“It’s great,” Ji Xun said suddenly, looking at the stains on the windshield.
“Oh?”
“Because they harbor fear, they hold malice,” Ji Xun analyzed. “In other words, there must be some secrets hidden inside that we want to find.”
“Is a casino hidden in a village worth making such a big fuss over?” Huo Ranyin turned on the windshield wipers to wash away the mud and sand plastered on the glass.
“Who said there is only one casino?” Ji Xun countered.
Huo Ranyin started the car.
“You mean—”
“To mobilize the entire village to be xenophobic, pure sentiment definitely won’t work; it has to be interest. Since it’s about interest, you have to calculate the distribution of profits. One casino can’t feed this many people, but what about a whole bunch of casinos?”
The engine roared, the car started, and it majestically drove past the open-air vegetable market, heading deeper into the village.
The two of them withstood the unprovoked malice from the village, causing the situation to turn around invisibly. They weren’t afraid, so the ones who became afraid were the villagers. The looks the villagers cast at the car also changed from completely open and brazen to flickering and defensive—just like the mudball thrown by the child earlier. After being washed by the water and wiped by the wipers, it was no longer prominent, but it still left behind a trace on the glass that looked like the slimy trail of a crawling insect…
The village was very small. Combined with Xu Xinran’s description just now, after driving several dozen meters, Ji Xun, who was staring at the houses on both sides of the village road, said, “There.”
Without needing Ji Xun’s reminder, Huo Ranyin also spotted the critical spot.
They were currently stopped at a crossroads.
Right in front of the crossroads stood a road sign with the words “Zaozi Alley” carved on it. Behind the sign was the alleyway, which was wide enough for roughly two cars to drive side-by-side. Looking to both sides, houses flanked the alley. The one closest to the entrance was a single-story flat house. Behind it, a tall and massive jujube tree could be seen. As for the window facing them, it was completely and tightly obscured by dark blue, small-flowered curtains.
Could this house be the gambling establishment Xu Xinran mentioned?
The two of them made a mental note of it, but they were in no hurry.
They continued driving, circling around the front, back, left, and right of the village, checking area by area to see if other houses met the conditions.
After completing a full round, the result was somewhat unexpected.
Except for the house in Zaozi Alley they had seen initially, there was no second house that fit the description.
With this, it could basically be inferred that the house in Zaozi Alley was the casino. However—
“Strange. How come except for the one we saw first, none of the others look like casinos?” A small question mark popped up in Ji Xun’s head, which then gave birth to many tinier question marks. “If there’s only one casino, then this place isn’t a gambling village, and there’s no major channeling of gambling interests. So why do these people have such immense hostility toward us? It can’t be that there’s some other secret hidden here, right?”
“We’ll think about that later.” Huo Ranyin seemingly casually glanced at the rearview mirror. “Let’s handle the purpose of this trip first.”
As he spoke, he looked out the window. After making a round, they returned to the front of Zaozi Alley. That dark blue, small-flowered curtain was not far ahead, within arm’s reach. At this moment, looking at the alleyway between the houses ahead and the small path flanked by flowering trees behind the house, the two of them already had a clear plan for the ensuing actions.
A modified three-wheeled delivery vehicle chugged across the road surface.
Aside from the single person driving in the front, three people were squeezed into the small, cargo-carrying rear compartment.
One was Old Qi, sitting alone on the left, forty years old.
One was Heitan, who lived up to his name—as black as charcoal—and was much younger than Old Qi, probably only in his early twenties. Sitting next to Heitan was an even more robust but very young man named Hutou. This nickname likely came from a roaring, wide-mouthed large tiger head tattooed across his shoulder and neck.
The three grown men squeezed inside the tiny compartment, looking out at the road through the small window opened in the vehicle’s body.
There was actually nothing much to look at on the road. From birth to growing up, they had looked at it for over twenty years; which tree or which rock on either side of the road hadn’t been played with by them?
What was worth looking at was the off-road vehicle driving ahead, and the two outsiders inside who were completely incompatible with the village.
