Talk Business

Talk Business

The owner grabbed Lin Li, who wanted to give chase, and was just about to say, "You know him, so you have to pay for the congee."

Before he could get the words out, Huang Ji had already handed the money over.

Huang Ji then left directly, and Lin Li hurried after him.

The old man was extremely familiar with the area's layout, weaving through the alleys with turn after turn.

Yet Huang Ji remained right behind him the entire time. The old man simply could not shake him.

"That young man is no ordinary person."

Whenever the old man looked back at an intersection, he saw Huang Ji there. Seeing that he could not lose him, the old man scanned his surroundings and considered his options.

"I can't outrun him like this. I have to stop him somehow."

As he ran, the old man knocked on doors along the way. There were many shops in these alleys, places like TCM Massage and Used Appliance Recycling.

He knocked on doors and caused trouble all the way, either smashing windows or kicking over signs standing outside storefronts. The residents in the alley erupted into furious curses, and many came out to block the alley.

The old man quickened his pace. After turning a corner, he thought, This should finally shake him off.

Sure enough, after leaving the alley, crossing the road, and ducking into another alley, he changed streets three times in a row without seeing Huang Ji pursue him.

"Whew! I'm exhausted."

The old man leaned against an alley wall to rest, thinking to himself, It's not easy making money these days.

After resting for a moment, he touched the Golden Carp in his pocket, straightened his clothes, and prepared to exchange it for cash.

However, when he stepped out of the alley and turned a corner, he saw Huang Ji and Lin Li walking straight toward him!

They were only two or three meters away!

"Oh, fuck!"

The old man was so startled that his entire body shuddered three times!

How is this guy like a ghost? Why won't he leave me alone?

Fortunately, he reacted quickly. He coughed, working up a mouthful of phlegm in his throat.

"Hah—ptui!"

It had plenty of force behind it!

It had to be said, this move was brilliant.

Even Huang Ji could only dodge aside to avoid that mouthful of phlegm.

At the same time, the old man had already spun around and darted back into the alley, his legs pumping furiously.

"This guy is formidable. I'm old—I can't possibly outrun two young men."

The old man knew that running like this would not work. The other party's tracking ability was extremely strong. No matter how many twists and turns he made, they were merely competing in endurance.

And how could he possibly beat young people in endurance?

Besides, he had already noticed that Huang Ji was in excellent physical condition, with steady breathing and powerful heart and lung function. From his cold reading earlier, he had even thought Huang Ji was a track athlete. That alone said enough.

After turning two corners in succession and seeing that Huang Ji had not caught up for the moment, the old man lifted the lid of a nearby dumpster and, ignoring the filth and stench, flipped himself inside.

The entire process was crisp and decisive, without a trace of hesitation.

Soon, he heard Lin Li's voice drawing nearer. "That old man is really sly. He spat at us the moment we met. Isn't that disgusting?"

Footsteps quickly passed the dumpster. Hidden inside, the old man breathed a small sigh of relief.

But his heart soon leaped back into his throat, because Lin Li's footsteps stopped not far after passing the dumpster.

"Bro? What's wrong? We're not chasing him anymore?" Lin Li seemed to have turned back as he spoke.

The old man frowned. It turned out Huang Ji had stopped directly beside the dumpster.

"No way. Why did he stop here?"

"Did he find out I'm hiding in the dumpster?"

Just as he thought that, Huang Ji's voice sounded. "Come out. You've had it rough enough."

"..." The old man said nothing.

"Bro? That old man's in the dumpster?" As Lin Li spoke, he walked over and lifted the dumpster lid.

There sat the old man, curled up inside with a gloomy expression.

"Ha! Still running?" Lin Li said with a grin.

Since he had already been discovered, there was no point hiding anymore. The old man stood up and waved his hand. "No more running, no more running. I can't run anymore!"

He was truly frustrated. He had never encountered such troublesome young men.

As he climbed out, he was indeed much more obedient, resting with his hands on his knees and shaking his head repeatedly.

"Give back the money!" Lin Li said.

