Lao Chen learned from Zong Zhenlei that when he went to the county seat of Fujian, he lost his wallet and contained a letter inside, and suddenly the long-lost pleasure hung on his eyebrows; Judging from the clue chain, it is very likely that the lost wallet was stolen by Liu Ermao, and the letter inside should be the object that Liu Ermao wanted to get by killing him.

But then he frowned again, the key to determining the establishment of this clue chain was whether the word "Yanqiu" was mentioned in the letter; When he heard that it was not "Yanqiu" but "Yanqiu" during the conversation, he didn't think it was a problem at first, but when he heard the statement that "Yanqiu" was a big stone henge, he didn't feel "chuckle" in his heart; Although he has never been sure whether "Yanqiu" is a person or a thing, he feels that this great stone henge in the north is related to the act of killing people in the south, and there is a feeling that it is a thousand miles away; He secretly thought, could it be that there is another "Yanqiu"?

The idea that immediately arose in his mind was that since Professor Li had asked Zong Zhenlei to pass it on, he should hurry up and find Professor Li and verify with him whether the letter was written as "Yanqiu" or "Yanqiu". In addition, Zong Zhenlei and Professor Li are in the same research team, and the information that the police are tracking the empty edge is now known to Zong Zhenlei, and Professor Li may know it soon; Therefore, he realized that without further ado, he needed to meet Professor Li as soon as possible to conduct an inquiry, which was the important thing he told Xiao Zhang to do.

After they contacted the local police, it didn't take long for them to get feedback: when they went to S University, the staff of the University Security Office would wait at the north gate of S University, and the staff would be responsible for leading the way to find Professor Li.

Xiao Zhang drove quickly to the north gate of S University, and the two got in touch with the personnel of the school security office who had been waiting there for a long time, and under his leadership, they found Professor Li who was in a meeting.

The security officers called Professor Li out of the venue and left. After Xiao Zhang registered Professor Li's natural condition in accordance with the regulations for making records, Lao Chen got straight to the point and said: "We are looking for an empty fate, she is involved in a criminal homicide case. ”

After listening to this, Professor Li asked eagerly, "What homicide?" Who was killed? ”

Lao Chen still used the old method to test Professor Li's reaction first: "That abbot of the small fishing village monastery Tongyun was poisoned, you should know him; At present, there is a major suspicion of the empty edge. ”

Professor Li was taken aback and said, "That's it! How so! ”

Lao Chen saw two points from Professor Li's surprised expression, one was the content of their conversation with Zong Zhenlei, Zong Zhenlei did not tell Professor Li, because Professor Li's expression showed that he did not know Tongyun's death; The second is that no matter what the relationship between Professor Li and Kongyuan is, it is obvious that Kongyuan did not tell him that Tongyun is dead; These two points show that the act of killing the two of them may be her own initiative.

Lao Chen asked Professor Li to talk about the situation of going to the small fishing village monastery back then.

Professor Li's eyes wandered, recalling the activities he went to the small fishing village monastery five years ago, and the experience of getting to know Tongyun and Kongyuan.

Xiao Zhang interjected: "Five years ago? How old were they at the time? ”

Professor Li glanced at Xiao Zhang: "At that time, Tongyun was eighty-two years old, and Kongyuan was sixteen years old. ”

Lao Chen stared at Professor Li and asked, "Have you been there for a while, do you know that Kongyuan is a woman?" ”

A panic flashed in Professor Li's eyes, and he hesitated and replied, "I don't know." ”

Professor Li didn't say anything more, and Lao Chen didn't ask again; Lao Chen suddenly asked this question, not expecting an answer, still wanting to see Professor Li's reaction.

Lao Chen's words changed: "We still have something we want to verify with you; We understand that you sent a letter to the Void not long ago, and we ask you to recall the contents of that letter. ”

Professor Li immediately got up and said, "Wait, I'll go and get the laptop, there is a draft of the letter on it." ”

Lao Chen nodded in agreement, sat still, and gave Xiao Zhang a look.

Xiao Zhang understood, got up and followed Professor Li to the venue. Xiao Zhang stood outside the door, watched Professor Li enter the venue, greeted the conference host, retrieved the computer, and came back with Professor Li.

Professor Li turned on his computer and pulled up the letter.

The content of the letter first described the spring color on the edge of the local Fen River, mentioned a scenic spot engraved with the word "Yanqiu" by the river, and then recalled that when he was collecting wind in a small fishing village temple, Kongyuan took Professor Li up the mountain to play, and when he saw a big stone henge on the mountain, he told Kongyuan the story of "Yanqiu" on the bank of the Fen River; At the end of the letter, he asked if he remembered the scene back then, and said that he hoped to have the opportunity to meet again, etc.

It seems to be an old friend reminiscing about the old days, and there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Lao Chen noticed the word "Yanqiu" in the letter, and he took a deep breath: it can already be confirmed that Kongyuan killed Liu Ermao in order to seize this letter; But what he felt in his heart was not the joy of solving the mystery, but the ensuing mystery: why did Kong Yuan kill people for the big stone henge scenic spot "Yanqiu"?

