The small building looks unassuming from the outside, with a New Year's picture of a naked baby holding a large carp stuck on the door. Looking at its earthy and rustic appearance, it's hard to imagine that Huang Ran, who is always fashionably dressed, would choose to live in such a place. However, after following Huang Ran inside, I discovered that the interior of the building was a completely different scene.

  The small building of Huang Ran can be described as a paradise on earth, after passing by a crystal screen, the first thing that comes into view is the floor made of tempered glass under one's feet. Underneath the floor is a pool of water half a meter deep, with over a dozen colorful goldfish swimming around inside. The walls on both sides are paved with beige marble bricks, and above the head are wind chime-shaped pendant lamps, which keep ringing non-stop as people walk by underneath.

  Further inside is the living room, and on the wall there is a European-style fireplace with half-burned firewood. On the central wall are two portraits of elderly people, one of whom I recognize as Min Tianyuan, the former chairman of the Religious Committee. The other old man who looked very similar to him earlier should be the legendary figure of the committee, Min Tianyuan's predecessor, Min Tianzong.

  We were all visiting Huang Ran's home in the capital for the first time. After Sun Bangzi came in, he directly sat down on the sofa and said to Huang Ran: "Old Huang, I'm not saying this just to say it, but if you're tired of living here and want to change environments, remember to tell me. No matter how much your house costs, I'll buy it."

  "What's the point of having money?" Huang Ran smiled slightly, took off his coat and hung it up before continuing: "If you like it, wait for me to find a new home, this set of rooms will be given to you"

  He had just finished speaking, and Xiao He Shang suddenly came to his senses and said: "Wait a minute, Huang Ran, you won't have only this set of houses in the capital, will you? If there are any more, think about me. Alas, you don't know, I'm getting older, the house I live in is still rented, and I haven't got pension insurance yet. It's not my own house, so I feel insecure...

  He hadn't finished speaking, and I couldn't help but interrupt him, saying: "Old Xiao, that's enough. The house you live in isn't even yours. You're just taking advantage of the landlord's cheap rent. If it weren't for the fact that several people had hanged themselves one after another inside, would they have rented such a large three-bedroom apartment to you for only 200 yuan per month? You yourself have bought seven or eight houses outside and collect rent from them, and you also have three or four stalls, so your monthly income is at least 180,000 yuan, right?"

  When exposed in front of Huang Ran, Xiao He Shang's face was a bit unbearable, and he was about to argue a few words, saying that those properties were all Lingyun Temple's assets. However, he was stopped by Sun Baozi, who yawned several times in a row and asked Huang Ran for a room to sleep.

  Unexpectedly, this small building doesn't look big, but inside there are actually four bedrooms. I don't know who all these bedrooms were prepared for in his family. Xiao He Shang wasn't polite at all and directly occupied Huang Ran's master bedroom. I and Sun Pangzi conveniently found a bedroom and after being polite to Huang Ran for a few sentences, we went in to sleep.

  That night, I had a series of nightmares, and in the midst of it all, there was an old man with white hair who kept chasing me. I used up all my strength to run away from him, but he still chased me until we reached the cliff where Lin Feng once forced me to jump off. He pushed me again, and as I jumped down, I suddenly woke up from the nightmare.

  When I opened my eyes, the clothes on me were already soaked through, and even the quilt was wet with sweat. I got up from bed and took a look at the scenery outside the window. Outside, it was still dark and gloomy. I looked at the time again, and it was only 5 o'clock. How could I have slept for so short a while and yet feel dizzy? Just as I was about to turn over and sleep some more, the phone suddenly rang. In a daze, I took a look at the caller ID, and it was Sun Baozi calling. I answered the phone, ready to complain, when I heard Sun Baozi say on the phone: "Lazi, you've slept for a whole day! Not that I'm saying anything, but why don't you come down and eat something? You can sleep some more after eating?"

  "What, I slept for a whole day? Now it's already morning... now it's 5 o'clock in the evening?" It was only then that I realized I had really slept for a whole day. At this time, Sun Baozi continued to say on the phone: "I planned to call you at noon, but seeing how soundly you were sleeping, I didn't dare disturb you. I didn't expect you could sleep all the way until now. Come down, Xiaojie and Zhang Jieba arrived in the afternoon, and Shao Yiyi will be here soon, just waiting for you."

  "Are they all here? What are they doing?" As soon as I spoke, I remembered what happened last night, or rather, this morning. I was still half asleep and it took me half a day to react to what just happened...

  "Uh, I'll change my clothes and go down," I said before hanging up the phone. But after hanging up the phone, I just realized that my clothes were already soaked through. There was no way to deal with it, so I could only put on my coat and go to the bathroom to wash my face first, then went downstairs in a daze.

