Ouyang Feng searched in Qingshan City for a few days.
He kept looking for Chen Changsheng. Sotis he felt he was almost about to find him, but in a daze, he would pass right by.
It was just like that now.
“Has that one co already?”
Yan Huanglou answered, “He just left.”
Ouyang Feng couldn’t help feeling annoyed, but he quickly got it.
Once might be by chance, but if it happened two or three tis like this, it couldn’t be by chance.
‘I’ll stay right here tomorrow. I don’t believe I won’t catch him!’
Ouyang Feng left awkwardly.
Yan Huanglou started to clean up the tea bowls on the table.
He planned to close up early today.
Before it got dark, the Tea Stall was packed up. This was probably the earliest ti Old Huang ever closed.
After taking down the canopy, Yan Huanglou went back ho.
His ho was outside the city. It was a low stone-and-mud hut. He built it stone by tile when he was young.
Yan Huanglou was going to take out his key to unlock the door. But then he looked up and saw the door was bare.
The lock was on the ground, as if soone had forced it open.
Yan Huanglou jumped in shock inside. His face suddenly changed. He pushed the door open and rushed in.
The room inside was all ssed up. The bed had been turned inside out, too.
A thief must have co in!
“My money, my money…”
Yan Huanglou muttered to himself. He crawled under the bed and then pulled off a board.
But under the board, in the hiding place, it was empty.
Yan Huanglou’s breath suddenly stopped. He held his chest, nearly gasping for air.
“My money!!!”
Yan Huanglou scread out sharply. In an instant, his eyes turned red.
“Who! Who!”
Yan Huanglou crawled out from under the bed. He was lost and didn’t know what to do in the room. Walking back and forth, tears started to fall without him knowing.
“Who stole it, who stole my…”
His arms trembled as he walked out of the house to the yard. Looking out, it was all quiet and lonely.
Yan Huanglou raised his eyes to look up at the sky. He felt dizzy and passed out.
…
Ouyang Feng ca early to the Tea Stall. He waited from morning to evening but saw it didn’t open.
Chen Changsheng only glanced from a distance.
‘Not open?’
Chen Changsheng sighed at this. He thought maybe Old Huang got delayed by sothing.
On the sa street, Ouyang Feng missed Chen Changsheng again.
In no ti, another day went by.
At noon, Chen Changsheng heard an opera at the Opera House and wanted to drink tea. But when he ca to the Tea Stall, it still hadn’t opened.
Chen Changsheng frowned. He could only give up sadly.
As he was about to leave, he heard a voice suddenly.
“You, stop!”
Chen Changsheng seed not to hear. He turned around and went into an alley.
When Ouyang Feng went into the alley, Chen Changsheng was long gone.
He punched the wall, very angry.
Missed yet again.
Third day.
The Tea Stall still didn’t open.
“Three days not open…”
“This isn’t normal.”
Chen Changsheng frowned hard. He then raised his hand to do a quick finger count.
After putting his hand down, he walked toward outside the city.
After walking for a while, Chen Changsheng ca to a worn-out stone-and-mud house.
He looked up and saw Yan Huanglou sitting in front, head hanging low.
In three days, Yan Huanglou seed much older. His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn’t rested for ages. His breathing was much weaker than before.
A person outside the yard caught Yan Huanglou’s eye.
He lifted his head and saw the Man in Blue Robe standing by the gate.
Yan Huanglou froze for a mont and asked, “How did you find this place?”
Chen Changsheng walked to his side and said, “Not hard to find.”
He asked again, “No stall open in three days, isn’t that stealing my silver and running? And how co you look half-dead all of a sudden, what happened?”
Yan Huanglou kept his head down. His voice was rougher than before.
“I…”
“My saved silver got stolen.”
After saying this, Yan Huanglou seed to sink down.
He seed to have accepted it as truth.
But whenever he talked about it, he couldn’t stop his eyes turning red.
“Stolen?”
Chen Changsheng paused. He asked, “How much silver?”
Yan Huanglou sighed and said, “Total, seventy-eight liang, three hundred and twenty-nine wen.”
Chen Changsheng paused right away. He suddenly frowned hard.
After a long, quiet mont.
Chen Changsheng asked, “How many years did you save?”
“Forty-three years.”
Yan Huanglou’s voice shook as he spoke.
He shook his head, muttering, “I don’t know, I don’t know who stole it.”
“I told the guards already. They only said they’d look into it, but never even ca here.”
“That silver was my savings from half my life!!”
Yan Huanglou said with red eyes, “I, I…”
When Chen Changsheng saw those troubled eyes, his heart jumped. Helpless, useless, worried, lost.
Chen Changsheng stood frozen to the spot.
He listened to Yan Huanglou muttering nonstop, ‘silver silver,’ ‘no way,’ ‘can’t find it,’ and so on.
Chen Changsheng felt his heart tremble. Then he spoke up, “I will help you look for it.”
Yan Huanglou lifted his head. He shook it blankly. “How…”
Chen Changsheng asked, “In the houses nearby, any others robbed?”
Yan Huanglou shook his head. “I asked all around, no.”
Chen Changsheng stood up. He said, “Leave it to . The stolen silver, I’ll get it back. Rember to open the stall early tomorrow.”
With that, he walked away from there.
When he had his back to Yan Huanglou, his look suddenly turned ice-cold.
In truth, Chen Changsheng hardly ever got mad.
He saw many partings of life and death. He knew all kinds of sadness and cries. But today, seeing that troubled Old Huang, his anger was hard to settle.
Over seventy liang silver.
Know this—a person who sells tea earns how many wen in one day?
That much silver isn’t a year or two; it’s over forty years!
Old Huang has no kids. That was his whole life’s savings.
How is that different from pushing soone to die?
Where’s the good heart?
…
Chen Changsheng did a finger count and then walked toward Qingshan City.
Just after entering the city, he t Ouyang Feng wandering the street looking for Chen Changsheng.
Ouyang Feng caught up and grabbed Chen Changsheng’s clothes. He said, “This ti, don’t think you can run!”
Chen Changsheng glanced at him out the corner of his eye. Then he handed over the one-wen coin to Ouyang Feng.
“The one-wen coin I took last ti. Have it back.”
“I have big business today. No ti to chat.”
Ouyang Feng froze for a mont. He shivered all over and stepped back twice.
He saw the person before him give off a cold feeling.
Ouyang Feng gulped and quickly let go.
After snapping back, he saw Chen Changsheng walking forward already. Ouyang Feng stopped briefly, thought for a bit, and then followed on after all.
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