The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 251 The Disputes

"So, who is the recipient?" Qi Fei asked persistently.

“This is a question I’ve wanted to ask for many years. As I just mentioned, President Qi is very tight-lipped about this matter, but I may have met this person,” Xu Tong said.

"Maybe?" Zhong Kui couldn't help but wonder. "You either have seen it or you haven't. What do you mean by 'maybe'?"

"Because it's all my guess. I remember that night I finally finished all the orders and was dozing off by the sewing machine. In my drowsy state, I heard voices. I looked up and saw a short man wearing a hat talking to someone across from him through the gaps between the stacks of cardboard boxes. The distance was a bit far, and I couldn't hear what they were saying. I only saw the man gesturing with his hands, as if he was bargaining. He even pushed Mr. Qi."

Xu Tong was lost in his memories. As he spoke, he made a pushing motion with his hand. "It seemed that the two of them had a very unpleasant conversation. Not long after, the person left."

I was thinking, if someone is here to haggle over a price, what else could they be but someone who's here to collect goods?
I originally thought that President Qi would come over and say a few words about this matter to me.

However, Mr. Qi, who was on the other side of the box, kindly kept me from knowing about this and did not appear. Instead, he left with that person.

At that time, I knew that Mr. Qi didn't want me to know more about this deal. This evasive attitude further confirmed my suspicion that he was involved in smuggling.

"You probably didn't know how much the reward was back then, right? You suspected Qi Dongjun of smuggling, yet you didn't expose him?" Qi Fei found it unbelievable.

“Young man, you don’t understand President Qi. He has that kind of charisma that makes you believe him unconditionally. I’ve said before that I only suspected this was smuggling, but when I faced President Qi, I couldn’t convince myself. He seems so enthusiastic and upright, it’s impossible for him to do such a thing.” Xu Tong’s words were more for himself than for Qi Fei.

Qi Fei did not refute. For some reason, Xu Tong's words that he did not understand Qi Dongjun struck a chord with him. Indeed, he knew very little about his father. He focused his attention on the investigation: "So you have met the person who had a dispute with Qi Dongjun. Do you remember what he looks like?"

Xu Tong didn't even need to recall much to describe it: "Of course, this person was wearing a suit and a hat. He wasn't tall, and the suit didn't fit him; he looked like a child wearing an adult's clothes."

As he recounted the story, Qi Fei and Zhong Kui exchanged bewildered glances. The description was all too familiar, as if they had returned to that damp morning in Sanwu Town, to the small Jiangnan courtyard of the Feng family where urns of ashes were piled up. Feng Yongfu was recounting Feng Yongshou's experiences back then, and the guy Feng Yongshou mentioned who had asked him to order an urn of ashes was exactly the same person Xu Tong had described.

"No women in Shanghai?" Zhong Kui raised an eyebrow and said.

Could this person not be a figment of Feng Yongshou's imagination? Qi Fei pondered, then pressed Xu Tong for an answer: "Did you get a good look at this person's face?"

By this point, Xu Tong had already guessed the identities of the people in front of him: "Are you police officers? Has something serious happened to President Qi?" "Mr. Xu," Lu Man couldn't help but speak up, "This matter concerns the life and death of President Qi and the group, please keep it a secret."

The last shred of doubt in Xu Tong's heart was confirmed by Lu Man's words. His pale lips parted slightly as he took a breath: "The entire group is supported by President Qi's reputation. If something happens to him, the consequences will be unimaginable." He spoke as he pondered more seriously, but after a moment of contemplation, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, the lighting was too dim at the time, and the person was wearing a hat. I really couldn't see his face."

As he spoke, he began to cough violently again, reminding everyone that he was a patient. Zhong Kui had said that he wouldn't live much longer. This fortune teller's predictions were always surprisingly accurate, so Qi Fei dared not take them lightly and had no choice but to end the questioning.

After Xu Tong left, he asked Zhong Kui curiously, "How did you know he wouldn't live much longer?"

Zhong Kui toyed with the ballpoint pen in her hand, speaking slowly and deliberately: "Hair and nail loss, bruises on the back of his hands from treatment—these are all reactions to chemotherapy. He resigned from his management position because of health reasons, right?" Zhong Kui's emotions were completely unwavering when she touched on his sore spot, displaying a calm coldness. "The scar on his neck is from surgery, but it doesn't look new. The healing is like it's from at least four or five years ago, but the chemotherapy was done recently. He coughed up blood, probably because the chemotherapy damaged the mucous membranes of his mouth and trachea. All of this can only mean one thing—cancer recurrence. I don't know what the doctor told him his survival rate, but cancer recurrence is generally not optimistic."

"Could the mysterious person he mentioned be the same person Feng Yongshou was talking about?" Qi Fei couldn't wait to voice his suspicion.

Zhong Kui frowned slightly: "I still made a mistake. I underestimated the complexity of human thought. A person's lie is bound to be a mixture of multiple elements, not a single source. It seems that Feng Yongshou's story about Huang Daxian eating people still needs to be carefully analyzed."

"Reserving an urn..." she said thoughtfully. "An urn undoubtedly symbolizes death. He said the person who asked him to make the urn was very similar to the victim. Psychologically, using another image as a substitute is a common psychological defense mechanism."

We've fallen into the trap of preconceived notions. When we first heard about this person making urns, we considered him a suspect, always placing this mysterious figure on the side of the murderer or accomplice. Was it possible that he wasn't on the murderer's side, but rather the deceased? Urns and the deceased—this was the thing Feng Yongshou feared most and couldn't face most during that period.

He crafted an exquisitely crafted urn—was it an act of atonement? He knew whose ashes should be placed in this urn.

"What is this?" Lu Man suddenly looked at her phone, her voice rising abruptly. At the same time, rustling sounds came from outside the conference room.

She suddenly stood up, took a few steps to Qi Fei, and showed him the contents of her phone: "This is bad. President Qi sent a message to everyone using his work account. President Qi never sends group messages, so this definitely isn't him."

This meant that the secret they had been trying so hard to keep about what had happened in Qidong County was about to be exposed. Qi Fei quickly took the phone to check what the account had posted. When he opened it, there was only one picture.

There were two people scribbled on it, or rather, two stick figures, in a style reminiscent of the kid named Xiaoyou from Guiyue Apartment...