"The police and the head teacher have both called me and said that Xiang Haoming..." Lai Cheng paused, his eyelids drooping, his expression gloomy, "Said Xiang Haoming was killed, let me cooperate with the investigation."
The Lai family's villa has three floors. The garden in front of the house faces the river, and the wind blows from the river. Although it is unbearably cold in winter, it is really pleasant in summer.
The villa was bought by Lai Cheng's father, but usually only Lai Cheng lives alone. Mingshu took a look on the first floor. On the carpet in the living room, there were game consoles and controllers, as well as a few boxes of game discs, and two English workbooks were spread out on the coffee table. As the residence of a sophomore boy, this place is fairly clean.
"Xiang Haoming has added your WeChat account, and you have transferred the account to him eleven times in total." Mingshu said, "Your relationship is not bad?"
Lai Cheng's neck was clearly folded, "He is sitting diagonally in front of me, and he is also the representative of the physics class. Sometimes I will ask him questions."
Mingshu was a little surprised, "Didn't you transfer money to Xiang Haoming because he bought food and drinks for you?"
Lai Cheng was surprised, shook his head and said, "I never asked him to buy anything for me."
"The money is... "
"Explanation fee."
Xiao Yu'an turned around by the floor-to-ceiling window, "Xiang Haoming charged you for lecturing? How long did it last?"
Looking at Lai Cheng's expression, he seems to think this is a normal thing, "It's been like this since the first year of high school. He has good grades in physics and mathematics, but not in chemistry and biology, and the liberal arts is more general. We asked him to teach mathematics and physics. , he will charge a dozen yuan symbolically, maybe a few dozen at most? I don't remember exactly."
"Does your teacher know about this?" Xiao Yuan asked.
Lai Cheng said: "The teacher should know that he is giving us lectures and praise him for helping others."
"Wait a minute." Mingshu interrupted, "You call Xiang Haoming's charge of more than ten yuan or dozens of yuan as 'symbolic'?"
Lai Cheng didn't seem to understand, and he was stunned for a few seconds before saying, "Isn't it symbolic? At most, this amount of money is enough to drink a cup of milk tea mixed with essence, and you can't even buy milk tea made with milk."
Xiao Yuan patted Mingshu on the shoulder.
Mingshu immediately reacted that Lai Cheng was a child of a wealthy family, and those students who invited Xiang Haoming to speak might have a similar family background to Lai Cheng. For them, tens of dollars is a small amount of money that can be rounded up and ignored. Going to a foreign language training school and asking for a tutor can cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, so the money that Xiang Haoming receives is "symbolic".
"The teacher doesn't know, what about the classmate?" Xiao Yuan asked again: "Your seat is close to Xiang Haoming, so he gave you a lecture. Is it an open secret among the students that he charges for lectures, or is it an open secret among the students? Only the students near your seats know?"
"The whole class knows it." Lai Cheng answered with certainty this time, "But, there are actually very few people who come to him to talk about the topic. I think, apart from me, there should only be Ye Huan, Zhou Jingjing, Yang Jiao, Cheng Xiaojiang, and Xu. Zhao... I don't know who else there is."
Mingshu had a pair in his mind. The five people Lai Cheng mentioned happened to be among the eight people who were in contact with Xiang Haoming. In addition, there were Li Hua and Luo Yi.
"There are about 60 students in your class. Since Xiang Haoming can give lectures, the fees are only 'symbolic'." Xiao Yu'an said, "Why are you the only ones who ask him to give lectures?"
Lai Cheng's eyes flashed with obvious ridicule, "Our class is not a good class. If you go to the outside world, you will know that our class is basically poor students. Xiang Haoming was admitted, but his grades could not enter the experimental class. So it's assigned to our class. There are a few good students like him in every poor class."
Mingshu said, "You call your class the 'poor student class'?"
"There's nothing hard to admit, right?" Lai Cheng said, "Poor is bad, but there are poor students who want to improve, such as me and Xu Zhao. But we are a minority after all. More people only know how to play a day. They I definitely won't ask Xiang Haoming for questions."
Mingshu gradually described what Xiang Haoming looked like when he was at school, and asked, "Xiang Haoming doesn't have any friends in the class?"
"How do you know?" Lai Cheng rubbed his nose. "Indeed, he doesn't think much of us. All good students are like this. He must really want to go to the experimental class, but he can't pass the test, and every month he is a little short of the test. Minute."
