I am a super cop

Chapter 3034 An Important Drinking Party
"An autistic person?" Gu Chen pondered for a moment after hearing what Grandpa Yang said.

After all, Gu Chen had met Zhang Meng in person and had even spoken with him. The impression Zhang Meng gave Gu Chen was not what they described.

Moreover, Gu Chen felt that Zhang Meng was a person who knew very clearly what he wanted.

Take that watch for example. It was given to Zhang Meng by Wang Tianming's lover before she died as a keepsake. After all, they were friends for many years, so this is understandable.

Gu Chen believed that Wang Tianming would understand, but Zhang Meng's actions were to return the watch to Wang Tianming after his lover passed away.

This shows that Zhang Meng is a person with a sense of propriety.

After Wang Tianming lost his watch, Zhang Meng learned that it had fallen into the hands of Xu Lang, a gentleman who dealt in luxury goods. He then spent a huge sum of 32 yuan to buy back the watch that originally belonged to him.

From this perspective, Zhang Meng is a person with an extremely complex inner world.

Perhaps, in the eyes of outsiders, he is indeed a rather withdrawn retired old man, but in Gu Chen's view, Zhang Meng is a person with his own pursuits.

Therefore, Gu Chen felt that what Grandpa Yang said about Zhang Meng was just the surface.

"Uncle Yang, doesn't Zhang Meng know anyone else in this neighborhood?"

"It shouldn't be." Upon hearing Gu Chen's statement, Grandpa Yang affirmed.

"Zhang Meng was a man who rarely spoke when he was at work. After retiring, he has been enjoying his retirement here, living a very comfortable life."

"But lately? Have you noticed anything strange about him?" Gu Chen asked again.

But this question surprised Grandpa Yang.

Seeing this, Lu Weiwei quickly asked, "Uncle Yang, is this a common situation?"

"Now that you mention it, something comes to mind," said Grandpa Yang, crossing his arms thoughtfully.

Gu Chen quickly asked him, "What's wrong?"

"Well... recently Zhang Meng seems to be handling some business outside, and he's been going out quite frequently."

"I used to only see him at the farmers market on Mondays, but lately I've seen him at the bus stop."

"Have you talked to him? What was he doing there?" Lu Weiwei quickly pressed for an answer.

Grandpa Yang quickly replied, "I asked around, and they said I was going to a friend's party."

"You all know that, right? Everyone has relatives and friends, right?"

“Although Zhang Meng lives alone, he also has relatives and friends, so this is normal.”

“If you hadn’t mentioned the strange things that have happened recently, I really wouldn’t have thought of this issue. I’ve run into him several times while waiting for the bus, and each time he said he was going out for drinks.”

"Did he say where exactly we're going to drink?" Lu Weiwei asked.

Grandpa Yang waved his hand: "I don't know about that, but Zhang Meng went outside quite frequently during that period."

"Because he usually goes to the market and rarely goes outside, but sometimes he does go outside a few times, I won't ask too many questions, and there's no need to ask too many questions."

"Yes." Hearing what Grandpa Yang said, Gu Chen roughly understood that Zhang Meng must have gone to a friend's party.

Zhang Meng and Xu Lang met at a friend's party.

According to Xu Lang's younger brother, Xu Lang added many people's contact information at a friend's party, and Zhang Meng may have been among them.

Otherwise, how could Zhang Meng have suddenly learned from Xu Lang that the watch had fallen into Xu Lang's hands?
Thinking about all this, Gu Chen was a little puzzled. It seemed that Zhang Meng was more complicated than he had imagined.

"What exactly is this retired old man doing?" Gu Chen hesitated for a moment, then asked Grandpa Yang some other questions, but the results were limited.

Afterwards, Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei visited the other residents and asked them all.

The results were basically the same as what Grandpa Yang had described.

So Gu Chen took Lu Weiwei into the car and prepared to go find Xu Lang.

……

……

When the two arrived at Xu Lang's company, they went straight into the office.

Because I had called ahead, I knew Xu Lang was there.

The person who received Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei was still Xu Lang's younger brother, who was also Xu Lang's closest confidant.