The two people who had suddenly arrived here were like two high-powered light bulbs dropping into a pitch-black room, flashing so brightly that it made people feel faint with anxiety.
This slight panic, coupled with the rumbling engine noise and the bumpy ride of the tricycle, made Heitan unable to hold back: “What on earth are these two guys doing here? They’ve aimlessly circled the village two or three times. What’s the meaning of this? Do they have nothing better to do after eating their fill?”
“Maybe we’re overthinking it,” Hutou said in a muffled, resonant voice. “They made a round but didn’t head over that way. It doesn’t necessarily mean they came for ‘that’.”
“Caution keeps the ship safe for ten thousand years…” Old Qi said. “Let’s observe a bit more.”
“That” was the secret agreed upon by consensus among their fellow villagers, and he was the first person to come into contact with this secret. Over all these years, what he relied on was nothing but “caution” and “prudence.”
“They’re back at Zaozi Alley. I think they came exactly for the casino Huoerduo co-runs with the outsider.”
A fourth voice drifted into the compartment. This time, the person speaking was the woman driving. The woman was also forty years old and was Old Qi’s wife, named Dayan. For a married couple to get along well, their personalities either had to be identical or complementary.
The couple Old Qi and Dayan were a textbook example of complementary personalities.
Old Qi was cautious and prudent, while Dayan was bold and fiery. Among this group of villagers, they usually deferred to Dayan even more than Old Qi during ordinary times.
“So it’s trouble brought on by Huoerduo.” Hutou rubbed his head, which was shaved close to the skin. “The casino has nothing to do with us. How about we just ignore it? Throughout the year, Huoerduo cradles mountains of gold and silver in his arms, yet his New Year gifts to us are just… look at what kind of dog crap items they are… a bunch of grapes, two bananas… He has the nerve to bring them over, I feel embarrassed for him.”
“Ignore it, my foot.” Old Qi didn’t speak, but Dayan spat at him from outside. “Doesn’t Huoerduo know about ‘that’? If Huoerduo is pushed to a dead end and tells everything about our matters, will everyone be buried along with him?”
“Don’t talk about dead ends just because you see two outsiders,” Hutou muttered. “Can’t they just be coming to find a casino to try their luck?”
“Looking at the driver’s spirit and energy, he doesn’t look like someone who would touch gambling. Though the other one appears a bit lethargic, he’s also fine.” Heitan spoke an objective word. “Instead, they look like the cops who often come around here to patrol. Plainclothes cops?”
“They’ve gotten out of the car.” Old Qi, who had been staring out of the small window of the compartment the entire time, suddenly spoke, cutting off the conversation among them.
“The driver with the slicked-back hair is heading toward the casino—sure enough, he came for the casino!” Dayan also spoke rapidly. “The other one wearing headphones and listening to music… Huh, they didn’t go together. The other one went to the opposite side!”
“Follow them separately!” With little time left, Old Qi didn’t think twice and made an immediate decision. “Dayan, you and Hutou watch the slicked-back one. Heitan and I will tail the one with headphones. If anything happens, call the others.”
The others voiced their assent, got out of the vehicle one after another, and split into pairs. Old Qi and Heitan first followed after Ji Xun, leaving Dayan and Hutou on the spot.
Hutou felt a bit bored. Twisting his neck, he said, “Staring and staring, we won’t stare out a miracle. Are we just going to watch blankly like this?”
“Watch a hammer! My man spends his days overthinking everything; if a leaf falls on his head, he worries he’ll get a concussion. His courage is smaller than a cat’s!” She glared at Huo Ranyin, who had entered the alley ahead, and said, “The village is our territory. When outsiders come here, they can’t run wild. Let’s find some trouble for him and drive him out openly. Next door to Huoerduo is Granny Gui. This old lady is hard to deal with; give her some benefits, and she’ll help.”
As she spoke, she had already taken out her phone and started making a call.
