Chapter Seven The Deceased

  For an entire afternoon, Gao Xiaowei kept telling Xiao Qian about her experience of running away from home.

  How much money did you bring at that time?

  How many floors is your house and how did you run out?

  Haven't you ever met bad people?

  Her sincere attitude and devout eyes had thoroughly betrayed her: I was certain that she was preparing theoretical guidance for a plan that had been brewing in her heart for a long time.

  Xiao Qian simply said, "I don't have any money on me, and I didn't think too much about it. The man's family is notorious for being evil tyrants, and their son has ruined many girls. All I thought was that as a woman, even though we can't do anything most of the time, but for our chastity, at least we can choose to run away."

  Gao Xiaowei slapped her thigh and said, "Sister, you're so stylish, I like it. But my motto is that as a woman, you have to be tough on men." She was fluttering her eyebrows and spitting out melon seeds all over the floor, while Xiao Qian used a cardboard to scoop them up. Gao Xiaowei saw this and said, "Oh dear, sorry about that. I'll go find a trash can."

  I was greatly surprised and didn't expect her to say such a thing.

  Gao Xiaowei asked me: "Such a good cleaning worker, how much money will you give to my sister per month?"

  Xiao Qian said: "Money? It's useless even if I want it."

  Gao Xiaowei indignantly said to me: "You're a ruthless capitalist, taking advantage of people when you have the chance."

  I innocently said: "It wasn't me who brought it up, let's just see how things go, anyway I won't treat your sister unfairly - by the way when did she become your sister?"

  "I acknowledge you now, how's that?" Gao Xiao Wei pulled Xiang Xiang's hand and said: "From now on, you're my sister, whoever dares to bully you I'll help you kick his butt!" As she spoke, she peeled open a piece of chocolate and handed it to Xiang Xiang. Xiang Xiang held it under her nose, sniffing it, and smiled lightly: "Good."

  "Why aren't you eating?"

  "It tastes weird when eating, but it's really delicious."

  Gao Xiaowei's eyes reddened, and she took out a stack of money from her bag, pulled out more than half of it, and placed it beside Xiao Qian, saying: "Sister, I can tell you don't have much money. This is what I mean by being sisters, don't think it's too little."

  Xiao Qian said: "These papers are really beautiful, but I don't want them!"

  Gao Xiaowei pretended to be angry and said: "You don't take me as your sister."

  Xiao Qian had no choice but to put it away, and immediately took off the emerald earrings from her ears and handed them to Gao Xiaowei: "Sister also gives you a gift." It wasn't until then that she discovered Gao Xiaowei had a row of hula hoops hanging from one ear, and exclaimed in surprise, "Don't you feel pain?"

  "Haha, fake! Look——" Gao Xiaowei took down all those circles, and it turned out they were all pinched on. She wasn't polite either, and casually put on the earrings that Xiao Qian gave her, which made her look lovely instantly.

  The two of them were chatting away like sisters, Old Wu had been outside tinkering with something all morning, I was bored out of my mind and turned on the TV, which was replaying yesterday's local evening news. The local news is broadcast after the Central Station News Network, usually featuring strange and unusual local stories that are quite popular among ordinary people. When I tuned in, the host had a serious expression, saying mysteriously: "For a patient with terminal cancer, it's almost like a death sentence, but the following news report may bring a glimmer of hope to those who have gone through similar experiences, let's take a look."

  The scene suddenly shifted to the hospital, with a red-faced man in the middle of the screen. The voiceover said: "Mr. Liu was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, and this news hit him hard. However, despite his family's modest means and having a young child still in diapers, Mr. Liu insisted on not being hospitalized for treatment. Strangely enough, during yesterday's routine check-up, the doctor found that his already metastasized cancer cells had completely disappeared - it's truly a miracle!"

  The reporter on screen held out a microphone to the man's mouth and excitedly asked: "How are you feeling now?"

  The man smiled and said: "Alright!"

  Reporter: "Have you received any other treatments during this period? For example, traditional Chinese medicine?"

  "No way, I don't have that kind of free time. I still want to make more money for my son's milk powder before I die."

  Reporter: "Have you encountered anything unusual recently?"

  "No."

  "What do you think is the reason for this result?" The reporter smiled and said: "Is it just like what's being said online, a problem with one's character?"

  A man with the surname Liu proudly said loudly: "I think it's also thanks to this!" He held up a stainless steel wine jug and gave it a close-up shot in front of the camera: "My wife complained about me a few days ago, saying that my illness was caused by drinking too much. But what's the point of living if you don't drink? And can my illness be cured? Everyone knows that liquor is antiseptic!"

  The reporter hesitated and said: "Uh, won't you be misleading others by saying that?"

