Feeling a little confused, the blinking middle-aged woman quickly rubbed her eyes, then confirmed the police card in Lu Weiwei's hand, and quickly replied:
"Comrade police, are you making a mistake? As businessmen, we don't do things that violate laws and disciplines."
"No, no, you are mistaken." Seeing that the middle-aged woman was a little confused, Lu Weiwei quickly explained to her:
"Sister, it's like this. We are currently investigating a suspect, and this suspect once gave this brand of chocolate to a little girl near the crime scene."
"We also traced it all the way to your home through the little girl's chocolate wrapper."
"We just want to know, who are you selling this chocolate to?"
"Is that so?" Feeling that it was not her own problem, the middle-aged woman patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief:
"I'm scared to death. I feel like I'm in trouble. So this is what happened?"
"Then what do you think?" Yuan Shasha said.
The middle-aged woman waved her hand: "We who do business are most afraid of getting into trouble."
"Listening to what you said, it feels like it's not my problem."
"Yes, but only your family has this kind of chocolate, right?" Officer Wang also echoed.
The middle-aged woman grinned and quickly admitted: "That's true, because we are the only one selling this brand of chocolate in Jiangnan City."
"Then you should be selling a lot of chocolates like yours, right? We need all sales channels so that we can trace the source." Gu Chen also explained the powerful relationship to the middle-aged woman.
But the middle-aged woman breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's not that troublesome. This kind of chocolate doesn't sell well."
"The sales are not good?" Upon hearing what the middle-aged woman said, Lu Weiwei also looked confused:
"But you just said that this chocolate sells well."
"Oh, business people, how can you say that your products are not selling well? Didn't I think you were here to buy things? And I also took a fancy to this chocolate, so I promoted it and said it would sell.
It’s pretty good.”
"What about actually?" Gu Chen asked.
"Actually?" Shaking her head, the middle-aged woman said helplessly: "Actually, the sales are not very good. The packaging is very beautiful, but it is expensive."
"Everyone who comes to us for wholesale of non-staple food depends on the price. At the beginning, my family also had the attitude of giving it a try and brought a few boxes of these exquisitely packaged chocolates to see if they could be sold, but..."
Halfway through, the middle-aged woman led Gu Chen to the chocolate section, pointed to the other boxes of chocolates and said:
"But if you want to talk about sales, this kind of chocolate is more popular and sells better because the price is lower and customers buy it, so there is room for profit."
After a pause, the middle-aged woman pointed to the chocolate and said:
"The chocolate you are talking about is particularly beautifully packaged, but the problem lies in the exquisite packaging. The price is much higher than other styles of chocolate."
"This customer is not stupid. When it comes to giving gifts, everyone gives them liquor, but very few give chocolates."
"But if you want to talk about Valentine's Day, it's very rare for young people to give such expensive chocolates as gifts. They all pay attention to cost-effectiveness. After all, people nowadays pay attention to downgrading consumption."
"I understand." After listening to the middle-aged woman's narration, Gu Chen nodded silently and then said:
"That is to say, in Jiangnan City, you are the only one that sells this chocolate. However, because this chocolate is expensive, it doesn't sell well, right?"
"Yes." Faced with Gu Chen's doubts, the middle-aged woman also said slowly:
"I brought a total of 10 boxes here. After such a long time, I have only sold 3 boxes, and there are still 7 boxes left. I guess I will lose them."
"Next time we go to get goods, we will definitely not buy this kind of chocolate. The profit margin is huge, but the cost is too high and we can't keep up with the volume."
Listening to the middle-aged woman's explanation, Officer Wang also took this chocolate in his hand, looked around, and laughed out loud:
"No wonder, your chocolate doesn't have much chocolate in itself, it's basically just packaging."
"Isn't that right? I was just fooled by the packaging. You said this chocolate tastes good. Why do you have such high-end packaging?"
"When people give gifts, they usually give liquor and chocolate, which are very rare."
"Not necessarily, we have eaten more than a thousand pieces of chocolate each." After hearing what the middle-aged woman said, Lu Weiwei also retorted.
