Chapter 5: The Clever Maid

  Xiao Fan left without saying goodbye, this girl who can't speak is gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, she has a lot of character.

  Liu Handong immediately went downstairs, and when he rushed to the third floor, Xiaoli just came out of the house with a surprised face: "Brother Dong, you're here." Liu Handong nodded, and went straight downstairs. Xiaoli leaned on the balcony and shouted: "Brother Dong, where are you going?" The shout startled Zhu Xiaoqiang, who was tidying up the network cables and router downstairs, looked up and adjusted his nearsighted glasses that had slipped down the bridge of his nose, just in time to see Liu Handong dashing out like a gust of wind.

  Liu Handong came out onto the street with his upper body exposed, amidst the throngs of people coming and going, where was Xiao Fan's figure?

  He slapped himself in the face, Xiao Fan was a penniless and powerless orphan girl, facing a ruthless and sinister murderer and kidnapper, who must be searched for throughout the city at this time. Now that he pushed her out, is he still worthy of being a man?

  A cigarette's worth of effort, no matter how fast he ran, couldn't catch up to anywhere. Liu Handong chased northward because this direction led into the city. After running 500 meters, he still hadn't found Xiao Fan. Perhaps he had mistaken the direction. Tie Hua Street was a maze, and Xiao Fan wasn't familiar with the layout. It was possible for him to go in any direction. Liu Handong changed directions and continued searching. He circled around outside for a long time but still didn't find anything. Feeling regretful and self-reproachful, he slowly walked back to the rental house.

  As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Xiaofan and a group of women standing by the water tank washing clothes. Although she couldn't speak, she communicated with others very smoothly through gestures.

  Liu Handong felt relieved and a bit angry, the little girl didn't leave without saying goodbye, but instead blended in with the crowd and went to do laundry, making him run around in vain.

  Xiaofan has changed into a new set of clothes from head to toe, now wearing pajamas with Grey Wolf and Xi Yangyang printed on them, and a pair of crystal slippers on her feet. The original T-shirt and jeans she wore have been washed and hung on the drying rack. She also saw Liu Handong, who was holding up a plastic basin with clothes being washed in it, which was Liu Handong's shirt.

  "His elder brother, take off your pants and wash them for him. He doesn't even have a change of clothes, it's really pitiful." A woman said.

  Liu Handong's face turned red, and he repeatedly said "thank you, no need".

  The woman went back into the house, took out two pairs of beach shorts and a vest, and tossed them over, saying: "Take these to wear first, pay me when you have money."

  The woman was selling clothes on the street, these clothes were all pirated goods, but the quality was not bad. Liu Handong thanked her and took the clothes upstairs to change. The original jeans were stained with dust, oil stains, and were as hard as iron. After taking them off, Xiaofei wanted to wash them, but they couldn't be scrubbed at all. It was still the woman from earlier who snatched them away, threw them into her own basin, and while rinsing them with water, said: "Girl, your brother is really sloppy, these pants haven't been washed for years."

  Under the sunshade, beside the mahjong table, Mrs. Bao turned her head and yelled: "Save water!"

  Everyone is laughing and continuing to wash clothes.

  Liu Handong scratched his head, feeling that he had nothing to do. Suddenly, he thought of his mobile phone which hadn't been turned on for a long time. He went upstairs and asked Zhu Xiaoqiang: "Do you have a universal charger?"

  Zhu Xiaoqiang said, Liu Handong went upstairs and took down his Nokia 1110, removed the battery to charge it. Zhu Xiaoqiang couldn't help but look down on him, saying: "What era is this that you're still using a 1110? You might as well get a 5230, it's cheap and practical, the price-performance ratio is absolutely high." As he said this, he took out his own 5230 to show off.

  "Oh, 5230? Isn't that a special-use phone?"

  Zhu Xiaoqiang smiled: "Is it a special machine for Diaosi? What's the big deal about that? I'm just a Diaosi, and I speak for myself..."

  Suddenly, the QQ avatar on the right lower corner of the Shen Zhou laptop on the table started flashing. Zhu Xiaoqiang suddenly became excited and rushed over to open it with trembling hands, only to be greatly disappointed. The dialogue box displayed an auto-response: "Taking a bath, please leave a message if you have anything urgent."

  "Zhu Xiaoqiang looked lost in thought and typed out a line: 'You've had a cold recently, drink more hot water and go to bed early, don't stay up late.'"

  It's an auto-response again, with the same words.

