"Look! Here’s lotus seeds, candied dates, longans from Mom and Dad, and peanuts Uncle entrusted to bring..."
Watching ng Qingqing carrying bag after bag into the house, ng Lang felt both amused and exasperated.
Does she think I can’t catch the hint these local specialties are giving?
But since she’s already here, I can’t really just send her back...
Ah! My barely-begun two-person world...
"Let see, where should I put this bottle of callia oil... the kitchen? Oh, here it is. Huh? How co there’s not even a pot? Do you usually just eat takeout?
This big kitchen is such a waste, wow~ your room is so big, and the living room is so spacious! Do you really live here alone?
Aren’t you supposed to endure hardship when starting a business? Brother, it seems like you’re here to enjoy life instead...
If I knew your place was so comfortable, I wouldn’t have bothered going ho; I would’ve co straight here! Almost got caught too...
Anyway, coming here was definitely the right choice!
By the way, brother, where am I sleeping tonight? Huh, why’s that room closed? Hehe! Brother, could you be hiding soone there? Let see..."
ng Lang quickly grabbed the back of ng Qingqing’s collar.
This beastly intuition of hers is still so accurate.
But inside is your sister-in-law! If the little sister discovers her, with Lin Haitang’s thin-skinned nature, she’d probably feel so embarrassed she wouldn’t talk to for half a year...
"That’s my bedroom. You’ll sleep in the other room tonight. Alright, stop wandering around, let’s go out for dinner!"
"Eh? It’s not even alti yet?"
"People in Su City eat early!"
"Really? Then you better take sowhere nice to eat. I even checked out the food guides before I ca, and there’s..."
"You little foodie... apart from eating, what else do you know!"
"I know what it feels like to be hungry!"
"If you’re hungry, can’t you go swallow so love’s hardships instead of coming here to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth!"
"What are you even talking about!"
"Explaining to you is like talking to a brick wall! Let’s go, move it!"
"Hey, wait a minute, let take a photo inside first to post on social dia for our parents! Aiya, brother, stop pushing ..."
"Bang!"
After two minutes, when it was utterly quiet outside, the bedroom door finally opened gently.
Confirming that no one was outside, Lin Haitang finally sighed in relief.
Close call~ Almost social-suicided right on the spot...
But thinking back to ng Lang’s sowhat flustered tone as he left, she couldn’t help but chuckle...
...
"Dong~ Dong~ Dong~"
By the ti Wang Zhao Ping arrived at Nanshan Temple, the sun was already setting, and he ascended the steps amidst the sound of the evening bell...
But before he could enter the main hall, a wizened voice reached his ears.
"This benefactor... huh? Is that Officer Wang?"
Wang Zhao Ping turned his head and saw that it was none other than the long-unseen Master Intelligent.
During this ti, not many pilgrims were climbing the mountain, and most of the few monks in the temple were busy preparing the evening’s vegetarian al, making the large temple feel sowhat empty, and the lone Wang Zhao Ping rather conspicuous.
"Master Intelligent, long ti no see! I didn’t expect you to rember ." Wang Zhao Ping smiled, clasping his hands together in greeting.
"Hehe! Amitabha Buddha! Though this monk is old and my mory is not what it used to be, distinguished guests always leave a lasting impression.
Well... judging by Officer Wang’s radiant complexion today, has sothing good happened recently?"
"Uh... is it that obvious?" Wang Zhao Ping touched his face and laughed heartily.
"Sothing indeed worth celebrating happened today; Master Intelligent’s foresight is impressive."
"Hehe! That’s truly delightful news!
But Officer Wang, you wouldn’t visit the temple for no reason, especially at this ti... Could it be you’re here investigating a case?"
"Hmm... how should I put it, I suppose you could say I’m here for a case, but currently there’s no lead.
I heard that the temple’s lot drawing is quite effective, so I wanted to co and draw a lot, try my luck."
"Uh..."
This left Master Intelligent at a temporary loss for words...
Are you saying, because you have no leads, you ca specifically to the temple to seek divine guidance?
Having been a monk for most of my life, I’ve heard of people asking for wealth, offspring, marriage, and career.
To seek a clue for solving a case, this is truly the first ti for this old monk...
My Buddha has played roles like the God of Childbearing or the God of Wealth, but to play a detective role...
Should I comnd your faith in my Buddha, or should I inquire if my Buddha offers such services?
Seeing Master Intelligent’s strange expression, Wang Zhao Ping also felt a bit embarrassed.
But how could he explain?
Say that the expert advising him is infallible?
He ca here partly to treat a dead end with the hope of a miracle and partly out of curiosity about what Brother ng was up to...
He even suspected if the Master Intelligent in front of him might be the contact arranged by ng Lang.
As soon as he said the secret phrase "draw a lot," the person would reveal Iwazaki Hideyoshi’s information.
But the reaction he got suggested otherwise...
Maybe the revelation cos after drawing a lot?
A secret phrase isn’t enough; maybe there’s so ritual to follow?
"Hehe! Amitabha Buddha! Do good, and good will follow! Since Officer Wang is so sincere, please follow this humble monk."
He led Wang Zhao Ping to a side hall.
In front of the Buddha statue was an incense table, a prayer mat, and a lot-drawing cylinder.
ng Lang didn’t ntion anything like the prior requirents of "bathing and changing clothes or burning incense and praying"...
So he knelt on the prayer mat, clasped his hands, bowed twice, then began silently chanting 3 million US Dollars, and shook the cylinder...
"Clatter... clatter..."
"Snap!"
