When I went out, I saw that the police had already been dispatched. I hailed a taxi.
"Where to?"
I gave the school's address and sat in the car, looking out the window with a sense of melancholy. At this moment, I wondered what I should say to Li Qian, who seemed to know the future, the next time I saw her? This was the first time I had described Li Qian as someone who knew the future, and as soon as the word flashed in my mind, I was stunned. If Li Qian was indeed clairvoyant, had she already guessed that the police were about to talk to her?
Was Li Qian's name fake?
Was her workplace fake?
Was that home also fake?
The only way to contact Li Qian was by phone. Therefore, in keeping with Li Qian's style, she wouldn't wait to be arrested by the police.
If my guess was right, then Li Qian had vanished without a trace? No, Li Qian was an extremely intelligent person. She wouldn't just give the police one answer; she would find that boring.
In this regard, I could understand it: it was the arrogance of the wise.
In my analysis, Li Qian was controlling the entire situation. Therefore, she wouldn't be at the train station. In the final setup, there were only two addresses: the train station and Mandar Mall.
Li Qian, she was waiting for me at Mandar Mall.
"Driver, make a U-turn."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm not going back to school. Let's go to Mandar Mall."
...
Mandar Mall was quite large, with many small shops, one after another. Although it had only been open for a short time in the morning, the flow of customers was already increasing. I walked around the mall several times but couldn't see Li Qian in the crowd.
Had I guessed wrong?
Just then, I smelled food. This reminded me of the mall's food court. I had been here before and knew that the food court had a wide variety of options. I decided to get a cup of coffee to refresh myself and entered the food court. I didn't see coffee yet, but the breakfast options were quite plentiful: fried dough sticks, tofu pudding, sheep soup, pancakes, everything was there. You could even eat malatang here in the morning.
As I was desperately searching for coffee, filled with confusion and disbelief, my mind went blank. By the sheep soup stall, there was a familiar, round-faced man, indeed, it was Old Ghost. Gritting my teeth, I was about to walk past him when Old Ghost called out, "Long time no see, kid! Three yuan fifty a bowl, so much lamb offal; you can't get this in other cities!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Eating!"
Wasn't that obvious? I couldn't be bothered to engage with him and was about to leave again. As expected, Old Ghost said, "The girl you're looking for went out to buy halal pastries; she'll be back any moment."
Damn it~
They were in cahoots!
...
The pastries, wrapped in oil paper, were some soft, some crispy.
Li Qian respectfully placed the pastries in front of Old Ghost, but I snatched them away: "You only know how to eat, eat, eat. Don't you have high blood sugar? High blood lipids? You've gotten fatter since I last saw you, don't you know that?"
"Why are you so agitated?"
"Is this how you play games with people? Since you're in cahoots, couldn't you have just said so beforehand? Playing tricks on me, is that fun!"
Before Old Ghost could answer with a chuckle, Li Qian chimed in, "Junior disciple, don't blame Master. I heard Master took you as a disciple and decided to test you. It was all my idea."
"Don't try to get close. Who's your junior disciple? This fatty isn't my master."
I denied any master-disciple relationship with Old Ghost. Li Qian looked a bit displeased, while Old Ghost chuckled, "Yes, he's not my disciple, and I haven't taught him."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier? I thought you were junior disciples, so I didn't hold back."
"What exactly is going on here?"
Old Ghost said with a smile, "We were tracking Long-Tongued Ghost. We happened to see you setting up your plan here, so we didn't interfere. However, Xiao Qian is curious and wanted to witness your abilities, so she went to the city hospital and replaced Li Qian's identity. Tang Nan, Xiao Qian didn't rate you very highly at the time; you're not good with details."
"What details?" I asked, quite puzzled.
"How could someone steal a hairpin with one hand tied and the other bandaged?"
Hearing this, I didn't consciously reflect but became a little angry: "You're all the same kind of people. For the sake of a fraudster, you made my hand a sieve with needles, was that necessary?"
As soon as I finished speaking, I noticed Li Qian blushing slightly, and then I realized, "You couldn't hit the mark accurately, could you?"
"I only learned for a few days. It was indeed more difficult than I imagined. Wasn't it better later?"
I gave them a thumbs-up: "Amazing!"
To be honest, my reaction was quite emotional, but Old Ghost didn't care and continued to eat the halal pastries, which were oily and sweet. Li Qian, on the other hand, was sensible and took over the conversation: "Originally, I planned to meet you and use you to catch Zhang Keqiang, but something went wrong, and Zhang Keqiang was taken by Governor Zhou. After understanding the situation, we didn't rush to save Zhang Keqiang. Instead, we looked for the person behind Governor Zhou."
