Dow and Carbon-Based Monkey Breeding Guidelines

Chapter 938: Crossing the River (Part )

The clouds that night were very special.

They are the evening clouds that gather after the rain, light and dense, like a thin piece of ice that has been broken into pieces. The full moon is hidden in the densest part of the thin clouds, making the surrounding area emit a circular halo like a paper lantern. The entire night sky was flat and weird, like a scene from an old animated movie. Auspicious cloud pattern. Heavenly Palace. It's all auspicious and good intentions - if Cai Ji's grandfather was still alive, he would probably say this. The old man liked to talk about whether there were such things, but in the end he died on an auspicious day.

As for Cai Ji himself, he didn't believe this at all. When he saw the full moon behind the clouds in the howling cold wind, the first thing he thought of was the shining cigarette butt. The bright, burnt, smelly cigarette butt stabbed the person's skin hard, and the green smoke rolled out from the red and shiny round spot, making the person's eyes black. On his seventh birthday, he accidentally smashed a porcelain bowl and burned a hole in his knee. The scar still remains there. This incident was actually nothing among the bad things he had experienced, but it still made him tired every time he thought about it, so he rarely smoked. He doesn't play any paid games and drinks very little, mainly because of money.

In fact, Cai Ji saved some money when he was an apprentice in an auto repair shop, which was enough to support him smoking and drinking like other people in the shop, or simply diving into some underground chess and card room or sauna shop. But Cai Ji has no interest in these consumer items. He always says that he is twenty years old, but in fact he is seventeen years old and he still has great hopes for the future. He is not like those adult auto mechanics in the shop who just want to get by, have fun when they have money, or be absorbed in dealing with their wives and children all day long. Although he has no academic qualifications or connections, he is still very young and can afford hardship. Sooner or later he will have a chance to get ahead. When he left his hometown, he had already sworn to crawl out of this mud. He would never repeat the fate of his useless father, nor would he bow down to the villains in the village who disgusted him. He had to do a job where he could hold his head high and people could respect him.

But what constitutes a truly respectable job is something everyone in an auto repair shop has a different opinion about. Some people think that all office jobs are good because they don't require physical exertion; others sneer at them, saying that they are just about making money by sucking up to the boss and fighting intrigues. One thing everyone agrees on, except for auto repair shop owners, is that if you want to truly make a lot of money and live a comfortable life, you have to be your own boss.

In recent years, this idea has gradually been brewing in Cai Ji's mind. He considered whether he should continue working in the auto repair industry and rely on the skills he had accumulated over a long period of time and customers; or whether he should work as a salesperson at an insurance company or a training institution to see if he really had the ability to stand out. Each of these approaches makes sense, but the desire that really grew in his heart was to own a shop of his own. A piece of your own territory. It doesn't matter how big it is, as long as it's completely his own. He can work hard as he likes, and the results of his efforts are entirely his own. This was of course very risky because he had no business experience and might lose all his money. And deep in his mind, he also vaguely realized that maybe he had confused "owning a store" and "owning a home".

This plan was too risky, so he just kept saving money and never mentioned his idea to anyone. There were a few times when he almost spilled the beans to Xiao Chu, but the good student obviously didn't take it to heart. Although Xiao Chu is not much different from him in age, he is extremely naive mentally and is a completely ignorant brat. And playing with such a kid who knows nothing will make people unable to help but say something that will attract attention. More than a month ago, this was how Cai Ji viewed their friendship: a boring and naive city kid always came to play with him out of novelty, and he could only talk to him because he had no familiar peers. . This friendship will end sooner or later, because Xiao Chu has parents to support him in high school and college. When that happens, they are destined to be different.

If he hadn't received those strange messages later, things would have developed like this. When he saw the first farewell letter, Cai Ji even thought that Xiaochu's account had been hacked, because that kind of ignorant Menghulu was not someone who had the ability to run away from home. The subsequent messages became more and more strange, leading him to believe that this was some kind of prank or a scam. He ignored these crazy words because the auto repair shop was closed and he had to find a new job as soon as possible, otherwise he would have to use his savings to pay the rent. If he hadn't received a call from Xiao Chu's parents, asking him coldly if he had seen Xiao Chu recently, I'm afraid he would still think that the person who sent him messages in the past half month was a scammer who stole his account.

