The Book of Death by Heart Poison

Liu Zhiqin didn't go to the forensic identification center with Hua Chong, so He Ruo introduced him, Xu Xiaozhou, and Yue Yue to the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Bureau.

The Anjiang Municipal Bureau is located in the downtown area. The three buildings look quite grand from a distance, deterring criminals, but when you walk into them, you can see that everything is in order.The criminal investigation detachment is located in Building 5 in the office area. The serious crime team managed by Zhao Ying occupies the 6th and [-]th floors. Most of the team members are away from work, and there are not many people staying in the office.

"Before you came, we had already started to investigate the victim Kuang Ming's interpersonal relationship, and the employees of the second brother, Lao Lu, were also investigating one by one. This is part of the inquiry records. Please take a look, Team Liu." Action teams deal with, a little nervous.

Upon hearing this title, Xu Xiaozhou and Yue Yue laughed aside.

Liu Zhiqin also laughed, "I'm not the captain."

"Ah, I know." He Ruo was a little embarrassed. She had just been selected into the serious crime team, and she was the most junior in the team. Zhao Ying asked her to assist the special operations team, and she was actually an errand runner.She was serious about things and had done enough homework. Of course she knew that the captain was Hua Chong, but this Liu Zhiqin in front of her was also very important. She didn't know how to address him at the moment, so she couldn't just call him by his first name.

"Liu, Liu..." She stammered for a long time, but Liu didn't make a name for herself.

Xu Xiaozhou couldn't stand it, "Let's call him Brother Liu."

He Ruo felt that this seemed too familiar, but at least he breathed a sigh of relief.

When the little policewoman struggled to address her, Liu Zhiqin had read the investigation materials for a while, "Kuang Ming only founded the second brother Laolu last year?"

"Yes." He Ruo became serious, "Kuang Ming is not a native of Anjiang. He was born in Siliang Village, more than 300 kilometers away from the city. The transportation in the city is more convenient, and the villagers of Siliang Village have a more sense of belonging to Anjiang City, and most of the migrant workers develop in Anjiang City."

Liu Zhiqin read the information while listening.It says that Kuang Ming is 45 years old this year. He came out of Siliang Village at the age of 22. In his early years, he went to the coast to work for others. When he returned to Anjiang City, he was no richer than when he left Siliang Village.

During the few years when he went out to work hard, his parents in his hometown passed away one after another. In those years, communication was underdeveloped. There was no telephone in the village, and Kuang Ming did not have a mobile phone. Most of the time, it took more than half a year before I knew that my relatives had left.

His only son, Kuang Shan, was born to his ex-wife in another place. Judging from the time of obtaining the certificate, the two married after having a child first.The marriage didn't last long. After Kuang Ming's clothing business failed, his ex-wife filed for divorce.

After the divorce, Kuang Ming brought his young Kuang Shan back to Anjiang City, and everyone he met scolded his ex-wife for being unkind. Almost everyone who knew Kuang Ming had heard him scold his ex-wife.

However, in the past two or three years, Kuang Ming started his business and no longer worried about making a living, so he didn't mention his ex-wife much anymore.

"After Kuang Ming returned to Anjiang, because he had no connections and ran out of money, life was difficult at first." He Ruo said, "He worked for someone in the catering industry, have you heard of Uncle Jenkins' kitchen? "

Xu Xiaozhou said: "Just that barbecue restaurant that opened many chains and then closed down?"

He Ruo nodded, "The main store is here. During Kuang Ming's part-time job, Jenkins was the place where he stayed the longest, and later became a regional manager. It's a pity that Jenkins only cares about expansion and doesn't pay attention to Quality, and finally those chain stores closed down one by one.”

There is also Jenkins in the capital. Liu Zhiqin and his teammates from the information warfare team went to eat once. The inside was smoky and cheap, and everyone was dissatisfied.

By then Jenkins was dead.

"Before Jenkins completely closed down, Kuang Ming resigned to start a business, that is..." He Ruo found the time in the information, "it was 4 years ago. He has never worked in the catering industry before. Jenkins should have taught him A lot of things, and he made a lot of money when he was the regional manager. The first restaurant he opened was a cheap steak restaurant, the steak set meal was only 19 yuan, and the snacks were free.”

Yue Yue thought of the expired meat that he saw in the second brother's kitchen not long ago, and frowned: "The 19 yuan set meal, the meat used..."

