Madness of the Heart

"Both the police and the class teacher called me, saying that Xiang Haoming..." Lai Cheng paused, his eyelids drooped, his expression darkened, "They said that Xiang Haoming was killed, and asked me to cooperate with the investigation."

The Lai family's villa has three floors. The garden in front of the house faces the river, and the wind blows from the river. Although it is unbearably cold in winter, it is really pleasant in summer.

The villa was bought by Lai Cheng's father, but Lai Cheng usually lives alone.Mingshu took a look on the first floor. There were game consoles and controllers on the carpet in the living room, as well as several boxes of game discs. Two English exercise books were spread out on the coffee table.As the residence of a sophomore in high school, this place is fairly clean.

"Xiang Haoming added your WeChat account, and you transferred his account eleven times." Mingshu said, "You two have a good relationship?"

Lai Cheng's neck made an obvious retraction movement, "He sat obliquely in front of me, and was also a representative of the physics class. Sometimes I would ask him questions."

Mingshu was slightly surprised, "You transferred money to Xiang Haoming, isn't it because he bought you drinks and food?"

Lai Cheng was surprised, shook his head and said, "I never asked him to help me buy anything."

"The money is..."

"Explanation fee."

Xiao Yuan turned around by the floor-to-ceiling windows, "Xiang Haoming charged you for giving lectures? How long has it been going on?"

Looking at Lai Cheng's expression, he seems to think that this is a very normal thing, "It has been like this since the first year of high school. He has good grades in physics and mathematics, but not in chemistry and biology, and the liberal arts is even more average. We asked him to talk about mathematics and physics. , he will charge a symbolic amount of more than a dozen yuan, maybe a few tens at most? I don’t remember clearly.”

"Does your teacher know about this?" Xiao Yu'an asked.

Lai Cheng said: "The teacher should know that he gave us lectures and praised him for helping others."

"Wait a minute." Ming Shu interrupted, "You call Xiang Haoming's charging of more than a dozen or dozens of dollars 'symbolic'?"

Lai Cheng didn't seem to understand, and was stunned for a few seconds before he said, "Isn't it symbolic? This little money is at most enough to drink a cup of milk tea mixed with flavors, and you can't even buy milk tea made with milk."

Xiao Yuan patted Mingshu on the shoulder.

Mingshu immediately realized that Lai Cheng was a child of a wealthy family, and those students who invited Xiang Haoming to give lectures may have similar family backgrounds to Lai Cheng.For them, tens of dollars is a small amount of money that can be rounded up and ignored. Going to a foreign language training school and hiring a tutor can cost tens of thousands of 10,000+, so the money Xiang Haoming received is "symbolic".

"The teacher doesn't know, what about the classmates?" Xiao Yuan asked again: "Your seat is close to Xiang Haoming, so he gave you lectures. Is it an open secret among the students that he charges for lectures? Only the students near your seat know?"

"The whole class knows." Lai Cheng replied affirmatively this time, "But, there are actually very few people who ask him to talk about the topic. I think, apart from me, there should be only Ye Huan, Zhou Jingjing, Yang Jiao, Cheng Xiaojiang, Xu Zhao...I don't know who else is there."

There was a pair in Mingshu's mind. The five people Lai Cheng mentioned happened to be among the eight people who had contact with Xiang Haoming. Besides, there were Li Hua and Luo Yi.

"There are about sixty students in your class. Since Xiang Haoming can give lectures, the fee is only 'symbolic'." Xiao Yuan said, "Then why are you the only ones who ask him to give lectures?"

A clear sarcasm flashed in Lai Cheng's eyes, "Our class is not a good class. If you go outside and find out, you will know that our class is basically poor students. Xiang Haoming was admitted, but his grades failed to enter the experimental class. So they are assigned to our class. There are a few good students like him in every poor student class."

Mingshu said: "You call your class 'poor student class'?"

"There's nothing to admit, right?" Lai Cheng said: "Bad is bad, but there are also poor students who want to improve, such as me and Xu Zhao. But we are a minority after all, and more people only know how to play a day. They I will definitely not ask Xiang Haoming for questions."

Mingshu gradually described Xiang Haoming's appearance at school, and asked: "Xiang Haoming doesn't have any friends in class?"

"How do you know?" Lai Cheng rubbed his nose, "It's true that he doesn't think much of us. Good students are like this. He should really want to go to the experimental class, but he can't pass the exam. Every monthly exam is a few minutes away. point."

Xiao Yu'an said: "Besides you students who find Xiang Haoming to give lectures, who else has frequent contact with Xiang Haoming?"

