Case Files 013

Even though we had material witnesses that claimed that Ma Liliang was conscious when he jumped, it never hurt to double check. Naturally we wouldn't conduct a live experiment but the mannequins were good enough. From the markings on the ground, the closest mannequin to where Ma Liliang actually landed was the one from if Ma Liliang had jumped high into the air simulation. That would verify that it was suicide. Ma Liliang didn't choose to walk off, perhaps because he was afraid of running into open windows on the way down. If he was pushed, he wouldn't have landed that far. An extra bit of evidence was the pair of glasses. If Ma Liliang was pushed, he wouldn't have the time to take off his glasses and place them gingerly on the roof. All these suggested that Ma Liliang died from suicide and not homicide. In that case, my hypothesis was wrong, this place was not even close to my predicted location.

"If this is a suicide and if it's related to our cases, believe me, we will soon find the suicidal reason." I sighed and told the team, "Which floor did he live on?"

With the manager's help, we soon arrived at Ma Liliang's place. Technically, it was his rental and not his house.

A will.

Before I even opened the will, Guan Zhenglin's phone came, "Wu Meng, the autopsy shows that there are no manmade wounds, they are all falling wounds. There are no anaesthetic traces in the blood so he was conscious when he fell. But I got nothing to prove if he was pushed or not pushed from the rooftop."

I sighed, "We have more than enough circumstantial evidence to prove that this is a suicide. Furthermore, I'm holding the man's will. I believe we'll soon find out why he died." When we read through the man's will, I could confirm this was related to our previous cases. The will was basically a copy of Gao Rui's. They listed some things they needed the police to help them do after their deaths and they both had substantial amounts of money in their bank accounts. Ma Liliang, like Gao Rui, was financially sound, so why did he commit suicide? The reason became clear after I read the letter that came with the will.

Real estate agent was just one of Ma Liliang's jobs and this job was drastically different from his other job, which was to make phone calls. To be more precise, Ma Liliang was someone you would call an expert scammer. In his letter, he revealed the detailed steps how a shell company managed to embezzle money through franchising fees. First, Ma Liliang worked for a company with a seemingly reputable name, their company specialized in fashion products. They were registered officially in Hong Kong. Ma Liliang's company released advertisements on all big online platforms, looking for investors to become franchisees. The franchising fee was around 50000 to 80000 RMB, this number was carefully calculated. A real rich person wouldn't be interested in such a small number, those who would be hooked were normally those who wanted to get rich quick but didn't know much about business.

Whenever someone called the company number, it was Ma Liliang's showtime. On the phone, Ma Liliang would use his gift of the gab to persuade these people to join. Faced with different callers, Ma Liliang had different tactics. For those who didn't know the ins and outs of business, he would confuse them business terms to make the impression that his company was very professional; if it was an elderly, he would take the emotional approach, to let them put their guard down; for those who were cautious, he would provide many fake assurances and use many legalese. The man was a true talent.

Of 100 callers, about 10 of them would be convinced by Ma Liliang. Then of the 10, 5 of them would come to inspect their company and the franchisor in person. Ma Liliang's manager would intercept these people and show them around a few actual shops they had around Dong Xing City. Since Ma Liliang's company was based in Hong Kong, they weren't allowed to set up their business locally. The shops were all run by other successful ‘franchisees'. During the tour, the potential investors would meet with the other ‘franchisees' and be regaled about the positives of joining the company.

The truth though was the ‘franchisees' were workers at Ma Liliang's company. The accounts looked so pretty because the storefronts were used to launder money. A normal person wouldn't be able to tell the difference, they'd only be able to see the highlighted profit. Then the tour would continue to the company warehouse. It would be filled with the best clothes, all good quality. If they handed over the franchising fee, they would be immediately given a batch of stock to sell. Therefore, the investors happily handed over the fee and then went home to wait for the good news. But the good news would never come. The good quality stock would always sit at the warehouse to show the next batch of potential investors.

Instead the company would send them low quality clothes, some were taken from funeral homes and hospitals. Naturally they were not going to sell well.

Ma Liliang of course knew what he was doing. The smiling faces he met would all turn upside down in a month or two but Ma Liliang had no choice, his parents were simple farmers and he had to support his younger siblings' education. Human beings are selfish. When Ma Liliang had nothing, no one came to pity or help him either.

