The overwhelming malice turned into a man named Chu Jiajun, who mingled among the human world.
——What Chu Jiajun wanted him to do was to kidnap people.
One of his accomplices was arrested and would certainly be executed based on the charges. On the way to the execution ground, Chu Jiajun tried to kidnap him.
The job required two people, so he asked Fang Ping to join him and offered a price of 100,000 yuan. Fang Ping sat there for a long time, his face pale. Across from him, Chu Jiajun took out the restaurant's Western-style knives and polished them one by one until they were gleaming white.
He knew that if he refused, he would become this man's next meal.
Fang Ping: I'll do it with you.
Fang Ping: But we have to negotiate the price - I want two hundred thousand.
Chu Jiajun smiled and said: Chen Xiaohu is not worth 200,000.
Fang Ping: Your reputation is worth two hundred thousand.
Fang Ping: As long as the news of you robbing the death row van to save your accomplice gets out, if you want to do big things in the future, everyone will be willing to join you based on this fact.
-
The so-called next place was not a dance hall, a nightclub, or a big restaurant. Li Yu's father-in-law took him, Li Yu, and a few of his right-hand men to an open-air copper furnace hot pot stall under a bridge.
Li Yu: What are you going to do? Chen Xiaohu won't confess his accomplices, and there are no other clues on him.
Ji Yongtao: His refusal to confess is a clue.
Li Yu: He thought his accomplices would come to rescue him.
Ji Yongtao: He had a long criminal record, roaming around committing crimes and gaining a considerable reputation. Therefore, he had an assessment of whether his accomplices were capable of rescuing him. This allowed him to eliminate many petty thieves. Anyone collaborating with Chen Xiaohu was a big fish.
Ji Yongtao: He first went to the Qiaotou Savings Bank, only to find himself intercepted. Most people would have quit, but this guy immediately turned to a bigger target—the bank. It was so easy, like a ball-tosser in a circus who, after missing one ball, doesn't panic and keeps on throwing and catching the next one.
Ji Yongtao: He has a criminal record and the means, and he has only recently come here. He must be famous enough to make Chen Xiaohu bow down to him.
Ji Yongtao: I suspect this person is the same one who robbed the Qiaotou Savings Bank last time. He robbed the bank alone last time, essentially showing off his skills to people like Chen Xiaohu, proving he was omnipotent.
Li Yu's father-in-law had been silent until he heard this. He suddenly put down his chopsticks and asked Ji Yongtao: What can you infer about this person?
Ji Yongtao: He can't control his temper.
Ji Yongtao: Liu Weide of the second team chased the bank robbers into the department store, but before they caught up, one of them had his throat slashed. I went after the bank robbers, but only caught up with Chen Xiaohu. Who killed him? One possibility is... this person gave up both the money and his accomplice. In other words, he was so enraged by the robbery that he wanted them dead, even if he didn't get a penny.
Li Yu: This is not normal. His goal is money. This group of desperate criminals is all about money...
Ji Yongtao: Yes, there are not many desperate people who would rather not have a penny in order to vent their anger, but there is one person who is not one of them.
Ji Yongtao: Captain Li, do you remember "Face Mask"? Chu Jiajun, who killed three of his accomplices over a dispute over the division of the spoils?
Li Yu: Then he killed his accomplice for money.
Ji Yongtao: The last time Facebook committed a crime in coastal areas, they amassed over 5 million yuan. Nearly 3.7 million yuan was discovered at their base. Even if this person killed his accomplices, he wouldn't have been able to take such a large sum of money. If he was truly motivated by money, he should have first won over his accomplices, then eliminated those who opposed him—that's what it means to be "money-driven."
Instead of losing three people, he had no time to take anything with him and had to escape in a hurry.
Ji Yongtao: Unable to control emotions, crazy, strong, experienced... Could this person be the famous Chu Jiajun in the underworld?
Ji Yongtao: If I were Chen Xiaohu, Chu Jiajun would have promised me that as long as I kept my mouth shut and didn't mention him, he would be able to rescue me from outside. This statement definitely carries weight and would really make me grit my teeth for him.
According to Ji Yongtao's reasoning, this person will continue to commit crimes here.
Savings banks are the appetizer, followed by small banks, big banks... There is also an international jewelry exhibition in the summer that is attracting national attention. If there are security issues, the exhibition promotions that have already been released cannot be withdrawn for the sake of face, and security will have to be maximized.
