Grocery Store No.514

After drinking a few sips of water, he finally regained his breath. Jiang Chengyan looked at Ling Hua’an with anticipation in his eyes and said, “Hua’an, what did you just say?”

Ling Hua’an repeated, “What would Captain Jiang want to eat tomorrow?”

The corners of Jiang Chengyan’s mouth keep rising. He was looking at Ling Hua’an excitedly, but when his eyes landed on his injured hand, his heart twitched. He reached out and took Ling Hua’an’s hand. He frowned and said, “Hua’an, did you burn your hand?”

“It’s fine, it will be fine in two days.” Ling Hua’an wanted to withdraw his hand, but Jiang Chengyan grabbed his wrist.

Jiang Chengyan looked at Ling Hua’an’s injured hand, the thumb-sized dark red scar on the back of his slender white hand looks so unsightly. He said in a bitter tone, “You get hurt while cooking, right?”

“It’s alright. I’ll get used to it, it will be fine in a few days.” Ling Hua’an drew his hands again and said, “Hurry up and eat, it’ll get cold.”

“Don’t cook in the future.” Jiang Chengyan suddenly lost his appetite.

Ling Hua’an said in amusement, “What do I eat without cooking?”

“I’ll make it for you.” Realizing what he said, Jiang Chengyan quickly explained,

“I mean I can give you some takeout.”

“The things outside are not clean, and eating too much is not good for your health.”

“Then I’ll make it for you.” Jiang Chengyan looked at Ling Hua’an nervously.

Ling Hua’an raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, “will you do it?”

“I can learn.” Jiang Chengyan said in a low voice, which seemed a little lacking in confidence.

“You work overtime every day, and you can’t even take care of your own meals. How can you take care of me?”

Jiang Chengyan was silent, but his brows tightly frowned.

Ling Hua’an smiled and said, “Eat it quickly, don’t let anything or I suffered this injury will be in vain.”

Jiang Chengyan looked at Ling Hua’an, picked up chopsticks, and started eating. He finished the meal quietly, not a single grain of rice remained in the thermos bucket. After that, he got up and said, “I’ll go wash.”

Ling Hua’an sensed the tone in his voice it not right. Thinking about the conversation between the two of them before, a smile flashed in his eyes, and he said, “Okay.”

Looking at Jiang Chengyan’s face,  Sun Ming came to Ling Hua’an and asked in a low voice, “Laoban, Captain Jiang seems to be a little unhappy, have you guys quarreled?”

Ling Hua’an shook his head and said, “No, he’s been too tired recently.”

Sun Ming said enviously, “Laoban, are you friends with Captain Jiang? The relationship is really good.”

“Sort of. He did me favor the other day, and I did it to thank him.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Jiang Chengyan stood by the shelf, looking at Ling Hua’an with a faint expression,  the corners of his mouth pulled out a bitter smile. His heart feels sour and unbearable, and he couldn’t tell what that feeling was. After waiting for a while, he walked out, put the thermos bucket on the table, and said calmly “Hua’an, I’ll go back to the team first if I have something else to do. I’ve been very busy recently. I won’t come tomorrow.”

Ling Hua’an frowned slightly but didn’t say anything. He just answered softly.

Standing in the doorway, looking at Ling Hua’an through the glass window, Jiang Chengyan’s heart became more and more uncomfortable. He didn’t understand why he felt so uncomfortable when he heard the phrase ‘sort of’.  In the past, Ling Hua’an was even more indifferent to him, but he had never felt this way. It was just a few days of work to help him. Why did he change like this?

Jiang Chengyan took a deep breath to calm down his emotions. Then walked away towards the police station. As long as he was busy with work, he didn’t have to think about it.

***

At midnight, without wind the bell that hangs at the door of the grocery store rings. Ling Hua’an looked at it only to find Wang Lei entering through the door and floating towards him.

“You’re here.”

“Laoban, why are you alone today? Where is the part-timer?”

“He’s a student. He has class tomorrow and he only works until 10 o’clock. How is it? Did you find anything?”

“Today, that fool took someone to Jiang Changping’s house and asked some questions…”

Wang Lei explained their conversation in detail.

“Cheating?” Ling Hua’an clicked the bell in his pocket, and asked “do you have a lover? “

Jiang Changping did not answer immediately, but was silent for a while before saying “I don’t know.”

“You said don’t know instead of no. Jiang Changping,  If you want to find out the truth quickly, I hope you don’t hide anything from me.” Ling Hua’an’s tone was faint, but it made people clearly hear his dissatisfaction.

After another silence, Jiang Changping spoke slowly,” these days I often think of a person, just a shadow. I can’t remember what he looks like. But, every time I think of him, I always have a sorrowful feeling …..”

“What did Li Qiuran do after Captain Jiang left?”

“Nothing. Just clean up the room, watch TV, and then go pick up the child. But ……” Wang Lei paused and frowned slightly, “Jiang Xiaohan seems to be a little afraid of Li Qiuran.”

“Afraid? Is Li Qiuran not good with Jiang Xiaohan?”

“That’s not true. I don’t know what it was like before, but from my observations in the past two days, Li Qiuran loves Jiang Xiaohan very much and takes care of him in every possible way. But the way Jiang Xiaohan looks at Li Qiuran… I always feel he is little scared… it may also be my illusion.”

