Chapter 79

Some people feel depressed after crying; some people feel refreshed after crying.

Li Qingyao is the latter.

In fact, before and after those things happened, she was a person who seldom cried. It seemed that there was a switch in Li Qingyao's body, and the threshold was very high. But once it was turned on, she could always vent to her heart's content. Then, Li Qingyao entered a state similar to the sage time, lazy, but clear-minded and open-minded, and even in a good mood.

So she didn't notice that after hearing the answer "not yet", Luo Huaizheng became silent, maintained basic courtesy, and escorted her out of the meeting room.

She also didn't notice that the two men, who were full of thoughts, looked at each other in the air, his gloomy, his even more depressed.

Li Qingyao said softly to Chen Pu, "I have finished my questions. Do you have anything else to add?"

While Li Qingyao was clueless, Chen Pu had already completed 25 minutes of self-torture and introspection. At this moment, he could already smile and say, "That's all. You asked a good question."

It was rare for him to praise so directly without any sarcasm. Li Qingyao raised his eyebrows.

The two said goodbye to Luo Huaizheng and got back into the car.

Chen Pu believed that he had entered a completely professional and ruthless working state. He glanced at his watch and said, "8:40, which is when the massage parlor is doing good business. Let's go find Li Meiling and finish investigating this last person today."

Li Qingyao was thinking the same thing and said, "Okay, I'll call."

As a result, Li Meiling's cell phone was turned off.

Chen Pu said: "Call Si Ling and ask."

Li Qingyao called Xiang Siling, but Xiang Siling was not with her mother. She said she was busy with work these two days and there was no contact.

"Why don't you just go to the massage parlor?" Xiang Siling said, "My mother should be in the parlor at this time."

After hanging up the phone, Li Qingyao flipped through her notebook and reviewed all the records from today. After a while, she said, "I think Luo Huaizheng is not a suspect. He should be innocent in the Luo Hongmin case. What do you think?"

Chen Pu: “I agree.”

"As for mixing with Xiang Siling, he said it was for business interests, but I'm skeptical. He seems to have other purposes. But he doesn't want to say, so we'll see later."

"Row."

The car fell silent.

Li Qingyao closed his notebook and looked ahead, seeing the hustle and bustle of traffic and flashing neon lights.

After a while, she glanced to the side. Waiting for a long traffic light, Chen Pu put both hands on the steering wheel, but his eyes were not on the road, but on the top of the road...

Sky?

The towering buildings on both sides cut the dark blue sky above their heads into a long and narrow strip. It was a clear night with no clouds, and the stars were very clear and dense.

"Chen Pu." she shouted.

He was a little slow to react, lowering his eyes and no longer looking up at the sky, "Hmm?"

"What are you looking at, the stars? Or the planes?"

Chen Pu paused for a moment and replied, "Stars."

His eyes were always looking forward, and he didn't flirt with her like he usually did. The light from the window shone on his face, his straight neck, and the thin clavicle that was exposed by the collar of his black T-shirt. Li Qingyao suddenly felt that he looked particularly cold and inaccessible.

He suddenly said, "Li Qingyao, I actually want to have a star too."

When he said this, his voice was very low and a little hoarse. Li Qingyao almost didn't hear it clearly. He was stunned for a moment and asked, "Are you talking about when you were a child?"

Chen Pu smiled and said nothing.

Soon they arrived downstairs of the massage parlor. Chen Pu parked the car and was about to get out when Li Qingyao said, "Wait."

Chen Pu didn't look up and said, "Any other instructions?"

Li Qingyao slowly moved his head over from the passenger seat. Chen Pu stepped back for a moment, and Li Qingyao saw that he frowned slightly.

Li Qingyao felt a little uncomfortable for no reason and said, "You are in a bad mood." It was an affirmative sentence, not a question.

"No."

Li Qingyao stared at his always lowered eyes. His eyelashes were not long, slender and cute, but just one by one, black and straight, just like him. Most of the time, his eyelashes were actually stiff.

"Let's make it clear before we go." Li Qingyao said calmly, "You're in a bad mood, is it because of me?"

