Chapter 375: Another Unexpected Discovery
Translator:?Nyoi-Bo Studio??Editor:?Nyoi-Bo Studio
“My other two hired appraisers are like , they ca in here!” Li ngqi said, disheartened. “No matter what kind of criminal organization or grave robbers, they can’t co to the detention center and ask them to evaluate, right?”
Regarding appraising relics, Zhao Yu did not have much hope because it was most likely that the grave robbers still had the other two old experts from the Cultural Relic Bureau on hand, and the two of them could totally help them with that. Plus, grave robbers that were more advanced were usually appraisers themselves, and so were even better than experts. So, in regards to appraising relics, Zhao Yu did not have much hope.
Then, Zhao Yu redirected his focus to dealing with stolen goods. “Sis, if the grave robbers were to sell the relics locally, where would they go?” Once he brought up such sensitive topic, Li ngqi went silent again. If she were to answer that question, it ant that she had to betray her friends.
“Sis, I guarantee, on my honor, that I will not betray you! Plus, if I were to look for them, I won’t use my identity as a policeman, will that do?” Zhao Yu comforted her as he touched the photo on his phone.
“Sigh! Alright!” Li ngqi sighed. “Flower Market Street, number fifty-three, Flowers of All Nations. Go there and look for Mr. Lee! This person specializes in taking in unearthed relics. Nobody is more professional than he is!”
“Wait…Flower Market Street?” Zhao Yu thought. Hearing the na, he imdiately recalled last night’s fight. “So quickly…another one on Flower Market Street? Number 53? Flowers of All Nations. Oh, the na is not right. The na of this flower shop is not the sa as Fat Sausage’s.”
“Just say that you are my friend. But, you…you better use a buyer’s identity.” Li ngqi thought and said, “If Mr. Lee does not know anything, it ans that the grave robbers did not and would not sell them in Qinshan!”
“Alright!” Zhao Yu nodded as he pondered. “It seems that Flower Market Street is not that simple. Counterfeit relics and buying genuine relics. Is it really a family business?” he thought.
As the interrogation with Li nqi had ended, Zhao Yu wanted to keep his phone and leave, but Li ngqi suddenly pleaded, “Officer, excuse . Can I take another look at your cellphone? I haven’t seen my daughter in a very long ti!”
Seeing that Li ngqi missed her daughter dearly, Zhao Yu couldn’t refuse. He passed his phone to her. Li ngqi quickly took the phone and looked at her daughter’s photo carefully. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at the photo.
Zhao Yu looked at Li ngqi and thought quickly in his mind, “What else would this woman know? Relic, relic… She’s an expert that buys relics. Besides Mr. Lee, what else could she tell ?”
Li ngqi was already fifty-years-old. She could be given a life sentence for the black market case alone. She would most likely spend the rest of her life in prison!
“But, this woman had been running a black market organization for so many years. She had her glory days. Maybe… Wait! Qinshan! Black rchant! For so many years?! Then…” Suddenly, a peculiar idea popped into Zhao Yu’s head. He quickly took back his phone and found another photo from the internal server. The photo was none other than the photo of the female corpse in the mandarin jacket.
“Sis, take a look at this photo. This is a case from eighteen years ago.” Zhao Yu passed Li ngqi the photo and said, “Look at the costu that she’s wearing; it’s an authentic ancient costu. Look carefully, what can you think of?”
Li ngqi did not expect Zhao Yu to show her a corpse, and her expression changed completely. She looked at the photo unwillingly.
“From the design, it should be from the Qing Dynasty! And,” Li ngqi creased her eyebrows and said with uncertainty, “the clothing looks so bright. It should be new?”
“It really is from the Qing Dynasty, and it was really an ancient costu, but it’s not new,” Zhao Yu explained.
“No, that’s not what I ant… Mm…” Li ngqi said in embarrassnt, “Can you get
a pair of glasses? I can’t really see clearly!”
