Chapter 535: Chapter 505: Related Parties_1
Li Mubai was indeed obedient, he just took a deep breath and then continued saying:
"However, she didn’t go on. She said that she needed to muster the courage to be honest, and asked me to take her for a walk by the seaside. I asked if she shouldn’t put down her luggage first. She said, ’Let’s talk about it later,’ and then we went to Shi Laoren and drove to Yangkou, walking around Cha Mount.
I took her to villa No. 24, oh, that’s Pingdu Road No. 24. It’s not open to the public; it’s for internal hosting. The private dining there is excellent, the accommodations are of a high standard, very private, and more upscale. I escorted her to her room, which was No. 288 in Stone Building.
I had just entered the room when I got a phone call. I hurried to answer it, and the call was a bit long, took about twenty minutes or so. When I got back to the room, I found it empty, so I went straight to look around the courtyard and the entrance, but there was no sign of anyone, and the gatekeeper was gone too.
I panicked at that time and was very confused. We had agreed to hang out; she wouldn’t just leave without saying goodbye, right? Moreover, she came here with me; she knew what it meant. I dialed her cell phone, and the call was hung up.
I rushed to the front desk; there was no one there, but there was a girl who was on one side when I brought Shen Caijun in. I asked her where Miss Shen, who came with me, had gone. The door to her room was open--how could she have left?
She glanced at the photo on my phone and seemed to recall something. She said, ’Miss Shen came downstairs about fifteen minutes ago, standing behind me. It seemed that she heard the content of my conversation, and she appeared very unhappy. She went upstairs with her luggage and left.’ She asked if it was a black trolley case."
At that moment, I was dumbstruck. She walked out after hearing my phone call? Then I thought carefully; the call was with Mr. Liu’s assistant, and in the end, I spoke a few words with Mr. Liu himself. Their film company needed to arrange for three young stars to meet with a big shot, and the meeting was supposed to take place at a villa in the Mashan Scenic Area.
Thinking about it, the conversation I had just had with Mr. Liu’s assistant could be easily misunderstood. During the selection of personnel, I had boasted about who had larger breasts, who had a rounder butt, and was even ready with makeup, knowing full well how rotten that circle is.
But I didn’t know she would misunderstand me. After all, this is what I do for work, and I had been honest with her about it. Why would she just walk away? Shouldn’t she have asked me face to face? At the very least, I deserved a chance to explain, especially since we had a nice chat all afternoon!
I was not willing to give up, so I sent her a lot of WeChat messages to explain, but got no response. I don’t know how much later, Shen Caijun finally replied with a WeChat message. She said to stop contacting her, that she had already boarded the plane, we were not compatible, and she did not want to be with someone so full of vices. She might have had hope for me before, but this time she was thoroughly disillusioned.
I immediately dialed her number. The prompt tone indicated that it was out of service. I thought that meant she had blacklisted me. I quickly replied on WeChat, telling her not to rush boarding the plane, and that everything just now was a misunderstanding and was merely about arranging some affairs for the group’s leadership.
But as the message was sent, I discovered that WeChat had blacklisted me too, leaving only a red exclamation mark. At that point, I was really angry. Everything had been fine, and then this phone call had to come at this time, making such suggestive remarks. But what else could I do? I could only drive home."
Xu Dayuan was looking through Li Mubai’s WeChat history with Shen Caijun and all the timestamps. Indeed, just as Li Mubai had said, there was no lying. Looking at the timing of the phone calls, he noted that the most concentrated period of outgoing calls started after 19:33, while the exclamation mark in the WeChat message appeared at 23:17.
Xu Dayuan raised his eyes, staring at Li Mubai.
"The villa No. 24 you mentioned, does it have surveillance? Didn’t you think of checking the surveillance footage at that time?"
Li Mubai was taken aback, raised his hand as if to gesticulate something, but eventually slapped his thigh.
"I was so flustered at the time; I didn’t think of that. I’ve told you everything truthfully, just tell me what you are investigating. Can you tell me now? Has... has Shen Caijun had an accident?"
Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning who remained silent. From the entire questioning process, it was evident that Li Mubai had not lied. However, perhaps Li Mubai did not know that the person he had been meeting and contacting all this time was not called Shen Caijun, but Shen Shuyi.
However, Zhou Ning was puzzled. According to what Shen Caijun had said before, she had been in contact with Li Mubai, and Li Mubai hadn’t even paid much attention to her, not responding to a New Year greeting, leaving it unanswered like a stone sinking into the sea. So when had they made contact? It was almost impossible for them to be separated while being in the same cabin crew.
Zhou Ning edited his thoughts into a text message and sent it to Xu Dayuan.
Xu Dayuan glanced at his phone, walked over to Liu Yufei, and found two photos in the notebook. He turned the laptop screen to show Li Mubai.
"Just now you said you preferred the younger of the two sisters. Looking at these two people together, can you tell who is who?"
Li Mubai glanced at the screen, didn’t distinguish for long, and pointed at one of them, saying:
"This one is Shen Caijun. She looks gentler, and there’s a cowlick right here at the widow’s peak."
Xu Dayuan looked towards Liu Yufei, who nodded.
"This is Shen Shuyi."
Li Mubai was startled, his face a picture of disbelief.
"What are you talking about? This is Shen Caijun."
Xu Dayuan wasn’t swayed by Li Mubai’s emotions, and asked again:
"Do you know of any other distinguishing features on Shen Caijun’s body? Like birthmarks, moles, or scars?"
