Chapter 344: Source

"Hei Tan, what's wrong with you?"

Cai Lao Ban involuntarily rose from his computer chair, walked to the window, looked outside, saw nothing special, then glanced again at the black cat on the windowsill, which continued to stare intently at the interior, as if there were something terrifying inside the room.

"He... Hei Tan?"

Cai Lao Ban called out again, his voice filled with deeper unease and anxiety. He couldn't help but recall some things he had encountered in Nan Cheng. The marketplace was like a battlefield, open and covert struggles, underhanded tactics abound; he was not skilled at those, often relying on friends there to help resolve them, and later things decreased, until now, when another abnormal situation occurred, Cai Lao Ban again recalled some past events.

He currently has no assistants, and the shop's security also needs strengthening; during the New Year he returned to Nan Cheng and asked some friends there to help introduce reliable people, but they still need some time before they can come over and take up their posts.

What on earth is happening?

Cai Lao Ban has always felt that animals sense danger more strongly than humans; plus he knows this black cat is different, so he trusts it more psychologically, and that's why he now feels uneasy. Unknown danger makes it hard for people to calm down.

Zheng Tan isn't ignoring Cai Lao Ban on purpose; he's just thinking. Staying on the windowsill, he hasn't even gone past the window. He smelled some odor, and from Cai Lao Ban's expression, it seems this person hasn't noticed it.

This odor isn't strong; it can be said to be hard to discern, basically undetectable by human smell; even though Zheng Tan's sense of smell is now much more sensitive than an ordinary person's, he only feels a faint trace. Moreover, Zheng Tan has never smelled this odor before. Yet he feels a sense of familiarity, as if he had smelled something similar before. Whether he has smelled it or not, it makes Zheng Tan feel danger, the kind that makes him want to turn and flee immediately to avoid it.

While he was thinking, Cai Lao Ban saw Zheng Tan showing no reaction, so he reached out to poke Zheng Tan to bring him back to his senses.

But when Zheng Tan lifted his head and saw the approaching finger getting closer, he hastily recoiled; unfortunately, there was no space behind him. His foot slipped, and he almost fell from the second-floor windowsill. If it weren't for his quick reflexes, grabbing the edge of the sill, it would have been hard to say what would happen.

Seeing Zheng Tan like this, Cai Lao Ban looked at his own hand. His unease grew deeper. Normally, although they say this cat isn't very approachable, occasionally a light poke is fine; it wouldn't be like now, as if avoiding a plague god. He doesn't know if he's overthinking, but his growing anxiety is real. He also can't calm down to think about many things.

After a few seconds of silence, Cai Lao Ban called the shop's manager, saying the shop would close this afternoon for rest and renovation, that customers with afternoon reservations would be called one by one to apologize, those wanting refunds would get them, those not wanting refunds would receive other compensation or have their bookings postponed; the manager surely knows how to handle it, otherwise he wouldn't be fit for the position.

After hanging up, Cai Lao Ban made several more calls in succession; Zheng Tan listened, guessing that Cai Lao Ban was asking people to come over to check things out.

In fact, Cai Lao Ban could quietly bring someone in to investigate first while keeping the shop open, but he fears that if something goes wrong, the entire shop would be ruined; the loss wouldn't be comparable to just one afternoon's earnings—it's the fruit of his years of hard work.

Of course, Cai Lao Ban isn't worried about the food being the problem, because he once encountered some framing and sabotage in Nan Cheng, so he has put great effort into kitchen cleanliness; whether purchasing or receiving vegetables, there are dedicated staff responsible, and after the vegetables arrive, there are specially assigned people to test for pesticide residues, even checking tap water, so food poisoning basically won't happen.

When he just made the phone call, Cai Lao Ban again asked the person in charge of testing on the purchasing side, confirming that recently their worries were only insufficient supply and high prices, with no other issues.

If it's not about the food, then what could it be? Is it targeting "Shi Wei" or himself? Cai Lao Ban tapped his forehead, considering various possibilities. He isn't as sharp as others, can't think of a solution, so he decided to go out for a walk; upon reaching the door he stopped, turned back to look at the windowsill and said: "Hei Tan, can you help me out?"

Zheng Tan stood on the windowsill, torn for a moment; he roughly guessed what Cai Lao Ban wanted him to do. He had originally planned to slip away back to Chu Hua Da Xue to eat at Jiao Wei's family's small eatery, but hearing Cai Lao Ban's words, Zheng Tan hesitated. Speaking of it, Cai Lao Ban really treats him well—each visit he provides good food and drink, Zheng Tan hogs the sofa for an afternoon nap and Cai Lao Ban never complains or kicks him out. Thinking this way, Zheng Tan feels that slipping away would be truly heartless; since the other party is good to him, helping them out in their current difficulty is appropriate, and besides, this favor isn't a big deal.

Zheng Tan didn't leave the room; even if he went out from here nothing would happen immediately, but he couldn't bring himself to do it psychologically, so he climbed down directly from the second floor, escorted by Cai Lao Ban out the main door.

The shop is currently at peak hour, with people coming and going; among the customers, some know Cai Lao Ban, but not many, and when they see him they just exchange a brief greeting.

Cai Lao Ban feels his smile frozen on his face; no one knows how distressed he feels inside. Seeing the black cat not far from the entrance, his heart eased a little—good that the cat didn't just walk away.