You know, when Yuan Shasha first joined the company, she gave everyone the so-called Rolls-Royce of chocolates, a chocolate from France.
At that time, everyone vaguely remembered that the packaging was so exquisite that it was many times more advanced than the current one.
It was also the first time that everyone tasted such expensive and exquisite chocolate.
If Yuan Shasha hadn't explained that it was a gift from a relative, everyone would have thought that Yuan Shasha's family was so rich.
Hearing what Lu Weiwei said, Yuan Shasha also reacted instantly.
In order to prevent everyone from bringing the topic to her, Yuan Shasha quickly echoed:
"Yes, my relatives sent a few boxes of French chocolates from the foreign trade company. They were very expensive and packed in very exquisite gift boxes. Each box only contained a few chocolates."
"Then you have to see where it is." After hearing what Yuan Shasha said, the middle-aged woman felt that these police officers had seen the world, so she quickly found a step for herself and said:
"Old trade cities like ours are wholesalers for retailers. The non-staple foods are too expensive and cannot be sold in quantity. And we make money by relying on small profits but quick turnover, focusing on quantity."
"Yes, so it is understandable that this chocolate cannot be sold." Gu Chen stepped forward, took the chocolate gift box in his hand, and then asked again:
"By the way, you said you sold three boxes of this chocolate, who did you sell them to?"
"Uh, let me think about it." Gu Chen asked suddenly, which made her a little confused. The middle-aged woman was also a little confused.
So, he quickly lowered his head and thought for a few seconds, then raised his head and said:
"I remember that there was a box of chocolates that a dealer came to purchase. He said the packaging looked good and asked me for a box. This meant that he was purchasing the chocolates and asked me to give him a box of these chocolates."
"Anyway, I can't sell it after thinking about it, so I'll just do him a favor and give him a box. It's better than paying me less when he purchases the goods, right?"
"Do you have the name and contact information of this dealer?" Yuan Shasha heard this and quickly asked.
"Yes, I'll look for it for you." After her voice fell, the middle-aged woman quickly returned to her position at the counter.
Then, he opened the drawer and looked through the notepad inside.
Middle-aged women don't seem to like using computers very much, and many bills are recorded in paper notebooks.
After a while, she found the stub and quickly reminded Gu Chen: "Look, it's this dealer."
Gu Chen glanced at it and saw that the time was four days ago. He couldn't help but shake his head: "Don't tell me, this dealer took it away four days ago?"
"It was taken away four days ago," the middle-aged landlady said.
"Okay." Although it didn't feel like this person because the time didn't match up, Gu Chen still took out his mobile phone and followed the program to take a photo of this person's contact information and address.
So Gu Chen asked again: "What about the other two?"
"There are two more...wait."
After the words fell, the middle-aged woman continued to search. After a while, the middle-aged woman found another contact list:
"Oh, there is another one. A month ago, a customer came here and said that he wanted to buy a gift for his child's classmate for his birthday. He asked me if I had any gifts suitable for children."
"Then what?" Officer Wang asked.
"Then I recommended this chocolate to him. I said it was a classy gift. It just so happened that the customer didn't look like he was short of money. After looking at it for a few times, he decided to buy a box and asked me to get one.
Better packaging.”
"Do you have any contact information?" Gu Chen asked.
"No." The middle-aged woman shook her head and said, "That's just a retail investor. I have a record of the time. It was a month ago."
"Do you still remember this person's appearance?" Yuan Shasha asked quickly.
"Ouch." The middle-aged woman frowned and smiled bitterly: "Comrade police, it's been a month."
"Besides, there is an endless stream of people coming to my place to buy things every day. I also meet all kinds of people every day. You asked me to remember that a month ago, I bought a box of chocolates to give away."
"To be honest, I really don't remember much, but if you think of people who come to me to buy goods, they are customers. I will leave a contact information here for customers."
"Then do you remember?" Seeing that the middle-aged woman was unclear, Gu Chen could only place his hope in the young female clerk beside him.
