The Detective Agency Opens

Lin Xiaosu did not watch the rest of it.

He stood on the bridge, quietly watching the Yi River surge beneath his feet.

After seeing what was going on in the internet café, Lin Xiaosu found himself agreeing with his mother to some extent. As parents, wanting their son to have a proper job was certainly about making a living, but an even bigger reason was that there were too many idle hooligans in society.

His mother feared he would become one of them.

If Lin Xiaosu had not stumbled upon an unexpected stroke of fortune, would he really have become one of them?

Who could say?

In modern society, the employment situation was brutally harsh. Every field was fiercely competitive—people competed against peers, competed across industries, even competed against machines. Technology kept advancing, robots were being widely deployed. In the past, people could not find good jobs; now even ordinary people's jobs were being squeezed out by machines. Vast numbers lost their jobs and could not earn money, so what else was left but chasing illusory satisfaction in the world of games?

He walked along the sidewalk, ate breakfast, and when he returned to Fengshan Police Station, he saw Zhou Mei and Miao Ruolan chatting in the reception room.

When she saw him, Zhou Mei smiled. "It's been confirmed. The great detective has scored another success!"

"And? The thing you promised me should be taken care of now, right?" Lin Xiaosu said with a smile.

"Sun Yang has already gone to handle it. Besides that, Captain Zhang called everyone at the key checkpoints. Your license should be fully processed within three days at most!"

"Captain Zhang personally stepped in?" Lin Xiaosu was a little surprised. In his impression, Captain Zhang always wore a cold expression. He had met him several times, and not once had the man shown him a pleasant face.

It was hard for him to imagine someone like that asking favors of others.

Zhou Mei smiled until her brows curved like crescent moons. "Captain Zhang has a face like a coffin lid, but that's required by his profession. As the captain of a criminal investigation brigade, he needs the special ability to suppress demons and monsters with nothing but his face. In truth, he thinks very highly of you... You don't need to worry about the license. In three days, I'll bring it directly to you!"

"Thanks!"

"If you really want to thank me, just help me with a few more cases later..."

Lin Xiaosu scratched his head. "I suddenly realized that this was actually our agreement—the proper reward for this case. As of now, it seems we're even."

Zhou Mei shot him a sidelong glance and laughed. Miao Ruolan laughed too...

After she finished laughing, Zhou Mei lifted her teacup. "Opening a detective agency requires more than just a license. Do you want me to introduce you to a storefront for rent?"

"You know somewhere suitable?"

"There's a place. Whether it's suitable or not, you can judge for yourself," Zhou Mei said.

She gave Lin Xiaosu a phone number.

When he called, a woman surnamed Cui answered. She had a shop beside Duan Family Bridge Commercial Center. If they were serious about renting it, she could come out so they could take a look on-site.

At Duan Family Bridge, Lin Xiaosu and Miao Ruolan met the woman surnamed Cui. She was around forty, still charming, and smiled warmly when she saw Lin Xiaosu. The shop behind her was already open. Once they walked inside, Lin Xiaosu and Miao Ruolan's hearts began to race. It was far too suitable!

It was practically tailor-made for them.

The storefront did not look large from outside, only four or five meters wide, but it stretched deep inside. The decor was refined and the place was clean. There was even a computer on the desk. The second floor was for living, with three bedrooms, a bathroom, and even a kitchen.

It even had air conditioning!

There was even a kettle for boiling water!

It truly was the kind of place where they could move in with nothing but their bags.

Sister Cui explained that the previous tenant had been a studio. They had started out in Phoenix City, but later their business grew, and Phoenix City could no longer contain their dreams, so they moved to River City.

They considered this place the blessed ground where they had made their fortune and did not want to disturb it. So, with great generosity, they gave everything inside to Sister Cui, including the air conditioners and computers. They had taken nothing apart.

Lin Xiaosu and Miao Ruolan exchanged a glance. Both saw the word satisfaction in the other's eyes...

Running a storefront was no easy task.

Choosing a location, decorating it, buying the necessities for work and daily life—easy to say, but once it came time to do it, feathers would fly everywhere.

With a ready-made place right in front of them, how much trouble would it save them?

The only question now was the price.

This was an old commercial district, and rent had always been fairly high. In recent years, e-commerce had risen and brick-and-mortar stores had shut down in batches, making storefronts harder to rent. But no matter how difficult it was, a place like this should still cost more than three thousand yuan a month.

Sister Cui smiled lightly. "It isn't easy for you young couple to start a business. I won't charge you a high price. Same as ten years ago—two thousand yuan a month. How about it?"

Young couple?

Lin Xiaosu hurriedly explained, "Sister Cui, we're... classmates!"

"Oh, Sister Cui saw wrong. Sorry about that..."

Miao Ruolan blushed as she bargained with her. Apparently, she felt too embarrassed to haggle viciously over rent that was already clearly not high, so she symbolically cut two hundred yuan off. They settled on eighteen hundred yuan.

