Chapter 68: Chengnan Bookstore 15
Zhuang Ningyu arrived at the meeting room ten minutes early, thermos in hand. He Mo was flipping through the new materials sent over by the investigation team, “tsk-tsking,” “It really takes our grandpa to get things done. The moment he comes out of retirement, he can accurately grasp the key to the problem. That power of observation… Qin Yin has a lot to learn in the future.”
Zhuang Ningyu’s maternal grandfather was named Zhong Pinghe, an old leader of the Jincheng Order Maintenance Department’s investigation team. The current team leader, Qin, was, strictly speaking, his grand-disciple. After joining the team, Zhong Pinghe had led the team to re-sift through the clues, starting with Tang Xiaoyuan. He quickly deduced the major turning point where she transformed from an ordinary flower shop owner into a “human experimenter”—
Chengnan Bookstore.
It was only after coming into contact with Chengnan Bookstore that Tang Xiaoyuan began to exhibit all sorts of abnormal behavior.
“Team Leader He, Captain Zhuang.” The investigation team sent two people to attend the meeting this time; they were also the moderators for the first half of the meeting. All attendees were already very familiar with the basic situation of the Zeus Grand Hotel rule zone, so the investigators skipped that part and started directly with Tang Xiaoyuan.
“After the deaths of Bao Mingming and her mother, Tang Xiaoyuan was indeed dejected and listless for a long time, but despite that, her overall mental state was still relatively normal,” the investigator said. “Until last May, when Qinghu Art Park happened to be doing a promotion on the pedestrian street where Tang Xiaoyuan’s flower shop was located, and the Chengnan Bookstore’s booth was right across from the flower shop.”
The neighboring shop owners didn’t know about Tang Xiaoyuan’s secret relationship, so of course, they wouldn’t connect her to the Zeus Grand Hotel bombing and the new bookstore built on the old warehouse site. When they saw her suddenly clutching her throat and breathing rapidly, they thought she was having some kind of medical emergency and quickly called for an ambulance.
“The staff of Chengnan Bookstore were setting up their display at the time. The white bird-shaped shop sign was made rather large, and its wing happened to poke the flower shop’s sign. So, some onlookers speculated that Tang Xiaoyuan might have gotten sick from anger because her business was being blocked. Hearing the whispered discussions, the bookstore staff felt unsure and called their boss.”
The hospital records had been retrieved, showing that Tang Xiaoyuan only had respiratory alkalosis. She quickly returned to normal after mechanical ventilation and IV treatment. She was hospitalized for less than a day, but the flower shop remained closed for a full half-month. When it reopened, Tang Xiaoyuan had become somewhat eccentric. According to her neighbors, she would often stare blankly and talk to herself, and she wasn’t diligent in her business. Gradually, even her regular customers stopped coming.
“Tang Xiaoyuan was actually not good at running a business. The flower shop barely managed to survive only because Bao Mingming had paid ten years of rent in a lump sum back then, so she had no storefront costs later on,” the investigator continued. “At its bleakest, her profit was only a little over two thousand yuan a month, less than what a typical worker makes. The shop owner next door saw her business was poor and wanted to take advantage by taking over her shop, but Tang Xiaoyuan refused.”
It was understandable, as the flower shop was, for her, the last bond with Bao Mingming.
“Last November, Tang Xiaoyuan secretly returned to her hometown to reinforce her mother’s grave and erect a new tombstone, spending over fifty thousand yuan, all in cash. The bank has records of the consecutively numbered new bills. And the old man who helped reinforce the grave often goes into the mountains to collect local goods, where cash is more convenient when there’s no internet. So, he didn’t deposit the money after receiving it and still has a stack at home. Following the trail of the bill numbers, we finally traced it to the owner of Chengnan Bookstore, Zhang Nan.”
With the evidence laid out before him, under the combined psychological pressure from the investigation team and the police, Zhang Nan had to admit it whether he wanted to or not. He gave up a list of names, including Bao Yuzhou and his wife from the Zeus Grand Hotel. This group belonged to a secret organization called “Rotating Curve,” which, like the Invisible Giant, aimed to turn rule zones into profit-making tools for specific groups of people.
