Chapter 187 Tianji

Xu Qinglang's car didn't head to the vegetable market.

Before he left, Zhou Ze had asked, "It's this late; do you think there will still be fresh field chickens at the market?"

The question was spot on.

At this hour, unless you'd made a reservation in advance, it was hard to say if you could even buy them, let alone expect them to be fresh.

And for the Late Night Bookstore crew, whose palates were becoming increasingly discerning and who were gradually being spoiled into gourmands,

trying to fool them with stale food

was really inappropriate.

Besides,

Xu Qinglang ate with everyone,

and the local government and real estate developers wouldn't stand for someone with over twenty properties eating stale food!

Xu Qinglang parked the car by a pond. A short distance ahead was a small river, and all around were fields.

A gentle breeze wafted, carrying the scent of the fields;

Old Xu calmly leaned against the car door, smoking a cigarette.

When he finished,

Xu Qinglang took two burlap sacks out of the trunk and tossed them on the ground.

Then,

he pressed his face against the rearview mirror.

It wasn't that he suddenly felt the need to touch up his makeup,

nor was he checking his complexion,

and it certainly wasn't idle vanity;

he was simply staring intently at his reflection in the mirror,

and

engaging in a silent argument.

"Outrageous!"

"Impossible!"

"Absolutely not!"

"No way!"

"Awful!"

"Unwilling!"

"Sigh..."

"You..."

"Insult!"

"Sigh..."

"Just this once!"

"Never again!"

Then,

adorable little field chickens began to sing and line up, hopping out of the pond, from the fields, from the river,

and willingly, happily, and enthusiastically, they crawled into the sacks that Xu Niangniang had tossed on the ground.

The last few even seemed to want to tie the sacks shut themselves,

but after much effort, they failed.

Xu Qinglang nodded in satisfaction, tied the sacks with two pieces of rope, and placed them in the trunk.

Turning back,

he took one last look at the beautiful countryside,

Xu Qinglang got into the car,

and drove back with nature's bountiful gift.

…………

"Thanks to the concern of leaders at all levels for Chen Village; I believe that Chen Village's future will be even brighter!"

The news was playing on the bookstore's TV.

In the shot, the old village chief was standing in front of the village boundary marker, giving an interview to the TV station.

That day, a paper mill had chosen Chen Village as its location.

The old village chief in the picture looked radiant, and the boundary marker behind him was frequently in the frame.

This was old news from several years ago,

and it was quite ironic being replayed now.

The village accountant, who had been lying underground for sixteen years, was unknown and unheeded. Everyone, from top to bottom, seemed to have collectively accepted his disappearance, as if he had never existed.

Then,

at the boundary marker,

one scene after another was being elaborately performed,

waiting to be replayed,

brewing a masterpiece of absolute irony.

Zhou Ze held the pudding that Yingying had made, took a bite, and muttered to himself,

"Why would this kind of news be broadcast? Yingying, call and report them; isn't this tarnishing the image of our Tongcheng? They really have no sense of the big picture. Tell them to take it down immediately."

"Yes, Boss."

Yingying replied with a smile, but did nothing.

"And, I'm saying, don't you really have anything to do?"

Zhou Ze pointed at Qing, who had been loitering in front of him for quite some time.

Qing shook his head; no, he had nothing to do.

An employee directly telling his boss that he had nothing to do.

As the boss, Zhou Ze couldn't help but feel a little awkward.

But in the current situation, he really didn't dare assign anything to Qing.

"How about this? Aren't there still a lot of computers at the internet café? You three, and Liu Chuyu, get together and play some games."

"They're all asleep; I'm the only one awake."

Clearly, Qing had no interest in "games."

Zhou Ze sighed. He didn't know what to say.

Just then,

Xu Qinglang returned,

carrying two large sacks of field chickens.

"Yingying, come give me a hand."

Field chickens tasted great, but they were a little tedious to prepare.

Zhou Ze pointed at Qing and said, "Go help."

"Okay."

And so,

the former head of the Enforcement Team,

went to the kitchen to skin and clean a bunch of field chickens.

Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, Lao Dao still hadn't returned, so Zhou Ze had to put down the half-eaten pudding and call him.

"Hello, Boss, I'm on my way back. Will I make it in time for dinner?"

"They aren't offering you dinner there?"

"Uh, I guess this whole thing was too much of a shock for them.

The old woman had a cerebral hemorrhage, the eldest daughter-in-law had a stroke, the second daughter-in-law suddenly had a heart attack, and the third daughter-in-law fell down the stairs and broke her leg, so she was sent to the hospital;

and it seems like there was something wrong with the seafood they ordered for the birthday celebration, and a whole bunch of grandchildren broke out in hives and had allergic reactions. It was pretty scary.

