I did not find Zhang Li through these informants; Zhang Li herself provoked me. According to Cao Qian's plan, Red Heart Q would kill with words, and Red Heart 4 Wu Sheng would bring me to the landlady Zhang Li. At Zhang Li's place, I would learn some information about Lin Han.
However, the joint operation of those pawns failed, and Red Heart Q’s plan to kill with words also failed. Zhang Li, unwilling to accept defeat, sent word overnight through an intermediary about the information she knew regarding Lin Han to the store managed by Ning Caishen. They didn't know what Lin Han had done, nor could they track Lin Han's whereabouts. Therefore, they could only relay the limited information to me through rumors, asking me to investigate, and then follow me to find Lin Han.
Instead, I went directly to the informant, Zhang Li, and became a member of her chain company.
"I only asked someone to spread the news as a rumor; I didn't do it myself. How did you know it was me?"
"You'll have to ask my Ning Caishen about that. I don't know how he found you. I always only ask for the result, not the process. If you have a chance later, you can ask him. We don't have much time now, let me talk about the setup. After arriving at your chain store, I observed you for a few days and confirmed your relationship with Liang Feng, knowing you were emotionally manipulating him. Then, at the KTV, you deliberately made me send you home, which was to provoke Liang Feng. However, I felt you weren't aggressive enough. So, I had Fatty send the photos to Liang Feng, giving Liang Feng the complete urge to kill me. It also alerted you to the presence of someone like Fatty following you, thus guiding you to plan the kidnapping of Fatty and holding him hostage."
Zhang Li could understand what I said, but she said with resentment, "I clearly told you where I lived, yet you still found me here."
"You wanted Liang Feng to wait for me at the address I knew, and if I went there, you would kill me, right? Don't forget your name, you're the landlady. Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows, let alone a woman who is not only cunning but also has many houses. After I sold Fatty to you, someone has been following Fatty. This method is an old one called 'casting a stone to test the way'. You brought Fatty to this villa, and the person following you informed me of the address."
"Fine, even if that's the case, my people clearly saw you below that old building not long ago. How did you get here in the blink of an eye?"
"I can't tell you that. You can consider this move as a technique of splitting one's body into several forms."
Zhang Li became anxious and shouted, "Who are you kidding? Do you think you're an anime protagonist, claiming to have techniques to split your body?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I initially thought you would hide Ye Qingcheng and Fatty together. It seems my luck is not good. As a landlady, perhaps due to the number of houses you own, you don't have the habit of keeping prey together. Let's make a deal. Return Ye Qingcheng to me, and I'll let you go."
"You'll let me go?"
Zhang Li burst into laughter, her laughter extremely unrestrained, "Because of your overconfidence, Ye Qingcheng will die."
"If she dies, you will die too."
Zhang Li looked at me seriously, "Are you trying to scare me? I'm telling you, Tang Nan, everyone knows you're a good person. Can you actually kill someone?"
I didn't refute Zhang Li. Instead, I said to Ning Caishen, "She's right. I can't bring myself to kill people."
Ning Caishen grumbled a response and then slowly said, "It doesn't matter. I can help you with that. One is 300,000; for three, I'll give you a 50% discount, 150,000."
"Your calculation isn't as sharp as I thought."
"The accounts are like this: if only Zhang Li is killed and the two bodyguards are released, the difficulty of the job will be greater. If Zhang Li and both bodyguards are killed, it will be easier to destroy evidence, making the difficulty lower, hence cheaper. The price of my killing depends on the difficulty, not the number of people."
I was a little taken aback. I had intended to just scare Zhang Li and believed Ning Caishen would understand my meaning and play along. But now, Ning Caishen was speaking with such conviction that I almost believed it myself.
"Zhang Li, make the call. Tell your people to release them."
Zhang Li's face turned ashen, but she made the call, "Liang Feng, go to Ye Qingcheng's place. I don't trust anyone else now except you. Listen to me, if I don't arrive there by 12 o'clock tonight, kill Ye Qingcheng."
After Zhang Li finished the call, she looked at me triumphantly. Ning Caishen calmly walked up to her. Zhang Li thought Ning Caishen was going to hit her, so she straightened up, her seductive eyes shining brightly.