He Ruo also felt disgusted, and continued: "This steak restaurant was opened very quickly because it was cheap. Kuang Ming also opened a branch. At the end of the year before last, there were a total of 6 branches and the main store."

Liu Zhiqin noticed that all these 6 stores were closed, which seemed to be somewhat similar to Jenkins' situation, "Is it also poor management?"

He Ruo shook his head, "That's not true. Aren't takeaways and online celebrity snacks very popular now? Most physical stores are starting to take the quality route. His 19 yuan steak buffet can't pursue quality at all. Before registering with the second brother last year, Kuang Ming closed all 6 stores in the city and opened them in various districts and counties below Anjiang."

Liu Zhiqin nodded.Kuang Ming's move worked well. In a big city like Anjiang, there is no market for low-cost self-service, and the rent and labor costs are also extremely high. If you sink to the districts and counties, the income is often better than that in big cities.

"Second brother's online shop is pretty big. I've bought them all, and I think the taste is really good." He Ruo sighed, "But I didn't know that kind of meat at the time."

Liu Zhiqin scanned the incomplete investigation records, and did not see any obvious conflicts between Kuang Ming and others. It was his ex-wife Lu Xiang who was hated by Kuang Ming. The local police have not yet found Lu Xiang.Another point worth noting is that Kuang Ming may have used expired meat for a long time. Is it possible that food safety is the reason for his death?

Moreover, Kuang Ming said that this case was not a separate homicide. His body was stuck with chopsticks. Before he was killed, there were already two dead people with chopsticks stuck into their bodies or placed beside them in Anjiang City.If it was the same person who killed them all, it was all motivated by food safety?

"During your investigation in the past two days, did you find that Kuang Ming was obviously feuding with others?" Liu Zhiqin asked.

"There are frictions, but we haven't found any serious retaliation by killing people." He Ruo said, "Most of Kuang Ming's former colleagues at Jenkins spoke highly of him, saying that he was a very good person. A person who is good at balancing the relationship between the boss and the subordinates can make the boss feel comfortable and not embarrass the subordinates. In fact, when he was promoted to a regional manager and managed the business of more than ten stores in the upper half of the city, Jenkins had already started to decline However, the decline in the store in his hand is not as severe as that of the lower half of the city..."

Hearing this, Liu Zhiqin had a new idea - Kuang Ming's strong work ability, although some colleagues admired him during the difficult stage of the company, it might also arouse the jealousy of others, such as other regional managers.

The local police have not had time to investigate this piece.

"The steak restaurant is a partnership between him and a former chef of Jenkins." He Ruo went on to say, "The chef's name is Wang Gan, and he has come here for inquiries. He has a good relationship with Kuang Ming and is very cooperative with the investigation. He said that after the restaurant was withdrawn from the main city, Kuang Ming didn’t care much about the restaurant, and just paid a symbolic dividend. A businessman who is easy to hate."

Liu Zhiqin thought for a while, "Hasn't Kuang Shan been here yet?"

Xu Xiaozhou clicked his tongue, "It shouldn't be."

"We notified Kuang Shan, but the child said he was going to prepare for the exam soon, and wanted to come back after the exam." He Ruo was a little incomprehensible, "The one who was killed was his father who depended on him, and he was too indifferent."

Liu Zhiqin said: "Now our understanding of Kuang Ming is still too one-sided."

He Ruo froze for a moment, "Huh?"

"You said just now that he knows how to be a man and is not easy to be hated by others, but his only son doesn't care about his death." Liu Zaiqin said: "It doesn't make sense, he may have a side that we don't know about."

"This..." He Ruo thought for a while, "We will continue to investigate."

Liu Zhiqin didn't mean to blame anyone, he stood up and said, "What about the other two cases?"

He Ruo immediately said: "Wait a minute, I'll go to check the information."

When Hua Chong came back from the forensic identification center, he learned that Liu Zhiqin was in the No. 3 office of the serious crime team, where a large amount of case materials were stored, so he also rushed over.

A middle-aged woman appeared on the projection screen, she was slightly fat, she was wearing the curly hair that is often seen on the street, her skin was loose, she was wearing a black floral coat, and a colorful silk scarf was wrapped around her neck.

This is the No.1 victim, Huang Xia, 52 years old, retired from a private enterprise, and was responsible for the human resources work in the factory before retirement.On August 8 this year, she was found dead in her homestay. The cause of death was the same as that of Kuang Ming, which was mechanical asphyxia caused by strangulation. A pair of chopsticks were placed beside her body, but the chopsticks were not inserted into her body.