Hutou was still grumbling over there: “This matter should be handled by Huoerduo. It’s all trouble caused by him, so why are we paying out benefits to arrange things for him? It’s better to call Huoerduo and notify him that things have gone south, and his golden nest is about to be raided…”
Dayan grew impatient. In the intervals of talking on the phone, she berated him: “My husband’s courage is smaller than a cat’s, and your mind is narrower than a needle. It’s truly a waste that you have a tiger tattooed on your neck. A grown man, why do you keep your eyes glued to the sesame seed in front of you without turning away!”
Old Qi and Heitan caught up to Ji Xun.
The three of them walked along a narrow road with nowhere to hide. Logically speaking, no matter how much the person ahead was wearing headphones and listening to music, he should still be able to feel someone following behind him and cast a backward glance, right?
But the person walking in front kept his hands shoved in his pockets, his posture loose, strolling so leisurely that he could even stop to look at the flowers, look at the trees, and look at the shards of glass embedded on the top of people’s backyard walls. What the hell was so good to look at there?
Not to mention, those bright red headphones worn on his head were truly conspicuous…
Heitan couldn’t help but say, “Is this guy really here to look for trouble with us?”
Yeah, is he really here to cause trouble? He looks like he’s here for tourism! Old Qi also thought.
“He looks like a fool…” Heitan said in a low voice. “Otherwise, let’s…”
He lifted his hand and gestured back and forth across his neck.
“I told you we can’t use knives!” Old Qi was startled, his voice growing a bit louder. He quickly looked ahead. The person in front truly seemed like a fool; even though Old Qi had spoken so loudly, that guy didn’t even pause his steps, continuing forward without the slightest sense of alertness.
“Not killing,” Heitan said. “Just knock him out and move him outside the village, over to Juanshan.”
That’s a good idea, Old Qi thought for a moment. But soon, a shroud of gloom hit his heart, and he continued to think:
It’s good, but what if…
What if my hand is too heavy when knocking him out and something happens to him, and his family reports it to the police afterward…
What if he wakes up when dropped at Juanshan, feels extremely startled, and reports it to the police himself…
What if he doesn’t wake up when dropped at Juanshan and gets bitten by the insects and snakes that frequent the area, and he dies, and his family reports it to the police afterward…
“Uncle, what are you thinking about?” Heitan hissed in a low whisper beside him. “There’s another corner ahead, and he’s about to walk out of the alley. It won’t be easy to make a move once we reach the main road… Oh, he turned into a dead end. Great opportunity!”
Heitan quickened his pace, turned, and followed into the dead-end alley around the corner.
Because Old Qi was slow by two steps due to his thoughts, he only heard a dull thud of a fist striking a sandbag coming from inside—Bang!
His heart tightened, and he quickly took two fast steps: “Keep your movements light. Listen to your uncle: harmony brings wealth, turning big problems into small ones, and small ones into nothing…”
Just as his voice fell, a flash of vibrant and beautiful red came closer and closer in front of his eyes, closer and closer. Following that was also a Bang!
At this moment, his senses seemed to have been paused by a stop key, leaving a floating sense of stagnation.
Much of the clutter crowded in his mind cleared away, leaving only the final two thoughts to surface one after another:
Heitan’s idea was a good one, it’s just that he didn’t expect the opponent wanted to use it too…
And.
Those red headphones are really conspicuous.
The first person fainted, and the second person fainted as well.
Out of a spirit of humanitarianism, Ji Xun placed the two unconscious people side by side on a wooden box next to the trash bin in the dead-end alley. This way, if someone passed by and saw them, without paying close attention, they would only think these two people were sitting here chatting… although the location for chatting was a bit strange.
“It’s been a long time since I encountered such foolish tailing. Did they think they could deceive everyone just by driving a delivery vehicle?”
Ji Xun straightened his back, looked left and right, and let out a sigh: “In any case, having no surveillance is truly convenient. You don’t have to take responsibility for hitting people…”
After speaking, Ji Xun instantly felt these words didn’t quite fit the ideological awareness of a former criminal police officer. He quietly stuck out his tongue, pulled down the headphones that weren’t playing any music at all and were merely a disguise, and quickened his pace forward, rushing toward where Huo Ranyin was.