"Mr. Xu." Gu Chen walked into the office.

Seeing this, Xu Lang quickly invited Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei to sit down: "Please sit down, both of you."

After speaking, Xu Lang glanced at his younger brother again and said, "Go and make two cups of tea."

"Okay." Xu Lang's younger brother nodded silently and left.

Gu Chen got straight to the point: "How much do you really know about Zhang Meng?"

"This..." Seeing Gu Chen ask, Xu Lang hesitated for a moment before sitting down in the boss's chair and slowly saying:
"I'm not very familiar with Zhang Meng. I've explained this before; I don't even remember how I added him as a friend."

"Thinking back, it must have been at a friend's party."

"I came here today to find out which party Zhang Meng met you at, and through whom he got the invitation," Gu Chen explained.

Seeing Gu Chen's serious expression, Xu Lang seemed to realize that the situation was not so simple.

Xu Lang quickly asked Gu Chen, "Officer Gu, is Zhang Meng giving your police a hard time? Is he unwilling to hand over the stolen goods? Let me tell you, his behavior..."

It's not what you think.

Seeing Xu Lang making wild guesses, Gu Chen quickly interrupted, "Because the owner of this watch knows Zhang Meng, and the two have been friends for many years."

"This watch was originally a gift to Zhang Meng, who later returned it to its rightful owner. Now, however, he has spent 32 yuan to buy it back."

"Therefore, there are many doubts here, but fortunately, after learning about the situation, the owner decided to give up the right to recover the watch, and the watch will no longer be pursued."

"There...there's such a thing?" Upon hearing Gu Chen's words, Xu Lang was completely stunned and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement:

"Wow, I've been in business for so long and I've never encountered anything so strange."

"The situation isn't that simple yet," Lu Weiwei couldn't help but interject upon hearing Xu Lang's words.

Xu Lang was taken aback and asked curiously, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Isn't Zhang Meng's watch no longer subject to recovery?"

“But Zhang Meng is missing,” Lu Weiwei said.

"Zhang Meng is missing?" Xu Lang was taken aback and quickly asked, "No, Zhang Meng is missing, then... then where could he have gone?"

“We went to Zhang Meng’s house and found that his dog had been killed in the yard. No one was in the house, and Zhang Meng was nowhere to be found. This is very suspicious,” Gu Chen said.

"Is that so?" Xu Lang was increasingly confused as he listened, and he pondered before saying:
"No way? How could Zhang Meng suddenly disappear? And Gouzi was killed?"

"So there are many doubts." Seeing that Xu Lang had also said so, Gu Chen also got straight to the point:

"So, we want to find Zhang Meng now, but we don't have any leads."

“There are no surveillance cameras installed around the residential area where Zhang Meng lives because there are too few residents.”

"This has caused some trouble for our investigation, and the fact that Zhang Meng has disappeared after this incident makes us very suspicious."

"Furthermore, we can no longer get through to Zhang Meng by phone. We are worried that something might have happened to him, so we want to investigate the people around Zhang Meng based on some previous clues."

"I see?" Seeing that Gu Chen had explained the situation clearly, Xu Lang nodded silently and said without further ado:

"So you want to know whose party Zhang Meng attended?"

"Yes." Gu Chen nodded silently. "I'd like to know, whose party was Zhang Meng attending?"

"Oh dear, this... is quite troublesome."

When Gu Chen asked, Xu Lang frowned and said without hesitation, "I remember, I should have added him to the time frame of three months."

"If you calculate based on the frequency of cocktail parties, then I attend far too many cocktail parties."

"There were big parties and small parties, and sometimes I even attended three parties in one day."

With a soft sigh, Xu Lang defended himself, saying, "After all, in our luxury goods business, the most important thing is connections."

“High-end contacts are all potential clients, so we must retain them.”

"But because I've been involved in so many circles, I have absolutely no idea which people in these circles are with which people."

Shaking his head, Xu Lang said again, "So, I'm sorry."

"I understand." Seeing Xu Lang's words, Gu Chen nodded silently and continued to explain:
"So, could you help us find out whose circle they are in? Through your connections?"