“Okay!” Zhao Yu quickly asked for help from the guards.
“Officer, what I ant by new is that no one has worn this piece of clothing before. From what I see, this costu looks like a burial object. The owner of the tomb should be a rich man’s wife or sothing like that!” Li ngqi said.
“Oh… You’re pretty good at this!” Zhao Yu suddenly realized, “Sis, you seem pretty familiar with ancient tombs. What you told
earlier about it being sad, and you wouldn’t take any unearthed relics was a joke, right?”
“Cough! In our line, you get to know a bit about everything!” The guard ca with a pair of glasses and Li ngqi looked carefully at the photo again after putting them on. “Officer, I vaguely rember this. This was what happened back then when they upgraded Qin River Bridge many years ago, right?” Li ngqi asked curiously, “I don’t understand, why are you showing this to ?”
“Mm…” Zhao Yu was searching for an excuse when Li ngqi suddenly said, “That’s really weird. I have never told anyone before. How did you find out?”
Huh?! Hearing what Li ngqi said, Zhao Yu was shocked. “What…what do you an? Is Li ngqi related to the Female Corpse in Ancient Costu Case?” he thought to himself.
“Hehe…” Li ngqi suddenly smiled and said solemnly, “Alright. As I did not say anything back then, I might as well tell you now! Actually, the dead woman in the photo, I’ve seen her before!”
“Huh?! Motherf*cker. What…what’s going on?” Zhao Yu thought in disbelief. He was shocked. He had not gotten a “Gen” hexagram that day! How could he suddenly find out sothing important about the case?
“Do you know who this woman is?” Zhao Yu asked in shock.
“I don’t know,” Li ngqi answered seriously. “I’ve only seen her once!”
“Huh? Seen her?” Zhao Yu quickly asked, “How did you see her?”
“Sigh! Since it’s been so many years, I’ll just tell you!” Li ngqi was holding Zhao Yu’s cellphone as she said, “I inherited the business from my grandfather. About twenty years ago, I was my grandfather’s assistant, helping him take care of financial stuff.
“Once, in my grandfather’s study room, I saw this woman, and not once only!” Li ngqi recalled, “She was a woman from the south. She looked so beautiful that I couldn’t forget her even after one look.”
“Oh? Then…who is she? What does she do?” Zhao Yu asked.
“I think she should be in the sa business as us. I’m only guessing. My grandfather was a very strict person, and his temperant was pretty bad too, so I dared not ask!” Li ngqi pondered. “Then, after two-three years, I saw the news in the paper and the governnt’s notice. Although her body had decayed, I could recognize that she was that woman!”
Tsk tsk… Zhao Yu listened carefully. As he could see, the Female Corpse in Ancient Costu Case was extrely complicated.
“Don’t complain that I didn’t report this earlier!” Li ngqi said straightforwardly, “What we do cannot be revealed. The worst thing I could have done was get involved with the police. Plus, the relationship between my grandfather and the woman seed to be intimate. I was worried that her death was related to my grandfather! So, all the more reason not to say anything!”
“Mm… Why hasn’t the case not been solved after so many years?” Li ngqi asked. “I rember that the case was quite influential. The village invited many monks to do various kinds of ceremonies as well!
“Officer, I think that the woman’s death was definitely related to romance. Because…the woman was too beautiful! I’ve lived for so long, but I’ve never seen such a beautiful person!”
“Is it related to romance? Is it a cri of passion?” Zhao Yu wondered.
“And I rember another detail. I’m not sure whether or not it will help.” Li ngqi continued, “Back then when my grandfather was talking to the woman, he always brought up the word ‘Gege’. I realized later on that ‘Gege’ was the woman’s na. It should be a term of endearnt, a nickna or sothing.”
Gege? Zhao Yu creased his eyebrows tighter.
“So, for the occasion,” Li ngqi sighed, “they killed her and made her wear a mandarin jacket from the Qing Dynasty. If it’s not because of romance, then I don’t know what it was for.”
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