A sign indicating the shop would close this afternoon for maintenance had already been hung at the entrance; many people inquired, and the manager politely explained with a smile. Everything was still fairly normal.

Cai Lao Ban brought Zheng Tan into the shop, walking along the side; at this moment many people were just starting to eat, or staring at their menus, or chatting with companions while waiting for dishes. Zheng Tan walked along the wall, with Cai Lao Ban blocking him, so few people noticed him, and even fewer were interested in taking a second look.

Zheng Tan didn't care about the people around him; he carefully tried to discern the indoor smell, not knowing whether the strong, fragrant food odor was masking it, or whether it simply wasn't there; in any case, Zheng Tan couldn't detect that odor from Cai Lao Ban's rest area.

After circling the first-floor hall, they went up the stairs to the second floor. The second floor has many partitioned private booths; people sitting inside those booths wouldn't notice Zheng Tan, only those walking back and forth in the corridor might.

At this point Cai Lao Ban didn't bother with those matters either; an acquaintance asked him how he allowed a cat to walk around here. Cai Lao Ban made up a few excuses to deflect, and since the other person wasn't really concerned, they didn't press further.

Zheng Tan walked around the second floor, just like the first, and didn't detect that odor; he thought it was probably too faint to discern, likely overwhelmed by the food aroma, and with so many people coming and going, various smells mixed together, making it hard to tell, which is understandable.

Thinking maybe he hadn't detected the odor, Zheng Tan's steps suddenly stopped. He looked toward a nearby table.

Cai Lao Ban watched Zheng Tan show no special reaction from the first to the second floor, and felt much more at ease, thinking the dining area was probably fine and wouldn't affect customers. Could it really be that only his room has a problem? Is someone really going to great lengths to target him?

Cai Lao Ban, again lost in thought, saw the black cat suddenly stop. He looked at the nearby table used for placing items. This table isn't near the second-floor dining area; sometimes it's placed here for easier collection of utensils. What's placed here are mostly staff belongings, and it's also close to the staff rest room.

Could it be an employee issue?

Zheng Tan also wondered if some employee had a grudge against Cai Lao Ban and was secretly sabotaging him, but when he reached the staff rest room door he didn't smell that odor. He followed Cai Lao Ban inside and walked around, startling the two resting employees into standing up immediately, fearing the boss thought they were slacking.

The staff rest room, also no problem.

In that case…

After leaving the staff rest room, Cai Lao Ban glanced at the adjacent locked small room, which is where the cleaning personnel rest; since there aren't many servers, this room isn't large.

Opening the door, Zheng Tan followed Cai Lao Ban inside; at the moment there were only two middle-aged women waiting for shift change, with a rack holding various cleaning supplies beside them; each cleaner has her own locker, containing the cleaning kit issued by the shop, different people responsible for different areas, and if a problem arises somewhere, they find the person in charge of that area during that shift.

Upon seeing Cai Lao Ban, the two cleaners were quite tense; they don't appear to be the sort of smooth-talking flatterers. Over the past few months at year's end they had performed well, with no issues, and they are people with considerable experience in this work, and they haven't received any reprimands from previous bosses; one can see they used to do cleaning work well, otherwise they wouldn't have been retained to now, and this year there has been no turnover among the cleaning staff.

Cai Lao Ban gave a stiff smile while speaking to the two cleaners, knowing that one of them was the person who had cleaned his room that morning; upon close inspection, one could still see a hint of guilt in her eyes, but Cai Lao Ban doesn't think this person would harm him; some people privately seek small gains, as long as it stays within acceptable bounds, Cai Lao Ban won't pursue it—this is also a balancing tactic.

While chatting with the cleaners, Cai Lao Ban also paid attention to Zheng Tan's movements, until he saw Zheng Tan stop in front of a locker.

"Whose locker is this?" Cai Lao Ban pointed at the locker and asked.

"Boss… it's me… mine." The voice came from the cleaner who had been responsible for cleaning Cai Lao Ban's room that morning; she looked very nervous.

Even Cai Lao Ban's usually good temper couldn't force a smile now.

"Open the locker." Cai Lao Ban said.

The two cleaners thought Cai Lao Ban was conducting a spot check, doing an inspection of the "equipment," which would be understandable, but the cleaner's face showed panic, while Cai Lao Ban's usually calm visage had darkened.

The cleaner opened the locker, showed Cai Lao Ban the cleaning tools inside, and voluntarily admitted fault: she had sold the shop-issued cleaning detergent and used her own cheap detergent instead. The shop uniformly distributes high-quality cleaning detergent, priced much higher than ordinary cleaners; outside, many cleaning detergents sell for a few yuan per 500g bottle, whereas the shop's issue costs thirty-something yuan per bottle.

Zheng Tan stared at the middle-aged woman earnestly confessing; her words were likely true, but Zheng Tan himself had indeed smelled that odor from here; this person's locker smelled different from the others', and he had just been reluctant to approach it.

Zheng Tan looked at the middle-aged woman's hands, which were labor-worn, aged, wrinkled, showing she often does low-level work; at the same time, Zheng Tan noticed that the cleaner, nervous and clutching her fingers, had white streaks on her nails, unlike the normal lunula on people's fingernails.

Using the professional term that Jiao Ba and his group use, it's called Mi's Line. (To be continued...)