the simplest and safest. You also said that Qian Chengfeng is a smart person, but he did not think of answering in this way.
In other words, when he needed to deny that he had the motive to kill, he subconsciously avoided the love-hate relationship, or in other words, he did not deny the love-hate relationship in his subconscious mind. He immediately thought of using the relationship of interest to convince us. ”
"But we can't conclude that he hates Luo Hongmin in his heart just because he doesn't talk about love and hate, right? This logic is not necessarily true, we can only say that it is possible. And he does seem to be very grateful and admire Luo Hongmin. The tone he used when he first talked about Luo Hongmin didn't seem fake."
Chen Pu: "First of all, who says that a person can only have one emotion towards another person? Or that if there are positive emotions, there can be no negative emotions? His positive emotions towards Luo Hongmin are due to work. What if the negative emotions are due to his relationship with Xiang Siling, or because of emotions? It's just that Qian Chengfeng is a person who puts profit above all else. Maybe in his opinion, the benefits that Luo Hongmin brings to him are far more important than those love and hate. Two contradictory emotions can exist at the same time.
Secondly, it is true that, looking at this alone, we can only guess at the possibilities. This should be combined with the second doubt I am going to talk about next to speculate together - I asked him if Luo Hongmin really didn't mind at all after his divorce from Xiang Siling? Look at what he said. ”
Li Qingyao turned back and his eyes stopped at Qian Chengfeng's two sentences:
[All of this is what I deserve.] If he doesn't give it to me, I'm going to rebel. 】
She thought that Qian Chengfeng had finally revealed a bit of his dissatisfaction with Luo Hongmin.
Chen Pu saw that she understood and said, "Tell me about it."
Li Qingyao replied: "Qian Chengfeng is affected by his emotions here. If he really has no grudges, according to his previous speaking style, his answer here should be very routine and without loopholes, such as praising Luo Hongmin's magnanimity on the one hand and emphasizing his own achievements on the other. But his two sentences clearly show resentment and unwillingness. He seems to feel that Luo Hongmin owes him."
Chen Pu looked at Li Qingyao deeply and said, "That's right. This brings me to the third detail that I think is problematic. I asked him whether he liked his daughter."
Li Qingyao: "You did it on purpose."
"I did it on purpose." Chen Pu smiled faintly, "But what did he answer?"
Li Qingyao remembered it without even looking through the transcript: "He said, 'That's my own flesh and blood, how could I not like him?' When normal people are asked about their children, they will never emphasize that they are their own children, because there is no need to. They will just answer the question directly. Qian Chengfeng feels guilty here."
"No, it's not out of guilt." Chen Pu said, "Qian Chengfeng is smart. If he had any doubts, he would have secretly done a DNA test. But you see, on his desk, there are several photos of his daughter alone, as well as photos of him and his daughter. He was smiling very happily in the photos, so Qian Sitian must be his biological daughter. His reaction at the time was to defend her. He was saying, she is my daughter, not someone else's."
Li Qingyao asked: "Then do you think Qian Chengfeng once suspected whose daughter Tiantian was?"
The two looked at each other, with the same deep feeling in their eyes.
At this time, the police car had gradually driven out of the city, and the vast Mingya Lake could be seen in the distance. The sky in early summer is deep blue, clear and bright.
Li Qingyao thought that what Chen Pu said before was absolutely right, this was the ability of the old criminal police.
You just heard Qian Chengfeng's three sentences and let them go. After all, these words themselves are not eye-catching enough. But if you remain highly sensitive, grasp the subtle difference in the other person's mentality, and then use a flexible enough brain to connect the logic, you will find that you can actually outline the dark outline of the underwater part of this seemingly calm iceberg -
Perhaps Qian Chengfeng admires and appreciates Luo Hongmin in his career. In his view, the benefits that Luo Hongmin brings to him are more important than anything else.
He once truly loved Xiang Siling and cherished their marriage. However, Qian Chengfeng avoided talking about the impact of Luo Hongmin on their marriage.
He once suspected that his daughter was not his. In some unknown aspect, he felt resentful towards Luo Hongmin and felt that he owed him a lot.
…
Chen Pu said: "During the past two days of investigation, I have discovered two strange things. First, the descriptions of Luo Hongmin given by Li Meiling and her daughter, as well as Qian Chengfeng, are different from those given by several external competitors."
"That's right. In the descriptions of the three 'family members', that is, our own people, Luo Hongmin is their patriarch, very kind to them and trustworthy. But in the eyes of outsiders, Luo Hongmin is a ruthless businessman, cares about face, has no sense of loyalty, and is only interested in profit."
