winter past

Xiaoman took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and came out of the toilet. While wiping his hair with a towel, he went to his room. When he passed the stairs, he looked down.Bright yellow light diffused to the corner of the stairs, and it was quiet downstairs.Xiaoman also quietly entered the room, quietly closed the door, walked to the open window, and climbed onto the window sill.

Downstairs is an alley, some battery cars are parked, there are no street lights, the moonlight is thin, and the alley is very dark. The air conditioner on the first floor is placed under the window on the second floor.Xiaoman stretched his sore arm, and was about to turn out the window, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a light flashing behind a row of battery cars out of the corner of his eye, and then, he heard a human voice coming from that flashing place.

A man said softly: "It shouldn't be that fast, really... definitely, definitely, Team Zhan, you should go back and rest first, yes..."

After saying this, the bright light suddenly disappeared, and no one spoke, but the next second, the light came back on again.Xiao Man saw someone wave the bright phone screen towards him.The peripheral light of the screen fell on the man's chest and wrists.That person seemed to be the man in the white T-shirt.

Xiaoman got down from the window sill, slipped on her slippers, and went downstairs while wiping her hair.

The dance hall downstairs was brightly lit, but there was no dancer on the dance floor, and the band was also gone.Dai Rou, Yin Miaozai and Lu Yang sat in a row in front of the bar, all watching him.

Xiaoman looked left and right, waving his hands: "Where are my guests? It's not closing time yet, the lights are on, the air conditioner is on like this, just you guys, it's too much electricity."

Dai Judao: "I'll book the venue."

"What about the money?"

Lu Yang said: "After giving the band today's performance fee, there is nothing left."

Xiao Man hung the towel around his neck, and raised his chin to Lu Yang: "What are you doing here? You don't have to go to school tomorrow?"

Lu Yang stood up, ran into the bar, took the broom and dustpan leaning against the wall and said, "I'm sweeping the floor and doing hygiene."

Yin Miaozai made a phone call and whispered to the person on the other end of the phone: "Come in, he came down and didn't run away."

Xiaoman was impatient for a while, grabbed the hair a few times, reached out and snatched the broom from Lu Yang's hand, and said, "What are you sweeping, hurry up and go to bed!"

Lu Yang snatched the broom back and argued, "I've been sitting for so long this day, I need to exercise my muscles, otherwise I'll have a herniated lumbar disc before I'm twenty."

Xiao Man took a deep breath, and patted the back of Lu Yang's head. Lu Yang was speechless, and pushed the broom onto him, and walked slowly towards the small door in the bar.He entered the door slowly, climbed the stairs, and disappeared down the corridor.

Looking at the dusty corridor, Xiaoman shouted: "Go back to the room!"

There were a few heavy footsteps on the corridor, and soon there was a creaking floor on the ceiling.Only then did Xiaoman walk away from the door with the broom, walked into the dance floor, and swept the floor.

"What are you sweeping?" Dai Rou asked him.

"I'm doing hygiene." Xiao Man had just finished answering when he heard footsteps again, this time coming from the entrance of the ballroom, very brisk.He looked up and saw the man in the white T-shirt coming in from the door.

Dai Rou said coldly behind Xiaoman, "I'm also here to look for you, my colleague, the deputy captain of our first team, Zhao You."

Xiaoman smiled at Zhao You, walked to the booth area, bent down, and cleaned under the booth table.

The people in the ballroom suddenly stopped talking, and there was only the sound of the broom in Xiaoman's hand gently brushing the ground. This silence lasted for a long time, and it seemed that it would last longer, as if it would never end.Xiao Man couldn't help but glanced in the direction of the bar. There were still three people sitting in front of the bar, and they were still staring at him.

Xiaoman stood up straight, propped a table with one hand, and fixed his eyes on them.Under this exchange of gazes, Dai Rou didn't look away, she smoked silently, Yin Miaozai looked around, Zhao You stared at him for a while, propped his chin, looked at Dai Rou, then looked at Yin Miaozai, slightly He hesitated and opened his mouth.

He said, "Can I... ask a question?"

Yin Miaozai immediately said: "You ask, you ask, yes, why are you here, you...know each other?" Her eyes kept going back and forth between Zhao You and Xiaoman.

