《Once Upon a Time in a Foreign Land》Chapter 144 : Nangong Yiren
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Qiuzhen looked at Yiren. His gaze was so sharp. "Are you sure, Renge? A pen like this isn't an expensive pen. Lots of people have it. Maybe even in our housing complex there are some people who also have it."
The pen was very short. The length was only half of the length of the pen in general. Yiren laughed the first time he saw that kind of pen. Such a shape reminded him of a pencil that was sharpened too often.
"Of course I'm sure," Yiren answered firmly. "Xiongge, please explain to him."
Yixiong turned to Yiren. "Why should I explain? It's your pen."
"At that time, it was Xiongge who gave the mark to this pen!"
Yixiong nodded. "Ah! You're right. I remember now."
"Okay! Let me just tell the story," said Yiren.
"Just tell us briefly," Qiuzhen said.
Yiren looked at Qiuzhen, Jingkang, Gongxi, and Pinghe before starting to give an explanation.
"About four months ago, Dage came home with a gift shaped like a brick. He said one of the loyal customers at the bookstore where he worked that day gave gifts to every employee there."
Yiren stopped talking for a while. After taking a breath, he continued his words.
"When we opened it, we found the box contained half a dozen pens. They were all the same shape and color. Because there are five of us, we each got one pen."
"Then how about the other one?" Qiuzhen cut Yiren's words.
"We planned to give it to you when you get home," Yixiong said.
"You never told me about this when I called home," Qiuzhen said.
"Because a few days later, the pen that we planned to give you was no longer there," said Yiren.
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"I'll try to guess! You must have given it to one of our neighbors," said Qiuzhen.
Yixiong laughed. "You're right! We gave it to Mr. Hongxi. That time he came here to borrow something. Just as he was leaving the house, the postman came to his house. He borrowed a pen to sign the receipt for the package. Because he didn't bring a pen with him, so he asked us if we had a pen. At that time, we put your pen on the television. So, without thinking, Zhengyi immediately gave it to Mr. Hongxi. After that, he went straight into his house to open the package and forgot to return the pen. We also forgot to ask him. A week later, he just remembered that he borrowed the pen. But unfortunately he forgot where he put it. So instead, he bought us another pen. Dage kept the pen. If you want, you can ask Dage directly when he gets home."
"Then what makes Renge sure that this is Renge's pen? Not the pen that Renge gave Mr. Hongxi."
"You see this?" Yiren showed a piece of plaster attached to the center of the pen rod.
"So Renge stuck this tape to this pen?" "I didn't stick it to this thing. It was Xiongge." Yiren pointed at Yixiong.
"Why did Xiongge put the plaster here? What makes this pen different from the others?"
"I told you earlier that the six pens are all the same shape and color. But after we tried one by one, it turned out that there was a difference. Five of the pens were black ink, while the other one was blue ink. So, I' was sticking this thing as a clue as to which pen was blue ink," Yixiong said. "Then, although there may be many people who have this type of pen, I think in our housing complex there is only one pen of this type, which has a plaster patch right in the middle of the pen shaft. So it is reasonable to think that it is Yiren's pen that yesterday morning brought by Xinxiu."
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Qiuzhen nodded. "Let's make sure first that the ink that comes out of this pen is blue ink."
It is clear that this is my pen. If the ink is not blue, then it is possible that someone has switched the ink!
"Jingkang," said Yiren. "Please write down the license plate number of the motorcycle."
Jingkang immediately wrote down the plate number he saw. It turned out to be true. Indeed, the pen was blue ink.
"Thank you," Yixiong said. He jumped in front of their phone right away. Yixiong quickly turned on Huaxiang to inform the police that they had found Xinxiu's pen. Yixiong briefly recounted what had just happened. After he finished telling the information, he seemed to be listening seriously to what the police had to say.
"What did the police say?" Qiuzhen asked shortly after Yixiong cut off the conversation with the police.
"The police were already suspicious. The motorcyclist and passenger wanted to get out of there quickly. They suspected they were evading. So the police investigated it straight away. There is no certainty yet, but the police said there was a possibility that the plate number was fake. So they hope we won't be too disappointed if the investigation into that doesn't turn out as we expected."
"So, there is a possibility that this thing will hit a dead end again," Qiuzhen said.
"What about Dage? Have the police got any leads?" Yiren asked.
"Absolutely nothing. This is very strange. Dage seems to have been swallowed up by the earth," Yixiong said.
"It means that what happened was similar to before," said Yiren.
"You mean when Dage passed out in the toilet?" Yixiong asked.
"Right!" Yiren said.
Jingkang, Gongxi, and Pinghe had confused expressions on their faces when they heard Yiren and Yixiong's conversation.
If only we have enough time to tell them so many things!
"Does Mr. Duanmu suffer from a certain disease?" Jingkang asked.
"We don't know. He seems fine. But sometimes, people don't know they have a disease until it gets worse."
"Does Mr. Duanmu not want to see a doctor?"
"We've already planned that," Yixiong said. "But then things like this happen."
"Dage will go to the doctor after all this problem is over," said Yiren. "Of course, we hope that it just happened because he was exhausted."
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