Chapter 4 Chapter Four

In the car, I said to Xia Heli: If the pendant belongs to Luo Xiulan.Let's ask Luo Xiulan directly, it seems better, isn't it? He shook his head and said: I will ask later. I waited for him to explain, but he didn't. We drove silently.Then, suddenly, Xia Heli said: I don't believe that Lobo will do anything without telling me first. I don't say anything. Xiulan is a good girl.Xia Heli said: A very nice girl.I don't bother her unless necessary.At least, for now, I'm not going to interfere with her privacy. I thought you wanted to know why she sold the pendant.

yes. Isn't this intervening in the privacy of the young lady? I won't, it's your job, it's just asking you to do it. I see.I said coldly. I feel like a goddam voyeur myself!He screamed out to himself. I waited silently, and after driving a few more streets, I said: Anyway, if it was she who went to find Melobe, Melobe would take good care of her. not necessarily.He said: The problem is that she didn't come to me, but went to him. It must be because things are quite bad.She was a stranger to Merobe compared to me.I really don't understand why you don't come to me, but to him.

I didn't speak again, and I passed eight or nine streets for a long time.Then I said: Is there anything else I should know before meeting Melobe that you haven't told me yet? I want you to go just to be a witness.I am the speaker. Using this method, I pointed out: In case of being stiff, he will attack you.You have no room to turn around.If I speak, you just have to listen.I said fire, and I won't bring you into it. Fuck all of your politeness.He said: "Policies don't work."If I have already started, I will never give up, and I will not give up until I achieve my goal.

If you can achieve your goal.I said: I hope you can too.Anyway, I wish I knew more about that Melobe. He said: Melober was fifty-seven years old.He had mining experience on the Klondike River in Canada.I live alone in the desert, hoping to find good ore seedlings. I have explored the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.He and Hou Shanhu met in Mesaiyan, a city in northwest Colombia.Have you ever been to Mae Seyan? I said: I am a detective, not an explorer. A good place, Xia Heli said: The weather is so good that you can't imagine it.Day and night, the temperature varies within four or five degrees throughout the year, and is always around seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit.The local residents are hospitable, kind, educated and wise.They sit around the courtyard, the fountain

You were there too?I interrupted him. Yes, we've all been there.It was there that we met Hou Shanhu.Strictly speaking, it is not in Mae Seyan, but in the mining area on the river. Where is Luo Xiulan? Yes, it was like yesterday, but it was twenty-two years ago, I think.Coral came back to America once.Her cousin who died in a car accident was Xiulan's mother.Xiulan's father died of a heart attack a few months earlier.Coral has never married and is an old maid.She took the little baby girl, who had no father or mother, and was in trouble, back to Colombia with her.She and the head miner's wife took care of the baby constantly.All of us love this little guy.

All work in the same mine, right?I asked. You can say yes, or you can say no.Melobo and I each have industries that are adjacent to each other. The hydraulic mines over there are huge, huge, and very interesting countries. And Hou Shanhu died shortly after bringing the child back, right? After three or four months, yes. So you also stopped wandering, stopped to manage mines? Not immediately.Melobe and I came back together immediately to make the will affirmation.I haven't been back to South America for a year.Traveling back then was not as convenient as it is now.Now that we know how big this legacy is, we have a hard time.This entrustment surprised us as well, and it was a big surprise.

The two of us are but a couple of young adventurers.Corals are much older than any of us.Old and shrunken, but sane and shrewd.She is capable, but reserved.She never talks about herself.You know, I've been working on this baby for a while now and say it doesn't matter, but it could very well be her own.She loved her as if she had come out. Of course, there was no point in discussing this matter now.Besides, it would be even more inappropriate to cause Xiulan to have this kind of suspicion. I said what was in my heart.Talking on and on like an old woman.You listen to these things, don't say them.Let me tell you, if you do anything to hurt Xiulan, I will wring your neck off myself.

Have you investigated about the cousin, Xiulan's parents? Honestly, we don't.Coral came back from the United States, bringing the baby and the story of the cousin.She returned home for a year.I remember that Lobo and I were researching it in private, and it doesn't make much sense to say it now.Coral told us that the baby girl was Luo Xiulan, the daughter of her cousin of Sanqianli. I wondered if someone was bothering Luo Xiulan for this reason.I can't think of any other reason why she wouldn't come to me for help. How about Melobe?Is there anything you want me to know before meeting him?

I don't see any more.To be honest, Mr. Lai, I really don't think it's interesting for you to come with me.Maybe if you don't go, Rob and I can have a heart-to-heart negotiation. up to you.I said: But he must be wondering, how did you know that he once had that pendant in his hand. Yes, that's right.Xia Heli said: Since you have gone so deep, you should follow to the end. I still listen to you. Xia Heli said: You pretended to be from the Jewelry Trade Association, and you were doing such a routine investigation of selling jewelry.Say what you like.You are smart, you can turn the dead into the living.But don't let him know that you are employed by me.

I'm taking a big risk. Then go on an adventure.I pay you why.Tell you, if you want to please Melobe.You should pay more attention to Pan Qiao. What is Pan Qiao?a dog? No, it's a crow. what happened? I have no idea.I can never for the life of me see why Lob would have a crow as a pet.Crows are harmful birds, dirty and noisy.I'm just trying to like it because of Robb though. Mr. Lai, I must admit that I am really ashamed to count my own colleagues in this way.But this matter must be clarified.This is my responsibility, and it must be done. His place is stucco, with red bricks, green grass and trimmed shrubs.There is a three-car garage at the back.It costs money to maintain such a residence.

