"Go see my old man now."
"Okay." Cheng Mingxiang replied obediently.
"Where is his family?" Cheng Mingxiang asked carefully.
"The old lady passed away eight years ago, and he has been living alone since then." The housekeeper answered.
"Where are the children?"
"He has no children."
"So, the old man is the only one living here?"
"Yes."
"Who else is in such a big house?"
"In addition to me, there are two maids, one gardener, one worker, and one driver."
"The old man is Mr. Xiao, right?"
A smile suddenly appeared on the housekeeper's expressionless face, "Yes."
"What job do I want to do?" Cheng Mingxiang asked, she wanted to know the content of the job.
"You only need to chat with Mr. Xiao and give him a massage when he is tired."
The housekeeper paused and then said: "Mr. Xiao sometimes feels lonely after being alone for a long time. If we can relieve his loneliness and comfort his soul, it is more important than anything else."
The housekeeper still did not mention the specific scope of work.
"By the way, my name is Yue Xia. I have worked here for ten years. I came here before the old lady passed away."
Cheng Mingxiang thought to herself that this woman really controlled the housework in this mansion.
"Then, please go see the old man now." Yue Xia urged Cheng Mingxiang again.
It was a long corridor. They turned halfway and there was a room at the end. Yue Xia knocked on the door gently: "Can you come in?"
There was a response from inside the room: "Come in."
Entering the room, Cheng Mingxiang saw Mr. Xiao sitting on a large leather sofa wearing luxurious home clothes, with an expensive Havana cigar in his mouth. He looked at Cheng Mingxiang and said with a smile: "You have taken a bath and put on new clothes, you are really radiant!"
Cheng Mingxiang said with some embarrassment: "Mr. Xiao, you have given me the award."
Xiao Laoxiao said: "I am not a flatterer. I seek truth from facts."
The housekeeper said to Cheng Mingxiang at this time: "Just chat with Mr. Xiao. I will take my leave." After that, she saluted Mr. Xiao, turned around and left.
That night, Xiao Long came to his uncle's house. After entering the door, he walked into Mr. Xiao's bedroom and talked to him alone.
"Uncle, the police are currently tracking Cheng Mingxiang's whereabouts, and they are pursuing her very closely. For safety reasons, you and Cheng Mingxiang should go abroad for safety." Xiao Long looked at Mr. Xiao and said with concern.
"The police discovered the suspicion so quickly?" Mr. Xiao frowned and said.
"Yes, they are very smart and respond quickly. I have already bought you tickets to Myanmar. You can leave tonight. The nights will be long and you will have many dreams. You can also do jewelry and jade business in Myanmar. Avoid the limelight and wait and see what happens before you think about it. Let’s take the next step.”
"Okay then. I'll let them prepare." Xiao Wenbin looked at Xiao Long and said: "You have put a lot of effort into doing this for me, and I am also very satisfied with Cheng Mingxiang. The twenty dollars you just borrowed You don’t have to pay it back, it’s my reward for you.”
"Thank you, uncle." Xiao Long bowed his body to express his thanks. I thought to myself, this time using women as a ladder, I still gained a lot. My uncle has no children, so by relying on women as a ladder, he may gain more in the future.
Hao Dong got into a taxi. His destination was the place where the suspicious woman arrived by taxi on the night of the fire. He had conducted a detailed survey of the nearby terrain. The man who witnessed the name of the taxi company the woman took also lived nearby, and later found out about the driver through the information he gave.
Therefore, what he investigated this time was not the route leading to "Fangxian Hotel", but focused on both sides of the road. He opened the lid of the trash can on the roadside. It was filled with newspapers, rope scraps and kitchen garbage.
"When was the garbage nearby cleared away?" Hao Dong asked nearby residents.
"Yesterday morning."
Hao Dong seemed a little disappointed. Yesterday was the third day after the fire. It seemed that all the garbage at that time had been cleared away. Despite this, Hao Dong continued to explore along the same route and opened all the trash cans and found nothing. It seemed that the garbage in this area was all disposed of on the same day.
Hao Dong is a very patient man. He picks up and inspects the garbage not only around the trash cans, but also in alleys or open spaces. He picked up half a wooden stick and poked around in the trash can. He would stir up pieces of teacups, pieces of straw or paper, dirt, etc. when he came across them.
He walked under the stone wall, above which was a high platform lined with houses. There was a path at the corner of the stone wall, and there was a long distance along the path covered with lush weeds. Hao Dong poked into the grass with half a stick and found a small ditch filled with sewage underneath. He scooped up the sewage from the ditch, and the precipitated mud rose up like black clouds, along with broken teacups and gravel. The ditch is pure sewage, but if you look carefully, you can distinguish the types of sediment to some extent. He stopped stirring and just looked closely.
At this time, he found glass fragments scattered in the rubble about five or six meters away from the corner of the stone wall. Hao Dong took out a piece of paper from his pocket, squatted down, and dipped his hand into the water. Soon, the white paper was stained with two or three wet fragments, which could be seen at a glance as glass bottle fragments. He carefully picked up the white paper soaked in water. He took the crumpled handkerchief from his pocket, unfolded it, and then wrapped up the fragments stained on the white paper. He picked up thirteen or four pieces in total, and then rummaged around for a while, but found nothing more. The larger fragment was about three centimeters long and one centimeter wide.
He looked around contentedly. The sun sets in the west, and the roofs of every house are filled with glow. Looking from the high platform, the afterglow of the setting sun falls on the treetops in the courtyard of "Fangxian Hotel" a hundred meters away.
He returned to the criminal investigation detachment.
"This is a glass bottle." A colleague from the technical appraisal room said after inspection. "This curved fragment happens to be from the bottleneck to the bottle body. Because there are too few fragments, it is difficult to judge the appearance of the entity. Assuming that it is restored to its original shape, the height of the bottle It should be twenty centimeters and can hold about 300cc of liquid."
"So, could it be a gasoline bottle?" Hao Dong asked excitedly.
"Well, it might be a gasoline bottle. Judging from the thickness of the bottle and the light blue color, it looks similar."
"How about it, can you check the gasoline residue?"
"If the bottle has been soaked in water and rinsed, it will be difficult to detect. However, I will still test it if necessary. What is the case this time?"
"Well, this," Hao Dong hesitated, "This is a case that I am investigating personally. Just tell me the test results. There is no need to tell other colleagues. They don't know the case." He begged in a low voice.
The police continued to pursue Cheng Mingxiang, but after receiving news that she had fled abroad, the pursuit had to be temporarily suspended.