“The Zeus Grand Hotel rule zone first appeared on November 2nd of last year. That night, Zhang Nan, who was alone in the store inspecting the renovation progress, was trapped in the rule zone. He did not report it to the Order Maintenance Department but immediately contacted his superior, Wang Lei, who is Bao Yuzhou’s first wife. Under Wang Lei’s remote command, he successfully left the rule zone within 10 hours.”
“What were the initial rules of the Zeus Grand Hotel?”
“It was also a wedding.”
The “initial version” of Dou Dekai was not a monster. He was just wearing a tuxedo, sitting dejectedly on the second floor, mumbling the same sentence over and over—
“Where’s my money?”
“Money?” Zhuang Ningyu frowned. Weighed down by his mortgage, Dou Dekai had difficulty even coming up with a few hundred yuan in cash towards the end. Financially, he was at a dead end. If he still had money, the most likely possibility… was he looking for the three-million-yuan ransom?
Ren Bing asked, “How did Zhang Nan communicate with him at the time?”
The investigator said, “Zhang Nan did not communicate directly with Dou Dekai. After contacting his superior, Wang Lei, he followed her instructions and temporarily hid in a safe corner. Half an hour later, Wang Lei asked him to give the phone to Dou Dekai.”
Upon getting the phone, Dou Dekai initially seemed dazed. But after hearing a few words from the person on the other end, he suddenly became energetic, and new rules appeared, namely that stingy wedding banquet recruitment notice.
Of course, Rotating Curve couldn’t dispatch over a hundred people in a grand manner like the Order Maintenance Department. They only sent in ten people, responsible for completing the rule zone data collection in the shortest possible time.
Zhuang Ningyu asked, “Was there no bride?”
The investigator shook his head. “No, and the invitation card that required filling in the bride’s name also didn’t appear. Zhang Nan didn’t know how Wang Lei placated Dou Dekai, but he said Dou was clearly very obedient to Wang, as compliant as a marionette. While on the phone, his eyes were even filled with joy. He stopped talking about finding the money and just sat on the chair, holding the phone. It went on like this until the relevant personnel had completed the data collection. Wang Lei then spoke with Dou Dekai on the phone for about five more minutes, and the rule zone mysteriously disappeared on its own.”
Between November and mid-January, Rotating Curve used the collected data to try and replicate the rule zone four more times within Chengnan Bookstore. They successfully exited each time. Later, perhaps feeling that the Zeus Grand Hotel had no more research value, they instructed Zhang Nan to hint to Liu Qijing that he could provide the venue at an ultra-low price. Based on current clues, Liu Qijing is indeed innocent.
“Then who did Rotating Curve want to trap using the rule zone?” Ren Bing looked at Zhuang Ningyu and said hesitantly, “You?”
“Probably not. There’s not much point in trapping me in the rules, because I would only speed up the solving process. They had already collected enough correct solving methods in the early stages; what they lacked was failed experiments.” Zhuang Ningyu leaned back in his chair. “Tang Xiaoyuan was the ‘failure promoter’ they let in, which helped them collect more data under extreme conditions. And, if they had to trap someone, I guess it would be the vice president of the Fu Group, Fu Han. Does Rotating Curve have a connection to Fu Han’s brother, Fu Dong?”
“Fu Dong is connected to the Invisible Giant, and Rotating Curve is generally considered one of the Invisible Giant’s ‘gloves’,” the investigator said. “After leaving the rule zone, Fu Han was sent abroad for recuperation by Old Master Fu. He seems to dote on this younger son, but since he himself has been marginalized from the group’s power structure, he can’t provide much effective protection.”
“If our mission had failed this time, it would have been a multi-win situation for Fu Dong. He would have solved the problem of his brother and obtained the data,” He Mo tutted. “He sure knows how to do business.”
The police had already taken Wang Lei into custody and were currently conducting a joint interrogation with the investigation team. Additionally, the question of whether Bao Mingming’s biological mother’s death was truly a suicide had been reopened—it was highly probable that Wang Lei had hired a killer.
The meeting lasted for over two hours in total. At a little past six in the afternoon, the administrative department came to knock on the door, saying that the ordered boxed meals had arrived. Zhuang Ningyu pushed his chair back and stood up. “You guys eat first then. I brought my own food. Shall we continue at 7:10?”
“Alright,” Ren Bing nodded.
He Mo was still not quite used to this healthy and wholesome version of him. Bringing his own lunch to work… how very domestic. He asked, “Want to grab a box of hot and sour chicken gizzards to eat downstairs?”