Lai Cheng thought for a while, "It's gone."

Xiao Yuan said: "Is he a 'transparent person' in class?"

"It can be said that." Lai Cheng said: "But the results are not 'transparent', he is the best in our class."

"You just said that every class will be assigned several top students like Xiang Haoming." Mingshu asked, "Who are the others?"

"Wen Chaolong, Qi Xiaozhou, Xiao Manman." Lai Cheng shrugged, "There are only four in our class, too few, and the average grade can't be raised at all."

Xiao Yu'an walked to the coffee table, picked up the exercise book on it, and looked at it, "Ready to go abroad?"

Lai Cheng said: "Of course, I'm not expected to study, and I can't get into a good university in China."

"But you are more diligent than many of your classmates."

"They're rubbish and I'm better than them."

When Lai Cheng was talking to Xiao Yu'an, Ming Shu kept staring at Lai Cheng.

For a moment, Lai Cheng may have noticed his gaze, turned his face, and asked innocently: "Do you think that Xiang Haoming's death is related to me?"

Mingshu raised his eyebrows, "Why do you think so?"

"Otherwise, why did you come to me?" Lai Cheng said, "I'm not stupid. There are so many bullying on campus now, and you saw that I transferred money to him, so you took me as a key investigation target. But I'm not, I gave His money is the explanation fee. If you don’t believe me, you can ask other people. In fact, knowing that he is gone, I also feel very sad. The other three good students in our class don’t want to talk to us at all. No one will give me lectures next semester. gone."

Mingshu frowned lightly.

Lai Cheng's last words made him feel a chill.

The classmate who lived together day and night was killed, and Lai Cheng's discomfort was only because there was no one to give lectures in the next semester.

Xiao Yuan said: "Since you took the initiative to mention campus bullying, let me ask you another question, has Xiang Haoming offended anyone outside? Or, as far as you know, is there anyone who can't understand him?"

Lai Cheng said: "I can only guarantee that he never offended me. In fact, he didn't offend anyone. Only the offended person knows it. Sometimes you scold someone face to face, and you don't necessarily offend him. Sometimes you don't at all. Once you have been in contact with a person, he will somehow dislike you."

Mingshu said, "You have quite an idea."

Leaving Lai's house, Xiao Yu'an asked, "What do you think of Lai Cheng?"

"It's not like lying, but it's a child who has difficulty empathizing with other people's suffering." Mingshu said, "He gave me another way of thinking - Xiang Haoming is the best student in the class, which may be It has attracted jealousy for Xiang Haoming. But the more paradoxical thing is that the murderer's modus operandi is extremely cruel, which reflects the murderer's anti-social personality. If the murder is only due to jealousy, there is a high probability that it will not be able to achieve this level."

Ming Shu paused, "However, it does not rule out that the envious person himself has an antisocial personality."

Xiao Yu'an said: "Xiang Haoming received money to give lectures in the class, and Lai Cheng thought it was acceptable. Other students who paid may have the same thoughts as Lai Cheng, but it does not rule out that other people are not used to it and look down on it."

A stronger wind from the river blew than before, Ming Shu was shivering from the cold, and stood still and sneezed several times.

Xiao Yuan took off the scarf around his neck and prepared to tie it on him.

"You wear it yourself." Mingshu raised his hand to block it.

Xiao Yu'an ignored his refusal, and directly wrapped the warm scarf around his neck.

The furry touch touched the chin, and the temperature on the side next to the skin was just right, with a very light leather smell.Mingshu took a deep breath unconsciously, "A leader is a leader, and he doesn't ask his subordinates for permission to do anything."

Xiao Yuan glanced at him, "What kind of leader can you be if you don't have privileges? This subordinate has an opinion?"

Mingshu muffled in the scarf and said, "This subordinate dare not have any objections."

Leaving the community, one must pass through the property management center. The owner and the property management have not yet finished the battle, and because the reporter came, the momentum became more and more fierce.

"Essentially, it is a conflict between the owners of the two sides. The property management chose to stand on the side of the owners in the southern district, and now it has become a conflict between the property management and the owners of the northern district." Mingshu listened for a while, sorted out the reason for the dispute, and said: "The owners of the southern district did not come forward at all."

Xiao Yuan sat in the driver's seat, "Because the property management has reached an agreement with the owners in the southern district, the property management has become the 'spokesperson' for the owners in the southern district."