Xia Heli jumped out of the car, walked up the front steps, and rang the doorbell in a hasty manner. Half a second later, he tried to open the door again, but the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open and stood politely towards a Side, he wants me to go in first. I said: You better go ahead, I am a stranger after all. rational.Xia Heli said: "He would be upstairs in the attic most of the time he was in the attic.There's a hole in the wall that the goddam crow can walk in and out.Lai, go up the stairs. He is a bachelor? Yes, not married.He lives here alone with a Colombian woman who has been with him for many years.It was a surprisingly large house for a bachelor.Maria probably isn't here, Maria!Hello Maria, is anyone home? Echoes echoed from all over the empty house mocking them. She must have gone shopping.Xia Heli said: Alright, let's go up by ourselves. Xia Heli led the way forward. A hoarse voice called teasingly: Thief!Thief!lie! In a gloomy house, the sudden sound made Xia Heli jump up. That damned crow!Xia Heli made up his mind and said: You should cut off its head, how can you keep this kind of thing as a pet! We went to the top of the stairs.Xia Heli continued forward, walked through an open door, and came to the attic. I heard the flapping of wings, a rough, hoarse, clucking cry.The crow's all-black body flew over the door frame, out of my sight, but I could still hear the flapping of its wings and its typical cluck. Xia Heli took a step forward, and immediately retracted. God!He said. I stand beside him.I could see a man's feet and his legs.Xia Heli moved to the side, and I saw the whole corpse. I have seen people coming out of Qiu Beide's office, lying on their backs with their hands and feet stretched out.Red blood dripped from his back, forming a small pool of blood on the carpet.The deceased's left hand held the phone's handset.The dial body part of the phone is suspended between the table and the carpet. God.Xia Heli called again. His face was pale down to his lips, which twisted and trembled when I looked at him.He felt his lips tremble, and he squeezed them shut to show he was still in control, but the lips became twisted and deformed. Is this Melobe?I asked. Xia Heli ran out of the room.He ran to the stairs and sat down on the top step. That's Melobe.He said: "Look what's in the house to drink, I'm going to throw up. I said: lower the head position.Just put your head between your knees.Let the blood go back to your brain.Don't pass out. Xia Heli lowered his head as I said, and I heard him take a deep breath.There was a gurgling sound in the throat. I went back and stood in the doorway of the room where the murder took place. The deceased was apparently murdered sitting in a chair next to a long desk, dragging his phone off the desk as he collapsed.The handset of the telephone was most likely put into the dead man's hand after his death.There are two letters on the table.The chair was a swivel office chair, which was turned over on the ground, and it could be seen that the deceased was sitting on it. The crow came back into the room.It rests on a chandelier that hangs from the ceiling.It tilted its head to one side, and looked at me disrespectfully with its dark, bright eyes. Thief!it says. lie!I pay it back. It stretched one wing down as far as it could go, with its distinctive rough, hoarse, clucking sound in its throat. In one corner of the room was an enormous iron cage, big enough to hold an eagle.The cage door was open. A faint golden light on something on the table caught my attention.I took a step forward and looked over the table.It was a pendant, apparently exactly the same as the one Xia Heli drew for me, but without the emeralds on it.Take a closer look and see that the small gold hooks holding the original emeralds have been pried up, and the gemstones have been taken away. I saw a 0.22 automatic pistol on the table.An empty shell casing in the ground is reflecting light.I bent down and put my nose up to the muzzle of the gun and sniffed it. I could tell the pistol had only been fired. I saw the green light flickering faintly, clear and deep, like a pond of clear water on a coral reef.It was the best emerald I have ever seen in my life. A thin pigskin glove lay on the table.I see it is just the right size for the dead.He was wearing gloves when he slipped out of Qiu Beide's office.The glove on the table was very similar to that one. The cause of death was obvious.A dagger pierced his heart from behind his left shoulder, below his jawbone.The dagger was not there. I went out, Xia Heli was still sitting at the head of the stairs. He rocked back and forth and moaned. I put my hand on his shoulder and he said: What should I do? I said: two ways. He looked up at me, eyes dim.The flesh on his face suddenly lost its elasticity.If I stretch out a finger and press it, it will definitely form a collapse, and I won't be able to play it for a long time. I said: You have two paths.You can call the police, or you can slip away without calling the police.If all your nonsense and discomfort is a faux pas, you'd better slip away.If his death has nothing to do with you, call the police. He hesitated, he said: how are you?Does the law require you to call the police? Yes. Are you willing to take a chance? I can't, I'll call the police, but I don't think it would be good for us to tell them my name and the names of the people I was with. He recovered from the shock as easily as taking off a coat.He was suddenly a calm businessman. I'm afraid they must come and ask me anyway. possible. They would ask me, where was I when the murder happened? There will probably be. He said: OK, let's report, I think we should retreat outside first, so that I don't get my fingerprints all over the place.I think that's enough for now. Enough already? I don't know what I might have come across. If you ever touch something, it's bad. He looked at me sullenly. I said: There is a pharmacy in front of the street.We can make calls there. Lai, you'll remember, we've all been together for the past hour, haven't we? Twenty minutes have passed.I said. But, before that, I was with Baisha. I don't know what Baisha remembers, and she and I go back to the bridge and go back to the road.