Chapter 30

Wu Yue closed the notebook: "High risk, high return. As long as I'm cautious, 'roaming operations'... roaming reporting, no one will be able to find me. I've watched at least four hundred episodes of Detective Conan."

"There's also reporting drugs, the reward is even higher. If you destroy that kind of production and processing place, the cap is one hundred thousand! But the risk is too high. I've been catching up on 'Kindaichi' and 'Sherlock Holmes' recently, and I'm planning to talk about it in two years."

Zhai Da patted Wu Yue on the shoulder: "From the perspective of reason and justice, what you are doing is a good thing... but from a practical point of view, you'd better have a sound mind. If you get hung up and beaten in the future, I won't save you."

Wu Yue patted his chest: "Don't worry, I'm smart!"

"I suggest you think about it seriously again; look before you leap."

"Yeah, of course! I found out that my dad also goes to that row of red houses, so I have to wait a bit."

Zhai Da:...

This is like a small knife cutting the butt and opening a big eye!

This light of the righteous path is shining straight down; the ancestral grave must be smoking with blue smoke!

"I advise you to think more about it. This is obviously not a reliable 'profession.' There are still two and a half months until the college entrance exam. If you want to give it a shot, you can study with me."

Wu Yue obviously didn't take it seriously.

This is equivalent to "Boon-ba-ba" patting "Ba-boon-ba" on the shoulder and saying: Let's work together to eliminate Tang Monk and his disciples!

Study with you? Wouldn't that be studying into a ditch?

Their total scores combined barely reach the undergraduate line...

Zhai Da was about to say something else when he suddenly saw a familiar figure in the familiar alley, which was a bit unexpected.

He patted Wu Yue on the shoulder: "Disappear quickly."

Wu Yue: "Yes, sir!"

——

"Eight fifty."

The shop owner was still seriously staring at the TV, which was playing the latest episode of "X-Change." The rural child was taken by a "city mom" to a five-star hotel to eat a buffet and was tricked into believing that the food here was free.

After the child finished eating, the program team told him that the meal cost 1000 yuan.

The rural child lay on the table and cried.

Lu Wei was still wearing the same clothes: washed-out pencil jeans, a simple white T-shirt, and carrying a slightly tacky cloth bag over her shoulder.

She was so clean it made one's heart ache.

Turning her head and seeing the boy who had stopped, she subconsciously hid the Dove chocolate in her hand.

Zhai Da: "Looking for me?"

Lu Wei shook her head, and her long, straight ponytail behind her swayed along with it.

The ponytail was too long and her waist too thin; her hair swayed left and right behind her, adding a bit of cuteness.

"Are you rich? Not eating your meals properly, eating chocolate?"

Lu Wei could only take the chocolate from behind her back and hand it to Zhai Da.

"Bought it for you..."

Because Zhai Da had given her a Snickers bar last time.

The boy didn't take it, but shook his head instead, which made Lu Wei's heart tighten.

"Go find the boss and exchange it for a white one; this one doesn't taste good."

Lu Wei immediately did as she was told.

Zhai Da gnawed on the white chocolate and walked side by side with Lu Wei:

"I gave you the phone, didn't I? You should have told me earlier, and I would have brought the money. The first reward was 5000 in total; I take eight, you take two, so you have 1000 yuan with me."

Lu Wei explained: "I didn't come to get the money. I don't want it. I was just running an errand for the factory and happened to pass by here... and bumped into you by chance."

Passing by after a four-kilometer detour.

A coincidence of waiting for an hour.

This shouldn't count as a lie, Lu Wei thought to herself.

"Why are you always running errands? Is this the secret to your thin legs?"

"Because I am... a new employee?"

"Don't have this kind of 'beast of burden' mindset..."

Lu Wei fell into silence...

After a while, she suddenly said very seriously: "Do you like thin legs..."

Zhai Da's action of gnawing on the chocolate paused, and he opened his mouth:

"You should be able to tell that what I just said was just a joke, right?"

Lu Wei hurriedly lowered her head: "I'm sorry... I didn't hear it..."

"Know it now?"

"Know it now..."

"Yeah, that's good. I like thin legs."

Zhai Da felt that this girl... had a super-dull sense of emotion...

Not only toward others, but it seemed her own expression had some problems too.

"Are you eating your meals properly?"

"Yes, three meals a day."

"That's good, eat a bit more... um, that last sentence was a joke; it doesn't mean I like fat ones."

"..."

As they walked, Zhai Da saw a bus stop, and the sign clearly had the three characters "Sunma Village."

"Sunma Village? Isn't this just right for you to go back?"

Lu Wei looked up; it was indeed one of the only two bus lines in Sunma Village.

Originally, the two could have walked together for about three intersections, but it was cut short by the bus stop.

Zhai Da suggested waiting for the bus here; the evening self-study ended at nearly nine o'clock, and if she missed the last bus, Lu Wei would have to take a taxi back.

He knew Lu Wei was strong-willed and poor, so waiting for the bus was the best way.

For a moment, there was no sound of conversation again.

Zhai Da looked at Lu Wei's back; there were a few fine, soft hairs on the back of her neck that couldn't be managed, and they were edged with gold under the streetlights.

Like little wings.

He suddenly thought of the "Streetlights and Wine" he had written.

The inspiration came from the night walks he took with Lu Wei.

It's just that in the story, was he the one holding the light wine, or was he the streetlight?

He suddenly realized a problem: he didn't seem to have seen Lu Wei smile...

Zhai Da asked a question he had been curious about for a long time.

"By the way, a while ago... I saw your photo at the school gate."

He tried to use a relaxed tone.

"Are you nervous about the college entrance exam?"

Bringing up this topic was to ask if she had any plans to study and retake the exam.

Wu Yue had the demolition money as a base, so maybe there was no need to pull him up, but Lu Wei was different.

Lu Wei looked up at the streetlight.

She shook her head.

"The admission ticket was hidden by my dad."

Zhai Da choked.

Before his distracting thoughts could be cleared, the bus had already arrived. The usually slow No. 32 bus was today too fast to be romantic.

Lu Wei boarded the bus and swiped her bus card.

Zhai Da looked at Lu Wei through the bus door. Because there were no lights inside the bus, Lu Wei, wearing a white T-shirt, stood in the shadows and became a smear of dark color.

Cyan-blue, deep and enduring.

A sentence suddenly flashed through Zhai Da's mind.

If the spring breeze has pity for the flowers, may it allow her to smile again...

"Go back, remember to send a message to say you're safe."

Lu Wei nodded; before her thoughts could be sorted out, the bus door closed impatiently.

She could only watch Zhai Da move backward to the right and then quickly disappear.

The last bus was empty, and Lu Wei sat in the second-to-last row.

A corner of her forehead rested against the cool bus window, watching the streetlights appear one by one and then all leave.

A coincidence that took several hours, only to walk together for ten minutes...

Something, not yet fully released, had come to an abrupt end, turning into an even deeper expectation for the next time.

Lu Wei gathered her courage and took out the Nokia 3310 from her pocket.

In the address book, there was one, and only one, contact.

"Weekend, do you have time..."

Backspace, backspace, backspace...

A long time later, she pulled out a "Mathematical Olympiad Small Series" from her small bag and read it in the dim bus, borrowing the intermittent streetlights.

The shadow of the bus window was like a torrent, washing away the throbbing.

The book was densely packed with notes.