Inadvertently, there would be people who came back to complain, but the only real thing that Ma Liliang's company did invest in was the legal department. The lawyers were specifically hired to draft contracts which were meant to trap and ensnare. Most normal people wouldn't know how to read the small print in contract and thinking of the imminent profit, they all couldn't wait to sign. Since the company had their willing contracts, the company was very happy to bring these people to court. Honestly, when these people signed the contract, it was already over for them.

In the 3 years he worked there, Ma Liliang had seen many tragedies. There were people who knelt before their company doors, women crying with their families, people holding banners. But how could a small pocket of the public fight with a big company?

If these people refused to go, the company still had ties to the underground world. In the end, most people would choose to bite the bullet and leave with their empty dreams and hopes. In just 3 short years, Ma Liliang had earned 25000 RMB. This was an astronomical number and it was a number built on the broken dreams of many people.

Let's make the conservative calculation here. If a person was scammed 50000 RMB, Ma Liliang as an agent would get 1000 RMB commission, his manager would get 4000 RMB. The remaining 5000 RMB would be used to purchase the ‘stock' for the investor. 40000 RMB would go into the boss' pocket. If 1 person were scammed every two day, the boss would earn 20000 RMB every day. 20000 RMB per day, meant 600000 RMB per month and 7200000 RMB a year. Minus the living fee, payment for the lawyers and underground bosses, the boss could easily earn 6000000 RMB a year. When he counted the money, he never concerned himself with the lives that were lost due to these monies.

During these 3 years, Ma Liliang had seen too many things, especially the lack of human empathy. It caused Ma Liliang himself to become more temperamental. His only bit of conscience remained because sometimes when he looked at these scammed victims, Ma Liliang would see his own parents. These people were not actual business people. They took out all their savings, because they hoped to earn a better future for their children.

However, Ma Liliang's conscience would soon be silenced when he got his commission. Ma Liliang was very good with words, there was even a month when he got 20000 RMB in commission.

…

It was a day like any other. A person, who came to their company to protest, was dragged out like a dog. Ma Liliang knew this person because he was the one who handled his case. Ma Liliang cheated 70000 RMB off him. But that day when the man was dragged out, Ma Liliang couldn't even remember his name. When the man saw Ma Liliang, he rushed to Ma Liliang and knelt down before him. "My family needs that money to survive, brother. Please, I beg you, please return the money to me." With tears running down his nose, he hugged Ma Liliang's leg. "I beg you, that is all of my savings. Or can you just return me half of it? Just half is enough!"

Ma Liliang saw that the man only had 2 fingers. The man worked at a construction company, the 70000 RMB was his previous company's compensation because he lost them in a construction accident. He was laid off from work. The 70000 RMB was literally everything he had left. Ma Liliang looked at the man who was old enough to be his father kneeling before him and his heart felt nothing.

"Drag him away!" One of the managers shouted. "He'll ruin the business if he stays here." And so the man was dragged into the corridor and possibly beaten.

When Ma Liliang saw him next, the man was already a dead body. He jumped down from Ma Liliang's company roof and became a meat pie. That happened the next day, when Ma Liliang came to work like usual, and he heard a ‘bang' from outside the door. When he rushed to look, Ma Liliang saw him. This man whom Ma Liliang couldn't remember the name was lying on the ground. His head was turned towards Ma Liliang, his open eyes staring at him. The blood splattered like a red flower. Ma Liliang looked at the dead man numbly; it was not until the crowd screamed that Ma Liliang came to his senses. Ma Liliang sat for a long time at his table and didn't accept even 1 call that day.

His boss gave him a whole month of paid holiday. So many of his colleagues were envious of him. Ma Liliang spent the month unable to sleep, because whenever he closed his eyes, he would hear that splatter sound. That was the sound of a man's life lost.

In the past 3 years, Ma Liliang had lost count of the number of people he had scammed. Indeed, Ma Liliang had never considered the actual ending of these people. What happened to them after they were chased away and scared off by the lawyers and mafia? Did they cry with their families? Were they forced to take their children out of school? Or did they jump off some building like the man whose name he still couldn't remember.

Ma Liliang used to tell himself that those people were fine. It was just money. Life moves on.

Ma Liliang thought he had successfully silenced his conscience after 3 years. He was an expert scammer but the only person he couldn't scam was himself.

Since that day, whenever he was able to catch small naps, he would dream about his own father falling from his company rooftop.