"An'an, have the college entrance examination results been released in the past two days?"
Su Ran was sitting behind the bar and scrolling through Douyin. She happened to see the news about the announcement of the 2022 national college entrance examination results, so she asked Xu Zhian who was standing aside.
She remembered that when the little girl came, she was very confident and said that she should have no problem getting into Jiangnan University.
After Su Ran waited for a while, no one answered her. She turned around and saw that Xu Zhian was sitting next to her, staring blankly ahead, wondering what he was thinking.
And Su Ran suddenly remembered that Xu Zhi'an seemed to be in this state all morning.
Could it be that the girl has reached the age of conception and fell in love with a handsome young man, but she has no experience in love, so she is full of worries?
"An'an?" Su Ran called again.
"Ah? Sister Ranran, what's wrong?" Xu Zhi'an was stunned, and then realized that Su Ran had just called her.
"There seems to be something wrong with you today. Did something happen to you?" Su Ran asked curiously.
"I'm fine, maybe it's because I didn't get any rest last night." Xu Zhian replied.
Although she said that, Su Ran could still see a trace of panic flashing in Xu Zhi'an's eyes when she just asked her, as if she had some secret and was afraid of being discovered.
But since she didn't want to say it, she couldn't continue to ask further.
"Sister Ranran, what did you ask me just now?" Xu Zhian quickly changed the subject.
"I just saw the news about the results of the college entrance examination. I wanted to ask how you did in the exam." Su Ran pointed to the news on her phone and said.
"This, I checked, the score is 711." Xu Zhian replied.
Su Ran was stunned, "You actually got such a high score in the exam. No wonder you were so confident when you were reviewing."
"Maybe it's because I worked hard on basic skills in my first and second years of high school, so I basically don't have to put in much effort in reviewing in my third year of high school."
"Have you decided which school you want to apply for? This score should be comparable to Tsinghua University and Peking University."
"Didn't I tell you before that I also want to go to Jiangnan University like Sister Ranran." Xu Zhian narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Okay, yes, I have an idea. The hard power of Jiangsu University is not worse than that of Tsinghua University and Peking University, and it is also close to home. How great." Su Ran nodded.
Xu Zhian smiled, then stared blankly ahead.
Su Ran looked at the little girl and continued to check her TikTok.
The two sat like this for a while, and Xu Zhi'an said softly: "Sister Ranran, I want to ask you something."
Su Ran thought to herself that she couldn't bear it anymore.
"Huh? What's the matter? Tell me."
"That's right, sister Ranran, do you know where to sell black cats around here?"
Su Ran was stunned, what's the problem? I saw that you were absent-minded all day, and I thought you would consult me on some emotional issues. I am also good at gossiping, so I would like to practice my theory on you.
Then you asked me where to buy cats? Have you been wondering about the cat all morning?
"There are several pet shops on Fusu Road. When you go out and walk to the north, you will see them in the bustling area. They are all serious breeds, such as short-haired dogs and short-haired ones. You can get whatever you want. "
"This kind of pet store should be quite expensive, right?"
"I really don't know if it's expensive or not. But the prices of things like cats should be pretty much the same, the cheaper ones are seven to eight hundred, one or two thousand, and the more expensive ones are more than ten thousand.
If you are raising a cat for the first time, I suggest you buy a cheaper one, around one thousand. It will not put any pressure on your current salary. If you have raised a cat, you can buy an expensive one later. "
Although it was not a question that Su Ran was interested in, Su Ran still answered it with all her heart.
After Xu Zhi'an hesitated for a moment, he asked softly: "Sister Ranran, I don't think I need something so expensive. Is there anything cheaper, something that costs tens of dollars, or one or two hundred dollars."
Su Ran was stunned, "Huh? It's so cheap. It must be a wild cat picked up from some wilderness or a stray cat on the street. Such cats might be carrying some infectious diseases, so it's not reliable. , although the ones in the pet store are a little more expensive, but at least they are safe. If you don’t have enough money, I can advance you a little salary."
Xu Zhian shook his head, "No, Sister Ranran, I can't bear to part with cats that are too expensive. I don't mind wild cats or stray cats."
Su Ran looked at Xu Zhian with some curiosity. From what she said, it was probably not for raising a cat. So what else could she do with buying a cat?
"Then you go to Wutong Street and have a look. There are areas in the old city that have not yet been demolished. I remember there are many wet markets, including cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, and fish.
But if you really go there to buy it, you still have to be careful. The cats and dogs there are all thrown together and raised without knowing where they came from. They are definitely not healthy. "
"Okay sister Ranran, I understand." Xu Zhian nodded.
