After Sun Baozi finished speaking, he had just picked up a cup of tea and hadnt even taken a sip when the door to the private room opened. The hotel manager walked in with a smile on his face, looked at me, Sun Baozi, and Huang Ran who was lying on the table, then came over and smiled at me, but spoke to Sun Baozi: "Everyone, Im really sorry, our hotel..."

  His words had not been finished, when Sun Baozi suddenly interrupted: "I know, the hotel is going to close, right? Understand, this is to urge us to settle the bill and leave." As he said that, he shook and swayed, wanting to wake up Huang Ran to pay the bill.

  The hotel manager smiled awkwardly and said, "Dont get me wrong, its not that were closing up shop and rushing you to pay the bill. Our hotels dim sum hour has started, I came over to ask if any of you are interested in trying our Cantonese-style dim sum..."

  "Early tea - what time is it now?" Sun Baozi was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, he didnt like wearing a watch, and was searching the whole table for his mobile phone to check the time.

  The hotel manager glanced at his watch and said: "Just 7:40, hmm... 7:40 in the morning"

  At this time, Sun Peng also found his mobile phone from a pile of crab shells. After taking a look at the time displayed on it, Sun Peng said in a somewhat disbelieving tone: "Its really past 7 oclock, Im not kidding, how come I feel like weve been sitting here for just two hours? This meal has taken up the whole night! Its even connected to breakfast. I say my legs are all numb."

  I got up and walked to the windowsill, pulling open the thick curtains to reveal some dazzling sunlight outside. Last night, Sun Baozi thought the neon lights outside were too bright, so he pulled the curtains closed. I didnt expect that after telling a story, the stars had already shifted outside.

  "Old Huang, its not me saying this, get up and lets pay the bill first. The hotel still needs to do business, we can continue after paying... You didnt sleep?" Just as Sun Baozi was nagging Huang Ran to wake up and pay the bill, he saw that Huang had already gotten up from the table, his eyes shining brightly, with a hint of just waking up dazedly.

  After sitting up, Huang Ran smiled at Sun Baozi and said: "I slept for a while, but I heard that what you said was wonderful, so I didnt have the heart to interrupt your words." He then beckoned to the manager and said: "Let me buy..."

  The hotel staff ran over to Huang Rans side, with a smile on his face, and said: "You spent a total of 28,583 yuan. The 83 yuan will be waived for you. The actual cost is 28,500 yuan." As he spoke, he handed the bill over with both hands.

  Huang Ran didnt even look at the bill, directly took out his wallet, found a bank card inside and put it on the bill, saying: "Swipe 30,000, the rest is considered a tip." After that, he ignored the hotel managers thousand thanks and first poured himself a glass of cold tea to drink. Looking at the manager who had already gone out to swipe his card and settle the bill, he made a smile identical to Sun Baozis, who was smiling at him, and said: "I said how Liu Cheng disappeared for 30 years without any news, it turns out that he was controlled by your Ministry of Civil Affairs."

  This remark made both of us light up, and Sun Baozi said: "Oh, Liu Cheng has been missing for 30 years, you know, Old Huang. Its not that I didnt want to tell you, but this piece has been disconnected for more than two years. Later on, during those days, Gao Lao Da was busy with his own affairs. Until he left, he didnt have time to tell me about Liu Chengs situation. Now its good, finally able to connect this segment."

  Just as Huang Ran was about to speak, the hotel manager came in. He returned the bank card to Huang Ran and said a few polite words with great gratitude.

  Huang Ran nodded slightly to the manager, then turned to Sun Baozi and me: "I didnt sleep all night. You two probably dont plan on resting either. How about this? I have a friend who runs a teahouse nearby. Lets go there for a drink. We Chinese people always chat while drinking tea anyway."

  Its not yet nine oclock, can the teahouse be opened? I thought Huang Ran was still drunk from his wine, so I reminded him and said: "Old Huang, its not yet eight oclock. Why dont we sit for a while longer and go after nine?"

  He pointed to the noisy sound outside the hall and said, "No need, its too messy here, and its not convenient to talk. That teahouse is my friends, a phone call can arrange everything." While speaking, he took out his mobile phone, found a number in the phone book and dialed it. After saying a few words in Minnan dialect with the person on the other end of the phone, Huang Ran hung up the phone, looked at me and Sun Baozi, and said: "Everything is arranged, there are also beds inside the teahouse. We can rest there when were tired from talking."

  "Oh, there are beds inside the teahouse?" Sun Baozi smiled at Huang Ran with a raised eyebrow and said: "Old Huang, are you sure your friend didnt open a massage parlor instead?"

