He suddenly felt cold all over, as if he had sunk below the sea level, facing the deep sea, with waves coming back. The driver's outstretched hand was hidden among them. Some were invitations to the truth, while others were dragging him back to the tragedy of his previous life.

Chen Tinghan held his breath, put aside his boring fantasies and illusions, and walked towards one of the electric donkeys casually as if he was winning a lottery.

When he arrived, his face was no longer calm, but full of resentment. He spoke in a not very polite manner:

"Do you know Old Wu?"

The person opposite was stunned and confused: "Which Old Wu?"

"I don't know either... He was the one who had been soliciting customers here before. His surname was Wu. He was called Wu Dong or Wu or something else. Anyway, his surname was Wu." Chen Tinghan said angrily:

"We agreed to pay him 500 yuan and hire his car for a month. He would wait for me downstairs in the morning and at the school gate after school. But now, he hasn't been seen for a few days. Damn, I'm so angry."

The driver asked, "Why don't you call him? No one answered."

“…I didn’t stay.”

The driver was dumbfounded: "You hired someone's car, but you didn't even leave their phone number."

Chen Tinghan said angrily, "He said he lived next door to me and that we had a connection, so he asked if I wanted a monthly subscription and there were discounts. He was here every day, so who would have thought he'd run away for 500 yuan?"

The other party didn't say anything, but looked at him with eyes full of pity. This poor kid seemed to be not very smart.

Then he pretended to think carefully before finally answering, "I'm sorry, I really don't know any Old Wu. Why don't you ask someone else? That row is from another team, maybe they know him."

Chen Tinghan thanked him and was about to walk to the other side when he saw someone approaching him: "Are you talking about Old Wu?"

Chen Tinghan turned his head and asked hopefully, "Yes, you know him?"

"I know him. Not only that, but he also owes me money. What a son of a bitch! He lost hundreds of dollars playing cards with me, and now I can't even find him."

He quickly glanced at the man who came in. He looked to be in his forties or fifties. He was wearing simple solid-color jeans that had been washed to the point of being faded, and a brown and white striped T-shirt that looked like a prison uniform.

He was obviously an alcoholic, physically weak, and had little to do with violent activities. He had always lived in poverty and had recently become particularly poor.

Chen Tinghan asked, "Do you have his contact information?"

"It's no use. I called, but it's turned off. It's been turned off since three days ago." The man shrugged.

Chen Tinghan was shocked: "Just for a few hundred dollars, isn't it?"

"That's definitely not the case. How much do you think we can make in a day when business is good?" The man gestured with money. "The students at Haiyi and Haishan are all very wealthy. They charge a fixed price wherever they go. It's just a few hundred yuan, and it's just a matter of a few days."

"Then why did he run?" Chen Tinghan asked curiously.

The man pointed at his fleet and said, "At first, we all thought this dog basket had a huge debt that he couldn't pay back, so he ran away. But when someone said he was going to take a big order, everyone was dumbfounded. What big order could eDonkey really get?"

"He disappeared after that?"

"No more." The man held a cigarette in his mouth and said, "He's gone. Can you still take the car? I can also subscribe to a monthly subscription. He charges 500, and I'll charge you 20 less. Where do you live?"

Chen Tinghan casually named a street, and the man was stunned: "I would charge you at least fifteen dollars if I went there, but he only charges you five hundred for running a month?"

"Maybe it's because he started there and dragged me along."

Chen Tinghan then made up a story, observing the man's reaction the whole time. The man had no doubts about the address other than the price of soliciting customers. He realized that the man didn't know where Lao Wu lived. The two were not familiar with each other. He came here to join in the fun, just to gossip and to develop a regular customer.

The man waved his hands quickly: "That's not worth it, not worth it..."

Although the deal fell through, Chen Tinghan still took out a fifty-dollar bill and handed it to the man: "I don't want you to pull me, I want you to keep an eye out for me. If you see him, tell me immediately."

The man smiled happily and said, "I just said that the students of Haiyi Middle School are rich. You can just call me Lao Lu."

"Hey! Little brother." The first driver who spoke to him immediately got anxious: "I can make this money too."

"I can't possibly give fifty yuan to each of the thirty-plus people in these fleets," Chen Tinghan said. "How about this? You can spread the word. Whoever can help me find someone will get three hundred yuan."

They were both shocked: "Such a big deal, isn't it?"

"I can throw money into the water, but I can't stand being cheated. This is not about money, understand?" Chen Tinghan said impatiently: "Do you guys do it or not?"

"Okay, I drive a car every day anyway, I'll tell you if I find it." Both of them agreed.

Then they exchanged phone numbers, and finally Chen Tinghan left.

.......

As his figure faded deeper into the street, the complex expression on Chen Tinghan's face vanished, returning to a state of calm. He had paid the motorcycle taxi drivers simply to develop their "intelligence network," not to rely on them to find Old Wu.

In fact, if my guess is correct, then Chen Tinghan should be the person in the world who knows where Lao Wu is best, perhaps even better than Lao Wu himself.

The situation he wanted to know was already roughly known, but unfortunately, even with this information in hand, Chen Tinghan could only rely on guesswork to decide his next move.

Making guesses is like playing with your life. Even if your guess is almost right, the price you pay for making a wrong guess is too heavy to accept. This is a lesson learned in the previous life.

He had learned this lesson from that woman, that...

Chen Tinghan wiped the moisture from his forehead and put down his hand. A figure occupied all his sight.

The girl's face was overshadowed by the golden afterglow, like a kapok flower in full bloom at sunset, standing alone in the middle of the street.

Wang Jinling is a standout student at Haiyi Middle School.