Zhou Lin

(Note: The beginning of this chapter quotes a few lyrics from the song "The Little Blacksmith of Milan" written by teacher Fang Wenshan. If there are any similarities, it is not a coincidence)

February 14, Milan.

He was standing at the old newsstand on the corner of the street.

Stare at the window next door.

A guitar, admired from a distance.

Baroque buildings beside the street.

A smoky tavern.

In the tavern, a middle-aged man in a suit walked out.

There was a conspicuous scar on the man's face, and there was a cold solemnity in his eyes.

Jack lit a cigarette for himself, and then walked towards the man holding a guitar and singing next to the newsstand.

At first, the other party still acted very naturally. When Jack stood in front of him, he played more diligently, just like a real street performer, as if he was expecting Jack to throw money into his piano case.

But Jack raised his hand and dusted the cigarette ashes into the piano case.

Just when the spy was wondering if he had been exposed...

"Do you know what your problem is?" Jack actually started talking to him.

The spy was not sure of the meaning of these words. In order to be careful that the other party was deceiving him, he just replied: "Huh?"

"You play too hard." Jack gave the answer directly without waiting for him to answer.

"Ha... I'm sorry, sir, I'm just making a living." The spy replied with a wry smile, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, "I was scared to death, I thought I was discovered."

Unexpectedly, the next second, Jack changed the subject: "But the money in your piano case shows that you seem to be quite popular."

"Haha, maybe everyone has different understanding and feelings of music." After hearing this, the spy was shocked again, but he still replied with an apologetic smile.

"Really?" Jack continued to smoke and dust the cigarette ashes into the other person's piano case as if nothing had happened. "I have been observing you for twenty minutes, and during this period no passerby gave you money; that is to say, there is no money in the piano case." This money was all thrown in by someone twenty minutes ago, right?" He paused and glanced down at the piano case, "Although there are some in whole and some parts, but roughly inferring from the amount of these currencies, at least there are more than Fifteen people voluntarily gave you money for your piano skills..." As he said, he looked up at a pillar clock standing in the middle of the street, "It is now 7:30 in the morning, and the humidity has just begun. The dew on the plants has not dried yet, and judging from your woolen coat and hat, you have definitely not been standing here for more than half an hour... Then I want to ask, what happened in those first ten minutes? What? A tour group coming for morning exercises?"

"WOW~WOW~ Are you a detective, sir? Is this an interrogation or something?" When the detective heard this, he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and smiled, "Okay, I admit, there are some things in the piano case. I put the money myself, but this is not illegal, right? All entertainers know that doing this can make business better...haven't you ever thought about this? "

"Of course I know this." Jack replied calmly, "So... in order to confirm my conjecture, five minutes ago, I spent some money and hired someone to come and steal some from your piano case. money."

"You..." At this time, the spy was caught off guard.

"He passed by you and pretended to bend down to invest money for you, but in fact he grabbed a handful of money and left." Jack continued, "But you didn't pay attention to him at all... Not only did you not notice what he did , even the matter of 'someone stopped in front of you' was ignored."

When he said this, Jack had finished smoking the cigarette in his hand and threw the entire cigarette butt into the piano case: "I just said, 'I have been observing you for twenty minutes, and not a single passerby gave you money during this period.' That's also true. I'm testing you, but you didn't refute...

“As a street performer who wants to ‘make business better’, but your focus is not on business at all, but is always staring at the window of the coffee shop across the street... this is a bit excessive.

"In addition, the calluses on your hands and your piano skills also clearly indicate that although you once learned guitar, it was many years ago. At least for a long time before today, you I’ve never touched the piano.”

Speaking of which, the spy also knew that he must have been exposed, and the smile on his face naturally turned into a ferocious look.

"Hmph...you are such a long-winded guy..." the spy said, while slowly retreating. Once he retreated to a distance he felt was appropriate, he would activate the small artillery in the guitar and shoot at the man in front of him. As soon as he said, "If you said you saw through it from the beginning, wouldn't it be fine? Why waste so much words?"

"Actually, I usually don't talk much, but... right now I'm making a bet with someone, so I have to say a few more words." Jack said.

"Oh? What are you betting on?" The spy was still stalling for time and keeping distance.

"Bet I can move you to this position without touching you at all." Jack replied.

When the spy heard this, he was stunned for a second... At that moment, an arm stretched out from the back door of the newsstand behind him, covered his mouth, and dragged him in with his guitar.

About twenty seconds later, a stooped old man walked out of the main entrance of the newsstand.

Although the make-up was well applied and his waist was bent very low, the man's figure was still a bit too strong, which did not go well with his wrinkled face and hunchback.

"Okay, I owe the fifty first." As Solider spoke, he wiped his bloody hands with a rag that was so dirty that he couldn't tell his true nature.

"It sounds like you are planning to use another bet to settle this debt." Jack said, raised his foot to close the piano case on the ground, picked it up and "kicked" it into the newsstand counter.

"There's always a chance anyway, right?" Solid replied with a shrug.

At the same moment, across the street, in a coffee shop.

"You see, they are so bored that they have to resort to 'betting' in various ways to deal with the secret whistle." Zi Lin put his chin on one hand, looked out the window, and said with a smile.

"I don't care what happens to them..." Yingwei, who was sitting opposite Zi Lin, looked at him with a face that was still awake and said, "You... called me, a wanted criminal, here so early in the morning. What do you want to do in a place with cameras everywhere?" She tapped the table with her fingers, "We have been sitting here for nearly an hour, and you didn't say anything when I asked you... and... , the food in this 7-11 coffee shop is so delicious.”

"Don't worry, it will be here soon." Zi Lin smiled and said, "I just want to give you a surprise."

"Huh?" Yingwei thought about this several times, and suddenly thought of today's date, "Hey...what do you mean? Could you have prepared something weird to express your love to me or simply Propose?"

"Hahaha..." Zi Lin was amused by her reaction, but still laughed without saying a word.

At this moment...

Ding--

The front door of the coffee shop opened, and a woman in casual clothes walked in.

She did not find a seat to sit down, but walked directly into the bar and greeted the other waitress at the bar while talking and laughing.

Zi Lin's eyes moved to her first. Seeing this, Ying Zhi also turned his head and looked over.

When she saw the woman, Yingwei's doubts were instantly solved, but at the same time, she was also stunned...