Shanghai, Jiangbei District, Wen An Road, Fuxing District.
It was getting late, and the air was chilly. Cui Lizhu held her phone and looked at the house in front of her while checking the messages on her phone.
The house number was 19, which was the address that the owner of the watch shop had given her.
That's weird …
Cui Lizhu muttered to herself. Didn't they say that this villa had been burned down? Why …
Indeed, the three-story villa in front of her was exquisite and unique. It didn't look like it had been on fire at all.
That's right …
Cui Lizhu thought to herself. After all, the fire had happened 30 years ago. Now that so many years had passed, the house must have been renovated. She wondered if the people living in the house were related to the case she was investigating.
Thinking of this, Cui Lizhu pressed the doorbell of the villa.
However, after waiting for a long time, there was no response.
She pressed the doorbell a few more times. After pressing the doorbell several times, she did not hear any movement. She wondered if the doorbell was broken.
So, she knocked on the door again. However, after waiting for a long time, there was still no response from inside.
Oh …
It seemed that there was really no one in the house …
Cui Lizhu looked inside through the crack of the door. She saw that there were all kinds of flowers planted in the courtyard of the villa. It looked lively, so there was definitely someone living there.
The villa was built in a European style, which gave it an exotic feel. However, the window decorations and the red lanterns hanging on the porch showed that there was a strong local atmosphere.
Sigh …
Cui Lizhu looked at her phone again, complaining that Zeng Ke hadn't found any information yet.
So far, she only knew that this Fuxing District was a relatively famous district in Shanghai. As the single-family villas here were unique buildings left behind from before liberation, they had been preserved by the local government as a preservation project and had not been planned to be demolished.
Because this was located in the center of Shanghai, it had always been the most luxurious of luxurious houses. The current price of each house was basically more than a hundred million, so the people who could live here were naturally rich and powerful.
However, because the district was built too early, there were no underground parking facilities. The owners' cars could only pass through the district and park in their own yards or on the streets outside their yards.
Just as Cui Lizhu was waiting for Zeng Ke's call, a brand new BMW X7 stopped slowly in front of Cui Lizhu. It stopped in front of the door of another villa opposite number 19.
Soon, a young couple got out of the car. The wife was holding a baby in her arms.
The husband took out two big bags of vegetables from the trunk, and the two of them opened the door and entered the villa opposite.
That's right!
Distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, and close neighbors are not as good as opposite families.
Cui Lizhu quickly ran over and shouted at the couple, "Sorry to bother you, can I ask you a few questions?"
Hearing Cui Lizhu's shout, the couple immediately stopped and looked back.
Cui Lizhu hurriedly showed her ID and said,
"I'm a police officer, and I'm currently investigating a case. I hope … you can provide us with some information!"
"Us?" The man was stunned and slightly nervous. "How can we help you?"
"Oh, don't be nervous." Cui Lizhu quickly gestured, then pointed to villa No. 19 and said, "It's about the house opposite your house!"
"Opposite?" The man glanced at his wife and muttered, "So it's that Japanese?"
"Huh?" Cui Lizhu was stunned. "Japanese?"
"Yes!" At this time, the woman came over with the baby in her arms, nodded and said, "Police officer, there's a Japanese man opposite our house. Why are you looking for him?"
Cui Lizhu was a little confused. She quickly sorted out her thoughts and asked again, "How long has this Japanese man lived here? What I want to ask is about the fire across from your house! "
"What? Fire? "The two of them looked at villa No. 19. The woman wondered," I didn't hear that his house was on fire. Is he okay? "
"No, I mean …" Cui Lizhu quickly said, "The fire thirty years ago!"
"Wow …" The man was shocked. "I'm only twenty-seven this year … What do you want to investigate?"
"Oh … Yes …" Unexpectedly, the woman suddenly remembered something. "I heard from my mother that there was indeed a fire opposite my house. I still remember it!"
"Are you kidding me?" The man laughed. "You're one year younger than me, right?"
"No, of course not," the woman said quickly. "Of course I don't remember the fire, but when I was a child, I often went to the villa opposite my house with my friends to play …
I can still remember that it was a charred ruin. We even had people spreading rumors that it was a haunted house … "
"Really?" The man was surprised again. "Are you really that brave?"
"I forgot," the woman recalled. "Maybe I was brave when I was a child. It seems that after I went to primary school, the opposite house was renovated. At first, the house was rented out to many people. It wasn't until ten years ago that a Japanese man bought the house … "
"Police officer," the man asked Cui Lizhu, "I think you've got the wrong person. What does the fire thirty years ago have to do with us? "
It wasn't until then that Cui Lizhu realized that this was the woman's house. The man might be her son-in-law, or he might have married into her family.
"We suspect that the fire was related to an important case that we are now in contact with." Cui Lizhu ignored the man and spoke directly to the woman. "So, I hope you can provide me with some information about the fire that year!"
"Oh, no problem, no problem …" The woman said quickly. "Please come in! My parents should be able to help you. When I was a child, I heard them talk about the fire in the opposite house! "
"Oh … Your parents …" Cui Lizhu was just about to ask where the woman's parents were now, when she saw the anti-theft door of the villa open and an elderly woman walk out.
"Xiao Huang, is this Sa Ning?" (Who is this?) "The middle-aged woman spoke in an authentic Shanghai dialect.
"Mom, this is a police officer," the woman quickly introduced. "She wants to ask you about the fire in the opposite house!"
"Oh, it's been a long time …" The woman then spoke a lot of local dialect, which confused Cui Lizhu.
"Come on, police officer! Let's go into the house and talk … "The woman invited Cui Lizhu into the house.
After they put down their things and settled the children, the woman acted as an interpreter and asked the woman, who knew the details, to tell the story of the fire.
"Yes," the woman said. "Thirty years ago, when I gave birth to my eldest son, I was still in confinement! There was a fire in the opposite house, and the fire burned the couple, as well as a pair of children, to death! "
"The fire started in the middle of the night, and it burned very quickly," the woman recalled. "By the time we found out, there was no way to rush in to save them!
By the time the fire brigade came, the fire had almost burned out. None of the family of four survived. It was so tragic … "
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