Chapter 53
News soon came from the Yunnan police: it was confirmed that Li Meiling and Lu Xing arrived at a county on the Yunnan border yesterday morning. They then chartered a car to a town on the border and lost their whereabouts afterwards. The local police are currently searching.
Lu Xing's own situation was also thoroughly investigated by the police:
He is from a county in the suburbs of Xiangcheng. He is 26 years old. His parents are ordinary workers and he has an older sister who is married. His sister reported the case of domestic violence by her husband a few years ago, but the case was later dropped.
Five years ago, Lu Xing's father owed millions in gambling debts by borrowing money through multiple online lending platforms and private lending methods. The family house was sold and parents rented a dilapidated bungalow.
According to Lu Xing’s former colleagues, he had to use his monthly salary to pay off his debts, and he often received various harassing phone calls. The house they rented together was blocked by those people several times and splashed with red paint. Lu Xing had a hard time during those two years.
More than three years ago, Lu Xing suddenly resigned from his original massage parlor. At the same time, he had a large amount of money in his account, which paid off all his debts and interest.
In October of the same year, Lu Xing's sister and brother-in-law divorced and moved into a new small house with their children. The money for buying the house was transferred by Lu Xing to his sister.
In November of that year, Lu Xing started working at Li Meiling's massage parlor.
Under the strict interrogation of the police, the store manager explained clearly how Li Meiling and Luo Hongmin had selected women for Luo Hongmin through her from the star technicians. However, they acted very cautiously, using money and inducement to coax the girls into sleeping with Luo Hongmin. They did not dare to use any coercive means, as they were also afraid of being reported. The store manager repeatedly assured that it was consensual and those girls were Luo Hongmin's mistresses. The police went to find those star technicians. Some of them hesitated and refused to admit it, while others directly admitted that they were supported by Luo Hongmin. So you can't use this to convict the store manager and Li Meiling.
As for when Li Meiling and Lu Xing hooked up, the store manager had no idea. After the two had been together for a while, Li Meiling told her privately, mainly for convenience. Moreover, Li Meiling had sternly warned her not to let Luo Hongmin and Xiang Siling know.
In addition to the stolen jewelry, the third group of investigators under Ding Guoqiang also found a surveillance video from a month ago - Lu Xing drove away the suspected van from an abandoned parking lot.
At present, Lu Xing has all the evidence of his motive, time, place and means of transportation. The bloodstains of the deceased on the jewelry and his fingerprints are irrefutable evidence. The case made a major breakthrough, and Ding Guoqiang immediately applied for and issued a warrant for Lu Xing.
Considering that the suspect had fled to the border, Ding Guoqiang brought the criminal police who had been fighting on the front line for several days back to the bureau for a short rest. He notified them that an important case arrangement meeting would be held in half an hour and all squadron leaders and key investigators must attend.
Li Qingyao has little experience and does not need to attend this meeting.
It was already past 10 o'clock in the morning of the next day. After listening to Zhou Yangxin's account of the entire progress of the case, Li Qingyao had an idea in her mind - now she was afraid that the entire team would think that Chen Pu was taking her with him, insisting on doing useless work. Li Qingyao thought so and asked Zhou Yangxin the same question.
Zhou Yangxin said sternly, "You can't think like that. Although we followed Comrade Lao Ding, rolling in the rain and crawling in the mud, working day and night without sleep, and made a major breakthrough that is worth celebrating, we directly locked in the suspect and shed some light on the confusing case. We were also praised by the bureau leaders and even the city leaders - but then again, who can guarantee that their investigative direction will always be right? You don't have any credit, but you have worked hard. Don't be discouraged, hahaha."
Li Qingyao: “…”
Zhou Yangxin will also attend the meeting as a key member. Li Qingyao suggested that he inform him after the meeting, and Zhou Yangxin readily agreed.
Li Qingyao looked around the office but couldn't find Chen Pu. The puppy won't run too far.
Li Qingyao walked around several places that Chen Pu often went to, and soon found Chen Pu in an empty stairwell.
At this moment, he was standing in front of the small window in the stairwell, standing straight and looking out.
Although he had no expression, Li Qingyao had a strange intuition - Chen Pu at this moment was like a statue full of deep worry. If you place a lotus in his palm, he may perform a sitting meditation for you on the spot.
She stopped two steps away from him, and the melancholic statue looked back and turned away again.
Li Qingyao said, "Luo Hongmin reminds me of someone."
"who?"
"Gao Jichang."
Gao Jichang has been in prison. It’s only been a few months, but his name seems so far away.