Zhao You said: "It's not considered acquaintance. I met him once before. At that time, I didn't know that he was the detective you mentioned."

Dai Rou turned her face and looked at Zhao You: "What do you want to ask him? Is it related to your fiancée's recent case?"

Yin Miaozai looked at Dai Rou aside: "Officer Dai, I'm right here..."

Dai Rou looked at Xiaoman: "What have you done, Zhao You will come to you?

Xiaoman leaned on the broom and said, "I don't know."

Zhao You said, "You went to Qingshui Garden just now, didn't you?"

A stone stirred up waves, and Yin Miaozai's eyes were sullen: "Qingshui Garden? I knew you went to the crime scene yourself! Did you go to 304?"

Dai Rou raised her eyebrows, and her voice tightened: "Qingshui Garden? What are you doing in Qingshui Garden?"

Zhao You scratched the bridge of his nose, looked at Xiaoman, with half a smile in his eyes, as if he didn't expect his question to cause such a big reaction from other people, and seemed to be waiting and observing how he would respond, with a look of Looks like a good show.

Xiaoman stretched out his hand: "Okay, okay, stop, stop, come one by one."

He looked at Yin Miaozai first, and said: "Mr. Yin, I think the news of going to the crime scene will not have a good impact on a public official like you. Look, the police have come to visit me, right?"

Yin Miaozai hurriedly continued the conversation: "But we have agreed..." She paused, rolled her eyes, gave Xiaoman a wink, and said, "Didn't we agree on some Aegean killer or a Montenegro killer? We don't care, we leave it to the police to follow up? It's no wonder the police want to find you by running to the crime scene by yourself."

She also began to lecture earnestly: "We had a good discussion during the meal just now, you must not act alone because of a momentary curiosity, and you ran away halfway through the meal, Detective Xiao, curiosity killed the cat Ah, although it is a good thing to have a sense of justice for the people and share the worries of the police, but I am really worried that you will do something out of order, so I came here to wait for you at the gate of Yaochi, wanting to I would like to persuade you again, let me ask you to stop here, Zhao You, Officer Dai, don't worry, we will never do anything to hinder the police from handling the case."

Xiao Man nodded again and again: "Ah, yes, yes, we agreed, regardless of those cases, I went to Qingshui Garden to see the house, and I helped people take care of this dance hall. I don’t have a place to live, so let me live here temporarily while doing business, now that the boss is coming back, I have to find a place to move out.”

Dai Rou listened expressionlessly, shook the ash, raised the cigarette in her hand, and asked Zhao You, "Why did you find him? How did you find this place?"

Zhao You said: "An eyewitness from Qingshui Garden called me and said he saw a suspicious person in the community."

Xiaoman laughed: "Maybe it depends on my appearance."

Zhao You said again: "I checked the surveillance of the community, as well as the surveillance of the surrounding society, and found that he bought something in a convenience supermarket next to the community. The money was paid by Alipay, and I found it through Alipay transaction records."

Dai Rou asked, "What did he buy?"

Xiaoman shouted: "What is there to ask? I just went to see that the supermarket was full of things, and it was also for renting a house, so I bought some daily necessities." He looked at Dai Rou and said helplessly: "The intermediary It’s the love house at the back of the old street, Xiao Zhang, if you don’t believe me, you can call him and ask him. He took me there. The purpose of looking at the house at night is to see if there is any noise at night. I don’t sleep well. Are you okay? Know."

Zhao You said, "Give me Xiao Zhang's phone number."

Xiaoman reported a series of numbers readily, and Zhao You immediately called.Dai Rou and Yin Miaozai looked at him, Zhao You put down the phone and said, "The phone is off." He smiled and looked at Xiao Man, "Xiao Zhang is probably asleep."

Dai Rou glared at Xiaoman, but said nothing.Yin Miaozai asked her in a low voice: "Officer Dai, then you came to see him..."

Dai Rou said: "As for the incident that you found the dead body at 404 and called the police, he hasn't made a statement yet."

Xiaoman pointed at the door: "Go now, I will go to the Municipal Bureau with you now."

Dai Rou said displeased: "What time is it, I don't need to sleep? It's eight o'clock tomorrow morning, don't be late."

