Chapter 158: Chess Game

"More importantly, we currently assume that Ye Ming discovered the killer's killing pattern on the night of February 1, 1984, so he didn't have time to call for reinforcements and went to Xinhua Square alone. His victimization was obviously not in the killer's plan. Is there a possibility that Ye Ming inadvertently saved a potential victim?" Zhong Kui said.

Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu heard this and nodded in unison, but they also understood that forty-two years had passed, and if there really was such a person, the possibility of finding her was already slim.

The top priority is to find the person named "Xu Chunxia" handwritten by Ye Ming. Qi Fei looked at old Ye's handwriting and said: "Lao Ye's partner Li Jianjun is still alive back then. It seems we have to visit him. I don't know if he has any impression of this Xu Chunxia."

Nancheng JN District, the most prosperous area in the Nancheng District in the 80s and 90s, is now a fallen old city area. Many places on the narrow roads cannot even be driven by cars.

In Jinnan Yuan where retired police officer Li Jianjun lives, old-fashioned six-story building groups with red brick outer walls covered with withered vines are scattered, and the mottled unit door iron plates are still branded with the convex characters of "Nancheng Public Security Bureau Family Courtyard".

Moss grows out of the cracks in the cracked cement road surface. Beside the rusty fitness equipment at the corner, there are always two or three white-haired old men holding thermos cups playing chess. Li Jianjun is one of them, with gray-white board-inch hair, a bronze face engraved with the traces of time, and the words of the police station union on the thermos cup in his hand.

He held the "Chariot" and knocked it to the opposite side of the Chu River, and the red wooden chess piece hit with a "click" sound.

"Old Li's move of abandoning the chariot to save the handsome is like catching a pickpocket back then." Old Zhang opposite sipped the tea-stained cup, and his fingers pushed, and the "pawn" on the chessboard had quietly crossed the river.

"Check!" Just as old Zhang was about to be proud of winning the chess game, Li Jianjun suddenly moved the "handsome" into the dead corner of the Nine Palaces. Just as he dropped the piece, he looked up and saw the arrival of Qi Fei and others over old Zhang's shoulder.

Even if he didn't know Qi Fei, his way of walking already let this old criminal police officer know that the younger generation had come. When Qi Fei's gaze fell on him, the eyes of the two met, and he knew even more that this young criminal police officer was looking for him.

"This game is a draw." Li Jianjun suddenly stood up, ignoring old Zhang's lingering retention, and stood in place, letting Qi Fei walk to him.

"Old Li, I am Qi Fei from the Nancheng Criminal Police Team. We are here to learn about the 'Mirror Demon Case'."

At this time, old Zhang, who was pulling and wanting to play chess, also stood up, looked at Li Jianjun with a solemn expression, and said to Qi Fei: "We all heard, old Ye's remains were found?"

Before Qi Fei could answer, Li Jianjun tightened the lid of the thermos cup and said: "Let's talk at home."

As he spoke, he turned and walked toward the gray building with mosaic tiles in the depths of the community.

But after taking two steps, he turned his head and looked at Zhong Kui, who was close to Qi Fei.

This woman with long hair and a cheongsam didn't look like one of his own: "Who are you?" Li Jianjun's tone carried the vigilance of an old criminal police officer.

"Ah, this is a consultant hired by the police station." Qi Fei was suddenly embarrassed and answered quickly.

The Sichuan-shaped lines between Li Jianjun's brows wrinkled: "Why, can't Nancheng Criminal Police solve the case by themselves now?"

Obviously, Li Jianjun had a prejudice because of Zhong Kui's enchanting appearance.

Zhong Kui accepted it happily and said leisurely: "If they learned your three-layered wave marking method, maybe they wouldn't need me."

When hearing "three-layered wave", the wrinkled brows of Li Jianjun suddenly relaxed, and the expression on his face changed from suspicion to surprise, and he looked at Zhong Kui again.

Zhong Kui continued to handle him: "Giving up the chess game that was clearly winning to receive us, time should not be wasted on my insignificant identity, right?"

She saw at a glance the game of chess that old Li announced as a draw, which had already laid out a killing move.

Li Jianjun was speechless and continued to turn and move forward.

Qi Fei didn't understand and asked in Zhong Kui's ear: "What the hell is three-layered wave?"

Zhong Kui was mysterious: "Don't forget, doing homework is my habit." Before coming, she had done a full background investigation on Ye Ming's old partner.

Li Jianjun took them up the narrow stairs. Li Jianjun opened the door. The Clivia on the windowsill had just experienced a cold winter, drooping its head. Behind the glass full of rain stains, the faded group photo on the living room wall was faintly visible—young Ye Ming and Li Jianjun wearing crisp police uniforms standing side by side on the edge.

"Have you been to Xiao Zheng's place?" As soon as Li Jianjun entered the room, the first question he asked was the sound of pouring water in the dim room.

Qi Fei took the enamel cup, his fingertips rubbing the red words of the police station activity souvenir outside the cup: "We did find the evidence box sealed by old Ye at Sister Zheng's house. You just mentioned Ai Yuan... did you know about this long ago?"

Li Jianjun sank into the old rattan chair, and the bamboo strips made an unbearable creaking sound: "After old Ye went missing, I would occasionally bring some food and things to Xiao Zheng. It was not easy for a woman. But I never heard her mention any box... He raised his eyelids and swept over the smiling Ye Ming in the photo on the wall, "He was acting mysteriously half a month before the incident, and even the case analysis meeting was absent-minded. I told him several times that we are partners, and if there is anything on his mind, we must share it together, but old Ye didn't know why he wouldn't tell me. Now it seems that my intuition at that time was right... Sigh..."

As he spoke, Li Jianjun touched a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, looked at Qi Fei's index finger that was not yellowed by smoke, took out a cigarette and lit it and smoked.

Qi Fei placed the enamel cup on the paint-peeling coffee table, and the bottom of the cup collided with the glass plate, making a crisp sound. He took out the yellowed note from the evidence bag, and the three words "Xu Chunxia" in old Ye's vigorous fountain pen handwriting were stained with ink at the crease.

"Old Li, this was found in the evidence box handed over to us by Sister Zheng." Qi Fei pointed to the name through the thin plastic bag, "Did you hear old Ye mention this person back then? For example, some informant, or... potential victim?"

Li Jianjun's cigarette-holding fingers hung in mid-air, and the ash fell on the faded police pants. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the note, his bronze face flickering in the smoke, and then took out his reading glasses from his outer pocket and looked at it closely.

Under Qi Fei's expectant gaze, Li Jianjun finally shook his head: "The special case team investigated more than 700 related people. Until now, you can ask me the name of any person, and I can remember it, but, I am sure, there is absolutely no one named Xu Chunxia in the file."

The cross-ventilation wind outside the window slightly lifted the old group photo on the wall—Ye Ming's young face seemed to come alive... ===== CHAPTER 159 =====