Zhang looked at the date the letter was archived on the Word document, which was consistent with the date on which the letter was signed. After obtaining Professor Li's consent, Xiao Zhang took a photo of the credit letter on his mobile phone and saved another copy into his mobile phone; When he doesn't have a USB flash drive, he usually uses his phone as a memory and exports it when he goes back.

Lao Chen looked directly at Professor Li again and asked, "Did you know that the empty edge came to this city?" ”

Professor Li didn't hesitate this time, looked at Lao Chen and shook his head, but didn't speak.

Lao Chen asked Xiao Zhang to hand Professor Li, who was packing up his laptop with his head down, a business card, and said, "If you find any traces of the empty edge, please tell us in time, and if you think of anything that needs to be added, please call us in time." ”

The expression on Professor Li's face relaxed, looked at the business card, and said repeatedly: "Okay, good, I hope I won't cause you trouble." ”

The two policemen drove out of the gate of S University and walked straight west along Xuefu Street; It was dusk, and a red sunset appeared in the western sky, as if it had been burned by fire.

Xiao Zhang pointed to the sunset for Lao Chen to see: "When I was in elementary school, there was a text that said that such a cloud is called 'fire cloud', which can often be seen in our hometown, and our teacher even took us to the beach to see it." ”

Lao Chen listened but didn't say anything, he only thought about his thoughts, he never got rid of the word "Yanqiu" in Professor Li's letter; He was thinking, if "Yanqiu" was just a pile of boulders, what was it that made the empty edge have such a big impulse? He recalled what the network administrator said for Liu Ermao, "It's about Yanqiu", and later it really triggered Kongyuan to make a deal with Liu Ermao, and it was unbelievable that Kongyuan would care so much about this pile of boulders. He thought again, could the letter he received not be the one Professor Li had asked him to read, but that there was another letter? However, judging from Professor Li's frank look when they asked them to read the letter, it does not seem like there is anything to hide, and the time of archiving the letter is consistent with the date of the letter. However, it was this letter with a bland content that actually made Kongyuan ruthlessly kill in order to regain it, which is unbelievable.

The car passed by a park, and Lao Chen looked up to see that there were four big characters on the wall of the park: "Xuefu Park"; Lao Chen said to Xiao Zhang: "Let's go into the park and sit down." ”

Xiao Zhang parked the car in the park's parking lot, and the two got out of the car together.

This northern park is the same as their park, full of people, people who play poker and chess in the park during the day, are using the rest of the day to do the final game fight; The first wave of people who like to square dance and sing in the evening have also begun to enter, and are camping in their respective territories to adjust the sound.

Lao Chen stopped in front of an ash bucket in a secluded place, his hand in his trouser pocket; Xiao Zhang, who was following behind, naturally understood that this was a signal that Lao Chen wanted to "smoke", so he took out the cigarette case first, handed him a cigarette, and took out a cigarette himself.

Lao Chen took two puffs of cigarette, squinted his eyes and said, "This Professor Li is lying." ”

Xiao Zhang puffed a cigarette and asked, "Where did you see it?" ”

Lao Chen sat down: "When people speak, some people speak to express their original intentions, while some people speak to cover up their intentions, and at this time, his subconscious eyes or actions are the easiest to expose his true psychology; Just now I asked him if he knew that Kongyuan was a woman, and he said that he didn't know, usually in this case, he would be surprised to suddenly learn that his old friend was a person of the opposite sex that he didn't know, and he would ask more about the situation, but he didn't; At that time, a panic flashed in his eyes, but it was not his panic when he suddenly learned that his old friend was of the opposite sex, but more like the panic he showed after our old friend's identity was known, he didn't ask any further questions, which means that he was not curious about the identity of the opposite sex, or he already knew the identity of his old friend, so he was lying if he said he didn't know. ”

Xiao Zhang put forward another speculation: "Maybe he was worried that we would ask, so he simply avoided talking about it." ”

Lao Chen snuffed out his cigarette, nodded, and said, "That means that he knows that Kongyuan is a woman, and he is worried that we will pull out something related to him." After I asked the next question, did he offer to pick up the computer just to calm his emotions at the same time, so as not to expose his uneasy demeanor to me? However, at the moment these can only be speculation, and evidence needs to be found. ”

"Evidence? What do you think of that letter? ”

"His letter seems to have been prepared there for a long time, waiting for someone to check it."

"Yes, it seems that he has already prepared for defense, which shows that this professor is not a simple person; I thought of a question, how could such a simple greeting letter from an old friend cause such a strong action in the void? ”

"That's a good question, it shows that there are still elements that we don't master."

"You finally asked him if he knew that he had arrived in this city, and he immediately shook his head, indicating that he was ready to answer this question with his head in his heart, did it also seem like he was lying?"

Lao Chen handed Xiao Zhang a cigarette and said, "And then he began to pack up his laptop, as if he deliberately avoided our eyes." You take your phone out and let me look at his letter again. ”

Xiao Zhang handed the phone to Lao Chen, took the cigarette, and helped Lao Chen light the cigarette. Lao Chen took a puff of his cigarette and looked at the letter.

