Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

"We are from the Criminal Investigation Team, and we are here to learn about Li Kaijun's situation." Wang Shuai's eyes were sharp as he stared closely at the manager's reaction.

The manager was a little surprised: "Mr. Li... isn't he on a business trip? I haven't been able to contact him for several days."

"Li Kaijun has been killed." Wang Shuai said bluntly, observing the manager's expression changes.

The manager's eyes widened, and the shock on his face didn't seem fake: "This... How is this possible? Mr. Li is usually a good person, and his business is booming, how could it be..."

"Well, don't make any progress and tell us everything you know. Who does Li Kaijun usually have close contacts with?" Zhang Hui said.

Chen Haisheng is a veteran employee who has worked under Li Kaijun for eight years.
"Mr. Li is a kind person. He is in the jade business. He travels a lot and knows a lot of people. To be honest, I don't know who he offended. Of course, it is inevitable that people in the jade business will offend people. Moreover, the profits here are huge, and the business is very deep. Sometimes it is hard to say who he offended, so I can't say for sure. However, there is one situation that can provide you with some clues."

Under the watchful eyes of the criminal police, Chen Haisheng reached for the secret compartment at the bottom of the counter. The sound of the metal lock popping open was like a heartbeat. In addition to the account book, there was also a gold-stamped notebook in the drawer. The edges of the cover were severely worn, and it was obvious that it was frequently flipped through. "This is Mr. Li's special contact book." His fingers ran over the two gold-stamped words "connections" on the cover, and he remembered what Li Kaijun often said: "In the jade business, three points rely on eyesight, and seven points rely on connections." Turning to the first page, half a yellowed business card was sandwiched between the dense handwriting, and the gold-stamped words "Jade Gambling Stone Exchange Conference" were printed on the edge.

Wang Shuai took the notebook and flipped through it quickly. It was filled with names, phone numbers, addresses, and some with transaction details and amounts. Among them, several names were mentioned repeatedly: jade wholesaler Zhao Dequan, jade carving master Zhou Mingyuan, jewelry store owner Sun Lijuan, and Haizhou Jade Chamber of Commerce President Wu Tiancheng.

"Zhao Dequan and Li Kaijun have been cooperating for many years, mainly because Mr. Li purchases jadeite raw stones from him; Zhou Mingyuan was specially invited by Mr. Li to carve fine jade, and many of the treasures in Mr. Li's store are from his hands; Sun Lijuan's jewelry store and Mr. Li's jade store have business dealings and often purchase goods from each other; not to mention President Wu Tiancheng, Mr. Li is the vice president of the chamber of commerce and is very close to the president." The manager introduced in detail.

Wang Shuai immediately arranged for police officers to investigate these people separately. He took people to Zhao Dequan's shop. Zhao Dequan's shop was relatively plain, but the warehouse was full of jadeite stones of various sizes. Zhao Dequan was very calm when he saw the police coming.

"I heard that Li Kaijun was in trouble, but I didn't expect it to be true." Zhao Dequan sighed, "We have been working together for so many years. He is a very business-minded person. It's a pity."

"Have you had any conflicts in your business recently?" Wang Shuai stared at Zhao Dequan with sharp eyes. Zhao Dequan waved his hands quickly: "No, no, we have always cooperated happily. Li Kaijun is generous and never defaults on payments. How could I have any conflicts with him?"

However, when investigating Zhao Dequan's financial records, the police found something unusual. Just a week before Li Kaijun disappeared, Zhao Dequan's account received a sum of up to 2 million yuan, and the remitter was an anonymous account. When asked about the source of the money, Zhao Dequan hesitated and could not explain it clearly.

At the same time, the police investigating Zhou Mingyuan received news. Zhou Mingyuan lived in a quiet courtyard filled with his sculptures. But when the police asked about his relationship with Li Kaijun, Zhou Mingyuan became very resistant and even drove the police out of the house. Through neighbors, it was learned that Zhou Mingyuan had been emotionally unstable recently, often drunk, and muttered things like "He is the one who is sorry for me".

The situation was not optimistic when investigating Sun Lijuan. Sun Lijuan's jewelry store was decorated luxuriously, and she herself was dressed fashionably and wore expensive jade jewelry. When questioned by the police, she acted very arrogantly: "Li Kaijun and I are just normal business partners, there is nothing to say." However, the police found some private photos of Li Kaijun in her office. In the photos, the two behaved intimately, and it was obvious that their relationship was not ordinary.

When investigators found Wu Tiancheng, president of the Jade Chamber of Commerce, he was presiding over a chamber of commerce meeting. Upon learning of Li Kaijun's death, Wu Tiancheng looked sad: "Li Kaijun was a capable leader of our chamber of commerce. His death is a great loss to our jade industry." He said he would fully cooperate with the police investigation, but avoided talking about the details of Li Kaijun's private life and business.

Zhao Dequan's mysterious remittance, Zhou Mingyuan's abnormal behavior, Sun Lijuan's close relationship with Li Kaijun, and Wu Tiancheng's deliberate concealment all made the case more confusing. Wang Shuai sorted out these clues and reported them to Lu Chuan.

"It seems that there are many secrets behind Li Kaijun's interpersonal relationships." Lu Chuan said on the phone, "Keep digging, focus on finding out the source of the anonymous remittance, what exactly happened between Zhou Mingyuan and Li Kaijun, whether the relationship between Sun Lijuan and Li Kaijun has any impact on the case, and what Wu Tiancheng is hiding. Remember, every detail may be the key to solving the case."

In the next two days, Lu Chuan contacted the Economic Investigation Bureau and some relevant business backbones from the Finance Bureau to reconfirm the money in Zhao Dequan's account.

When the financial verification results showed that the two million yuan remitted to Zhao Dequan's account was indeed the money for the businessman to buy the stone, the atmosphere in the task force meeting room did not ease. Lu Chuan threw the investigation report on the table, shaking the tea leaves in the water cup up and down: "The more clues that seem innocent, the more sophisticated the murderer's layout is. Keep digging, especially the line of Zhou Mingyuan and Sun Lijuan."

When Wang Shuai and the police knocked on Zhou Mingyuan's door again, the wolfhound in the yard barked and rushed to the iron fence. After knocking for ten minutes, Zhou Mingyuan, with a stubble on his face, opened the door while shaking a bottle of wine. The smell of wine mixed with stone dust hit his face. "I knew you would come again." He staggered and held the door frame. "Yes, Li Kaijun and I cheated Zhao Dequan. At the gambling stone conference last year, we used dyed quartzite to impersonate ice jadeite and cheated him of 800,000 yuan." He continued, "But I didn't kill him. I wish he was alive and could continue to be my cash cow!" (End of this chapter)