The old man nodded. "Fine, fine, fine. But let me ask you this—how did you know I was hiding in there?"

Lin Li looked at Huang Ji, who said, "At your height, climbing into a dumpster isn't easy, especially if you don't make any noise or knock it over. To hide inside quickly, you had to step on that broken sofa beside it."

The old man looked at the broken sofa nearby. He had indeed used it as a step to climb into the dumpster.

"So what?" The old man still did not understand.

Huang Ji walked over to the sofa and plucked an inconspicuous little fragment caught in the frayed fabric sticking out from its torn padding.

The fragment was tiny, like a small pebble chip.

"What's that?" Lin Li stared at it and murmured, "It looks like... a shell?"

Huang Ji corrected him. "It's a clam shell fragment. There were a lot of them on the ground in front of the Clam Congee vendor's stall earlier..."

"..." The old man stared in stunned silence, completely speechless.

Huang Ji looked at the old man. "There were quite a few embedded in your shoe soles. I saw them several times along the way while you were running."

"When I passed through here, I saw one caught in the frayed fabric of the sofa. That meant you had stepped on it."

"What could suddenly stepping on a sofa while running accomplish? I could only conclude that you had climbed into the dumpster..."

The old man looked at Huang Ji as if he had seen a ghost, his mind filled with countless expletives.

What kind of attentiveness was this? What terrifying powers of observation?

While chasing and running, he had actually noticed a tiny clam shell fragment caught in the frayed fabric of a broken sofa by the roadside?

Why were young people these days so damn incredible?

"I surrender! I surrender, I surrender, I surrender!"

The old man sighed. He had no fight left in him. Huang Ji's tracking ability had completely convinced him!

He obediently took the swindled gold from his pocket and honestly returned it to Lin Li.

"Impressive, impressive! Here, take your stuff back. I also scammed a lot of medicinal herbs from you before, but I really have no money left. This watch of mine is worth two thousand, so you can have it too. Let's be merciful when we can, alright?" The old man smiled at Lin Li, then looked at Huang Ji.

Huang Ji said, "That watch isn't worth anything, so stop trying to pull tricks..."

The old man was instantly embarrassed. He had casually told a lie, and Huang Ji had seen through it again.

"Forget it. Let's put the matter of you scamming him behind us. Now we can talk about something serious," Huang Ji said.

The old man froze. Something serious? What serious business could there be? Hadn't they come to collect the debt from him?

Sensing trouble, he habitually played dumb. "It's behind us? That's great. Thank you, thank you. If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

With that, he turned to leave, only to hear Huang Ji's voice from behind him.

"How long has it been since you visited your son's grave?"

The old man stopped dead. The carefree, composed manner from before vanished completely. He turned around and fixed Huang Ji with a hard stare.

Guessing that he had a son could be cold reading, but knowing that his son was dead was certainly not that simple!

"Who are you?" he asked, one word at a time.

"Don't you want to avenge your son?" Huang Ji said.

The old man shuddered in shock. Suddenly, countless complicated guesses about Huang Ji's identity flooded his mind!

"So they found me after all!" The old man did not answer at all. Instead, he burst out with even greater speed than before and fled.

Although Lin Li had gotten his gold back, he knew Huang Ji still had business with the old man, so he took the initiative to block the way.

Who would have thought that the old man would reveal skills far more vicious than before, landing an elbow strike on the side of Lin Li's neck.

Dizzy and disoriented, Lin Li toppled to the side. Fortunately, Huang Ji stepped forward and caught him.

Huang Ji massaged Lin Li's neck. Lin Li coughed repeatedly before feeling somewhat better, but the old man had already run far away and vanished from sight.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Lin Li coughed as he said, "Don't worry about me. Cough, cough, cough... Go after him."

Huang Ji smiled. "It's fine. Take a deep breath..."

As he spoke, he took out a filiform needle and inserted it into Lin Li's Hidden Acupoint.

In an instant, Lin Li's lung capacity abruptly increased. Cool, clean air entered his lungs, and he immediately felt much better.

