Order 65: Thank you for the diamond gift from corn

  The cough had almost stopped when I saw the landlady clearly just now, but my throat was still itchy and I felt like coughing again as soon as I opened my mouth. Gao Cheng glanced at me lightly, patted my back gently and said, "Don't talk for now." Then he turned to the landlady in a soft voice and said, "Yes, I'm her friend."

  The landlady's face showed disappointment: "So, I originally wanted to... forget it, don't mention this matter. Xiao Zhu, come over and just say hello to you, and also tell you that the house next door was sold by my husband Lao Gao. If you see strangers coming and going, don't be too surprised, because the buyer is someone who came back from abroad with Xiao Han, so it's trustworthy."

  I feel like my thinking is stuck, and I'm numb all over. Watching the landlady's lips move, the message slowly reflects in my brain, and then translates one by one, until I hear myself asking: "Landlady, where is your son now?"

  "He, it turned out that the rumor about being expelled from school abroad was false, and I worried for nothing. That kid came back to China and stayed here for a night, knowing that I and Old Gao were busy with the factory district thing, he didn't care about his injured leg and ran over to help, if not for him, things wouldn't have been solved yet. A few days ago, he said he would come back first, but I haven't seen him, don't know where he went."

  "Sorry," Gao Cheng suddenly interrupted: "She didn't sleep well last night. If it's not particularly important, can we talk about it another day?"

  The landlady was taken aback for a moment, "Uh, okay... I'll call you later, Xiao Zhu."

  As the elevator doors closed, the atmosphere suddenly became heavy and I couldn't even move my gaze from the stunned void to the face of the person beside me. No one spoke, as if the two of us were engaged in a silent standoff. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him leaning against the door frame, taking out a cigarette from his pocket and putting it in his mouth without lighting it. As time passed second by second, my confused mind gradually cleared up, and I knew to take out my phone and dial the number. When the landlady's voice came on, I asked her calmly: "Just now you forgot to tell me, what is your son's full name?"

  The person opposite smiled and replied: "My son's name is Gao Han, Xiao Zhu, your idea is correct, multiple choices. One day I'll bring him to your gallery and introduce you, not boasting, my son is also very handsome, no worse than your friend."

  I barely managed to get rid of the landlady, hung up the phone, and turned my gaze to him, staring at him intently.

  "Who are you?" Expected to be filled with indignation, but the tone that came out was unexpectedly calm.

  I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like just now, his eyebrows and eyes lost their vitality, and his gaze became distant. I suddenly laughed at myself and looked down at the ground, muttering under my breath: "Just now you said that deleting things from your computer was a crime, dare I ask, what crime is this kind of wanton deception?"

  "I didn't cheat you." The soft four words pierced into his eardrum.

  I raised my head and stared into his eyes, "How dare you say you didn't cheat me?"

  "But he still replied calmly: 'There's nothing I dare not, I really didn't cheat you, everything was just your assumption.'"

  My whole body stiffened, and my mind replayed everything from the first time I met him to our subsequent encounters. After reviewing it all, a chill ran down my spine. It seemed that from start to finish, it was just my own self-righteousness and assumptions, even when I had doubts about his special identity, but didn't investigate further.

  One thing has to be admitted: he never acknowledged that he was the landlord's son.

  But... "What about your name? I don't believe you're really called Gao Cheng." It's impossible for such a coincidence to happen, where a stranger with the same surname as the landlord just happens to show up.

  But he narrowed his eyes, and in a soft, gentle voice, said slowly: "My surname is Chu, my name is Gao Cheng. The 'Chu' of the Chu State, the 'Gao' of high mountains and far waters, the 'Cheng' of eternal cities."

  Chu Gao Cheng

  He thoroughly deceived me, he indeed... didn't cheat me, just concealed part of it, huh, the key point.

  He has already shown me his high IQ, and now he has another label: cunning. With his cleverness, he must have understood that I mistook him for the landlord's son at our first meeting, but he kept silent and enjoyed my service to the "landlord's son" as a matter of course. Moreover, in the situation where I had no doubt, he removed his surname and only reported his name to gain my deeper trust.

  "What's your relationship with the landlord's son?" I learned from the landlady that her son had indeed stayed overnight in the next room, but because I was too busy to remember her entrustment for the past few days, I missed him. Afterwards... he moved into the next room, and I stepped into the pit he dug like a fool, getting deeper and deeper.

  He thought to himself and heard him say: "You've also seen it."

  I've seen him before? My mind flipped, the corner of my eye twitched, "Lu Jinghan?" No wonder I could remember, it was because the time interval was short, and the young man's name was particularly memorable. Plus, at that time, I judged that they knew each other, these few details connected together...... Suddenly, I stopped, I was reasoning! When a question arose, my mind automatically searched for relevant details, and thus drew a conclusion.

  Unconsciously, I have been influenced by him so deeply!