At this moment, Cai Ji stood under the moonlight, which was like a burning cigarette butt, and felt like there were many slender snakes tumbling and tangled in his stomach. His right hand was in his coat pocket, and under his fingers was the scarred plastic casing of his old mobile phone. As he walked, he thought about a question: Who is the person who has sent him messages using Xiaochu's account in the past half month?

If the first farewell letter was a little bit like the tone that Xiao Chu would use, the news that came later was completely wrong. Regardless of the content of the discussion or the wording and sentences used, it is not what a young person would write at all, but it is definitely the tone of an adult. Who did it? If the person who sent the message for the first time is really Xiaochu, then the person who can obtain Xiaochu's social account later is probably the so-called "engineer from the old shipyard." Starting from the passing boy with the guitar, it became clear that everything was a serial scam. The engineers who worked on the project were naturally fake, and the real purpose was probably some kind of criminal activity, such as human trafficking or organ trading. They caught Xiao Chu, and perhaps discovered that Xiao Chu had sent them a message before leaving, so they hoped to deceive themselves as well. Cai Ji also tried to send messages to ask, but never received a reply, as if the other party was just talking to himself. Five days ago, the last message he received read:

Everything that had once confused me was unraveled, and here I knew the path to the highest value. Before I climbed up from ignorance and successfully overlooked the entire forest, you were my only friend. So, if you have any doubts about our lives, come to the place I have told you about. Here, all the misfortunes you have experienced in the past can be answered, and all sacrifices will be rewarded. I sincerely hope to gain your understanding.

No other proof is needed. These incomprehensible words could not have been written by Xiaochu. And, what on earth is going on? It was as if the person who sent the message didn't care whether he would become suspicious. In the current situation, perhaps it would be safest to call the police directly, but Cai Ji does not trust those "people who eat for free." The police in his hometown were just dawdling with their connections. The uncle who died from rat poison had a perfunctory closure because he didn't have a strong enough family member to urge him. What's the difference between the police in the city and the police in my hometown? If he rashly went to say these things to the police, he might even draw suspicion on himself. He knew that Xiaochu's parents hated him, and he also hated those two guys who were pretentious and looked down upon others. Those two people might blame his son's disappearance entirely on him so that they could ask for compensation or other benefits. Even if you are completely innocent, you must not waste your time on such nonsense when you have no financial income. It's better to leave it alone. He was still thinking this when he walked to the sewage river. Anyway, Xiaochu and he were not relatives, they were just chat partners when we were bored at work. Although sometimes he felt that this kid was somewhat dependent on him like a brother, but so what? A delicate only child like the other person who has both parents and is able to study in the city has no place for a self-reliant poor like him to care. I'm exhausted just trying to support myself, so why bother with this crazy guy?

But, then again, Xiao Chu met the man carrying the guitar at the door of the auto repair shop. Looking back on this incident now, Cai Ji also suspected that it was all related to the guys who caused the auto repair shop to close a month ago. The car that was sent for repair had been illegally modified, and several parts were difficult to find on the market, so similar substitutes could only be used. To repair a car like this to perfection is a dream. It's not like they haven't encountered unreasonable customers, but several of the people who came to cause trouble this time were well-known gangsters in the neighborhood. It was said that one of their families was rich and powerful, and even the shop owner with a small network could only temporarily Gone out of the limelight.

Could Xiao Chu's disappearance be related to those guys? But Xiao Chu is not an employee of the auto repair shop at all. This is something that outsiders can see at a glance. Why bother him? Maybe it's because Xiaochu is an idiot who doesn't understand the world. It would be impossible for anyone else in the auto repair shop to be tricked by a stranger into going to a remote and uninhabited place at this moment. Only Xiao Chu would be fooled. What were those people doing to catch him? Just for a car that was not repaired satisfactorily and the suspicion that the auto repair shop secretly replaced parts, it shouldn't cost a child's life, right? These questions have troubled Cai Ji for several days, and even his job search has been delayed. Finally, he finally asked a few familiar locals about the so-called old shipyard. Most people had the same impression as him. Only a gambling ghost who he hated privately told him mysteriously that that place existed. It was located in the northeast corner of the industrial park near the estuary. It was nearly there. Hundreds of years of history were only wasted due to geological problems. Although it was said to be a geological problem, no one could explain the specific situation clearly. The gambler insisted that it was due to poor Feng Shui. Evil nature. ghost. Anyway, there's something dirty hidden there.