Huang Ji pulled out the needle and helped him over to the roadside.

By then, Lin Li had fully recovered. "Bro, you even know acupuncture?"

After saying that, he turned his head and found that Huang Ji had already hailed a taxi.

He hurriedly followed him into the car and heard Huang Ji give an address.

"Where are we going now?" Lin Li was somewhat bewildered.

Seeing Huang Ji silently lost in thought, Lin Li thanked him again. "Bro, thank you for helping me get my money back. Without you, I would've had to swallow the loss. You're amazing!"

Huang Ji smiled. "What comes next is between him and me. If you don't want to get into trouble, I can return the rest of your money for him now, and you can go home."

Lin Li hurriedly said, "No! How could I take your money? Wouldn't that let him off too easily?"

"He has some matters that could put your life in danger if you get involved," Huang Ji said.

Lin Li was stunned. "Then wouldn't you be in danger too? It's fine, this was my business to begin with. How can I leave? At least the two of us can look out for each other."

"As long as you're prepared," Huang Ji said.

Lin Li felt that Huang Ji was serious, and he could not help letting his imagination run wild. But asking him to leave now was absolutely impossible.

"Do you know that old man?" Lin Li asked.

Huang Ji nodded. "It's my first time meeting him, comrade."

"What? That old man's gay?" Lin Li exclaimed in shock.

"Huh?" Huang Ji was taken aback. Tilting his head, he did not understand what Lin Li meant. By "comrade," he meant that the old man knew about aliens.

Only after observing the information in Lin Li's mind did Huang Ji understand why he had thought that.

Speechless, Huang Ji stopped talking.

Before long, the taxi arrived at its destination.

The two got out and came to the foot of an old seven-story building.

Huang Ji stood in a dim spot by the roadside and waited quietly.

Still not understanding, Lin Li asked, "Why are we standing here?"

Huang Ji said, "The old man will be here soon."

"You mean... he lives here?" Lin Li said in surprise.

Well then, Huang Ji knew where the old man lived and had simply waited outside his home for him to walk into the trap.

Lin Li thought to himself that he had followed the old man for a month without learning where he lived. There definitely had to be something between Huang Ji and the old man, perhaps something major.

But there was no way he could stay out of it. He had seen Huang Ji's abilities and was already fascinated. Besides, Huang Ji had helped him, so he could not leave even more.

Sure enough, more than ten minutes later, the old man turned in from the intersection and headed straight for the building. He took out his keys and had just entered the stairwell.

The two emerged from the darkness beyond the streetlamp, and Lin Li pounced on the old man from behind, grabbing him tightly.

"What!" The old man was so startled that he staggered a step and nearly fell down the stairs.

He was utterly shocked. He had thought he had shaken the two of them off, yet they had arrived beneath his home ahead of time and waited for him to deliver himself right into their hands!

What the fuck was this?

"You can't run away this time!" Lin Li said.

The old man's face turned purple. Seeing Huang Ji there as well, his heart sank.

So it really was that group? They had really tracked him down after all. There was really no escaping them.

He sighed and did not make another move.

Instead, he gave a cold laugh and said to Lin Li, "So you let me scam you on purpose?"

Lin Li was dumbfounded, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Then the old man stared at Huang Ji. "I knew you would trace my whereabouts. Go on, what do you want?"

Huang Ji smiled. "Won't you invite me upstairs for a chat?"

The old man said indifferently, "Is there any need? You've reached into Hua Country already. This isn't a place where you can act lawlessly. Aren't you going to get rid of me quickly?"

"I'm not who you think I am. If you want to avenge your son, you'd better believe me," Huang Ji said with a smile.

The old man was uncertain. Huang Ji and Lin Li's behavior truly did not seem like that group's.

"Who exactly are you?" the old man asked.

Huang Ji said, "Though it's not quite that dramatic, there are still some things I don't like discussing under the moon's gaze."

The old man's pupils contracted. His breathing grew much quicker as he looked up at the moon, then at Huang Ji.

Then he nodded. "Fine. We'll talk at my place."