Chapter 3 third quarter

The three-story building of Guangjin Apartment is very small, all facing north and south, with a corridor-style building facing north, similar in structure to the teaching buildings of primary and secondary schools in the past.The windows of the rooms are all facing south, while the stairs and the entrance doors of each household are all facing north.The three households on the first floor are lined up along the north-facing corridor, separated by a staircase in the middle. Guo Xiaofeng took a closer look. The ones at the end of 01 and 02 are two adjacent households. , which is also the easternmost side of the entire building.According to Manager Sun, the houses in 01 and 02 have the same structure, and the house at the end of 03 is two rooms larger, so it occupies half of it.

Opened the door of Room 201, "Look, that's it." Manager Sun pointed to them. Guo Xiaofeng walked in, looked around carefully, and found that the structure of the room here was different from most buildings. When the door was opened, it was a small east-west corridor divided into three sections by two board walls. Squint, take three steps forward, reach out and push open the dark brown wooden door, and you can directly walk into the spacious office-like room. Once the door is closed, you can see the world, and then there is a suite inside. If not, when you enter the gate and turn westward through the board wall, you can see two small doors facing west and north. They all have windows, but they are narrow and thin, and when opened, only a mouth about ten centimeters wide can be exposed from above. The purpose of the windows seems to be only for ventilation, and it can be concluded without thinking that even cats are not May enter here.

If you turn to the east, you can see at a glance that there is a very small open kitchen next to the east wall of the gate, and the side next to the wall is the sink, and the short interval is only about 40 centimeters wide. Next to it is the gas stove.The operating table is stainless steel, obviously not new, the table is not flat, but it can be seen that it was wiped clean once, but now there is a very thin layer of dust on it.Looking up at the front, it is bright and majestic, running through two large sliding windows from the sink to the gas stove.Here—it is obvious that giants over 1.9 meters can enter and exit.

"Are the footprints you mentioned here?" Guo Xiaofeng pointed to the operating table between the sink and the window.It was a very hidden location, because it was blocked by the gas stove higher than the small operating table, so you couldn't see it unless you stood in front of it. Manager Sun nodded. "Yes, it's near here." Then he continued to introduce, "This way you will easily understand that if you don't cook, this kitchen is of little use. Of course, many people will use it to boil water or something, but now many The tenants drink the bottled water delivered—mineral water, pure water, etc., and the upstairs is drinking bottled water, so the kitchen is almost a decoration. Especially the tenants of these small companies do not live at night, and the general employees hardly Go to the side of the kitchen. Every day, our cleaning staff comes in to clean the kitchen and bathroom for them in the morning, and in the afternoon, they clean the corridor and the outer windows. We are very particular about cleanliness.”

Guo Xiaofeng touched the stove with his hand, looked down, and saw some slight dust. Manager Sun also saw his actions, but explained without changing his expression: "This is because it has been vacant for the past few days. Beijing has a lot of wind and sand, and no matter how strict it is, there will be dust. Once someone lives there, clean it every day, and there will be no dust." Guo Xiaofeng smiled slightly, and stretched out his hand to turn on the faucet on the sink. Unexpectedly, there was a "wow", a big stream of water rushed down, splashing water stains on the countertop, and Manager Sun quickly reached out to turn off the faucet for him.

"Thank you!" Guo Xiaofeng nodded quickly, washed his hands, turned off the faucet, turned around and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry!" "It's nothing," Manager Sun replied very considerately, "We have a lot of water pressure here, so it's hard to control." Guo Xiaofeng stared at the little drops of water on the table again, raised his head and said to Manager Sun: "I guess you've cleverly figured out that the footprints weren't made by 301's tenants." Manager Sun was stunned for a moment on his clever face, and then said slightly proudly:

"I can't say it's ingenious, but it can be said that it took me a lot of thought. After the cleaning was done and I left, I pretended to chat and said to them: 'If something is broken, you can inform us, don't climb up and down the ground. Do it yourself.” They all looked puzzled, and replied: “Who will fix things by himself, and if something is broken, he will have to pay for it himself. Give you a call, and the person will come right away. You can’t blame yourself for good or bad. How can you do it yourself?' As I said, our service is first-class." Guo Xiaofeng nodded.

"I pretended to walk up to the stove inadvertently, and asked: 'This stove is not allowed to be trampled on, the steel plate is thin after all, so people cannot resist it.' They looked even more strange, and replied: 'Who would step on the stove? What are we going to do except your housekeepers have to wipe the glass above?’ another replied: ‘We don’t go there except to wash our hands.’” Manager Sun knocked on the stove: "I think it's true, because even if they want to enter the house, they still have keys, and there's no need to go through this passage."

"So—" Guo Xiaofeng asked thoughtfully, "You finally suspected that outsiders came in through the window in the middle of the night?" "Yes!" Manager Sun replied immediately, and his face tensed up. "In this case, the more I think about it, the more suspicious I feel. The more the Chinese New Year, the more chaotic the law and order. I have to be careful." Guo Xiaofeng's smile showed more appreciation. "I have to say, I really appreciate your cautious attitude, as a criminal policeman who has been around for many years." He answered solemnly, paused, and then asked, "So, what is the size of that footprint?"