Xiao Yu'an said, "Apart from you students who are looking for Xiang Haoming to give lectures, who else often contacts Xiang Haoming?"
Lai Cheng thought for a while, "No more."
Xiao Yu'an said, "Is he a 'transparent person' in the class?"
"It can be said that." Lai Cheng said, "but the grades are not 'transparent'. He is the best grader in our class."
"You just said that each class will be assigned a few top students like Xiang Haoming." Mingshu asked, "Who are the others?"
"Wen Chaolong, Qi Xiaozhou, Xiao Manman." Lai Cheng shrugged, "There are only four in our class, too few, and the average grades can't be improved at all."
Xiao Yuan walked to the coffee table, picked up the exercise book on it and read it, "Ready to go abroad?"
Lai Cheng said: "Of course, I'm not a student, and I can't get into a good university in China."
"But you are more diligent than many of your classmates."
"They're rubbish, and I'm a little better than them."
When Lai Cheng was talking to Xiao Yu'an, Mingshu kept staring at Lai Cheng.
For a moment, Lai Cheng may have noticed his gaze, turned his face, and asked innocently, "Do you think that Xiang Haoming's death has something to do with me?"
Mingshu raised his eyebrows, "Why do you think so?"
"Otherwise, why did you come to me?" Lai Cheng said, "I'm not stupid. Now that there is so much bullying on campus, you see that I have transferred money to him, so you regard me as a key investigation target. But I am not, I will give His money is the lecture fee. If you don’t believe me, you can ask other people. In fact, knowing that he’s gone, I’m also very sad. The other three good students in our class don’t want to talk to us at all, and no one will give me lectures next semester. already."
Ming Shu frowned slightly.
Lai Cheng's last words made him feel a chill.
The classmates who lived together day and night were killed, and Lai Cheng's discomfort was only because he couldn't find anyone to give a lecture next semester.
Xiao Yu'an said, "Since you mentioned campus bullying on your own initiative, let me ask you another question. Has Xiang Haoming offended anyone outside? Or, as far as you know, is there anyone who doesn't like him?"
Lai Cheng said: "I can only guarantee that he did not offend me. In fact, he did not offend anyone. Only the person who was offended would know that. Sometimes when you scold someone face to face, you may not necessarily offend the other party, and sometimes you don't. Once you have been in contact with a person, he somehow doesn't like you."
Mingshu said, "You still have an idea."
Leaving Lai's house, Xiao Yuan asked, "What do you think about Lai Cheng?"
"It's not like lying, but a child who has difficulty empathizing with the suffering of others." Mingshu said, "He gave me another way of thinking—Xiang Haoming is the best student in the class, which may be helpful for Xiang Haoming attracts jealousy. But the more contradictory point is that the murderer's modus operandi is extremely cruel, reflecting the murderer's anti-social personality. If the murder is just because of jealousy, there is a high probability that it will not be able to do this."
Mingshu paused, "But it's not ruled out that jealous people have antisocial personalities themselves."
Xiao Yu'an said: "Xiang Haoming received money to give lectures in class, which Lai Cheng thought was acceptable. Other students who paid may have the same thoughts as Lai Cheng, but it is not ruled out that others are not used to it and look down on it."
A stronger river wind blew in than before, and Ming Shu shivered from the cold, standing in place and sneezed a few times.
Xiao Yuan took off the scarf around his neck and prepared to tie it on for him.
"You wear it yourself." Mingshu raised his hand to block.
Xiao Yu'an ignored his refusal, and wrapped the warm scarf around his neck.
The fluffy touch is against the chin, and the temperature on the side against the skin is just right, with a very light leather smell. Mingshu unconsciously took a breath, "A leader is a leader, and you don't ask your subordinates to agree to anything you do."
Xiao Yuan glanced at him, "What kind of leader do you have without privileges? Does this subordinate have any opinion?"
Mingshu said in his scarf, "This subordinate does not dare to have an opinion."
Leaving from the community, it is bound to pass through the property management center. The owner and the property management have not finished talking, and because the reporters came, the momentum became more and more fierce.
"It's essentially a conflict between the owners on both sides. The property management chose to side with the owners in the southern area, and now it has become a conflict between the property management and the owners in the north." Mingshu listened for a while, clarified the reason for the dispute, and added: "The owners of the southern district didn't show up at all."
Xiao Yuan sat in the driver's seat, "Because the property management has reached an agreement with the owners of the southern district, the property management has become the 'spokesperson' of the owners of the southern district."