  More than half an hour later, the three of us arrived at Huang Rans friends teahouse. I originally thought that Huang Rans friend was running a small teahouse with mahjong rooms. But when we got there, I was shocked by the scale of the teahouse. In front of me was a quaint quadrangle courtyard, and judging from its foundation, this kind of quadrangle courtyard couldnt be worth less than tens of millions.

  The gate of the quadrangle courtyard has a apricot-yellow flag with only four big red characters - Dongding Wulon.

  Sun Baozi saw the yellow flag and smiled, turning his head to look at Huang Ran and saying: "Is this friend of yours a Wuyi oolong tea maker? The teahouse can be done in such a style, its also considered top-notch"

  Huang Ran also smiled and said, "Other tea businesses are also done here. Yunnans Puer and Hangzhous Longjing are all available. But the main business is still Oolong tea. Sixty percent of Taiwans Oolong tea sold to inland areas comes from here. Now that more people drink tea, my friend naturally earns a bit more." As he spoke, he directly pushed open the door, just like returning home, and let me and Sun Baozi in.

  Nor did his friend come out, Huang Ran led me and Sun Baozi into the inner courtyard like a host. Found a side room to enter. The interior of this wing is decorated according to the style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with an eight-immortal table placed inside, coincidentally with three chairs arranged around it. On the eight-immortal table, there was a small tea pot, paired with three sets of tea bowls. Four types of tea snacks were arranged on either side of the tea set.

  After entering the room, Huang Ran didnt care about me and Sun Baozi. He sat down in the middle position, filled all three tea bowls with hot water, and then drank a bowl by himself. Then he smiled and said: "The water temperature is just right, you two help yourselves."

  Sun Baozi smiled, pulling me to sit on both sides of Huang Ran. He picked up two tea cups, holding one himself and handing the other to me, saying: "In the Ministry of Civil Affairs, only Ou Yang is good at this kind of thing, unfortunately he doesnt have it today. Come on, La Zi, lets go"

  As he said that, he clinked his cup against mine and downed the tea in one gulp. I was left with this one cup of tea, not drinking it would be impolite. So I also tilted my head back and drank the tea inside the cup. Putting the taste aside for now, the temperature of the tea was just right, amazingly the host had calculated our arrival time perfectly.

  Watching Huang Ran savor the tea with relish, I didnt think it was particularly good either. Plus, the teacup was too small, not as satisfying as the labor insurance tea my third uncles unit distributed when I was a kid.

  Sun Baozi obviously couldnt tell the good from the bad of this tea, but he noticed something else. Huang Ran picked up the teapot to refill his bowl, and Sun Baozi stopped him, saying: "Huang Ran, its not that Im telling you, but in the second half of the night when I tell stories, I just drink tea. Its not that Im telling you, lets take a break first, after all, this is a teahouse, are you afraid there wont be any tea to drink later?"

  As he spoke, Sun Baozi pushed Huang Ran back into his seat. He himself stood up and walked around the room before saying: "Its really unexpected that such a large place was actually your committees base in the capital city. Im not saying this, but after the committee disbanded, this place is practically your private property now? Earlier at the hotel, when you said you wanted to bring us to your friends teahouse, I thought you had another place in mind. Who would have thought that you actually brought us here?"

  He said this without any sign of unease, smiled slightly, and after pouring himself another cup, continued: "This place is technically under my name, but it was originally set up as a retirement fund for the older committee members and some retired predecessors when the committee was dissolved. Im just the trustee of this fund, and there are also several other properties elsewhere that are part of the fund. To be strict, Im just a custodian."

  After Huang Ran finished speaking, Sun Baozi smiled and said: "The topic seems to be getting further and further away. Lets talk about something serious. Liu Cheng - that son of a bitch, whats the matter with him? What crime did he commit in the first place, and he was locked up for 30 years?"

  Huang Ran placed the empty tea bowl under his chin, sniffed the remaining fragrance inside the bowl and said: "Before I say this, let me ask you, after Liu Chengs four limbs were broken and teeth knocked out by you, what else happened?"

  Sun Baozi let out a bitter laugh and said, "Nothing big happened, its just that after Luo Ben died, I went back to see him and found out he was dead too. Based on Old Mos method, the time of his death should be exactly when Luo Bens head was cut off. At first, I thought it was because I had a heavy hand that I sent him away. Later, after the body was taken to the coroners office, Old Mo re-examined him and cleared my name. Liu Cheng died from multiple organ failure. From the degree of his organ failure, it was already not easy for him to have lived until then."