  Liu Handong said: "Xiaoqiang, can I borrow your computer to check some information?"

  Zhu Xiaoqiang hurriedly closed the dialogue box and said, "Okay, what do you want to search for? I'll help you." As he spoke, he opened the Baidu search bar.

  Liu Handong sat down in front of the computer, first searching for a technical forum, browsing through it, and downloading several software programs. Zhu Xiaoqiang wanted to protest, but thought better of it and decided to wait until later to delete them, thinking it wouldn't be a big deal.

  Then Liu Handong went on the local traffic management information network, and all he saw was his eyes staring at the screen, his hands clattering away, the webpage entered a strange interface, a string of characters scrolling by like flowing water, Zhu Xiaoqiang's eyes widened in shock: "You you you, you're a hacker."

  "I was in the computer science department when I was in college," said Liu Handong.

  "Which university?" Zhu Xiaoqiang was very interested, because he was also a college graduate from the nearby Jincheng City Transportation Vocational and Technical College.

  "Jiang Da." Liu Handong said, his two hands still typing on the keyboard. He entered the traffic management system database through Jinteng Technology Consulting Company, which was responsible for maintaining the traffic management network, and searched for the registration information of the Hantengda.

  Zhu Xiaoqiang felt a little down, Jiangdong University was a century-old famous school, both 211 and 985 were listed among them, compared to the kind of high school diploma mill he attended, it didn't know how many times stronger it was.

  "How did you end up living here?" Zhu Xiaoqiang was puzzled, as Jiang Daxue graduates were highly sought after by various units, so how could he have ended up in a rental house on Tiehua Street?

  "I didn't graduate, I joined the army in the second semester of my sophomore year." Liu Handong replied briefly. He had already found the information he was looking for. The registered owner of that Highlander was Shifeng Group, a large-scale enterprise integrating real estate development, catering and entertainment, and property management. In the real estate industry of Jinjiang City and even the entire Jiangsu Province, it occupies a place.

  Re-investigating the hot spring road expansion project, the construction company in charge is actually a subsidiary of Shifeng Group. This matches up, and it's certain that the two seriously injured and unconscious robbers were rescued by people from Shifeng Group. The one with steel bars penetrating his head should have been sent to the nearest hospital for treatment. This is a lead.

  Liu Handong entered the website of Shifeng Group, this kind of corporate website is basically unguarded, and smoothly entered the database of the Human Resources Department to find employees with the surname Gu. There was only one employee with the surname Gu, named Gu Changjun, who was the head of the Security Department of the group company, aged 42, which also matched.

  The truth is about to come out, Shi Feng Group's Security Minister Gu Changjun, due to professional needs and familiarity with the police, it was he who carried out this kidnapping. Perhaps there are others behind the scenes, perhaps not just for ransom, but these are not things that Liu Handong needs to investigate further, besides, he doesn't have the ability, these are police matters.

  The most important thing now is to inform Xiaofan's family. Liu Handong rushed into the house and shouted: "Xiaofan, come over."

  Xiao Fan, who was helping with the laundry, walked over. Liu Handong first asked her if she knew about Shifeng Group. Xiao Fan shook her head blankly. Liu Handong then yielded the seat in front of the computer to her and said: "Write a letter to your dad, he'll see it."

  Xiao Fan thought for a moment, biting her lip as she sat down in front of the computer and opened her GMAIL account to start writing an email.

  Liu Handong and Zhu Xiaoqiang started chatting: "Brother, what do you do?"

  "I just graduated and haven't found a job yet." said Zhu Xiaoqiang.

  "What major are you studying?"

  "International trade."

  "It sounds awesome." Liu Handong glanced at Xiaofan, who was typing away on the keyboard, producing only English text.

  "What's wrong with you? You graduated from a vocational school and can't find a job. What do you do, Brother Dong?" Zhu Xiaoqiang asked.

  "I'm out of work." Liu Handong said, thinking that he didn't have a single penny on him and dinner was still uncertain, so he said: "Xiaoqiang, lend me some money, I'll pay you back later."

  Zhu Xiaoqiang's face showed a difficult expression, he was a poor student with only 500 yuan on him, and his family wasn't wealthy either. He had other important uses for the money, but it would be impolite to refuse. Fortunately, Liu Handong observed his expression, which looked like constipation, and didn't force the issue.

  "Never mind, I'll go out and take a look. Xiaofan, you stay here and play, don't run around." Liu Handong wore only his vest as he went out the door, wandering around Tiehua Street, thinking of doing some odd jobs to earn some money for food.

