"It's already half past nine, why isn't that Zhao dog here today? It's not like him," one person grumbled.
"Right? He's always here by half past eight, rain or shine," another agreed.
"What's up with you two, caring about Zhao dog? Isn't it better if he doesn't show up? We don't get paid any more even if we do more work," Xiao Nian chimed in, not having a good impression of the stingy Zhao Ergou.
Seeing that the shop wasn't open, the three of them had no choice but to sit on the ground and smoke their happy immortal weed. They sat there for two hours...
"Could this Zhao dog have run off?"
"I think so too. He opens late and closes early, but today he closes before payday?"
"Damn, don't scare me. I need to pay off my Huabei tomorrow."
The three paced back and forth in front of the shop, so worried that a few strands of hair fell out. The more they thought about it, the more something felt wrong.
"Let's go find him!"
"Yeah, let's go to his place. Once we get our money, we'll never work for him again."
Zhao Ergou's home was in a rather old seven-story walk-up building, on the second floor. Being an old building, the stairs were narrow, and the light wasn't very good. Perhaps due to the thunderstorm last night, the dim streetlights flickered, making it quite eerie.
"This should be it."
Xiao Nian reached out and knocked on the wooden door.
Creeaak~~
"Uh, it's not locked?"
"Should we go in?" Xiao Nian looked at the two behind him and asked.
"Let's go in."
Xiao Nian knocked a few more times, then gently pushed open the wooden door. "Boss, boss, we're coming in."
"Ah~"
"Gurgle~ Gurgle gurgle."
......
Ten minutes later, Zhao Ergou was being taken away in handcuffs. He seemed quite calm, his expression as if he had found release, a little relaxed.
Two bodies were also carried out. Why two?
One was Huang Yunzhi, and the other was her lover, Liang Dong. Why were they killed?
This all started with his gambling. Ever since he got involved with Huang Yunzhi, the money never stopped flowing. With more money came more bad friends. Gradually, he fell into gambling.
Last night, there was a heavy storm, and with nothing else to do, he gambled.
His luck was terrible, losing whatever he bet on. He complained to Huang Yunzhi and swindled another two thousand yuan, only to lose it all within half an hour.
After killing Huang Yunzhi, Zhao Ergou used her phone to send a WeChat message to Liang Dong, inviting him to his place for a rendezvous. Since he had lost everything, why not go? He was sure to get a thousand or two yuan afterward.
And so, he went. It was a one-way trip.
When the King of Hell summons you to die at the third watch, who dares to keep you until the fifth? Thus, this tragedy unfolded. There is a cause for everything; this is what is called karma.
Binhai hadn't seen such a major case in many years. How could the 5 million citizens not be in an uproar? The trending searches had even reached third place. Of course, first and second were taken by some celebrity's cheating scandal, where the female lead even forgave him.
While swatting flies and browsing videos on his phone, Huang Danian, the owner of the octopus ball stall, was drawn to a pushed notification. He clicked on it and exclaimed, "My goodness, isn't this that idiot who gave me cigarettes a few days ago?"
Killed two people in a row?
"Phew..."
Huang Danian was so scared that he slapped himself, "Washing my hands in the golden basin, never using the two-finger divine art again."
......
Since they were all students and had classes most mornings, they decided after some discussion not to open from Monday to Friday mornings.
Yesterday, they had closed early, and there were still several hundred young coconuts left. Li Haochen wasn't in a hurry to enter the space to pick coconuts.
Checking the time, he took the lead to secure a good spot in the cafeteria.
"Yanran, over here!"
The arrival of Murong Yanran caused another stir. The title of the most beautiful new student was not just for show.
The fact that they had been seen together frequently during this period had already spread throughout Bin University. Those who were single had stomped their feet so hard they were almost crippled, and their chests had deflated.
"Yanran, you'll have to wear a hat and mask next time, just like that time on the train, hehe!"
"I even ate some of your steamed buns and drank a bottle of water back then!"
Both of them recalled their first meeting, and thinking about it made them want to laugh. It was quite amusing.
"Okay, let's go, quickly. If we don't hurry, those beasts will bury me alive."
"Scared?" Murong Yanran chuckled.
"Scared?" Li Haochen smiled, and without any warning, he took Murong Yanran's small hand and looked at the boys stomping their feet in frustration in the distance. "For you, even if it means a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, so what."
Her face flushed, her heart raced, lost in the moment.
During this time, the two had been openly together at school, not bothering with the gazes of others. Strangely, given Mu Shaoyang's temper, it was unusual for him to be so quiet, and even his lackeys had been behaving themselves. On two occasions, when they encountered Li Haochen, he hadn't made any move.
This made Li Haochen somewhat surprised. "Could that Mu dog have died on his mother's lap?"
Murong Yanran had class in the afternoon, so she didn't go back to Li Haochen's place. After they parted ways, Li Haochen rode his electric tricycle home. "Huh, isn't that Qinglong, one of his lackeys?"
He looked at the dimly lit alley, scanned his surroundings, and a thought sparked in his mind. He chuckled...
Qinglong was squatting in the alley, smoking and chuckling foolishly. "Today's going to be great, hehe!"
He patted his pocket containing the room card and the little blue pill, then looked at the beautiful woman he had spent 2800 yuan on WeChat to "catch." He couldn't be happier.
"Why does Xiao Xian like to meet in this alley? It's so dark, could it be..." Qinglong fantasized about having some fun in the alley later.
Suddenly, his vision went black, and his entire body was wrapped tightly in a large red, white, and blue tarpaulin.
"Fuck, who the hell... Ah, no, don't hit me..."
Qinglong struggled out of the waterproof cloth, his eyes wide with fury, gnashing his teeth, his face bruised and swollen. He limped out of the alley, "I'll fuck whoever dares to tread on a Tai Sui."
But Li Haochen was nowhere to be seen. He had already slipped away after his fun.
"Hahaha, so satisfying. This red, white, and blue tarpaulin was worth it. I should prepare two more to keep in the car, hehe."
After venting his anger, Li Haochen couldn't be happier. He laughed all the way.
"This time, I'll just collect some interest. We have a long way to go, so we'll see," Li Haochen's anger surged as he remembered how his brothers and he had been beaten. Without a background, he couldn't deal with them directly, but he could still vent his frustration by tricking people.
Leaving the scene, Li Haochen went to the hardware store again and spent a lot of money to have five red, white, and blue tarpaulins made. This was for unforeseen circumstances. Since he wasn't short on money now, it was worth spending some to get revenge.
Returning home, he entered his space and grabbed his fruit-picking artifact to go inside.
When people are happy, they have energy for everything. The piles of coconuts on the beach were a testament to that.
Once the initial surge of energy passed, Li Haochen cried so hard that his entire neck stiffened. The feeling was... exhilarating.