On the first day on the yacht, an open trading session was held.
On the second day on the yacht, an anonymous trading session was held, and Zi Shu died.
On the third day on the yacht, Wu Ma's safe was pried open, and that night, Item #2 was stolen.
On the fourth day on the yacht, Chen Long said his jade carving was lost.
Jian Jing: Murder and theft again, this must be a dramatized case. Otherwise it wouldn't be so frustrating. But the more actions taken, the more loopholes there are. She went to check the safe, wandered for a while, didn't notice anything wrong, then asked Tina to take her to check the surveillance footage.
The surveillance showed that Chen Long had deposited something in the safe around 7 pm last night. After that, except for normal staff movement, no one approached it until Tina and Jian Jing arrived.
Soon after, Xu Gou came over, exchanged a few words with Jian Jing, then went in to take something out, the whole process lasting no more than 2 minutes.
Then this afternoon, Wei Yang, Chou Niu, and Chen Long had all been inside, each time lasting around 5 minutes, and they all came out empty-handed.
Only Chen Long's expression was much worse than Wei Yang's and Chou Niu's calmness.
Jian Jing played back the footage several times, trying to zoom in on every detail of each person's clothing, but still didn't notice anything wrong - she had seen Chen Long's jade carving before, it was a beautiful jade goose with edges and corners, if it was hidden in clothes, traces would definitely show.
She rested her cheek on her hand, lost in thought, when suddenly a loud noise grew closer and closer to her head, pounding painfully.
"What's that sound?"
"Let me go check." Tina went and returned, her face completely relaxed. "Mr. Gu is here."
Jian Jing was also happy: "Let's go greet him."
Up on the top deck, the helipad was ready. A helicopter descended from the sky, hovering for a moment before finally landing steadily.
A middle-aged man strode down and nodded at Tina: "You've had it rough these past two days, it really wasn't easy to handle."
Tina's lifted heart finally settled a little.
She was also an old fox who had mixed in the workplace for ten years, used to being bosses' secretaries, with the toughest tasks being catering to employers' whimsical demands - getting sold-out opera tickets that evening for that afternoon, suddenly arranging meals with certain important figures, must be booked at a certain restaurant, and so on.
These jobs weren't easy either, but she had pulled them all off. But this time, first the boss died, then tens of millions worth of things gone missing just like that, who wouldn't panic?
"It was my incompetence." Tina knew she couldn't handle such a troublesome situation herself, so she decisively sought help from her superior. "Another guest reported missing belongings an hour ago."
She concisely explained the ins and outs, awaiting a response.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Gu thought for a moment then asked Jian Jing, "Any progress in your investigation, Ms. Jian?"
Sure enough he had looked into her background. Jian Jing didn't dwell on it too much, and said, "I'd like to take a look at Items #1 and #3. Could you open the safe for me?"
"Of course." Mr. Gu readily agreed, and even said, "I've heard about Ms. Jian's resume, and believe you can crack this case as well."
Jian Jing smiled and exchanged a few polite declines, before asking, "With things like this happening, it really makes one sad. Zi Shu did so much for the trading session, yet was still taken advantage of."
Mr. Gu nodded and lamented, "If uncle knew such important antiques were lost, I wonder how distressed he'd be."
"Was Zi Shu your uncle?"
Mr. Gu then talked about old stories from the past: Zi Shu was born in an intellectual family. Due to their bad class status, life was difficult for a period, and thinking of his young frail daughter not being able to endure hardship, he painfully sent her to be raised by relatives - Mr. Gu's mother.
While the oldest son stayed by his side and suffered tremendously, Zi Shu started dabbling in shady dealings, maybe due to nature or environment. At the same time, influenced by his parents' constant reminders, he researched history and culture extensively. Later when times became peaceful, and his parents passed away one by one, ambitions arose and he started forging antiques to scam people.
The waters of antiquing run so deep that even veterans can still make mistakes, let alone naive upstarts dreaming of getting rich overnight. Carelessly, they'd crash and burn.
