The other party pointed outside with his chin, and then said: "Turn around the corner over there, there is a shop selling wreaths, Brother Snake is waiting for you inside."
I know this wreath shop, it's about 200 to 300 meters away from the dumpling house, and it's on the corner of the street.
This random person who I didn't know suddenly appeared and asked me to follow him. Naturally, I was not at ease. I continued to ask him: "What does Brother Snake do? What does he want from me?"
"I don't know. You'll know when you go there. Anyway, I'm here to help him convey a message."
I said what would happen if I didn’t go.
He snorted coldly and said: "You'd better leave quickly, otherwise I will send you the wreaths from the wreath shop. Do you believe it?"
The business in my mother's shop was busy, and there were customers everywhere. I thought that if I got into trouble with this guy, it would definitely affect the business in the shop. I didn't want to cause trouble, so I stood up and planned to go out with him, and at the same time, I asked someone next to me. The aunt in the village said: "Aunt, please tell my mother that I will go out for a while and come back for dinner later."
After the aunt responded, I followed the man out. Under his leadership, we came to a wreath shop at the corner. There was an aisle behind the wreath shop. He led me through the aisle to a yard at the back. There are several painted coffins placed in the yard.
"Brother Snake, I brought you a man." After the man shouted to a room in the corner of the yard, a man with a big belly came out.
This man looked to be about forty years old. He was very handsome, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. His earlobes looked very big. He looked like a Maitreya Buddha. He also wore various beads and jewelry on his wrists and neck.
"Chen Jianjun, right?"
The middle-aged man named Snake Brother was walking towards me quickly. The expression on his face looked very polite and enthusiastic. When he came up to me, he extended his hand to shake my hand.
After I shook hands with him, I asked him: "What do you want from me? It seems that we have not crossed paths."
He let go of my hand, took out a cigarette to disperse the smoke for me, and said, "It's like this, I'm Liu Xuanxuan's friend, and I'm here to ask you where she is now."
Sure enough, as I guessed, this person was Liu Xuanxuan's boss. Because I didn't trust him, I didn't take the cigarette he gave me. Instead, I made an excuse saying that my lungs were feeling a little uncomfortable recently and I stopped smoking. As for I did not answer him directly to the questions he asked.
Instead, he asked cautiously: "Where did Liu Xuanxuan go? Why did you come to ask me?"
He smiled and said: "That's right, Liu Xuanxuan and I have also cooperated. This time she followed you to Myanmar and so on. I also know it. I haven't contacted her for a long time. I saw you coming back this time. But I didn’t see Liu Xuanxuan, so I came to ask you where she is.”
I asked: "Then how do you prove that you are Liu Xuanxuan's partner, what if you lied to us?"
Brother Snake then told me a lot, basically the things I told Liu Xuanxuan before. Since Brother Snake knows, it seems that he is Liu Xuanxuan's partner.
I continued to ask him: "Then when did you know we were back?"
"I...I just found out too."
Brother Snake's words obviously deceived me. I had just returned to my hometown not even a moment ago. Why did he come to me so quickly? He probably knew about it after we entered Yunnan. He has been unable to contact Liu Xuanxuan in the past few days, so he was particularly anxious.
As for how to tell him about Liu Xuanxuan's whereabouts, I told him the truth as we had agreed. She was lost when she was in Pasheng.
The reason why we tell the truth is that we have not fallen out with Liu Xuanxuan, and Liu Xuanxuan does not know that we have harmed her or planned to harm her.
On the surface, we still have a cooperative relationship with Liu Xuanxuan. She disappeared purely accidentally and has nothing to do with us, so there is no need for us to lie and we can say whatever we want.
But after I finished speaking, Brother Snake didn't seem to believe it. He frowned and said, "Huh? Lost? She disappeared in the hotel?"
I smiled bitterly and said, "Yeah, it sounds incredible, but that's the fact. She disappeared suddenly."
"Then there were no signs before she disappeared?" Brother Snake asked.
"No, she disappeared after we returned home after dinner in the evening. Because we smuggled there, and the local police advised us to return to China as soon as possible, we didn't look for her. As for where she is now, whether she is alive or dead, That’s not clear.”
"You... you can't be..." After Brother Snake said this, he did not continue, but looked at me with that kind of scrutiny.
I also guessed what he wanted to say. He probably wanted to ask me if he had killed Liu Xuanxuan.
I immediately said: "We didn't harm her. She really disappeared suddenly. However, kidnappings of people in Southeast Asia often happen, so we thought she might have been kidnapped. After all, she is beautiful. Also in good shape.”
Brother Snake didn't speak, but took a puff of cigarette. After smoking, he said with a gloomy look: "Then why didn't you call the police or leave someone to look for her? Wouldn't it be too much to just come back like this?" Isn’t it inappropriate and irresponsible?”
I said, "Didn't I just say that we smuggled across the border and were caught once by the local police there. They asked us to leave the country as soon as possible, but there was nothing we could do. But if you really want to find her, otherwise you Send someone to Pasen to look for her, I think as long as you have enough money and some connections, you should be able to find her."
Brother Snake didn't speak, but started thinking there. He didn't know what he was thinking about. After a long time, he smiled and said: "Okay, I will send someone to look for her over there later. But before we find her, our cooperation , do we still have to continue?”
"Our cooperation?"
"Yes, Liu Xuanxuan should have told you that there is someone behind her. This person is me. I am a happy person, so I won't tell you too much. You must be a smart person too. Let's just continue to cooperate. As before, Liu Xuanxuan How about we negotiate with you and give me thirty cultural relics a year?"
"Then what will you do if I choose not to continue cooperating with you?" I asked tentatively.
He chuckled: "Whatever Liu Xuanxuan plans to do, I will do the same."
"You mean to report us?"
"You can try it."
I was also a little curious about how he got the batch of cultural relics we sold to Uncle Dong, and the photos Liu Xuanxuan showed me before. How did Brother Snake take those cultural relics, so I thought for a moment and asked him : "We can continue to cooperate, but should you tell me how you obtained the photos of the cultural relics in the Prince's Tomb? We sold them all to Uncle Dong at that time. Uncle Dong said that he had sold them to Hong Kong and Macao. You’re an antique dealer, so where did you come from?”
Brother Snake smiled and said, "I bought it from an antique dealer."
I shook my head and said, "You shouldn't. If you bought it from an antique dealer, how would you know that we stole it from the tomb?"
"Well, I can't tell you yet. I will tell you after we have cooperated for a while."
"Did Uncle Dong tell you this?" I continued to try to ask him.
Although when we discussed this matter before, everyone felt that Uncle Dong was not such a person and did not put the object of suspicion on him, but now I have to doubt him. After all, he is the one who produced the cultural relics. If If he hadn't leaked the feng shui, how would Brother Snake know about it?