"There's someone behind Governor Zhou?"
"Someone gave Governor Zhou advice."
The person who gave the advice was Long-Tongued Ghost, Li Jiu. Governor Zhou had a fondness for art and collected famous paintings. During an overseas trip, Governor Zhou had the fortune to see Willem de Kooning's "Woman III," a famous painting, and was greatly impressed. After returning to China, Governor Zhou couldn't stop thinking about "Woman 3" and even looked for a replica, but there were none in China.
After Jin Bengui died, Long-Tongued Ghost, Li Jiu, arrived in Hohhot that same day. He handled some of the connections between Jin Bengui and "Logical Paradox" and then, playing on his tastes, presented Governor Zhou with a "Woman 3" and gave Governor Zhou an idea to solve his troubles: kill Zhang Keqiang.
In this setup, Zhang Keqiang had no way out. But what no one expected was that Zhang Keqiang had left behind evidence of Governor Zhou's crimes, so Zhang Keqiang was placed under house arrest.
In order to lure out Long-Tongued Ghost, Li Qian's plan to rescue Zhang Keqiang was repeatedly postponed. Finally, realizing that Long-Tongued Ghost would definitely not appear, they decided to rescue Zhang Keqiang. Unexpectedly, something went wrong. As Zhang Keqiang tried to escape, he was discovered by Wang Jun, who stabbed him in a panic, hitting a vital spot. By the time Li Qian drove to a safe place, Zhang Keqiang died from his injuries, unable to be saved.
Handing over a corpse to the special investigation team would undoubtedly lead to a thorough investigation, which was why Li Qian had guided me step by step to uncover this conspiracy.
I was quite puzzled, listening: "Long-Tongued Ghost gave a painting and gained Governor Zhou's trust; I can believe that. Just because of a painting, he incited murder, and Governor Zhou didn't have any suspicion? Was he unintelligent?"
"After appraisal, Governor Zhou believed the painting he received was genuine. Therefore, he chose to believe Long-Tongued Ghost's identity. He might even have thought that once this matter was resolved, he could use Long-Tongued Ghost's financial resources to climb to a higher position."
"Financial resources? Based on a painting?"
"If Governor Zhou believed that Long-Tongued Ghost gave him the genuine article, then this painting is enough to indicate Long-Tongued Ghost's financial strength."
"How much is this painting worth?"
Old Ghost, who had been focused on eating, suddenly held up an index finger when I asked. I guessed and asked, "10 million?"
"One hundred million," Li Qian added.
"A painting is worth one hundred million?"
"One hundred million US dollars."
Rich people are truly something else. In this world, how many people work their hardest for a month and only earn over a thousand yuan in wages. Yet, rich people spend a hundred million US dollars just to acquire a painting.
Seeing my indignant look, Li Qian added, "It's not about the value, it's about the forgery. Long-Tongued Ghost can not only perfectly forge famous paintings but also counterfeit currency. A while ago, Uncle Gao sent me a WeChat message about a sudden surge in counterfeit currency cases across the country. We believe that these counterfeit currency cases are definitely related to Long-Tongued Ghost. Therefore, Master and I decided to go to Chengdu to investigate."
I glanced at Old Ghost and said unhappily, "You don't even talk anymore? You've found someone to speak for you."
"Xiao Qian wants to take you with her, but I disagree. Because we have differing opinions on this matter, we need to seek your opinion. Are you going?"
"No!" I answered resolutely.
Old Ghost smiled, and Li Qian looked disappointed. "Why not? Your abilities can already help us."
"I believe you've been wrong from the start. For years, you've been looking for Long-Tongued Ghost wherever 'Logical Paradox' committed crimes, and you haven't even caught a glimpse of him."
Having hit the nail on the head, Old Ghost finally put down the pastries and sighed, "Tang Nan, this kid of yours is getting smarter and smarter."
Li Qian, on the other hand, seemed a bit unconvinced. She stared at me and asked, "Tell me your reasoning."
"Old Ghost, Long-Tongued Ghost is your brother, isn't he? You're using the excuse of dealing with Long-Tongued Ghost to clean up his messes everywhere, but in reality, you don't want him to fall into the clutches of the law."
Li Qian became displeased: "Tang Nan, how can you speak about Master like that?"
"You don't believe me? What's your name?"
"Han Qianqian!"
"Qianqian, let's make a bet. You go to Chengdu to deal with the counterfeiters, and I'll stay in Hohhot. Let's see who sees Long-Tongued Ghost first."
"Okay, what are we betting on?"
At this moment, Old Ghost said flippantly, "How about we bet on marriage?" Qianqian and I said almost simultaneously, "Shut up!"