The perpetrator Zi Shu was completely shameless, even somewhat proud: "In this industry, the key lies in judgement, if you don't have a good eye yourself, how can you blame it on me?"
Although his forging skills were extremely meticulous, almost indistinguishable from real ones, he still crashed later on.
The other party didn't bother discussing rules with him, they came straight at him with blades. Although he narrowly escaped losing his life, he didn't dare continue his old ways either. He changed his name and relocated faraway, coincidentally avoiding a harsh crackdown and imprisonment.
But having dealt with antiquing for most of his life, even after backing out, he was still itching to get back in. Somehow, around the millennium, he transformed into an expert appraiser for antique appraisal shows, gaining some fame in the industry.
And that was how he reunited with the long lost relative, Mr. Gu's mother.
"My uncle had no children his whole life, he only loved antiques, collecting quite a few nice pieces himself. Previously after hearing a member wanted to sell a bronze head, he spent great efforts to acquire it." Mr. Gu sighed and shook his head. "Who knew it'd cost him his life."
Jian Jing asked again, "Do you know why Zi Shu went through so much trouble to protect the privacy of buyers and sellers?"
Mr. Gu thought for a bit then said, "I guess this was his 'farewell performance'."
She raised her brows: "Retiring afterwards?"
"Bad health, at most two more years to live." Mr. Gu lamented, "Old folks spending their whole lives researching this stuff, of course want to end on a perfect note for their last hurrah."
He sincerely said, "Ms. Jian, my uncle did do a few shameful things when young. But these last two years, he donated quite a few cultural relics, and often told me he regretted what he did in the past. I hope that you can solve the case and comfort his spirit in heaven, in light of his admission and repentance."
With the deceased's family pleading so earnestly, Jian Jing naturally agreed repeatedly.
Mr. Gu worked efficiently, busy for two whole days, finally arriving at the destination but unwilling to rest. He immediately brought Jian Jing to the safe.
Along the way he also asked in detail again about the circumstances surrounding the stolen jade carving, and couldn't help but feel a headache.
From the surveillance, the suspect was among those few who had entered the safe, but they had no authority to search anyone's luggage, especially with the guests being from different countries right now while out at sea.
"Any clues, Ms. Jian?" Mr Gu asked Jian Jing.
Jian Jing gave an ambiguous murmur of agreement, still examining Items #1 and #3, unclear what she was thinking.
After quite a while, she finally said, "I still need to investigate some matters. It's best if you go rest first, we'll talk tomorrow morning."
Mr. Gu pondered for a moment, then chose to trust her and nodded, "Alright. But the boat can't drift at sea indefinitely, can we set off to return by tomorrow?"
"Set off tonight." Jian Jing said. "Perhaps everything can end tomorrow."
"Even better."
*
Jian Jing was busy the whole night, first wandering around the safe room for two hours, then doing something in her cabin for half the night. At 3 am, she video called Jifeng.
He took well over ten minutes to pick up: "Teacher Jian - what're you up to calling so late?"
"Get up, I have questions for you." Jian Jing showed no mercy in ordering people around so late.
Jifeng groggily sat up in the bunk bed at the duty room, checked his watch, alright, only slept for an hour and a half before getting woken up by the writer miss: "Ask away."
Jian Jing: "Help me look into some things."
"That goes against discipline." He lazily said, "What's it for, checking how many times your boyfriend booked a room?"
Her: "Are you looking to die?"
Jifeng: "What's going on then, someone died?"
"Not just one death, tens of millions worth of antiques missing too." Jian Jing asked, "Awake now?"
He indeed sobered up: "What do you need checked?"
Jian Jing elaborated in detail, and said, "I need the results by 7 am latest."
".....You really are my superior." Jifeng complained, "Fine fine, got it."
"Don't call, no signal out at sea."
"I know."
After that, she napped briefly, then woke up on time to freshen up past 6 am.
