The next day, Li Jing and I went to Guo Dong's gallery in the suburbs, and indeed Mr. Guo's gallery was more like a small museum, as Zheng Min said. Mr. Guo transformed an old warehouse into a small two-story exhibition hall. Mr. Guo has just finished a solo exhibition for a young and up-and-coming painter, and the rest of the place is messy except for the unexpected gallery on the façade. I was a little obsessive-compulsive, and I helped Mr. Guo clean up.

"I'm sorry to let you help me clean up." Mr. Guo kept blushing and thanking us.

I piled up the backboard of the set in my hand and said, "It's okay, but boss, do you often hold this kind of exhibition?" ”

"That's right." Mr. Guo sorted out the decorations in his hand, "Otherwise, I would have gone bankrupt with the gallery alone." ”

Li Jing paused, turned his head and asked, "What is the average time you hold exhibitions here?" ”

"Probably two or three times a month." Mr. Guo thought for a moment and replied.

"And how long is it held each time?"

Mr. Guo put aside the bag in his hand and sorted out some other trivial leaflets: "The larger exhibition may last for two weeks, and the smaller exhibition may only last three or four days. ”

Li Jing didn't ask anything more, and silently continued to tidy up the exhibition hall on the second floor with us. I finally finished cleaning up, and it was almost noon. After Mr. Guo brought out the last bag of garbage, he clapped his hands and said that he wanted to invite us to dinner. Although he said that he invited me to dinner, I didn't expect Mr. Guo to say that he would cook it himself.

"Is your business doing here?" While waiting for dinner, I chatted with the little beauty who was watching the store at the front desk.

"General." The little beauty pouted, but after thinking about it, she changed her words, "The business of the exhibition is good, our rent here is relatively low, and the cost of holding the exhibition has been reduced a lot, so some young artists, or small exhibitions in schools, are more inclined to rent a house here for exhibitions." Galleries are nothing more than the owner's hobby, except for some copies of masterpieces. The rest are the boss's friend's own works, so the sales have not been very good. However, recently, the sales of the paintings sent by his friends are not bad, and there are more people who come to us for exhibitions, but I don't know why the boss is always sad. And always sighing. ”

That's because your boss's friends are missing, so he's upset, but I still haven't told the truth. I was about to say something more, but Li Jing suddenly spoke: "Did the boss's friend's paintings be sent together, or in batches." ”

The little beauty raised her head and thought about it before hesitatingly saying, "It seems to have been sent together." At the beginning, there seemed to be only one or two sheets, and the date of delivery was also separated, but these times it seems to have sent a lot of them at one time, because the size of each painting is quite large, because the box is written on the fragile product, and it is also insured, so the courier will complain about the trouble when he moves. ”

"Do you still have those boxes?" Li Jing asked.

The little beauty shook her head: "I have already thrown it away, the box covers too much area, and we will throw it away as soon as we take out the painting." ”

"Is there anything that hasn't been sold?" Li Jing's eyes looked back and forth in the gallery.

The little beauty pointed to the painting hanging on the opposite wall: "Oh, that's it." The only one that didn't sell, but someone had already paid a deposit yesterday. ”

I looked in the direction of her finger, and although I didn't know much about painting, when I saw a brightly colored landscape painting, I knew that it must be the work of one of Mr. Guo's friends. As if intrigued, I walked over and painted something very similar to Monet's Water Lilies, except that in the unsold piece, the fish was used instead of the lotus. The work uses blue, gold and purple to render the blurred reflection of the water surface and the soft texture of the water itself, the alternation of dark green and light grass blurs the shape of the lotus leaf, and the red, yellow and orange colors outline the curvature of the koi fish. It's pretty good-looking, indeed.

"When did you send this painting?" Li Jing turned around and asked the little beauty.

"A month ago. I'm not mistaken, I think it was sent in the middle of last month along with the other works. ”

Li Jing didn't say anything, just picked up his mobile phone and took a picture of the work, at this time Boss Guo came out and called us into the house for dinner, and saw that we were discussing around the photos. Hurriedly walked over: "You like this work?" My friend drew it, it's beautiful, isn't it? If you like, I'll ask him to draw another one for you someday. Obviously, Mr. Guo didn't want others to know the news of his friend's disappearance, so Li Jing and I didn't discuss anything too much, and followed Boss Guo into the house to eat.

At the dinner table, everyone just chatted and didn't talk about the missing artists. It wasn't until tea time after a full meal that we talked about today's topic in Mr. Guo's office. Mr. Guo turned on the surveillance screen and confirmed that the little beauty had been in the gallery before he said, "I don't really want others to know that I have someone missing here." ”

"Will it affect business?" Li Jing asked him.

