Liu Chenxi actually suspected "Fourth Master" as the killer. I was quite puzzled. I had met Fourth Master before, so why would Liu Chenxi suspect him? From my interactions with him, I sensed that Fourth Master was also searching for the killer.
"Why do you suspect Fourth Master?"
"After Da Wang died, Fourth Master's men came to my house and searched everything. I don't know what they were looking for, but they didn't look like good people."
Fourth Master's thugs indeed didn't look like good people, and it was true that Fourth Master was looking for Liu Chenxi. But why would they search her belongings if they were just looking for someone? It seemed there was more to this than I knew.
"Then choose a place to stay."
"A regular hotel nearby."
"Alright, and there's one more thing. I want to sell the antiques my mother left behind and leave Beijing. Can I sell my things at the Ghost Market?"
I smiled helplessly. "Sister, if you trust me, then don't go to the Ghost Market. If we can find you there, do you think Fourth Master can't?"
"If I leave Beijing, I don't know where else I can sell antiques."
"For your safety, let me see the antiques. If they're suitable, I'll buy them."
The bag Liu Chenxi was carrying contained some worthless items that Bi Da Wang had found for her. The items she wanted to sell were in her inner pocket. When she took them out, my heart sank.
A thumb ring?
Opening the pocket, it was indeed a thumb ring, tarnished and black, as greasy as mine. Old Tie walked over and asked, "Do you want me to take a look?"
I shook my head. This item wouldn't reveal anything. Based on Fourth Master's methods, this thumb ring had an artificial patina, concealing its true nature.
"How much do you want for it?"
"Do you think twenty thousand is a fair price?"
Liu Chenxi's words displeased Old Tie. "This thumb ring is Qing Dynasty style, but judging by the craftsmanship, it's definitely not imperial. Every Eight Banners son had one of these. If the material is average, let alone twenty thousand, no one would buy it for two thousand!"
"I believe that the things my mother left behind, like the sapphire ring, are genuine. This thumb ring should also be genuine. After all, my father dealt in cultural relics before he went to prison."
Old Tie was about to say more, but I stopped him. "Alright, twenty thousand it is. It's almost morning, I'll go to the bank and get you the money."
"Tang Nan, are you crazy? Twenty thousand for this piece of junk? Do you have money to waste?"
"Trust me. Remember the 'schemer' I told you about? With this, I can set up the trap."
I tried to keep my voice low, but in the dead of night, I felt Liu Chenxi might hear me. However, when I looked at her, she was lost in thought, seemingly not hearing what Old Tie and I were discussing.
...
I bought a Jianbing Guozi from a breakfast cart near the hotel and ate it while waiting for the bank to open. My mind was filled with the story we had discussed. I vaguely felt that Liu Cheng, Liu Chenxi's father, might have a connection to Fourth Master.
When the bank opened, I withdrew twenty thousand in cash and completed the transaction with Liu Chenxi. Then, I took the thumb ring to the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Wang Zeyu was making himself some tea and smiled at me. "You're very proactive with your work. How about you take the civil service exam? Even if it's just a special police officer, I'd consider getting you into the Criminal Investigation Bureau."
I chuckled. "Captain Wang, please don't joke. I'm not cut out to be an official."
"Working in the Criminal Investigation Bureau is about serving the people, not being an official. Enough of that, let's get back to business. Was your plan successful?"
"It was and it wasn't."
Wang Zeyu's eyes lit up, and he looked at me in surprise. "Then you'd better tell me all about it."
My plan was to use a fake emerald cat's eye to stir things up and attract the other party's attention. Schemers are usually very smart people. I believed that smart people were inevitably proud, and by impersonating the Cat's Eye Man to deceive others, the target would likely reveal themselves.
However, my plan failed. I stirred things up, but instead of luring out a snake, I attracted a tiger. Fourth Master in Beijing was someone I couldn't afford to offend.
Speaking of untouchables, Wang Zeyu chuckled. "Beijing is a place where the entire country is watching. We have always adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards crime."
"Since that's the case, I'm relieved. Fourth Master is looking for Liu Chenxi, and I've hidden her. With your assurance, I'm not afraid of Fourth Master causing trouble for me."
"I know Liu Chenxi. I've seen the file on Bi Da Wang's case. Liu Chenxi is not the killer; she has an alibi. What puzzles me more is why you've hidden Liu Chenxi. What's your game?"
"That depends on whether you can investigate Fourth Master's background first."
Wang Zeyu was straightforward. He picked up the phone and dialed Yu Xiaoluo. "Xiaoluo, check on Bi Da Wang's brother-in-law. Get me the information. Yes, Tang Nan is here. If you have any grievances, you can come over."
I shivered, recalling how rudely I had hung up on Yu Xiaoluo yesterday. After Wang Zeyu finished the call, I looked at him with dissatisfaction. "You're fanning the flames."
"Who told you to keep me in suspense? Are you going to tell me now?"
"I can tell you, but first, I'll show you a magic trick."
Wang Zeyu frowned and glanced at his watch. "I have a meeting at nine, so I have twenty minutes. Within these twenty minutes, you need to not only finish your magic trick but also report on the completion of your mission."
"Yes, leader."
