Tiger said: "Rat promised me that he would give me another opportunity after all the bids were made, so I went to find him. But at that time, no matter how hard I knocked on the door, he was unwilling to open it. I thought he was going to regret it, so I had to leave."
Jian Jing was silent, but asked Hai Zhu: "What about you?"
The Pig fake coughed twice and cursed the Tiger: "It's said that this guy is very cunning. He keeps eyeing our country's treasures all day long. I, I'm just thinking of buying it for myself, it's better than giving it to a... cough, outsider."
He looked like a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.
"So, this is why you went to look for him after 10pm." Jian Jing summarized the motives of the two. "Everyone, the case has reached a stalemate here."
She counted on her fingers, "Tiger is the most suspicious, but since he came in, it proves that he has reached a deal with Rat, and he doesn't have a convincing enough motive. Pig's behavior is suspicious, and the secret room can't really get rid of suspicion - for example, when Tiger arrived, the door was indeed locked, but it was Rat who did it. Pig forged a second secret room after killing people in order to delay the discovery of the body."
As a mystery novelist, when it comes to the most classic locked room, it is inevitable that I can't stop myself from writing. I write about it in a leisurely manner, and then conclude with a lingering feeling: "If we want to find the real murderer, we need more clues."
Suspects: “…”
Letting the novelist explain the case really keeps people in suspense.
"Hard work pays off," After creating enough suspense, Jian Jing naturally had to solve the mystery, "I accidentally found a clue, everyone, please look, this is it."
She patted the bronze sheep head on the table.
Wei Yang asked: "What? Half a fingerprint? Blood? Or hair?"
As soon as he opened his mouth, I knew he was a regular reader.
Unfortunately, Jian Jing said, "Neither of them. Mr. Shenhou, could you please take a look and see if there is anything wrong with this bronze head?"
Shen Hou didn't understand what it meant, so he put on his reading glasses and gloves and carefully checked it. At first, he looked confused, but as he looked, he hesitated and frowned.
"How is it?" Jian Jing asked.
Shen Hou pondered and said, "It's hard to say, it seems..." He hesitated and couldn't say anything, so he said, "If it's an instrument, it's better to check it with the instrument."
"What you mean is that it seems to be a little different from what you saw before, right?" Jian Jing asked.
The monkey frowned his gray eyebrows, not daring to nod or shake his head.
"Xiao Xiao, what do you mean by that?" Chen Long's heart skipped a beat and he quickly asked, "Why is the bronze head different?"
Jian Jing said calmly: "It's very simple, this bronze head is fake."
It was only after she saw the real thing that she realized something was wrong.
After using the identification card, she saw a special label floating above the bronze head in her field of vision, similar to the cursor of a game prop, which read [Twelve Bronze Heads of the Old Summer Palace·Sheep Head].
But there is no fake one.
"Fake?!"
"What?"
"Who did it?"
The guests were in an uproar, more shocked than when the golden scepter was swapped. The owner couldn't help but cast his eyes on the male and female thieves in the venue, his eyes were scorching enough to kill people.
Xu Gou didn't bother to hide it and denied it outright: "It's not us."
"I think so. After 10 p.m. on the night of the crime, all the collections were locked in the safe. They had to replace the golden scepter before 10 p.m., and stealing collections is not easy. Stealing one is considered "excellent" for them, and stealing two is not easy either." Jian Jing said, "But we can use the same method. The bronze head was replaced before 10 p.m.."
The dog was picky: "Why wasn't it done by the person who stole it?"
"Because that person's goal is to lure out the traitor, and the fake goods are so real that there's no point in switching them. If I'm wrong and his goal is the bronze head, then putting the fake goods back in place and creating a false alarm will undoubtedly be in his best interest."
Jian Jing carefully analyzed the various possibilities and concluded, "Comparatively speaking, the most reasonable guess is that the bronze head was swapped before 22:00."
Shen Hou asked, "Who did it?"
"Who do you think can do such a thing?" Jian Jing asked back.
Shen Hou thought about it and stared at Tina: "Was it done by Zi Shu's men? The one we saw before should be the real one, and it was replaced later."
"It's not us." Tina was wronged for no reason and cried out, "I don't know anything."
Jian Jing looked at her and made a calming gesture: "The collection has not been moved until the secret filming began. The surveillance was not removed. Although I think Xu Gou and Wu Ma were able to do this, they covered a section of the surveillance when they stole the safe, right? Don't rush to deny it. I am sure that the surveillance is repeated. A mosquito appeared in the same place. But there were security guards and security inspection equipment outside the safe at that time. It is impossible for them to smuggle it."