Picking up the bamboo stick from the ground, it had "Fortune Stick No. 40" engraved in vermilion.
Master Intelligent took it, looked at the number, and imdiately laughed.
"Obstacles and dangers abound, carrying water and mud to cross mountains.
Searching high and low without finding, and then effortlessly getting it...
Haha! Congratulations, Officer Wang, this is a supre fortune stick."
Wang Zhao Ping also noticed. The text on the stick wasn’t complicated, but his mind was not focused on it at all.
He glanced at Master Intelligent, then scanned the surroundings.
Sothing’s wrong. Why hasn’t anything happened?
Where’s the informant with the note I imagined?
"Officer Wang, is there sothing else you’d like to inquire about?"
Seeing Wang Zhao Ping frown and look around, Master Intelligent asked.
"Oh, nothing, Master Intelligent. Since I’ve already drawn the stick... should I be heading down the mountain?" Wang Zhao Ping probed sowhat reluctantly.
Master Intelligent gave him a strange look. Otherwise? Want to stay for a vegetarian al?
"Haha! It’s getting late. If you don’t mind, Officer Wang can stay for a al before leaving."
"Uh... no need, I’ll take my leave now..."
Feeling a bit disappointed, but quickly shook his head and chuckled to himself.
What exactly was I hoping for?
With so many police officers and bounty hunters searching for so long without finding the person, and I actually thought Brother ng could point out a clue with a re calculation.
An expert is still just a person, not a deity...
"Alright! I’ll see Officer Wang out."
However, the two had just stepped out of the side hall when a young monk ca running up, panting heavily.
"Abbot! Abbot! Hurry, take a look, Senior Brother found soone nearly starving in the woodshed. Seems like a traveler lost in the nearby mountains!"
"Hmm?" Master Intelligent paused for a mont, "Amitabha Buddha! Saving a life is more ritorious than building a seven-tiered pagoda. Quickly take there, and have your senior brother prepare so food. Saving lives is urgent!"
Seeing the two rushing to the woodshed, Wang Zhao Ping felt a stir in his heart and couldn’t help but follow along.
Upon reaching the woodshed door, he saw several monks surrounding a man in disheveled clothing who looked sowhat sallow and thin. So were giving him water, others checking his injuries.
Initially, Wang Zhao Ping couldn’t see the man’s face, but judging from his attire, it seed like a suit?
Although it was slightly damaged and scruffy, the well-tailored style suggested it was probably worth a lot...
Wang Zhao Ping’s heart started pounding.
Could it be...
When he stepped forward to brush aside the ssy hair in front of the man’s forehead and got a clear look at the sowhat grimy face, his expression turned extraordinarily remarkable.
Shock, ecstasy, disbelief...
Finally, in the stupefied gaze of Master Intelligent and the group of monks, he burst into laughter.
"Haha! Hahaha! Getting what’s needed without any effort! Truly, it’s effortless! Hahaha..."
...
Half an hour later...
"Clang clang~ clang clang~"
Watching Iwazaki Hideyoshi, who woke from a semi-comatose state and began gobbling down vegetarian fare, Wang Zhao Ping had an odd expression.
"You’re saying to evade the assassin, you jumped onto a truck and escaped to the outskirts.
Then seized an opportunity to leap from the truck and hide in the mountain forest. Later, being unfamiliar with the terrain, you lost your phone and got completely lost.
You wandered in the mountains for several days until today, accidentally stumbling into this temple..."
"Mm... yeah!"
Iwazaki Hideyoshi’s eyes flickered, as if recalling sothing terrifying, but eventually, he nodded earnestly, then continued focusing on scarfing down his third bowl of rice...
He truly wasn’t pretending; he was genuinely famished.
It wasn’t that Mr. Hu mistreated the captive by not feeding him; rather, the past few days, just the thought of the horrifying scene of being "parasited," especially when seeing at...
Iwazaki Hideyoshi would experience a wave of nausea, feeling as if he could vomit bile.
Luckily, the light vegetarian al was gentle on his stomach. Otherwise, it would have been another chaotic ss again.
Wang Zhao Ping gazed at him for a while, although he felt the man seed to be hiding sothing.
Still, with his starving ghost rebirth look, coupled with the injuries covering his body, it seed too genuine to be staged.
Besides, without any threats around now, there was no reason for the man to lie...
As for the wound on his arm, which he just looked at, it didn’t seem like it was scratched by forest branches or bushes. It looked more like self-inflicted from fingernails...
Forget it, why bother with so much!
I just need to take him back to report and be done with it.
Hmm... When the bureau asks how I only went to draw a fortune stick and ended up bringing soone back, what should I say?
Tell the truth?
Oh! A dignified captain of the criminal police, not believing in science, but in mysticism instead...
The key is, the case was actually solved!
If this gets out, I might be seen as a remnant of feudalism?
What if everyone in the police station begins imitating, with guns holstered on the right waist and a tube of sticks on the left, gathering to draw a stick when uncertain...
The imagery is too beautiful to behold!
Needless to say, if everyone started ntioning Captain Wang, not for his divine case-solving skills but for the accuracy of his fortune stick draws?
Social death would be imminent!
Wang Zhao Ping shook his head vigorously, resolutely deciding to let the truth forever remain buried in the dust of history...
...
In the dense forest beside the gates of Nanshan Temple, Chu Tian, clad in camouflage, lowered his mask, watching Wang Zhao Ping escort Iwazaki Hideyoshi down the mountain and drive away.
He grinned, then spoke into his earpiece.
"Mission complete, ’Hamlet’ has been successfully deployed..."
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