Chapter 64
We have started screening every household, and this work is expected to be completed in two days. Hopefully we'll have some luck this time. 】
[Let nature take its course. Solving a case is actually a process of finding light in the darkness. You don’t know where you are going when the black cloth covering your eyes suddenly falls off. 】
[This is a good sentence.] You also pay attention to safety. Miss you. 】
【I want to hold you. 】
——
Li Qingyao and Xia Yongze asked the local police for support and began to conduct door-to-door inquiries.
When the work ended at 8 o'clock on the first night, they had found nothing. No one has any impression of Liu Tingmei or Li Jincheng.
The next morning, they started the same meticulous work again.
Fortunately, Li Qingyao was in charge of this work. The situation of the residents in each building was very complicated and even chaotic. Some were the owners themselves, some rented houses to groups of people, some rented houses to others to open studios, and some moved out and were vacant. This requires careful questioning one by one: Was it you who lived here seven years ago? If it wasn't you, where did the original person move to? Is there any contact information? No contact information? Who did you rent the house from? Give me the contact information and I will contact him to ask... With so much redundant and messy information, Li Qingyao made a super large information statistics table for each building. It had to be printed out on A0 paper, and each item was marked with different colored pens to ensure that every household was included.
Such meticulous and patient work paid off at 3 p.m. the next day.
When they knocked on the door of Room 603 on the top floor of Building 15, a short, thin, pointed-faced man in his 50s stared at them and asked impatiently, "Who are you? What are you doing?"
His attitude improved only after Li Qingyao and Xia Yongze showed their police officer IDs. Li Qingyao handed him Liu Tingmei's photo first. He frowned and looked at it carefully, then said, "I have seen this girl before, probably seven or eight years ago. She lived in Building 17 or 18, right?"
Li Qingyao was delighted and asked, "Where did you see her? What was she doing?"
The man showed a curious look: "Why are you looking for her? Was she arrested for committing a crime?"
Xia Yongze: "We are investigating a case. Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask!"
The man was not afraid and even glanced at Xia Yongze.
Li Qingyao saw at a glance that this elder brother had a stubborn temper and would not tolerate any hard words, so he hurriedly said, "Brother, it's really inconvenient to tell you. You see, the two of us are also carrying out the mission from above. If you have seen her and can provide clues, that would be a great help. Can you tell us about the situation?"
The man smiled and said in a pretentious tone, "Assisting the police in solving cases is the duty of every citizen. I am usually very enthusiastic about the affairs of the community. I have a good memory, to be honest. I have seen that girl twice, and each time she was hanging around downstairs from us. There was a young man with her."
"Do you remember what that man looked like?"
"I don't remember, but he should be quite handsome."
"Is he tall?"
"Tall, tall and thin."
Li Qingyao took out Li Jincheng's photo, and the photo almost fell from his hand: "Is it him?"
The man squinted his eyes and thought for a while: "It seems so, but I can't remember clearly."
"What are they doing downstairs?"
The man sighed and said, "It's really immoral to talk about it. Once, that girl... I'm embarrassed to say it out loud."
Li Qingyao was stunned for a moment: "Just tell me, it's all for solving the case and helping us."
"She was riding on the boy, and they were kissing each other, oblivious to the people around them! It was in broad daylight, in front of everyone! But then the boy pushed the girl to the ground, maybe they were having an argument."
Since Li Qingyao successfully gained the favor of the big brother, they were allowed to enter his house and look downstairs to the location where they were before. Li Qingyao saw an old tree that was who knows how many years old, and a wooden bench under the tree that was broken in half. The wind gently blew the branches, and the sunlight shone through the gaps between the leaves, leaving only a broken silence.
When Li Qingyao turned his gaze to the other side, the second intersection behind the building was Yuan'an Clinic.
——
This is a gain that is not a gain.
Based on what the man said, Li Qingyao believed that these two people were most likely his brother and Liu Ting's sister. As for why the two of them had such intimate behavior, Li Qingyao guessed that there must be something behind it. Li Jincheng has never been a frivolous man. Besides, didn’t the man say that his brother pushed Liu Tingmei to the ground? With her brother's personality, he would never use violence even if he quarreled with a woman - unless he was frightened or protecting himself - maybe he was frightened by Liu Tingmei's kiss.
But why would Liu Tingmei kiss her brother? I can only figure it out later.
The man also said that the two people only stayed downstairs for more than ten minutes each time before they parted ways. Then Li Qingyao estimated that this happened a few days before the night the two disappeared.
Li Qingyao could only lead the team and continue looking for new witnesses. Especially the witnesses that night, although the hope is slim.
However, at around 8 o'clock that evening, they made an unexpected major breakthrough.
——
Tang Botao is a native of Xiangcheng. He moved to Chaoyang Home with his parents when he was a few years old and has lived there for almost twenty years. Many of his relatives’ resettlement houses were also allocated here. Unlike many people who moved to Chaoyang Home due to financial difficulties. The whole family has developed feelings for this place, and they think that transportation and life here are convenient. Although the place is a bit old, the neighbors are all familiar to them. So even when they got another house in the city, they were reluctant to move away.
Tang Botao had poor academic performance and was taciturn since childhood, but he was not a bad person. He failed to get into high school, so he went to a vocational school. After graduation, he worked in a 24-hour convenience store near his home. Now, he is 26 years old and is a veteran courier at the surrounding express delivery stations.
When Li Qingyao and Xia Yongze asked about his family, his mother looked at the photo and said, "Wow, this girl is so pretty. We would definitely have an impression of her if we had met her." Have you seen my husband? His father shook his head: No impression.
Just when Li Qingyao thought she was going to return empty-handed again, Tang Botao just came back from get off work. When he walked into the house and saw someone at home, he was depressed and didn't say hello. But when his eyes swept across Li Qingyao's face, he paused for a moment, and then naturally fell on the photo in her hand.
Li Qingyao had seen this kind of look many times. It was the look of a young boy who was distracted by a girl's appearance. It was a little dull, but there was no malice in it, and it was even a little cowardly.
"I've seen this woman." Tang Botao said.
Li Qingyao's heart pounded, and she suddenly had a strange and irresistible premonition. She felt that she might find Liu Tingmei.
"When and where did you meet her?"
Tang Botao put his hands in his trouser pockets, stared at the ceiling and thought for a while, then said, "June 1, 2017, the time was... around 12:30 in the evening, so it should be the 2nd. I just got off work from the convenience store and saw her lying on the road. She had a head injury. She was awake but didn't seem to be conscious. I didn't know what to do. She was so beautiful. I was afraid something might happen if I left her there in the middle of the night, so I sent her to my aunt's place."
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