"Why do I feel a sense of accomplishment for no apparent reason?"
Watching Tang Youxin running into the alley, Xia Xu suddenly laughed and shook his head.
It is even more difficult to give money to a white-collar girl than to defraud money from others. Successfully tricking her into giving him the money actually gives him a sense of accomplishment.
"Youxin is back. Why are you back so late today? Did the teacher keep the class late?"
"Hey, little girl, I just saw who that little boy was, is he dating someone?"
"No way, Aunt Zhou, don't talk nonsense~"
Accompanied by greetings and jokes from some neighbors, Tang Youxin's slow walk turned into a jog. She shyly ran to the middle of the alley and went into a small shop with a shabby "Fangyuan Noodles" sign.
This time Xia Xu finally understood why she had been eating steamed buns all day long. It turned out that she was producing and selling her own products at home.
After sneering again, Xia Xu withdrew his gaze and took a taxi back home.
…
No words were spoken that night.
The next day, Saturday.
Since Yang Bowen was asked to come to work at 8 o'clock, the boss Xia Xu naturally had to go there early to open the door, and arrived at the store at 7:30.
But someone arrived earlier than him.
Tang Youxin had been waiting at the door of the store early in the morning, but she couldn't get in because she didn't have the key. She squatted on the steps at the door. The cool morning mist made her shiver as she hugged her shoulders.
But at this moment, Tang Youxin's outfit really amazed Xia Xu. This was the first time he saw the little white flower take off her school uniform and put on casual clothes.
A pure white dress that is no longer new, very simple without any extra embellishments, but it perfectly sets off her temperament, just as he habitually calls it - a pure and delicate little white flower.
No, considering the way it sways in the wind and its seemingly weak but actually inherently strong tenacity, perhaps the legendary snow lotus that grows naturally on the sky is a more appropriate name.
Tang Youxin, who was squatting with her head down, saw Xia Xu's shoes come into her sight. This time she realized someone was coming and quickly raised her head.
When she looked up, she happened to meet Xia Xu's extremely aggressive gaze. Her fair and delicate face became even more rosy, so cute that people couldn't help but want to take a bite.
"Didn't we agree to come at eight o'clock? Why are you here so early? You can't get in, and you're freezing here."
Xia Xu pretended to hit Tang Youxin's forehead in an angry manner.
The latter immediately covered his head and crouched down to defend, but the expected blow did not come for a long time.
"Come in quickly, you are still squatting there."
It turned out that Xia Xu had already walked to the door, took out the key and quickly opened the store door.
"oh… "
Tang Youxin said "Oh" and followed him over. However, when she stood up, she took a small plastic bag from her arms and knees. After entering the door, she hesitated for a while and finally handed it to Xia Xu: "Here."
"Baozi? Did you make them?"
Xia Xu took it and looked at it. It turned out to be a few buns. She probably brought them from her home.
"No, my dad did it."
Tang Youxin shook her head and added, "Just... just giving it to you for breakfast."
"That's a pity, I'd rather eat what you cook."
Xia Xu said this with regret, which made the already embarrassed Little White Flower even more shy. She pretended not to hear and went to the corner to get the broom and mop, and continued the cleaning that she had not finished yesterday.
Tang Youxin cleaned the house, and Xia Xu followed suit to tidy up the furniture inside, throwing all the unnecessary metal stoves and tables, chairs and benches into the community's recycling station.
After a while, Yang Bowen also joined in, and after a busy period, they finally cleaned up the store.
"Boss, what should I do now?"
After resting for a while, Yang Bowen looked at Xia Xu, as if he wanted to volunteer.
The reason for this is that he felt it was not good to be idle in front of the boss, and secondly, he was eager to try out his "talent". After all, he did not come here to clean as a cleaner.
"The main skills of a detective are investigation, tracking, and intelligence gathering. These are very technical but they don't require much theoretical knowledge if they are just the basics."
Xia Xu understood what he meant and said, "Of course, you still have to learn the necessary skills and theories. I will buy you some professional learning materials later.
But Brother Yang, you are very talented and are actually very good at these things. Basically, as long as you think hard and perform as usual, you will be able to give a good performance. Therefore, I prefer to let you train directly in actual combat.
I believe you must also be eager to verify what I said yesterday and your own talents, right? "
Yang Bowen was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and hesitated: "Directly practice? Boss, do you mean to let me solve the case directly?"
"No, in private investigator terms this is called a commission, completing the client's commission."
Xia Xu corrected his wording, and then said: "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do anything difficult or dangerous, I'm just asking you to find someone. It would be best if you can find one, but it doesn't matter if you can't. Just treat it as training to familiarize yourself with the business."
"That's fine, boss. I have no problem. Just tell me who you want to find."
Yang Bowen breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
Although he somewhat believed what Xia Xu said yesterday and the salary was attractive enough, he was still a little hesitant if he was asked to engage in any difficult or dangerous business right away.
"This person is Zhang Jianmin. I'll mark out his approximate address and activity area for you later. In addition, you may want to start with Xue Mingjie, the owner of Mingjie Noodle House in front of Xingcheng No. 3 Middle School. Zhang Jianmin was arrested with him last week for gathering a group to gamble..."
Xia Xu said that it was a simple task for him to try out, but in fact he came up with the climax right from the start and gave the most urgent and difficult task to Yang Bowen.
This is a natural born scout. Even if he has no experience or skills, his thinking mode, ability to deal with people, and observation ability will not disappear or appear out of thin air. When used, they are countless times stronger than those of ordinary people.
What's more, as he said, there would be no loss even if he failed. Zhang Jianmin was not a dangerous person. If he couldn't find him, then he couldn't find him. He could just treat it as practice.
Xia Xu didn't dare to have too much hope in sending the novice Yang Bowen out, which was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and he also planned to go out to look for the old man at the construction site.
If Zhang Jianmin really can't find it, then he has missed it. It is still unknown whether there will be any benefits in the future. Although Xia Xu is unwilling, he will not be too regretful. However, if the old man at the construction site missed this opportunity which should have a high probability of being able to pick it up, he would be very angry.
Besides, if Zhang Jianmin can be guided back to this part of the plot, finding the old man at the construction site, the core character of the second act, would also mean finding the protagonist Zhang Jianmin.