The young female clerk shook her head: "I can't remember clearly, it's been too long."
"Do you still remember the basic characteristics? What do you basically look like?" Lu Weiwei asked.
"This..." The young female clerk hesitated for a moment, and happened to see a customer opposite choosing products in another store, so her eyes lit up and she quickly pointed in the opposite direction and said:
"Specifically, he seems to be a bald man. He's chubby. He's similar to the guy over there, but one size larger than him."
"Because I remember that customer that day stopped in our aisle and I didn't even have room to walk. He must have been quite fat."
"How much does a fat guy with a bald head and a fat body weigh? Is there anyone who weighs 200 pounds?" Lu Weiwei asked.
"Absolutely." The young female clerk nodded silently.
"What about the height?" Lu Weiwei asked again.
"Height...probably...around 175." The female clerk said uncertainly.
Yuan Shasha recorded all this and said slowly: "Then think carefully about this person's facial features. For example, try to think about what features are on his face."
It felt like as everyone asked the questions bit by bit, the young female clerk's memory began to gradually recover.
The female clerk scratched her head and thought, and said slowly: "It seems that she is wearing black-rimmed glasses, yes, it is black-rimmed glasses."
"Although he is fat, he speaks politely. Anyway, I didn't mind the price, so I bought it directly."
"Okay." After recording these, Yuan Shasha continued to ask:
"In addition to these characteristics, is there another customer? Does that customer have any characteristics?"
"Oh, that customer is quite verbose." Hearing Yuan Shasha's words, the young female clerk also looked helpless.
Gu Chen nodded silently and asked with interest: "Why are you so long-winded? Please tell us carefully."
"I just care about it." The young female clerk sighed and said helplessly:
"I remember, it seemed to be early in the morning that day, and she was a woman. She came to our place for a stroll and bought some ordinary chocolates. Then she saw our beautifully packaged chocolates and asked about the price."
"After I told her the price, she suddenly thought it was too expensive, but she was very curious about the chocolate because the packaging was so beautiful."
"And I could tell that she seemed to like eating chocolate very much, so I told her that this is a fine chocolate and it is definitely different from ordinary chocolate."
"Also, the prices are quite different. She said she had never tasted this chocolate before, so I said you can buy it back and try it."
"Then what did she say?" Lu Weiwei asked.
"What else can I say?" The young female clerk laughed and said helplessly:
"Anyway, I am a very verbose person, and I have been bargaining with me here. Just because I said the price is a bit high, there are many people looking at it, but few people are willing to buy it."
"Originally, I just wanted to use the provoking method to motivate her, because if there is a vain person, if I use the provoking method to motivate her, she will definitely buy it. It would be a bit embarrassing not to buy it."
"I said, boss lady, I see you are in business. Others are reluctant to buy this kind of chocolate. Are you still reluctant to buy it? You probably eat this kind of chocolate as a snack every day."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Haha, you are quite good at doing business?" Lu Weiwei also smiled after hearing what the young female clerk said.
The young female clerk glanced at the middle-aged woman behind her and said, "It's all taught by the boss's wife. The boss's wife taught me to look at the temperament and dress of customers."
"Although this is a bit snobbish, it can help me accurately identify customers, who to look at, and what products to recommend."
"And that female customer is indeed like a business lady. I praised her so much just to make her pay for the sake of face."
"Then she actually fell into your trap?" Officer Wang said.
The middle-aged woman frowned and took a step forward to explain: "Hey, comrade police, what do you mean by falling into my trap of words?"
"I'm just doing business promotion? I feel like she must be able to afford it, so why don't I say a few nice words and do business, and be friendly and make money."
"Yes, peace brings wealth." The young female clerk also quickly agreed.
Officer Wang nodded silently, pressed his hands and said, "Okay, I don't really want to hear what you are talking about. I just want to know, did that person take away the goods in the end?"
"I took it away, but it was so long-winded and kept haggling with me over and over again, which made me tired. So in the end, I had no choice but to look at our landlady and let our landlady handle it."