Rooster asked, "Who is that? Could it be..." The gray-haired old woman's heart moved and she boldly guessed, "Is it Rat?"
"I can't think of a more reasonable answer." Jian Jing said, "Only a rat could easily open the safe and switch the two bronze heads. Only he could forge a fake that is exactly the same in weight and has details that are difficult to distinguish, right?"
Shen Hou took a deep breath and said angrily: "Why would he do this? Is he crazy?"
Jian Jing was silent for a while, then sighed and said, "The following content is purely personal speculation, so please just listen to it for now."
"You go ahead and say it." Snake spoke.
She glanced at him and smiled, "I think the death of Zishu and the replacement of the bronze head were all planned by him. His purpose was to keep the bronze head and prevent it from being lost outside.
"I heard from the ancients that Rat King didn't have much time left. Maybe before he died, he wanted to make up for his past mistakes. Or maybe, he never forgot his identity. Like everyone here, he also hoped to take back the bronze head and wash away the shame.
"However, the price of the bronze head was too high. He didn't have much savings, and if he spent all his money, it would be disadvantageous to buy it with real money in the future to get other bronze heads back. So he thought of a tricky way to design an unsolvable case so that people would never know the truth.
"This explains the strange auction process. He set up so many levels, apparently to protect the privacy of the seller and the buyer, but in fact it was to facilitate the self-switching.
"However, he didn't know who the seller was, nor whether someone like Mr. Shenhou could tell whether the bronze head was real or fake. For the sake of caution, it would be best to take action after the auction. Of course, a bizarre murder case requires not only the deceased, but also suspects. He prepared two candidates for us."
Jian Jing pointed at the Tiger and the Pig and said, "Their demand for the treasure is very strong. They are willing to pay bribes, which gives them enough motivation to kill. Moreover, this will also avenge them for buying the national treasure. It's like killing two birds with one stone."
The complexion of the two people turned blue and white, which looked very beautiful.
"I think Rat should give you some time, but he is not sure whether you can come in advance, so the secret room was created - he locked the door and went to No. 2 to exchange the bronze head. Because of the special access control settings, he would not run into anyone on the way. After the task was completed, he opened the door and returned to the auction room, burned the auction order, and locked the door, creating a classic secret room environment."
At this point, she paused for a moment and continued, "Then, he picked up the fruit knife, walked to the preset position, and stabbed it into his heart. Yes, the dagger left his fingerprints, but people just thought he wanted to leave them. At the same time, they fabricated the illusion that he was attacked and wanted to ask for help."
"The locked room murder case is complete. There are no suspects and no motive for murder. Even if the bronze head is found to be fake, the seller can only suspect the living. I never thought that a dead person would plan all this." Jian Jing said, "This is the result of my investigation. I hope you will be satisfied."
The scene was silent.
Everyone had a different look on their face, some looked disappointed, some sighed, and some were very happy.
She looked around and left the stage.
Chen Long called her: "Hey, where is the real bronze head? Where is he hiding?"
Jian Jing said seriously: "I don't know, maybe it sank to the bottom of the sea."
"No matter what you say, this is my personal property. I entrusted Zishu to auction it, but he stole everything I had. You must give me an explanation." Chen Long stared at Gu Xiaoxue and sneered, "Otherwise, I will definitely sue you."
Gu said calmly: "You can ask the lawyer and the insurance company. If you want us to compensate you, we will handle it for you. However, my uncle's inheritance is not much left, and it is basically used to rent this luxury yacht. I don't think I can pay much money."
Chen Long's penis was throbbing with veins: "Are you guys trying to shirk your responsibility?"
"I'm sorry." Gu Xi said perfunctorily.
Chen Long threatened: "After we land, I will definitely contact the embassy."
"You are indeed not Chinese. Hmm, you don't look like Yinhu. Are you Korean?" Jian Jing seemed curious.
Chen Long: "It has nothing to do with you."
"You should thank me. Without me, you wouldn't know anything." Jian Jing said, "It's difficult to fight a transnational lawsuit, especially with such complicated historical reasons. You're going to sell it anyway, so how about I give you 10 million and you give up the ownership of the bronze head?"
Chen Long: "The bronze head is worth more than this price."
"Then you go and fish it out. Oh, by the way, Dog, I actually have no evidence to prove that the power of attorney is not yours. Otherwise, you can take the 10 million and transfer all the rights to me?" Jian Jing asked.
