gentry

Chapter 43
"The third person provided by Seventh Sister is Sun Qixue. His husband, Zheng Song, is a primary school teacher. It is said that the husband and wife both keep their own place. The family is very harmonious and the neighbors get along very well. It doesn't look like doing that kind of business. Yes, could it be a mistake?" Xiaoman said looking at the door plate.

"It's not a mistake, you'll know it when you see it." Luo Fei said.

When the two came to a Shikumen private house, Luo Fei stepped forward and rang the doorbell.

A woman in a plain dungaree jacket, trousers, and hair in a bun opened the door.

"Excuse me, is this Sun Qixue's house?" Xiaoman asked.

"What do you want from me?" The woman was puzzled when she saw the stranger.

"Do you know Zhao Qimeng and Qian Qiyue?" Luo Fei asked.

The woman looked flustered: I don't know, you have found the wrong person.There was a violent coughing sound from inside the house.

"Ahem... Xiaoxue, who is it?"

The woman responded behind the door: Oh, it's nothing, I probably went to the wrong door.

Then a man appeared behind the woman: the two are...

Xiaoman showed his police badge: We didn't go to the wrong door.

Then Zheng Song invited Luo Fei and Xiaoman into the house.

Zheng Song smiled at the two of them in embarrassment: "Mr. Detective, please come in and sit down. Xiaoxue, go and pour two glasses of water... Sorry, the tea at home is used up."

Sun Qixue went to the side and picked up the thermos to pour water.

"Are you Sun Qixue's husband?" Luo Fei asked.

"Yeah, what are the two police detectives looking for Xiaoxue, cough cough cough..." Zheng Song coughed again as he spoke.

"There have been two homicides recently and we are here to investigate the situation."

Zheng Song wondered: what murder case?
"Two women in the International Settlement were killed one after another, one named Zhao Qimeng and the other named Qian Qiyue, have you heard of these two?" Xiaoman asked.

Sun Qixue at the side let go of her hand, and the thermos bottle fell to the ground and shattered.Zheng Song hurriedly stepped forward to check: "Xiaoxue, are you alright, did you get burned?"

"It's okay, I accidentally slipped my hand just now... I'll clean it up right away." Sun Qixue knelt down to pick up the pieces.

Zheng Song stopped her: Xiaoxue, be careful if you get caught, let me do it.After Zheng Song finished speaking, he started to clean up the debris.

Sun Qixue apologized again and again: I'm sorry, the boiling water is gone, I'll go to Tiger Stove to fetch water.

Luo Fei immediately stepped forward to stop him: No need, we will leave immediately after asking a few words.

In the living room, the four of them sat together, and the atmosphere was a little indescribably delicate.

Zheng Song cleaned up and continued to ask the two of them: "Two police detectives, why did you find our Xiaoxue when a murder happened?"

Luo Fei said: "We heard rumors that Mrs. Zun knew the two victims, so we came to inquire about the situation."

Zheng Song asked Sun Qixue: Do you know the two of them?
Sun Qixue shook her head vigorously: "No, I've never heard of it!"

Zheng Song turned to the two of them: "You must have made a mistake, my wife..."

Zheng Song suddenly coughed violently.

"Mr. Zheng, are you in poor health?" Xiaoman asked with concern.

Zheng Song nodded: "Yes, I was diagnosed with lung disease two years ago, and went to several hospitals, but it has not been cured."

Luo Fei's eyes fell on the phone beside him: "Do you have a private phone at home?"

Zheng Song wiped his mouth with a handkerchief: "Oh, that's what Xiaoxue wanted to pretend. Since I got sick, my salary has been thrown on medical expenses. My income as a small teacher is not high, thanks to Xiaoxue's way Help children with homework, earn money to subsidize the family. The purpose of installing this phone is to often contact the children’s parents and make appointments for make-up classes.”

Luo Fei and Xiaoman exchanged glances.

Luo Fei continued to ask: "Mrs. Zheng, you earn a good income from supplementary lessons, right?"

Sun Qixue nodded, eyes lowered: "It's...not bad."

Zheng Song nodded: "She is very popular. The supplementary tuition fee is higher than that of a formal teacher like me, but she often has to go out, and she is always busy until late at night before returning home. Xiaoxue, I am sorry for you."