Chen Pu raised his head and smiled, looking lazily, looking directly into her eyes without fear: "How shameless! Why should I be in a bad mood because of you? Why?"

Li Qingyao paused.

"Okay, stop thinking about it and get out of the car and get to work. Didn't you tell me to get off work and go home early today?"

He was about to push the door again, but Li Qingyao softened his voice for the first time and said, "Chen Xiaopu, can you please talk to me properly? What's going on?"

Chen Pu was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I'm sorry, I may have caught a cold, I have a headache, and I feel a little dizzy, so I don't really want to talk. Don't mind it, get off the car."

When Li Qingyao heard this, she reached out to touch his forehead, but he had already opened the car door and leaned out. Li Qingyao's hand stopped halfway, but she didn't know whether he didn't notice her action or deliberately avoided it.

——Li Meiling is not in the massage parlor.

Xiang Siling called in advance and the store manager received them. The store manager was a woman in her 40s who looked very smart and capable, wearing light makeup and was very enthusiastic.

When asked about Li Meiling's whereabouts, the store manager said, "Ms. Li went to Hangzhou."

According to the store manager, Li Meiling is going to Hangzhou to visit a Chinese massage master to exchange and learn techniques. She left early yesterday morning. Her return date is yet to be determined.

Chen Pu asked: "Did she go alone? By high-speed train or plane?"

The store manager smiled and replied, "I'm not sure. Mr. Li only told me to look after the store. She made her own schedule, so I won't ask any more questions."

Chen Pu subconsciously turned his head to look for Li Qingyao's eyes. But he stopped when he had just turned halfway.

Upon hearing this, Li Qingyao also looked up at Chen Pu, but he only saw his cold and tense profile.

Chen Pu asked to understand the situation of the store employees, so the store manager took them to the computer.

按摩师一共48人，其他行政和杂工12人。按摩师又分三种：明星技师12人、中医技师25人，泰式技师11人。

Traditional Chinese medicine and Thai massage are easy to understand. Li Qingyao asked: "What is a celebrity technician? Is it the one with the best massage skills?"

When she asked this question, Chen Pu glanced at her quickly.

The store manager smiled calmly: "To be a star technician, you need not only excellent massage skills, but also good image and temperament."

Li Qingyao looked at the photos and files of the celebrity technicians on the computer and understood immediately. There were 8 women and 4 men in total. They looked younger than the Chinese medicine and Thai technicians. The oldest was probably in his 30s, and most were in their 80s. Although they were not particularly stunning, their overall appearance was above points. Four or five of them were particularly good-looking.

The police had investigated the massage parlor's information before and found that it was a legitimate business with no problems. So Li Qingyao understood that this kind of celebrity technician was not even a marginal one. She was just beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and more expensive.

Li Qingyao suddenly thought of the look Chen Pu had given her just now. What did it mean?
Her intuition gave her the answer instantly: Chen Pu knew what star technician meant, so he didn't even ask.

A few times before, she saw Zhou Yangxin, Fang Kai and others in the team, and asked Chen Pu to go for massage together, saying that they had leg pain and back pain. They also called Li Qingyao, but Li Qingyao's mother was a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, and there was a first-class meridian massage doctor in the clinic, so she didn't think much of the massage shops outside, thinking they were not professional enough, so she didn't go.

So the question is, although you know this, has Chen Pu ever ordered a star technician?
Ah, man.

Li Qingyao glanced at Chen Pu meaningfully, but Chen Pu was concentrating on the computer screen and didn't notice. Li Qingyao immediately gathered his scattered thoughts and returned his attention to the case.

As for the problem she just discovered, haha, let’s talk about it later.

Chen Pu pointed his finger at the screen and said, "Why does this person, Liu Qianying, have the status written as 'resigned, not approved, salary withheld'?"

Liu Qianying is among the four or five best-looking ones. According to her information, she is only 25 years old.

The store manager was stunned for a moment, looking a little flustered, and answered: "She, she, Liu Qianying, she resigned and didn't come to work, but she made a mistake at work before, so Mr. Li and his team were quite angry and deducted her salary, that's about it."

