Chapter 8 Lost

  I know that doing things for him would naturally come with a sweet reward, so I said: "Brother's meaning brother understands, brother just needs to help me find out where that person is, no need for brother to take action, I'll personally catch him! You, just stay at home and rest well, when the person is caught, the sweet reward will naturally be shared with brother too!" The phone transmitted Old Zhou's hearty laughter, and he said while laughing: "Brother, what are you talking about? For brothers to stab each other in the back, it's too common to talk about money. Say, who would dare steal things from my brother?"

  "Hmm...! It's that old man Liu who handles the accounts, brother has come to my shop more than once or twice, he must know him. This old guy is now playing hide and seek with me, no matter how I look for him, I can't find him! Now, little brother, I'm really in trouble." I said, pretending to be pitiful.

  A loud slapping sound came from the phone, definitely Old Zhou being dramatic again. He angrily said: "Little brother, I'll definitely help you find that old man, don't worry. Although our police station only has four people, other departments still give face to the county police bureau's name. Give me a day, tomorrow I'll..."

  (Translation ends abruptly as it seems like the original text was cut off)

  I pretended to be very happy and chatted with Old Zhou for a few more sentences, nothing but the usual stuff about his wife being fierce at home, which I've heard over a hundred times! But due to the pressure of Old Zhou being the police chief, I still had to act like a loyal audience watching a Korean drama, this suffering is just as painful as when office workers have to drink with their boss after getting drunk!

  I hung up the phone and let out a long sigh of relief. I looked down at my skin, which had become even whiter than before. The stubble on my face was gone, and the scars from hunting that covered my body had faded significantly. My actual age is 29, an age where one should be mature and stable, but after shedding my skin once, I had reverted back to being 24 or 25 years old! Standing in front of the mirror, I caught a glimpse of myself looking four or five years younger. In an instant, the thought flashed through my mind that if I continued to shed my skin, I would slowly turn into a five or six year old child. For the first time, I felt afraid - why was this happening?! My uncle, who had been missing for so long, still hadn't been found! I still had things holding me back! I couldn't become a helpless child at the mercy of others! I became furious and let out a loud roar in the room. Blackie was chased away by me, and since there was no one else in the shop, I could freely express my emotions. This feeling made me feel very relieved. Suddenly, the door to the shop was knocked on: "Bang, bang, bang..."

  Strange? Who is it? The partner inside the shop can't come back so quickly, Hei Zi has his own key on him, and I'm afraid he'll lose the key, so I specifically put a spare key in the flower bed at the door. It shouldn't be You Shui Tong either, as the agreed time is still a day away. Who could it be? I put on my clothes, stood in front of the mirror to tidy up, and slowly walked downstairs. The knocking sound continued, growing louder, and when I opened the door, my eyes widened - how could it be Ali?! Today she was wearing a blue denim jumpsuit, which, although not mature, suited her long hair and melon-seed-shaped face quite well.

  Ari saw me and my expression froze for a moment, stuttering in a low voice: "I... I... just now... heard you calling out very loudly, so I was worried... so I knocked on the door desperately... You... you didn't

  I saw her so flustered and the anger in my heart also subsided by half. I calmly asked her, "What brings you here? You didn't just come to knock on my door, did you?" Ali was a bit taken aback and said, "Uh... I came to get the hot pot."

  I suddenly understood and looked at the time, it was already past 12 o'clock. No wonder they were like that. "Hmm, come with me," I said. Ali carefully followed me to the large hall of the shop, turned a corner into the kitchen, which wasn't very messy. I pointed to a place and said: "That's it, it's already been washed."

  Ali nodded and walked over to that pot, walking in front of me with her head down and said: "Is this your home?"

  Home? My mind is a bit dizzy, maybe this is just a place to escape the wind and rain, it can't be called home. My home was destroyed by someone more than 20 years ago. "No".

  Lili seemed to want to ask something but hesitated and couldn't say it. "Want to ask what? If there's nothing, then leave, I said here."

  Ali's face suddenly turned red, she lowered her head and whispered to me: "Tonight... tonight at 8 o'clock, can we have dinner together? Just the two of us, at my hot pot restaurant."

