Chapter 532: The Origin of the Money
Before leaving, Chen Shi asked, “Who did you rent the apartment to? I want to see the rental contract.”
“Just a mother who’s staying here to accompany her child while studying.”
“Show me the contract.”
“The contract… I don’t know where I put it. Let me find it…”
Li Xiang rummaged through his things, pulling out a pile of documents, but none were the contract. Chen Shi asked, “What about the property deed?”
“The deed is with Lin Hui.”
“Can you contact the tenant?”
“Uh… I’ll try.”
Li Xiang’s hesitation made Chen Shi suspicious. He dialed the phone, saying, “Ms. Li, there’s an officer here who wants to verify some details about the rental.”
The person on the other end said, “What officer? I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“He just wants to ask you some questions. Please talk to him.”
Li Xiang handed the phone to Chen Shi, who spoke briefly with the tenant, confirming her identity. After hanging up, he said, “Let’s go check it out.”
“Didn’t you just verify it on the phone? Why do we need to go there?”
“We agreed to check it out before.”
“Alright, I’ll take you there…”
As they left, Lin Dongxue whispered to Chen Shi, “This guy is very suspicious.”
Chen Shi nodded. Li Xiang’s small tricks didn’t fool him. During the call, he said an “officer” wanted to verify “the rental,” which seemed like a warning to the tenant. This indicated that the apartment was likely central to the investigation.
Two hours later, they arrived at a newly developed community in the suburbs. Though well-equipped, the location was inconvenient. Li Xiang explained, “When this place was developed, they said a subway line would be built, but it hasn’t happened yet. Because it’s too remote, we didn’t use it as our marital home. It’s not convenient for commuting.”
“Do you have the key?”
“Uh, the tenant changed the locks after moving in.”
“And you agreed to that?”
“It was their requirement. It’s hard to rent this place out otherwise.”
“You said the tenant rented it to accompany their child for studies, but there doesn’t seem to be a school nearby.”
“There is one, two stops from here, a middle school.”
Without the key, they could only stand outside. Chen Shi tried the doorbell, but no one answered. Li Xiang explained, “Her son might be at evening classes, and she’s probably out buying groceries.”
“Call her back.”
“This… This isn’t appropriate. This is a private matter. Why involve her?”
Chen Shi sneered, “Fine, you can leave. We’ll wait here.”
Li Xiang looked troubled but left under Chen Shi’s stern gaze. Once he was gone, Chen Shi took out his lock-picking tools, saying to Lin Dongxue, “I promise not to touch anything inside.”
“Be quick. Don’t let anyone see.”
Chen Shi swiftly picked the lock and pushed the door open. A strong smell of formaldehyde hit them. To their surprise, the furniture was all covered in plastic, dust covered the floor, the toilet was dry, and the bed had no mattress.
Chen Shi chuckled, “Trying to fool me. No one lives here.”
“Alright, let’s get out quickly.”
After leaving, Chen Shi called Lin Qiupu, asking him to check the tenant’s details through the housing authority. Lin Qiupu complained, “You’re in Lieyang. Have the local police do it. Why always ask me?”
“I don’t know anyone here. Please help!”
“Handling cases across jurisdictions is troublesome. I’ll send more people to help you.”
“That would be great. Can they come tomorrow?”
“Should be possible… Captain Peng wants to talk to you.”
Then Peng Sijue’s voice came on the phone, “We found paint residue on the money, a type of wood lacquer. Look out for similar samples during your investigation.”
“Got it. Thanks!”
After hanging up, Chen Shi returned upstairs. Lin Dongxue tried to stop him, but he ran back into the apartment.
This time, Chen Shi went straight to the bedroom, checked the wardrobe, and lifted the bed frame. The smell of paint was strong. He asked, “Do you have a knife?”
“Scissors okay?”
Chen Shi used Lin Dongxue’s small scissors to scrape off some of the painted wood. Lin Dongxue asked, “Who would hide money here?”
“Who do you think?”
“Hmm, either the mafia or a corrupt official.”
“The latter is more likely. If it were the mafia, they’d use more violent means to recover the money. A corrupt official wouldn’t dare to make a fuss if they lost a large sum of cash.”
“He quietly hired private detectives to find it? But why would a private detective shoot someone?”
“The shooter might be someone else. But from Lin Hui’s perspective, it seemed like the same group was after her.”
Although it was speculation, everything seemed to make sense.
The next day, Xu Xiaodong and Old Zhang arrived in Lieyang, and several investigation leads came in. Lin Hui had indeed rented a room in the Green Community for less than a month, likely to hide the money.
More interestingly, the tenant’s husband was a mid-level official at the Urban Construction Bureau. The house was actually bought by his wife, with Lin Hui’s name on the contract.
The likely scenario was that Li Xiang stole Lin Hui’s seal or forged her signature to sell the house. The buyer turned out to be a corrupt official. Lin Hui discovered this and decided to confront him, accidentally finding the illicit money and keeping it secret.
For more details, they needed to talk to Li Xiang again. But first, Chen Shi wanted to meet his lover, Zhang Rui.
Chen Shi asked Xu Xiaodong and Old Zhang to detain Li Xiang while he and Lin Dongxue went to see Zhang Rui.
Zhang Rui worked at a small auto parts factory with only five or six employees. The factory was noisy, with machinists working on lathes, sparks flying.
Seeing the work environment, Chen Shi thought, as long as someone had some firearm knowledge, it wouldn’t be hard to make a homemade gun here.
Zhang Rui hadn’t shown up for work. His colleagues said he was in his dorm and gave directions.
The dormitory was behind the factory. Knocking on the door, they were greeted by a dark-skinned, muscular man who asked who they were looking for. Despite his rugged appearance, his skin was smooth, and his stubble added to his masculine charm.
Lin Dongxue thought, if she didn’t know this guy was gay, anyone would see him as a typical tough guy.
“Are you Zhang Rui?” Chen Shi showed his credentials.
Zhang Rui took a look, “A consultant? Does that count as a cop?”
“I’m not, but she is!” Chen Shi pointed to Lin Dongxue, glancing over Zhang Rui’s shoulder, noticing several replica guns inside the room…