"Uh..." Xu Lang seemed a little embarrassed, but he knew that cooperating with Gu Chen's investigation was a given.

However, seeking this connection within one's own circle can be off-putting to some.

But now that things had come to this, Xu Lang had no better solution, so he could only nod silently and say without further ado:
"Okay, let me try."

"Then I'll leave it to you," Lu Weiwei said.

"It's nothing." Xu Lang sighed, took out a tablet computer, and then opened WeChat.

Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei also went over to Xu Lang's side to watch him operate.

Xu Lang edited the message and then sent it to the group based on the general events.

Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei then discovered that Xu Lang had a WeChat group for every party he attended.

Some groups have only four or five people, while others have hundreds of people.

When Xu Lang saw Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei looking at him with curiosity, he smiled and said:
“I usually keep the party groups from the last few months, so I’m not sure which group Zhang Meng was in at the time. I can only ask him.”

"Very good." Seeing Xu Lang's management efficiency, Gu Chen also expressed his admiration.

"No wonder Mr. Xu's business is so successful; it seems to have a lot to do with your effective management."

"You flatter me." Seeing Gu Chen's comment, Xu Lang smiled and replied.

"I'm just trying to make a living. These people are my potential customers, and many of my orders come from them."

With a soft sigh, Xu Lang continued, "In other words, these people are the foundation of my business, they are my gods."

"Not bad." Lu Weiwei smiled upon hearing this, and was about to say something when she noticed Xu Lang's gaze quickly shift to his tablet computer.

In some groups, people have already replied, some jokingly in text messages, and some in voice messages.

Xu Lang first looked at the teasing texts, and finding them unhelpful, he then began searching for the audio recordings.

Many of them were friends from the industry, who asked him in a teasing tone what was going on.

Xu Lang will also tell others that he is currently looking for Zhang Meng, hoping to find out whose party Zhang Meng attended and who his friends were.

Fortunately, Xu Lang's friends were quite reliable, and soon a group member provided reliable information.

The other party sent a voice message, which Xu Lang listened to. After a short while, Xu Lang thanked them.

"Thank you, Mr. Li. Do you know how to contact Mr. Zhao? I don't know who he is. Maybe I can add him on WeChat."

"That Mr. Zhao's online name is Pingchangxin. Try looking for it; you should be able to find it," the man said in the voice message.

"Okay, thank you, thank you Mr. Li." After sending the voice message, Xu Lang immediately started searching in his contacts.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before they discovered a netizen named "Peace of Mind".

And the profile picture is of a Rolls-Royce.

So Xu Lang started calling that person, and soon the call was connected.

Xu Lang quickly stated his purpose: "Hello, Mr. Zhao, I'm Gentleman Xu, do you remember me?"

After a brief silence on the phone, the person replied, "Gentleman Xiao Xu? Of course I remember, what's up, Xiao Xu?"

"Oh, is that so?" Xu Lang glanced at Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei before replying with a serious expression:
"I have a client here named Zhang Meng. I wonder if you know him?"

“Zhang Meng? I know him. We’re good friends,” said Mr. Zhao on the phone.

Upon hearing this, Xu Lang was overjoyed and quickly asked, "So, was he invited by you to a dinner party that day?"

"Yes, I invited him to participate." Upon hearing this, General Manager Zhao readily agreed.

"That's right." Seeing that all the information matched, Xu Lang breathed a sigh of relief, turned to look at Gu Chen and Lu Weiwei, and continued communicating with President Zhao on the other end of the phone:
"Mr. Zhao, so you're saying that I drank too much with you guys at the party that day, and then, without really understanding what happened, I added Zhang Meng's contact information, is that right?"

"Yes, don't you always do this? At dinner parties, you always make sure to add everyone's contact information, saying that they are all your potential clients."

"Zhang Meng even praised your business acumen; have you forgotten all that?"

"I forgot, I forgot." Hearing Mr. Zhao's explanation, Xu Lang also smiled and said:

"Isn't it because you're not quick-witted and can't remember some things? Since you're familiar with Zhang Meng, can you contact him now?"

……