Evil and punishment [criminal investigation]

Xu Jianjun was getting older and had gone through some things, so he pulled his chair away steadily and sat down opposite Nie Cheng.

"Puff out the cigarette first," Nie Cheng said.

Xu Jianjun walked to the pool, crushed the cigarette end in the water, extinguished it with a snort, and sat back down again.

Nie Cheng had read the copies of everyone's ID cards before, and learned that Xu Jianjun was 52 years old, a native of other provinces, but he was not from the same hometown as the deceased, and was much farther away than Feng Yongqing's hometown.

"What do you usually do for a living?" Nie Cheng asked.

"I've done everything. I've delivered goods and water to people. Now that I'm old, I work as a security guard at a bank in the city." Xu Jianjun said.

"Are you married, do you have any children?"

"It's over, my wife and children are all in my hometown."

"Tell me about what happened today, where you came from, how you found this hotel."

"I was on duty this year during the Chinese New Year, and I only returned to my hometown on the eighth day of the lunar new year. Yesterday, on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, a fellow villager wanted to deliver goods to the next province. I asked him to pick me up for a while. It's like this every year. I waited for him to follow the car when he was delivering goods here. Stay here for one night, and then walk an hour or so tomorrow to the long-distance bus station to take a bus back to the city, saving a train ticket."

Nie Cheng was slightly surprised: "That is to say, you booked a hotel in advance?"

"There is no need to book in advance, the hotel is empty every winter."

"How many times have you lived here?"

"Well... four or five times."

Nie Cheng jotted down a few notes in his notebook and asked, "What time did you arrive today, and what did you do last night?"

"I arrived around four o'clock, and when I got there, I rested, watched TV, and went downstairs to smoke a cigarette. What happened to that dead Zhen, Zhen..."

"Zhen Sizhe."

"Yes, he was reading the newspaper downstairs. I was sitting on the single sofa next to the fireplace. You see the fireplace, right where your colleague is sitting now. Then that guy Zhen came down, and he thought I was sitting He was smoking next to him and insisted that I put out the cigarette. I ignored him, and he would trouble the small front desk. I avoided him when I saw it, and then I saw you coming. It was 5 o'clock at that time, anyway. It's the hour, I heard the time teller. And then, it's your colleague who fucked that guy."

"What happened between them?"

"I don't know, but Zhen seemed to say something, and then your colleague became angry."

"what did you say?"

"I didn't hear it, it seemed to be just a few words. Weren't you there at that time?"

Nie Cheng was silent, he was indeed there, but at that time he had already walked up the stairs, some distance away from Jiang Zhun and Zhen Sizhe, and his back was turned to them, he didn't know what happened at all.

"I didn't say that, your colleague is too tempered, and I don't know what to say to irritate him so much. You said they didn't know each other before?" Xu Jianjun thought.

"What time did you get back to your room?" Nie Cheng interrupted his train of thought, not going to follow his thoughts to ask further.

"After smoking that cigarette, go back."

"Was Zhen Sizhe still sitting there when you went back?"

"Yes, I'm shaking my legs while reading magazines, and I always look at the front desk, as if I'm waiting for someone." Xu Jianjun speculated.

"What did you do when you got back to your room?"

"After I went up, I looked at my phone and felt hungry. I brought food from home, and went downstairs for a hot meal around 5:50." Xu Jianjun lifted his chin and pointed to a row of sideboards behind Nie Cheng. The microwave is on top of this.

"I twisted it for 2 minutes first, it didn't get hot when I took it out, and then twisted it for another 3 minutes. While waiting, I bought a pack of cigarettes from the guy at the front desk. You can ask him later." Xu Jianjun said.

"What time did you get upstairs?"

"I went up after the heat. I ate in the room and ate while watching TV. Then I didn't go downstairs again. I kept watching TV in the room until I heard someone calling outside."

"Did you turn off the TV when you left the room?"

"No, I don't know what happened. I was startled and thought it was on fire, so I ran out quickly. Then I found out that someone died, so I went back and turned off the TV, took another coat, and told him Let's go downstairs together."