"It's six o'clock, it's time to get off work." Su Ran looked up at the watch.
"It was so fast, I didn't even notice it." Xu Zhian muttered.
"An'an, are you really okay? You've been looking distracted all day today, as if you have something on your mind." Su Ran looked at the little girl and asked again.
Xu Zhi'an shook his head and put his things into his bag, "It's okay, Sister Ranran, I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow."
After finishing speaking, he waved his hand to Su Ran and trotted out of the store without waiting for Su Ran to answer.
"That's weird." Su Ran looked at Xu Zhian's hurried back, and was sure that the little girl must have something that was inconvenient to tell her.
But gossip is gossip, and Su Ran is not one to force things on others. If he doesn't want to say anything, he won't insist on finding out.
Today is Monday, and it can be said that there is no business at all in the store. After Xu Zhian left, only Su Ran and Zhang Ziqing, who was probably dozing upstairs, were left in the store.
Su Ran simply picked up the CLOSE sign and prepared to hang it at the door of the store, and then took Zhang Ziqing out to eat the hot pot that she had wanted to eat for a long time.
As soon as the sign was hung on the door, several rhythmic trumpets sounded from behind Su Ran.
Looking back, an expensive Maybach was parked in front of the store. The window slowly lowered, and the man in the car revealed his handsome profile.
The man gently adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses with his middle finger, and said in a deep voice: "Beauty, I wonder if I can have the honor of treating you to an unforgettable French meal tonight? "
Su Ran gave the other party a sweet smile, then took down the sign she had just put up and threw it directly on the man's car. The pure black Maybach body was immediately scratched with a long mark by the hard sign.
The sound of the brand rubbing against the car body instantly wiped out the elegant image of the man in the car. The man quickly opened the door and jumped out of the car, running to the place where the car body was smashed. He felt heartbroken when he saw the long mark.
"You, you, you, you, you pay me! Do you know how much my car is plus the modification fee? You woman, it's more than 10 million! Do you know how much 10 million is?! I'll change it into banknotes. I can fill up your store!"
"Hey, then you may not have any idea about ten million." Su Ran pointed to the shop behind him, "It's good if you can fill up a corner."
Qin Shoumo took out a business card from his suit jacket and handed it to Su Ran, "I want to sue you and pay for my car repair money!"
Su Ran rolled her eyes, took the business card and tore it into pieces before throwing it at Qin Shoumo, "Hurry up and sue me now. I haven't even been to the court yet. I'm just bored."
"How can you, a woman, be so unreasonable? I am a famous red circle lawyer with a 100% winning rate. I have never lost a lawsuit in my career!"
Su Ran nodded, "I'm scared to death. But Lawyer Qin, with just such a small scratch, I guess the compensation won't be much, right? Maybe even the court won't bother to pay attention to it, so I can't make it more difficult for you."
Qin Shoumo was stunned, "What do you mean?"
Su Ran smiled sweetly, picked up the wooden sign from the ground, and then smashed it hard on Qin Shoumo's Maybach, which was worth tens of millions. Qin Shoumo watched helplessly as his car gained more color.
After smashing it seven or eight times, Su Ran looked at his masterpiece, nodded with satisfaction, and hung the sign back on the door of the shop with Qin Shoumo's stunned expression.
"Okay, Lawyer Qin, look at the pits. If you sue me again, it will be much safer. How much compensation do you have? The court will definitely support you."
"Aren't you a gangster? You're a little girl, you're so good-looking, but you can do such a thing!" Qin Shoumo said sadly: "In this case, I think only the justice of the law can punish you, you must be punished You're sentenced to ten to twenty years, and I'll let you reform inside.
I think your store is also a loss-making business, so you might as well just mortgage it to me.
After you come out, I will sell you to a sweatshop in Southeast Asia to work for me. The money I earn in a month will be divided 82 by the intermediary, and you will just wait there to die! "Qin Shoumo said fiercely.
"That's a good idea." Su Ran nodded and reached out to touch the sign that had just been hung on the door.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't, don't, don't, let's talk to each other if you have anything to say. Why do girls like to be violent when they have nothing to do? If this was the case in ancient times, you wouldn't be able to get married."
Su Ran rolled her eyes and was about to go up with the sign. Seeing this, Qin Shoumo quickly spread his hands to protect the front of his car. The two of them seemed to be performing a hawk catching a chicken, which looked extremely funny.
However, this scene did not last long. Zhang Ziqing yawned and leaned against the door frame, lazily saying: "What are you two doing at the door?"
