Chapter 24

Chen Pu redistributed the investigation tasks: two groups were divided into two groups to check other properties under Gao Jichang's name, bank consumption records, especially records of booking rooms and purchasing women's items, chat records of various communication software, etc. This was a very large workload, and Li Qingyao continued to form a new group with Zhou Yang to check the communication software.

It was already dusk, and the criminal police had just begun their work tonight. Chen Pu assigned the tasks, checked the time, glanced around, and called Li Qingyao's name: "You are responsible for ordering takeout for everyone, and order another midnight snack at 2 o'clock. Remember to issue an invoice, and the amount should not exceed the specified meal standard."

This task has always been done by the newcomers in the team. It used to be Yan Yong, and now it has been replaced by Li Qingyao.

Li Qingyao nodded in agreement.

This was not a complicated matter. She asked Yan Yong about several restaurants that he often ordered from, and counted the flavors that everyone wanted, and quickly ordered dinner. She noticed that Chen Pu wanted stir-fried green peppers with lean meat strips and rice, and also wanted an egg. The meat and rice were very solid, just at the upper limit of the meal budget, so she silently made a note of it.

They worked until midnight.

At 2 o'clock, Li Qingyao did not follow Yan Yong's usual practice of only ordering dry food such as fried noodles and fried rice, which he thought could fill his stomach. Instead, he ordered some soupy food, which received unanimous praise and everyone felt that eating this way was more comfortable for the stomach. Li Qingyao kept his achievements to himself and received Yan Yong's admiring gaze.

This time, Chen Pu ordered the mutton offal vermicelli soup, with the note that it should be less spicy and less oily, with more chopped green onions and coriander. Not only him, Li Qingyao wrote down everyone's taste in a notebook - she was always so meticulous in her work, and drew a pig in Chen Pu's column, implying that he could really eat meat.

However, Li Qingyao did not relax at all on her work, and she did these chores whenever she had time.

She and Zhou Yangxin quickly obtained Gao Jichang's QQ, WeChat, email, Douyin account, Xiaohongshu account, and even MSN from earlier years.

However, it can be seen that Gao Jichang was very cautious and had no contact with Zhang Xiyu in the communication records for nearly a year. This can also explain why the police who investigated the case last year missed this clue due to limited time and unlimited pressure.

But as we investigated further, the fox gradually revealed its tail.

It was probably in the fall of 2022, when Zhang Xiyu was just in her second year of high school. They found the two's WeChat chat records for more than ten days. Looking at those records, they seemed to see how Gao Jichang used psychological offensive and sophisticated words to express his love step by step, and Zhang Xiyu was brainwashed and fell step by step.

However, these chat records did not mention "sex" and stopped abruptly. It should be that at Gao Jichang's instruction, the two changed their contact information.

Zhou Yangxin shook his head - these were not even evidence to convict Gao Jichang, at most they could only prove that Gao Jichang had poor teacher ethics.

They continued to investigate and found that five years ago, Gao Jichang had a similar ambiguous conversation with another high school girl, with the same words. But the chat record also stopped after the paper was punctured.

Li Qingyao wrote the girl's name on the file and marked it as number 2.

Half a year earlier, they discovered that Gao Jichang had cancelled another WeChat account. The two of them were alerted - there was something fishy going on! And generally speaking, the early crimes of habitual criminals are relatively rough, and they become more and more meticulous in the later stages.

They immediately contacted the telecommunications company, but were told that the records of canceling the WeChat account would be deleted from the cloud data after a period of time.

"Is there no way to recover?" Li Qingyao asked.

The other party replied: "No. Moreover, Xiangcheng changed the server four years ago and had a comprehensive data cleanup and upgrade, which makes it even more impossible to restore it."

Li Qingyao and Zhou Yangxin sat opposite each other and scratched their heads. Li Qingyao asked, "Where's QQ?" Zhou Yangxin: "Let's try it."

But he didn't hold out much hope, because even five or six years ago, very few people of Gao Jichang's age used QQ.

As a result, they found that Gao Jichang had also cancelled his QQ account during that period and it could not be restored either.

"Damn!" Zhou Yangxin slammed his fist on the table, "This old fox."

Li Qingyao let out a long sigh, put his hands on the armrests of the chair, turned his head to look at the dark night outside the window, and his eyes suddenly became calm.

"Crime always leaves a trace, no matter how long it's been," she said softly. "It's hidden somewhere, we just haven't found it yet."

-

Chen Pu came back from outside with his men at around three in the morning and completed the inspection of several properties under Gao Jichang's name.

The spring night was humid and his black coat was filled with cold air. He walked into the office and unconsciously pulled his collar closer. When he looked up, he did not see Li Qingyao's small head among the people in the room.

When he looked again, he found that Li Qingyao had fallen asleep on the table.

Besides her, there were two or three other people in the office. After all, no one is made of iron, and they have to take a nap during the whole night. He will also have to take a nap later.

Chen Pu walked past her with light steps, and with a glance, he saw her coat dropped on the ground behind the chair. It was the coldest time now, and Chen Pu felt cold just by looking at the thin white shirt on her.

He frowned and stopped. Zhou Yangxin, who was beside Li Qingyao, noticed it, looked up and asked with a questioning look: Is there something wrong?
Chen Pu lowered his voice and said, "The clothes fell off! Aren't you cold?"

Zhou Yangxin had just taken a half-hour nap before Li Qingyao took over his sleep. He was still dazed. He followed his gaze and saw the clothes on the ground. He said "oh" woodenly and was about to bend down to pick them up when a hand was faster than him and picked up the clothes from the ground.

"You have rough hands and feet! Don't touch me." Chen Pu's eyes were full of disgust.

Zhou Yangxin saw that there was nothing for him to do, so he turned around and continued to check the records. His mind was too slow at the moment, and he just wondered why Chen Pu was nagging today.

Chen Pu gently unfolded the beige jacket and put it on Li Qingyao's shoulders. His hands were steady and not even a strand of hair was disturbed. When he looked up again, he saw Li Qingyao's profile. Because his face was pressed on his arm, his usual oval face was squeezed and plump, and his pink lips were pouting. The eccentricity and coldness and gentleness were all gone, leaving only the unprecedented simplicity and softness. Chen Pu stared at him for a few seconds, smiled softly, and turned away.

Oh, it would be nice if she was like this all the time, he thought, this is how he imagined his sister would be.

-

At dawn the next day, Chen Pu received several calls from the director, deputy director, and Ding Guoqiang. Without exception, they were all asking about the progress of the case, because the police were facing great pressure due to the current investigation of the second team. Even people from the province came to inquire.

Chen Pu collected the investigation results of each team and weighed the matter in his mind. If he delayed any further, he was afraid that someone from above would intervene. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's have the trial!"