Chapter 44: Strategy
Xiong Zheng's attitude was too confident. Tao Mu felt that even if Xiong Zheng was the one responsible, he was probably very confident in himself, believing that he cleaned up any evidence thoroughly and would not let anyone find any traces.
The police comrade probably thought so too. So he put aside Xiong Zheng for the moment and began to interrogate Yu Mei.
Yu Mei was very emotional. While recording her confession, she kept biting back at Xiong Zheng, saying: "Comrade police, you must believe me. Gou Rixin's accident must have something to do with him. Ever since he learned from my mouth that Gou Rixin was going to audition for that Hongkong director's male second lead role, he became particularly interested about this matter and kept asking about it. I heard people say that he even went around inquiring about this matter, and eventually joined the same crew as Gou Rixin. The night before Gou Rixin's accident, he called Gou Rixin out for a drink. As a result, Gou Rixin had an accident the next day. He must have planned it all."
It was officer Yao who was responsible for recording Yu Mei's confession. Because of the MLM abduction case uncovered before, officer Yao had a very good impression of Gou Rixin. So he was also very concerned about this case.
"You are saying Xiong Zheng deliberately created Gou Rixin's accident. Is there any evidence?"
Yu Mei choked upon hearing this. She said that and suspected this, but to speak of evidence, she really didn't have any.
But she was unwilling to be played by Xiong Zheng. Had it not been for Xiong Zheng always speaking in her ears, she and Gou Rixin might not have fallen into the state where they were today. Now that she had been caught by the police, what right did Xiong Zheng have to remain completely fine and even replace Gou Rixin's role.
Yu Mei was full of resentment, wanting nothing more than to pull the bastard Xiong Zheng into the water with her.
"I remember." Yu Mei's eyes suddenly lit up. She straightened up and said, "I remember that on the day Gou Rixin had an accident, Da Luo and the others were not on the set. It was because Xiong Zheng got them drunk the night before so they couldn't get up the next day. Xiong Zheng doing this must definitely be so that Gou Rixin's brothers would be away so that he could do his tricks. Maybe he bribed the prop master who checked the wires that day."
However, the insurance company had already confirmed the accident during the inspection. Gou Rixin's wire incident was a true accident caused by the wire being too worn and old, and there was no sign of any man-made cause.
"That might be Xiong Zheng's work. Xiong Zheng could bribe the props master and deliberately ask the prop master to give Gou Rixin an old wire." Yu Mei's thoughts turned, twisting the words and forcing logic.
However, the people from the insurance company also said that the wire model rented by the crew were all similar. They were purchased in the same batch. Unless Xiong Zheng could see the future and know that something would happen to the wire suit that day, there was no way to explain the matter.
Officer Yao was not prepared to remain conflicted on this kind of thing, and asked Yu Mei: "How did you take out the entire one million yuan in just one day? As far as we know, you didn't make an advance appointment with the bank. But you took away the entire one million yuan that day."
Yu Mei sat up straight: "I know the assistant manager of the bank. I notified him the day Gou Rixin had the accident. At that time, Da Luo called Gou Rixin's mother to come over from the northeast. I knew they were not trusting of me so they wanted to call the old lady over to take care of Gou Rixin and also keep a look on me. I was not convinced, and I was afraid that the old lady would calculate the money with me. So I wanted to get a hold on the money first. I didn’t really think so much at the time——"
Yu Mei snorted and looked at officer Yao with tears: "Comrade police, you must believe me. I don’t know what’s going on, at that time my brain just short-circuited. It's all that Xiong Zheng's fault, he nagged me every day to break up with Gou Rixin and be with him. He also said that he would support me. Only then did I commit a mistake. Comrade police, I haven't touched a single coin of this one million yuan. Can you look at this matter and spare me?"
The female police officer who recorded the confession with officer Yao couldn't bear it anymore: "How can you say you haven't touched a single coin? The way I see it, you just didn't have a chance to do it. Let me tell you, your criminal act of absconding with a huge amount of money is already an established fact. Don't entertain any illusions, confess honestly and strive for lenient treatment."
"Okay, okay, okay, I will definitely strive for it." Yu Mei's crying had already blurred her eye makeup, and she nodded her head again and again: "What do you want to ask, I will definitely be forthcoming."