Chen Pu raised his eyes to look at her: "What's wrong?"

"I don't know the details of her case. It was handled directly by General Manager Li. It seems...she had a conflict with a customer. In our line of work, the most important thing is service attitude. If your method is not right and the customer is uncomfortable and makes a suggestion, you can't cause a conflict. Xiao Liu usually has a quick temper. She had a quarrel with the boss lady and left."

Chen Pu looked at Liu Qianying's name again, and a row of little stars appeared on his face. He smiled and said, "But I saw that her performance was very good before. She had the highest on-duty rate and high customer satisfaction."

The manager smiled and said nothing.

Li Qingyao sighed softly in his heart, Chen Xiaopu, you have come up with professional terms, you really know a lot.

After reading the employee information, Chen Pu suggested that he wanted to go to Li Meiling's residence on the second floor, but the store manager had no say and called Xiang Siling. Xiang Siling was also embarrassed and told them that it was my mother's private place after all, so why not wait until she agreed after contacting her?
Chen Pu and Li Qingyao were only investigating today under the guise of a visit, and they couldn't possibly have a search warrant. Xiang Siling disagreed, so they had to give up.

The two walked out of the massage parlor. It was already 10 o'clock at night. Chen Pu said, "Call that Liu Qianying. The number is..."

Li Qingyao took out his cell phone and said, "I've written it down."

Chen Pu paused and did not give out the cell phone number he had just memorized.

Li Qingyao said as he dialed the number, "I know. It was the old detective's intuition again, right? I also noticed two unusual details. The store manager said 'Boss Li and his team are very angry'. This store is usually managed by only one boss, Li Meiling. Why did the store manager say 'they'? Who is the other person who is angry with Liu Qianying? Second, such an excellent technician resigned, but the store manager claimed that he didn't know the inside story. I knew there was a problem from her reaction - have I made any progress?"

Li Qingyao kept buzzing away, while Chen Pu stood behind her, watching her lower her head and dial the number.

The two of them stood in an empty street parking lot, the summer night breeze blew gently, blowing on her face. Perhaps her hair was a little itchy, so she raised her hand to tuck her short hair behind her ears. So Chen Pu's eyes stopped on her small white ears again. He wondered without thinking, why does she look so thin everywhere? In the deep night, that face looked even thinner, and she was actually worried about gaining weight. The fingers holding the phone were also thin and white, much thinner than his. Her neck was also so thin and straight, he could hold it with half of his palm.

How could someone who looked so slender and soft always follow his steps without complaining about the hardship or tiredness? Wherever he went, she would go too?
Chen Pu suddenly realized what he was thinking, and a thin layer of cold sweat broke out on his back. At this moment, the phone rang, Li Qingyao turned around and pressed the hands-free button. Chen Pu immediately turned his face to the side in embarrassment and turned his eyes away from her.

After the phone rang seven or eight times, a young female voice answered: "Hello, who is this?"

Chen Pu didn't look at anyone, but just raised his chin. Li Qingyao understood and said, "Hello, we are from the Criminal Police Brigade of the West City Branch. We want to talk to you about something about Luo Hongmin and Li Meiling's massage parlor."

Liu Qianying was puzzled: "Are you really the police? You are not a liar? How can the police call so late at night?"

Li Qingyao: "I'm sorry that we didn't get your contact information until so late in the investigation. We wanted to ask why you resigned from the massage parlor."

Liu Qianying was silent for a while, then asked again: "Are you really police? How do you prove it?"

"Well, let's make an appointment. If today is too late, how about tomorrow? You come to the police station and we'll wait for you there. We'll reimburse you for the taxi fare."

Liu Qianying seemed to think for a while and made up her mind: "Can I come over now? If you are really the police, I have something important to report to you. I want to... I want to report it!"

I will update a little more today because I will be driving all day tomorrow and will not be able to write, so I will take a day off.

Chen Xiaopu said: What the hell, every time I go for a massage, I always order a male technician because he has strong hands.