"You went back again?"

"Yes, it's cold in the corridor. When you and your colleagues checked the situation in 204, that Feng and I went back to get our coats." Xu Jianjun said naturally.

Nie Cheng marked it calmly, and added another stroke to Feng Yongqing's page.

"Do you know the deceased?"

Xu Jianjun smiled and said, "Officer, I can't even remember his name, do you think we know each other?"

"If you know it, say you know it. If you don't know it, say you don't know it. Are you asking me?" Nie Cheng said with a downcast face.

"I don't know, I don't know."

"Go and call Pan Hongyue."

Xu Jianjun stood up, stopped in the middle of the stand, sat back up again, hesitantly said: "Officer, I have something to report."

"You said."

Xu Jianjun frowned, stared at the table in front of him, blinked several times, took a breath and said, "That Hu, the more I look at it, the more familiar it becomes."

"Hu Wen?"

"Correct."

"Have you met her before?"

"No, definitely not, but I just feel familiar, maybe I saw it somewhere a long time ago." Xu Jianjun tilted his head and said.

Just as Nie Cheng was about to ask him to go back and think about it again, the incandescent lamp in the restaurant flickered on and off, and then went off completely with a snap.At the same time, there were a few panicked exclamations from the hall, the noise of the air conditioner disappeared, the room fell into darkness, and the skylight reflected by the snow outside the window became the only light source.

"Don't move, don't panic." Jiang Zhun's calm voice came from the hall.

Nie Cheng closed his laptop, turned on his mobile phone's flashlight, walked out of the restaurant with Xu Jianjun, and asked, "Have you tripped?"

Jiang Zhun illuminated Wang Xiaozhi with his mobile phone, and Wang Xiaozhi checked the switch next to the front desk, and said loudly, "It didn't trip."

"It's broken, it must be because of the heavy wind and snow, and there is something wrong with the cable." Qian Tong sighed.

Nie Cheng pushed open the door, and all the street lights in the path outside the door were also turned off. It seems that the entire area has been powered off, and it can be ruled out that someone did it deliberately.

There were five flashlights in the utility room on the second floor, including the two used by Nie Cheng and Qian Tong before, and there were some candles in the kitchen.

Wang Xiaozhi took out the candles in the kitchen and lit them. Nie Cheng took Qian Tong and Xu Jianjun up to the second floor to get the equipment. As soon as the three arrived at the stairs, they almost collided with the two coming down.

"Is it a power outage? It scared us to death." Hu Wen said.

Hu Wen and Pan Hongyue were going to the bathroom together, and went back to the room to get their coats. Unexpectedly, it was suddenly dark. If it wasn't for the company, Hu Wen would have made another scream. When I went downstairs, I met the three of them.Now the two of them got the flashlight, and walked cautiously to room 206.

After the emergency treatment was done in the hall, six candles were lit around. Half of each person's face was hidden in the shadows, while the other half of their face was glowing orange and black, with different expressions.

Before Pan Hongyue came back, Nie Cheng asked the boss Qian Tong to go to the restaurant for questioning.

Two candles were lit on the dining table, one was to see the expression of the person being questioned clearly, and the other was to illuminate Nie Cheng's hand so that he could take notes.

"Are you from this city?"

"I'm from this city. My home is at the foot of the mountain in the scenic spot. Besides this hotel, there is also a farmyard." Qian Tong said proudly.

"You open the hotel here, does anyone usually come?"

"Yes, it's full every day in summer. The child gave me a suggestion to make it like an international youth hostel. Foreigners have indeed been here."

"Are there many people in winter?"

"not much."

"Why is it still open?"

"Hey, when you're doing business, you're free even when you're idle, and you come one by one. I don't have a lot of daily expenses, so I just pay the guy a salary, which can be earned." Qian Tong said.

"Among these guests today, who made a reservation in advance, and who came here temporarily?"

"Except for Zhen Sizhe, they are all here temporarily. However, although Xu Jianjun has no appointment, he will stay with me for a day in the past few years. I probably know that he will come in these two days based on the date."