Right then, Jifeng's reply came in.
Through the video screen, he saw Jian Jing sitting out on the terrace. On the azure sea surface the red sun slowly rose, waves glittering golden, as she crossed her legs and leaned back lazily braiding her hair.
If dexterity +1 has any benefits, it shows in shrimp peeling and hair braiding.
Jiqi Feng squinted to discern and praised, "Teacher Jian is really young at heart with that braid, looking just like a preschooler."
Jian Jing's hand paused as she slowly turned to look at him.
He was completely unaware of any problem, continuing, "The preschool I pass on my way to work, the little girls all have braids like this."
"This is called a boxer braid," she said with a smile. "If you say that in front of me again, I'll show you what it can do."
Jiqi Feng: "Hey!"
"What was the result?" Jian Jing cut straight to the point. "Was it what I expected?"
"Yes, of course, you didn't miss a thing," came Jiqi Feng's voice over the phone as he stirred instant coffee with one hand and glanced at the small stand outside, chattering away as he told her everything he had found out.
Jian Jing occasionally responded with an "Uh-huh," finally asking, "What are you looking at?"
"Fried bread pockets...damn, hang on a sec." He put the phone down and rushed out the door, calling out to the old woman selling breakfast foods at the entrance, "I'd like two fried bread pockets and a fried dough stick, oh and add a tea egg. Do you have rice porridge?"
Five minutes later he came back with a plastic bag, expression relaxed, "Teacher Jian?"
The screen had already gone dark.
She sent a voice message. Opening it, there was a cold laugh, "I hope you eat yourself fat."
He: "..." So vicious.
On the other side, after Jian Jing packed up her things, she decided to go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast too.
The chef was already preparing ingredients. She wandered into the kitchen and asked, "Do you have fried bread pockets?"
The head chef looked at her silently for a moment before saying, "I can make you green onion pancakes."
"Fine," Jian Jing reluctantly agreed. "Do you have shrimp and crab soup dumplings?"
The chef perked up a bit. "We do. What else do you want?"
"Wontons."
Jian Jing ordered several dishes in one go. When they were freshly made and brought out, she hurriedly took some pictures from a flattering angle without editing them before sending them directly to Jiqi Feng.
He: [I already ate]
She: [Bah!]
Jian Jing ate her breakfast like a whirlwind. Then she texted Mr. Gu to ask him to gather the guests in the lobby at ten o'clock.
She was going to crack this case.
Time flew by and shortly before ten, the ten guests along with Secretary Tina and Mr. Gu arrived in the lobby.
The anonymous auction decor was still up.
Jian Jing sat in the most conspicuous spot with a small dining table covered in a tablecloth next to her, on which sat a steaming hot cup of coffee sending up curling wisps of white smoke.
"Everyone please sit," she said. "I asked you here to get an understanding about what has happened these last couple days."
Wei Yang asked, "Did you find the murderer?"
Shen Hou was more concerned, "Has the bronze bust been found?"
Wu Ma remarked, "I heard the boat came back? Are you planning to call the police?"
Chen Long wanted to speak but hesitated.
Hai Zhu was annoyed. "Are we seriously calling the cops now? You're not going to make us stick around for a few more days, are you? I'm busy!"
Chou Niu was inscrutable as always, Yin Hu was cold and indifferent, and Si She's coughing seemed to have gotten even worse. Xu Gou didn't seem very focused and You Ji was still as calm as ever.
"Let's listen to what Miss Jian has to say," Mr. Gu said concisely.
Jian Jing said, "A lot has happened over the past few days. For me personally, I hoped most to investigate Zi Shu's murder clearly, but later I discovered that if I couldn't get to the bottom of the mystery of the bronze bust theft, there would be no way to uncover the truth."
She looked around at everyone, bringing the hammer down: "So first, let's talk about the issue of the theft of the bronze bust. After all, the owner of the bust specifically found me and asked me to get the bust back no matter what."