Hua Chong closed the door gently, barely making a sound. Everyone in the office looked at the projection screen, only Liu Zhiqin turned around suspiciously, and happened to meet Shang Hua Chong's gaze.

Hua Chong put his index finger on his lips, made a shush gesture, and then quietly walked to the table and sat down.

Liu Zhiqin turned back again.

He Ruo introduced the case while showing the photos of the deceased.

Huang Xia's family has a medium income in Anjiang City. Her husband, Bai Zhongguo, also works in the same company. His position is higher than Huang Xia's. He manages a technological innovation research group and is called Mr. Bai by his staff.

According to their daughter, Bai Jiao, the relationship between her parents has always been bad. She has been separated since she was in junior high school. There are three houses in the family. The parents do not live together, but they have not divorced.When she was a child, she had a better relationship with her mother. After graduating from college, she stepped into the society, and when she and her boyfriend reached the age to talk about marriage, she gradually understood her father.

After Huang Xia retired, she often went out for short trips with her old sisters, bought wealth management products with her generous savings, and money begets money.

Bai Jiao and her boyfriend don't want to work for others, and feel that they will never make a fortune by working part-time. In recent years, Anjiang City has vigorously developed tourism, and has established many Internet celebrity attractions in the surrounding area.They planned to build a homestay by the river in the western suburbs to take advantage of this Internet celebrity, but they didn't have enough funds, so they had to borrow it from Huang Xia.

Without saying a word, Huang Xia took the money out of the wealth management products, but it was not a loan, but a share.

At the beginning of this year, the homestay opened.Bai Jiao is a student of new media, and her boyfriend is good at design. With sufficient funds, the business is booming.

At first, Huang Xia often invited her older sisters to set up camps, but later the number of guests increased, so she stopped inviting others, but occasionally went to help out and stayed for two or three days.

There are many similar homestays in the mountains and riversides of the western suburbs, all of which look beautiful, but none of them have standardized management.Huang Xia was killed in the backyard of her homestay. After investigation by the police, there were no witnesses, and no abnormal situations or suspicious persons were captured by surveillance.

At that time, this case was not immediately reported to the serious crime team of the Municipal Bureau, but was only investigated by the criminal investigation team of the Xicheng District Bureau.Until more than two months later, chopsticks appeared on another victim who was strangled to death.

No.2 The victim's name is Wang Jie, male, 27 years old, working in the Anjiang City Museum, and his daily job is to explain the stories of various cultural relics to tourists.

Wang Jie is not a native of Anjiang City. His parents are in business. He was admitted to Anjiang University when he was 18 years old. He studied marketing and studied abroad for 2 years after graduation.According to his parents, they hoped that Wang Jie could return home and work in the family business, but Wang Jie liked the city of Anjiang very much and wanted to stay and work in Anjiang.

His father cleared the relationship and arranged him in the museum.This job is very leisurely and there is almost no work pressure.Wang Jie bought a house in Anjiang City and settled down, relying on his parents for daily expenses.

He is relatively low-key, has never revealed his wealth at work, and is conscientious when explaining to tourists.

On November 11, the museum reported to the police that it had been three days since Wang Jie could not be contacted.A week later, the police received a report that a decomposing corpse was found beside the abandoned tunnel on the hilltop of Nongman Township in the south.After investigation, it was Wang Jie who had been missing before. A chopstick was stuck in his neck, and there was also a chopstick hole on the other side of his neck, and that one had fallen off.

In mid-November, chopsticks appeared in both cases, and the victims were both murdered by strangulation, and they were merged by the Municipal Bureau.

"Then it's Kuang Ming..." He Ruo found out that Hua Chong had arrived at this point, and hurriedly greeted him, "Flower Team!"

Hua Chong nodded, "The basis for the merger is the cause of death and the chopsticks, right?"

He Ruo turned on the light, "Yes, we think the chopsticks are the 'signature' left by the murderer."

"Huang Xia, 52 years old, retired from a private enterprise; Wang Jie, 27 years old, a rich second generation, with a leisurely job; Kuang Ming, 45 years old, the owner of an online celebrity food store, had a difficult entrepreneurial history." Hua Chong stopped and thought Think, "There doesn't seem to be much in common between the three of you."

