15. Accident

The restaurant was filled with the rich aroma of grilled meat and cheese, bathed in warm yellow light. The long flight and the rush to the outlet mall had left everyone looking tired, especially the children, whose heads were already drooping. The adults, however, were forcing themselves to stay awake, studying the densely packed English menu.

"I'm starving." He Miao rubbed her temples and pushed the menu to He Tian. "You order, anything looks fine, except for the weird cheese."

He Tian hummed in agreement, unusually putting away his phone to carefully examine the dishes. Gao Sheng and Zhuang Jia were discussing whether to order ribeye or sirloin. Ding Xiaojuan and Yi Yi huddled together, pointing to the pictures on the menu: "This seafood pasta looks good, but I wonder if the sauce will be too greasy."

While everyone was focused on ordering, Yi Yi whispered to Ding Xiaojuan, "I'm going to the restroom."

"Wait, let's go together." Ding Xiaojuan casually placed the small chain bag she was carrying on the back of her chair, got up and followed.

At the sink, Ding Xiaojuan washed her hands while looking at Yi Yi in the mirror: "Were you alright in the parking lot just now? You and Zhuang Jia didn't look too good."

Yi squeezed out some hand sanitizer, lathered it up, and the water gushed out. "It's nothing," she said calmly, "just a small thing. He took too long to buy things, and I got a little tired of waiting."

Ding Xiaojuan dried her hands, took out hand cream from her delicate little bag, and handed it to her: "Put some on? It's dry here." She didn't ask any further questions; the unspoken understanding among adults is to stop short of asking. "Have fun while you're out. Look at those two," she gestured towards the outside, "they get all excited as soon as they start talking about food."

Yi Yi accepted it and thanked her. The cool, moisturizing ointment melted, carrying a faint rose scent. The two smiled at each other, and the slight awkwardness seemed to melt away somewhat.

She paused, looked down at the chair, then scanned the table, her expression changing slightly: "Where's my bag?"

"A bag?" Gao Sheng turned his head, puzzled.

Ding Xiaojuan spoke quickly: "I went to the restroom just now and left my bag on the seat." She looked at Gao Sheng, "Didn't you see it?"

Gao Sheng said, "I didn't notice. Why didn't you say anything?"

Zhuang Jia recalled: "When we were ordering, it seemed like no one came near our table."

He Tian, ​​who had been looking down at his phone, suddenly spoke, his voice low but clear: "Besides the waiter coming over to pour water and that person in the gray hoodie who wandered around nearby, there was no one else."

Everyone paused, looking at He Tian. He remained staring at his phone screen, as if his words had been casually uttered. He Miao was even more surprised; this person, who usually seemed to live in a two-dimensional world, had actually noticed a detail that none of them had.

"That bag was taken at that time?!" Gao Sheng suddenly stood up, looked around, and saw that the restaurant was full of people, but the gray hoodie was nowhere to be seen.

Ding Xiaojuan's face turned pale: "Oh no, the car keys are still in my bag!"

He Miao asked, "How much money is in the bag?"

"Ah!" Ding Xiaojuan screamed. "All the cash was in the bag, about $8,000. And bank cards too."

Zhuang Jia had already taken out his phone: "Let's call the police." As he dialed, he couldn't help but ask, "Why are you carrying so much cash?"

Yi Yi immediately gave him a light kick under the table. At this point, investigating the cause was pointless and would only add to the person's frustration and pressure. She pressed down on Ding Xiaojuan's slightly trembling hand, her voice calm: "Don't panic. Is your passport in your bag?"

"No! It's in the hotel! In my suitcase."

Have you reported your bank card lost?

Ding Xiaojuan forced herself to calm down and took out a card from her jeans pocket: "I always carry this with me. The other two are in my bag." She immediately used her mobile banking app to report the cards lost, her fingers trembling slightly.

Yi Yi continued, her train of thought clear: "The car keys were in the bag too?"

“Yes, it was a rented car…” Ding Xiaojuan looked at Gao Sheng.

Gao Sheng had already moved to the side and was making a phone call to the car rental company. He Miao silently gathered the three somewhat uneasy children around her, comforting them in a low voice, and gave them the untouched fries from her plate.

A moment later, the police arrived, briefly inquired about the situation, looked around the restaurant, and shrugged regretfully: "Sorry, there are no security cameras here, and you didn't even get a clear look at the thief's face. We'll take a note, but the chances of finding him are slim. Thieves usually only take cash; you can check the nearby trash cans, the bag might have been thrown away."

The police left, leaving behind an even more disheartened group. The security and infrastructure of this developed country seemed so ironic at that moment.

