"Jianxin 2nd Lane, one of the deceased's friends, Yang Rong's home address is around here, right?" Shi Ran pointed to the street sign at the entrance of an alley ahead.
Ling Qian pulled over, took out the notebook she carried with her, and looked at Yang Rong's home address that she had written down yesterday and learned from Xu Cheng.
"Sure enough, this is it." The two looked at each other.
If it is assumed that the friend the deceased said he was looking for that day was Yang Rong, then they most likely ate near Yang Rong's home. Therefore, they could get twice the result with half the effort by conducting investigations from restaurants near Yang Rong's home.
After determining the direction of the investigation, the two found a place to park, and then started investigating each house.
The shops here are still very messy, there are no chain stores, they are all opened by nearby residents.
There were only a few places to eat, and the investigation was quickly completed without any clues.
Just when they were frustrated, a beef noodle restaurant downstairs from Yang Rong's house caught the attention of Shi Ran and Ling Qian.
This noodle shop is in an alley, not very conspicuous. At this time, the store's business is not bad.
The two walked into the store, found the boss, and explained their purpose.
The boss wiped his greasy hands on his apron and looked at the photos they showed. He recognized the young men on them. One of them lived above them and was a regular visitor to the store, while the other occasionally met him. Let's eat noodles together.
Shi Ran and Ling Qian had been observing the boss's face, and when they saw that the boss's expression was different, they looked at each other in amusement.
"Do you recognize this person?"
"Looks familiar." The boss didn't dare to say he knew him too much for fear of getting into trouble. He said hesitantly, "I've eaten noodles in the store a few times."
"Then this Friday, the day before yesterday, has he been here?" Shi Ran continued to ask.
The boss frowned and his head shook slightly, as if he was remembering.
After thinking for a while, the boss nodded affirmatively and said, "He's been here! I remember he came in the afternoon, it was already past lunch time, and I turned off the stove before he came."
Shi Ran and Ling Qian nodded and continued to ask: "Did he come alone or with someone else?"
The boss hesitated for another two or three seconds before speaking, "We were with someone else. I know that person. He is the young man who lives above us. His name is Yang Rong."
This is right. Before going out, the deceased told his father that he was looking for friends to play with, and the friend he was looking for was Yang Rong.
"They often come to eat noodles together?" Shi Ran continued to ask.
"It's not that often. Yang Rong and his mother are both regular customers of my store. Officer, the young man in your photo doesn't come often." The boss shook his head.
The whole store was filled with the aroma of hot beef noodles. If he hadn't already had a bowl of instant noodles in the morning, Shi Ran would have wanted to have a bowl too.
Shi Ran looked at the menu on the wall. It turned out that they not only sold beef noodles, but also plain noodles.
"Boss, do you still remember what kind of noodles they ate?"
The boss fell into memories again, and after a while he said: "It seems to be beef noodles..."
"Then do you remember exactly what time in the afternoon they came?"
"This..." The boss fell into memories again. Shi Ran looked at the black and white hair on his head and felt that it seemed a little whiter.
The boss looked at the clock on the wall and said, "Usually there is no business here after 1:30 in the afternoon. They should be here shortly after 1:30."
The time is right too.
"Then when did they leave?"
"Well, they didn't stay too long. They hurriedly finished eating, paid the bill and went upstairs." The boss answered quickly this time. Maybe he had completely recalled the scene of the day.
"Going upstairs? Do you mean they went upstairs to this building after eating?" Shi Ran asked.
"Yes, Yang Rong's house is above here, on the fifth floor. Maybe we should go to his house." The boss nodded affirmatively.
In other words, on the day of his death, the deceased went to see his friend Yang Rong after leaving home, and then went to this restaurant to eat. After eating, he went to Yang Rong's home upstairs.
Then Yang Rong may be the last person the deceased saw before his death, and maybe he is the murderer.
Shi Ran asked again: "Do you remember when they left Yang Rong's house that day?"
The noodle shop owner thought for a while, then shook his head, "I don't remember, I didn't pay attention."
"Did they talk about anything or have any arguments while they were eating?"
"No, they didn't say anything. They ate the noodles in a hurry and went up."
After coming out of the noodle shop, Shi Ran and Ling Qian immediately went upstairs to 501 Outdoor on the fifth floor.
This building is a residential building like the deceased's house. It is old, dark, damp, and has poor lighting. It is very dark along the way.
In the corridor on the fifth floor, only the narrow windows left for ventilation provide some light.
The windows are hollow in design, fan-shaped, and have no glass.
They knocked on the door of House 501, and the rusty iron security door made a "bang bang bang" sound, but no one opened the door for several minutes, maybe because they were not at home.
"Go to work? Go look for him at his workplace." Shi Ran was confused.
Ling Qian took out the small book she carried with her, and there was a line on it that recorded the place where Yang Rong worked, a high-end hotel in the city, the Haoke Hotel.
According to what I learned from Xu Cheng yesterday, Yang Rong's mother worked as the manager of the guest room department there. Yang Rong had poor grades and had been working in the hotel after finishing the college entrance examination.
As Xu Cheng said, if the deceased wanted money to go to college, he might have borrowed money from Yang Rong, and he might have come to Yang Rong that day to borrow money.
Maybe it was because of some conflict over money that they finally took action.
Of course, everything is just conjecture now, and more evidence is needed to prove the truth.
They didn't stop any longer and drove to the Hospitality Hotel after coming downstairs.
The car was bumpy and bumpy along the way, and Ling Qian complained a lot.
As we walked all the way to the Haoke Hotel, the good news was that we had already seen people from the municipal government repairing the road. The bad news was that it was only repairs, not renovations.
The hotel is located in a relatively prosperous area, surrounded by the largest commercial center in J City and several high-end office buildings.
Entering here, the road on the ground becomes easier to walk on and is much smoother.
They parked the car in a parking space outside the hotel. After getting out of the car, they found that the ground had dried up a lot, with only a few patches of water here and there.
Today is Sunday. There are a lot of people shopping in the shopping mall here. Most of them are families with children, and there are also many young couples. Weekends are one of the few breaks they have.
The Haoke Hotel is right next to the shopping mall. It is a seven-story independent hotel with an elevator.
Most of the people who come here to rest are white-collar workers and civil servants in suits and ties. When they come here on business, they will choose to rest in the hotel.
When Shi Ran and Ling Qian entered the hotel lobby, the greeters at the door bowed.
"welcome!"
