Back To The 80s-Chapter 504 - 516: Case _1

After eating, Wen Xiuqing helped Lu Songyuan into the house to rest, and Gu Xiaobei and Bai Xiaolan also took their children inside to rest.

Ji Xiangdong brewed a pot of tea and sat down under the grapevines to chat with Lu Zhanguo and Shen Heng.

Shen Heng sipped his tea with delight and said gleefully, "Living like this is so comfortable. It even makes me want to have a small courtyard where I can enjoy such a life."

Ji Xiangdong agreed, saying, "If a suitable one comes up, it would be nice to buy a place and grow some vegetables."

Shen Heng sighed, "My parents don’t want to come. They want to live with my elder brother when they retire. We’ll have to wait until my father-in-law retires, so we can all move in together."

Lu Zhanguo also asked a rare non-rhetorical question, "When is Qin Mei going to give birth?"

"It should be any day now, we are past her due date." Shen Heng looked somewhat disappointed. The baby was expected to be born at the end of February, and it was already mid-March with no sign of it. He didn’t know if they had calculated the due date incorrectly.

"Then why didn’t you wait a few more days?" Ji Xiangdong asked Shen Heng, filling his cup with more tea.

Shen Heng said exasperatedly, "A case from over a decade ago has been reopened and we are busy with it."

"More than ten years? Any clues would be blurred, and it will be hard to crack." Lu Zhanguo pointed out.

Shen Heng nodded. "Over a decade ago, the Ma family army was wiped out, and a lot of valuable items were confiscated. They were all stored in the city government warehouse at the time, but no one paid any attention because they were busy with various land-owning operations. They neglected this matter, which was then targeted by someone who stole all the gold and silver jewelry from the warehouse. The theft was only discovered two years after it occurred. Recently, someone started selling the confiscated pearl and flower hairpins on the market, which led to the reopening of the case. The city bureau now wants to follow the clues to recover the batch of lost gems, which includes many items passed down through ancient times."

In such a chaotic era, many valuable things were discarded like manure, and by the time they were discovered, they had become valuable treasures.

Ji Xiangdong was quite interested, "How do you confirm that they are the batch of jewels that were lost?"

Shen Heng sighed in awe, "It just goes to say there is an abundance of talent in our country. At that time, these jewels were registered in the warehouse. There was a young man who was a hobbyist painter, and he sketched all the jewels, just like taking photos. We owe a lot to his drawings."

Lu Zhanguo and Ji Xiangdong both treated it like a story, not asking too many questions.

Shen Heng takes another sip of tea and continues, "This case isn’t a big secret and we’re not strangers, so let me share this piece of inside information with you. If you happen to stumble upon something, it might be a great help. The bureau’s analysis suggests that whoever tossed out the hairpin was just testing the waters, but I suspect that most of the jewelry batch has already been sold off, and the hairpin just happened to end up here in the province.

Among the suspects at that time, one man named Ma Wenfeng is missing, while the others are still being investigated. It’s been a long time and there aren’t that many leads. Ma Wenfeng, whose whereabouts are unknown, is the biggest suspect because he was one of the people in charge of the warehouse.

If we trace it back, this Ma Wenfeng is a close relative of the Ma family army. He was given the job of looking after the warehouse because he had provided a valuable tip. When they discovered the jewels were missing, Ma Wenfeng disappeared at the same time."

Lu Zhanguo quickly realized, "So you’re saying that this Ma Wenfeng is in our province?"

Shen Heng shook his head. "I can’t say for sure. The toughest part right now is the lack of a photo of Ma Wenfeng. The descriptions we have of him are inconsistent, and who knows how he may have changed over the past decade. We fear that he has already sold all the jewelry, changed his identity, and become a rich man. How can anyone deal with him then?"

Ji Xiangdong nodded. Such cold cases are filled with uncertainties and gathering evidence is difficult. It requires unraveling layer by layer.

Shen Heng stayed a while longer before leaving.

Ji Xiangdong and Lu Zhanguo continued to sit under the grapevines and drink tea.

Gu Xiaobei quietly came out, and said to Lu Zhanguo, "Watch over the house for me, I’m going to the shop."

"Alright, go ahead. Ride slowly on your way." Lu Zhanguo waved.

"Okay, when Xiaopang and Mo Wang wake up, give them some water to drink. I don’t know if it’s because of the dry spring weather but those kids seem to be getting a bit feverish." Gu Xiaobei gave the instructions before riding his bicycle to the shop.

Since it was Sunday and Lu Zhanguo was home, she would usually go for a spin in the shop. Qin Li, Chen Zhao, and Xiao Hong had managed the business tightly and orderly, which made Gu Xiaobei secretly resolve to give them a raise after the May Day holiday.

When she arrived at the shop, only Qin Li was there. Chen Zhao and Xiao Hong had gone to the stockroom to take inventory.

Gu Xiaobei asked with a smile, "Have you eaten?"

"I’ve eaten. It’s not busy lately, you don’t need to come over here." Qin Li put down the cloth she was using to wipe the shelves, walked over and said with a smile.

"Xiaopang and Mo Wang are sleeping, so I came over to take a look." Gu Xiaobei moved a stool to the door. There was still sunshine, and it felt warm to bask in it.

Qin Li also moved a stool to the door. "Everything is going well. Like you said, I go to the bank to deposit money once a week. We seem to have more customers recently, probably because of the warm weather."

Gu Xiaobei nodded in agreement. She noticed across the street that Ding Daquan’s shop was closed, which surprised her. "Did the Jia family stop their business? When did this happen?"

"The day before yesterday. A tractor suddenly came and all the goods in the shop were taken away, and then I heard that they were setting up shop somewhere else."

Gu Xiaobei found this strange. Unless they were opening a small shop in a residential area, they couldn’t expect their business to improve much. Especially for those who do wholesale business like them.

After pondering for a moment, Gu Xiaobei turned to look at Qin Li who was looking at her fingers and smiling. A delicate, beautiful, happy smile was on her face.

"Is there something good happening to you?" asked Gu Xiaobei with a smile. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Qin Li blinked, touching her face and said, "Is it that obvious?"

Gu Xiaobei nodded earnestly, "Very."

Qin Li’s eyes grew hazy, as if she was reminiscing, she softly said, "I dreamed of Jin Cheng last night, it is really nice to see him in a dream, and I haven’t had a dream of him in a while."

Gu Xiaobei wanted to kick herself. What was she doing bringing it up? It was Jin Cheng who could make Qin Li happy. Now, how was she supposed to continue the conversation?

Regardless of Gu Xiaobei’s silence, Qin Li continued, "I asked my uncle to bring two copper pots for hotpot from Capital City. I will give one to your family."

Seeing Qin Li shift the topic herself, Gu Xiaobei grinned and said, "Sounds good, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten hotpot."