"Public opinion will definitely highlight the opposition between the rich and the poor." Mingshu leaned on the co-pilot and rubbed his temples. "In this situation, it is obvious that the property management has not been handled properly, and the developer is also responsible."
Xiao Yuan clicked on the navigation, "Next, go to Cheng Xiaojiang's house."
The red paper scraps and the remaining firecrackers in the earth pit in Fanglong Alley were collected. Xiao Man and other tracers analyzed their components in batches, and finally found that some of them were not the ones that the residents of Fanglong Alley purchased collectively.
Xiao Man rushed to the office of the serious crime team, and was about to arrest the individual and go to the market with himself to investigate, just in time to see Fang Yuanhang carrying a boxed lunch upstairs.
"Don't eat it." Xiao Man tapped the document in his hand on Fang Yuanhang's head, "Go out with me."
When Fang Yuanhang heard that he was going to check the source of the firecrackers, he hurriedly put down his lunch box, put on his jacket and left.
Everyone was in a hurry to solve the case. Before getting into the car, Xiao Man rarely had a "kind heart" and went to the convenience store on the road to buy some bread and a few boxes of milk.
Fang Yuanhang complained while nibbling on the bread: "I went out to work with Xiaoming, and Xiaoming bought me a hot egg-filled cake."
Xiao Man was annoyed, "I only have bread here, whether I like it or not."
Fang Yuanhang tore off the plastic paper outside the straw and said deliberately, "The milk is still cold."
Xiao Man choked: "Xiao Ming is your mother?"
Fang Yuanhang said, "You can drink milk, but you can't talk nonsense."
Xiao Man drove fast and squeezed into the traffic, "Xiao Ming is so good, why didn't you go out with him today? Aren't you his proud disciple? Why, he has a new apprentice? Who did he bring today?"
Fang Yuanhang's eyelids jumped, "I'm not bringing a disciple today."
"Who is that?" Xiao Man said, "Yi Fei is still directing the investigation at Fanglong Alley."
"Today I brought..." Fang Yuanhang coughed, "Xiao Bureau."
Xiao Man took a slanted look and said with a smile, "No wonder I didn't take you with me."
Fang Yuanhang was afraid that Xiao Man would see through his master's secret, so he reprimanded: "Drive your car well, and look ahead to understand if you don't!"
Although the city has strict regulations on the production of fireworks and firecrackers, it is not easy to find producers and sellers based on the red confetti left over from the explosion.
Xiao Man and Fang Yuanhang visited several sales points in the urban-rural fringe of Dongcheng District, and finally a lady in her fifties said, "We have firecrackers like this in our house."
Fang Yuanhang said, "Please show it to me."
The proprietress simply took out a box from the warehouse, "Look at it, this year is coming to an end, and the firecrackers can't be sold at a good price. If you want, I'll give you half a discount!"
Fang Yuanhang noticed the manufacturer on the box, "Zhuyun Township, Fuyue County?"
Zhuyun Township is far from the main city of Dongye City, and several other major firecracker producers are located near the main city.
"Yes, Zhuyun Township." The proprietress showed a smug look, "This house is relatively remote, the transportation is not very convenient, and the cost of shipping is high, so few sellers go to them to buy goods, they usually sell Go to the next province. But the price given by this one is cheap, I have calculated, even if the shipping fee is high, if you just go for one trip, it is still cheaper than buying goods from other manufacturers.”
Fang Yuanhang asked: "Only your family buys goods in Zhuyun Township?"
"Well..." The proprietress thought about it for a while, "There should be other people who have calculated the total cost, but it is definitely not much. At least our sales point, only my family sells this kind of firecrackers."
Xiao Man said eagerly: "Before New Year's Eve, will anyone come to buy this kind of firecrackers in large quantities?"
The proprietress was taken aback by Xiao Man's expression, and she wondered, "Who are you? Why are you asking this?"
Fang Yuanhang took out his documents, "The police investigate the case."
The proprietress became nervous, "I... I won't cause any trouble, right?"
Fang Yuanhang shook his head, "It has nothing to do with you. Thank you for letting us know where this type of firecracker is produced. Please recall carefully whether anyone buys this type of firecracker in large quantities."
Maybe it was because she was afraid of dealing with the police, or maybe because she didn't want to cause trouble, a cold sweat broke out on the forehead of the proprietress, "Big, everyone bought a lot, how can I remember this clearly."