Chen Pu added: "Especially towards Li Meiling and her daughter. He felt sorry for them and helped them a lot. He also raised Xiang Siling as if she were his own daughter and even let her control the management of the company. She was no worse than a biological daughter. They are all really kind people."
Li Qingyao said: "This is inconsistent with Luo Hongmin's usual personality. In terms of his character, I believe the descriptions of the three outsiders more."
"So, Li Meiling and her daughter are lying." Chen Pu said, "Luo Hongmin has invested so much in them, especially Xiang Siling, he would never do anything to suffer a loss."
The two pitiful faces of Li Meiling and her daughter flashed through Li Qingyao's mind. Although Li Meiling was in her forties, she still had her charm, just like a beautiful young woman in her thirties. Then Xiang Siling is even more breathtakingly beautiful than her mother, and it is not an exaggeration to call her stunningly beautiful.
Before, she had thought about whether Xiang Siling might be Luo Hongmin’s mistress. But because both mother and daughter behaved so naturally, and the fact that they shared the same husband, it really challenges one's bottom line. What's more, Xiang Siling got married and had children normally after graduating from university, so she didn't think too much about it.
When did Li Meiling marry Luo Hongmin? Five years ago, Xiang Siling was 20 years old, a sophomore in college, and had one year left to graduate from college.
But if the marriage between two people or the family relationship between three people has other additional conditions, they must have been negotiated before the marriage. In other words, the time should be earlier.
19 years old? 18 years old?
A chill suddenly rose in Li Qingyao's heart.
Seven years ago, when Xiang Siling was 18 years old, Luo Huaizheng was imprisoned for accidentally killing Xiang Siling's biological father. Li Jincheng disappeared a few days later.
For the past seven years, Li Qingyao has been trekking across a dry wasteland. He could not find Li Jincheng, nor could he see Luo Huaizheng clearly. But now, due to the Luo Hongmin case, she seemed to have finally reached a cave, and she needed to boldly cross it barefoot. But there was no light in the cave, and it was filled with dark fog, damp and suffocating. She seemed to have finally grasped a piece of the puzzle, but there was still only endless darkness before her.
Chen Pu's face also turned grim. He did not stop reasoning: "The second strange thing is that as a bystander, I feel
The first one, Xiang Siling in high school, was introverted, inferior, timid, and afraid of attracting attention; the second one, Xiang Siling who was in love and married with Qian Chengfeng, was a little introverted and a little arrogant, but not inferior or cowardly at all. The third one is Xiang Siling now..."
Li Qingyao said: "She is very confident and generous, thick-skinned and scheming. She is very good at using her appearance to her advantage and has great social skills. She has completely changed into a different person."
"What caused this drastic change in her personality?"
Li Qingyao frowned and said, "But this is still unreasonable. If Xiang Siling really became Luo Hongmin's lover so early, she graduated from college four years ago and was only 21 years old. Luo Hongmin had no need to marry her to Qian Chengfeng. And from Qian Chengfeng's description, their married life was serious. Luo Hongmin could have kept her by his side until she was in her 30s and thought of other ways to cover it up. Nowadays, there are many unmarried people in their 30s on the street. The child was born more than a year after their marriage, so there is no possibility of her taking the blame."
Chen Pu also said: "This is indeed inexplicable. I don't think Luo Hongmin would be so generous as to share women with others. He should regard the mother and daughter as his own."
Both of them fell silent.
After a while, Li Qingyao sneered: "This 'family', four people, all have secrets."
Chen Pu said: "Maybe it's the same secret that they are unwilling or unable to tell."
Li Qingyao's heart seemed to be more deeply entangled by the damp mist in the cold cave. She looked at the scenery in front of her: a greenway by the lake, leading to the direction of Luo Hongmin's villa, and the gray roof could be seen in the distance. Beside them, there were green trees and a vast lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. This is the largest, most remote and deserted freshwater lake in Xiangcheng.
Chen Pu parked the car on the side of the road and said, "Qian Chengfeng's alibi is invalid. Now, we need to further investigate the alibis of the mother and daughter."
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Lao Mo: My condition is not very good. It took me 9 hours to write and revise this chapter and I was barely satisfied with it. Maybe it's time to reach a cyclical low point again. I've updated for 17 consecutive days. It's time to stop and get back to the feeling and rhythm of the characters. I will take a day off for the next two days and resume updating on July 18th. Thank you everyone, love you all.
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