Uncle Liu’s words gave Tong Meng a good lesson. Others say that to catch a thief, you must first catch the king, but that depends on the situation.
If information cannot be obtained from the king, and there is also the danger of exposure, why bother?
So following Li Yang and Luo Wen was the right choice.
In the following days, Tong Meng found that Uncle Liu was indeed a shrewd man. Because everyone in the entire team became busy all of a sudden.
Tong Meng roamed the streets and alleys, inquiring everywhere for a man named Zhang Wei.
Who is Zhang Wei? No case involved a man named Zhang Wei. What was their purpose in inquiring about this person?
It was obvious that this might be related to the news Hu Jia had brought back from Zhong County.
At the same time, the municipal police station seemed to know that Group One was very busy, and they handed over any cases to Group Two, effectively freeing up Group One’s hands.
If it were usual times, Hu Jia would have found it strange, but now he was not surprised at all. It seemed his guess was correct, Uncle Liu was using him to investigate the case, the ten-year-old shooting case.
“If Uncle Liu was the mastermind of the shooting case, why would he want Captain Hu to investigate the clues?”
“Because he hadn’t achieved his goal back then, and only Captain Hu could help him achieve it.”
“What goal?”
“I don’t know.”
As Guan Jinsong became more familiar with everyone, and at the instruction of Lü Qingqing, Zhan Ruoxuan also revealed the secrets behind it.
After all, there would be many opportunities to use him in the future, so there was no need to hide anything from their own people.
After wandering the streets for two or three days, Li Yang and Luo Wenwu finally realized that the tails behind them were gone.
“Those annoying things are finally gone, now we can look for Lu Jiao with peace of mind.”
“You say they followed us for two or three days and didn’t find us, why did they stop?”
“Because it’s easy to be discovered when following us. If they follow Feng Jiu or Ruoxuan, the chances of success are much higher.”
“Boss is truly smart, to come up with this method, it’s like passing off fish eyes as pearls.”
The two were full of admiration for Hu Jia. Hu Jia’s real target was this person named Lu Jiao, but to prevent the ‘dao ren’ from tracking him, he specifically arranged a fake character named “Zhang Wei.”
First, he made everyone look for Zhang Wei together. Once this momentum was established, it would naturally attract the attention of the ‘dao ren’. As expected, Hu Jia’s prediction was correct, those people would choose the easiest ones to follow among these people, such as Zhan Ruoxuan and Zhou Fengjiu.
This way, Li Yang and Luo Wenwu were freed up.
They could openly look for Lu Jiao and not worry about being followed.
As for who this Lu Jiao was, Hu Jia had actually given the two a very clear address, on Huopao Street.
But after all, they had not seen each other for many years, and they did not have a deep friendship back then, so Hu Jia did not know if the current Lu Jiao was still the same Lu Jiao as before.
Or, whether this Lu Jiao had been bought off by the ‘dao ren’.
Therefore, Hu Jia asked Li Yang and the others to test him.
After inquiring, Lu Jiao was still doing his old job, which was pawnbroking. However, he was still an employee, and unlike his previous role as a handyman in Zhong County, he could be considered half a ‘chaofeng’ (appraiser/manager).
One morning, a customer arrived at the "Fu Zhi Pawnshop" on Huopao Street. This person had a knife tucked into his waist, a thick beard, and wore a skullcap.
As soon as he entered, he saw a young man in the shop dusting the counter with a feather duster, and next to him, a middle-aged man was working the abacus.
“Sir, what do you want to pawn?” Seeing a customer, the young man quickly put down the feather duster and stepped forward.
The bearded man seemed hesitant, perhaps feeling embarrassed, he didn’t look up much. If it weren’t for the young man’s initiative, he might have wanted to leave the pawnshop.
“Young sir. How much can you give me for this mink coat?” Saying this, the bearded man took out a garment from his handbag.
The mink fur looked good in quality.
“A coat?” The pawnshop employee was stunned, then looked at the bearded man, “Let me see it.”
The moment the coat was handed over, the middle-aged man who was working the abacus looked up, “A coat?”
Then he stepped forward, looked at the coat, and touched it, revealing a look of disdain. “Brother, you must be new to pawnbroking, right? Do you know the rules of a pawnshop?”
The bearded man was filled with trepidation. “I know, I know. No divine robes or stage costumes, no flags, gongs, umbrellas, or fans, no low-grade jewelry.”
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue. “Your coat…”
He deliberately left his sentence unfinished, as if hinting to the bearded man that his coat belonged to the category of divine robes or stage costumes that could not be pawned.
The so-called divine robes and stage costumes refer to the funeral clothes or burial garments of the deceased.
Indeed, upon hearing the middle-aged man’s words, the bearded man became anxious. “Shopkeeper, please rest assured, I bought this mink coat in the Northeast. There are very few such clothes in Chongqing, and even if there were, people wouldn’t be willing to use them as burial items.”
Indeed, that made sense.
However, why would the middle-aged man easily give in? “Bought in the Northeast? Then who can guarantee that this coat wasn’t a divine robe or stage costume in the Northeast?”
The bearded man was speechless, his speech even stuttering. “Shopkeeper, I’m not lying to you. If my family wasn’t truly starving, I wouldn’t be willing to pawn this coat.”
As he spoke, the bearded man also talked about his family situation. He said his wife was ill, and to pay for her medical treatment, the family was already drowning in debt. “I know my family has no money, but I can’t abandon her. After all, she’s the mother of two children. If she’s gone, what will happen to my children? We are a couple, and I just want her to stay by my side for a few more years.”
Seeing the bearded man speaking so pitifully, the young employee couldn’t help but feel sad.
He understood the pain of losing a loved one most. Especially for children without a mother, life was incredibly messy.
He was such an orphan. If he hadn’t been taken in by a pawnshop owner in his hometown when he was young, he might have already turned into dust.
After hearing the bearded man’s account, the middle-aged man also felt sentimental. “Given your difficult situation now, I’ll reluctantly accept this coat. However, for items that are easily damaged, we are taking a great risk. I see your mink is quite good, so I’ll give you two silver dollars.”
Two silver dollars?
The bearded man was stunned, this was too little.
Even the young employee next to him felt that the shopkeeper was being unreasonable.
Indeed, clothes are not easy to preserve, and if the customer doesn’t redeem them, reselling them is also a problem.
However, this applies to ordinary clothes. As for this mink coat, there might not be two in all of Chongqing.
If it were to be resold, wouldn’t it be a matter of minutes?
Perhaps a substantial profit could be made.
“Shopkeeper, can you add a little more? The price is too low,” the bearded man said with a troubled expression.
Before the middle-aged man could reply, the young employee next to him spoke up, “Shopkeeper, I’ve inspected it. The coat is intact. The price you gave earlier was for a damaged item, this is undamaged.”
“Really? Does that mean you can add a bit more?” The bearded man’s face lit up.
The shopkeeper clearly hadn’t expected to be tripped up by his own employee at the last moment. He turned to look at the young employee, his eyes showing a hint of dissatisfaction and warning.
The young employee acted as if he didn’t see it, and continued to flip through the mink coat, muttering, “Hmm, the lining is also good, it looks new, hardly worn.”
Hearing the young employee’s words, the bearded man’s smile widened. The middle-aged man coughed twice. “Since it is intact and looks very new, I’ll add 50 wen. That’s already quite a lot. If you miss this opportunity, you won’t find another.”
The bearded man looked conflicted, then seemed to make up his mind, “Alright! I’ll pawn it!”