"Hello, is this Ms. Liu Xiulan?"
At around ten o'clock, Yang Bowen rushed to the school and found Liu Xiulan who had just come out of the office.
"Yes, you are?"
Liu Xiulan nodded and looked at Yang Bowen at the same time. She couldn't remember which student's parent this was, so she was a little confused.
"Hello, Mr. Liu. This is what I mean. I'm Xia Xu's uncle. I'm here to ask for leave for him."
Yang Bowen walked forward with a familiar smile and explained his purpose.
"Ask for leave?"
Thinking of the phone call Xia Xu received during class, Liu Xiulan was a little confused, but still asked: "Excuse me, is there something important? Now is the last hundred days before the college entrance examination for senior high school students. If it is not necessary, it is best not to ask for leave. It is easy to fall behind in review progress..."
"I understand, Mr. Liu. It's like this. An elder in my family has been admitted to the hospital. I'm afraid he won't live long. The old man has always been worried about Xia Xu being alone here, so he wanted to see him and ask his uncles and brothers to take good care of him..."
I don't know if the 'intelligence gathering' talent also includes acting, but Yang Bowen's acting was extremely realistic, and the sadness and sighs on his face made people empathize and feel.
"This... we should definitely go check it out."
Liu Xiulan was also moved. She sighed and said, "How about this? I'll approve a day and a half of leave for Xia Xu, and there are two days of the weekend. That should be enough for the round trip, right?"
"That's enough, that's enough. It's just enough for a round trip, and I can still have some time to accompany the old man."
Yang Bowen was also a smart man. When he heard this, he immediately understood that Liu Xiulan subconsciously thought that the "old man" was in the countryside or out of town. Originally, he only wanted to help Xia Xu take half a day off, so he was naturally happy to exceed the task and agreed repeatedly.
After getting the leave note from Liu Xiulan, he hurried to Xia Xu to report the good news.
"How's it going? Is it done?"
Xia Xu was still waiting anxiously at the classroom door.
Yang Bowen took the leave note and took credit for it: "Hey, we have exceeded our target. Boss, you will never imagine how long your class teacher approved for your leave."
"How long can it be? At least half a day, at most one more day. After that it will be Saturday and Sunday. No matter how generous the teacher is, he will not issue a leave note until after the holiday."
Xia Xu calmly exposed Yang Bowen's show-off.
Of course, I am happy. After all, taking this extra day off means I don’t have to come to school for three and a half consecutive days. It is not only convenient for me to do things, but more importantly, my own safety is better guaranteed.
"Hey, boss, you are amazing! When will you teach me a few tricks? You haven't taught me properly yet."
"The book I ordered for you online will be here soon. You can learn these from books on criminal investigation."
"No, that thing gives me a headache. I've fallen asleep when reading since I was a kid, otherwise I wouldn't be like this..."
"That's because you haven't met someone you're interested in. Believe me..."
As they talked, they walked straight out of the school gate.
However, the two of them obviously did not expect or did not think of this at all. Yang Bowen's constant calling of "boss" seemed to have been heard by Ma Bing and others in the class.
"Fuck, what did I just hear? The man who came to ask for leave for Xia Xu actually called Xia Xu boss!"
"Isn't he his uncle?"
"I see. Xia Xu must have hired someone to ask for leave for him. It's really a trick. I'll try it some other day."
"What a brain! They are obviously very familiar with each other. How could it be as simple as hiring someone to take leave? I think Xia Xu must be the legendary hidden rich second generation. He deliberately keeps a low profile and pretends to be poor just to find a girlfriend who doesn't want his money..."
"Hey, it's not coming for me, is it? Do you think I should agree?"
"Don't be so crazy. Our Brother Xu has a clear goal. He is looking for Tang Youxin. Haven't you seen how close they are recently..."
"If you ask me, Xia Xu is not a second-generation rich man, but a second-generation official. I just heard that guy say that he wanted to study criminal investigation or something. Maybe Xia Xu's family is a big shot in the public security department..."
When the two people's voices gradually faded away, the class was in an uproar, with everyone excitedly discussing it.
Xia Xu obviously didn't know what happened after he left, but even if he knew, he wouldn't care. They were just some trivial rumors and had no impact on his leave.
In junior high and high school, telling tales to teachers is a very despicable thing, regardless of whether you are right or wrong. Most people are unwilling to tell the teacher even if they are bullied, let alone someone else's business.
Besides, even if someone reports the student, what can happen? Normally, teachers won't make a fuss about it and ruin the student's academic future. Unless it's really excessive, at most they will get angry, scold the student and call the parents.
This was a terrifying event like the sky falling down for other people of his age, but it really didn't matter to him.
Back to the topic, Xia Xu and Yang Bowen called a taxi and rushed to the place where the old man was found at the construction site.
The location he selected was indeed correct. The place where the old man from the construction site appeared was right next to the construction site he was looking for last time. It seemed that he appeared just when the plot of the dying man was almost unfolding.
When you arrive at the corner of the intersection of the construction site, a small stall with dark blue fiber cloth spread on the ground and several clay objects placed on it comes into view.
The stall owner was a skinny old man wearing camouflage clothes and a yellow helmet. His face and body were dirty, and his trouser legs were stained with mud that had splashed from somewhere.
Looking at the stall again, the blue fiber cloth underneath was the common rain cloth, which was covered with a thin layer of dust due to the smoke and dirt around the construction site. In the middle were six or seven old-looking objects.
These objects really look like what they are. One is a mottled and ancient vase full of patterns, two are slightly larger than the palm and look like a pair of human statues, a goat sculpture of the same size, and a palm-sized bowl.
Some of these things vaguely appear to be made of white jade, but are covered with a thick layer of dirt, so the overall color is brown-yellow, and at first glance they look like earthenware.
The most eye-catching item is the last one, a ceramic statue of Guanyin. It’s not that it is so exquisite, but it is the largest in the entire stall, taller than an adult’s calf.
"Master, are these antiques?"
Xia Xu brought Yang Bowen to the stall as if they were joining in the fun, squatted down, touched and looked around.
"Shh, keep your voice down, I just dug it out from the construction site."
The old man in camouflage uniforms looked guilty and asked Xia Xu to keep his voice down. He also lowered his voice and said, "These are all good things. I dug them out with my co-workers. Don't tell anyone, little brother."
Xia Xu did not comment. He picked up the two small dolls and began to look at them. The dolls were both well carved. He turned over to the base and saw that the signature was clearly engraved inside the concave base. One was made in the Qian Long period and the other was made in the Ci Xi period.
"Uncle, although I don't quite understand this, is Cixi also a year?"
Seeing the signature, Xia Xu couldn't help but laugh.
"How should I know?"
The old man at the construction site said honestly, "I don't know anything about this. I just happened to dig it out. My fellow workers are waiting to share the money. If you really want it, I can give you a discount."