Then this jewelry exhibition will become Chu Jiajun's main course.
-
On a weekend morning, Chu Jiajun sat on the back of the motorcycle while Ji Yongtao rode to buy groceries.
Chu Jiajun said that he could make candied sweet potato and boiled chicken, but the man didn't believe him. He took a big basket to the vegetable market and insisted that he try making them in the evening.
Ji Yongtao: If you do a good job, I'll buy you a Coke.
Chu Jiajun: I want to take you to the video hall to watch a horror movie!
Ji Yongtao: If you're not afraid of people, why would you be afraid of ghosts?
Chu Jiajun: A horror movie! A horror movie! A horror movie!
Ji Yongtao: Do you want to go to the execution ground?
Chu Jiajun was stunned.
Ji Yongtao: Take you to see it?
Chu Jiajun let go of his hand on the motorcycle in a daze.
Ji Yongtao: Are you scared? What are you afraid of? You haven't done anything wrong.
Chu Jiajun: Aren't people like that afraid of death?
Ji Yongtao: Bullshit.
Ji Yongtao: They were very ferocious when killing people. They said something like "riches and honors are to be found in danger". They really stood on a truck to be put on display for everyone. Many people were scared to the point of peeing and shitting.
Ji Yongtao: Those who cried and shouted that they wanted to see their mothers again, those who felt sorry for their families, those who regretted and wanted to buy their lives with money, those who knelt down and begged not to shoot... These people thought they could escape again and again, so they were more afraid of death than anyone else.
Chu Jiajun was still thinking about this while cooking, and in a daze, he cut his hand. Half of the plate of candied sweet potatoes was burnt, so the two of them ended up going to a barbecue stall for a late-night snack.
He fell asleep at night, but his sleep was restless. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the door. The knocks were very rapid. He sat up in surprise and stared at the door.
Ji Yongtao was also awakened and ran out to open the door. The person knocking on the door was a colleague on duty at the unit, who said there was an urgent matter - someone had provided a clue to the reward Ji Yongtao had issued.
Ji Yongtao put on his coat in the living room and hurried off to work. Chu Jiajun sat on the camp bed, his eyes wide open, staring at the closed door.
——
To be continued
Love River Mystery: Bound Ears 8
Chen Weimin: I'm a teacher in Li Village… I'm from Li Village, and I'm the village's ghostwriter…
The person taking the statement couldn't understand his dialect and looked around in confusion.
Chen Weimin: Aren't you looking for Chu Jiajun? The "jia" in this sentence is like the word for farm crops...
Chen Weimin: I saw the notice posted by the county, so I provided a clue. Then the county provided me with a train ticket and sent me to City A. I took the train for eight days and eight nights, comrade, eight days and eight nights...
After difficult communication, Ji Yongtao and his team finally figured out what this person meant - Chen Weimin, a native of Li Village, Pingyang County, Zzhou.
Li Village is a remote mountain village with no formal schools and a high illiteracy rate. More than a decade ago, the entire village could only communicate with the outside world by sending letters, and telegrams and phone calls required going to the county.
Writing letters requires a literate ghostwriter, and that's what Chen Weimin does.
Chen Weimin was deeply impressed by Chu Jiajun because of her large, beautiful eyes. From a young age, Chu Jiajun's family sent Chen Weimin out to write letters for her, often borrowing money from an uncle in another village. Because letters required a signature, Chen Weimin wrote Chu Jiajun's name several times.
But like many children in the mountain village, he never finished elementary school. In the second grade, this child disappeared - sold, accidentally fell to his death, or killed by a village vendetta... In fact, there are many missing children.
Chen Weimin: His family situation is quite complicated... From your perspective, it's definitely complicated. But it's very common in Li Village.
Chen Weimin: My father ran away from an underground gambling den in the county after owing a large sum of money. The debt collectors came and wanted to steal his chickens to pay off the debt, but the woman refused and was later beaten to death.
Chen Weimin: They beat her to death right in front of the child. Then Chu Jiajun was detained, taken away by those people. It was just…debt, child, debt repayment, understand?
The person taking the note barely understood.
Ji Yongtao: What about his father? Did he agree?
Chen Weimin: His father later returned and, after talking to the gambling gang members, agreed to sell the child to pay off his debts. He signed a pledge, and the child was sold to him, and then disappeared. Comrade, there are too many such cases in Li Village...