Xu Gou's eyes rolled: "Ten million US dollars? British pounds? Euros?"
"RMB." She said calmly, "Hurry up and make the decision. Complete the transaction before the ship docks. Otherwise, you won't be able to buy or sell in prison."
The Dog and the Horse exchanged glances and suddenly smiled: "Okay, I'll go get the power of attorney. You guys wait." Then he turned around and took out a few guns from his handbag and threw them out.
The pungent smoke exploded, making people's noses run and unable to move.
She and Wu Ma rushed out of the door at the same time and turned back to block the door.
One step late.
Wu Ma only felt something hitting him, followed by a pain in his chest. His body was knocked to the ground by the huge force, his tailbone touched the ground, and he gasped in pain.
Xu Gou didn't have much to think about. He saw a figure flash out from the white smoke, and without saying a word, he flipped her over and pinned her to the ground.
Jian Jing escaped the scene with the help of immunity +1, but couldn't help crying. She covered her mouth and nose with a tissue and said sarcastically in a muffled voice: "You are in good health, you haven't died yet?"
"Cough cough cough." What answered her was the snake's earth-shaking cough.
After failing to escape, the male and female thieves were locked up in a small dark room.
Jian Jing found the power of attorney on Xu Gou and pressed Chen Long: "8 million, sign it or not, if you don't sign, it's your turn, go get it yourself."
Chen Long: "Not 10 million?"
"Things have changed." She said calmly, "Now, 5 million."
Chen Long's face changed: "What a shame."
"If you don't want to sign it, then don't sign it. This letter of authorization is evidence and we have to hand it over to the police later." She packed up slowly, "You and Gu Xixi can slowly fight the lawsuit."
"8 million, it can't be any lower." Chen Long gritted his teeth.
"7 million, the market price." Jian Jing said, "You know I'm not lying to you, antiques from the Qing Dynasty are worth about this much, what's the value of copper?"
Chen Long took a deep breath and cursed his bad luck: "Okay, but I have one condition."
"What conditions?"
"I'm going to search your room," he said coldly, "I'll sign after I confirm the things are gone."
Just now, he had thought about it carefully. When searching for the fake bronze head, he had searched everywhere except the guests' cabins. If the bronze head was still on the ship, it must be on Jian Jing, who was the first to notice the real one.
She showed an exaggerated expression: "Do you think I'm hiding it? Okay, take a look at it."
Chen Long dug deep into the ground and searched every corner of the cabin, but the room was not big to begin with. The only furniture in it was a bed, a dressing table, a wardrobe, and the bathroom was in full view. There was no place to hide the bronze head.
Looking at her suitcase, it was just a small 20-inch carry-on case, and the copper capital could not fit in it.
"Alright." He said bitterly, "7 million, not even a bit."
Jian Jing shrugged: "Gu Xiao, please come and be a witness."
Therefore, under the witness of professionals, the two parties signed a document, and Jian Jing paid 7 million RMB in exchange for Chen Long giving up the ownership of the sheep head.
In other words, the bronze head is now ownerless.
This ending was neither good nor bad, and after a moment of melancholy, the guests arrived at the time to disembark.
Before leaving, Shen Hou and Jian Jing said, "Since you've given me this money, I'll pool my money with a few friends and try to get some back from the sea."
Jian Jing smiled and said, "Perhaps the Rat Master has already arranged for someone to pick him up. After a while, maybe the Bronze Head will come out on his own."
Shen Hou was stunned for a moment, and suddenly sighed: "If this is true, I wrongly blamed him."
"When people are about to die, they begin to realize things that they would never think of at other times," she said.
"You are such a young lady, you look so old-fashioned." Youji laughed, "It must not be easy for a famous artist to take out 7 million in one go."
Jian Jing: “…” That’s right, I have no pocket money at all.
"Good people will be rewarded." The old woman waved her hand and calmly got off the boat. "Old Hou, let's have a cup of tea together. You haven't been back for many years. You have to stay a few more days this time."
Jian Jing watched them leave.
The next person to leave was Wei Yang. She handed Jian Jing a business card: "Masterpiece, if you need anything, you can contact me. Tell me what you want and I'll keep an eye out for you."
Jian Jing: "..." Does everyone know who she is? Is it funny to call her by her code name
Then, the Ox, Tiger and Pig left one after another, all looking unhappy. They got off the boat in a hurry and didn't notice her on the deck at all.
The last one to leave is the Snake.
He was carrying his suitcase and just as he was walking up the gangway, something pressed against his back.