Xu Chunliang got out of the taxi and saw a black Toyota Alphard parked in front of Huichun Hall.
The car had just arrived not long ago, and the door opened as Hua Zhuyue called out to him, "Chunliang, get in the car!"
Xu Chunliang was not surprised to see Hua Zhuyue; the incident involving Yang Mufeng at the Seven Star Bar happened at their Blue Star Group, and her arrival in Dongzhou was definitely related to this matter.
Xu Chunliang paid the fare and entered the Alphard.
Hua Zhuyue said, "I was thinking of going in to find you."
Xu Chunliang said, "Since you’re here, why not co in for a cup of tea?"
Hua Zhuyue shook her head and said, "No need, I ca to ask you about sothing. I’ll visit Elder Xu when I have ti."
Xu Chunliang understood her current situation. Yang Mufeng’s unexplained death at Seven Star had caused the bar to suspend operations.
Xu Chunliang told Hua Zhuyue what he knew about the situation. From an outsider’s perspective, the bar was innocent, and Yang Mufeng’s death had beco a black swan event for Blue Star Group.
"Doesn’t your bar have surveillance?" In this day and age, even liquor stores have surveillance, let alone a top-notch bar like Seven Star in Dongzhou.
Hua Zhuyue sighed and said, "There is surveillance, but it can’t cover all angles without any blind spots. All the surveillance footage has been taken by the police, and the specifics are still unknown."
Xu Chunliang said, "Didn’t any of the staff have any impression at all?"
Hua Zhuyue shook her head.
Xu Chunliang said, "Let’s wait for the police investigation results."
The driver parked the car in front of Seven Star Bar. The wind was strong today, and the empty parking lot was covered with fallen leaves. Because the bar had given all its employees a vacation, no one had cleaned up, making the scene appear rather desolate.
The two got out of the car, and Hua Zhuyue took out a cigarette from her handbag. Xu Chunliang helped her light it, rembering she seed to have quit smoking, but it appeared she hadn’t succeeded and started again.
Hua Zhuyue took a puff and said, "Thanks!"
Xu Chunliang said, "Did they say when they could reopen?"
Hua Zhuyue replied, "Even if we reopen, there won’t be many people coming in the short term, so I simply let them have ti off. After the police lift the alert, we’ll renovate again."
This year, Seven Star Bar had already experienced several incidents, two of which involved Xu Chunliang. Through adversity, Xu Chunliang and Hua Zhuyue had now beco friends who helped each other in tis of need.
Blue Star’s performance had been declining all last year, and this year’s start was worse than the sa ti last year. Hua Zhuyue had originally planned to increase revenue during the Spring Festival peak spending season, but now it was all ruined. At least in Dongzhou, it was no longer possible, and the subsequent impact on Blue Star Group was still uncertain.
Hua Zhuyue said, "To be honest, I suspect soone is trying to sabotage our business."
Xu Chunliang said, "Do you know about OMMIA opening a branch in Dongzhou No.1?"
Hua Zhuyue said, "I ca over this ti because I was invited to their opening reception. Are you free this evening? Co with ."
Xu Chunliang laughed and said, "Since you asked, of course, I’ll gladly accept." Even without Hua Zhuyue’s invitation, he planned to check it out. It was ti to settle old scores.
Hua Zhuyue took another drag and said, "What kind of person was Yang Mufeng?"
Xu Chunliang said, "I’m not that familiar with him. This person was forrly the director of cardiology at Hai Zhou Second Hospital. Tang Jinglun brought him in as high-level talent to Huanyan Health as deputy general manager. He had only been in the position for a few days, and then unexpectedly, he died."
Hua Zhuyue didn’t care much about Yang Mufeng’s life or death. From her perspective, there must be a conspiracy behind Yang Mufeng’s death, and she even suspected that this conspiracy was not only targeting Yang Mufeng but also their Blue Star Group.
Although the He Dong Group and Blue Star Group both belonged to the Orchid Sect, He Dong Group had developed rapidly in recent years. President Pan Tianhua had been defying the Sect Leader Ji Buyao openly and covertly. With the constant growth of He Dong Group, Pan Tianhua now had the strength to rival Ji Buyao.
Hua Zhuyue had long reminded Ji Buyao to beware of the ambitious Pan Tianhua. If allowed to continue developing, He Dong Group would keep encroaching on Blue Star’s traditional market, shaking their basic foundation.
However, Ji Buyao’s interests have shifted in recent years, and he began reducing investnt in Blue Star’s entertainnt entities. Take Dongzhou’s Seven Star as an example; although renovated and refurbished, its grade and specifications couldn’t compare to OMMIA.
Hua Zhuyue even suspected that Ji Buyao intended to abandon Blue Star’s traditional industries and move into the film industry.
Xu Chunliang saw the ’closed for business’ notice outside the doors and said to Hua Zhuyue, "Sister Hua, can we see the place where the incident happened yesterday?"
Hua Zhuyue nodded, and they entered through a small door, still cordoned off near the incident site.
Hua Zhuyue pointed to the booth and said, "The deceased was curled up in that corner, and there were two wine glasses on the table."
Xu Chunliang said, "It proves he didn’t co alone. The person who drank with him that night is the primary suspect."