After speaking, she bit her cigarette and left.

Zhao You also got up: "Then I will go first." He asked Yin Miaozai: "Do you have anything else to ask him?"

Yin Miaozai waved his hands and said: "It's okay, it's okay, I'm leaving too, let's go down together."

The two left together.Xiao Man hastily swept the booth area a few more times, then put the broom and dustpan back.He took a bottle of vodka out of the refrigerator, poured a large glass, drank half of it, took out an ice pack, sat in front of the bar, leaned against the bar, raised his head and applied the ice pack to his cheeks.

The air conditioner sent him a gust of cold wind, biting the bone. He licked his lips, touched the lighter on the bar, shivered, and closed his eyes slightly.

There were soft footsteps behind the small door in the bar.

Xiaoman drooped her eyelids, moved the ice pack to her neck, and asked lazily, "Aren't you sleeping yet?"

The footsteps didn't stop, and they were getting closer—people walking on the stairs were still going downstairs.Xiaoman glanced and saw that it was Zhao You who came down. He was rubbing the dust off his hands, and his white T-shirt was also dirty.Xiaoman pointed to the ceiling, Zhao You nodded, and Xiaoman laughed.Zhao You lowered his head and patted his clothes, saying, "It's inconvenient to ask about some things just now, and it's inconvenient to talk about some things." He walked to the sink and washed his hands, then turned slightly to look at Xiao Man, and asked, "What are the daily necessities?" Is the issuing card in the store easy to use?"

Xiaoman was startled, wiped his neck, threw the ice pack into the sink, and asked Zhao You, "Have I left any obvious marks?"

"There's a scratch on the lock, and a corner fell off the door when you unpacked it."

"I'm unfamiliar." Xiaoman drank the remaining half glass of wine, picked up the bottle again, poured a big glass, and said, "I was too hasty when I left."

"Scared by the flashing light from the opposite building?"

"The person who made the flash in the opposite building is the witness you mentioned?" He raised his eyes to look at Zhao You: "Is there any witness in case 304?"

Zhao You asked him, "So... why did you go to 304?"

"Your bosses are just asking questions. Why are you asking so much? Are you in Dai Rou's team? To investigate such a big case, the city bureau's elite must be organized?"

Zhao Youcai was about to answer, when Xiaoman turned his head and looked towards the entrance of the ballroom, someone came up from downstairs, and the sound of footsteps was very clear.He glanced at Zhao You who was standing at the bar - he bent down and squatted down to hide.After a while, Dai Rou came in from the door.

Xiaoman raised the lighter in his hand and waved at her: "Come get this?"

Dai Rou nodded.Xiao Man said, "You didn't fall here on purpose, did you?"

pre-research rescue rabbit

Dai Rou asked him: "Xiao Zhang from Aiwu accompanied you to see the house in the middle of the night? So dedicated?"

Xiaoman laughed, walked into the bar, took out two bottles of beer: "Are you off work?"

He caught a glimpse of Zhao You nestling in the space under the bar, hugging his knees, his long arms and legs huddled up, his head resting on the board, his neck tilted, his appearance was a little funny, a little funny.Xiao Man smiled and put two bottles of beer on the bar, and said to Dai Rou: "Sister Rou, drink less."

Dai Rou stood leaning against the bar and asked him directly: "Have you gone to 304?"

Xiaoman opened the beer, picked up one bottle, touched the other bottle, and shrugged.Dai Rou said again: "Do you think it's him?"

Xiao Man was overjoyed: "What are you talking about? He's been dead for ten years, so he's resurrected?" He grimaced, Dai Rou frowned, touched his nose, just smiled, and drank beer happily.

Dai Rou's brows frowned even tighter: "You want to check 304, don't you?"

"That's right. Not only do I want to check Qingshui Garden 304, I also want to check this time Aegean Sea 404, and this time I want to check No. 64 Huangguozi Village."

Dai Rou said: "Are you following up these cases? Watching the news? You won't go to Xing Tianxiang, will you?"

Xiaoman said: "If I look for him, I'm just looking for trouble. I'm afraid that I won't be gnawed to the bone by him."