Seeing Ling Hua’an fall into silence, Wang Lei also quieted down, and after a long time, Ling Hua’an said lightly, “Wang Lei, you have to work hard to continue to monitor her. ”

Wang Lei asked doubtfully, “Laoban, do you still suspect Li Qiuran? But I don’t think she can kill people. Not to mention dismembering a body, for a petite woman like her, it was almost impossible.”

“Murder doesn’t have to be done by yourself. Listening to Captain Jiang’s questions, it’s possible that the police already have evidence of Jiang Chengyan’s cheating. So Li Qiuran is listed as a suspect. After all, she has a motive for murder.”

“But when I saw Li Qiuran’s reaction, she doesn’t seem to know about Jiang Changping’s affair.”

“Her reaction was too emotional, which just showed that she didn’t know anything.”

Wang Lei nodded thoughtfully and said, “Laoban, then I’ll go back.”

“Go ahead. Besides Li Qiuran, you should also pay more attention to Jiang Xiaohan.

“Jiang Xiaohan?” Although he was a little confused, Wang Lei still responded.

Seeing Wang Lei walk out of the door and disappear from sight, Ling Hua’an asked, “Jiang Changping, do you love your wife?”

Jiang Changping was silent, but Ling Hua’an already got the answer from it. He put on his earphones, listened to the soothing music on his mobile phone, and watched the wandering spirits floating outside the window. This was his only pastime in countless silent nights.

***

On October 29, 3020, in the meeting room of the criminal investigation team, everyone gathered one after another and sorted out the information in their hands until Jiang Chengyan entered the door.

Jiang Chengyan said bluntly, “let’s talk about it since everyone is here. What did you get yesterday?”

Everyone looked at each other, Liu Ran said first, “Then let me talk first. We went to Aiduoduo supermarket yesterday and found the items that Jiang Changping bought that day. This is the list. Captain, take a look.”

Jiang Chengyan checked the list and said, “Food and toiletries. Have you found whether Jiang Changping has a house in Guangmei District?”

Liu Ran shook his head and said, “No. The only property under Jiang Changping’s name is the Heping District, and the gallery he is running now.”

“How about renting?”

“We checked the property fee payment registration form of the Guangmei district and didn’t find Jiang Changping’s name. I think he would never use his identity information to rent a room if he really wanted to hide it.”

Jiang Chengyan nodded and then asked, “What about Li Qiuran? Have you checked her information?”

“Yes. Li qiuran, 28, graduated from the Art Department of Longcheng University and is an alumnus of Jiang Changping. After Li Qiuran graduated, she married Jiang Changping and became a housewife. Her mother’s family is in Huacheng, but her parents divorced and have a new family. She has rarely returned to her mother’s family since she got married.”

“What about her address book? Does she have anyone close with?”

“She rarely contacts anyone, but every night at eight o’clock, she will call Jiang Changping, usually no more than one minute, except for a few days a month. ”

Jiang Chengyan nodded, “Yesterday we went to their house to investigate and question her. She also said that Jiang Changping would go out every month to find inspiration, usually for about three days. Except for the few days you mentioned, which should be the few days when Jiang Changping went out to collect scenery¹.”

“Inspiration? What a nice thing to say. It’s just an excuse to meet a lover.”Yao Min doesn’t hide his dissatisfaction with Jiang Changping.

“Liu Ran, go on. What else did you find?”

“Jiang Changping’s last phone call was to Jiang Cheng on the 22nd. We visited him based on his information. Jiang Cheng, 33 years old. Opened a store in the small commodity wholesale market, specializing in frames calligraphy, and painting. He is Jiang Changping’s cousin. Jiang Changping called him to ask whether the calligraphy and paintings that had been placed there before were  done framed.”

“If it’s such a simple thing, why talk for five minutes?”

“It’s because Jiang Cheng wanted to borrow money from Jiang Changping, but Jiang Changping didn’t lend it. The two had a quarrel, so they talked for five minutes.”

“Quarrel?”

“Jiang Cheng borrowed money not once. He owed more than 200,000 yuan to Jiang Changping before, and he never paid it back. Now he borrowed another 100,000 yuan, who would hesitate? Jiang Cheng is a complete scoundrel. It’s hard for them not to have an argument. But we have ruled out Jiang Cheng’s suspicion of committing the crime. Because on the evening of the 22nd, he played mahjong with a few poker friends. He played all night long, and didn’t go home until six o’clock in the morning.”

“Is there anything else?”

“We also checked Jiang Changping’s social account. Jiang Changping has few friends and few contacts and found nothing unusual. For the time being, we only found these.”

“Okay.” Jiang Chengyan looked at Li Tong and asked, “How was your investigation?”

Li Tong answered, “We went to the traffic police brigade and found the tracks of the three cars. We found that the black DZ car was a □□², and the real vehicle with the license plate number was a white MZD. I suspected that the car is the vehicle used to throw the corpse. But unfortunately, they ran away. He finally drove into the old town of the eastern suburbs, where the roads are quite narrow and there are many places without surveillance cameras, so we didn’t get any information other than the car brand.”

1. collect scenery – to find inspiration ↺
2. The word gets censored in the raw. I think it was supposed to mean a burner car ↺