Li Rui snorted and hung up the phone directly. He wanted to use this method to deepen the fear in Kang Chengfu's heart. He had just said that if Kang Chengfu kept denying it, he would call the police. If he hung up the phone now, he would look like he was going to call the police. Kang Chengfu would definitely be scared out of his wits.
Sure enough, Kang Chengfu called back soon. Li Rui sneered and answered the phone.
"Hello, Director Li, please don't call the police. This is a misunderstanding from the beginning to the end. Listen to me …"
Kang Chengfu explained in a flustered tone, but he still did not forget to cover up his sins.
Li Rui said coldly, "Bring the painting to the guest house immediately. I'll wait for you in the room. If you don't arrive in ten minutes, I'll call the police. You can tell all the nonsense to the police." After that, he hung up the phone.
He looked at the time. It was already half past eight. There were still more than twenty minutes to nine o 'clock. If Kang Chengfu could arrive in ten minutes, he would still have time to take Ling Shuyao out for a walk. Thinking of this, he became more relaxed.
In fact, he was not in a bad mood because of the theft of the painting. The reason was very simple. It was all because of the value of the Painting of the Old Temple in the Mountains. He had spent 3,000 yuan to buy that painting. Even though Chi Guohua and Liu Shiqi had determined that the painting was worth 40 million, in his heart, it was only worth 3,000 yuan. If he lost 3,000 yuan, then so be it. What was there to be sad about? Compared to the lost painting, he was more concerned about who stole it. Now that he finally caught the culprit, he showed his excellent reasoning and analysis ability. He was quite proud.
Back in the room, Li Rui waited patiently. During this time, he sent a message to Ling Shuyao, telling her that he could accompany her out at nine o 'clock. Ling Shuyao did not reply. He did not know whether she was too lazy to reply or had fallen asleep.
"Knock, knock, knock … knock, knock, knock!"
After waiting for exactly ten minutes, there was a knock at the door.
Li Rui went to open the door and saw Kang Chengfu standing outside with an embarrassed face. He was holding a painting scroll in his hand. If it was not the Painting of the Old Temple in the Mountains, what else could it be?
Li Rui smiled contentedly and stepped aside.
Kang Chengfu walked into the room in embarrassment and said, "Director Li, I have to explain to you that everything is a misunderstanding. Really, it's a misunderstanding …"
Li Rui closed the door and walked into the bedroom with him. He smiled and asked, "What misunderstanding?"
Kang Chengfu first put the painting in his hand into the painting box on the table, then turned around and smiled at him. "I didn't keep my mouth shut for a moment and told a good friend that this painting was worth 40 million. He didn't believe me and insisted on arguing with me, saying that this painting was not even worth 4 million. Later, he insisted on making a bet with me, but I didn't agree. I didn't expect that he would sneak into your room and take the painting away. He wanted to find someone from the auction company to appraise it. I didn't know about this from beginning to end. It was you who called me just now and I asked that friend. He then told me the truth. Therefore, it's all a misunderstanding. He didn't steal your painting. Please forgive that friend of mine. "
Li Rui ignored his explanation and walked over. He took out the painting and unfolded it to take a look. Yes, it was the painting from before. He carefully examined it and found that there was no damage. Only then did he put it back into the box and close the lid. He turned around and said, "Assistant Kang, please respect my intelligence and yours."
Kang Chengfu probably felt that he could no longer do anything to him since he had already returned the painting to him. He said, "I didn't disrespect you. What I said was the truth. It's up to you whether you believe it or not. Of course, it's up to you whether you forgive my friend or not. Alright, Commissioner Li, you should rest. I'm going back too. Goodbye. "With that, he turned around to leave.
How could Li Rui let him go? If he admitted his guilt honestly and apologized with tears and snot, he might consider forgiving him. However, he looked like he was fooling a three-year-old child. It only made him angrier. He sneered, "Do you think that returning the painting doesn't constitute a theft crime?"
Kang Chengfu stopped and turned around. He said with a gloomy expression, "I've already explained everything. What else do you want? Could it be that you're unwilling to let me off and want to extort something from me? "
Li Rui said, "Assistant Kang, if you're like this, then there's no room for discussion. I'll call Principal Chi and my friends at the Municipal Public Security Bureau now and tell them the truth. Let's see if you can still say that it's a misunderstanding in front of solid evidence and your friend's confession."
As soon as he finished speaking, his phone rang with a text message. When he took it out to take a look, he saw that it was from Ling Shuyao. "I'm going down first. Find me by the river later."
Li Rui looked up and saw Kang Chengfu glaring at him sternly without any intention of admitting his mistake. He said, "I'll call Principal Chi first. If Principal Chi doesn't believe me, I still have a Deputy Director's brother at the Municipal Public Security Bureau. He will definitely be able to uphold justice for me."
This time, Kang Chengfu finally panicked. He cried out involuntarily, "No!"