Once the contract was signed, their detective agency took another great step forward.

At lunchtime, they made another discovery at the mall next door. There was a cafeteria open to the public, with dishes divided into high, middle, and low tiers. A low-tier boxed meal cost eight yuan, which was basically no different in price from buying groceries and cooking for themselves.

That was understandable. Once one started cooking, there were firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar—everything cost money. Here, although the owners did not earn much per meal, they worked on volume, selling more for smaller profits...

Now, even the problem of meals was solved.

After they bought bedding at the mall and returned to the newly rented nest, Miao Ruolan was very excited. She made Lin Xiaosu a cup of tea, propped up her chin, and asked, "Will that license really be processed so smoothly?"

"It should be!"

A small county town was different from a big city.

Big cities emphasized management rules. Small cities were, to a large extent, still societies built on personal connections.

Go out for a stroll, and in a single day you could run into acquaintances from nearly every trade and profession. Greeting one another and asking around for information was incredibly convenient. Why did some rural parents hope their children would enter the system? Sometimes, all they wanted was convenience when getting things done.

The same matter could be harder than climbing to heaven for ordinary people.

But for those familiar with the inner workings, or those who knew someone working in a particular government office, it was much easier.

That was not favoritism, nor was it some unspoken rule.

It was simply the basic logic of getting things done...

Think about it: if someone knew the procedures, understood the key points of every position, called ahead, and avoided needless detours, could that be called favoritism?

It was simply handling matters reasonably!

That was why Captain Zhang's round of phone calls could get the license issued sooner.

It was also why Zhou Mei could help Lin Xiaosu find the most suitable rental with just one phone call. When someone had resources at hand, getting things done was simply easier than blindly running all over town.

Three days later, Zhou Mei delivered the business license. On the fourth day, a sign Lin Xiaosu had made for three hundred yuan was hung up.

"Phoenix City Detective Agency," black letters on a white background.

Outside the door stood two flower baskets. One was from Zhou Mei, and the other had been bought by Miao Ruolan herself.

These days, she walked as if the wind followed her, because the excitement in her heart surged like the Yi River...

When registering the business, she had originally wanted it registered under Lin Xiaosu's name alone. She had always felt it was enough for her to work for him. But after the business license arrived, she saw the equity registration inside: she held fifty percent. This was an official document, a proportion already fixed by legal procedure.

Zhou Mei said this had been Lin Xiaosu's insistence.

Now it was a settled fact.

That meant this detective agency had become her new home!

She made up her mind that she would make sure her labor was worthy of those shares.

She did not understand the detective agency's business, so she had to learn!

At the same time, the agency's finances, logistics, and internal affairs naturally fell to her.

From the very beginning, this detective agency had a very typical division of labor: Lin Xiaosu handled the outside, while she handled the inside.

Looking at the registration form on the computer screen, Miao Ruolan still felt a little uneasy. Detective work was a blank field even in the most advanced cities. Would there really be business in this small county town?

What if not even a ghost's father came through the door?

Suddenly, a woman rushed inside. "My Baby is missing! Can you help me find him?"

Miao Ruolan's heart gave a violent jump. "Ma'am, if a child has gone missing, you should report it to the police first."

For detective agencies, routine investigations—lost pets, cheating husbands, secretive incidents—were generally the sort of business unsuitable for reporting to the police. But something as serious as a missing child could absolutely be handled through the police, so Miao Ruolan immediately gave the correct advice.

The woman grew anxious. "I already reported it! The police said finding cats and dogs shouldn't waste police resources... They were the ones who suggested I come to you! If you won't take the case, I'll complain right now that you're kicking the ball around!"

Miao Ruolan frowned. "Ma'am, didn't you say your Baby was missing?"

"My family's dog! I treat him like my son, is that not allowed? You little girl don't know anything. All that chattering is irritating—get the person in charge out here!"

The woman dropped onto the sofa with her entire backside. The flesh on her body rippled back and forth three times, while the necklace around her neck and bracelet on her wrist displayed extravagant jewels and precious glitter.

"Please sit for a moment, ma'am. Have some tea! I'll call him right away." Miao Ruolan poured her a cup and placed it before her.

The woman glanced at it disdainfully. "I only drink Fusang tea. You can keep this tea!"

Fusang was an island nation neighboring Great Xia, with a blood feud against Great Xia. Yet its tea was famous among wealthy ladies. Drinking Fusang tea was practically a special term for affluent women, representing a refined and high-end lifestyle.

"Ahem!" Lin Xiaosu came down from the stairs on the second floor. "Ma'am, we can take this case, but the price is rather high!"

"The price is high?" The woman sneered. "How high can it be? Here's five thousand yuan! Is that enough?"

She took out her small handbag and casually tossed out five thousand yuan. With that toss, red banknotes scattered across the entire table.

Lin Xiaosu said, "Five thousand yuan really isn't enough!"