"Public opinion will definitely highlight the confrontation between the rich and the poor." Ming Shu leaned on the passenger seat and rubbed his temples. "In this situation, it is obvious that the property management has not handled it well, and the developer is also responsible."

Xiao Yu'an clicked on the navigation, "Then go to Cheng Xiaojiang's house."

The red confetti and remaining firecrackers in the earth pit in Fanglong Alley were collected. Xiao Man and other trace inspectors analyzed them in batches, and finally found that some of them were not the ones purchased by the residents of Fanglong Alley.

Xiao Man rushed to the serious crime team's office, ready to arrest someone and go to the market with him for investigation, when he saw Fang Yuanhang going upstairs with a boxed lunch.

"Don't eat it." Xiao Man slapped the document in his hand on Fang Yuanhang's head, "Come out with me."

When Fang Yuanhang heard that he was going to investigate the source of the firecrackers, he quickly put down his lunch box, took his coat and left.

Everyone was anxious to solve the case. Before getting into the car, Xiao Man had a rare "kindness" and went to a convenience store on the side of the road to buy some bread and a few boxes of milk.

Fang Yuanhang complained while gnawing on the bread: "Xiao Ming and I went out to work together, and Xiao Ming bought me warm egg-filled biscuits."

Xiao Man was angry, "I only have bread here, whether I like to eat it or not."

Fang Yuanhang tore off the plastic paper on the outside of the straw, and deliberately said, "The milk is still cold."

Xiao Man choked: "Xiao Ming is your mother?"

Fang Yuanhang said: "Milk can be drunk indiscriminately, but words can't be said indiscriminately."

Xiao Man drove fast, turning around and squeezing into the traffic, "Xiao Ming is so nice, why didn't you go out with him today? Aren't you his proud disciple? Why, he took in a new disciple? Who did he bring today?"

Fang Yuanhang's eyelids twitched, "It's not an apprentice I'm leading today."

"Who is that?" Xiao Man said, "Yi Fei is still directing the investigation at Fanglong Alley."

"Today is..." Fang Yuanhang coughed, "Ju Xiao."

Xiao Man glanced at Yuanhang obliquely, and said with a smile, "No wonder I didn't take you with me."

Fang Yuanhang was afraid that Xiao Man would see through his master's secret, so he reprimanded him: "Drive your car well, look ahead and understand!"

Although the city now has strict regulations on the production of fireworks and firecrackers, it is not easy to find producers and sellers based on the red confetti left over from the explosion.

Xiao Man and Fang Yuanhang visited several sales outlets in the urban-rural fringe area of ​​Dongcheng District, and finally a woman in her fifties said, "Our family has this kind of firecrackers."

Fang Yuanhang said, "Please show it to me."

The proprietress simply took out a box from the warehouse, "Look, look, this year is coming to an end, and firecrackers can't be sold at a good price. If you want, I'll give you a [-]% discount!"

Fang Yuanhang noticed the manufacturer on the box, "Zhuyun Township, Fuyue County?"

Zhuyun Township is far away from the main city of Dongye City, while several other major firecracker manufacturers are near the main city.

"Yes, Zhu Yun Township." The proprietress showed a smug look, "This place is relatively remote, the transportation is not very convenient, and the cost of shipping will be high, so few sellers go to them to buy goods, and they usually sell them. Go to the next door to save. But the price offered by this company is cheap, I calculated it, even if the shipping cost is high, if it’s just a trip, the overall sum is still cheaper than getting goods from other manufacturers.”

Fang Yuanhang asked: "Only your family buys goods in Zhuyun Township?"

"Hmm..." The proprietress thought for a while, "There must be someone else who has calculated the total cost, but it must not be much. At least our sales point is the only one that sells this kind of firecrackers."

Xiao Man asked anxiously: "Before New Year's Eve, is there anyone who will buy this kind of firecrackers in bulk?"

The proprietress was taken aback by Xiao Man's expression, and asked in confusion, "Who are you? Why are you asking this?"

Fang Yuanhang took out his ID, "The police are investigating the case."

The proprietress became nervous, "I... I didn't cause any trouble, did I?"

Fang Yuanhang shook his head, "It has nothing to do with you, thank you for telling us where this kind of firecrackers are produced. Please recall carefully, has anyone bought this kind of firecrackers in large quantities?"

Maybe it was because she was afraid of dealing with the police, or maybe she didn't want to cause trouble, cold sweat soon appeared on the forehead of the proprietress, "Big, everyone bought a lot, I don't remember clearly."

Fang Yuanhang asked: "Do you have a daily water record?"

