Chapter 283: The Disappeared Stamp Album
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Police Officer!" Li Mengqi who looked haggard said, "I'm already in this state. Why would I be joking with you? Even if I failed to apply as a tainted witness, I have no reason to talk such drivel! I have checked the list for three times! The most valuable calligraphy from Qing Dynasty and the pearl necklace from Republican Period are still here. Only one stamp album is missing!"
Zhao Yu and Miao Ying met each other's eyes when they heard the unbelievable result.
"A stamp album?" Zhao Yu didn't know anything about stamp collecting so he quickly turned around to tell the police detective behind him to get Liang Huan over.
"It's the stamp album, I'm very sure!" Li Mengqi pointed at her list and said, "I bought it over myself, there wouldn't be any mistake! Police officer, I admit that most of the items here are stealing but the stamp album is not! I bought it over through legal procedures!"
"Hmph!" Zhao Yu pulled the chair and sat in from on Li Mengqi, "What is legal in black market merchant? No matter how many hands it had gone through, stealing will forever be stealing! You've been doing this for so many years, you should know this!"
"You?" Li Mengqi looked at him again. From what she knew, police force wouldn't know so much insights about the black market merchant.
"Hurry up!" Miao Ying said, "The earlier you tell us the truth, the faster we can arrest the robbers! If we arrested them, it would definitely be beneficial you!"
What Miao Ying and Zhao Yu said was similar and that astounded Li Mengqi. She calmed herself down and told them the whole story about the stamp album.
The stamp album belonged to an amateur collector. The collector devoted himself to collecting precious stamps and organise them nicely into the album. Every protection sleeve is custom made according to each stamp size, all very precisely done.
But, unfortunately, after the collector passed away, the collector's son got into gambling. To pay off his debt, he had to sell off the stamp album.
The debt collector was not sure with the value of the stamp album then they called Li Mengqi's group over.
Li Mengqi also said, according to the valuation by the experts, the stamp album was worth about one billion. But there were many collections of stamps that had potential for appreciation in value. It might double its value then if they held on to it for a little longer.
Then, Li Mengqi loot a burning house and bought the stamp album with only five hundred thousand. She saved it in the safe deposit box in Qinshan Bank since then.
After five years, the value of the stamp album did actually doubled or more, to probably three to four million!
Three to four million?!
Zhao Yu took another glance at Miao Ying, she raised her eyebrows in shock. Although three to four million wasn't little, they thought there was not a need to rob a bank just for the three to four million!
What is going on exactly?
Five bank robbers, risking their lives, just to steal a stamp album? Did Li Mengqi make a mistake or was there any other reason?
"You…" Miao Ying thought and asked Li Mengqi, "Do you still have the photos of the stamp album or the stamps?"
"Yes! Of course!" Li Mengqi said, "I know where it is! But police officer, I wish I could still be a tainted witness. I will give full cooperation to police force to find the suspect!"
"That's not a problem!" Miao Ying promised, "Hurry up! Don't waste anymore time. From now onwards, we have recorded your performance. During trial, it would give you points!"
"Yes yes yes!" Li Mengqi thanked Miao Ying and immediately told them the exact location of where she hid the photos.
"Then, Zhao Yu and Miao Yu interrogated Li Mengqi to see whether if she had other safe deposit box that she used to store stealing and whether if she knew anything about the corpse in the safe deposit box.
Li Mengqi said that she didn't have any more safe deposit boxes and that she had never heard anything about the vacuum packed corpses in the safe deposit box.
To not let any clues slip, Miao Ying showed Li Mengqi the photos of the victims but Li Mengqi didn't know any of them either.
Zhao Yu felt that they had returned to the starting point again. It seemed that bank robbery case had nothing to do with the Corpse in The Bank Case.
Just that when the robbers broke opened the safe deposit boxes, they accidentally broke opened the one with the corpse.
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But if there was no evidence, everything was just empty talk. They must find the robbers to find out the truth.