"Then how did the boss lady handle it?" Yuan Shasha asked quickly.
The middle-aged woman grinned and said helplessly: "It's nothing? Because this chocolate cannot be sold, so there is nothing I can do. I have to get rid of it quickly."
"You know, when we do business, the most important thing is cash flow. We can't hold back the goods. I made a mistake with this chocolate, so I have to get rid of it quickly."
"The longer it is left, the less it can be sold and the more space it takes up. Just deal with it if you can, as long as you don't lose money."
"So, I also remember that that day we were talking about things in the store and haggling over the price for a long time. In the end, I pretended to suffer a big loss, made a friend, made her a little profit, and sold it to her."
"Where did that woman come from?" After hearing the middle-aged woman's words, Gu Chen quickly asked.
The middle-aged woman scratched her chin and thought hard before saying, "That woman seems to be a noodle shop owner. Yes, she seems to be a noodle shop owner next to a primary school."
"Noodle shop?" Everyone was shocked when they heard the middle-aged woman say this.
Seeing the reaction of Gu Chen's team, the middle-aged woman also said inexplicably: "What...what's wrong? Is there a problem with opening a noodle shop?"
"Oh, no problem, keep talking." Gu Chen said.
"Yeah." The middle-aged woman nodded silently and continued to think about it: "I remember that woman was very articulate and could talk a lot."
"Besides, it sounds like he speaks with a foreign accent."
"Is it her?" Seeing that the middle-aged woman said it so clearly, Gu Chen directly opened the photo album on his phone.
Then, he showed the photo of the noodle shop proprietress and put it in front of the middle-aged woman for review.
The middle-aged woman squinted her eyes and quickly nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, that's right, it's her. It's her."
"It's really her?" Lu Weiwei frowned slightly, also in disbelief.
So Gu Chen quickly asked: "Then when did she buy this chocolate?"
"It seems...it was 10 days ago, right? Yes, it was 10 days ago. We just had a big shipment that day."
"I was very busy in the store and kept recording the list of goods put into storage, so on that day, I didn't want to talk to her for too long, so I sold it to her at a cheaper price, that's it."
Listening to the middle-aged woman's story, Gu Chen looked back at everyone, and everyone seemed to have the answer in their minds.
Gu Chen looked at the middle-aged woman again and said slowly: "So, can you be sure that the woman who came to your store to buy chocolate that morning is this person, right?"
With the blessing of a law enforcement recorder, Gu Chen once again brought the photo of the noodle shop proprietress to the middle-aged woman for confirmation.
The middle-aged woman glanced at her again and nodded silently: "Yes, she is right. I remember when I was collecting money, I found that her payment mobile phone profile picture was that of a noodle shop."
"So I asked her if she was in the noodle shop business? She said yes, it was diagonally opposite a primary school."
"Is the payment record still there?" Officer Wang stepped forward and asked quickly.
"Yes." As she spoke, the middle-aged woman quickly took out her mobile phone.
Then, with the attention of Gu Chen and others, they opened the bill.
Since the middle-aged woman is a businessman, the bills are very long, so it takes a lot of time to search for them.
While scrolling down the bill record, the middle-aged woman explained to Gu Chen and others: "I'm sorry, I have to collect payments too many times and it's quite time-consuming."
"It's okay, we'll wait, you can look for it slowly, don't be in a hurry." Gu Chen didn't want to embarrass her.
The middle-aged woman nodded silently, then sat on her seat and began to rummage continuously.
Since the time can be determined, it was about 10 days ago, so when searching, you can basically turn to this time period.
But even so, the large number of daily transaction records makes it cumbersome to find.
After a long time, the middle-aged woman stopped searching and quickly looked up at Gu Chen: "I found it, it's this avatar."
Gu Chen took a step forward, squinted his eyes, then took out his mobile phone and took a picture of the transfer profile.
Officer Wang quickly walked over to Gu Chen and asked, "Is this the noodle shop?"
