《Once Upon a Time in a Foreign Land》Chapter 029 : Ximen Yixiong
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They just realized Songfei was more mysterious than they initially thought. So far, they only ever visited Songfei's home once. The place was far away. Close to the border of this city with other towns in the west. Their meetings with Songfei usually took place at some places other than his house. Namely, Dafeisi Tower, the places he held mystery games, and public places that he often went to when he was planning things, such as restaurants, cafes, city parks, and so on.
"Talking about Songfei, I thought of Caihong. He asked about Songfei when we met two days ago," Yiren said.
"Yes. If it wasn't for the event arranged by Songfei, we wouldn't have found Caihong on time. In fact, maybe we would never meet him at all," Yixiong said. He remembered the first time they'd met Caihong. They'd were taking part in one of the mystery and detective game shows held by Songfei.
Apart from indoor games, Songfei also sometimes designed outdoor games. This small forest right on the outskirts of this city, to be precise in the northern part of this city, was indeed a perfect place to host such a game. About six months ago, while playing the game and exploring the forest, they found a small hut in the middle of the woods. There they found Caihong bound and starving. Songfei then stopped the game because they all had to take Caihong to the nearest hospital.
At that time, Caihong was a member of a gang of delinquents. After joining for some time, he felt he did not fit in, so Caihong wanted to leave the group. This made the other members angry. They kidnapped Caihong and took him to a hut in the middle of the forest. Tie him up and leave him without food or drink. Luckily, Shanquan and his friends came to help him. Thanks to Songfei. After all, he was the one who insisted on playing the game in the forest. So, it made sense if Caihong had always felt indebted to Songfei.
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"We must not involve Caihong in this matter. He has already helped us to get those amazing lockers. It's inappropriate if we ask for help with anything else," said Xinxiu.
"I don't think we can call this matter as 'anything else.' Caihong also knows Songfei. In fact, he feels indebted to him," replied Zhengyi.
"Maybe we should tell this to Caihong. Regarding the matter of whether he wants to help, let him decide himself. I think Caihong has the right to know about this matter," said Yiren.
"But if we tell him about this, maybe it makes him have no choice but to help. If we are in his position, and we know what happened, wouldn't we feel bad if we don't help?" said Yixiong.
"This is a delicate matter. We need to ponder carefully before we decide," Shanquan tried to intervene. Then he continued his words. "But for sure, we all have to meet Caihong to say thank you. We'll talk about this further. Now let's continue the discussion about the items in this Songfei's bag."
They all agree with Shanquan's words. The priority now was to analyze the items on their living room table.
Their attention then turned to the large brown envelope. This was an ordinary envelope that held documents that were the size of folio paper. This envelope was not empty. Shanquan opened the envelope and peeked inside.
"Hmm," said Shanquan curtly.
He took out the contents of the envelope one by one. It contained a piece of paper, a photo, and what appeared to be a map. The piece of paper was full of handwriting. The writer, whoever he was, wrote the writing on the paper in red ink. Usually, people write in black or blue ink. People only used red ink in certain situations. For example, when a teacher was giving low grades to a student. People could not write essential letters or documents in red ink.
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Shanquan read the scribbles on the paper seriously. The writing was irregular. It was not an essay or explanation intentionally written for others to read. It was more like a personal note written just as a reminder. The irregular shape showed that the scribbles were not written at the same time. So it most likely referred to different things.
They had seen the notes Songfei made many times. When designing a mystery game, Songfei usually took careful note of everything he thought about. So, they all already knew what Songfei's writing was like. The scribbles on the paper were not Songfei's writing at all. However, if it wasn't Songfei's writing, then it was hard to believe that there was no note that Songfei had made at all in that bag. The big blue bag was supposed to be Songfei's, so it made sense that at least there was Songfei's handwriting in the notes in the bag.
Then they turned their attention to another object, which was a map. This map was literally just a white paper sheet the size of a folio drawn in black, blue, and red ink. It didn't look like an actual map, but all agree that thing looked almost like a map.
There was the sound of approaching footsteps. Yingyue, who had been looking at the plants in the backyard, suddenly appeared in the living room. She immediately stood in front of Shanquan. "Looks like you forgot to water the plants, huh? Can I borrow the water hose? Let me water the plants for a while."
Shanquan turned to Xinxiu. "Isn't there a hose in the backyard?"
Xinxiu seemed to wake up from something. "Oh yeah. Three days ago, the next-door neighbor borrowed our water hose. Until now, he has not returned it yet. I'll go over there to get it back."
"Mister Xuande or Mister Hongxi?" Asked Yixiong. Xuande Zhanji was their neighbor who lived in the house to their left. He was the one who received the package two days ago. Meanwhile, Hongxi Gaochi was their neighbor who lived in the house to their right.
"Mister Hongxi!" Xinxiu's voice was steadfast. After saying that, Xinxiu immediately came out and went to the next house to ask for their water hose.
While waiting for Xinxiu to return, Yingyue sat in the living room. Her gaze swept over some items on the table. Then she leaned closer to the photo. The image looked like an old photograph, but the picture was still evident. In the photo, seven people were standing. Yingyue looked at the faces. Yixiong observed Shanquan noticed what Yingyue was doing. Maybe Shanquan hoped the girl would make a surprise.
"This person," Yingyue said, pointing to one face in the photo.
Yixiong, Shanquan, and others followed Yingyue's finger toward one face there.
Yingyue continued her words. "This is the woman who I saw yesterday!"
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