I took a paper cup from Wang Zeyu's desk, filled it with some water, and then took out the baking soda I bought at the shop by the entrance. I poured some into the cup, dropped in the thumb ring, and watched the time. After a few minutes, I could feel a chemical reaction between the surface of the thumb ring and the baking soda. I quickly took out the thumb ring and rubbed it vigorously with my T-shirt. The originally tarnished thumb ring had a new appearance. The polished thumb ring had clear carvings and inscriptions. It looked like a green jade, but there was a reddish-brown patina on the surface. I had seen this patina in books. This thumb ring was made of crimson jade, an extremely rare material.
However, the most valuable thing was not the material, but the patterns and carvings on the thumb ring. They were identical in style to the jade thumb ring I had given to Fourth Master.
"Oh, you're starting to look like someone from the martial world. What is this?"
"Bait!"
"Bait for what?"
"Have you investigated Fourth Master's identity?"
Wang Zeyu was a bit displeased. "Why are you in such a hurry? Haven't I just made a call?"
"Then make another one."
"Xiaoluo has a bad temper."
"There's no other way, is there?"
Wang Zeyu called again. Xiaoluo had just finished checking Fourth Master's name. To me, this name explained everything. Fourth Master's name was Jiang Wufang!
Liu Chenxi had always insisted that Bi Da Wang was a kind person. In my understanding, kind people don't lie. Bi Da Wang deceiving people while pretending to be a good person to Liu Chenxi was a contradiction. Furthermore, his reasoning was far-fetched. He claimed that after seeing Liu Chenxi help an old lady cross the street, he had a change of heart, abandoned the Eight Great Hutongs of Beijing, and was determined to get married.
Ridiculous!
If Fourth Master was Jiang Wufang, then some things made sense.
From my interactions with Fourth Master, he had a peculiar fondness for that set of thumb rings. Collectibles themselves have no inherent value; their value is determined by the collector's preferences and purchasing power.
During the Qianlong era, imperial thumb rings, and a set at that. With inscriptions and historical records. I heard that thumb rings symbolized status and position in the Qing Dynasty, and collecting a complete set would definitely befit Fourth Master's status and position. Moreover, the origin of this set of thumb rings was also linked to Fourth Master; he and Liu Cheng had dug them out from Jinyuchi together in the past.
Jinyuchi became famous because of an article by Lao She, but in the early eighties, it was essentially a sewer. A national treasure dug out from a sewer changed Fourth Master's life.
Now that Fourth Master was doing so well in Beijing, it was likely his lifelong wish to reassemble this set of Qianlong thumb rings.
...
Under these circumstances, Fourth Master would certainly seek out Liu Cheng's descendants. And at this time, Liu Chenxi was in Beijing, which was like a godsend to Fourth Master. Fourth Master sent his brother-in-law, Bi Da Wang, to contact Liu Chenxi, understand her personality, and set up a trap based on her character.
Fourth Master's wife ran an auction house, and they used a fraudulent auction to lure Liu Chenxi into the trap.
They first attracted Liu Chenxi with a free model to attend the auction. Once in the store, they found a group of experts who highly praised Liu Chenxi's sapphire ring as genuine. They encouraged Liu Chenxi to get it appraised. While Liu Chenxi was overjoyed, they called her to inform her that the item had failed to sell and asked her to pay an appraisal fee. Bi Da Wang, as her boyfriend, would have known Liu Chenxi's financial situation intimately.
According to the plan, Liu Chenxi wouldn't be able to come up with the money, and her sister-in-law would resolve the issue and even induce Liu Chenxi to bring out other antiques for appraisal and auction.
This was Fourth Master's scheme.
However, unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, someone intervened. This person was the Cat's Eye Man.
Because Bi Da Wang was dead, we couldn't know how the Cat's Eye Man persuaded him. In any case, Bi Da Wang did not follow Fourth Master's instructions. Instead, he incited Liu Chenxi to set up a trap.
This was a scheme within a scheme, an auction trap. Fourth Master's target was the Qianlong thumb ring, while the Cat's Eye Man's target was naturally Fourth Master's family of swindlers. Qin Sisi once said that the Cat's Eye Man's schemes were "testing grounds for human nature," specifically targeting swindlers, making them kill each other, and ultimately profiting.
At this point, we can only infer that Bi Da Wang knew the value of the Qianlong thumb ring and wanted a piece of the pie. But I believe Fourth Master was not yet at the stage of silencing him, nor did he have a reason to. Therefore, it's possible that Bi Da Wang made a mistake, and everything went awry.
I explained my analysis to Wang Zeyu. Wang Zeyu glanced at his watch. "My meeting is about to start, and there's no time to evaluate your deductions. But I believe everything you've said. So, go and tell Xiaoluo to, along with the Serious Crimes Unit, re-investigate Liu Chenxi's alibi. As for you, stabilize Liu Chenxi while continuing to advance your investigation according to your own judgment."
I looked at Wang Zeyu in astonishment. Wang Zeyu taught me a valuable lesson: Liu Chenxi, who had been hiding in the background, was likely the mantis lurking behind the cicada.
They were all lying. Bi Da Wang was not a kind person, and Liu Chenxi, who was with this man several years her senior, likely had her own agenda. And all of this was probably under the control of the Cat's Eye Man.
The Cat's Eye Man's "testing ground for human nature" had just begun, and Bi Da Wang's death was definitely not the end.