  There were still many job opportunities, some recruiting truck drivers and skilled workers, but none of them could get paid immediately. Liu Handong spent several hours with no results and returned home in a huff.

  Zhu Xiaoqiang was sitting in front of the computer playing DOTA, busy and happy. Xiaofei wasn't there, went upstairs to take a look, still no one, came back downstairs to ask Zhu Xiaoqiang, replied that she had gone out with neighbor Zhang Dasao.

  Zhang Dasao was the enthusiastic person who lent clothes, her stall was set up on Tiehua Street. When Liu Handong walked over, they had already packed up their stall. Xiao Fan pushed a cart while chatting and laughing with Zhang Dasao, only smiling to herself, and when she saw Liu Handong, she took out a 50-yuan bill to show him.

  "Hey, don't look at your sister like she can't talk, but when she stands there, my business booms, and in one afternoon I sold over 500 yuan, which is more than what I used to sell in a week. This is the salary for your sister, you as her brother cannot take it to smoke or drink, don't be like that good-for-nothing husband of mine who only knows how to drink and gamble all day."

  Liu Handong scratched his head and thought to himself, "What's going on here? I'm being framed."

  Xiao Fan smiled brightly, her eyes narrowing into a slit as she revealed two rows of neat and white small teeth.

  It was already late afternoon, Zhang's couple lived on the second floor with their child. The child attended elementary school, and she was busy running a business, cooking, washing clothes, and picking up her child from school, and couldn't keep up at all.

  The rental house does not have a gas pipeline, and the stove is an electric one. Xiaofan points to the chopping board, knife, and wok, indicating that she can help with cooking. Zhang Dasao is overjoyed and shows Xiaofan where the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar are located before hastily leaving to pick up her child.

  Xiao Fan's culinary skills are excellent, her hands and feet move quickly, everything is done in an orderly manner. Just by looking at the way she chops vegetables, you can tell that she has practiced before. She is proficient in stir-frying, braising, steaming, and frying, and her control of the fire is very good. The stir-fried green vegetables are emerald green and fragrant, the shredded meat is tender and delicious. She also mixed a bowl of cucumber salad with garlic paste, drizzled some sesame oil on top, and by the time Zhang Da Jie returned, a table full of dishes was already ready.

  Zhang's sister kept on making noises, her son put down his school bag and ran to the dinner table, picked up chopsticks and started eating, saying "Mom, today's dishes are really delicious."

  "It was your little sister Xiaofan who did it." Zhang Dasao said with a smile.

  Xiao Fan took off her apron, pointed upstairs to indicate she was leaving, but Zhang Da Jie grabbed her and pushed her back to the dinner table, saying "Let's eat together." Then she rushed to shout upstairs: "Dadong, come down for dinner."

  Liu Handong was on the rooftop making a phone call to his mom, and after charging his phone and turning it on, he received a message from his mom using his stepfather's phone, asking him to call back home.

  Liu Handong's hometown is in Jiangbei City. His biological father died on the front lines of Yunnan in the 1980s. When he was young, his mother would take him to the Martyrs' Cemetery in Mazhili every year for the Qingming Festival. Later, his mother found another man, a retired soldier, whom Liu Handong disliked and barely spoke to.

  Mom said on the phone, someone called you, what kind of trouble did you get into, son?

  Liu Handong's heart tightened, knowing that the police had found his hometown through his ID number, and maybe this phone number was also being monitored. He quickly said "I'm fine, mom, don't worry about me," and hung up like that.

  He hung up the phone, took out the battery and removed the SIM card before Liu Handong felt at ease. Just then, he heard someone calling him from downstairs. He went down to take a look and saw that the bowls and chopsticks were already set out. Zhang Dajie was smiling as she said: "These are all dishes made by your sister. Today's rice is a bit too much, Handong you eat more, do you want beer? I'll go buy some for you."

  Liu Handong hastily said no need, thank you sister, picked up the bowl to eat, looked at Xiaofan with a puzzled expression, this girl doesn't seem like a rich family's young lady, but rather like a small nanny.

  After dinner, Xiao Fan rushed to wash the pot and bowl. At this time, Zhu Xiaoqiang had also finished eating instant noodles and came out. The sunset was setting, and the neon lights of the hair salons on Tiehua Street were all lit up. Ten yuan for leisure, the light box of Wenzhou Hair Salon flickered in the night, and Tiehua Street entered the night mode.

  How to sleep at night is a big problem.