"Is Zhen Sizhe scheduled?"

"Yes, he came early yesterday morning and booked a room for two days. He should check out tomorrow morning."

"How did he get here?"

"I don't know, Wang Xiaozhi was watching the store yesterday, I went home the day before yesterday, and I just came back this afternoon."

"What time did you arrive?"

"It's almost five o'clock."

"What did you do?"

"I went in and saw him lying there playing games and scolding him a few words. His kid, this year... No, it should be last year. He graduated from university and wanted to take the postgraduate entrance examination, but his family didn't allow him to take the exam full-time, so he found a job with me. Leisure work. When guests come, they will print an ID card and give them a key. After the guests check out, they will simply clean up. There is no business in this winter, and I will not call him when I don’t need him to work. He is about the same age as my child, and his parents Agreeing to let him work here, I always want to urge him to read more books, so he can go to school contentedly after passing the exam next year. Fortunately, he knows how to play games every day!" Qian Tong said angrily, He became so excited that he almost forgot about the death of someone in his hotel.

"and then?"

"Then what else can I do, he won't listen to me, go play if you like."

Nie Cheng didn't ask him about his attitude towards Wang Xiaozhi, and just about to interrupt him, Qian Tong himself said back to the timeline.

"Usually I cook some food in this kitchen and eat with him. Didn't I come back from home in the afternoon, so I came back with food. It's snowing hard today, so I'll go upstairs to dry my down jacket first, and take the down jacket from home. Hang up the clothes I brought after washing, rest for a while, look at the watch again, and go downstairs to heat up the meal, and my father and I will eat at the front desk. This little brat is playing with his broken mobile phone while eating, and I I couldn’t help scolding him a few words, but he finally put it down. After eating, I went upstairs at about 06:30. After I went upstairs, I took a shower, watched TV for a while, and fell asleep. early."

"What time did you wake up?"

"It was that woman who woke me up when she called me. When I was eating, I heard from Wang Xiaozhi that there were people living there. There was a young couple living across from you. When she called, I thought they had a fight. Our hotel, I have encountered everything." Qian Tong looked at Nie Cheng with a look of knowing everything and said.

Nie Cheng frowned, and asked again: "You know where everyone comes from?"

"I know." Qian Tong said proudly, and felt something was wrong after speaking, and hurriedly made amends, "If you know, you know, I run a hotel. Don't doubt me."

"Is this the first time Zhen Sizhe lives with you?"

"It should be. I haven't seen him in my memory. But since he knows my small hotel, maybe he came here in summer."

"Why is there no signal on the phone?"

"I don't know about that. The telephone and network cables are all good, but ah, there are always problems with our cables. Last summer, there was a typhoon that shut down the network first and then the power. Maybe the base station was affected."

"Understood. You call Wang Xiaozhi."

Qian Tong responded "OK", walked to the door of the restaurant and called "Wang Xiaozhi, it's your turn", and Wang Xiaozhi slipped in like a mouse meeting a cat.

He's the youngest of everyone in the hotel so far and looks nervous.

"Wang Xiaozhi, right?" Nie Cheng opened a new page and wrote down his name, "Tell me what you did in the past two days, and how much you remember about the deceased."

"This person checked in yesterday afternoon. Someone sent him here. When the car drove to the door, he was the only one who came in. He was the only guest yesterday, and I was quite impressed. He didn't go out all day today, around 4:40, Not long after the boss came back from home, he went downstairs. Uh, he asked me to take care of Xu Jianjun and told him not to smoke in the house. In fact, he also smoked in the lobby in the morning. I think he was deliberately finding fault, and then you two The police officer is coming."

"What did he do downstairs?"

"Just sit. I'm playing games, and I don't know what he's doing. Anyway, I didn't cause any damage. After all, my job is not to spy on customers, right?" Wang Xiaozhi scratched his head and said.

"What time did he go upstairs?"