Manager Sun tilted his head back, as if trying to remember, and then replied with a little shame: "I can't tell, but it is very big, it should be bigger than my feet, and there must be a size 43 or 44, right? "That is, half a second later, the questioning tone became affirmative: "It should be a big footprint." "So it should be the footprints of a man?" Aimei interrupted suddenly. "It should be!" Manager Sun thought about the answer, then blinked his eyes cleverly, and added, "Of course, the possibility of women wearing big shoes cannot be ruled out." He looked at Guo Xiaofeng with an expert look: "What do you think?" , Officer Guo, the murderer is always very cunning, leaving false clues to lead us astray."

"Of course." Guo Xiaofeng nodded in agreement, and at the same time tried to make his next tone seem to be a discussion of another opinion, rather than a mocking denial, "However, since this person is only planning to steal something, a pair of shoes that fit may be It's more convenient, and, if it's not for the purpose of putting the blame on someone, it seems—" Before he could finish speaking, the clever Manager Sun realized it in time, and immediately responded: "There is no need to play tricks like this!" Then, he explained, "I think so too, but we must fully consider all possibilities. right?" "Of course! You are very thoughtful and professional!" Guo Xiaofeng commented seriously. Manager Sun's face brightened, he stretched out his hand and scratched the top of his head, then raised his head slightly: "So-so, so-so, but I was a soldier, and I'm still a scout!" "I said—" This tone obviously encouraged Manager Sun even more, he eagerly raised his index finger, "Let me tell you, Officer Guo, back then—" "I'm sorry!" Aimei, who had been impatient for a long time, interrupted him rashly, "Manager Sun, can you be sure that it is a man, and a big man?" "Oh——" Manager Sun tilted his head unhappily, and thought for a while, "It's like this." Ai Mei, who had been holding back all this time, immediately asked aggressively: "Then what does this matter have to do with Aunt Tang? She is only 1.5 meters tall and her feet are only about size 36, yet you are blaming her? Also, don't you think your words are contradictory? You said you emphasized cleanliness , and no one uses the stove, how could it leave footprints?" "Aimei—" Guo Xiaofeng's face darkened, "I can answer the latter question. There are many possibilities. First, it snowed lightly the day before yesterday, and the soles of the shoes were very dirty. The thief didn't realize that he would leave footprints." He pointed to the water droplets splashed on the operating table by washing his hands just now: "Second, there may be people washing their hands before get off work. The water pressure here is high and it is difficult to control, so a lot of water splashed on the table, but no one cleaned it up. The thief jumped out at night. I didn’t pay attention when I was there, so I left footprints unintentionally. In addition, there are many possibilities that we can’t think of at the moment, so don’t be so impatient.” Ai Mei choked for a moment, but then she still refused to accept and asked: "Then why did you fire Aunt Tang?" "So I need you to listen patiently!" Guo Xiaofeng's voice was rarely severe. Manager Sun happily looked at the somewhat domineering girl in front of her, who shut her mouth angrily after being reprimanded.In return for this rebuke, he quickly followed up with the previous explanation. "It's like this. When I walked behind the cleaner, I saw that she wiped off the footprint very quickly, very quickly, and a little flustered, very suspicious. However, no matter how fast the hand is, it will not be faster than the eyes. Right?" "Indeed," Guo Xiaofeng asked, "what else?" "It's going to be a long story, let's go back to the office and sit down and talk slowly." "Well!" They stepped out, and at this moment, a woman screamed excitedly from 202 next door: "...you paid back the bill? Long live! Long live! Let's have a good year!" "Who lives in 302 upstairs?" Guo Xiaofeng suddenly asked Manager Sun who was locking the door. "A young couple!" Manager Sun replied nonchalantly, "It's a model tenant. They've lived here for two years, and they're very quiet. Well, just in time, they've come down." A man and woman in their thirties came down from the stairs. They were elegant and well-dressed. They didn't have any luxurious decorations on their bodies, but they didn't look shabby. They just looked a little gloomy, as if they were unhappy.The man was carrying a travel bag in his hand, as if he was about to go on a business trip. "It's almost Chinese New Year, and Mr. Zhao is going on a business trip? I remember you just came back from a business trip." Manager Sun greeted with a smile. Mr. Zhao's gloomy face immediately changed into a joyful and friendly smile. "That's right, I just came back from the south the morning before yesterday, and I have to go north today. I can't help but make a living, alas!" Mr. Zhao replied with a smile, and then nodded politely, "Let's go first, Manager Sun, you are busy!" Then He and his wife, who was smiling all the time, went downstairs first and left. Guo Xiaofeng silently followed their retreating figures. "Dad, why are you chasing after him?" Ai Mei tugged at his arm and asked in a low voice, "Is there any problem?" "Nothing." Guo Xiaofeng replied vaguely.