"Did you hear that? If anything happens to me, Ye Qingcheng will die. Only Ye Qingcheng knows Lin Han's whereabouts now. If she dies, all your leads will be cut off."
Ning Caishen remained silent, merely snatched Zhang Li's phone and turned it off.
"Thank you."
I said sincerely to Zhang Li. Zhang Li stared at me, dumbfounded, "You... thank me for what?"
"Every setup has its strategy. Whether a strategy is good or bad is measured by its effectiveness, not by how eloquently I explain it and how others don't understand it, making me seem like a brilliant schemer. Therefore, as long as a useful strategy continues to be employed, this is the capability of a schemer."
"I don't understand?"
"As I said earlier, you have many houses, and it's not easy to find where you hide people. Then I used the 'casting a stone to test the way' method. Your codename among the pawns is Plum Blossom 9, and Plum Blossoms are adept at manipulating people's hearts. Therefore, I deliberately provoked you, making you see the current situation. Killing you was a bluff, and you were not afraid. So, you wanted to turn the tables by using Ye Qingcheng to threaten me. Simply put, this move is also called 'casting a stone to test the way.' When you sent Liang Feng to take Ye Qingcheng hostage, my people followed Liang Feng to rescue Ye Qingcheng."
"You~"
Ye Qingcheng was so enraged that she was speechless.
...
"Tang Nan, what do we do now?" Fatty asked me.
"Let's wait a moment."
"Don't we need this woman to speak anymore?"
"No, we don't."
This time, I reacted a bit slowly. Seeing Zhang Li's distressed expression, I came to my senses, "Fatty, you're not going to take this seriously, are you?" Fatty didn't answer me; he had already started taking off his socks.
Zhang Li's mouth was gagged, and she could only make muffled sounds, likely expressing her desire to kill me. I wasn't worried. Even if this ruthless woman hadn't committed murder herself, she was an accomplice to Liang Feng's crime. As long as I called Luo Bo, they would handle the matter.
...
About an hour later, Xiao Zi'an called me, saying Ye Qingcheng had been rescued. I didn't rush to leave. I notified Luo Bo and waited there for a while. The police were efficient and took us all to the police station.
I met the same two police officers, but they didn't interrogate me. They met me alone in a conference room. The younger one looked confused, while the older one had a smile.
"You've worked hard," he said to me.
I guessed he probably thought I was an informant.
"You've worked hard too. How is it with the person who caught Liang Feng?"
...
Someone impersonated me and hovered around the building where Liang Feng was waiting. Xiao Zi'an was the one who followed Liang Feng and rescued Ye Qingcheng. However, I didn't see Xiao Zi'an at the police station, so I asked an extra question.
"You're talking about the person impersonating a police officer? He escaped again. However, based on Liang Feng's description, he's the same person as the fake police officer in the corner coffee shop murder case."
"Is that so?"
"You didn't know?"
I shook my head.
"There's nothing else for you here. I won't disclose anything about you to the outside world. Continue to operate in the shadows and stay safe."
After saying this, the older policeman stood up, shook my hand, and left. As they were leaving, I heard the younger policeman ask what my identity was. The older policeman didn't answer, but they all understood. Informants were becoming increasingly rare, and in addition to contractual confidentiality, even among colleagues, discussing them was forbidden.
With this matter concluded, I felt a sense of urgency. I asked Xiao Zi'an to take Ye Qingcheng back to Guangzhou, and I would immediately leave Foshan with Ning Caishen for Guangzhou, eager to know Lin Han's whereabouts.
Fatty parted ways with me at the police station entrance, reminding me, "Tang Nan, when you know your sister's whereabouts, notify me. I'll rush over from Beijing. The transfer of Da Huang is set; I can't let my sister-in-law handle everything alone."
"Da Huang Ge is in your care."
"Don't worry, our great hero will return to Beijing with full honors."
"By the way, the person who attacked Da Huang is dead. Tell him this news after he recovers."
"I understand."
Fatty said, and we shook hands and bumped shoulders, "Be careful."
We both knew that Ye Qingcheng would tell me Lin Han's location, but the opponents we would face next would certainly not be these half-baked schemers.