Outside the interrogation room, Tao Mu first called Da Luo and asked him to come over and take the money. The police had already helped sort out the money in that big bag. There was an entire 1.26 million yuan. In addition to Gou Rixin's insurance money, there were also a few hundred thousands that Yu Mei had accumulated by herself. She really was prepared to take the money and run away. Because she believed Xiong Zheng's sweet words, she was also ready to let Xiong Zheng run with her.
But she didn't expect Xiong Zheng to have just replaced Gou Rixin in the role of the second male lead, and he still dreamed that he could become famous overnight with this movie. So how could he possibly be willing to live like a fugitive with a woman like Yu Mei just for this mere one million yuan?
Therefore, Xiong Zheng made sweet promises on the surface, and then reported her when her back was turned.
"Like they say, good people will always be rewarded!" An old policeman said with emotion: "It's a good thing this was discovered early and Yu Mei hadn't had time to run out of H Town. If she really ran away with the money, even if we could catch her in the end, we likely wouldn't be able to recover all of the money at that time."
This kind of thing was actually very common. The criminal ran away with the money, and the victim hurriedly came to call the police. In the end, the criminals were caught, but the money was still gone. If such a thing happened, even the police couldn't do anything about it.
Tao Mu and others nodded along. They also believe in the saying that good people would be rewarded——if Gou Rixin hadn't helped track down the case of Yun Duo and the others being abducted, they would have never known Qin Miaoru. Without knowing these people, when Yu Mei absconded with the money, even if Zhang Fei saw Yu Mei by mistake, he would not have told Gou Rixin. So in the final analysis, good people would always be rewarded in the end.
Xiong Zheng, who was sitting on one side and being interrogated, asked for credit with a shameless face: "Comrade police, is this also my credit for reporting in time?"
"You?" The police comrade sneered, disapproving: "We received the report before you came. The police went directly to arrest Yu Mei. When you came, our police force had already arrived at your house. You are at most surrendering to the authorities."
Xiong Zheng was frightened into a tremble: "Comrade police, don't say that. I'm not the same as that woman. I didn't break the law."
"Then why didn't she go anywhere else with that million yuan?" The policeman responsible for recording Xiong Zheng's confession tapped the transcript: "Also, Yu Mei confessed that you invited Gou Rixin and his brothers to a drink the night before Gou Rixin's accident. And even getting Gou Rixin's friends drunk. Didn’t you say that your relationship is not good?"
Xiong Zheng smiled shamelessly: "I heard that Gou Rixin got a film role from a big director, and he will soon become successful. So I wondered if I could find an opportunity to warm up our relationship."
"Then you have a big heart. You slept with his girlfriend and you still want to erase all past hatred with just a drink?" The police comrades were unbelieving no matter what!
Xiong Zheng chuckled, and said with a shameless expression: "Comrade police, you don't know. It's common in the entertainment industry to mess around with relationships. Maybe Gou Rixin doesn't care."
The comrade police flipped to the previous transcript: "You didn't say that before." When Xiong was recording his confession earlier, he personally admitted that Gou Rixin was very concerned about Yu Mei's fooling around with outsiders.
Xiong Zheng had nothing to say so he started to act dumb: "Then treat it as me wanting to please Gou Rixin so that he won't make it difficult for me in the future. Besides, Gou Rixin doesn't know about me and Yu Mei. We hid it quite well."
What logic was this?
The comrade police frowned. He clearly knew that Xiong Zheng was not right, however, they had no evidence. Just as Xiong Zheng said, whether it was to invite Gou Rixin and his friends to drink, or to inquire about Gou Rixin's audition, or even joining the same crew as Gou Rixin, these actions were not illegal.
Even if Xiong Zheng really did something, they lacked a key link of evidence.
Besides, Xiong Zheng also actively reported Yu Mei who absconded with the money. And from Yu Mei's confession, it could be known that Xiong Zheng had nothing to do with Yu Mei absconding with the money.
The Xiong Zheng in front of him sat in the chair confidently with a clear conscience.
Tao Mu subtly glanced at the other, still feeling that something was wrong.
Tao Mu thought for a while, and moved to Zhang Fei's side: "Didn't you send someone to keep a look on Yu Mei? Was that person discovered?"
