Chapter 88

It was noon when Li Qingyao came out of Xiang Siling's company. The sun was very strong. She felt a fine layer of sweat on her forehead. She turned her head and saw that Chen Huolu's front and back were soaked. She curled her lips and saw a lemon tea shop on the side of the road. She was as if she had been pardoned and said, "I'm going to buy a cup of iced tea."

Chen Pu didn't feel very hot, he was used to it, even under the scorching sun, he could run a few more times without any problem. Seeing her hurried pace, and inexplicably a little angry, he followed her into the store quietly.

Li Qingyao knew he was in line behind her, but she ignored him. When it was her turn, she ordered an extra large cup of duck shit lemon tea with less sugar and less ice. Just as she was about to show the QR code, she heard Chen Pu's deep voice behind her: "Two cups, I'll pay."

Li Qingyao: "Then let's pay separately." He scanned the code decisively.

The clerk looked at the two of them, suppressed his laughter, and asked Chen Pu: "Sir, so you also want a super large cup of duck shit lemon tea with less sugar and less ice?"

"...Yes, much ice."

Li Qingyao wanted to enjoy the air conditioning for a while, so she chose to eat in the restaurant. She took the receipt and found an empty table to sit down. Chen Pu also came over and sat opposite her. Li Qingyao picked up her phone and swiped it. He didn't say anything, nor did he swipe his phone. He put one arm on the table, with no expression on his face, looking at the clerk's operating table.

When Li Qingyao's number was called, Chen Pu picked up her receipt from the table, stood up, took back her tea and placed it in front of her.

Li Qingyao didn't say thank you, but poked the straw into the cup hard.

After a while, Chen Pu's tea arrived. After taking a few sips, he said, "Shall I drive the car over first?"

Today Chen Pu drove his own car and parked it in the parking lot next to him, which was about a hundred or two hundred meters away.

Li Qingyao: “Why?” He didn’t even want to sit with her for a while longer?
Chen Pu paused and said, "It's hot, walk less."

Li Qingyao was silent for a moment, picked up the lemon tea and stood up: "Don't be so squeamish, let's go together."

Under the scorching sun, the two found the car. Without saying a word, they acted in tacit understanding as they did before. One of them opened the two doors on one side and fanned them a few times, letting the stuffy air in the car dissipate a little, and then got in at the same time.

Chen Pu drove the car, put his tea on the center console, and took a sip from time to time. Li Qingyao sat in the passenger seat, holding the lemon tea in one hand and drinking it sip by sip. He lowered all the windows, drove the car, and the wind blew in, which immediately made it much cooler. After a while, he closed the windows, turned on the air conditioner, turned the wind to the maximum, and reached out to move the air outlet blades on Li Qingyao's side to prevent the wind from blowing towards her face.

The temperature inside the car finally dropped.

Li Qingyao had been distracted and didn't notice his small action of turning the air vent. After a while, she felt cool all over and sighed comfortably. After sighing, she felt a little annoyed, feeling that she couldn't hold back in front of him. She took a peek and found that Chen Pu was still driving with a wooden face, and she felt a little annoyed for some reason.

However, Li Qingyao is a professional criminal policeman, and he quickly suppressed these small and messy emotions. Just an emotional workaholic? Who doesn't have this setting?

She reviewed the conversation with Xiang Siling just now, smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "Maybe I have a prejudice against Xiang Siling. I always feel that she is wearing a mask today and fooling us. We can't believe a word she says."

"I agree." Chen Pu thought to himself, her mask is much more solid than your previous show. But he would not say such words now.

Li Qingyao raised a finger and tapped his chin: "What should we do now? I can't get anything out of her mouth."

Chen Pu was also in deep thought.

If the investigation of Luo Hongmin's death and Xiang Siling gave him a feeling of looking at the mountains, the mountains were far away and there were foggy swamps on the road, but the road was always ahead. Even if they couldn't catch Xiang Siling's handle now, Chen Pu was sure that it was only a matter of time before she was related to Luo Hongmin's death. Her role in this murder case was definitely no less than that of the most wanted criminal Lu Xing. But now, the whole map has changed. Or in other words, before, they only stood in a corner of the map.

