Chapter 62: Stolen
The spacious bedroom.
Gao Fei lay in bed, pondering to himself in the dark.
This trip to Myanmar had yielded a total of five pieces of Emperor Green jade (one of which was won from Wang Changtian's hands, per the bet, Wang Changtian lost, and all three pieces of jade he cut out became Gao Fei's property), one piece of Mo Cui, one piece of "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity" tri-color jade (which was also won from Wang Changtian), and one piece of "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, Joy, Wealth, Nobility" six-color jadeite, plus a few of other varieties of jade.
Selling all these jades would definitely bring in a large sum of money, which he could then use to start a super-large company.
"Buzz buzz buzz..."
The phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.
Gao Fei picked up the phone and saw it was Luo Mingshan calling. He pressed the answer button, "Old Luo, what's the matter?"
"...Mr. Gao, I'm sorry..."
Gao Fei was taken aback, "What happened? What's going on?"
"...The jade you entrusted to me... has all been stolen..."
"What!" Gao Fei sat up abruptly, "What did you say? The jade I gave you has been stolen?"
"Yes..."
"I gave you a total of five pieces of Emperor Green, one piece of Mo Cui, one piece of tri-color 'Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity,' and one piece of 'Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, Joy, Wealth, Nobility' six-color jadeite..."
"All these pieces of jade have been stolen, not a single one left. Mr. Gao, I'm sorry..."
"I'm coming to see you right now." Gao Fei hung up the phone and hurriedly left the room.
...
Half an hour later.
Gao Fei arrived at Luo Mingshan's workshop. As soon as he walked in, Gao Fei's brows furrowed. The workshop was in disarray, with glass fragments scattered on the ground, tables and chairs knocked over, and some equipment smashed.
The door to the storeroom in the corner was also smashed open, all the contents gone.
"Mr. Gao, I'm so sorry, truly sorry..." Luo Mingshan's face was full of shame.
At that moment, Shen Caidie walked over from the side, "Mr. Gao, please don't blame my master. He didn't want this to happen... It's just that those thieves were too bold, too outrageous, daring to steal even from my master's workshop. It's lawlessness."
"What exactly is going on?" Gao Fei asked in a deep voice.
"I locked the workshop's main door last night and then went to the hospital to accompany Lingxiu," Luo Mingshan explained. "When I came back this morning, I saw that the workshop's main door had been smashed open, the windows broken, and the jade kept in the storeroom stolen."
"Didn't you have security cameras installed in your workshop?" Gao Fei asked.
"They were all destroyed by the thieves," said Luo Mingshan. "But I've already sent Zhongxing to get them repaired. I don't know if they can be fixed."
"Destroying the workshop's security system in an instant and stealing the jadeite from the storeroom without a trace, this is certainly not something an ordinary thief can do," Gao Fei slowly said.
Luo Mingshan nodded in agreement, "That's what I thought, too."
"The police came earlier, surveyed the scene, and then left," said Shen Caidie.
"Did the police find any clues?" Gao Fei turned to look at Shen Caidie.
Shen Caidie shook her head, "The police said the thief was very cunning, wearing gloves during the crime, so they didn't leave any fingerprints... They said it would probably be hard to solve the case anytime soon."
"Dad, I'm back." Luo Zhongxing ran in, drenched in sweat, holding a box in his hand.
"How about it? Is the camera fixed?" Luo Mingshan asked urgently.
Luo Zhongxing shook his head, "The camera has been smashed to pieces; it can't be repaired..."
Upon hearing his son's words, Luo Mingshan's face instantly showed a trace of disappointment, while Gao Fei and Shen Caidie also furrowed their brows. At present, the camera was the only clue; if it couldn't be restored, they would be in trouble.
"But the storage hard drive inside the camera has been fixed," Luo Zhongxing added.
"You little rascal!" Luo Mingshan smacked Luo Zhongxing, "Can you not huff and puff when you speak? Hurry up, put the storage hard drive into the computer and let's see who those thieves are!"
"All the computers here have been smashed..."
"Can't you go and borrow one!"
"Oh, I'll go and borrow a computer right now."
...
A short while later, Luo Zhongxing returned with a brand-new laptop. He plugged it in, powered it up, and then connected the storage hard drive to the USB port.
After waiting for a bit over a minute, the contents of the storage hard drive were accessed...
The early part of the content was ordinary, but when it got to the latter half, the figure of the thief appeared.
Three masked men broke into the studio using special means, then swiftly rushed in; one went to smash the surveillance cameras, another to smash the door to the storeroom, and the third was responsible for keeping watch— the three coordinated flawlessly.
"Crack..."
That's where the recording ended.
"With their faces covered, you can't see what they look like at all," Luo Mingshan frowned.
"Playback the recording," Gao Fei suddenly said.
