"I'm the editor in charge of Tomb Heart." Liu Zhiqiang called a woman in a dark blue skirt with a hip wrap, "My name is Guo Xian."
Mingshu's eyes swept across her face quickly, and smiled: "Please sit down."
Liu Zhiqiang was obviously unwilling to deal with the criminal police. He placed several bottles of mineral water on the table, and left quickly under the pretext of "there is still work to do".
Only Guo Xian, Ming Shu, Fang Yuanhang, and Liu Zhiqin were left in the small conference room with three frosted glass walls.
Guo Xian's image is different from the editor of the publishing house in Mingshu's imagination. She has permed curly hair with a retro feel, big eyes and nose, painted small smoke, flaming red lips, and stepped on a pair of about 8 cm thin. With high heels, the whole person looks delicate and tall, more like a business elite shuttle in a high-end office building, or a secretary of a business elite.
Perhaps often mistaken for identity, Guo Xian said without waiting for Mingshu to ask questions: "We publish books, which is actually a commercial activity. I never think that I am a stereotyped editor. I do books, sell books, and engage in marketing. , I am also a businessman."
Mingshu didn't expect that she would suddenly say this, so he simply asked, "Doing marketing? So the book in the tomb is selling so well, is it the result of your packaging and hype?"
These words were a bit provocative and questioning, but Guo Xian raised his chin happily, "Of course, without me, how could his old hat be able to achieve what he is now?"
Mingshu: "Wait, is the heart of the tomb an old hat?"
Guo Xian suddenly raised his hand and covered it with his lips for a moment, as if he was annoyed by his slip of the tongue, "No, I'll just say it casually."
Mingshu said sternly: "With me, there is no such thing as 'speaking casually'."
"Oh!" Guo Xianjiao exclaimed, "It's nothing serious, writers, many real identities are not very decent, so they must be packaged, right. The books in the tomb are written by himself, but his image It's really too bad. My job is to create a mysterious and fashionable character for him. Suspense, the selling point is mystery, and the true identity of the tomb must not be exposed to readers, otherwise his forceful style will come crashing down Drop. I missed the point just now, you heard it from me, don't say it casually outside. "
Fang Yuanhang couldn't stand the whining tone and rolled his eyes.
Mingshu said: "We are policemen, not gossip fans. When we came to Xinyun Publishing House, we just wanted to know the real information about the tomb's heart."
Guo Xian pouted, showing hesitation and embarrassment, "Can I ask? What happened to the tomb?"
Mingshu asked back, "Why do you think so?"
"You wouldn't come to investigate him for no reason, would you?" Guo Xian worried, "Could it be that you received some report?"
Fang Yuanhang said, "Report?"
"The content is illegal or something." Guo Xian bit his lip, "It must have been framed by a colleague. I personally check the book I am handling, and there is absolutely no problem with the content!"
Mingshu raised his hand, "Don't be nervous, tell me what you know. We will naturally judge whether there is any problem with the tomb heart."
Startled by Mingshu's sudden change of tone, Guo Xian lowered his head, "He... his name is Hou Cheng."
Hou Cheng, 55 years old, a native of Qingyue Village, Luocheng, primary school education, farming, never married, parents died early, living alone, paying strict taxes, only has a small farmyard and a field in his home Qingyue Village.
"Fuck! It's different from what we imagined!" On the way to Qingyue Village, Fang Yuanhang looked at the information provided by Guo Xian, "A suspenseful writer, a 55-year-old farmer? He only attended elementary school. ?"
"Let's talk when you see someone." Mingshu looked at the dazzling sunlight outside the window, inexplicably a little anxious.
Fang Yuanhang's question was also his. Lu Kun insisted that the heart of the tomb was a woman, although he did not fully believe it, nor did he imagine that the heart of the tomb was an old man of 50 years old.
Tomb Heart, Hou Cheng, a pseudonym, a real name, there is a huge sense of tearing in between.
Qingyue Town is quiet and peaceful, and the pace of life is very slow. People keep the old habit of sunrise and sunset. In the evening, almost no one can be seen on the ridges and streets, but in the houses with small gardens, there are many people. The aroma of the food comes out.
Fang Yuanhang parked his car outside Hou Cheng's house.
Most of the people in Qingyue Town were surnamed Hou, and the houses they built were similar.
But Hou Cheng's house is different. It is older and older, the windows are dark, the iron door is covered with a thick layer of ash, and there is no life at all.
"Does Hou Cheng not live here?" Fang Yuanhang scratched his head.
Mingshu pushed open the iron door without a padlock, and cautiously entered the hospital, only to see a figure flashing behind the tree, and a small sound of being stepped on the mud.
"Stop!" Fang Yuanhang rushed over like an arrow from a string, caught him and saw that it was a thief-eyed boy.
"Who are you? Let me go!" the boy struggled.
"Who are you?" Fang Yuanhang shouted, "Why are you sneaking here?"
"Do I come here often!" The boy didn't know that the person who caught him was the police, but he was still kicking his legs desperately.
"Often?" Mingshu asked, "Where is Hou Cheng who lives here?"