On the nearest stone terrace, the cheerful music of Xinjiang dance came from the music, and a group of people danced Xinjiang dance in style.

Lao Chen handed the phone back to Xiao Zhang, exhaled heavily, and said, "After reading this letter, I feel like I haven't said anything substantive; But since it can cause such a strong reaction from the empty edge, it must be something to say! ”

Xiao Zhang put away his phone and thought about it and said, "I have a new idea, could it be another factor to kill Liu Ermao in the air, not this letter?" ”

Lao Chen was silent for a while, and said in a low voice: "That means overturning the previous judgment and finding a new way." As he spoke, he put out the cigarette butt in his hand in the tray of the ash bucket.

Xiao Zhang thought silently for a while, and said: "I know that the new way will increase your psychological burden, because if there is a mistake in the early investigation and judgment, it will not only delay the progress of solving this big case that has been registered in the county, but also greatly affect the entire case-handling team and even the entire criminal investigation team." But even so, I think we still need to face the facts and find a solution. ”

Seeing that Lao Chen was silent, Xiao Zhang handed Lao Chen a cigarette again, and said: "Look at it this way, I will restore our judgment on the case of Kongyuan's killing of Liu Ermao in the early stage, combined with the newly obtained situation, and you can also see where the loopholes are." ”

Seeing Lao Chen nodded, Xiao Zhang put the cigarette he was about to light behind his ear, took out a small book, and restored the history of the case: "After Zong Zhenlei went to a small county town in Fujian, he was stolen by Liu Ermao and his wallet was a letter in the wallet, which was brought by Professor Li to Zong Zhenlei and handed over to Kongyuan; Liu Ermao read the letter and was about to use it to do business, so he sent a message to Kongyuan through the network manager of the Internet café in the small fishing village, saying that there was a letter that needed to be exchanged for money, and that it was related to 'Yanqiu', and asked Kongyuan to contact him; after Kongyuan learned this information, he got in touch with Liu Ermao and came to the train station as promised. ”

Xiao Zhang looked at Lao Chen, saw that he had no objection, and continued: "Kongyuan arrived at the familiar environment in advance, and then went to see Liu Ermao to ask him for this letter, after seeing Liu Ermao's action of preparing to take out the letter, Kongyuan knew that the letter was brought, so he deliberately led Liu Ermao to avoid the surveillance camera, and then killed Liu Ermao at the unfinished building, beat Liu Ermao to death, and took the letter from his trouser pocket. ”

Lao Chen smoked a cigarette, squinted his eyes and listened, and said, "This is the process." ”

Xiao Zhang lit the cigarette behind his ear, took a big puff and said: "The question now is, the letter is there, the 'Yanqiu' is also there, and nothing unusual has been found, where else should I start?" ”

Lao Chen wanted to think about it quietly, so he turned around and left this place where there were all kinds of music sounds everywhere, and walked towards the parking lot with his head down, without saying a word all the way. When he got to the car, he looked back at Xiao Zhang and said, "I think the key point is 'Yanqiu', where there are factors we don't understand." ”

Xiao Zhang suggested: "I checked on the map of Gaode, and the scenic spot of 'Yanqiu' is not far from here, so let's go over and see it now." ”

Lao Chen said: "Okay, go to the field and have a look." Then he said: "Contact the police here tomorrow, and monitor the professor's mobile phone, and it is estimated that Kongyuan will contact him." ”

Xiao Zhang said, "Okay. The two got into the car. started the car, but Xiao Zhang didn't let the car go immediately, paused, turned around and said to Lao Chen with a smile: "I'm a little hungry." With you every day, I have become a workaholic, and I can't eat on time. ”

Lao Chen listened to Xiao Zhangyi's words and remembered: "On the road just now, I paid attention to the signboard of the restaurant on the street, and found that there were fish to eat, and there were quite a few of them. ”

"Then I'm not a fish flounder on my back? You don't need to ask, let's go back to eat fish floss after reading it, just order rice and vegetables. ”

"I heard that in the past, the soldiers of the Yan army had to carry a gourd with vinegar everywhere, and it was said that the vinegar outside did not have the fragrance at home; I think you're doing the same thing! Now that the transportation is developed and the materials are so abundant, there are fish everywhere, so why do you need to carry them from your hometown! ”

When Xiao Zhang heard this, he argued loudly: "What you said is not right, although things are found everywhere now, but hometown is the taste of hometown, and when you go out of your hometown to other places, the taste will change; He saw Lao Chen smiling, and said, "Hey, don't believe it, the fish in the fish pond and the fish fished out and raised in the fish tank taste different!" Do you see our soy sauce water, sweet and spicy sauce, where can you eat it elsewhere? What is in my hometown can never be replaced anywhere else. ”

Lao Chen touched his stomach and said, "You made me hungry, and I was hungry too; In this way, let's eat first, and then go to the river to see that attraction after eating, and it will be wiser when we are full...... The more we talk, the hungrier I get, so let's find a place to try the fish here. ”