The proprietress said, "Yes."

Fang Yuanhang said seriously: "Show me!"

"Every order is relatively average. The highest order appeared on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, but the volume was lower than I estimated." Returning to the car with the transaction records copied from the proprietress, Xiao Man frowned and said, "If the murderer is not If you buy them in batches, then it shouldn’t be this one.”

"It's okay, at least there are clues." Fang Yuanhang lit the fire, "The murderer lacks understanding of the remote villages and towns around Dongye City."

"Huh?" Xiao Man turned his face away, "How do you know?"

"If the murderer has enough understanding, he, they will never buy this kind of firecrackers." Fang Yuanhang said calmly: "Zhuyun Township is remote, and the transportation cost is high. Except for patiently calculating the total price like the proprietress just now, there will be no firecrackers." Some sellers would go to Zhuyun Township to buy goods, which resulted in very few firecrackers from Zhuyun Township on the market, which is conducive to police investigation. The murderer ignored this, and he didn’t even know where Zhuyun Township is. I think it’s a lack of life Common sense, or lack of knowledge of the bottom society. From their psychological analysis, they will neither go to Zhuyun Township to buy goods in person, nor buy them in batches. They don’t realize that there is a problem here. Let’s Go to several other sales outlets to see, there is a high probability that there will be gains.”

Xiao Man made a "tsk", "Finally, I have Xiao Ming's demeanor."

It took Ming Shu and Xiao Yu'an a day to find five students who had financial contacts with Xiang Haoming - the other three were on vacation with their parents and are currently not in Dongye City.The information they got from them was consistent with Lai Cheng's, but compared to Lai Cheng's indifference, the other four showed sad and unbelievable emotions.Yang Jiao cried and said that she knew that Xiang Haoming's family conditions were not good, but in fact she was not particularly fond of studying, so it was fine if she didn't know how to do a lot of questions. She asked Xiang Haoming for questions, and the main purpose was to transfer money to Xiang Haoming. Let Xiang Haoming live a little easier.

"I can't think of anyone who would harm him. Apart from his good grades, he really has no sense of presence in the class." Yang Jiao said, "Even Yuan Ai and the others don't bother to pay attention to him."

Mingshu asked: "Who is Yuan Ai?"

"Yes, he is the bully of our class."

The team led by Yi Fei had already completed their visits in Fanglong Alley and its surrounding areas. On the way back to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, they received a call from Mingshu and immediately turned to a club in Nancheng District.

According to Zhou Yuan's positioning information, Yuan Ai is there now, and it seems that he will not leave in a short time.

Just as Yi Fei pushed open the door of a private room, Ming Shu parked his car at Lantian New Street, Dongcheng District.

Although this street is called "Xin Street", it is quite old. It is not comparable to the environment by the Chunchao River, and even worse than Fanglong Alley.

Wen Chaolong mentioned by Lai Cheng lives in it.

"Brother, be careful." The buildings are densely packed, the places for pedestrians to pass by are full of potholes, and few street lights are on. Ming Shu walks ahead. Although he knows that Xiao Yu'an cannot fall down because he can't see the road clearly, he still reminds him.

The two stopped in front of the building marked "Building 12". Before they went upstairs, they heard a burst of cursing.

It is still during the Spring Festival, and there is a saying in society that "don't get angry during the Chinese New Year", but the owner of the scolding is obviously out of breath. Mingshu vaguely heard "Why are you so unbelievable", "You can't get into the experimental class in the monthly exam when the school starts. Just go to hell, my old lady is too lazy to support you."

Under the dim light, a teenager rushed down from upstairs, his breathing was quite rapid, and he was still wearing a winter school uniform.

Xiao Yu'an shouted, "Wen Chaolong."

The boy stopped and turned around.

Mingshu saw his red eyes, and the clear slap marks on his face.

In the evening, the fireworks and firecrackers sales points in Xicheng District are extremely hot. Seeing that the New Year is coming to an end, the sellers are selling discounts.

Fang Yuanhang shouted amidst the noise: "Please show me the delivery list before New Year's Eve!"

This is already the 43rd stall he and Xiao Man ran to. The boss, like the previous proprietress, was careful and careful, and bought the goods from Zhu Yunxiang, and said impatiently: "Then you wait."

The one who took out the list was the boss's son, in his 20s, and he was doing nothing. "Do you want me to explain it to you?"

Xiao Man took it.

A few minutes later, Fang Yuanhang pushed Xiao Man violently, "Look at this sum, 27 twelfth lunar months, 12 boxes!"