  The man said carelessly, "I don't care about others, anyway my illness is cured by drinking wine! Come on, you have a drink too." He handed the wine jug to the photographer and continued drinking...

  I followed Zhi Le and muttered, "Eight out of ten it's a misdiagnosis by the hospital, now they're giving themselves an excuse." Later I found this man to be very familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere before. After another glance at his wine bottle, I finally remembered: I saw him on the bus! Excitedly, I pointed at the TV and said, "I know this guy!"

  Gao Xiaowei gave me a white eye and pulled Xiao Qian upstairs to continue chatting.

  The host awkwardly said: "This Mr. Liu is indeed quick-witted, but his experience seems really not worth learning from. Alright, let's move on to the next news item: The national badminton team will arrive in our province this month for training, and at that time they will also engage in a friendly match with the professional badminton players of our city, aiming to raise the level of badminton in our city by another notch. Let's take a look at what the young athletes of our city have to say."

  The coach of the provincial sports team stepped in front of the camera and gave a speech thanking this person and that, as if the national team's visit was a great honor to him. Then it was the turn of several team members, who stuttered through their prepared speeches. Just then, the microphone was suddenly snatched away by someone who excitedly said: "I only have one sentence - I'm really thrilled that my idols are here!"

  "Zhao Dan?" I unexpectedly found that the big boy was actually the college student who sat with me on the bus. Seeing two acquaintances in the same news report, and they were all on the same bus, I couldn't help but feel that this world is really small. However, looking at Zhao Dan's performance, he doesn't seem to be even a main player for the provincial team. When the national team came for training, he basically had nothing to do.

  At this time, I heard someone talking to Old Wu outside the door. I looked up and saw a stylishly dressed and handsome guy walking towards me with a smile. He greeted Old Wu and then came straight to my counter, saying "I'm checking in."

  His hair was just the right length, falling to his forehead, with a sharp nose and thick, black eyebrows. He wore a backpack that looked like it had a lot of tech gadgets on it, giving off a celebrity vibe. However, I noticed that despite the hot weather, he was still wearing a pair of thick leather gloves, complete with fur trim, which made them look like bear paws at first glance.

  "Welcome, 80 yuan a day, how long will you stay?" I'm also too lazy to bargain.

  He widened his eyes: "Still want money?"

  "Wait!" I swung my right hand in the air and continued, "You first listen to me - you'll tell me that you have no money, nor do you have an ID card. You don't have a wife or parents, but you just like it here, so no matter what, you want to stay. If I don't agree, you'll go sit on the steps at the entrance until I give in and agree. Although you didn't ask, I already know the answer: I'm counting my money for fun - come on, guys, kill me!"

  He listened to me finish and smiled: "Why are you so excited?"

  "Nonsense! This floor of guest rooms is almost fully booked, and not a single one has paid yet. How can I not be excited?"

  He smiled, revealing his white teeth: "You just want money, right? Wait." He didn't say another word and walked out the door. I thought he was going to run off again, but unexpectedly he just took a small stroll at the entrance before taking big strides back in, tossing two yellowish things onto my counter: "Here!"

  I took a closer look and couldn't help but feel a little surprised, this thing looks like gold! And judging from its color and the sound it made when it hit the table, it seems to be of very good quality.

  I grasped it in my hand, weighing it carefully, staring at it intently for a while. With the feel of it and my previous judgment, I came to a conclusion: it's not pure gold, but at least 22K! I'm quite skilled at identifying this kind of thing - almost everyone under my dad has a gold chain, and by the time I was five, I could already tell K-gold from pure gold.

  I rubbed the two pieces of gold and asked: "Where did you get this stuff?"

  "Picked up."

  "Where did you pick it up?"

  "Right at your doorstep."

  "Can we pick up some more?"

  "Wait for me," he said, and walked out the door. He bent down at the entrance, then came back in with a "thud", throwing two gold bars onto my desk.

  I stammered: "Can...can I still pick some up?" Of course, I didn't believe that the stuff was picked up in a legitimate way, and I also didn't believe that it was something good. I just didn't know what he wanted to do, but one thing was for sure: this person was definitely not a good guy, maybe even a bandit or something. But what could I have here that's worth more than a kilogram of gold? Was he going to rob me of my 56 consecutive numbered one-yuan bills?

  He laughed: "Boss, don't play with me, just say whether I can stay or not." Finally, he added a sentence with great disdain, "You're all demons, be quick about it."

  Division line

  Today I went back to my parents' place for dinner, and used the old computer to upload this chapter. This old machine can barely handle two QQ sessions and typing at the same time, it's really hard to imagine how I managed to write those chaotic and bizarre stories with it in the past. Here, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to this old fellow, may it survive the heavenly calamity and become an immortal.

  The above content contains spoilers.