"Hmm, because Brother Runsheng is from this village."
"Can it be like that?"
"Because he doesn’t want others to know that his wife and child are already dead."
"Is he referring to Zhou Yong?"
"But, Brother Xiao Yuan, if his wife and child are here, then who was it in the river?"
"Zhou Yong, I guess."
"Huh? But didn’t the village chief just say that Zhou Yong was watching the card game?"
"A corpse going ashore to watch the villagers play cards, isn’t that preposterous?"
"Didn’t you just eat food made by a corpse? Remember the boiled shrimp on the table, you ate the most."
"I... I didn’t know."
Runsheng came back and said, "They just waved to me."
Runsheng took the Yellow River Shovel out of the sack and asked, "Should I smash it over there?"
"No need, there’s actually nothing there."
Li Zhiyuan looked towards the well covered with a large straw hat on the embankment, feeling it was all an illusion on the water.
He couldn’t help but think about how he would arrange it if it were him; at least he wouldn’t make it so low-level, at minimum, he would create a miasma to lure people passing by inside.
Like dropping dumplings, he’d lure them one by one into the well.
Li Zhiyuan took a breath and patted his forehead, "Sigh, Wei Zhengdao, you’re really something."
"Let’s go, Brother Runsheng, let’s find Zhou Yong."
Runsheng scratched his head: "But I don’t know which room Zhou Yong was watching the card game in."
"Just go to the biggest one, even if he’s not there, it’s easier to ask people, yeah, the one where we won money last time."
The three walked along the village road and soon arrived at that room.
The short and plump Zhou Fabao was standing at the embankment, his back to the road, pulling out his bird, humming a tune while fertilizing his home vegetable garden.
Turning his head, he saw three people approaching and instinctively sped up the process to go accommodate the guests.
But upon closer inspection, realizing it was Runsheng and seeing the boy, he was the one from last time.
Zhou Fabao shivered and quickly tucked away his bird.
"Ah, what brings you here?"
They were already on the embankment, instead of greeting them, Zhou Fabao stood blocking the way half-heartedly.
The last time these two came to play cards here, they smashed his table, and things like cups and ashtrays were shattered all over the floor.
Even though they decently compensated him, he ran such shadowy business, fearing being exposed, he couldn’t dare let these two play cards here again.
Runsheng asked: "We’re not here to play cards, is Zhou Yong here with you?"
"Zhou Young ah." Zhou Fabao smiled, "He didn’t come here today, he might be watching the card game in someone else’s place."
"Oh." Runsheng looked at Li Zhiyuan, "Xiao Yuan, Zhou Yong isn’t here."
Last time during the game of poker, Li Zhiyuan had memorized the facial details of everyone at the table. Since the boss would come over to serve tea and take tips, he was considered half a player at the table, so Zhou Fabao’s face was also "recorded" by Li Zhiyuan.
Even though it’s not at the card tables now, Li Zhiyuan could still tell the boss is "deceiving," as his micro-expressions didn’t match the "cards."
Runsheng turned back to Zhou Fabao and asked again with an intensified tone. "Is Zhou Yong really not here?"
Zhou Fabao waved his hands non-stop, showing an extremely aggrieved expression: "Really not here, why would I lie to you, what good does it do me?"
Just as Li Zhiyuan was about to remind Runsheng to recall scenes from movies about threatening people, Tan Wenbin acted faster.
He had a faux leather wallet, took it out, opened it, and pulled out a family photo with all the men in it dressed in police uniforms.
He placed the photo in front of Zhou Fabao and asked, "Tell me, is Zhou Yong here or not!"
Zhou Fabao swallowed hard: "He’s here."
"We need to see him for something."
As Tan Wenbin strode inside, his shoulder bumped into Zhou Fabao, who immediately moved aside.
Runsheng sighed internally: Sure enough, Xiao Yuan was right, there’s no future in being involved with the underworld.
Inside, about seven or eight gambling tables were busy in action—a lively scene.
Tan Wenbin walked in, one hand on his hip, his gaze sharp, momentarily as if his father’s spirit had taken possession of him.
He scanned the crowd once, twice, a third time...
Finally, he couldn’t keep up.
Because he didn’t know what Zhou Yong looked like.
When Li Zhiyuan and Runsheng came in after, half the people inside stopped their games and looked over, those who were unaware immediately asked their neighbors and turned their attention after learning the identities.
After that bizarre game of poker, nobody here hadn’t heard about it, and everyone had made up their minds to leave the table immediately if this kid sat down.
Li Zhiyuan asked Zhou Fabao: "Where’s Zhou Yong?"
"Zhou Yong... He was just here, maybe he went to the back to eat something. He’s practically family, and when he comes here to watch the cards, he helps out with boiling water and serving tea too, and I do feed him."
Zhou Fabao led the three to the back where several elders were sitting drinking tea and chatting.
Zhou Fabao asked: "Auntie, where’s Zhou Yong?"
"Zhou Yong ah, I just saw him here, not sure where he’s gone now."
Zhou Fabao turned around helplessly: "I’m really not lying to you, I really don’t know where he’s gone now. What do you want with him, does he owe you money?"
"No, we just want to ask him about a person, sorry to disturb you at business, we’ll leave."
Li Zhiyuan walked out of the room, back to the street.
Runsheng rubbed his nose and said, "Xiao Yuan, it’s weird, I didn’t smell any corpse inside."