"That's right, it's the one we went to." Gu Chen confirmed that the mobile phone avatar was the signature photo of the noodle shop owner's mother's shop.
Officer Wang nodded silently, then took a deep breath and said politely to the middle-aged woman:
"Thank you so much. Without your help, we would have been searching for a long time. Thank you."
"No...you're welcome. I'll be happy if I can help you." It felt like she had helped the police, and the middle-aged woman also smiled politely.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Afterwards, Gu Chen and others briefly communicated with the middle-aged woman before returning to the parking lot.
The four of them got into the car. Gu Chen took a deep breath and began to review the situation and said, "It is obvious now that the person who came to buy this chocolate is the noodle shop owner."
"But the person who gave the chocolate to that little girl was not her, maybe it was her husband."
"Yes." After hearing what Gu Chen said, Lu Weiwei also nodded silently:
"I thought this noodle shop proprietress was weird before, but now it seems that she and her husband are the ones who have serious suspicions."
Taking a deep breath, Lu Weiwei also said in disbelief: "It seems that everyone was deceived by the illusion of the couple before."
"That little girl can't tell what the other person looks like." Yuan Shasha, who was sitting in the back row, reminded me.
But Gu Chen explained: "Although that little girl couldn't tell what the man looked like, she could tell him his specific appearance."
"The main reason is that the man wrapped himself very tightly, wore a mask and a baseball cap, and lowered the brim of the hat."
"It can be said that that man doesn't want others to know his identity, but judging from his appearance, he is somewhat similar to the noodle shop owner."
"It seems that this group of people may have committed the crime in groups." Listening to Gu Chen's analysis, Officer Wang also had this feeling.
Gu Chen sighed lightly and continued: "Now, we need to ask Senior Brother He to help us investigate the specific movements of the noodle shop proprietress 10 days ago."
"There is also the whereabouts of the noodle shop proprietress a week ago."
"If we say that 10 days ago, the noodle shop owner did come here to buy this chocolate, and a week ago, the noodle shop owner appeared near the family area of the mining area."
"Then we can basically lock in the fact that the couple in this noodle shop must have serious suspicions."
"And the person who placed those bloody items in Zhao Deming's home may be the noodle shop owner."
"Then what are you waiting for? I'll call and communicate with He Junchao right now." Lu Weiwei couldn't wait any longer, so she immediately took out her mobile phone and dialed He Junchao's phone number.
Later, Lu Weiwei communicated with He Junchao in detail about the results of everyone's investigation and the direction of the next investigation in the car.
Let He Junchao help everyone find these two key pieces of evidence.
Afterwards, Lu Weiwei hung up the phone and sat quietly in the car with everyone, waiting for He Junchao's investigation results.
Since He Junchao can accurately determine the time, he will not appear to be sloppy in his investigation.
Not long after, He Junchao's call came to Lu Weiwei's mobile phone.
Lu Weiwei immediately took out her mobile phone, opened the answer button, and then entered the hands-free mode: "He Junchao, how about it?"
"It has been found." He Junchao on the other end of the phone also took a deep breath and said:
"As you expected, the noodle shop proprietress did come to the non-staple food wholesale trading city on the road in front of the old train station 10 days ago and purchased a batch of non-staple food."
"Among them is the chocolate you mentioned, and the surveillance screenshots, which I have sent to our temporary work group."
"I've seen it, yes, it's her." At the same time that He Junchao was reporting his work to everyone, Gu Chen had already seen the surveillance screenshot sent by He Junchao in the temporary work group.
So He Junchao added: "Also, a week ago, this noodle shop owner did go out for a long time on the day the pancake proprietress ran away from home."
"Can the surveillance capture it? Why didn't I see it in the group?" Gu Chen also looked confused.
He Junchao heard this and quickly explained: "The main reason is that the whereabouts of this noodle shop owner are unknown, and many surveillance cameras cannot catch him."
"I estimate that the noodle shop owner avoided the surveillance camera and left by other means of transportation."
"Anyway, I have monitored and tracked many areas, but I can't determine the specific location."
