Chapter 795: Suspect Surrenders

Translator: Azza

After their meal, Lin Qiupu and Chen Shi went back to the bureau together. Unexpectedly, there was a breakthrough in the case. The fingerprints left on the ashtray were recorded in the fingerprint database. It was Liu Feng, Lie Guoxiao’s subordinate, and his fingerprints had been recorded when he was arrested for assaulting the police.

It went so well that it was unbelievable. Before they went to arrest him, they discussed it for a while. Chen Shi said, “I heard all of you describe this case. It was this man named Lie Guoxiao who came to pawn a painting, and then his subordinate Liu Feng intruded late at night, killed the pawn shop owner, and took the painting away? What for? Just for the money they had pawned the painting for?"

Lin Dongxue said, "Perhaps the murder and robbery of the painting was Liu Feng’s own idea, and he hadn’t been instructed to do so by the old man surnamed Lie."

Lin Qiupu said, "Wait, don't rush to speculate. There’s no evidence to prove that this painting was pawned by Lie Guo Xiao. I think we should make a trip down!"

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"No need. It's easy to investigate an ancient painting. An ancient painting is unique. If it had been auctioned, both the buyer and the seller can be found." Chen Shi said.

This suggestion was very pertinent, so the police called several auction houses in the city. One auction house claimed to have had this painting pass through their hands. The seller was a wealthy businessman in Hainan and the buyer was a collector named Shen Liqun.

Upon hearing this name, Lin Qiupu couldn't believe it. The painting was actually owned by Boss Shen himself. He asked the other party, "What does this Shen Liqun do?"

"Boss Shen runs a pawn shop, and he often buys and sells antiques and calligraphy paintings."

When he hung up the phone, Lin Qiupu was a little flabbergasted. “The current owner of this painting is Shen Liqun himself. Then who was the person who pawned it? The key question is how could his own painting be pawned to his own shop by other people?”

"Maybe the pawned painting is a fake?" Lin Dongxue guessed.

Lin Qiupu brought the ledger from the scene, and the pawned goods in it were clearly noted down with information such as appearance, weight, authenticity and so on. The painting was not annotated as a counterfeit at the back. According to the recording habits of Boss Shen, it should be authentic.

Perhaps this painting had changed hands in private, returned to Shen Liqun's hands in this way, and was finally taken away by someone who broke in late at night.

"Is this painting so valuable?" Lin Dongxue searched for photos of it on the Internet, "It’s just some black and white landscape with some cloudy mountains covered in mist. It looks no different from other ink paintings."

"How dare you say that? How could ink paintings like black-and-white landscapes have colors? Chen Shi ridiculed, "You should search for its auction price that year."

"Wow, that’s so much money!" Lin Dongxue was shocked. "If I exchanged it for grilled fish, I would have more than enough to eat for a lifetime."

Lin Qiupu paced around, thinking about it. "Let's arrest Liu Feng first. Since his fingerprints were left behind on the murder weapon, there’s no reason not to bring him back for questioning."

No one knew where Liu Feng was, but it was easy to find Lie Guoxiao. Lin Qiupu called him. After he understood the situation, Lie Guoxiao said over the phone, "I, Lie, have always been a law-abiding citizen. I will never shield a criminal. I will ask Little Feng to go to the police station and surrender himself. I will definitely cooperate fully with your investigation."

When he hung up the phone, Lin Dongxue was a little surprised. "This guy, who’s said to be a powerful figure, is so easy to talk to?"

"This old man has always been very polite when dealing with officials. I remember one year when several of his subordinates fought with people in a nightclub and stabbed someone. The next day while the police were still investigating, his subordinates voluntarily surrendered. One shouldered all the blame and is still in jail right now."

"Subordinates? Shouldering the crime? Why do these words sound as though you’re describing the boss of an organized crime syndicate?" Lin Dongxue was puzzled.

Lin Qiupu shrugged, "The third team that specializes in crackdowns on organized crime has also been monitoring Lie Guoxiao. An old man with no official position owns several companies, has hundreds of millions’ worth of savings, as well as many subordinates. At the same time, many of Long'an's rich and powerful are his godchildren. He isn’t normal at all! But the police have nothing to hold against him and right now, he’s just a powerful old man."

Chen Shi raised his hand. "A highly-experienced elder brother wants to say something."

"Say it!"

"When I was driving, I often heard passengers mention this name. According to ordinary citizens, he’s the most powerful underworld boss in Long'an at present, like XX in Northeast in the 90s and XXX in Hong Kong in the 80s. But what I’ve heard were just groundless rumors. This old man is either a tall tree that attracts the wind, or he is evil in a really low-key way."

"Either way, our second team doesn't have to deal with him." Lin Dongxue said.

"I think it’s not surprising that a tumor would be born in Long'an, a treasured land of great fengshui which has a high crime rate." Chen Shi expressed his opinion.

"Don't talk nonsense here. How is the crime rate in Long'an high?!" Lin Qiupu was annoyed by such irresponsible remarks. Some people talked nonsense without doing research. "Just take last Wednesday for example. Not a single bad case happened. The law and order here is much better than XX!"

"Brother, why do I think you cited a counterexample instead?" Lin Dongxue smiled bitterly.

Lin Qiupu furrowed his brows. "Get to work!"

Chen Shi said, "It seems that this case doesn't need me. I’ll head back first. Yueyue is going to take her junior high school examination soon…"

"Go, go!" Lin Qiupu waved his hand impatiently.

When Chen Shi was walking out, a man with a cigarette in his mouth walked in nonchalantly. "Is anyone here? I want to surrender!"

Looking at Chen Shi, he curiously asked, "Where have I met you before?"

"Maybe I’ve beaten you up before!" Chen Shi smiled, "Go through the formalities over there if you want to surrender. You’re welcome."

Liu Feng kept looking back as he entered an office, wondering where he had seen this uncle before.

After completing the procedure of surrendering himself, Liu Feng was taken to the interrogation room. Lin Qiupu said, "May 12th, or yesterday night, where did you go and what did you do?"

Liu Feng scratched his cheek. "I need to surrender to the criminal police team just for this?"

"Be honest."

"I was at home browsing porn websites that are unsuitable for children. The content included…"

Lin Qiupu slammed the table and picked up a picture of the deceased. "Have you seen him before?"

Liu Feng squinted his eyes for a while and said, "He’s the owner of that pawn shop, and his surname is Shen I think."

"What did you do to him between 12:00AM and 3:00AM early this morning?"

"What did I do to him?" Liu Feng smiled bitterly. "Maybe I dreamed of him when I slept! No, officer, I don't understand any of your questions. I didn't come to surrender myself for something that happened last night."

"Then why did you come here to surrender?"

"I gave Boss Shen a big beating yesterday. It was during the day."

"How did you beat him?"

"I used my fists at first, then I used an ashtray." Liu Feng chuckled.