Li Rui said, "Then show me a repentant attitude and tell me the truth. I might forgive you, but if you don't admit your guilt, I definitely won't forgive you."
Kang Chengfu's face alternated between red and green. His eyes were filled with regret and sadness, but more than that, there was grief and indignation. After a while, he suddenly let out a long sigh and told the truth.
It turned out that this assistant principal had a hobby — gambling. He was addicted to gambling, just like some of the gamblers described in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." He was deeply immersed in it and couldn't extricate himself. After he lost all his family's money, he even lost his house. If it weren't for the fact that modern laws didn't allow it, he might have even lost his wife to the creditor. However, although he didn't lose his wife, she was extremely disappointed in him and divorced him in a fit of pique. Until now, he owed a lot of gambling debts outside. The total debt was close to three million yuan. For an ordinary family head, this was an amount that they would never be able to earn in their lifetime. Even though Kang Chengfu was the assistant principal, it was as difficult as ascending to the heavens for him to pay off such a huge sum of money.
However, recently, the creditors had been very aggressive. They called Kang Chengfu every day to ask for money and even threatened to go to the Agricultural University campus to settle the score with him. Kang Chengfu was afraid that the creditors would come to the campus and ruin his image and affect his future. Therefore, he made an agreement with the creditors that he would pay off his debts within a month. Although the creditors agreed, Kang Chengfu was in a dilemma because he couldn't get so much money within a month. However, if he couldn't pay off his debts, he would face an even more terrible end. What should he do?
As everyone knew, gamblers could do anything when they lost a lot of money. Similarly, when a person was being chased by a debt collector, he could do anything. Kang Chengfu had already reached the point where he could do anything at any time. He could even take risks out of desperation. Coincidentally, today, Chi Guohua and Liu Shiqi set the market price of forty million yuan for Li Rui's painting. After Kang Chengfu learned about it, he immediately had the evil idea of stealing the painting for himself. He thought that if he got the painting and sold it, even if he only sold it for half of the money, twenty million yuan, he could easily pay off his debts. He would still have more than ten million yuan left to squander. Therefore, he took advantage of his power to open a hotel for Li Jing and the others, as well as the opportunity that Chi Guohua had invited Li Rui and the others to dinner, and devised a plan to steal the painting.
First of all, Kang Chengfu found his cousin, Chen Hongwei, who was a physical education teacher at the Agricultural University through his connections. He asked him to find a way to sneak into Li Rui's room and steal the painting from between six and seven thirty in the evening. He also promised to give him ten thousand yuan as a reward after he succeeded. Chen Hongwei agreed, but he was worried about how to enter Li Rui's room. Kang Chengfu told him not to worry and said that he would arrange everything for him. Chen Hongwei did not ask any more questions and went to prepare.
Then, when Kang Chengfu rushed to the Provincial Agricultural University's guest house to open a room for Li Jing and the others, he deliberately chose a room on the top of the porch for Li Rui. He entered his room first and unlocked the window. At the same time, he also opened another room next to Li Rui's room for Chen Hongwei to borrow. In fact, Kang Chengfu originally wanted to arrange for Li Rui and the others to stay on the first floor, so that it would be convenient for Chen Hongwei to jump into Li Rui's room and steal the painting. Unfortunately, the first floor was full, so he had no choice but to choose a room on the second floor. Similarly, in order to make it convenient for Chen Hongwei to enter the room, Kang Chengfu deliberately arranged two rooms on the top of the porch.
After Kang Chengfu booked the rooms, he personally distributed the room cards to Li Jing and the others one by one. He deliberately put the other male cadres together first, and only left the room card for Li Rui's room. Then, he handed it to Li Rui. On the surface, it seemed that the other male cadres had been matched, and Li Rui happened to be staying in a room alone. In fact, this was all premeditated by Kang Chengfu.
After Li Rui and the others had checked into their rooms and rested for a while, Kang Chengfu called his cousin Chen Hongwei outside the guest house and gave him the room card for that room. He told him to wait until it was dark, jump to the top of the porch through the window, go around to Li Rui's room, open the window, and sneak into the room to steal the painting. Chen Hongwei did as he was told. He first entered the room to hide. When it was dark around seven o 'clock, he jumped out of the window to the top of the porch below … and finally succeeded in stealing the painting. Then, when no one was paying attention, Chen Hongwei jumped down from the top of the porch and put the painting in his cousin Kang Chengfu's car. He went back to the front desk of the guest house to check out and then fled.
At that time, Kang Chengfu was still drinking with the guests at the banquet. After receiving Chen Hongwei's good news, he was very happy. However, he did not end the whole operation. After the banquet, he found Li Rui and lied that Liu Shiqi had taken a fancy to the painting and wanted to buy it with money. In this way, he said that he did not know that the painting was stolen, and that he was an innocent outsider. And this performance did indeed fool Li Rui at first.
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