"Why did that actually feel kind of rewarding?"
Watching Tang Youxin run into the alley, Xia Xu suddenly shook his head with a helpless chuckle.
Giving this little white flower money was even harder than scamming it out of someone else. Somehow, successfully sweet-talking her into accepting it had actually given him a sense of accomplishment.
"Youxin, you're back! Why are you home so late today? Did your teacher keep you after class?"
"Hehe, little girl, I saw you just now. Who was that boy at the entrance? Don't tell me you've got a boyfriend?"
"No! Auntie Zhou, don't say things like that!"
Amid the neighbors' greetings and teasing, Tang Youxin's slow walk turned into a jog. Blushing, she ran halfway down the alley and ducked into a little shop with a shabby sign reading "Fangyuan Pastries."
Now Xia Xu finally understood why she was always munching on stuffed or plain steamed buns. Her family made them, and she ate their own stock.
City dwellers naturally needed some source of income. With none at all, they would be more than poor-they would end up on the streets or even starve to death. So he wasn't surprised that the little white flower's family ran a small business.
In fact, this was precisely what made him begin to realize that things at Tang Youxin's home might truly be dire.
If they had some income yet still lived in extreme poverty, scrimping to the point where she could barely bear to eat their own buns, their expenses had to exceed their earnings. Either they were saddled with enormous debts or loans, or they had some huge, ongoing expense.
After gazing at the shop for a moment, Xia Xu looked away and hailed a taxi home.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next day was Saturday.
Since he had told Yang Bowen to come to work at eight, Xia Xu, as the boss, naturally had to arrive early to unlock the door. He reached the shop at seven thirty.
Someone, however, had arrived even earlier.
Tang Youxin was already waiting outside the shop. Without a key, she couldn't get in, so she crouched on the front steps, hugging her shoulders and shivering in the chilly morning mist.
But her outfit truly took Xia Xu's breath away. This was the first time he had seen the little white flower out of her school uniform and in casual clothes.
Her plain white dress was no longer particularly new, simple and free of unnecessary embellishments, yet it brought out her character perfectly. She was exactly what he always called her-a pure, delicate little white flower.
No, with the way she trembled in the wind, seemingly fragile yet possessed of a resilience rooted deep in her bones, perhaps the legendary snow lotus that grew amid the wind and snow of the Tianshan Mountains was a more fitting description.
Crouching with her head lowered, Tang Youxin only realized someone had arrived when Xia Xu's shoes entered her field of vision. She hurriedly looked up.
Her eyes happened to meet Xia Xu's intensely predatory gaze, bringing another flush to her fair, delicate little face. She looked so adorable that he couldn't help wanting to take a bite.
"Didn't we agree on eight? Why come so early? You couldn't even get inside. Were you trying to freeze out here?"
Xia Xu made a reproachful show of raising his hand to rap Tang Youxin on the forehead.
She immediately covered her head and crouched defensively, but the expected knock never came.
"Hurry inside. Why are you still crouching there?"
Xia Xu had already walked to the entrance, taken out his key, and quickly unlocked the shop.
"Oh..."
Tang Youxin murmured an acknowledgment and followed him. As she stood up, however, she picked up a small plastic bag she had been cradling on her knees. Once inside, she hesitated and fidgeted for a while before finally holding it out to Xia Xu. "Here."
"Buns? Did you make them?"
Xia Xu took the bag and looked inside. It held several stuffed buns, presumably brought from her family's shop.
"No, my dad made them."
Tang Youxin shook her head, then added, "I... I just brought some along for your breakfast."
"That's a shame. I'd rather eat something you made."
Xia Xu sounded regretful, making the already embarrassed little white flower even shyer. Pretending not to have heard, she went to the corner to fetch the broom and mop, then resumed the cleaning she hadn't finished yesterday.
While Tang Youxin cleaned, Xia Xu tidied up the furnishings, hauling all the unwanted metal cooking stations, tables, chairs, and stools to the neighborhood's waste collection point.
Before long, Yang Bowen joined them. After a flurry of work, they finally had the shop more or less cleaned up.
"Boss, what should I do now?"
After a short rest, Yang Bowen looked at Xia Xu, showing some eagerness to volunteer for an assignment.
Partly, he felt it wouldn't look good to sit idle in front of his boss. More importantly, he was itching to test his "talent." After all, he hadn't come here to work as a cleaner.
"A detective's main skills are investigation, tracking, and gathering information. They require plenty of skill, but you don't need much theoretical knowledge for the basics."
Understanding what he meant, Xia Xu said, "Of course, you still need to learn the necessary techniques and theory. I'll buy you some professional study materials later.
"But you're very talented, Yang. You're actually already good at these things. As long as you think things through and perform as you normally would, you should do pretty well. That's why I'd prefer to let you train on an actual assignment.
"I'm sure you're also eager to test what I told you yesterday and see your talent for yourself, right?"
Yang Bowen paused, looking hesitant. "An actual assignment right away? Boss, do you mean you want me to go solve a case?"
"No. In private detective terms, it's called a commission. We fulfill our clients' commissions."
Xia Xu corrected his wording, then continued, "Don't worry. I'm not asking you to do anything difficult or dangerous. I just want you to find someone. It's great if you find him, but it's fine if you don't. Think of it as practice to familiarize yourself with the job."
"That's fine, then. No problem, boss. Just tell me who I'm looking for."
Only then did Yang Bowen breathe a sigh of relief.
Although he somewhat believed what Xia Xu had said yesterday, and the salary was certainly enticing, being asked to tackle something difficult and dangerous straight away would still have made him balk. It was one thing to like the idea, quite another to face the reality.
"His name is Zhang Jianmin. I'll mark out his approximate address and the area he frequents for you in a moment. You could also start with Xue Mingjie, the owner of the Mingjie Noodle Shop outside Star City No. 3 High School. Last week, Zhang Jianmin was arrested along with him for taking part in group gambling..."
Xia Xu called it a simple task to let him test his skills, but in reality, he had given Yang Bowen a major assignment right off the bat-the most urgent and most difficult task at hand.
The man was a born scout. Even without experience or techniques, his way of thinking, his ability to deal with people, and his powers of observation wouldn't simply appear or vanish out of nowhere. Put to use, they would still make him far more effective than an ordinary person.
Besides, just as Xia Xu had said, there was nothing to lose even if he failed. Zhang Jianmin wasn't dangerous. If Yang Bowen couldn't find him, so be it. It would simply count as practice.
After sending the novice Yang Bowen out, Xia Xu didn't dare place too much hope in such a needle-in-a-haystack search. He also planned to head out himself to look for the old man at the construction site.
If he truly couldn't find Zhang Jianmin, then he would simply have to let that opportunity pass. Whether there were any further benefits to gain remained uncertain anyway. Xia Xu would be reluctant to give up, but not terribly regretful. Missing the old man at the construction site, however-an overlooked opportunity he stood a decent chance of snagging-would leave him so furious it hurt.
Besides, if Zhang Jianmin could still be steered back into this part of the plot, finding the old man at the construction site, the central figure of the second act, would effectively mean finding Zhang Jianmin, the protagonist, too.
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