"I don't know! It's been a long time!" The young man stared at Mingshu and gradually calmed down, "Are you here to find 'Hou Hanzi'?"
Mingshu asked, "You call him 'a fool'?"
"That's what the whole village calls it. You are so stupid, you don't even know how to talk!" the boy said, "What is it that isn't a 'dumb'?"
Fang Yuanhang turned to Mingshu, "Master, what does this mean? Is Guo Xian fooling us? I've seen the heart of the tomb, it's very spiritual, and the writing is very delicate, how could it be written by a fool?"
Mingshu pressed his eyebrows and took a few steps.
The current situation was not entirely unexpected, but it was a tricky one.
Hou Cheng is probably just a pretense, and the real heart of the tomb is someone else.
This proves from the side that there is really a problem with the heart of the tomb.
"You guys come to find out about Hou Cheng, I also want to know where he went." The village chief Hou Jianjun held a stained tea jar, and his eyes stayed on Fang Yuanhang's lighter for a long time.
The lighter was Fang Yuanhang's birthday present to himself, with a unique shape and a high price.
"Tell me what you know." Mingshu said.
Hou Jianjun took a sip of strong tea, showing his yellow-black teeth when he spoke, "Hou Cheng is the most foolish person in our village. He has been a bachelor for half his life, and he has no relatives and is not worried about him. Young people always say he is a 'dumb'. , In fact, his brain is not stupid, he just ignores people, doesn't like to talk, and makes him unresponsive. We grow watermelons in our village, and he also grows them. He can sell melons and settle accounts. "
"When did he disappear?" Mingshu asked again.
"Missing?" For people in backward villages and towns, this statement is too new. Hou Jianjun thought about it, "He is not missing, right? He just occasionally leaves for a while and comes back in ten days and a half. He never says where he went. , we don't bother to ask, we don't care."
Mingshu remembered the dust he saw in the yard, and the thickness was obviously not something that could be left in ten days and a half.
"When was the last time you noticed Hou Cheng?"
"It's been a long time this time, more than a month, early June."
"Who is the person close to him?" Mingshu asked, "The villagers or the people outside?"
Hou Jianjun actually laughed, "He has always been alone. Except for a few of our village cadres who have to take care of his life from time to time, no one has ever communicated with him. Oh, by the way, children sometimes provoke him. ."
"In the past two years, how many foreigners have come to the village?" As soon as Mingshu asked, he knew that he would not get a satisfactory answer.
Sure enough, Hou Jianjun said: "There are always people who come and talk a lot, but compared with your big cities, there are definitely not many. Young man, can you lend me your lighter?"
Fang Yuanhang was inexplicable.
"Hehe." Hou Jianjun said, "My son is about the same age as you. He is studying outside and has a lot to do, but he doesn't go home much.
I went to see him in the city in a while and gave him a lighter to make him happy. "
When the group returned to Hou Cheng's house, Fang Yuanhang said, "There is no surveillance in the village. Where has Hou Cheng gone and who he has met, there is no way to check now."
"The doubt lies in this Hou Cheng." Mingshu said, "Xinyun Publishing House signed a contract with Hou Cheng, and the remuneration was also charged to Hou Cheng's account. In two years, after deducting taxes, a total of 2.76 million has been divided into batches. The person who took the money was Hou Cheng. On the bright side, the heart of the tomb is Hou Cheng. There is no doubt about it. But if Hou Cheng is really the heart of the tomb, why did he take out the money that he had deposited in the bank? This money He didn't use it for financial investment, and he didn't buy real estate, so where did the money go?"
"If there is a person hiding behind Hou Cheng, it will be easy to explain - the money was taken out by Hou Cheng and put into the hands of this person." Liu Zhiqin said: "And this person is the real author."
Mingshu looked at Liu Zhiqin, "Right! We can also check information on the Internet! Isn't this your strength? If this person exists, then there must be a communication link between TA and Hou Cheng!"
Liu Zhiqin shook his head, "I have already checked the network just now, and there is nothing abnormal about the network. Maybe this person and Hou Cheng are conducting some kind of transaction offline. Didn't Hou Jianjun say that Hou Cheng would sometimes leave Qingyue Village and his whereabouts are unknown. ."
Mingshu said: "Assuming that Hou Cheng is a cover, he must have given the money to the real tomb heart. If this assumption is true, how does the real tomb heart know Hou Cheng? When Hou Cheng loses its use value, the tomb heart will not be used. meeting… "
Fang Yuanhang said, "Isn't Hou Cheng very dangerous now?"
Mingshu turned his head, "You also think that the heart of the tomb will kill Hou Cheng?"
"Otherwise, how can you explain Hou Cheng's disappearance?" Fang Yuanhang said, "Hou Jianguo said that Hou Cheng would disappear occasionally and return after ten days and a half. I temporarily think it was him meeting with the tomb heart. But this time it took so long, he might In the event of an accident, it may also be abandoned by the heart of the tomb.”
Mingshu walked around frequently, then lit a cigarette, "Wait for me, I'll go and call Bureau Xiao."