"Help! This woman wants to murder my car!" Qin Shoumo saw Zhang Ziqing and rushed towards him as if he saw a life-saving straw.
Zhang Ziqing turned sideways, Qin Shoumo jumped out of the air and fell to the ground.
"Originally I just wanted to kill your car, but now I have started to want to kill you." Su Ran snorted coldly.
"Oh, I really regret coming here. One is pretending to be a tiger, and the other is a helper of the tiger." Qin Shoumo said heartbrokenly, "You are the biggest gangsters in Jiangning City."
"Then call the police and arrest me, or I will set your car on fire immediately." Su Ran said with a smile.
"Okay, how old are you? Can you two stop making such a fuss?" Zhang Ziqing said helplessly.
"What are you talking about? I am the victim. I am here to sincerely invite you two to a French dinner." Qin Shoumo felt deeply aggrieved.
"Then you can eat it by yourself. My dinner option tonight is pork shabu-shabu in a copper pot." Su Ran said with disgust.
"How can a copper pot of shabu-shabu be compared with an elegant and delicious French meal?" Qin Shoumo said angrily.
"Just go and play, who cares about you." Su Ran rolled her eyes, pulled Zhang Ziqing and walked out.
Qin Shoumo took a look and chased after him gratefully, "Hey, wait for me and you two."
The copper pot shabu-shabu restaurant that Su Ran wanted to eat wasn't too far away from here, but it took the three of them noisily for more than half an hour to get there.
To be precise, Su Ran and Qin Shoumo were noisy all the time, and Zhang Ziqing was caught in the middle with an expressionless face and no disturbance in his heart.
"This kind of decoration makes me feel like I'm dreaming back to the Qing Dynasty." Qin Shoumo looked at the Qing Dynasty Baylor men with pigtails on various murals in the store, and couldn't help but feel nostalgic for a while: "Looking back at that time, I was still working under Emperor Kangxi. When I was on duty, he was the shining light of the Han people, the only Han general, you don't even know how majestic he is!"
"Hey, I never thought you had braids. It's not easy to be an official in the Qing Dynasty." Su Ran put the meat into the pot without looking at Qin Shoumo.
"Then it also depends on the dynasty. Emperor Kangxi was proficient in literary, Taoist and military strategies. Whoever was in that dynasty didn't say a good word." Qin Shoumo rolled his eyes, "Look, you people are biased against the Qing Dynasty."
"Then why, during the Eight-Nation Alliance, why didn't you, General Qin, rush out with his millions of troops to save the world?" Su Ran teased.
"I was already an official during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. If I went to work for Puyi again, wouldn't that be just a sideshow? Besides, I would have died during the Jiaqing period."
"You have lived for almost ten thousand years, and you are still dying here?"
"Can you follow the development trend of history?!" Qin Shoumo stared and said: "How can I, a mere ordinary person, stop the development of human history? This is called reincarnation, and everyone has his own destiny!"
"Okay, okay, historical development trend, I am also an ordinary human being, eating hot-boiled meat is suitable for me." Su Ran concentrated on eating the meat in the pot, without even looking at Qin Shoumo from beginning to end.
"Let's get down to business." Qin Shoumo looked at the pot, "Jiang Chuan has left the underworld."
"He is the King of Hades, not a prisoner. He is free to stay in the underworld or not." Zhang Ziqing said softly.
"But I don't know where he went."
"Isn't it normal for people to have a little privacy? I can't report it to you everywhere I go."
"This is not normal. This is the first time in five thousand years that he has hidden his aura." Qin Shoumo became seriously serious. "This means that he doesn't want me to know where he is or what he is doing this time."
"So, then you went to investigate him?"
Qin Shoumo nodded, "We still need to investigate. I am not as reassured about these people as you are. The Chiyou clan is born with a warlike bloodline. I always feel that sooner or later they will have some thoughts of rebellion. "
"Then what did you find out?"
"...Can you show a little more interest?" Looking at Zhang Ziqing and Qin Shoumo who didn't even raise their heads, they felt helpless, "It's obviously such an important matter, and the amount of information is so large. If I were you, I would be curious. died."
Zhang Ziqing raised his eyes and said, "Okay, you can talk now."
"Hey you, if you react like this, I won't say anything."
Zhang Ziqing didn't care. He said "Oh" and continued to eat the mutton in the pot.
"No, you're really not curious?" Seeing that Zhang Ziqing and Su Ran were concentrating on eating and no one was paying attention to him, Qin Shoumo couldn't help it.
"If you're not curious, it's not a big deal." Zhang Ziqing said calmly.
