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墨書 Inktalez
At that time, there weren't many scams where you would be charged thousands of dollars just for answering a callback number. I picked up the phone, and someone answered quickly. However, no one spoke; only heavy breathing could be heard, like someone panting after exhaustion. I called out a few times, but when there was still no response, I impatiently hung up.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Without looking, I answered and immediately cursed, "What the hell? You call and don’t say anything? Do you think phone bills are free?"
A familiar voice came through the phone, saying, "Bro, give me a chance to speak! You just picked up and started cursing; isn’t that unfair?"
It was the voice of Fatty Banrada. I glanced at the caller ID and saw it was indeed him. I felt a bit apologetic and said, "Sorry, I thought it was another spam call."
Banrada laughed heartily and said, "In this day and age, someone is still using the phone to harass others? That's rare."
I signaled Hu Xiaoyi to bring me a glass of boiled water; my body was burning from the alcohol, and my mouth felt dry as if it could ignite. After gulping down a few big sips of water that Hu Xiaoyi brought me, I asked Banrada why he called. He said he just missed me and wanted to check in. I retorted, "Cut the crap! Who checks in on someone in the middle of the night? Just say what you want; stop dragging it out like a woman."
Banrada chuckled and didn’t mind my tone. He said, "You guessed it right; there is indeed something going on. I'm in Nanjing right now; someone had an incident at home and wants to find someone to take a look. Are you interested?"
Nanjing? Suddenly, I remembered that three or four years ago, I accompanied Second Uncle on my first business deal there; it seemed like it involved a teacher? However, that teacher ended up having a pretty tragic fate—he wore a green hat for many years and lost most of his family; he himself went crazy. Normally, I might have considered going to Nanjing again for business while also hitting up some bars. But right now, I really wasn’t in the mood.
Banrada didn’t push too hard but kept the line open, chatting about all sorts of irrelevant things for quite a while. My head started to throb with pain; I was getting impatient and said, "What do you actually want? If there's nothing important, I'm hanging up!"
"Don't!" Banrada finally got anxious. After hesitating for a moment, he said he wanted me to help call an Ajan Master.
His previous connections were in Thailand, but after leaving Thailand, he only brought Barulan with him. Now Barulan was following Second Uncle every day; he dared to steal clients from outside the company but didn’t dare ask Second Uncle for a master. So to close this deal, he had no choice but to call me for help.
For me, this was just a small favor. Helping others is helping myself; my dad often says that.
I asked him, "How big is the client? How much are they offering that you're so invested?"
Banrada chuckled proudly and said, "Not much; he promised five thousand as long as it gets resolved!"
I laughed along and said I'd get Second Uncle's number for him shortly but that my cut would be one thousand five hundred. Banrada panicked and shouted that why should I get five thousand for doing nothing—was I robbing him? I replied that without an Ajan Master, he wouldn’t earn a dime; asking for one thousand five hundred was already very generous. If he couldn’t accept it, then he should find someone else.
With that, I hung up the phone directly.
Less than a minute later, Banrada called again. I stifled a laugh as I listened to him plead on the phone, saying he hadn't eaten properly for seven or eight days and felt like a homeless person. He had finally landed a business deal, and he couldn't let it go to waste. I told him that while he might be shady, I wasn't; I just wanted what I deserved as my reward.
After some back-and-forth, Banrada finally agreed to pay eight thousand.
Although this was nearly half of what we initially discussed, earning eight thousand just by talking was a rare opportunity. Suddenly, I understood why pyramid schemes could become so popular. Just by recruiting a few subordinates, one could earn commissions effortlessly; it truly was quick money. However, for those at the bottom, it was like stepping into a pit of fire.
Afterward, I called Second Uncle to ask for the phone number of an Ajan Master in mainland China. Second Uncle was busy with jade matters and didn't care much about what I needed the Ajan for; he simply sent me the number. I then called Banrada again to give him the Ajan Master's number and remembered Zheng Xuejie's situation, so I asked if he had any contact information for Ma Rulong.
Banrada said he didn't have it; the two brothers hadn't been in touch for years and only spoke occasionally for no more than half a minute each time. Their conversations usually went like this:
"How are you?"
"I'm good."
"Come visit Thailand when you have time."
"Sure, come to mainland China when you can."
"Okay, goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Their standard conversation style left me speechless. However, since Qin Senior Sister and Zheng Xuejie had already gone to Henan, and I couldn't get any contact information from Banrada, I decided not to pursue it further. Let them figure it out themselves; after all, that soul wouldn't change for another year or so anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference.
After hanging up, I went straight to bed fully clothed. Perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, I slept soundly and woke up to bright daylight. Hu Xiaoyi had long disappeared, and as I rubbed my eyes, my head still felt a bit foggy. After washing my face and picking up my phone, I noticed that Qin Senior Sister had called me in the early morning. However, I liked to put my phone on silent before sleeping, so I hadn't heard it ring.
What on earth could she have called so early for? Surely she wasn't calling just to remind me to get up and use the bathroom.
When I returned her call, I found out that she was out of service range. I couldn't help but chuckle; was Henan really that remote? No one could get through? Although I thought this way, I dismissed it as a coincidence; perhaps her phone had run out of battery.
Initially, this incident seemed trivial to me. However, a few days later, Zheng Xuejie's father suddenly called me. He said that Qin Senior Sister and Zheng Xuejie had gone to Henan together for four or five days and hadn't been in touch since then. He mentioned that he couldn't reach them by phone and asked if I knew where they were.
"I said no, they went by themselves; I was still at school.
Zheng Xuejie's father was very worried. He hadn't been able to reach them for so many days and was afraid something might have gone wrong. I reassured him that maybe their phones were dead or there was some interference around, and suggested he try calling again later. Zheng Xuejie's father mentioned that he had called at different times over the past few days, but the result was always the same. If they were really in a place with signal interference, it wouldn't make sense for them not to move for several days.
This was indeed quite strange. Zheng Xuejie's father hoped I could think of a way to help contact the two of them.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, thinking that if he couldn't reach them, what could I possibly do? However, I suddenly felt that this kind of request seemed somewhat familiar. Upon reflection, when Qin Senior Sister asked me to contact Ma Rulong, wasn't it a similar situation? Even the phrasing was almost the same.
I suddenly realized that this might not be a coincidence.
It wasn't surprising that Ma Rulong couldn't be reached. But for someone as timid as Qin Senior Sister, who was also very meticulous, it was unlikely she would leave her phone off for days. Just as Zheng Xuejie's father said, even if there was signal interference, they would eventually have to leave that place, right? If they hadn't moved for several days, there was only one possibility: they were unable to leave...
I startled at my own thoughts. Could it be that something really happened to these people?
Rationality told me that it was best not to get involved in unrelated matters. Interfering in other people's business could easily drag me into trouble too. However, I had spent three whole years with Qin Senior Sister at school. While we couldn't say we had shared life and death experiences, we had gone through tough times together. When she needed help, I stepped up. When I needed help, she would do the same without hesitation.
Our relationship was not just that of senior and junior alumni; we were friends. In fact, many people believed that if I had been more proactive, Qin Senior Sister and I might have already become a couple. It was obvious even to Liang Xi, who was usually oblivious, that Qin Senior Sister had feelings for me.
If it were someone else, I might have been heartless enough to ignore it. But when it came to Qin Senior Sister, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
So after Zheng Xuejie's father hung up the phone, I immediately made the decision to go to Henan. If something did happen to Qin Senior Sister and the others there, I would bear some responsibility since it was my suggestion for them to go directly to Wangsheng Mountain to find Fat Daoist Ma Rulong."
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