Ji Yongtao rubbed his temples. He had specifically sent someone to inquire about the information in remote areas. Facts had proven this decision correct. Previously, they had searched for the person in cities and towns but hadn't found him. This was because the person likely came from a remote area where transportation, communication, and education were all underdeveloped.
Chen Weimin's arrival is very precious, but it is hard to say whether these clues are of any use.
Chu Jiajun is probably around 20 years old this year, and many of the clues from more than ten years ago have become invalid.
Ji Yongtao: If you see him again now, would you have any feelings for this person?
Chen Weimin thought for a moment: His eyes are very special... Let me think about it, maybe...
Chen Weimin was thinking hard, and suddenly his eyes fell on something.
On the desk, there was a framed photo containing a group photo. Chen Weimin frowned and leaned in to examine it, then uncertainly reached out his fingertips and touched the face of one of the young men.
Chen Weimin: ...this...is a bit...
Ji Yongtao: That's my younger brother.
Chen Weimin: Oh, oh, oh! Sorry, I'm sorry for offending you, sir...
Ji Yongtao: Very similar?
Chen Weimin: Tsk, hard to say. Just the temperament of this young comrade's eyes...
Ji Yongtao had someone write this down and find a portrait artist. They had previously obtained a portrait of the lower half of Chu Jiajun's face, and now they had barely gotten the upper half. The portrait would take a week, and tomorrow they had to contact Pingyang County to communicate. They had to keep Chen Weimin, and they had to arrange a guesthouse and food...
Ji Yongtao looked at the lower half of the face portrait sent from another city. This face, if only half was seen, had a sense of immaturity, a young man who had not yet grown up. If Xu Fei's eyes were placed in the portrait...
He sighed. No one wanted their brother to look like a murderer.
-
Ji Yongtao sent Chen Weimin to the guesthouse and helped him get a residence certificate.
Ji Yongtao: Teacher Chen, I have something else I want to ask you. Is the gambling club you reported to the county still going on?
Chen Weimin: It was eradicated a few years ago, and the ringleaders were executed.
Ji Yongtao: Are the others still around? Can you find out? Tell me anything you can think of, including the current situation of the Chu family and any other relatives.
Chen Weimin thought about it and did talk about a few fragmentary things, but it happened so long ago that he couldn't remember them clearly.
Chu Jiajun was like a kite with a broken string, floating outside for so many years. There were many clues that she had to go back and find on her own.
At two o'clock in the morning, Ji Yongtao said goodbye to Chen Weimin and went directly back to the unit to write documents and apply for a business trip. When he walked out of the guesthouse, Chu Jiajun looked at the building expressionlessly in the shadow behind the street light.
The light in the north room on the second floor had just gone out. That was Chen Weimin's residence.
Chu Jiajun followed Ji Yongtao from his home to his workplace, and then from his workplace to the guesthouse. He didn't know who was coming, but his intuition told him that the informant who could make Ji Yongtao go to his workplace in the middle of the night must be a huge threat.
You need a letter of introduction to enter the guesthouse, but climbing up to the second floor is easy. After Ji Yongtao left, he climbed to the second-floor window and looked inside. Chen Weimin was sleeping facing the wall. Chu Jiajun looked at his profile and thought he looked familiar.
He looked at the man's face, and his mind slowly connected to the mountain village deep in his memory.
Chen Weimin woke up.
He first saw a pair of eyes, so close that they seemed like a nightmare lurking in a sweet dream. When a person is stared at by such eyes, the first thing he feels is not fear.
But feel quiet.
Like a frog being stared at by a snake. Death is already a boring and redundant ending. It is better to stare into the snake's obsidian eyes and sink into one last quiet night dream.
-
Chu Jiajun returned home, opened the door, and realized something was wrong the next second.
Ji Yongtao sat on the camp bed, a sofa cushion at his feet. Before Chu Jiajun left, she had put a cushion under the quilt to make it arch up, in case Ji Yongtao came back earlier and found the bed empty.
Ji Yongtao came back earlier than him and went to the bathroom to wipe his face and then went straight back to the bedroom to sleep. But when he walked through the living room, he suddenly wanted to take a look at Xu Fei's facial features.
If Chu Jiajun really looks like Xu Fei, that would be an important clue.
Ji Yongtao walked to the camp bed in the corner of the living room and felt something was wrong. Xu Fei was completely covered, hiding under the quilt.
He pulled back the covers, revealing only two sofa cushions underneath.
Ji Yongtao: Where have you been?
Chu Jiajun:...