Mr. Guo smiled bitterly: "Sort of, if the panic spreads, I won't be able to open it here." ”

"Panic spreads?" I looked at Mr. Guo uncertainly, "You mean there will be a bad impact?" ”

"It's not." Mr. Guo shook his head, "I don't want people to say that I'm not clean here, or that it's dangerous. ”

"Also?" Li Jing stared at Mr. Guo suspiciously.

Mr. Guo pursed his lips, stared at the cup in front of him and said, "I'm not the first gallery with missing artists here. Several other studios have also had people missing. In the end, the exhibition halls or studios that reported that someone had disappeared couldn't be opened and moved away, so if such a thing is exposed here, I'm afraid I'll close it too. So I hope things can be resolved in a low-key way. "It seems that Mr. Guo lived yesterday and hid some things. However, for the sake of business, Mr. Guo is too much to slow down this kind of thing that may be related to human life.

Li Jing didn't have any expression, maybe he didn't expect to be involved in such a strict situation, but after being stunned for a few seconds, he still asked, "When did this kind of continuous disappearance happen to the other families?" ”

The corners of Mr. Guo's mouth twitched downward, and he made a helpless expression: "I don't know much about this, to be honest, I didn't realize that my friend was missing at first, until a store called the police and said that some employees had not come for a long time, and some could not contact anyone, I guessed if my artist friends here also encountered the same situation." ”

"Why is there such speculation?" Li Jing asked him.

Mr. Guo glanced at Li Jing: "The missing studios that called the police are all students from art academies who came for internships, and a few are part-time teachers from art academies. At first, only one studio called the police. The missing person was a teacher at an art college who taught abstract architecture, but when I followed this clue, I found that teachers and students had also disappeared in several other schools of the same nature as that school, and coincidentally, they all came to our art village to work as part-time painters or interior designers. So the police launched an investigation here, and found that there were indeed a few employees who had not come to work for a long time in a few places that operated exhibitions like me, but because they were part-time, there was a large turnover of personnel, and the management was not so strict. I was afraid of getting into trouble, so the operator didn't go to the police. Later, when the police told them that they might be missing, the bosses tried their best to distance themselves from each other. You know Murphy's Law, if you're worried about something happening, then it's more likely to happen. The same is true for the operators who have been shirking their responsibilities, and the police have conclusive evidence that the missing people have disappeared after leaving the village, and although they have told the police that they do not know where they have gone, the village has become the object of suspicion of the police. For a while, about three months ago, because of this kind of thing. Very few people came here at that time. Some studios changed places because of the scarcity of tourists, and we were still jokingly called "**" at that time, saying that there was a place to go and no return. As a result, as soon as that period of time passed, it may be that people gradually forgot about it, or it may be that there are people who are curious to come, in short, it gradually gets better, and the business in the past two months has even exceeded the level of the same period last year. However, because my friends are too old to come and I don't answer the phone, it's hard for me not to think about the past. Because business is too good. I don't want this kind of thing to affect my current livelihood, so I have to ask you to help me investigate secretly. I know I'm a little selfish like that, but I'm really not a charity here, and I still have money to make ends meet. But I really want to make sure my friends are safe now. ”

Li Jing didn't show too much affection, but just frowned and asked, "Those missing people always have a specific time of disappearance, right?" Don't you know? ”

After listening to Li Jing's question, Mr. Guo hurriedly waved his hand: "I don't know." Disappearance was the most taboo word here, and no one talked lightly about where the students or teachers had gone, just as I now tried to hide that I had artists disappearing here. ”

I glanced at Li Jing. The time of disappearance only needs to ask Shi Hao to check the archives, but the reason for the disappearance can only be inferred by ourselves. Li Jing seemed to sense my thoughts, and drew a heavy circle where the reason was written on the notepad in his hand. Removing his gaze from the notepad, he looked at Mr. Guo, who was sitting opposite: "May I ask if anything happened during that time?" For example, if there is a big festival or if someone has a dispute with someone working here, please remember if anyone has ever said something bad to the artists. ”

Mr. Guo categorically said that there was absolutely no such thing, and it was very peaceful during that time, because the art village had gradually accumulated some fame before such a thing happened, and it was developing in a good direction, so there was no unpleasant thing happening here, and there were more people who came here to open studios, and most of the tourists came, and no one had ever done anything to threaten the art village. That's why everyone thinks that the total time when it happened is very strange, and a large number of artists are missing, which is even more strange, if it is a tourist who is missing, it can also be explained that the security here is not good, but artists, what is the use of robbing them? Moreover, after the disappearance of these artists, the family members did not receive a call from the kidnappers, explaining that the purpose of leaving them was definitely not to make money, no matter how you think about it, it is an inexplicable strange image.