Li Qingyao suddenly felt emotional: This is probably the path that a criminal policeman has to take in his life. No matter how evil a villain makes you grit your teeth and tremble your soul, he will soon be covered by new cases and new crimes. So they can only keep moving forward and cannot look back.
Li Qingyao simply sat down on the stairs, but before sitting down, he took out two tissues, flattened them, and placed them under his body.
She hugged her knees and said, "They all make me feel so disgusted. In their eyes, are young girls just objects to be picked? They take advantage of their social status and deprive them of their bodies and freedom in exchange for some lies, money, or nominal love.
I know that some girls may be unstable and easily tempted, but is it entirely their fault? Who doesn’t move from confusion and ignorance to gradual maturity? If you are in your twenties or even teens and meet people like Gao Jichang and Luo Hongmin, you are really unlucky. Now one of them is in jail and the other has been killed, but how many beasts like them are there in society hiding behind the mask of maturity and decency? Haven’t you seen it often enough in the news?
The key point is that they may still feel that they are being favored from top to bottom. It is his status and financial resources that give him the right to choose and the right to possess. Haha, I think, maybe what really harmed those girls was the rampant materialism, traditional patriarchal thinking, and the shameful idea of objectifying women. ”
In addition to reasoning about the case, it was the first time that Chen Pu heard Li Qingyao give such a long speech on an event or a phenomenon. In fact, she rarely talked about her thoughts with anyone, including him.
Chen Pu put one elbow on the windowsill, turned sideways and glanced at her. Her face looked indifferent. He thought that she might really be mad at these men.
He thought for a moment and said, "There's no need to get angry. No matter how many there are, catch one when you see one."
Li Qingyao is indeed not a person who likes to analyze and confess too many of his inner thoughts. When he sat down today and talked about this phone call, he actually wanted to divert Chen Pu's attention.
After all, he had to go to a meeting later and might be covered in dust, and she couldn't just sit there and watch him.
But as she spoke, she really got a little angry. But Chen Pu's straightforward answer made her feel healed.
She thought, perhaps only a man like Chen Pu could give such an answer.
She couldn't help but smile a little.
The sunlight slanted in through the window, shining on his hair, giving it a slight luster. Li Qingyao's gaze slid from the black hair on his ears, to the line of his shoulder blades, and then to the waist hidden under the loose T-shirt. Even through the fabric, you can feel his lean and restrained strength.
But at this moment, he seemed so silent.
Li Qingyao silently retracted his slippery gaze and continued to talk about the topic: "So, back to Luo Hongmin, he is even selecting concubines in the massage parlor. If he could leave a beautiful woman like Xiang Siling by his side, I would twist my head off and let you kick it like a ball."
Why is she talking about heaven and earth in a mixed way today? He also said all sorts of messy and unlucky things. Chen Pu frowned subconsciously, but he didn't want to chat and joke with her like he did before, so he remained silent.
Li Qingyao stared at his slightly furrowed brows and his steely expression, thinking that Chen Xiaopu looked even more depressed than she thought. After all, they paid so much for the case. In fact, when she first heard that the eight surveillance cameras did not capture Xiang Siling, she was also surprised and disappointed. But she was just a follower, but Chen Pu was the one who had to take responsibility.
When Li Qingyao comforts people, she always points out the problems to their faces, looks directly at the conflicts and solves them. She won't say any empty nice words.
She asked, "But Xiang Siling was not at the scene. Could it be that our assumptions are wrong, or partially wrong? Is she really unrelated to the case? Or is she in cahoots with Lu Xing? She planned it, and he did it?"
Chen Pu replied: "This is what I can't figure out. She clearly went to take the bus, so why didn't she come to the scene? Then what was she doing? Even if Master and the others have caught a lot of evidence of Lu Xing's murder, I think there are still many doubts in this case. I will raise them in the meeting later."
Wow, isn't this quite a fighting spirit?
Li Qingyao felt relieved, because she felt that Chen Pu would not be so easily defeated. She stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Come on, best captain." After a pause, she said, "No matter what, I'm always here for you."
Chen Pu raised his eyes and smiled, still not looking at her face, and said, "Thank you, go in, I'll sort out my thoughts alone."
Li Qingyao blinked.
Why should he think alone? Didn't he think with her every time these days?
When did you grow up secretly, Chen Pu, and become bolder?
But then she thought again, is he feeling embarrassed right now? Although Li Qingyao was a little unhappy, he still gave him some space, said "OK", turned around and left.
After she had walked several steps, Chen Pu turned around and glanced at her back, but his eyes were deep and his expression was silent.
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