Part 2 Chapter 7 Another Yuan Array
I was so tired that I just fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already afternoon. After eating the food Qin Yiheng packed, I wanted to sit down and discuss with him what to do next. But before I could say anything, he told me something first. He went out to inquire while I was sleeping, and got a shocking news: the developer of the property we visited the night before was also called Yuan Zhen.
I was shocked when I heard this. Isn't this too coincidental? He nodded and said that he was also very surprised at the time, so he asked around carefully. Unexpectedly, this Yuan Zhen not only has the same pronunciation as that Yuan Zhen, but also has the same character. However, the two people are very different in age, so the possibility of being the same person can be ruled out. As he said this, Qin Yiheng also showed me a photo of Yuan Zhen that he downloaded from the Internet on his mobile phone. It was probably taken at a banquet or a meeting.
Yuan Zhen is obviously an elite at first glance. He wears a well-ironed suit and does not have the mercenary spirit or corrupt belly of a profiteer. Instead, he looks more like a Confucian businessman who has returned from overseas.
Qin Yiheng also gave me some general information about this person while I was watching. He said that there was very little information about this person. He had inquired for a long time and only knew that he was in his fifties and was not a local. He didn't know anything else. However, this is also a very normal phenomenon. Rich people usually have no sense of security now, and most of them will keep a low profile.
After hearing what he said, I looked at him carefully a few more times, trying to match this person with the one who crawled out of the coffin the night before. Unfortunately, I didn't see him clearly last night. If I only looked at his body shape, these two people were of average build and there were no features to compare, so I really couldn't make any progress.
I asked Qin Yiheng, "Could this Yuan Zhen be the man from last night?" He thought for a moment, shook his head and told me, "From what we can see now, this Yuan Zhen may have some connection with that group of people. As for whether he was personally involved, we have no way to find out. However, I have already explored the way in advance. We will go directly to the headquarters of this real estate company and see if we can find some clues."
Without further ado, I simply washed my face, listened to Qin Yiheng's reminder to keep my eyes clear, put on a pair of sunglasses, and then we set off.
The headquarters building of this real estate company is located in the center of the city, which is considered the core business district. A 30-story building was built on a land where every inch of land is valuable, which shows that the company is quite financially strong. The building looks very beautiful, and the big gold-plated signs on the rooftop, "Hongda Real Estate", can be seen from several streets away. However, I don't know if it's because of the design or because it was cloudy that day, but when I looked at it from a distance, I always felt that the building had a kind of indescribable depression.
This building is called Hongda Building. In fact, Hongda only occupies floors 26 to 32, and the rest of the floors are rented out as offices. After entering the elevator, Qin Yiheng warned me: "Don't let anything slip!" Then he whispered to me that he had already made arrangements. In order to get in, he would tell the front desk of Hongda that we are from a state-owned enterprise to discuss group buying of houses. Then he took out a stack of business cards from his pocket and handed them to me.
I took it and looked at it, and it actually said that I was the office director of a state-owned enterprise. The most outrageous thing was that the name on it was Jiang Erheng!
I was angry just looking at this business card, but at this moment, I had to put the overall situation first. Hongda Group seemed to attach great importance to our arrival and specially arranged a small supervisor to receive us. Several people chatted in the reception room for a few words. I don’t know if Qin Yiheng had memorized the lines before, but he kept talking and fooled the supervisor. Finally, he replied to us that he had to ask his superiors for instructions first, and then he left.
Taking advantage of this time, Qin Yiheng and I pretended to find the toilet and walked around their office area. The decoration and layout of the office area were not special, just like any other company. Qin Yiheng looked around for a while, but didn't notice anything from his expression. After all, we were all guilty, so we couldn't be too blatant. We could only go back to the reception room and exchange opinions.
After entering the house and lighting cigarettes, Qin Yiheng said, "This company is indeed a bit strange. When we went out just now, I paid special attention to the Feng Shui position of this company and found that there was only an empty fish tank without even water in it. This is really hard to understand. Nowadays, the richer the boss, the more he believes in Feng Shui. Many companies have to hire professionals to take care of the Feng Shui fish one-on-one, for fear that something bad will happen to the fish inside and ruin their fortune. But this company just put an empty fish tank like this. If you say that Yuan Zhen doesn't believe in Feng Shui, then there is no need to put a fish tank. It would be better to put a vase to look comfortable."
After hearing Qin Yiheng's analysis, I was also puzzled, so I asked him: "Could this also be some kind of game?" He was amused when he heard it: "If this is a game, it can only be called a game of dispersing wealth. Although this Feng Shui fish must be coordinated with the person's five elements and even the Yin and Yang characters to achieve the greatest effect, it is not suitable for everyone, but the Five Elements say that gold produces water. This empty fish tank is placed in such a critical Feng Shui position, draining the water that gathers gold. Isn't it obvious that you don't want to make money?"
From what Qin Yiheng said, does this big boss Yuan Zhen want to bankrupt himself? Does he think he is too rich? Isn't this just because he has nothing better to do? I thought about it and thought that maybe this Yuan Zhen wanted to lose money to avoid disaster.