Fang Yuanhang asked, "Do you have a daily running record?"
The lady boss said, "Yes."
Fang Yuanhang said sternly, "Show me!"
"Every order is relatively average. The highest order appeared on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, but it was lower than I estimated." Taking the running water record copied from the proprietress and returning to the car, Xiao Man frowned and said, "If The murderer didn't buy it in batches, so it shouldn't be this one."
"It's alright, at least it's clear." Fang Yuanhang lit up, "The murderer lacked understanding of the remote towns and towns around Dongye City."
"Huh?" Xiao Man turned his face, "How do you know?"
"If the murderer has enough knowledge, he, they will never buy this kind of firecrackers." Fang Yuanhang calmly said: "Zhuyun Township is remote and the transportation cost is high, except for the patient who calculated the total price like the boss just now, no Some sellers will go to Zhuyun Township to buy goods, which leads to very few firecrackers from Zhuyun Township on the market, which is conducive to the police investigation. The murderer ignored this, and even did not even know where Zhuyun Township was. I think it is a lack of life Common sense, or lack of understanding of the bottom society. From their psychological analysis, they will neither go to Zhuyun Township to buy goods in person, nor buy in batches. They do not realize that there is a problem here. Go to a few other sales points to see, and there is a high probability that you will gain something.”
Xiao Man said "tsk", "Finally a little bit of Xiao Ming's demeanor."
Mingshu and Xiao Yuan spent a day finding five students who had financial dealings with Xiang Haoming—the other three were on vacation with their parents and were not currently in Dongye City. The information they got from them was the same as Lai Cheng, but compared to Lai Cheng's indifference, the other four showed sadness and disbelief. Yang Jiao cried and said that she knew that Xiang Haoming's family conditions were not good. In fact, she was not particularly fond of studying, so it was fine if she could not do many questions. She asked Xiang Haoming for questions, and the main purpose was to transfer money to Xiang Haoming. Let Xiang Haoming live a little easier.
"I can't think of anyone who would harm him. Except for his good grades, he really has no presence in the class." Yang Jiao said, "Even Yuan Ai and the others don't bother to pay attention to him."
Mingshu asked, "Who is Yuan Ai?"
"Yes, it's the leader of our class."
The team led by Yi Fei had completed their visit to Fanglong Alley and its surroundings. On the way back to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, they received a call from Ming Shu and immediately turned to a club in Nancheng District.
According to Zhou Yuan's positioning information, Yuan Ai is there now, and it seems that he will not leave in a short time.
Just when Yifei pushed open a private room door, Mingshu parked his car in Lantian New Street, Dongcheng District.
Although this street is called "Xinjie", it is quite old, not comparable to the environment by the Chunchao River, or even worse than Fanglong Alley.
Wen Chaolong, mentioned by Lai Cheng, lives there.
"Brother, be careful." The buildings are dense, the place for pedestrians to cross is full of potholes, and there are not many street lights on. Mingshu walked in front, although he knew that Xiao Yuan could not fall because he couldn't see the road clearly, he still reminded him.
The two stopped in front of the building marked "12", and before they went upstairs, they heard a scolding.
It is still during the Spring Festival, and there is a saying in the society that "don't get angry during the New Year", but the owner of the scolding is obviously furious, and Mingshu vaguely hears "Why are you so unsatisfactory", "You can't get into the experimental class in the monthly test when the school starts." Just die, my mother is too lazy to support you."
Under the dim light, a teenager rushed downstairs, breathing quite rapidly, and was still wearing a winter school uniform.
Xiao Yuan shouted: "Wen Chaolong."
The boy stopped and turned around.
Mingshu saw his red eyes and the distinct slap print on his face.
In the evening, the fireworks and firecrackers sales points in Xicheng District are extremely popular. Seeing that the New Year is coming to an end, the sellers are all selling at discounts.
Fang Yuanhang shouted in the noise: "Please show me the shipping order before New Year's Eve!"
This is already the 43rd stall that he and Xiao Man ran. The boss, like the previous proprietress, was careful, and bought the goods from Zhuyun Township, and said impatiently: "Then you wait."
The one who took out the list was the boss's son, who was in his twenties, and he was arrogant, "Do you need me to explain it to you?"
Xiao Man took it.
A few minutes later, Fang Yuanhang shoved Xiao Man abruptly, "Look at this, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, 12 boxes!"