“No, thanks,” Zhuang Ningyu waved his hand and jogged down the stairs.
Yi Ke was waiting in the office. He had been at the training ground all day, so he could get off work at four and go home to cook. Although Zhuang Ningyu had repeatedly emphasized that he could eat the office boxed meals, Yi Ke had refused and sent him a photo of a bright red king crab in the steamer.
When it came to coaxing his wife to eat, his meticulousness was worthy of the research group. He had even scooped out the crab roe and steamed it separately with an egg. Zhuang Ningyu dug a spoonful of the tender egg and fed it to him, casually asking, “Did the team receive the report from the investigation team?”
“We did,” Yi Ke said, propping his head on his hand. “At the very beginning, why was Dou Dekai looking for money?”
“We were also discussing that this afternoon,” Zhuang Ningyu said while eating. “The ransom money was very close to the bomb and was turned to ash by the high temperature on the spot. It wasn’t taken away by the police. So, by normal logic, the money should still be in the rule zone. It seems there’s no reason why Dou Dekai couldn’t find it.”
“Hasn’t Wang Lei’s mouth been pried open yet?” Yi Ke asked.
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head. “No, she’s not like Zhang Nan. Wang Lei has been a young lady and a wealthy wife for many years. She has seen the world, has connections, and isn’t so easily broken. I was actually thinking, could she have been the mastermind behind Bao Mingming’s kidnapping? Did she brainwash Dou Dekai and manipulate everything? But then I felt it didn’t seem quite logical.”
“What’s not logical?” Yi Ke blew on the soup to cool it for him.
“She certainly had a motive to kill Bao Mingming, but she had absolutely no motive to choose the Zeus Grand Hotel as the location.”
Although the Zeus Grand Hotel was an unfinished project at the time, because it was so massive, the government was actually trying to find someone to take it over. For the Universe Group, if they could sell it off, they could at least get some cash back. As someone with a high stake in the matter, Wang Lei shouldn’t have done something that would cost her so much.
“If she just wanted to kill Bao Mingming, given her resources, there were too many locations and methods to choose from. There was no need to make such a big scene,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “If she wanted to kill her husband along with him, then she shouldn’t have run around everywhere after the incident, inviting experts from home and abroad to Jincheng to save Bao Yuzhou’s life. That didn’t seem like an act.”
“But if Dou Dekai was very obedient to her, the two of them obviously knew each other back then,” Yi Ke helped wipe his mouth, then leaned in for a closer look and frowned. “How did your lip get cracked? Didn’t you drink enough water again today?”
Zhuang Ningyu suddenly felt he had been gravely wronged. He did drink! Fortunately, his thermos was still there. This kind of small-mouthed cup was hard to wash at work, so he would toss an empty one into his bag after drinking and planned to throw them all in the dishwasher at home. The remnants of tea leaves and soaked dried fruit were still there—irrefutable evidence. He had to occupy this moral high ground, no matter what!
“It’s the water you prepared that made me get ‘heaty’,” he said calmly.
Yi Ke had indeed prepared red dates, longan, and Lapsang Souchong for him—all “heaty” ingredients. He couldn’t refute it. So, feeling guilty, he leaned over and kissed him. “Alright, alright, I’ll switch to chrysanthemum and monk fruit for you tomorrow, and I’ll also make some sweet green bean soup. What time does your meeting end tonight?”
“It’s not certain yet. You don’t have to wait up,” Zhuang Ningyu finished his meal in a few quick bites.
“I have nothing to do when I go back anyway.” Yi Ke took the empty lunchbox from him, preparing to go to the pantry to pour out the remaining clear soup. But Zhuang Ningyu pressed down on his hand and shook his head slightly. Yi Ke looked puzzled at first, but then his keen senses quickly caught a very faint sound from outside the door, like… someone was leaning against it.
“What’s going on?” he asked with his eyes.
Zhuang Ningyu signaled that it was fine. He quietly walked to the door, gently placed his hand on the locked handle, and then suddenly pulled it inward—
“Hey, hey, hey!” He Mo staggered in, charging forward like a cannonball! Yi Ke dodged in time, letting He Mo shoot straight under the office desk.
“…”
A moment later, Team Leader He, lying prone on the office chair, gave a thumbs-up.
Good, leaving me to die. He’s definitely your boyfriend!