Li Jing nodded: "I will ask my friends in the police station to check what you said, but I think you still have to go to the police station to make a record, first of all, you can now receive messages from friends every month, and I asked the girl in front of me who was looking at the store, she said that these words were sent in batches, which means that those missing artists are still alive, so you have a certain relationship with their disappearance." If, I mean, if something bad happens in the future. Filing with the police is also evidence that you are not directly connected to what happened later. And the paintings you receive can also be used as evidence to help the police find the whereabouts of your missing friends, and maybe find clues about other missing painters to help the police solve the case. More importantly, failure to report information is also regarded as a kind of cover-up of criminals. Strict zhòng is also considered a crime. Don't wait until things come out and you can make amends, it may have a bigger impact on your business. It's a building for your protection, but also for the sake of those artists whose whereabouts are unknown. I still advise you to go to the police station to report the crime. As for the investigation, I can promise you that we will investigate in secret, after all, a public investigation of this matter may be a surprise and not good for your friends. ”

After listening to Li Jing's advice, Mr. Guo didn't speak for a long time, and we sat there awkwardly for about ten minutes, and finally Mr. Guo broke the silence, he glanced at the computer screen, saw someone in the gallery coming to look at the paintings, nodded and said, "Okay." I accept your mention. But you have to make sure that no one else knows that this is happening here. ”

"You can rest assured of that." Li Jing promised him, "After all, I don't want to make unnecessary trouble for myself." However, there are a few things I would like to clarify, and if you can, please answer me truthfully. ”

Mr. Guo nodded.

"I went home yesterday and looked at those paintings, and I want to know the order in which they sent them, do you remember this?"

Mr. Guo nodded solemnly: "This is no problem at all." Although the content of the paintings is different, they are basically all around the same theme, so I can still separate the order. ”

"In what order?" As long as it is a topic of interest, Li Jing's eyes will always be several times brighter than usual when he speaks.

"The order of the seasons is the painting you just looked at called "Carp". It was sent in mid-June, but the color of the lotus leaves on the picture should have been painted in mid to late May, when the lotus leaves should have spread out in the lotus pond, but it was not yet the flowering season. Therefore, there is no sign of flowers blooming, and the carp are active in mid to late May, which is the breeding season for carp, so it is inferred that they should have painted according to the scenery in May. Then in June, the work was sent to me. ”

Li Jing's brows suddenly furrowed, he stared at Mr. Guo and asked, "You mean that you received your friend's painting in May in June?" ”

Mr. Guo was taken aback by Li Jing's reaction and hurriedly replied, "Yes." Almost all of the works I received from the previous month, so I was able to tell you the order in which the paintings were sent. ”

Li Jing ignored what Mr. Guo said, and then asked, "It's the same every time?" ”

Mr. Guo nodded, thought about it again and asked, "Did you send this month's paintings?" ”

Mr. Guo waved his hand: "Not yet, it's the beginning of the month, and it is estimated that I will have to wait a few more days to receive the painting." ”

Li Jing didn't speak, and after a while, he raised his head and asked, "I heard that whether it is a professional painter or an amateur painter, everyone has their own fixed style, and we laymen don't understand these professional knowledge. If so, can you recall those words that don't belong to the style of your artist friends, or look at these paintings and tell me which styles have disappeared? Li Jing took out a text folder from his schoolbag, which was the work he had printed out and Mr. Guo showed us yesterday.

Mr. Guo frowned and began to sort out the paintings, and finally after half an hour of busy work, Mr. Guo divided the words into 6 stacks, checked them for a long time before saying: "There is no disappearing creative style, only an added style." ”

Li Jing breathed a long sigh of relief after hearing this, and said: "That's good, if there is no disappearing style, it means that the suspect in our hometown should only kidnap one of your friends every time, and if the number and style only increase and do not decrease, those friends who disappeared first should still be safe." But when your friends disappeared, the artists in the other studios disappeared at the same time, right? ”

Mr. Guo confirmed that the disappearance did happen during that time, and looking at Li Jing's thoughtful appearance, Mr. Guo thought that Li Jing cast a puzzled look.

Li Jing raised his head and smiled comfortingly at Mr. Guo: "In this case, if the artists on your side are safe so far, then the other people who disappeared may also be safe, although I don't know why the suspect did this, but it shows that the suspect still doesn't want to hurt them now." By the way, do you have any contact information for other studios? I also want to make sure that they haven't been receiving paintings by missing artists one after another, after all, people who have always wanted to get rid of their relationship don't tell the whole truth. (To be continued.) )