Zheng took Sun's hand affectionately and patted it.

Sun Qixue shook her head unnaturally: "It's nothing, are we husband and wife?"

Xiaoman leaned close to Luo Fei's ear and whispered: "What should I do? I can't ask."

Luo Fei smiled and said, "Mrs. Zheng, I have a nephew who has just entered elementary school this year. He is not good at homework and is looking for a private tutor. Are you interested? I can introduce you."

Sun Qixue was momentarily at a loss for words: "This..."

"If you're interested, we'll take you to meet him. You can talk to him face to face. It's not convenient to talk about some things here, don't you think?" Luo Fei asked.

"Yes... yes." Sun Qixue raised her head and said knowingly.

Luo Fei and Xiaoman immediately stood up.

"Mrs. Zheng, let's go for a walk together." Luo Fei said.

"Now, in such a hurry?" Zheng Song asked.

Luo Fei nodded towards Zheng Song: "Yes, if you don't do your homework well, you will die."

Sun Qixue said to her husband: "It's okay, I'll come as soon as I go, you wait for me at home."

Zheng Song had no choice but to nod suspiciously: "Oh, go early and return early."

In the cafe, Sun Qixue covered her face and kept crying, and Luo Fei handed her a handkerchief to wipe.

"Zhao Qimeng, Qian Qiyue, and Sun Qixue, you all have the word "Qi" in your three names, but you don't have the same surname, and you don't look alike. You shouldn't be biological sisters, but you've known each other for a long time." Luo Fei asked.

Sun Qixue wiped away her tears and slowly began to tell: We sisters are orphans who were abandoned by others. We grew up together in the Yuyingtang in Suzhou. When we were 16 years old, a woman named Qi Ma came to the Yuyingtang to pick us. , we thought we had found a good family willing to adopt us, and we were very happy.But when we arrived at Qi's mother's house, we found out that it was called "Man Ting Fang", a brothel, and Qi's mother was the procuress of the brothel. She didn't pick us for adoption, but to train us to be husbands. "

Xiaoman suddenly realized and nodded.

"Qi's mother named us Qi Meng, Qi Yue, and Qi Xue, because we are good-looking and young, and we are very popular with people looking for fragrances. It didn't take long for us to become the most popular number one in Man Tingfang. But that's just superficial. The scenery, the hard-earned money, all fell into Qi's mother's pocket. She beat and scolded even if she was unsatisfactory. One day, we couldn't take it any longer."

When Sun Qixue said this, there was another burst of pain and tears.

"You escaped?" Xiaoman asked.

Sun Qixue sneered: Run, where are you going?How can there be a few weak women in this world?The few of us were desperate, so we had to seek death together.

Luo Fei stared at Sun Qixue: But you are all still alive.

Sun Qixue nodded: Well, maybe it was fate. We left a suicide note and made an appointment to commit suicide by throwing ourselves into the Weiqing River together, but we didn't die and were rescued by passing boat people.

Qin Xiaoman asked again: What happened next?
"The few of us would rather die than go back to Mantingfang. The kind-hearted boat people took us to Shanghai. When we first arrived in Shanghai, we had no relatives. We worked as nannies and female workers in a spinning mill. We suffered enough. It can be considered that God has eyes, and because of his good-looking face, he finally found Mr. Right. Qi Meng married a tailor, Qi Yue was raised by a rich man, and I met Ah Song who was a teacher.

Luo Fei stroked the beard on his chin: So all three of you changed your name?

Sun Qixue nodded: "Yeah, we don't want to bring up the past, let alone let our family know our origins. We only say that we came to Shanghai to escape famine."

Xiaoman nodded thoughtfully: "Since you have found a man, you can live a good life, why did you start this business again?
Xue: The weather is unforeseen, good times have not passed for two years, Qi Yue's man left her to find another new love, my man got lung disease, Qi Meng's man's business is not good, the tailor can't go on, he drinks at home and beats his wife every day ... In order to maintain our livelihood, the few of us had to go back to our old jobs. "

"This Qiyue lives alone, and is responsible for receiving and contacting customers. After receiving the customers, she assigns tasks and calls your two families. In order to deceive others, she pretends to be a mahjong player and a student's parent." Luo Fei finished speaking and looked at Sun. Pray for snow.