However, before I could ask him, the supervisor came back and called us while we were talking, saying that the higher-ups wanted us to go upstairs to discuss the matter in detail, and then he took us to the 32nd floor.
As soon as the elevator door opened, I was stunned - there was a two-meter-tall statue of Guan Gong facing the elevator door. It looked like it was made of copper, and it was very valuable. Guan Gong stood with a knife, very majestic. As the God of Wealth, Guan Gong statues can be seen in many places. Not only do they often appear in Hong Kong movies, but even many small restaurants now have one, which is used to protect the house and attract wealth. However, this is the first time I have seen such a large Guan Gong statue. When I passed by, I specially compared it with my eyes. It was three or four heads taller than me, almost three meters tall.
Qin Yiheng was also stunned when he saw the Guan Gong statue, but he didn't say anything, just squinted his eyes and stared at it for a while. With outsiders present, I couldn't ask him, so I could only hold back my words and follow the supervisor into a small meeting room.
The person who received us this time was of a higher standard, a director of Hongda Company. Qin Yiheng chatted with him as usual, and the other party also felt that this deal was more reliable, and was just about to sign the contract immediately. Fortunately, Qin Yiheng was still sensible and did not keep fooling us. He just said that we were the vanguard and the decision had to be made by the superiors, and then he withdrew with an excuse.
After coming out, Qin Yiheng deliberately stopped when passing by the statue of Guan Gong, walked around it, and no one knew what he discovered.
Seeing that no one was around, I also went over to take a look. This statue was indeed lifelike, with many details well rendered. But from Qin Yiheng's attitude, it was clear that he was not here to admire it, so I asked him in a low voice what he had noticed.
Qin Yiheng turned his head and lowered his voice to tell me one word: "Knife!"
After hearing what he said, my eyes immediately turned to the knife in Guan Gong's hand. The knife was not integrated with the Guan Gong statue. It should be that the knife was inserted into Guan Gong's hand separately after the whole statue was made. Other than that, there was nothing wrong.
I asked him again: "What happened to the knife?"
He shook his head, made a gesture to me to keep quiet, and said, "I'll tell you when I get out." Then he took me into the elevator.
His habit of keeping things in suspense is so damn annoying. After we finally got downstairs, I asked him what happened to the knife.
He then told me, “There are many stories about the knife in Guan Gong’s hand. The standing Guan Gong has the tip of his knife pointing upwards, symbolizing good overcoming evil, and is usually placed in the main hall to protect the house. The standing statue with the knife slashing downwards is used to drive away ghosts and monsters, just like the Zhong Kui statue. The Guan Gong statue that attracts wealth usually has the knife tip facing the ground, with the knife behind the back, because people don’t want the evil spirit of the knife to affect their wealth. The Guan Gong statues in many Guan Gong temples are sitting, with Zhou Cang holding a knife standing next to them. This is called a praying statue, which means to illuminate all living beings.”
"The Guan Gong statue in this company is the first type I mentioned earlier, and is used to protect the house. However, the strange thing is that the blade, which should have been facing sideways or forward, was deliberately turned to face backwards. At first glance, it seems that there is no change, but if you look closely, the blade faces backwards and the back of the knife faces forward. Not to mention that the metaphysical function of protecting the house is completely eliminated, just from the appearance, it is at least uncomfortable to look at. I just took a close look at this statue, and from the dust, the knife has been placed like this for at least some time. If it was not intentional, it should have been discovered and adjusted long ago, and it would not be placed now."
When Qin Yiheng said this, I naturally understood a little bit. Suddenly, an idea popped up in my head. When I saw the fake Liu Quezi at Liu Quezi's house before, the Buddha statue in his house was also facing inwards. Could this have something to do with the fake Liu Quezi? Could he be sent by Yuan Zhen?
I asked Qin Yiheng about this. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said, "It's not certain what the relationship is, but the purpose of this statue is obvious. I'm afraid even the feng shui fish tank downstairs was deliberately arranged by Yuan Zhen. The purpose may be to break the feng shui of the entire building or something. I'm afraid it's the same as the Buddha statue in the ancestral hall before. They want to bring something in."
Frankly speaking, Qin Yiheng's last words made me feel uneasy. This mystery seems to be getting bigger and bigger. If this continues, I will become crazy sooner or later.
Now it seems that if we want to continue the investigation, we can only start from this Hongda Real Estate. However, such a large company has many loopholes that can be exploited. We can't think of a good idea for the time being. Firstly, we are afraid that blindly pursuing the case will alert the enemy. Secondly, I am really tired after these few days. So I discussed with Qin Yiheng whether we should pause for a while and go back to rest for a few days, at least to sort out the current clues before taking action. Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood.
He didn't object to my proposal, and even comforted me: "Now that we have touched a big rock, let's see if we can find a chance to lift it up and see what's underneath. Anyway, the rock won't move for a while , so it's right for us to go back and summarize it first."
Seeing that we had reached a consensus, I immediately went back to the hotel to pack my luggage and prepare to return the next day.
I slept very uneasily that night. I got up dazed the next day, got on the plane, and went home. I almost fainted.