Unlike the elders in his family, Cai Ji doesn't believe in Feng Shui at all, nor does he believe in ghosts and gods at all. There is no karma in this world, otherwise why wasn't the person who poisoned his uncle caught? Why is he living so hard? If he could really turn into a ghost after death, that would be the best thing. He would definitely kill all the people who had invaded his family's land and the people who caused trouble in the car repair shop, and even support them behind the scenes. None of the guys were spared—but in the end, they could only think about it. His disdain was probably evident on his face, so the gambler swore that a friend of his who was in debt went there and never appeared again. But he was not dead, because the missing person later sent messages to his family and friends, even paid his debts, and claimed that he had decided to practice with the master.

Cai Ji didn't quite believe these words. He looked down on these losers who ruined their lives at the gambling table, knowing that even when they were selling their houses to pay off their debts, they were still dreaming of turning the tables and living a wealthy life without worries about food and drink. People like this are willing to believe in any deception that is extremely base. And when the topic of the old shipyard came up, the dazed smile on the other person's face simply made him sick. He suspected that this man might be involved in other things besides gambling.

But the old shipyard does exist. In some secluded corner, in the rumors lingering in the dark corners. In the three days before making up his mind, he had found a well-informed massage parlor owner through his colleagues at the auto repair shop, and spent more than three hundred yuan to find out more about the old shipyard. The strange thing is that the story Xiaochu told him seems to be unique. All the rumors about the old shipyard are similar to what the gambler said, the so-called master of ghosts and troubleshooting. Cai Ji had long been tired of hearing such stories in his hometown. Everyone said that someone they knew had seen a ghost, but when he really wanted to find someone who had witnessed it, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It would be great if he could just ignore it - but over the past few days, things about Xiao Chu and the old shipyard began to appear in his sleep. That was more confusion than worry or sympathy. What happened to Xiao Chu? Is he still alive? As long as he thought of this, he could only toss and turn in bed, and he was listless even when he went out to look for a job the next day. If he were a rich man, he might be able to find a private detective or the like to inquire on his behalf, but he couldn't afford that kind of expense, which often costs thousands. All he has are his legs and eyes. If you continue to delay, you won't be able to settle down and find a job, and you might even end up spending more money trying to find out about that damn old shipyard because of the entanglement.

We really shouldn't continue to waste money and energy on such nonsense. He finally decided to go and see the place for himself. I would never be stupid enough to actually walk in. I would just observe from a distance in the dark to see if I would find any suspicious people coming in or out. Whenever he saw any lights inside, he would go back and write an anonymous letter and hang it in front of Xiaochu's parents' house, asking them to tell the police. In this way, even if Xiaochu was involved in the incident at the auto repair shop and disappeared, he had done his best.

If that obedient student is already dead, let those rich bastards pay for it with his life. He thought with a vengeance. If there were really evil spirits hiding there, he would trick the troublemaking gangsters into it. And what if there is a so-called master who gives guidance? Isn't that just right? If there really was such a person, he would never be bullied again in his life - it was very funny to think about it. A coward who would believe such a thing is as stupid as a gambler who loses his fortune. He is different. He is a smart and socially experienced man, neither a nerd who knows nothing about society nor a pampered son of a rich man. Therefore, as long as he is careful enough, there is no danger in going to the old shipyard.

Cai Ji sighed, then shook his hair and cursed a few harsh words. The clouds in the sky quietly dispersed, and the moon, as bright as a cigarette butt, emerged, watching him leave the sewage river and walk towards the silently hanging cranes deep in the industrial area.

(End of this chapter)