when the moon whispers

Chapter 563: Rose-Pinched Off (Part )

Case Seven Rose
Forty-four Cut Off (Part 1)
Shao Jie walked to the hotel front desk slowly, carrying two large bags of hot takeout drinks.

Two of the world clocks on the background wall stopped working completely after getting a little wet. They were taken down by the front desk staff standing on a stool and placed side by side with the laminated license copies that were covered with a layer of water mist and waiting to be sorted.

Shao Jie first glanced at the several certificate plaques on the table that symbolized excellent companies, then raised his eyes to look at the lobby manager's slightly domineering fingertips, paused for two seconds, raised his hand and tapped lightly on the table.

The lobby manager wrapped herself in a thin blanket to prevent hypothermia and looked at Shao Jie in surprise. She was first surprised by this slightly familiar face, then followed his gaze to look at the four takeaway electric bikes parked side by side in the open space in front of the hotel, blinked her eyes and blushed, hurriedly curled her fingers around the counter and walked forward, shaking off the thin film blanket and handed him a wet and softened business card.

"Sorry, sorry. It's our hotel's responsibility to accommodate the guests. Why are we bothering you to help with the purchases? Please accept this business card. After the hotel confirms the situation, the finance department will contact you to reimburse you for the relevant expenses—"

"I just heard from the security guard at the door that the hotel kitchen was also flooded. There are so many people waiting outside, and two children have already shown signs of catching a cold. Not everyone has a thin blanket to prevent hypothermia. Besides--"

Shao Jie lowered his eyes to look at the damp and somewhat disgusting card, then glanced away expressionlessly. He put down the bag of hot drinks in his hand, but leaned over to pick out a marked cup of hot coffee from his pocket, raised his eyes to look at Officer Jiang, who had just squeezed through the fire escape with a group of people inspecting the facilities, and moved sideways away from the lobby manager.

“…I bought these as a side dish.”

"…So what you're saying is that the fire alarm was probably triggered accidentally at multiple locations—at the same time?"

Jiang Mo wandered around the crowd, frowning. She saw Shao Jie quietly approaching with a coffee cup in her hand. She touched the back of his hand with her cold fingertips in gratitude, then glanced at his slightly raised eyebrows, and then hooked her finger to put the plastic-wrapped mobile phone "rescued" from Yang Tangguo's room into Shao Jie's palm. She turned her head to look at Han Lu who was sitting in a daze under the iron tree in the corner of the lobby, lowered her voice, and gently pinched Shao Jie's wrist.

"If Han Lu can still open Yang Tangguo's phone, let him check through the plastic bag to roughly confirm the time when Yang Tangguo last replied to a message or made a phone call... Some of the surveillance equipment on the fourth floor and in the lobby of the hotel has been soaked in water, so it may take some time to retrieve the video footage. If both sides have lost contact with Yang Tangguo for more than 24 hours, call the police directly... You keep an eye on him, I think I'm half dead - oops, sorry."

Jiang Mo was pacing while trying to do two things at once and accidentally stepped on Zhang Han's shoe. He reached out to help him steady himself and then gently held Manager Zhang's shoulder.

Zhang Han held his shoulders and trembled a little, probably because his clothes were wet and he caught a cold. He was wearing the hotel's bathroom slippers and standing close to the squad leader of the fire brigade who came to investigate the fire. Hearing Jiang Mo's casual question, he got closer nervously, "Water seepage in the wall of 533 caused a short circuit in the power supply of 433, smoking in the non-smoking chess and card room of suite 407 triggered a smoke alarm, and... the clothes hanger was hung in the sprinkler of 412, and then-" "The power outage before the alarm should be related to the short circuit in the power supply of 533 caused by water seepage in 433." The fire squad leader nodded, raised his hand and turned the head of the team member who was keen on games and staring at Shao Jie, "However, after the overall investigation, although no obvious and large-scale fire point was found, after evaluating these problem scenarios, the biggest problem should be next to 433, that is, the utility room in the corridor."

"There's a circle of burn marks on the ground under the smoke detector, and coincidentally, there's a stainless steel basin under the stool in the utility room that looks like burnt paper..." Jiang Moxian turned around following a muffled murmur, and casually glanced in the direction of the housekeeping manager who was always hiding behind someone. He caught a glimpse of her face that was stiff and tense for a moment, as she pretended to be calm and tried to find someone to help her out, then turned around and held Zhang Han's shoulders tightly.

"...Well...we may need to confirm the specific situation internally, but the iron basin for burning paper should not be used in a closed utility room. We still have this basic fire safety knowledge--"

Zhang Han stood up first, but she took a deep breath midway through her words. The shivering in her body seemed to ease a little as if a heavy stone in her heart had fallen to the ground. She pursed her lips, and slowly tucked the wet and messy hair on her cheeks behind her ears, facing the gazes that were clearly aware of something fishy. "But the burning of paper... actually has a reason. Room 433 of the hotel... some time before Ms. Yang checked in, there was a little... trouble."

Jiang Mo raised his eyebrows, took out his phone and glanced at the newly popped-up message box, his brows knitted together, "Manager Zhang, two weeks before Yang Tangguo moved in, a girl slit her wrists in the bathtub of room 433 for love. Are you sure... it's just a minor trouble?"

Zhang Han was stunned at first, then he took a half step back and subconsciously looked at Jiang Mo's phone. Then he thought of the identity of this "uninvited guest" and shook his head helplessly, "Suicide by cutting wrists - after all, this is the guest's own business. Our hotel is indeed responsible, but we have already considered ourselves unlucky and paid the corresponding condolence compensation to the family. At that time, all the facilities in the bathroom were replaced, and burning paper was also because the leaders had some taboos..."

"But we burned the paper outside the corridor, on the terrace next to the fire door!" The housekeeping manager stepped forward anxiously, "Boss, we really didn't light an open fire in the room. The reason we threw the iron basin in the utility room was because a guest happened to pass by the corridor when we were cleaning. The smell of paper ash was too obvious when the wind blew, so we thought we should hurry up... hurry up and hide it..."

Inflammable and dangerous items were deliberately piled up in the first place. The fire scene investigation by the fire department ended with the suspension of business for rectification. Zhang Han tidily sent a group of fire department leaders out of the door, and then from a distance, listened to those high-sounding words like wheels, and glanced at the lobby and room manager who were surrounded by guests asking for explanations.

Zhang Han didn't come forward. He stood quietly with his arms folded behind the staff who were assisting the police in retrieving the surveillance footage. He silently glanced at Jiang Mo who was gulping down a cup of coffee like a medicine soup. He pursed his lips tightly and shook his head in amusement at Jiang Mo's stunned gaze. "There's no outsider here... Officer Jiang, did you guess it?"

"What did you guess? Did you guess that the housekeeping department and the lobby manager are relatives of the boss who came here to gild their reputation?" Jiang Mo raised his eyebrows, picked up the business license on the table, and snorted softly, "Or did you guess that someone might have deliberately added fuel to the fire in the iron basin in the utility room?"

Due to work and health reasons, I will be working on another day~
"Everything in life must be done by oneself. If you step into the mountains and rivers, you will have a small outline."