Chapter 293: The Rose Bush
Xu Youyou and the others followed the woman’s gaze and saw a young man walking out from the staircase.
The man was wearing a black baseball cap and a black mask covering his face.
In an instant, Xu Youyou suddenly recalled the investigation into the tenant of the apartment in the Meilidu Building.
Young man, baseball cap, face mask.
The two images overlapped in her mind.
Xu Youyou turned to meet Lu Jingyao’s eyes — clearly, they were thinking the same thing.
Zhang Sheng frowned slightly when he saw the group, but didn’t say anything.
Xu Fang stepped forward and said, “Hello, Mr. Zhang. We would like to ask for your help with something.”
Zhang Sheng ignored her, took out his keys, opened the door to his apartment, and shut it heavily, leaving them all outside.
Xu Youyou gave the middle-aged woman a questioning look.
The woman spread her hands and said, “Zhang Sheng is like that. He doesn’t like dealing with strangers. If we hadn’t known him for a long time, he wouldn’t even bother with us.”
Xu Youyou asked, “Is there any way to get him to talk?”
The woman shook her head. “If he didn’t like you at first glance, he won’t talk to you no matter what. There’s no helping it.”
Xu Youyou found the situation especially tricky. Even though Zhang Sheng was uncooperative, given his personality, they couldn’t just force their way in.
After knocking several times without any response, they had no choice but to leave.
Xu Youyou wasn’t in the mood to enjoy herself. Her mind kept circling around Zhang Sheng — she felt like she was missing something important about him.
“I had someone investigate Zhang Sheng. Right now, he doesn’t have a formal job. He’s registered as a delivery rider and makes a living delivering food,” she said to Lu Jingyao.
Xu Youyou was puzzled. “I barely saw any delivery riders around the Harbor City district. I thought people here didn’t like ordering takeout.”
Lu Jingyao explained, “It’s not that they don’t like it. Labor costs are higher in Harbor City, so takeout is expensive. And the reason you don’t see them is because most of the riders here don’t wear uniforms.”
Xu Youyou nodded. “Logically, since his uncle is a big landlord, Zhang Sheng shouldn’t have had issues with education. Being a local with a decent degree, he should’ve been able to find a high-paying job — why would he end up delivering food?”
Lu Jingyao continued, “He actually has a university degree. But he messed up his first job and ended up in prison for three years.”
“What kind of job would land you in prison?” Xu Youyou asked, confused.
“Accounting.”
Xu Youyou suddenly found it easier to understand.
Lu Jingyao added, “Actually, his first job looked pretty good on the surface. It was at a subsidiary of the Baihui Group — one of the top conglomerates in Harbor City, with excellent pay and benefits.”
Thinking of someone who had a promising future but ended up taking a wrong turn and becoming so withdrawn made Xu Youyou sigh inwardly.
But now wasn’t the time for emotions — the most urgent thing was securing the apartment.
She still didn’t know exactly what was in that apartment. But now it seemed likely that Zhang Sheng was also living there.
However, she couldn’t figure out — if Zhang Sheng already had a place to live, why occupy two apartments?
“What kind of person is Zhang Boyuan?” Xu Youyou suddenly asked.
Zhang Boyuan was the landlord and Zhang Sheng’s uncle.
Lu Jingyao picked up the page about Zhang Boyuan, pausing slightly. “Zhang Boyuan… seems to be someone who loves money more than his life. He pulled out his phone line and fought with the telecom company just because he thought they were overcharging him.”
“His son went to the UK and never came back because Zhang Boyuan didn’t approve of him marrying a girl from a poor family — her family of five squeezed into an old apartment. His daughter was forced into suicide because she liked a man without money.”
Both Lu Jingyao and Xu Youyou realized something was wrong.
Zhang Boyuan might have generously given his nephew a place to live out of fear of having no one to care for him in old age. But there was no way he would have given him two apartments.
More importantly, up until last year, Zhang Boyuan had reportedly collected rent himself — not like now, where the nephew handled it.
“You think… Zhang Boyuan…” Xu Youyou hesitated.
Lu Jingyao nodded slightly. “Ask the bodyguards you stationed on Lamma Island if they’ve seen the old man in person.”
The bodyguards hadn’t seen Zhang Boyuan themselves. Their investigation on Lamma Island revealed that the old man lived alone in a small villa with a courtyard. Though there were other houses nearby, most were just vacation homes and rarely occupied.
The bodyguards reported that Zhang Sheng was very ‘dutiful,’ visiting every week and bringing lots of supplies, supposedly for his uncle.
Because he frequently brought supplies, it seemed normal that the old man didn’t go out shopping.
Xu Youyou asked the two bodyguards over the phone, “Are there police on the island? Call them — the old man might already be dead.”
“Boss, what reason should we give?” the bodyguards asked.
“Just say you smelled a corpse,” Xu Youyou instructed.
The bodyguard on Lamma Island scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Boss, but… we didn’t smell anything.”
“Doesn’t matter. They can’t test your nose. They’ll still have to break in to check,” Xu Youyou said.
The bodyguards moved quickly. The police arrived soon after, their eyes full of suspicion.
“You really smelled a corpse?” a local officer asked in clumsy Mandarin.
The two bodyguards did their best to hide their guilt and nodded vigorously.
One officer crouched and petted the dog they brought along. “Buddy, do you smell anything weird?”
The dog suddenly started barking.
The officer’s face turned serious. After knocking for a while longer and still getting no answer, they decisively broke the door down.
Inside, there was still no body in sight. The dog, however, circled around a lush rose bush in the courtyard.
“There’s no body inside the house. Maybe the dog’s nose got confused by the strong smell of the roses. He’s always liked roses,” the officer explained to the bodyguards.
But the two bodyguards suddenly turned grim. Since they had already called the police, they wanted to find something useful to report back.
“Could the body be buried under the rose bush?”