Dai Rou lit a cigarette, and Xiaoman sighed: "I'm serious, you should smoke less." He took Dai Rou's cigarette, smoked it himself, and said, "I just glanced at it for a while. News, so many cases suddenly broke out in a short period of time, it is quite a sensation."

Dai Rou rubbed her fingers and asked him, "You don't doubt your judgment back then, do you?"

Xiaoman raised his head and took a few sips of beer, wiped his mouth, and said: "How is it possible, I don't doubt my judgment, those cases were done by him, there is no mistake, the notebooks found from his home are clearly remembered , how much antiseptic solution was used in each case, the formula of the antiseptic solution..." At this point, his voice suddenly disappeared, and he had to stop for a while, swallowed hard, moistened his throat, and continued: " Now this is a copycat, can't be wrong, definitely can't be wrong..."

Dai Rou touched the table lightly: "You drink less, too."

Xiao Man smiled, Dai Rou took the lighter, and told her again and again: "Tomorrow at eight o'clock, don't be late, and also, bring your medical record card and ID, I have an appointment with Dr. Chen, and I will send you there after the statement is recorded tomorrow." .”

Xiaoman nodded.

Dai Rou walked to the door, turned around and looked at him: "By the way, that Zhao You... you should avoid contact."

Xiao Man said, "What happened to him?"

"You are afraid that Xing Tianxiang will gnaw you down to the bone. He is more troublesome than Xing Tianxiang." Dai Rou thought for a while, and made an analogy, "The hybrid of a hyena and a fox is probably that kind of person."

Xiaoman smoked with a smile and took a sip of wine: "Wow, that's a little troublesome." He glanced at Zhao You who was crouching under the table.He wanted to laugh again.

Dai Rou left immediately, and Zhao You was about to crawl out, but the door of the ballroom opened again, and he quickly hid back, shrinking his hands and feet again, looking a little cowardly at this time.Xiaoman couldn't stop laughing, and when he saw the people coming in from the door, he laughed even harder.This time it was Yin Miaozai who appeared, she only leaned halfway in, she said: "Why is Dai Rou looking for you?"

"Take the lighter." Xiaoman hiccupped, "Did you leave something behind too?"

"No, after Zhao You and I separated on the road, I went around and came back, just in time to see Dai Rou entering the building again, so I waited downstairs and waited until she left before I came up, you have no one else here Is Lu Yang asleep?" Yin Miaozai kept looking around the ballroom.

"There is no one else." Xiao Man tried his best to restrain his smile, swallowed another hiccup that reached his mouth, and looked at Zhao You under the table. He held his face in his hands and stared at the floor. Helpless.

"That's good," Yin Miaozai said, dragging a large suitcase in.Xiao Man was stunned: "What are you doing? You don't want to live here, do you? I don't have any vacancy here."

Yin Miaozai turned around in the middle of the dance floor a few times, opened the suitcase, took out a sleeping bag, spread it on the floor, and said, "I went home after you ran away from the hotel and took some things for camping. I'm camping here with you, I'm not leaving."

Xiaoman blinked his eyes: "Mr. Yin, no, didn't you say that you don't want to investigate? It won't hinder the police from handling the case. Just now."

"You don't want to do this with me." Yin Miaozai also took out a pack of tents and started to prop up the tents.

"The police are now categorizing imitators. They must follow the path of imitators to investigate. They can't slap themselves in the face ten years ago, but what if they are not imitators? What if they really made a mistake ten years ago? What about people?" Yin Miaozai went on and on, "We don't need to investigate these cases now, let's investigate those cases ten years ago, and start from the beginning..."

Xiao Man said: "Why are you so interested in this case and so persistent? You don't know how to make that kind of crime story explaining video as an amateur? Or are you some kind of big V, relying on this kind of case to attract attention?"

Zhao You tugged at his trouser leg.Xiao Man said, "You can do whatever you want, the toilet is upstairs, and I have to turn off the air conditioner at night."

"I brought an electric fan." Yin Miaozai took out a fanless electric fan from the suitcase, found a socket, and said, "Don't worry, I'll pay the part that exceeds your usual average monthly electricity bill."

She found a plug near a deck, connected it to the power strip, and said, "Tomorrow, I have an appointment with the former colleague of the Aegean murderer Lin Midong who was killed ten years ago. How dare you say that you are not interested?"

