Who said our Baozi is stupid?
Still shaken, Qin Hui suddenly gave Zhang Bing and Ni Siyu a meaningful look. Now I understood completely: Zhang Bing was putting on an act to provoke Ni Siyu.
After drinking countless cups of wine, Ni Siyu suddenly slammed her cup on the table, stood up, stared straight at Xiang Yu, and said, "Big brother, I like you too."
I sighed as she slammed her wine glass down, and instinctively moved behind her to catch her after she finished speaking. But to my surprise, Ni Siyu didn't fall; she just stared stubbornly at Xiang Yu. Zhang Bing coldly stared at Ni Siyu, and a stalemate ensued. Everyone remained silent, except for Zhao Bai, who said with a chilling expression, "There's murderous intent!"
Xiang Yu slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Enough!" He stood up resolutely and said to Zhang Bing, "I'm sorry, I pursued you only because you looked like one of my ex-women, but today I've discovered that you are definitely not her." Xiang Yu then turned to Ni Siyu, his expression softening, and said, "I am an unlucky person, I will never see you again." After saying this, Xiang Yu sighed softly, as if a long-held worry had been resolved, and turned to leave.
Ni Siyu swayed slightly, tears streaming down her face. I quickly helped her up and said to Baozi and the others, "I'll take her home first. You guys should go home now." I took out 20 yuan, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it to Qin Hui so he could go home on his own. I glanced at Zhang Shuai one last time. The young man looked conflicted. I wanted to say a few words to him, but I noticed his gaze was rather awkward; he probably didn't know how to treat me. If we were the ones who disturbed Zhang Bing's life, we were the ones who wronged her first. But Zhang Bing wasn't entirely honest, and her current situation is her own fault.
Zhang Bing stood there, stunned. I helped Ni Siyu out the door, and we overheard Qin Hui inside telling the waiter, "Don't bother bringing the rest of the dishes, just take them all with me. Hurry up, I'm waiting for you..."
After I helped Ni Siyu into the car, I suddenly noticed that her eyes, which had been a little unsteady just moments before, were now unusually bright. I knew she was truly drunk. I carefully started the car, and Ni Siyu suddenly said, "Xiaoqiang, do you know why I like older brothers?"
Why?
Ni Siyu chuckled, her voice calm yet tinged with drunkenness as she said, "Do you remember? He was the first person to fight for me?"
I said, "Yeah, that's quite rare. Unlike me, I can't even remember how many fights I've had over girls since I was 14."
“And…” Ni Siyu said dreamily, “He never shied away from my disability, but I know he is the one who truly doesn’t despise me. I feel very relaxed and happy with him.”
I said, "Neither your three masters nor I have ever looked down on you."
"That's different. Would you dare to marry me?"
I said very sincerely, "I would like to, but I'm afraid your sister Baozi won't agree. Do you want to be the first girl to fight for me? — You can't beat your sister Baozi."
Ni Siyu giggled at my joke, and then she said very seriously, "I always feel that big brother... he is a hero." After saying that, she leaned back in her chair and fell asleep.
I led her to the general location and woke her up. I watched her go upstairs and turn on the room light before heading back. Just then, my phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number. I answered, "Hello?"
A familiar voice said, "Director Xiao, do you have time to talk?"
I asked in confusion, "You are...?"
"We're right behind you. If it's inconvenient for you, we can find another time."
I looked back and saw a gray car parked less than 5 meters away from me. When it saw me turn around, its headlights flashed.
I glanced around; it was a secluded cluster of buildings, dark and windy. The voice sounded familiar, and the person addressed me as "Director Xiao"—only a handful of government officials do that. As I was considering whether to take my bag, the person said, "If it's inconvenient, we can schedule another time." This dispelled my hesitation, and I walked over.
This was a minivan that could seat 12 people. As I approached, the door swung open with a whoosh. The interior lights blazed on, and a neatly dressed young man was smiling at me. I got in, closed the door, and looked at him. He looked very familiar; it must have been no more than a week since I last saw him.