"Don't tell me, it's really a big deal this time." Qin Shoumo said seriously: "After my investigation and tracking over the past few days, I found that Jiang Chuan went to the Ruins of the South China Sea in the past few days and stayed there for less than half of the time. moon."
I thought that Zhang Ziqing would be surprised and pay attention to it after he finished speaking, but it was obvious that Zhang Ziqing still did not divert his attention from the copper pot in front of him.
"No, brother, isn't this important?" Qin Shoumo was a little surprised at first.
"It's important, of course it's important." Zhang Ziqing said casually, "But what's the point of going to that shabby place?"
"That place is not just shabby." Qin Shoumo knocked on the table and said seriously: "Don't forget, there is something sealed in the Ruins of the South China Sea."
Zhang Ziqing stopped his chopsticks and thought for a moment, "I have an impression. What is he doing there?"
"Then I don't know. When I arrived, he was no longer there. Although I can trace his traces, he still can do it if he doesn't want me to find out what he did there."
"Did the two elders guarding there react?"
"I went to ask, and both elders said they didn't see Jiang Chuan go in. They probably just watched from a distance for a few days outside, presumably to explore the terrain or something." Qin Shoumo looked at Zhang Ziqing and said: " Jiang Chuan went to the Ruins of the South China Sea to explore the terrain, do you think it was to bring that person out of the Ruins of the South China Sea?"
After Zhang Ziqing was silent for a while, he said softly: "Let's take a look. Anyway, he hasn't done anything yet. If we react first, we will be too nervous."
Qin Shoumo nodded: "I hope my worries are unnecessary."
"I've been through this for so many years. In harmony, the world is at peace." Zhang Ziqing said nonchalantly.
"That's for us. The current situation is naturally the best, but do you think the Chiyou clan will be willing to succumb to others? Maybe they have been planning how to kill us from the first day they arrived in the underworld. Go down."
"Let's wait until the day comes. It doesn't mean that there will be a chance when we reach the Ruins of the South China Sea. They have too many preliminary tasks. I don't mind letting them return to the primitive era when they are halfway through."
"I've been waiting for your words. With these words, I feel more at ease. Brother Ziqing is so handsome." Qin Shoumo folded his hands on his chest and said with admiration: "With you by my side, I am really happy." A sense of security.”
"That's disgusting." Su Ran rolled her eyes, "Going out to eat is really affecting my appetite."
"Why do children interrupt when adults are talking?" Qin Shoumo retorted.
"Hey, if I don't deal with you for a while, you won't know your last name."
Su Ran put down her chopsticks and just stood up to fight Qin Shoumo when she suddenly saw a familiar figure outside the window.
Seeing Su Ran stopped in place, Qin Shoumo was a little confused: "What? Did you finally realize your rudeness? Realized that what you did was wrong, and were you ready to apologize to me three times? "
Su Ran glared at Qin Shoumo, leaned against the window, and looked over with squinted eyes, "Uncle, look at that little girl outside, is she An An?"
Zhang Ziqing turned his head and took a look, nodded, "It's her."
"Who is An'an?" Qin Shoumo asked curiously.
"The newly recruited clerk." Zhang Ziqing replied casually.
Qin Shoumo's eyes lit up, "We have a new clerk, that's great. Her coffee making skills must be much better than Miss Su's."
"Go to hell!" Su Ran waved his fist at Qin Shoumo, then turned his head and looked out the window.
Xu Zhian was holding a cage in his hand. Inside the cage was a black cat that didn't look very lively, lying quietly in the cage motionless.
I remember that when Xu Zhian was getting off work in the evening, she asked herself where to buy cats at a cheap price, and he told her that there were many wet markets on Wutong Street.
The street next to the copper pot shabu-shabu restaurant where I am eating now is Wutong Street. Unexpectedly, Xu Zhian ran away in a hurry after work and actually came to buy a cat.
But who would buy such a cat with black fur all over its body and raise it? It looks ugly and dirty. Why does this little girl have such weird tastes?
Just when Su Ran was about to sit back and continue eating, Qin Shoumo glanced at it and said casually: "Black cats, aren't black cats used to drive away ghosts and ward off evil spirits? This little girl has encountered a ghost."
Qin Shoumo's words stunned Su Ran, and she turned to look at Xu Zhian again.
Sure enough, the cat in her cage had no other color at all, just like the ghost exorcism props in the supernatural TV series.
Then I remembered that the little girl had been distracted all day long, and when I asked, she said she was fine.
No wonder I went to the wet market to buy a stray cat for tens of dollars without worrying about getting sick. It turned out that I had no intention of taking the cat back to raise it.
