Around the rental house where the murder occurred, within a radius of three kilometers, there are several Wai Gong villages where Duan Jiang once worked as a pyramid scheme den. They usually lived in groups of a dozen or so, often sharing lessons with different people.
And the victimized couple, like going on a pilgrimage, would teach at various dens, and the students would call the man Manager Chen and the woman Manager He.
The students did not know the exact identities of the couple.
And the "Old Zhang" introduced by Duan Jiang into the gang, every member of the gang mentioned this person with a very familiar look.
Duan Jiang told us that this old Zhang was very likely one of the leaders, and his real name was Zhang Yong 'an.
"Zhang Yong 'an surely knew the identities of the victims' couple."
The rental house where the murder occurred was less than two kilometers away from where Duan Jiang had fallen, but Zhang Yong 'an was no longer there.
But Lao Qin felt that even if the couple, who were apparently "high-ranking officials", died, the entire pyramid scheme group of hundreds of people would not immediately disband and disappear. As long as one finds a boss like Zhang Yong 'an, it is possible to identify the deceased and even follow the clues to find the murderer.
After so many days of investigation, the Major Case team has reached a consensus that they are trying to overturn Yan Ge's analysis report that the case is a conspiracy.
They said the murder was revenge within the gang, otherwise the murderer wouldn't have been able to knock on the door of the scene.
At Lao Qin's command, the major case team, along with the security guards from the local police station, began to gradually verify the identities of the residents in a grid-based manner around the several pyramid scheme dens they had discovered.
The major case team was so busy that they had no time to rest, while the technical team had a break. That weekend I saw Lili in Tianhe City.
Tianhe City is one of the most bustling places in Guangzhou, with a sea of people and long checkout lines, as if everything here is free. But as I looked around, even though there were signs of 20% off or 30% off everywhere, it was still more expensive than I had imagined.
I always liked to talk to Lili about cases before, but this pyramid scheme case left me speechless, even if she wouldn't laugh at me for my past experience of being tricked into the pyramid scheme, she was worried about affecting her image. I have something to hide in my heart, which makes me a little silent.
Lili asked, "What are you hiding from me?"
I shook my head, saying I was worried about the work at hand and that there was an unsolved murder case.
Lili frowned, and her scrutinous gaze made me feel particularly uncomfortable. This insignificant lie pierced my heart like a sharp thorn.
Just as I thought she was going to be angry, Lili reached out and interlocked my fingers: "Don't think so much about the weekend. Let's go have ice cream together."
On Sunday afternoon, when I returned to the bureau, I saw Wu Sheng from the Major Case Unit running and curiously asked about the outcome of the pyramid scheme murder case.
Wu Sheng told me that Liang Ge and his gang had just gone on a business trip today, saying they were going to Zhang Yong 'an's hometown in Shandong. I noticed that Wu Sheng looked somewhat dejected. As an intern like me, he couldn't have followed me on a business trip. With his mentor gone, he had nothing to do and nowhere to vent his energy, so he ran around the public security building.
A few days later, Brother Liang from the Major Case Unit returned, escorting two suspects in handcuffs and leg irons.
One of them was Zhang Yong 'an, whose name we had heard long ago, and the other was Wang Jianghui.
Zhang Yong 'an was lured here from his hometown in Shandong in the summer of 2002.
It was the male victim Chen Xinhua who deceived him, and the female victim He Jiaping, Chen Xinhua's wife.
When Zhang Yong 'an arrived in Guangdong, the pyramid scheme gang of Chen Xinhua and his wife had already taken shape. After much persuasion, although Zhang Yong 'an knew that the pyramid scheme was illegal, he was convinced that it was an opportunity to get rich. He had a good eloquence and developed ten subordinates. Over the course of two years, he managed to earn around 20,000.
In fact, apart from the phone expenses, this was less than what he had earned by working in the factory, which was far from what Zhang Yong 'an had initially expected.
He has more than once secretly calculated that this pyramid scheme gang of over two hundred people can generate an annual income of nearly one million. Although Chen Xinhua was usually low-key and lived in a simple place, Zhang Yong 'an knew that he sent a lot of money back to his hometown every year.
Seeing him make a lot of money while he could only make a little, it made him very uncomfortable, but as the manager of a den, he was not willing to give up.
It wasn't until that unexpected day came that his lower line, Duan Jiang, climbed out of the window and fell from a building. He panicked and called Chen Xinhua immediately. Then, following the other party's instructions, the people from the den broke up and moved to other rental houses on the same day, and Zhang Yong 'an suddenly became a lone commander.
He sought out Chen Xinhua and his wife for the management rights of a new pyramid scheme point, but Chen Xinhua thought it was Zhang Yong 'an who caused trouble in the Duan Jiang incident. He not only refused to give Zhang Yong 'an a new den, but also reduced him to the treatment of a newcomer.
The more Zhang Yong 'an thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt that he had been a veteran and meritorious official, but now he was being suppressed and had his way to wealth cut off.
Seeing no hope of getting rich, Zhang Yong 'an was disheartened. He found several fellow villagers who had been tricked into coming and explained them one by one.
He shifted all the blame onto Chen Xinhua and his wife and paid out of his own pocket to cover the travel expenses of the two fellow villagers.
One of the fellow villagers was named Wang Jianghui.
Wang Jianghui developed only three new businesses in total and didn't make much money. Wang Jianghui was also Zhang Yong 'an's deputy when he was in that den. The split and reorganization of the pyramid scheme den also caused Wang Jianghui's position to plummet.