The young man shook my hand kindly and asked, "Director Xiao, do you remember me?"
I said sheepishly, "I remember, but I've forgotten where I saw it before."
He chuckled, "Director Xiao is quite an interesting person. Just a reminder, the martial arts tournament is in the chairman's office..."
I slapped my forehead: "You're a staff member of our martial arts tournament!"
I remember this guy. There was a competition that day, and the chairman called me to his office. He was the only one there. Later, I broke a cup, and this young man swept it up.
I asked, puzzled, "What are you doing here?"
He chuckled and said, "First of all, congratulations to Yucai School for achieving first place." Before I could speak, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, saying, "I have a small question for you to answer." Pointing to the densely packed words on the paper, he continued, "This is Yucai School's list of participants, with all the contestants' information and ID numbers at the end. By chance, we also obtained information on some students from your school. Here's the problem: we randomly checked a few out of boredom and found that these people don't seem to exist."
My heart sank. I knew it! How could the country ignore such a large sum of money? At best, this is match-fixing; at worst, it's fraud.
Fortunately, things are still under control. I haven't touched the bonus I received from the conference, and the expansion project is still just on paper.
I don't lie to people in front of them. I looked at him and said directly, "You didn't do this just because you were bored, did you?"
"Hehe, I checked it on purpose." I found that this person was much thicker-skinned than me, and he didn't feel uncomfortable saying this at all.
He turned to the second page and said, "Also, we inquired about Director Xiao's recent contacts, whether they had any public records or not. We found that, apart from your girlfriend, Ms. Xiang Zi, and your school's teacher, Yan Jingsheng, none of the others have legal citizenship of the People's Republic of China. Can you explain this?"
Now I was annoyed. You're just the organizer of the martial arts tournament, what right do you have to investigate my friend? Fine, I'll return the prize money, but I don't want Yucai anymore. Taking advantage of having had a few drinks, I glared at him and said, "Is it any of your business? Do you think you're a beat cop?"
The young man wasn't angry at all, and continued cheerfully, "Our job is similar to that of a local police officer, except we cover a slightly larger area. Some people even call us the National Security Bureau—"
Chapter Forty-Eight: The Anti-Traitor Operation
National Security Bureau!
I felt the little bit of alcohol I drank suddenly "whoosh" out of every pore on my body, which made me quite proud of my courage, at least it didn't leak out from any of the non-follicle pores.
When I think of the National Security Agency, the first thing that comes to mind is the CIA and FBI in the United States. As everyone knows, even when these two names appear in American blockbusters, it's never a good scene. Those agents carrying strange and unusual equipment commit all sorts of evil deeds under the guise of "everything for national security," killing people like it's nothing, and the government has to clean up their messes for the sake of saving face.
After realizing who was sitting across from me, I obediently put my hands in my crotch and prepared to confess. Otherwise, I was afraid he would pull out a mechanical pencil and press it on me, and from then on, I would only be able to find my intellectual superiority in the pigsty.
When the young man opposite me saw my expression, he smiled and said, "Director Xiao, don't be nervous. Just treat us like local police officers."
I crossed my legs and said, "I get nervous when I see the local police officer too—"
"Hehe. Oh, by the way, you can just call me Little C from now on."
Listen to that, Little C, that's clearly a code name for the operation. I wonder what the overall code name for this operation is—"Hunter of the Owl"? "Snake Startling"?
...I suddenly felt a chill of terror, because another thought came to mind: "eliminating traitors!"
Little C smiled at me and said, "Just treat this conversation as a casual chat between friends. Can you guarantee that every word you say is true?"
I thought to myself, "What kind of nonsense is this? Casual conversations with friends are just about joking around and bragging; telling the truth is fine." But I didn't know how to respond. What if he pulls out a mechanical pencil if I don't do what he wants...?