  They are all adults, of course they know what to do. I thought about it and decided to give this opportunity to Heizi instead, let him have more contact with Ali, and he won't become infatuated. I nodded in agreement.

  Then I sent Ali out of the shop, and since the shop was too dark, as soon as we went out, I saw her cheeks were red and puffy. As soon as we put away our things and started the car, she disappeared in a flash.

  I closed the door and returned to my room, turned on the computer, and Baidu searched to see if I could find any information about this stone. I entered the keyword "strange stone", after two or three seconds, many strange stone pictures appeared on the screen, unfortunately, they were all man-made crafts. I didn't give up, and continued searching for more than two hours, but the result was disappointing, except for some craft stones, the remaining web pages would all redirect to some adult health product websites and adult games. Helplessly, I forcefully clicked the mouse a few times to vent my frustration, then opened a webpage to watch TV dramas.

  It was past five in the afternoon, Hei Zi hummed a little tune as he returned to the shop. He walked into the room with a smile, holding a bag which he put on my computer desk, and then sat down on my bed to smoke.

  I opened it to find a bento box, and Hei Zi saw my disgusted expression and said: "Hey! I'm telling you, brother, I risked being kicked out of the internet cafe while gaming to help you deliver this bento. Don't be picky, it's three meats and one vegetable, if you don't eat it, I will!"

  I turned down the volume of the speaker, opened the bento box, and poked at the fatty pork inside with my chopsticks. I slowly said, "Ari invited me out to dinner tonight."

  Hei Zi suddenly jumped up and stood on my bed, saying: "What's going on? I told you to go out and have some fun with me, but it seems like you're still playing hard to get!"

  My expression didn't change, I stared blankly at the bento in the bowl. Hei Zi suddenly became anxious and said, "Brother, you're my ancestor, don't scare me with this!" I still didn't speak, staring blankly at the bento. Hei Zi softened up and said, "Later, I'll buy groceries, using my salary is okay, right?" The whole person went soft and weak.

  I nodded in satisfaction and said, "Now go buy it, we'll have hot pot tonight. The weather is cold, I won't make things difficult for you, as long as the flavor of the hot pot satisfies me, I will definitely tell you."

  After finishing speaking, I turned on the stereo and continued watching TV. Heizong's whole person seemed to have lost his soul, with a dispirited face, closing my bedroom door and walking out. Heizong is indeed very reliable, but he will make mistakes that any man would make, which is when he encounters love, he becomes extremely emotional.

  It wasn't until after 7 that Hei Zi called me downstairs to eat, I shut down the computer and slowly made my way down. As soon as I sat in the chair and stretched out my hand, he knew what I wanted to do and quickly served me a bowl of food. During this time, I took a look at the boiling hot pot, used the ladle to stir it, not bad, tonight's hot pot was mutton, picked up a piece, not bad, the texture was just right, no chili!

  Hei Zi helped me serve the rice, I pretended not to see him and slowly started eating hot pot, Hei Zi looked at me with a face full of expectation.

  By 7:45, I put down my chopsticks and wiped my mouth, saying, "A Li is having dinner at 8 o'clock tonight." Suddenly, Hei Zi's eyes widened as he stared at me. I coughed a few times and continued, "But I'm not going, you go instead, make up any excuse you want!" After I finished speaking, Hei Zi looked at me with tears in his eyes. "At 8 o'clock, you wouldn't let the girl wait for half an hour, would you? There are still 15 minutes left, hurry to her hot pot restaurant."

  I said it as if nothing had happened.

  "Ah!" Hei Zi shouted, jumped up from the chair, changed his clothes in five minutes, said goodbye to me, and "bang" closed the door and left. The big house was empty again, leaving only me alone, quiet and spacious. I like this feeling very much, it's very peaceful.

  I put away the things on the table, took a bath in the bathroom and went to bed. I'm sure Old Zhou will be able to find Liu Lao's trail tomorrow. As for why the stone disappeared, who took it, only Liu Lao knows. Tomorrow is also the time agreed with You Shui Gu, if two things conflict again

  Alas! Thinking too much gives me a headache. Tomorrow, I'll first take care of the oil and water tank business, and then we can talk about Old Liu's place later.