"Eh? Oh!" Luo Zhongxing was momentarily stunned before replaying the video as Gao Fei had requested.
"Pause!" Gao Fei called out.
"Click!" Luo Zhongxing reflexively pressed the pause button, freezing the frame on the screen. He turned to look at Gao Fei, asking with confusion, "Mr. Gao, what's this about?"
"Can you zoom in on the image?"
"It's possible to zoom in."
"Zoom in a bit more... Good, that's enough," Gao Fei pointed at one of the thieves on the screen, "Do you see? This thief exposed a part of his wrist when smashing the camera, and there's a tattoo on the wrist. Take a closer look, do you recognize this tattoo?"
"Mr. Gao has a keen eye," praised Luo Mingshan before bending down to examine the tattoo on the thief's wrist closely, "Eh? This tattoo... looks very familiar, I think I have seen it somewhere before."
"Seen it before?" Gao Fei's eyes lit up, "Old Luo, think carefully, where have you seen it?"
"Where have I seen it..." Luo Mingshan furrowed his brows, deep in thought, "When you get older, your memory gets really poor... But I'm certain, I've definitely seen this tattoo before... Where was it..."
"Do any of your friends have this tattoo? Or have you seen it at some event?" Gao Fei kept prompting Luo Mingshan.
"Event... yes, yes, yes, I remember now!" Luo Mingshan slapped his thigh, "There was this time I attended a friend's gathering and saw someone with this tattoo on their arm."
"Who is he?" asked Gao Fei eagerly.
"Feng Zexing," Luo Mingshan mentioned a name, "He's a gang leader with a lot of power in Myanmar."
"Can we find him now?"
"We can, I know where he lives."
A group of people left the studio in a hurry and headed towards Gu Dayear's residence.
...
Yonghe Mansion is a luxurious villa area, and all those who live here are wealthy; one of the owners is Gu Dayear.
Feng Zexing never went to school and is completely illiterate. He's been struggling in the society since his teens, working his way up step by step to become the boss of a certain gang. Knowing how sensitive the gang business is, for the development of the gang and his own safety, Feng Zexing started to intentionally build relationships with influential government officials.
After decades of effort, he indeed became acquainted with many high-ranking officials. Under the protection of these officials, Feng Zexing could live a prosperous life.
Of course, Feng Zexing was also very measured in his actions, never actively causing trouble and even controlling his underlings from being reckless. Occasionally, he would even help solve minor troubles for the authorities. Seeing his understanding, the officials turned a blind eye to him as long as Feng Zexing didn't go too far, they would not take action against him.
To put it plainly, Feng Zexing is a chess piece cultivated by the Myanmar officials, an obedient and capable chess piece.
A Mercedes-Benz stopped in front of the entrance to Yonghe Mansion. The driver was Gao Fei, who had intended to drive straight in but was stopped by the security guard at the gate—without an access permit, he could not enter the community.
"We are here to see someone," Gao Fei said.
"Whom are you looking for?" asked the security guard.
"Feng Zexing," Gao Fei mentioned a name.
"What business do you have with Boss Feng?" from the guard's tone, he seemed to know Feng Zexing.
"Something personal, I'd rather not say," Gao Fei shook his head, "Please contact Feng Zexing and say... tell him that old Mr. Luo Mingshan wants to meet him." Gao Fei played the Luo Mingshan card, knowing that given Luo's fame and status in Myanmar, Feng Zexing should agree to meet. If Feng Zexing avoided seeing them, it would imply his guilt, and the studio robbery could be connected to him.
"Hold on," the guard walked into the security room, picked up the phone, and spoke a few words. After a moment, he put down the phone and stepped out, "You can go in now. Boss Feng lives in Villa No. 8." As he spoke, the guard pressed the remote control and the barrier gate at the entrance slowly rose.
Gao Fei pressed the accelerator, and the Mercedes raced into the villa area.
"If Feng Zexing dares to meet the master, it means the studio theft has nothing to do with him," analyzed Shen Caidie, "If a person has done something wrong, they wouldn't dare to face others."
"That's not necessarily true," said Gao Fei calmly, "Some people are adept at pretending."
Luo Mingshan nodded, "Mr. Gao is right; Feng Zexing is indeed good at pretending. Despite being a rough uneducated man, he always acts like he is highly knowledgeable. Many people laugh at him for this." After saying this, Luo Mingshan added, "In fact, Feng Zexing knows people laugh at him, but he doesn't care even a bit, continuing to do as he pleases, with a skin thicker than most."
"People with particularly thick skin tend to be unprincipled in their actions," Shen Caidie said.
"That's a bit of an overgeneralization," Luo Mingshan shook his head, "Some people are thick-skinned but very principled in their actions. Take my son, for instance; he's quite thick-skinned, but he acts with principles and limits, never doing wrong."
"Why bring me into this?" Luo Zhongxing muttered quietly from the back seat.