  "Are you secretly cursing us as being of the same womb?" Gao Cheng suddenly asked.

  I curled my lip, knowing that I couldn't hide my thoughts from him, and there was no need to distinguish. Besides, they were originally like this, clearly called Gao Han, but claimed to be Luo Jing Han, and the girl's name probably wasn't Qu Xin Hua either.

  "You can stop thinking too much, Han didn't lie, the name was chosen by himself. To us, a name is just a designation."

  "What organization are you all from?"

  This time he smiled, his eyebrows and eyes curved, "Xia Zhu, I have to say, you're smarter than before."

  I forced a smile to respond to his sarcastic praise, but I gave up and lowered my head. After thinking for a moment, I said to him: "Wait a minute." Then I turned around and entered the house, leaving his aura behind, and gradually calmed down. So when he stood at the guest room door and asked: "Is this an order to leave?" I was able to stop what I was doing calmly, look straight at him and say: "Firstly, your leg is not injured; secondly, you are not the son of the landlord who instructed me to take care of her family; thirdly, the so-called master-apprentice relationship established because of that murder case can be terminated after the case is closed. Based on these three points, I think we are actually just strangers. Originally, your daily necessities were brought by me, now I've tidied them up for you, and when you walk out of that door, I will say to you: thank you, no need to see you off."

  This is also a humble and polite attitude. Even if we don't meet again in the future, there's no need to tear our faces apart, right?

  He stared at me for a while, calmly opening his mouth: "Under the gentle appearance, anger, resentment and grievance are hidden. Trying to shift his mind by being busy, but the effect is minimal, eager to be alone to quietly find his own value, only then does he feel not hurt. Typical......"

  "Chu Gao Cheng!" I shouted sternly, my eyes more serious than ever before. "You may be standing on the pinnacle of a tower, with high IQ and skilled at reasoning and analyzing human nature, but please show some respect to the person you're analyzing! I'm not a criminal, I don't have to satisfy your sense of accomplishment. I'm just an ordinary little illustrator, can't even afford to provoke anyone, must I retreat three steps and hide? Is that still not enough?"

  His face cooled down a bit at that moment, I chose to ignore it. Carrying the bag and brushing past him, I went into the bathroom, swept all his toiletries into the bag as well, and finally carried them together to the door and put them outside, turned back to look at him, "Please."

  He looked down, then raised his eyes and walked towards me in big strides, stopping at the door. He lowered his gaze to look into my eyes: "There's something I need to remind you of, when I first moved in here it wasn't by choice."

  I nodded my head: "Understood, I'll take full responsibility for the renovation of the adjacent house and bear all the costs. I will also get the contact number of the buyer from the landlady, so you can rest assured."

  A faint, mocking smile appeared once again at the corner of his lips: "No need to ask for my contact information, it's already been saved in your phone, feel free to get in touch anytime to discuss business. Also, regarding the multiple counts of unauthorized deletion of data from my laptop, I reserve the right to take action. So for now, I'm still your debtor."

  After saying that, he brushed past my shoulder and walked into the elevator without even looking at the things I had just tidied up. As the elevator doors closed, a distant and prolonged voice faintly floated over: "Xia Zhu, you can't get rid of me."

  This is an incantation!

  It was not until he finished speaking and left that I stood still for a long time at the door. His psychological analysis, which I had interrupted, kept swirling uncontrollably in my mind, making me feel like even I didn't understand my own state of mind, which he had pierced with just one sentence. Later, it dawned on me that the person who bought the house next door was him.

  So after struggling for half a day, I was still under his shadow and couldn't get rid of it.

  I caught sight of the bulging bag as I lowered my head, and was momentarily stunned. I turned around and closed the door. But a moment later, I stood in front of the next door, clutching the key in my hand. Just then, the cleaning aunt knocked on my door to ask if she should take away the things outside, and after hesitating for a while, I politely declined, which led to this moment.

  Convince yourself, just don't want to add another debt, and give him an excuse. Because the east is what I lost outside the door, if it is cleared away, he will turn around and pursue me again, and there will be various excuses to humiliate me. Especially, his laptop with "international secrets" inside was also in it.

  He realized before he left and mentioned the intention of reserving those rights, warning me not to throw away his things arbitrarily.

  The key to the next door was also found in the bag being sorted, and at the moment of opening the door, a thought flashed through my mind: does this act of returning things to their original owner constitute illegal entry into his house? The hand grasping the doorknob trembled slightly, but the door had already been pushed open.

  I thought I would see a brand new look, or at least some renovation in progress, but what's presented before my eyes is: the same messy scene as before, the kitchen was bombed and nothing has changed.

  That swindler! He said he was renovating, but I saw workers going in and out of the house. I thought to myself, "What a joke!" I slammed the door shut and stormed back into my room, still fuming. The most infuriating part is that he didn't even do anything, yet I ended up getting played like a fool, feeling like I'd been sold out and was helping count the money.