Zhang Fei said with a grin: "So what if he was discovered? Anyway, this little lady and the money will definitely not be able to run away."
Tao Mu frowned in pondering. After receiving the news, Da Luo supported Go Rixin's mother and hurried over, holding the policeman’s hand tightly in gratitude: "Thank you so much. If it weren’t for your help, the money would definitely not be recovered."
Gou Rixin's mother walked tearfully and unsteadily over to the police and was about to kneel again, but was supported by the police comrades: "Auntie, please don't do this. This is our duty."
The police waved their hands and patiently persuaded: "You should take the money back quickly. Don't delay your son's treatment."
"Ai! Ai!" Gou Rixin's mother wiped her tears with the palm of her hand and kept muttering: "Thank you. Thank you."
Da Luo knew that Yu Mei had been caught, and it was at Xiong Zheng's rental house. When he saw Xiong Zheng, he didn't have a good face. He directly reached out and grabbed Xiong Zheng's collar to lift him up, and almost punched him in the face but was stopped by the police.
Xiong Zheng hid behind the police in fright and kept shouting that someone was fighting at the police station, acvusing Da Luo with assaulting the police. Tao Mu was afraid that Da Luo would cause trouble if he stayed in the police station, so he quickly had him take mother Gou and the money back to the hospital. Although Tao Mu was young, he had been a great help in this matter. Da Luo and the others admired him very much. Hearing this, they all left sheepishly.
For fear of another accident midway, the police also decided to send two police officers to accompany Gou Rixin's mother to send the money back to the bank, and then take the card back to the hospital.
Afterwards, Yu Mei was formally detained. She had absconded with a huge sum of money which violated the law. Now that she had been arrested and brought to justice, she would naturally face severe punishment by the law in the future. On Xiong Zheng's side, even though Yu Mei kept reporting that Xiong Zheng was related to Gou Rixin's wire accident. But Yu Mei did not provide critical evidence so the police could only let him leave.
However, based on the clues provided by Yu Mei, the police still went to find Gou Rixin's crew and the staff of the insurance company and inquired in detail about the details of Gou Rixin's accident. After retrieving the relevant records, including the wire suit that Gou Rixin wore when the accident occurred, and the prop master who brought the wire suit to Gou Rixin, they re-examined each link.
In the end, nothing was gained.
It was classmate Zhang Fei who asked his friends to inquire around. In the end, he got a piece of news that was not considered evidence——the set of wire suits rented by the crew where Gou Rixin's accident occurred were also used by the crew that Xiong Zheng had been with before. After the crew finished filming, these props were rented by the latter crew.
Xiong Zheng, as a martial arts body double hired by the previous crew, had plenty of time and opportunity to make contact with these wire suits. It was possible that he was aware of a certain wire suit being too old and worn down.
But even so, there was no evidence to prove that Xiong Zheng knew that one of this batch of wire suits would definitely result in an accident. There was no evidence that Xiong Zheng bribed the prop master to deliberately give Go Rixin this wire suit.
After investigating up to here, the police were unable to do anything more. After all, the police need to use evidence to speak, and they couldn't arrest Xiong Zheng based on suspicion.
Xiong Zheng seemed to also understand this. During the police investigation, he was unusually calm and cooperative. It was Da Luo and the gang who were too upset about the matter of Yu Mei sleeping with him, so they found an opportunity to pull a sackcloth over his head in an alley and beat him up.
On the second day, the Hong Kong director kicked Xiong Zheng out of the crew on the grounds that Xiong Zheng suffered a facial injury and was unable to film.
After that, Tao Mu called director Rong to express his thanks.
"It's nothing." Director Rong was the Hong Kong director who was optimistic about Gou Rixin and prepared to make Gou Rixin the second male lead in his new film: "I have worked with Da Gou several times and appreciate his personality. This time Da Gou had a wire accident, no matter whether the accident was accidental or man-made. Just based on the fact that Xiong Zheng was involved with Da Gou's girlfriend before, and now that I know about it, I won’t use this person again. I also don’t want any scandal leaking during the filming that would distract the audience.”
"As for the cooperation plan you mentioned before," Director Rong said, shifting the subject: "I am personally very interested. Why don't we find time to talk about it?"
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