Liu Huaixin, Luo Hongmin, Xiang Siling, Lu Xing, Li Meiling, unknown live broadcast partners C and D, and possibly even Luo Huaizheng, are all on the same big map. The map was drawn seven years ago and currently appears to involve three cases: the Xiang Wei case, the Liu Huaixin case, and the Luo Hongmin case. It is very likely that there is a more serious case hidden.

Perhaps there is another mysterious killer who is responsible for one or more of the murders. Or maybe this killer is among the people they have investigated.

Chen Pu pursed his lips.

The more complicated and confusing the case is, given his personality, he will not feel too much pressure or at a loss. Instead, he will feel a kind of excitement in his bones, and he can't wait to pounce on it immediately, tear open the hidden truth, catch the real culprit and force him to pay the price.

"Chen Pu, you said before that there are two possibilities for my brother's disappearance. One is that it is related to the Luo Huaizheng case, and the real murderer attacked him; the other is that it is completely unrelated and he was involved in another case that the police don't know about yet. I know Chaoyang Home is a very large community with a permanent population of over 20. In the same year, what is the probability of a murder happening among 20 people? At that time, Liu Huaixin and the other two also rented in Chaoyang Home. Could what my brother saw be the crime committed by the three of them?"

Chen Pu could not answer this question. But he had a feeling that he was closer to Li Jincheng than in the past years. However, he had had this feeling before, but in the end it turned out to be just his illusion and extravagant hope, and he still got nothing.

So at this moment, facing Li Qingyao's hypothesis, he could only remain silent.

Li Qingyao also knew that her guess was full of randomness and had no basis. She stopped thinking about it and returned her attention to the case, saying, "We will find out who C and D are sooner or later. Although Luo Hongmin deleted all the data back then, 'the Internet has memory'. Since it was a live broadcast, even after seven years, there will definitely be traces left on the Internet. It just takes time."

Chen Pu nodded. He had already thought about the next direction of investigation: "Liu Huaixin's live broadcast was an unexpected gain. There may be more secret and complicated relationships hidden underneath. We don't know it now. But I think that the rhythm cannot be disrupted.

Sometimes, the case is like a maze, and you can't see it all at once, so just follow the path you have already determined. Maybe if you can find a branch line, the whole map will suddenly become clear.

Before I was transferred on a business trip, Xiang Siling's "story" was interrupted before it was completed. We should start and end, and it would be best to thoroughly understand what role Xiang Siling plays in the entire map and the entire story. Perhaps there will be an unexpected breakthrough. "

Li Qingyao understood what he meant, and he responded to all changes with the same strategy. Investigating Xiang Siling was not only about investigating Luo Hongmin's death, but also about investigating the entire map, using Xiang Siling as a leverage point.

She asked, "What else do you want to find out about Xiang Siling?"

Chen Pu looked at her sideways and said, "I need to ask you this. Didn't she keep saying that she was a high school student who just studied like you seven years ago? I want to know everything about her seven years ago, what she liked, what her personality was like, what kind of people she usually interacted with, and if there was anything unusual about her."

Li Qingyao shook his head: "Then you really asked the wrong person. Seven years ago, I didn't know her at all, and I didn't pay attention to her. I only knew that she was introverted and might have a low self-esteem. I really didn't know the specifics. In fact, at that time... I didn't pay much attention to other people and things."

At that time, Li Qingyao was so proud and free, she did her own thing, she was a celebrity, her daily life was filled with study, Luo Huaizheng, novels, and everything she was interested in. Maybe many people in her grade looked at her, but she really didn't look at others much.

But Chen Pu didn't know what he was thinking about. He pinched the steering wheel with his fingers, smiled faintly, and said, "You are just concerned about Luo Huaizheng, right?"

Li Qingyao looked at him inexplicably: "Do I look like someone who is in love?"

Chen Pu said nothing.

Li Qingyao was too lazy to pay attention to him. After thinking for a while, he said, "However, I remember that there were a few female classmates who were very close to Xiang Siling in their second and third years of high school. Do you want to invite them over to have a chat?"