"Following you, didn't you come down to eat again? After you went upstairs, he also went upstairs. At that time, I was alone downstairs. But after a while, Xu Jianjun came down to heat up the meal and bought a pack of cigarettes. He After going upstairs, the boss came down. At that time, I thought it was quite lively at the moment, so I looked at my watch, and it was 6 o'clock."

"What about the rest?"

"Well... Xu Jianjun was the first one to come today. Although I don't know him, the boss mentioned him to me. In recent years, people will come to live around the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so he came to me. Not surprised. Then there was Pan Hongyue, who came around 04:30, carrying a small bag, and didn’t come down after going upstairs. And then... you, came at five o’clock, and the watch told the time, exactly five o’clock. Then Then there was the couple, around 05:30. You were in the restaurant at the time, so you should have seen it. Oh yes, I also delivered biscuits to Pan Hongyue once at 05:30, and I put them upstairs at the door of her room .”

"Where does that couple live with Pan Hongyue?"

"202 and 206."

"Did anyone come down after I finished eating and went upstairs?"

"Yes, didn't you just say that, Xu Jianjun came down to cook food and buy cigarettes, and the boss also came back after you."

"The boss came back at six o'clock?"

"Correct."

"Did anyone go downstairs after six o'clock?"

"Yes. The boss came down to eat with me again at 06:30, but no one else."

"What else did you do tonight besides playing games?"

"I'm still reading and reviewing." Wang Xiaozhi straightened up instantly.

"What time is there no internet?"

"I don't know. The boss scolded me a few times during the meal. I know he meant it well. I read it carefully during the evening review and didn't play with my phone. At 09:30 I went back to my room to take a shower. It was the door behind the front desk. After entering, there was a A small room. After taking a shower, dry your hair, wash the changed clothes, and turn off the lights at ten o'clock."

"You won't be connected after ten o'clock?"

"No, this small hotel is not so standardized. In this weather and this place, there are no customers after ten o'clock, so I turned off the headlights and left two small lights to illuminate them. And the snow has already fallen heavily, except Those two groups of you who got stuck on the highway won’t have any more people, and the cars behind won’t even be able to get on the highway, right?” Wang Xiaozhi said.

"Are you going to work the night shift?"

"It's not worth it. You may not have noticed when you came in. There is a doorbell at the door of the hotel. If someone comes suddenly at night, I can hear him in the room when he rings the bell, and I will get up to check him in."

"What did you do when you got back to your room?"

"I cached a movie on my computer. I watched half of it yesterday, and then finished watching it in the evening. Because I downloaded it in advance, I didn't pay attention to the Internet."

"Is this TV and phone line of yours a base station?"

"No, the phone is off, and the TV can be watched as usual."

"Okay. You can call Pan Hongyue here. By the way, do you know Zhen Sizhe?"

"I know."

Nie Cheng immediately raised his eyes. This was the first person who said he knew the deceased.He lowered his head, calmly wrote the word "recognized" on the note, and then asked, "How did you know?"

Since sitting here, Wang Xiaozhi, who has been thinking about how to make this shocking big news, was blocked by Nie Cheng, and hesitated again, and the exaggeration brewing in his tone subconsciously subsided a little. He just said unwillingly: "He has cheated many people out of money, including my family."

"How did you get cheated?"

"He sold financial management, gave him hundreds of thousands, and made seven or eight thousand a month. My mother believed it, but my family lost 30. It was because of him that my family drove me to work and did not let me take the postgraduate entrance examination steadily. My mother said that she saw that I was at home without wages all day, and I was about to have a heart attack.”

"Oh, that's your motive for killing."

"Huh, ah? No! What? I didn't kill anyone! No, Officer Nie, don't tease me. If you tease me again, I won't say anything."

"Who said you killed someone? What else do you know? Tell me what you have to say. Don't exaggerate or hide it. It's more suspicious if you hide it or not."

"He just started selling wealth management, and then his appetite got bigger and bigger, and he started more unscrupulous businesses. Guess what?"

Nie Cheng looked at him indifferently.

"Routine loan." Wang Xiaozhi said word by word.

Nie Cheng really changed his face this time.