Zhang Hui looked at Zhao Shengli with eyes practically glowing.

This Zhao Shengli... could he be the killer?

Sometimes it’s so easy!

The other brothers following Zhang Hui were also somewhat excited. Could it be that the case had been solved so quickly? 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

It was a bit unbelievable.

However, this Zhao Shengli did indeed seem suspicious.

There were quite a few stone carvings in the yard, about dozens, and on this side, there were many Stone Carving Gardens, of which the centuries-old carvings must be among the largest.

The larger the scale, the more statues were sold. Over the past two years, he even remembered exactly the height and appearance of the statues, which is suspicious if it weren’t the case.

But alas, things didn’t go as wished.

"Hey," Zhao Shengli rubbed his hands, "I wouldn’t say I have a good memory. In a year, I sell two or three dozen statues when it’s busy, and a dozen or so when it’s not. How could I remember a statue from over two years ago that clearly."

"It’s just that the statue sold to the camping area by the East Sea that year was a bit unique."

Unique?

"How so?"

Zhang Hui and the others seemed to be watching an act play out from Zhao Shengli.

Of course, the statue at the camping area was unique; having a mummified body sealed inside couldn’t be less unique.

They wanted to see what kind of lie Zhao Shengli would fabricate.

"At that time, there was an accident during the carving of the statue, the whole piece of stone shattered."

Shattered?

Zhao Shengli explained, "In our line of work, usually a whole piece of stone is used for carving, but there are some special situations where we use different methods."

"The statue at the camping area by the East Sea left a deep impression on me because it wasn’t carved from a single piece of stone."

"For one, the buyer offered a low price back then, and during carving, the stone shattered, so we had no choice but to put together a statue with various leftover pieces."

"What do you mean?"

"We used two undersized pieces of stone, bonded them together, and made up a piece that met the required specifications."

Bonded?

"You’re saying, the statue by the East Sea was assembled by bonding during carving?"

Zhao Shengli nodded earnestly, "That’s definitely right, I remember it very clearly."

"If you don’t believe me, I still have the original design draft of the statue in my office. Because bonding was necessary, there were some different aspects during the design."

"Let’s go, take us to see it."

A few minutes later, Zhang Hui saw the design draft for the statue from back then.

Of course, this so-called design draft wasn’t a CAD drawing; it was just some casually drawn images.

"Compared to bonding, isn’t it much simpler to carve a whole piece of stone?"

Zhao Shengli nodded with an ’um,’ "The effect from a whole stone carving is better, but back then we had no choice."

"In our line, skill is one aspect, but the price of the stone material itself is another; the bigger the stone, the pricier it is."

"That statue back then was over three meters tall, which is considered a significant size among statues. The cost of an entire stone would be nearly 50,000, but if we used two odd pieces to bond, then the cost was significantly less."

Zhang Hui didn’t know much about stone carving, so he asked a few other questions.

According to Zhao Shengli, the actual cost of the stone business lies in transportation.

Unless it’s rare stone or jade, the material itself isn’t particularly valuable.

"For example, common marble isn’t worth much at the place of extraction; you can take it at will."

"But the labor cost of extracting marble is somewhat pricey."

"Transportation is a big chunk of the cost."

"The origin of stone is usually in the mountains where transportation is difficult. To move stones weighing several tons is a huge effort and expense, while long-distance transport on the road is only a small part of the cost."

"The rest is carving, which is actually laborious work, earning the hard way."

Zhang Hui looked over the drafts several times, understanding that bonded stone carvings demand higher carving skill and adhesive quality.

"Was that statue carved by you, or someone else?"

"I carved it; all the statues in my Stone Carving Garden are carved by me."

"Was the statue hollow during carving?"

"Hollow?"

Zhao Shengli slightly frowned, "I don’t quite remember that clearly..."

"Right, when carving that statue, I just did the exterior carving, but the joint polishing and later bonding were not done by me."

"Hmm?"

"Who did?"

"During that time, the elder in my family was hospitalized, and I stayed for a month to accompany him, so the work was done by a stonemason who was working here temporarily."

"Stonemason?"

"Yes, he’s someone from the mountains who comes out to work during off-farming seasons."

As Zhang Hui left, the detectives from the second team discussed in the car.

"Do you think what this Zhao Shengli said is true or false?"

"I feel it might not be false; his logic checks out, and I noticed his speech was natural, without evasive glances."

"Of course, we can’t rule out he has strong psychological fortitude; lying so naturally that it’s not detectable."

"Brother Hui, what do you think of this Zhao Shengli?"

Zhao Shengli?

Zhang Hui shook his head, "Whether what he said is true or false, since the statue was circulated from his Stone Carving Garden, he can’t shake off the suspicion."

"Besides, the stonemason Zhao Shengli mentioned, he only gave a rough location, but he didn’t know exactly where he was from."

Someone chimed in, "But the phone number he provided is real; we can track it."

Earlier, Zhao Shengli gave them the stonemason’s phone number from back then, but it couldn’t be reached.

According to what Zhao Shengli said, the stonemason never returned after leaving two years ago.

Zhang Hui was able to get some understanding from other Stone Carving Gardens earlier, and indeed, there’s such temporary work among them.

Moreover, other Stone Carving Gardens also have these temporary stonemasons; Zhang Hui and the others even met a few.

"Work from two directions."

Zhang Hui thought it over, clarifying the thoughts; in any case, whether what Zhao Shengli said is true or false, any new leads should be pursued.

If what Zhao Shengli said is true, the murderer might very well be the stonemason who worked for him back then. Finding this stonemason would solve the case.

If they can’t find this stonemason or prove that Zhao Shengli lied upon finding him, then Zhao Shengli is likely the murderer.

Either way, the case will have breakthrough progress, so after sorting through his thoughts, Zhang Hui decided to start from two aspects.