Li Mubai thought for a moment, then pointed to his own phone and said:
"We’ve talked a lot. She sent me a photo of a birthmark on her wrist. It’s brown and shaped like a flower petal, very pretty and easy to recognize. As for moles, she said she had them removed from her face, but there’s one behind her left ear. She sent me a photo of that too."
Liu Yufei picked up Li Mubai’s phone, found the photo, and then sent it to Ma Liang. Soon, Ma Liang replied that the real Shen Caijun did not have that mole behind her left ear. She also said that Shen Shuyi had a mole behind her ear.
Following Liu Yufei’s instruction, Ma Liang soon brought Shen Caijun upstairs. As soon as she entered the conference room, Li Mubai stood up, took a couple of glances, and then sat down again.
"This isn’t Shen Caijun."
Shen Caijun snorted, visibly very antagonistic toward Li Mubai’s attitude.
"I’m saying, how do you know I’m not Shen Caijun? Also, I sent you a WeChat message, why didn’t you respond?"
Liu Yufei glanced at Shen Caijun, finding her initially full of elegance, but now realizing she actually lacked capacity in her brain, preoccupied with how to charm men. Knowing that the police were investigating Shen Shuyi’s murder case, she still had the leisure to talk about such things, which left Liu Yufei speechless.
Turning to Li Mubai, she quickly confirmed:
"You’re sure she’s not the Shen Caijun you know, right?"
Li Mubai nodded and, before Shen Caijun could speak, Liu Yufei had already waved her hand to signal Ma Liang to take people out. Only then did Xu Dayuan approach Li Mubai.
"The person you just saw is the real Shen Caijun; the one you knew is actually called Shen Shuyi. The two aren’t sisters, but because of plastic surgery, they look very alike. They were closely acquainted, so they deliberately imitated each other, which is why many people thought they were twins.
The Shen Shuyi you knew disappeared on April 27th. If you’re not lying, that means she vanished after she left the villa at No. 24. According to the video footage we have, we can confirm she is dead; it’s just that the body hasn’t been found."
Li Mubai’s eyes widened, his eye sockets already reddening, his chest heaving visibly.
"Then what are you standing there for? I’ll take you to the villa at No. 24. If I had persisted that night, or called the police directly, perhaps she wouldn’t have met with trouble. It’s all my fault!"
With that, Li Mubai grabbed his own hair and slapped himself twice on the face, very hard, his cheeks flushing red.
Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning, who quickly made a call to Mr. Zhao. That guy went to inspect the vehicle, but why was it taking so long with no news? Zhou Ning seriously suspected Mr. Zhao was using the inspection as an excuse to thoroughly examine the car.
After a few rings, Mr. Zhao finally answered.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, have you finished the interrogation? I’ve just finished with the investigation myself. We found several long hairs on the car, a chestnut-brown color, with intact follicles, suitable for DNA extraction. As for fingerprints, we found many, and we’ve also made matches; there are indeed remnants of Shen Shuyi’s fingerprints on the passenger side.
As for the trunk and the back seat, there are no particular findings for now. We’ve also collected soil samples from the tire treads. Shen Caijun’s fingerprints were not found, but there are quite a few other samples collected, which have already been sent for examination. Are we heading up?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Xu Dayuan and, seeing him shake his head, he quickly said:
"No need, wait for us downstairs, we’ll be right down."
With a wave from Xu Dayuan, Li Mubai stood up and offered:
"Take me with you; I’ll go with you. I remember the waitress I saw that night; she was unfamiliar, but I remember her."
Xu Dayuan didn’t refuse. Zhou Ning, exceptionally, got up and stood in front of Li Mubai to stop him.
"Hold on, I have a question for you. The villa at No. 24 serves as a private restaurant for entertaining guests and as a special residence for your group, right?"
Li Mubai nodded, looking at Zhou Ning.
"That’s right."
"So, who has the authority to take guests there to stay, is it necessary to sign for it? Moreover, when you took Shen Shuyi there on the evening of the 27th, did you encounter any acquaintances besides the waitstaff?"
Li Mubai thought for a moment and then shook his head slightly.
"No, the lights were on in the small Huang building ahead, but I didn’t see any familiar cars in front or in the backyard. I have memorized all the car numbers that can be called upon both inside and outside the group. I wouldn’t miss it."
Zhou Ning nodded, withdrawing his hand that had been blocking, and everyone took the elevator downstairs. While waiting for the elevator, someone peeked from the corridor, and Zhou Ning took a glance; it was one of the girl assistants who had gone to pour water.
However, recalling Mr. Liu’s introduction to Li Mubai earlier, Zhou Ning’s brow furrowed.
Though it was only a simple inquiry, Li Mubai didn’t seem like someone who could hide his emotions. The disdain and indifference from when he first entered, the sweetness of the online romance, and the confusion and anger after suddenly leaving upon meeting—all were evident on his face.
Maybe he used to play around and liked to flirt with pretty girls, but it was obvious that his fondness for Shen Shuyi was sincere, and he had become more reserved. He even started learning investment tactics, which was quite different from what Mr. Liu had described.
Took the elevator downstairs, Li Mubai was escorted into a car by Liu Yufei and Zhang Ping. Although he was not handcuffed, it attracted a lot of attention.
Zhou Ning pulled Xu Dayuan aside, passing him his phone with his own suspicions written on it.
Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning with a smile, leaned in, and whispered:
"Same as what I was thinking, don’t worry, Mr. Qu had just checked the company records. This Mr. Liu is also a related party, but apparently has some capability, having been by Mr. Fang’s side for three years now. She solves some personal matters for Mr. Fang’s son and family."
Zhou Ning paused slightly, grasping the key point of the statement.
"Related party?"