Zhuang Jia couldn't help but add, "Everyone says Chinese tourists love to carry cash, making them easy targets. We usually only exchange $1,000..."

Yi Yi particularly disliked Zhuang Jia's "hindsight" remarks at this moment. She glared at him a few times, but couldn't hold him down.

He Tian stood up and said, "Shall we go check the trash cans outside?"

Zhuang Jia asked, "Can we find this?"

He Tian didn't answer and went straight out. Gao Sheng returned after making the call, his brows furrowed: "The car rental company said they could send someone to forcibly unlock and replace the car, but the lost key, the unlocking fee, plus the deposit for the spare key, would probably cost around two thousand US dollars."

"I still have to pay." Ding Xiaojuan's voice was weak. The pain of losing cash, coupled with this extra trouble, made her feel terrible.

Gao Sheng said, "They will come to unlock our car and change it at 8 a.m. tomorrow."

"Yes!" Ding Xiaojuan said, "That's the only way."

After seeing that the children had finished eating, He Miao said, "Shall I take you out to play?"

Kaikai suggested, "Shall we go look for Aunt Juan's bag in the trash can outside?"

Did you think that besides playing around, the children only knew how to eat and wouldn't care about what was happening outside? Hearing Kai Kai's words, Yi Yi was particularly gratified.

Gun Gun and Haha also said they wanted to go out. He Miao said, "Okay! But you have to stay with me and not run around."

Ding Xiaojuan said, "Why don't you eat first? I'll take them out."

He Miao said, "When they were eating just now, I took the opportunity to eat quite a bit myself. You should eat something quickly, you haven't eaten anything yet! Gao Sheng hasn't eaten either." As she spoke, she stood up and called to the children.

The children all rushed out at once.

They were the only ones left in the restaurant, eating their bland food. At that moment, what flavor did any delicious food have for them?

Looking at Gao Sheng's gloomy face and Ding Xiaojuan's forced composure, Yi Yi said softly to Gao Sheng, "You were quite calm today and handled things very quickly."

Gao Sheng gave a wry smile: "What else can I do? It's already happened."

Ding Xiaojuan also whispered, "It's all my fault. I was so careless. I thought you could all see it if I put it on the chair."

Zhuang Jia didn't say anything this time, just sat silently, his expression still not good.

In the midst of the oppressive silence, the restaurant door was suddenly pushed open, and He Tian and He Miao rushed back like a whirlwind with the children, drawing the attention of the surrounding diners. He Tian's face was flushed with rare excitement, and he held a familiar chain bag high in his hand!

"Is this the bag?!" His voice was much louder than usual.

"My bag!" Ding Xiaojuan screamed, almost lunging forward to snatch it away and hug it tightly to her chest. The movement was so forceful that it nearly made He Tian stumble.

With trembling hands, she opened her bag, quickly rummaged through it, and then let out a long, trembling sigh: "The cash is gone... but the bank cards and car keys are still here! They're all here!" She repeatedly touched the small car key, as if it were a priceless treasure that had been lost and found again.

The restaurant fell silent for a moment, then sporadic applause and whistles broke the silence, and many unfamiliar faces offered them friendly smiles. He Miao and the children hugged each other, jumping and laughing. Gao Sheng immediately went out again to call and cancel the emergency service.

Zhuang Jia finally smiled with relief. Yi Yi walked over and hugged Ding Xiaojuan, who was still trembling slightly. She could clearly feel the change in Ding Xiaojuan's body from tense to relaxed.

A sudden crisis was temporarily averted at the cost of thousands of dollars in cash. No one cheered, but a complex mix of emotions—a shared experience of tension and anxiety followed by a sense of relief—flowed through everyone's hearts.

He Tian got a hard punch on the shoulder from He Miao: "You're something else! Where did you find that?"

He Tian pushed up his glasses a little embarrassedly: "It's in the third green trash can on the corner, on top." He paused, then added, "That person was probably in a hurry to get the money and didn't look carefully."

He still didn't talk much, but at this moment, no one felt that he was an "invisible man" who only lived in the game world.

Ding Xiaojuan clutched the keys she had just recovered tightly, looked at Gao Sheng's figure as he walked back after making the phone call, and then looked at the group of friends and children around her. Her heart, which had been clenched by the financial loss, was suddenly filled with another kind of overwhelming emotion.

It was frustration, relief, warmth, and exhaustion.

She raised her water glass and said to everyone, and perhaps to herself, "Losing money is a blessing in disguise. Everyone is safe and the keys are still here."

As night deepened, neon lights flickered on the streets outside the restaurant. This foreign night, in an unexpected way, etched a deep mark on their memories.