Hua Zhuyue said, "In the bar, many strangers gather to drink together. There’s no surveillance around here. This Yang Mufeng probably frequented this place and was familiar with the bar’s internal situation."
Xu Chunliang said, "He probably didn’t want to be seen either, right?" At this point, he suddenly thought of Pei Lin. Yang Mufeng and Pei Lin had past affections; they wouldn’t dare to et publicly and might choose a bar. However, Pei Lin had already approached him, and he promised to help her solve the problem. She probably wouldn’t go to the extent of committing murder, would she?
The biggest beneficiary of Yang Mufeng’s death was likely Pei Lin, with He Dong Group also being one of the beneficiaries.
Hua Zhuyue said, "However, if you enter and exit the bar, there will be surveillance footage, and I believe the police will quickly find the suspect."
The police took away the surveillance footage from the Seven Star Bar. They are trying to reconstruct the entire footage record from that night, identify every custor who entered and exited the bar, and then conduct a thorough investigation of each one. Although the workload is sowhat heavy, there is indeed a defined scope.
The bar’s surveillance system is not as complete as expected. It was not known before the investigation, but nearly one-third of the caras are malfunctioning. This oversight fills the investigation with uncertainty and reflects the chaotic managent of the Seven Star Bar.
The current focus of the investigation is identifying the guest who drank with Yang Mufeng. The empty glass left at the scene has fingerprints, and a few strands of golden hair were found on the sofa in the booth. Based on these clues, it’s judged that the person who was with Yang Mufeng that night should be a woman.
As the investigation deepened, more details about Yang Mufeng erged. He divorced last year with his wife and children remaining in Hai Zhou. Yang Mufeng resigned from Hai Zhou Second Hospital due to accepting substantial kickbacks through abuse of his professional position. To avoid prosecution, he successively submitted 3.6 million of illicit gains to the local prosecutor’s office.
Yang Mufeng not only had a tarnished dical ethic but also a bad private life. He had affairs with multiple won in Hai Zhou, lived extravagantly, and purchased several properties, thus leading to significant debt.
Post-divorce, as the guilty party, he left without any possessions, leaving all properties in Hai Zhou to his wife and children.
After arriving in Dongzhou, he lived in Jinmaoyue District, cohabitating with a woman nad Chen Weiwei, and the house he stayed in was registered under Chen Weiwei’s na.
Lu Qi promptly interrogated Chen Weiwei.
Chen Weiwei is twenty-two years old this year and runs a nail salon in Jianjie Square. She makes short videos in her spare ti and is a beauty influencer. Her face didn’t show any sadness, as she was unaware of Yang Mufeng’s death.
Lu Qi scrutinized Chen Weiwei, paying particular attention to her hair color. Chen Weiwei’s hair is chestnut-colored, but what they found on the sofa was golden.
Under Lu Qi’s gaze, Chen Weiwei seed sowhat uneasy, "Officer, why are you looking for ?"
Lu Qi said, "You know Yang Mufeng, right?"
Chen Weiwei nodded and hesitated, "We have already broken up."
Lu Qi said, "When was the last ti you t?"
"Seven days ago! What happened to him?" Chen Weiwei seed unaware of Yang Mufeng’s death.
Lu Qi said, "What about the last contact?"
Chen Weiwei said, "Last night, around eight o’clock, he sent a ssage asking to go to Xicha on Changhai Road to get the keys."
"Did you go?"
Chen Weiwei nodded, "I was at the nail salon in Jianjie Square, not far from there, so I went over, but I didn’t see him there. I stayed for about ten minutes before leaving and called him, but he didn’t answer."
Lu Qi asked, "Where did you go afterward?"
"Nowhere, I thought he was trying to trick , so I went back to the nail salon."
"Do you rember what ti you returned?"
"Wait a mont!" Chen Weiwei took out her phone to check the call records, "Eight forty, an old custor called asking if I was in the salon."
Lu Qi glanced at the female officer nearby, and she said, "Your hair color is beautiful, where did you dye it?"
Chen Weiwei, full of vigilance, said, "What do you an?"
The female officer said, "It’s nothing, I just want to dye my hair the sa color."
Chen Weiwei said, "At Johnny’s Salon in Jianjie Square, I got it dyed this morning."
"This morning?" Lu Qi and the female officer exchanged glances.
Lu Qi asked, "Your hair used to be dyed golden, right?"
"How do you know? What do you really want to ask? What happened to Yang Mufeng?"
Lu Qi said, "Yang Mufeng died last night."
"What?" Chen Weiwei’s expression was very shocked, and her eyes quickly reddened as she covered her mouth with both hands.
Lu Qi said, "I hope you can cooperate with our investigation and tell us everything you know."
"I’ve already broken up with Yang Mufeng. I have nothing to do with this matter." Chen Weiwei fell into panic.
Lu Qi reassured her, "You don’t need to be nervous, we are not suspecting you of anything. We are just conducting a routine investigation, and we need you to provide hair and fingerprints."
Chen Weiwei said, "Are you suspecting ? I haven’t seen him for a week, and we’ve already broken up."
The female officer coldly said, "The innocent have nothing to fear. We won’t wrong a good person, nor will we let a bad one go."
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