"But this noodle shop owner came home very late and didn't return to the shop until almost late at night."
"But he came out of the old residential area behind the store. I don't know what he was doing there."
"The time is right." After hearing He Junchao's report, Gu Chen also said slowly: "The time is right, it was the day the pancake proprietress ran away from home."
"Logically speaking, the pancake owner leaves first, and the noodle shop owner leaves last."
"Moreover, he returned to the store late at night, which means that the noodle shop owner has been outside during this period, which is completely consistent with all the times of the crime."
"Is it really him?" Officer Wang frowned, also a little in disbelief.
Lu Weiwei also sighed and continued: "It's hard to say it's not him? The time is right, and the noodle shop owner went to the market to buy this chocolate just a few days ago."
"But a few days later, the wrapping paper of this chocolate appeared in the family area of the mining area."
"Moreover, the period of time when the noodle shop owner disappeared happened to cover the whole process of the pancake proprietress from running away from home to disappearing."
After a pause, Lu Weiwei frowned and said, "So, you say this is a coincidence? That would be too much of a coincidence."
"Yes." As soon as Lu Weiwei finished speaking, Yuan Shasha quickly agreed:
"And have you noticed that the restaurant is the busiest during the night?"
"Moreover, the noodle shop owner left exactly during this busiest time and did not return to the shop until very late."
"And when he returned to the store, it was already late at night, and we couldn't even capture his whereabouts with surveillance. It can be seen that he deliberately avoided being tracked by surveillance cameras."
"Is there any need to say it?" As soon as Yuan Shasha finished speaking, Officer Wang said angrily:
"Everything seems to be caused by these two couples."
"Besides, didn't you hear what the noodle shop proprietress said herself? In fact, the relationship between her and her best friend is not as good as imagined, and there are even some conflicts between the two."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "That was what she said to her husband. It can be seen that there seems to be a gap between the couple in this noodle shop and the lady who owns the pancakes."
"But I just don't know why the couple in the noodle shop are at odds with the pancake proprietress. The noodle shop proprietress and the missing pancake proprietress are from the same village and grew up together."
"What deep grudges are there that cannot be made clear in person? Do we need to use illegal means behind the scenes?"
As soon as the words fell, the entire carriage suddenly fell into a dead silence.
After a long time, Lu Weiwei sighed and said helplessly: "Perhaps, these people all have their own secrets in their hearts."
"But at this stage, at least we have a lot of evidence, and there is no problem in confronting the couple in this noodle shop."
"Shall we leave now?" Officer Wang said.
Gu Chen started the car and said slowly: "Go to the noodle shop now and ask these two couples for details."
…
…
When Gu Chen drove to the door of the noodle shop, it was already late at night.
Gu Chen lowered his head and looked at his watch. The hand was at 9:40 pm.
At this moment, many shops outside the door have been closed, and this noodle shop seems to have been cleaned and is ready to close at any time.
Just when the noodle shop owner turned off all the lights inside the noodle shop and was about to pull down the rolling shutter door, he suddenly felt that the rolling shutter door seemed to be held by something for an instant.
The noodle shop owner looked up and saw that Gu Chen, Lu Weiwei, Officer Wang and Yuan Shasha had already arrived, and everyone used their hands to stop the rolling shutter from falling.
"So it's you? My place is closing." Seeing Gu Chen and others, the noodle shop owner looked a little embarrassed.
But Gu Chen smiled slightly and explained: "We have something to discuss with you."
"Is that okay tomorrow?" the noodle shop owner also asked.
Gu Chen shook his head: "For today, please open the rolling shutter and let's go in and talk."
"Uh..." After a brief hesitation, the noodle shop owner finally compromised and said helplessly:
"Oh well."
While talking, the noodle shop owner opened the rolling shutter again, then turned on the lights in the shop and muttered:
"You came here last night and stayed for a long time. Today you come again. It seems that my noodle shop is destined to you."
"We are destined, and we are destined to be with you." The owner of the meeting place said this, and Lu Weiwei also joked and agreed.