Ji Yongtao: What can you do so late at night?
It's over.
Chu Jiajun racked his brains for an excuse. Ji Yongtao's eyes, filled with tired anger, pressed him for an answer.
Chu Jiajun: ...My female classmates and I went out to get a room.
Ji Yongtao:...What?
Chu Jiajun remained silent, countering Ji Yongtao's moves. He suddenly realized that he was a fool and wondered why he didn't just kill Ji Yongtao directly.
- Just tuck the gun behind your waist, pull it out, shoot it, and then run. Although the residents of the entire building will immediately be in an uproar, the chaos will actually help you leave.
Ji Yongtao rubbed his temples. This answer was obviously unexpected, and he didn't know whether he should continue asking, or how to ask.
Ji Yongtao: ...Is it...from university...? You...why...
It's four in the morning, and it'll be daylight in an hour. Even if you're going out, why are you back at this hour? Dating isn't something to be ashamed of, so why are you being so secretive...
Chu Jiajun: Her family is very strict...
Ji Yongtao: I'm asking you this!
He threw the mat over. The woman's family was very strict and he had to be back before dawn, so why would Xu Fei be so sneaky?!
Chu Jiajun: I'm afraid you're too strict.
Ji Yongtao: ...
Ji Yongtao lowered his head and continued rubbing his temples. He didn't have children, and he didn't know how to communicate with them about this sort of thing. After a long pause, he finally just waved his hand.
Ji Yongtao: I don't care about other things. I just need to do the necessary protection.
Chu Jiajun: What?
Ji Yongtao: Condom! Don't get this girl pregnant! Use a condom!
Chu Jiajun was stunned. This expression, in Ji Yongtao's opinion, was a very dangerous signal.
Ji Yongtao: ...didn't bring it?
Chu Jiajun:...
Ji Yongtao: ...
Chu Jiajun: Brother, if I have one, can you help me take care of it...
Ji Yongtao: What? Put the stroller in the back of the police car and take it with us to catch the robbers?
He stood up and wandered around the living room for a few steps. Chu Jiajun had been carefully avoiding him - although the gun on his waist was covered by his shirt, it would be troublesome if the marks under the clothes were seen.
Ji Yongtao: Stop right there! I won't hit you. You guys...are all young and ignorant. But there are some things we can't bring up right now, understand?
Chu Jiajun nodded.
Ji Yongtao: Do you know what to do next time?
Chu Jiajun nodded.
Ji Yongtao: Speak.
Chu Jiajun: The stroller is at home...
Ji Yongtao: —Why don't you keep your brain at home?!
The night was finally over. The next morning, while brushing his teeth, Ji Yongtao told him by the sink that he might have to go on a business trip soon.
The next steps were as follows: Next week, the portrait artist would be mobilized to quickly produce an eye portrait, using the childhood appearance as an adult deduction. He would lead his men to Li Village and Pingyang County to find the person who had bought Chu Jiajun.
Ji Yongtao: I'm not at home, so don't make trouble for me and keep the house clean.
Ji Yongtao: Don't skip classes. Be careful when you're with your girlfriend... Don't let anyone get killed...
Chu Jiajun clenched his teeth: Human, human life?
Ji Yongtao: In the stomach.
Chu Jiajun: ...Oh.
Ji Yongtao felt his pocket and gave him some pocket money, the amount was larger than before.
Ji Yongtao: Don't let the girl pay. This amount is enough to watch a movie, buy flowers and Coke.
Ji Yongtao's train is the day after tomorrow.
Chu Jiajun sent him to the train station, intending to return to watch Chen Xiaohu's execution. For such heinous criminals, there would be a parade before the execution. Sometimes there would be only one person on the train, but sometimes there would be several.
The man boarded the train, still feeling a bit worried. He turned around and said, "If anything happens, go to 702 and find someone... There's some change in the cookie jar... My workplace number is in the phone book. If you need to contact me, have someone there contact me..."
Chu Jiajun: I know, I know, I know...
Ji Yongtao: Are you impatient? You're just waiting for me to leave, and you can't wait to go out with your girlfriend?
Chu Jiajun: No.
Chu Jiajun smiled and said: I'm getting married and moving out with her. Brother Yong, are you going to be alone again?
Ji Yongtao was stunned for a moment and smiled bitterly: What else?
Chu Jiajun: Then I will split up with her.
Ji Yongtao was stunned and reached out to slash him: Bullshit. You are not going to marry me in the future.