  Sun Baozi and the others are now in the kitchen, from afar I smelled the fragrance of sesame sauce, then saw the kitchen inside smoke swirling, a unique hot pot aroma wafted out. Immediately after that, I saw a chubby head sticking out from the kitchen, grinning at me with a smile, saying: "Xiao Yiyang has just arrived, now everyone is here, come on down, Lazi, to have some hot pot!"

  When I arrived at the kitchen, I saw Huang Ran, Xiao He Shang, Meng Qi Qi and Zhang Zhi Yan, Shao Yi Yi had already surrounded a round table, facing a large copper hot pot, scooping and dipping. On the table were arranged over a dozen beef, mutton, vegetables and seafood dishes, these people were eating with sweat dripping down their faces.

  Sun Baozi stood at the door, with two small bowls in front of him, mixing seasonings. When he saw me approaching, Sun Baozi handed one of the seasoning bowls to me and said: "If you come late tonight, you can only drink soup. It's not what I'm saying, but I just realized that Old Xiao Master was holding back last night. He brought back nine packages, and I got up a bit late at noon today, and Old Xiao had already eaten them all. Do you remember that soup? He even asked Old Huang for a piece of tofu to stew in it. Look at him now..."

  Sun Baozi nodded at Xiao Heishan, who was already sweating profusely from eating, and said: "More than half of the beef and mutton, and almost all of the seafood, he ate by himself. Hurry up and come over, or else there really won't be any left soon."

  As he spoke, Sun Baozi pulled me to the hot pot. After sleeping all day, I also knew that my stomach was hungry. After being polite for a few sentences, he poured a whole plate of mutton into the hot pot in front of him, and after it was cooked and changed color, he scooped out the white vegetables and shrimp balls that someone had washed in the pot together, mixed with seasonings and started eating eagerly.

  At this time, others had almost finished eating. Huang Ran was the first to put down his chopsticks and looked at Sun Baozi: "Let's review the itinerary again. Tomorrow afternoon at 10 o'clock, Yang Xiao and Yang Jun will meet us at the airport. The casino side will pick us up at the local airport. We will stay in the hotel provided by the casino for one night. Then on the second day at 8:30 in the morning, we will take the train, which will arrive directly at the casino around 11:30 on the third day. Is this correct?"

  Sun Baozi had just finished a beer and, belching, said: "It's almost time, we're late for one flight, it's better to be later than that Japanese guy. The rest will have to wait until the casino side makes arrangements."

  Huang Ran and Sun Baozi were talking, I had just finished eating the meat slices in my plate and was about to add something else. I heard their conversation and was stunned, then turned to Sun Baozi and said: "Great Sage, what do you mean? Isn't there still some time left? Why are we leaving tomorrow?"

  Sun Baozi looked at me, then looked at Xiao He who was putting meat slices into the hot pot and said: "Isn't it because Master Xiao has a big mouth? He contacted the casino side this morning, and Zhongzhong is in their pocket. The casino side also wanted to contact us, saying that there's new movement from the government side, a politician who doesn't get along with them will take office as some high-ranking official locally. He might directly veto this railway project, the casino side has already reached an agreement with the local government to complete the reopening ceremony of the train before this politician takes office.

  The casino has already contacted that Japanese Shinto priest, the Japanese have agreed, and just as they were about to contact Master Xiao, Master Xiao himself showed up. Not me saying it, but Master Xiao, did you have to agree so readily? Can't you even prepare for a day or two?" The last few sentences were directed at Monk Xiao.

  Xiao He Shang's face was also flushed at this time, he smiled a little awkwardly and finally said: "Leaving early or late is still leaving, isn't it? Besides, isn't it better to earn the money earlier? What's signed on the contract is just paper, only what's in hand is real money."

  Just as Xiao He Shang was defending himself, I suddenly thought of something and immediately said to Huang Ran: "Old Huang, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to send me back, my passport, change of clothes and everything are all at home, can you take me back..."

  Before I could finish speaking, Sun Baozi smiled and said: "Lazi, no need to bother. Your passport has a spare, I went back to the company this afternoon, there are a few clothes in your dresser, I brought them together for you, things are in the living room, after dinner you can take a look yourself."

  "Is there a spare passport? Wait, my dresser is locked... forget I said that." Sun Baozi's words left me somewhat perplexed. As for the original passport, it was the one I had used when I went to America back then, but as for the spare one, I had no idea what he was talking about. And as for the locked dresser, in Sun Baozi's eyes, it was no different from being wide open.

  Sun Baozi grinned and said to me, "When we were making our passports, none of us had any extra copies, but I printed a few more just in case they came in handy at some point."

  After finishing, Sun Baozi looked at Shao Yiyi and the others who had almost finished eating and said: "Eat your fill and drink enough, find a place to rest early. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 we will set out. Those who don't get up will be considered as automatically giving up this benefit."