Xiaoman smiled: "You even know the real name of the Aegean killer? I remember that the police report at that time was not announced."

Yin Miaozai turned to look at Xiaoman, and warned him: "Don't run away through the window again, I still have a lot of new clues here." She said: "Do you dare to say that you are not interested in perverted serial murderers?"

Xiao Man asked her, "Would your boyfriend have any objections if you came to camp with me?"

Yin Miaozai sighed: "It's the fiancé..." He raised his left hand towards him, the ring on the middle finger was shining.

"Oh, won't your fiancé have any objections?"

Zhao You tugged Xiaoman's trouser leg again, and Xiaoman kicked him.

Yin Miaozai seemed to be lost in thought, approached slowly, and walked to the bar. It was quiet for a long time before she looked at Xiaoman and said hesitantly, "I'm asking you something, with your detective instinct..." In a flash , she bit her lip again, and said, "Forget it, I'm going to take a shower."

She was about to come over to the bar.Xiao Man quickly squatted down and asked Zhao You: "This time Dai Rou is handling the serial killer case, are you on her team?"

Zhao You pointed to a beer carton not far away: "Drag that carton in front of me."

Xiao Man asked him, "Are you here or not?"

"exist."

"I'll do you a favor now, and you can do me a favor later, okay or not?"

"Row."

Xiaoman dragged the cardboard box to Zhao You, Yin Miaozai entered the bar, looked at him, Xiaoman smiled: "The bottle opener fell on the floor."

Yin Miaozai went upstairs, and after a while, Xiaoman pushed away the cardboard box, but Zhao You didn't come out, Xiaoman also got under the bar counter, and said: "You said that when we met and talked, we either hid under the table or hid Under the bar?"

Zhao You sat on the ground, stretched out his feet, straightened his neck a little, and said nothing.Xiaoman asked him: "What do you think she wanted to ask me just now?"

"do not know."

"Then why do you think she is so obsessed with this perverted serial killer?"

Zhao You scratched his cheek: "What do you think?"

Xiaoman puffed on him: "I think you should spend more time with her. Criminal investigators are usually very busy, right?"

Zhao You cleared the smoke in front of him and asked, "What do you want me to do? Candidly film the progress of the case?"

Xiao Man said: "That's not necessary." He arched Zhao You with his elbow, "Why are you so afraid of being seen by her?"

Zhao You said: "Then she must be very embarrassed. When we parted just now, she promised me that she would never investigate this case again." The killer knows, if he was seen committing the crime, would he kill the man who saw him?"

Xiao Man looked at the floor in front of him and said, "Based on what I know about him, he will never be seen when he commits crimes, and he will not make such low-level mistakes."

Zhao You muttered: "He forgot to pull it before, and then pulled it when he was leaving, and there is no way to verify it. We must find him..."

"Who are you talking about? What are you mumbling about?"

"The person who killed 304 Lao Jiang and his wife, if he didn't draw the curtains when he killed or disposed of the corpse, why didn't he draw the curtains?"

"The curtains weren't drawn when you arrived at the scene? When was the time of death? If the time of death was in the daytime, or on the third floor, then the murderer was either too excited, or too nervous, and didn't think carefully."

"Like a novice?"

"picture."

"Copycat?"

"Imitation criminal." Xiaoman thought for a while and asked Zhao You, "Do you regard me as a crime consultant?"

Zhao You looked at the time: "Shall we go to 304?"

"Now?"

"That's right, it's almost time for Zhang Li to be killed."

"Who is Zhang Li? What does it mean that he might be murdered?"

"Let's talk to you on the way, shall we go?" Zhao You got out.

Xiao Man climbed out and said, "Wait a minute."

He ran up to the second floor and knocked on the door of the toilet. There was a sound of running water in the toilet. He said, "Mr. Yin, I'm going to sleep first. You can do what you want." He also said, "I really won't run away, Tomorrow, I will go with you to meet Lin Midong's colleague."

Yin Miaozai responded: "Understood, I will call you in the morning."

Xiaoman promised: "Okay, okay, see you tomorrow morning!"

He went downstairs and left with Zhao You.