He Ruo looked serious, "That's right. After the case was merged, we tried to find their common ground. Kuang Ming will not mention it for the time being. As far as Huang Xia and Wang Jie are concerned, their interpersonal networks do not overlap, and their living areas are also different. Serial murderers A certain group is usually targeted when committing a crime, but Huang Xia and Wang Jie really don’t seem to be from the same group.”

Xu Xiaozhou said: "They are all richer, and their lives are comfortable?"

Liu Zhiqin turned his chair, "But Kuang Ming doesn't fall into this category."

Xu Xiaozhou scratched his hair, "That's right. Huang Xia lived very comfortably after retirement. This is due to her accumulation over the past few decades. Wang Jie doesn't rely on his work in the museum for a living. For him, explaining cultural relics to tourists is just a hobby. Although Kuang Ming is a small boss, he is still stuck with money, he is not living easily, and his wealth has not accumulated to the extent he expected."

"Internet celebrity..." Hua Chong said, "Internet celebrity seems to be a common point that they don't have much in common."

He Ruo didn't understand for a while, "Internet celebrity?"

"The homestay opened by Huang Xia's daughter is an online celebrity homestay, and Kuang Ming's lo mei shop is called an online celebrity shop on the Internet." Liu Zhiqin said while looking at his phone—there was the Weibo of Anjiang City Museum he just found "As for Wang Jie, it's far-fetched. Your city museum has been undergoing transformation for more than a year, imitating other domestic museums, and launching cultural and creative products with local characteristics, but the effect seems not to be ideal."

"Ah!" He Ruoyi clapped his hands, "This indeed belongs to the category of internet celebrities."

Liu Zhiqin looked at Hua Chong, "Hua Dui, is that what you mean?"

Hua Chong said: "Well, but as you said just now, it seems a bit far-fetched to pull them together like this. In fact, the previous two cases were relatively hasty."

He Ruo blushed, "Yes, but the 'signature' of the chopsticks is too obvious, Team Zhao said that the case should be merged. Besides, we have been investigating this for several months, and the murderer is hiding very deeply, leaving us with too few clues Yes. Ordinary cases won’t go unsolved for so long, from this point of view, the possibility of serial crimes is also very high.”

Office No. 3 has temporarily become the territory of the special operations team, and all electronic and paper materials are stored here for Hua Chong and his party to check.When He Ruo said that he was going to make coffee for everyone, Hua Chong smiled and said no, and asked the little policewoman to take a rest.

"Every time you encounter the problem of joining or not joining, you are very cautious." After the door closed, Liu Zhiqin said.

Now that the office is full of their own family members, Hua Chong spoke more bluntly than before, "The three victims' interpersonal networks lack intersections, and their backgrounds are also different. The chopsticks at the murder scene can be understood as 'signatures', but since the murderer Then pay attention to the sense of ritual, then why are the chopsticks different every time?"

Liu Zhiqin nodded, "This is where I'm more confused. A serial murderer who will 'sign' on the scene will almost always choose the same 'signature'."

"Another point is that the chopsticks in the first case were not inserted into Huang Xia's body, they were thrown directly beside the corpse. In the following two cases, the chopsticks were inserted into the victim's neck." Hua Chong rubbed his chin, "The function of the chopsticks Is it just a 'signature'? If it is indeed just a 'signature', what do the chopsticks represent?"

"Eat?" Yue Yue touched his stomach, "Uh, maybe it's because I'm hungry right now, and when I think of chopsticks, I think of eating."

Liu Zhiqin said: "It has nothing to do with whether you are hungry or not. Anyone will associate chopsticks with eating."

Yue Yue whispered to Xu Xiaozhou: "I want to go eat."

Xu Xiaozhou was amused, "The flower team hasn't said dinner yet."

Hua Chong heard the joke, and looking at the time, they were busy driving away as soon as they arrived in Anjiang City. In the past, when they went to other cities, the local police would entertain them for dinner first. This time Zhao Ying didn't engage in those polite things. On the contrary, it is more comfortable.

"You guys go first." Hua Chong said, "Brother Xiaoliu and I will go to the cafeteria later."

After the two left, Hua Chong said again: "Strangulation is a method of murder that requires a lot of strength. Among the three victims, Huang Xia is a woman. It is easier to strangle her than the other two, and she does not have chopsticks. "

Liu Zhiqin said, "What are the chopsticks hiding?"

Hua Chong said: "Then it depends on the results of Pei Qing's autopsy."