"After you take over the business, you will go to the small hotel agreed in advance to open a room?" Luo Fei said.

Sun Qixue nodded.

"That day, Qi Meng was waiting for the client in the guest room of the small hotel, but unexpectedly, he was killed. When the "Mr. Wang" who had an appointment arrived, he couldn't knock on the door, thinking that he was being let go, so he left. "Luo Fei carefully recalled the environment in the hotel, "But this Mr. Wang has no time to commit the crime, so he is not the murderer. The murderer should have arrived before him, and he knows the room number, so he should have followed him all the way..."

Sun Qixue sobbed and nodded, "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... this is fate, I figured it out, women are destined to come to this world to suffer, and they won't end well until they die."

"Who said that as long as women don't rely on men and work hard on their own, there will always be rewards." Xiaoman comforted.

Sun Qixue snorted coldly: "Hmph, officer, you said it lightly. You must have been reborn in a good family. If you were abandoned, sent to a baby hall, and sold to a brothel like us, you wouldn't say that. It's a light word.

Xiaoman was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to comfort her.

"Now that Qi Meng and Qi Yue are gone, I'm the only one left to survive. If I can't let go of my family, Asong, I really want to go with them, woo woo..."

"Who do you think will kill Qi Meng and Qi Yue?" Luo Fei asked suddenly.

Sun Qixue shook her head: "I don't know."

Luo Fei asked: "Do you three have any enemies?"

"Although what we are doing is a shameful and despicable business, we have always been cautious in doing business. We have never borrowed money or offended anyone."

Xiaoman then showed two photos: "This is how Qi Meng and Qi Yue died. Their faces were scratched after death. Do you know why?"

Sun showed a look of horror.

Sun Qixue pointed to the photo with horror in her eyes: "It's her! It must be her!"

Xiaoman immediately asked: "Who?"

Sun Qixue recalled with a trembling voice: "Qi Ma. When I was in Mantingfang, there was a sister named Haitang who fell in love with a college student, but the college student had no money to redeem her, so the two eloped secretly. He was caught, a college student had his leg broken, and Haitang's face was scratched. We all know that Qi's mother hired someone to do it, and she even said that anyone who wants to learn from Haitang will end up like her."

Xiaoman looked at Sun Qixue suspiciously: You have been incognito for so many years, even if she finds out that you are not dead, she won't be so murderous, right?

Sun Qixue shook her head again and again: You don't know, when the three of us threw ourselves into the river together, Man Tingfang's death became a sensational news, and Qi's mother became the target of public criticism. I heard that the local police seized Man Tingfang because of public opinion. , Qi's mother was impoverished.If she knew we were still alive, she would fight us desperately.

Xiaoman nodded: Could it be that the previous guests recognized you by accident and went back to Suzhou to tell Mama Qi, who hired someone to seek revenge?
Luo Fei stared at Sun Qixue, his eyes became sharper: "If this is the case, the murderer's next target will be you."

Sun Qixue immediately panicked: "Then what should I do, it doesn't matter if I die, but don't implicate Ah Song!"

Xiaoman immediately comforted Sun Qixue: Don't worry, we will send police to protect your home.

Sun Qixue bowed to the two of them again and again: "Thank you, I have one more request. Please don't tell my husband about this matter anyway. He is not in good health, and he will definitely not be able to take this blow."

Luo Fei nodded: "Don't worry, we will keep it a secret for you."

Sun Qixue stood up and bowed deeply to the two: "I should go back."

Sun returned the handkerchief to Luo Fei, and Luo Fei took the opportunity to pinch Sun's hand.Sun hurriedly drew his hand, turned and left.

Xiaoman gave Luo a white look.Luo Fei didn't care. Looking at Sun's background, he said to himself, "Isn't she the murderer?"

Xiaoman said sympathetically: "Yeah, how could she kill someone so pitifully? Are you moved by her tragic life like me?"

Luo Fei gave Xiaoman a white look: "Her dominant hand is the right hand, I'm not as sentimental as you."

(End of this chapter)