Speaking of arresting the robbers, things had gotten strange.
Did the robbers really came just for the stamps? Are they die hard stamp collectors? Why would they rob the bank for stamps? Are… Are they crazy?
The calligraphy from Qing Dynasty that Li Mengqi spoke of cost at least eight million. If they had stolen that, it would be understandable. They could've sell off the calligraph and buy the stamps.
What is going on?
Zhao Yu and Miao Ying returned to the police station with strong curiosity, waiting for the updates regarding the photos of the stamps. Although Li Mengqi's black market merchant did not fall under jurisdiction of Rongyang, it was involved in the bank robbery case. So, the leaders gave commands that the case would fall upon Rongyang Branch as well.
That increased Rongyang Branch's workload without a doubt. Luckily, purchasing of stolen property fell under financial crimes, so Li Mengqi and the others were sent over to Economic Investigation Department. That helped lighten the burden of Key Case Investigation Unit.
But the police detective in Key Case Investigation Unit knew that the case would be reassigned to them again if Economic Investigation Department found any serious robbery or burglar groups.
Time flies. It was already eight at night. The photos of the stolen properties that was encrypted in Li Mengqi's desktop at home were successful retrieved by the police detectives.
To be able to find out the robber's intention, Liang Huan asked for help from two experts from Postal Association personally.
Those photos of the stamps was zoomed in to the maximum and put on the high definition LED screen. Liang Huan was identifying the lost stamp album with the two experts.
Zhao Yu didn't know much about stamps but he found it interesting. So, he stayed to watch.
"This is 'Imperial Uncle Cao' (A Chinese mythological figure, one of the Eight Immortals)!" Just when they flipped open the first page, one of the expert recognised and pointed at one of the stamps, "When the TV was showing Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea back in 1985, the post office released a collection showcasing eight different main characters. However, due to the delay in design work, it was not released as a set but one by one instead. It was dragged on for about a few years."
"Because it was not released as a collection, there were not many people that managed to complete the collection! This 'Imperial Uncle Cao' was the earliest one!
"I remember that too!" The other elderly expert smiled and said, "I collected them too back then! The 'Immortal Maiden He' was the most limited one. To complete the collection, you have to be able to buy the 'Immortal Maiden He' stamp!"
"So… How much does this cost?" Liang Huan asked.
"About fifty to sixty thousand! It is well kept!" The elderly expert smiled, "But if it was a complete collection, it would be amazing! The starting price would be from two million!"
Oh?
Zhao Yu heard and thought, is there a reason why the robber took this stamp album for?
Just like the 'Imperial Uncle Cao', the robbers had the other seven Immortals stamps but they had to steal 'Imperial Uncle Cao' to complete the Eight Immortals collection?
But two billion seems too little.
The experts flipped to page two as they spoke. That other page was full of colourful stamps. There were four in a set and there were ten sets. There was a mini figurine doing gymnastics on every stamps.
The collection looked rather old, it seemed like a really far off era.
"Wow! That's amazing!" The elderly expert exclaimed, "A full collection. This is the Broadcast Gymnastics Collection from 1952!"
"Cough!" Liang Huan shook his head and said, "I thought what so amazing! This Broadcast Gymnastics Collections can be bought on Taobao. It's about ten thousand for a set! They distributed one billion and two hundred fifty thousand collections in total, this is so-so!"
"Yo, Little Liang is quite amazing." The other expert complimented, "You know quite a bit! Hehe…"
This expert wasn't done laughing just yet when the elderly experts face suddenly froze! He was shocked stiff by something among the stamps. After a few seconds, he raised his hands shakily to point at the screen and said,
"This… This… Wasn't from the 1952 but 1951's! It's… Oh god!" The elderly expert's eyebrows was shivering too, "This is the one and only copy produced in 1951! One… One and only existing copy! Oh my god, oh my god. Why… Why would it be here?"