"Let's go, follow up and take a look." Su Ran took out a piece of paper and began to wipe her mouth.
Qin Shoumo was stunned, looking at the half plate of mutton he had just put in, and said distressedly: "No, I have been talking to you two just now, and I didn't bother to eat. Can you two let me eat for a while?"
"You've lived for so many years and you've eaten hundreds of millions of meals, right? Do you still care about one or two meals?"
"You can't say that. Every meal is a gift from God. In our time, Shen Nong even tasted hundreds of herbs.
Let’s not talk about that time, let’s talk about modern times. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a great famine in Henan, and people in the village traded children for food.
All of this tells us how hard-earned food is, and wasting food is simply... Hey, miss, wait until I finish this bite! "
Before Qin Shoumo said anything, Su Ran ran out of the hot pot restaurant one by one. Before leaving, Qin Shoumo quickly seized the opportunity and stuffed another chopstick of meat into his mouth.
Xu Zhi'an's home was not too close to the place where he bought cats. Su Ran and his group followed him for more than an hour before they arrived at Xu Zhi'an's home.
"No, what's going on in your store? The girl in front of Chen Yihan, that silly woman wearing glasses, you gave her more than 20,000 yuan a month, and she still dozed at the bar every day.
Now this little girl is young, and she looks like a diligent and serious child at first glance, but she works in your store and doesn’t even have money to take a taxi home! The times have transformed you two into evil capitalists! "Qin Shoumo rubbed his legs and was the first to condemn.
"What nonsense? We don't have a salary below five digits in our store." Su Ran retorted: "I didn't expect her home to be so far away, almost to the outskirts of the city. If I had known earlier, I would have given her a higher salary. .”
"The most common saying among capitalists is that if I had known earlier, I don't know how many employees you would have ruined by being so stupid." Qin Shoumo clicked his tongue.
Su Ran did not answer his words, but immediately gave him a kick to shut him up.
"But speaking of it, this little girl's family conditions don't look very good. The place where Li Zhihan lived before was already shabby enough. I didn't expect that there could be a place older and shabbier than her old-fashioned residential building. It seems that Jiang Ning The urbanization process is still very long." Qin Shoumo commented while looking at the surrounding environment.
Su Ran didn't refute him on this point, because what Qin Shoumo said was true.
The place where Xu Zhi'an lives is like the kind of tube building from the 1980s and 1990s, with a dozen rooms on one floor, and each room is only about thirty or forty square meters.
The size of the room can only accommodate a 1.5-meter bed, a wardrobe and a writing desk. There is no other space behind a simple kitchen stove.
And because this building was built too early, the original designer simply designed a building construction concept for convenience. As for other details, such as drainage pipes, they were completely ignored.
In the end, we had to build a larger public toilet downstairs. People from all sides of the building had to go to the public toilet in the open space if they wanted to use the toilet.
Because there are too many people in the whole building and this is a suburb, there are no sanitation workers here to clean the building. The environment of the toilets can be imagined.
"No wonder she has to go out to work during the summer after finishing the college entrance examination. It turns out that the family conditions are so poor." Su Ran recalled the cautious look in the little girl's eyes when she asked herself if she could work here that day.
In fact, many people in this society are suffering every day, living unsatisfactory lives, suffering from illness, poverty and hardship.
But even Zhang Ziqing couldn't help one by one, because there were too many people, so he and Su Ran could only grab a few familiar people around them.
And those who don't even know or have the opportunity to interact with them can't see what kind of life they live, and they can't solve the problem once and for all.
Xu Zhi'an seemed to be familiar with many of the neighbors in this building. Everyone she met on the way back carrying the black cat greeted her with a smile.
But this is also a characteristic of the Tongzi Building. After all, living in a building like this, with neighbors upstairs and downstairs, we chat with each other with the door open every day, go downstairs to wash vegetables and so on, don’t you think it’s familiar? All difficult.
"Everyone is home, and nothing seems to be wrong." Qin Shoumo hinted that it was still early, and although the copper pot shabu-shabu meal just now was gone, there was still time for another French meal.
"You're not talking nonsense. You've just arrived, what can you tell?" Su Ran glared at him, "And isn't it because I came to her home to see her?"
"Then if she doesn't start having problems until dark, why should we stay here until dark?"
"Of course, we have to wait until early in the morning." Su Ran nodded, "Didn't you just say that our store has no humanistic care for employees? That's right. For the safety of employees' families, the boss and his wife are here in person. Stay a while, isn’t this full of humanity?”
Qin Shoumo let out a long sigh and simply collapsed to the ground.