I was planning on staying for dinner, but there's no one to make it."

Zhou Ze touched his nose and

said:

"Then you should come back."

"Alright, Boss."

"Take some time tomorrow to visit them in the hospital and buy them some gifts."

"Ah, okay, Boss.

By the way, Boss, is that family related to you or something?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing; I just think you're being too kind and too good to them. You know, the things their men did weren't just…"

"This isn't ancient times; what's with the implication of guilt by association? It's enough for the people who broke the law to be punished; their family members are innocent."

"Sigh, Boss, you're still so kind-hearted; I can't reach your level."

"Alright, come back and eat dinner. We're having field chicken tonight."

Hanging up the phone,

Zhou Ze stretched,

and the white fox, lying on the opposite sofa, did the same.

The white fox had lost most of her fur because of the drought demon,

and later, she simply shaved off the rest of it herself,

and even had Lawyer An buy her a Corgi-sized pet outfit.

"Hungry?"

Zhou Ze asked.

The white fox nodded and yawned.

In the entire bookstore,

the two laziest people

were the boss

and the white fox.

Even if others were free, they could always find something to do;

those who liked farming went farming,

those who liked comforting young women went to comfort young women,

those who liked dating went dating,

only the boss and the white fox

lay down,

lay down,

lay down,

and sat up when it was time to eat.

"Dinner will be ready soon."

Yingying came out with the bowls and chopsticks and set them on the table.

At this moment, Tongcheng News finished broadcasting and switched to the national news.

"CCTV, CCTV, this is…"

"Boss, why do they have to say it twice?"

Yingying asked as she set out the chopsticks.

Zhou Ze picked up the remote and clicked it, saying:

"Oh, that's to remind us that it's time to change the channel."

…………

"Alright, let's leave the case as it is for now. Lao Wu, you can rest."

The special team from the province would take over the case because of its unusual nature.

Old Zhang nodded without saying anything.

In his mind, he was still hearing the old village chief's words when he was arrested.

Sixteen years had passed,

one had given numerous interviews and held many ceremonies at the boundary marker,

while the other had been forgotten by the world under the boundary marker,

but in reality,

having lived two lifetimes, Old Zhang, as an old detective, knew that very few truly heinous criminals who had committed murder would genuinely repent.

When you saw them crying on television,

it wasn't that they were regretting it,

nor were they shedding tears of repentance as novelists often wrote,

the real reason was very simple:

they were afraid of death.

But the old village chief was clearly not one of them. He had lived long enough, had enjoyed everything he should have, and since he didn't have many years left, he had no regrets.

And he planned to take all the blame, so that his three sons would be as pure as white lotuses, untainted by the mud.

Old Zhang walked out of the office and slowed down as he passed the door of the interrogation room.

The corner of his mouth twitched,

and his eyes

began to fill with blood.

A surge of violent energy swept through his mind,

and at that moment,

he suddenly had a strong urge to kill,

to kill using every method of extreme torture he could imagine.

It was almost instinct, but at this moment, for some unknown reason, that instinct was amplified infinitely.

Old Zhang didn't dare stay there any longer. Instead, he rushed into the nearby restroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on his face.

"Hoo…"

Taking a deep breath,

Old Zhang looked up,

at himself in the mirror.

He suddenly felt that he looked truly terrifying, like a ferocious beast on the verge of rampaging.

And at this moment,

in the mirror,

on the other side of his body,

appeared a unicorn, entirely blue,

with a horn of crystal clarity.

"What… what's happening to me?"

The unicorn didn't speak.

"What exactly is happening to me?"

Old Zhang roared at the unicorn in the mirror, panicking.

Suddenly, blood began to pour from the unicorn's eyes.

Old Zhang's eyes widened,

and then,

he felt an itch in his own eyes.

Looking down,

he saw beads of blood dripping down,

drip,

drip,

Looking back up,

at himself in the mirror,

blood

had covered his entire face,

and was spreading wildly at an exaggerated rate.

"No… no… what's wrong… what's happening…"

Old Zhang subconsciously took a few steps back; he naturally knew what was sealed within him.

But he couldn't achieve the close relationship that the Boss and Ying Gou had,

nor could he force the Sea God to catch field chickens like Xu Niangniang,

Right now, he was confused and terrified.

At this time,

in the mirror,

the expressionless unicorn continued to shed blood,

and then,

as if from the depths of the void, a crisp sound rang out,

and the unicorn's head

fell off…