◇ Chapter 63 You didn’t tell him such a big thing?

Lu Fangchi smiled and pressed the answer button.

Zhou Zheng's anxious voice came from the receiver, "You haven't come to pick me up yet?"

Tasting something wrong, Lu Fangchi's raised mouth turned into a straight line, "What's wrong?"

"If you're not here, don't come to pick me up. I had something urgent to do so I left." Zhou Zheng spoke quickly, seeming to be in a hurry.

"What's wrong with you?" Lu Fangchi asked.

"Nothing," Zhou Zheng paused and explained, "Just some company stuff, nothing."

Lu Fangchi let out an "ah" in disbelief.

"Let's not talk about it for now." Alpha said this and hung up the phone in a hurry without waiting for Lu Fangchi's response.

Lu Fangchi stared at the disconnected page for a minute, then put away his phone, fastened his seat belt again, and drove towards home.

Pushing open the door, a light scent of tea floats in the air. In the dim environment, the flickering candlelight shines on a table full of delicious dishes.

What a pity, Lu Fangchi thought.

Lu Fangchi sat at the dining table and took a photo of the food before starting. The photo turned out great, with meat, flowers and candlelight, it looked extremely romantic.

Perhaps because the host of the banquet was not there, Lu Fangchi found the food tasteless and could not eat anymore after moving his chopsticks a few times. When he put down his cutlery, the dishes were almost the same as before.

Lu Fangchi sat on the sofa and started playing games, a little absent-mindedly. From time to time, he lowered his eyes to glance at the mobile phone on the coffee table in front of him. There had been no movement since the call was hung up just now.

Another hour passed, the game was a mess, and the results were terrible. Lu Fangchi finally gave up torturing himself, picked up his phone and clicked on the note of "Zhou Xiaogou" and looked at it.

What should I send? Lu Fangchi tapped the back of his phone and thought.

The cake is still in the refrigerator and there's still some time until twelve o'clock. Can we blow out the candles together?

Lu Fangchi hesitated for a while, but still sent a message to Zhou Zheng: What time can you come back?

Silence, no movement.

Half an hour later, the message came late and he replied: I can't go back today, I have to be busy these few days.

Well, it looks like there's no hope.

Lu Fangchi put down his phone, got up and took out a four-inch cake from the refrigerator in the kitchen. It wasn't particularly exquisite, but it looked good, blue and white, decorated with chocolate and blueberries, and the design looked very fresh.

Lu Fangchi lit two candles with the numbers "2" and "6" and whispered, "Happy 26th birthday to Zhou Zheng."

The candles were lit and as the candlelight flickered, Lu Fangchi clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and made a very simple birthday wish for the alpha - good health, peace and happiness.

After blowing out the candles, Lu Fangchi scooped a little cream with a spoon and put it into his mouth. It was sweet but not greasy and tasted good.

Lu Fangchi only ate two bites and put the cake back into the refrigerator. He sat on the sofa for a while, then got up and went to the bathroom to wash up.

How can I not feel lost? But things happen for a reason and there is nothing I can do about it.

After Lu Fangchi came out of the shower, he had adjusted his mood. He lay on the bed, took out his cell phone, and sent a message to Zhou Xiaogou before twelve o'clock: Happy birthday.

Lu Fangchi didn't get a reply until he fell asleep.

At first Lu Fangchi didn't think much about it, thinking that he was too busy to reply.

But it's impossible to be busy 24 hours a day, right? Lu Fangchi looked at the page on his phone. The latest message was "Happy Birthday" sent by himself, and there was no news after that.

It was very strange. Lu Fangchi swiped his finger upwards twice to look at the chat history. Apart from planning to meet, they kept in touch. Most of the time, there were more white bubbles than green bubbles.

Lu Fangchi's heart seemed to be pinched by a hand, falling downwards. This familiar operation was inevitably overlapped with the previous scene of Zhou Zheng's sudden disappearance...

Zhou Zheng was selecting a mobile phone in a small mobile phone store with only two counters. He tapped the glass counter and said, "This is it."

The waiter was sitting with his legs crossed, shaking constantly, his arms resting on his legs, holding his cell phone horizontally in his hand, playing a game, chewing bubble gum. Hearing this, he muttered without even looking up, "You...."

It was a local dialect, so Zhou Zheng couldn't understand it. "What?"

"I said," the waiter raised his voice and answered in Mandarin, "Wait until I finish this game."

Zhou Zheng frowned, his expression anxious, but due to the situation, his Adam's apple rolled twice but he held it in.

The wait lasted for more than twenty minutes. The waiter finally finished the life-and-death game. Probably because he lost, he swore in dialect for a few times, then stood up with an unhappy look on his face and walked to the counter. He opened the cabinet and took out the model next to the mobile phone that Zhou Zheng had just chosen.

He absentmindedly checked his battle record, tapped his fingers beside his phone, and recited formulaically, "There's a promotion going on for this model right now. Deposit 600 yuan in phone bills and get a free phone. You'll get 20 yuan back every month for three years, which means you get a free phone and 40 yuan in phone bills."

This approach is quite popular among the elderly and is suitable for rural families who want to buy a smartphone but do not need too many advanced functions and can get a small bargain. It fits the positioning of this place.

To prepay phone bills, you need to re-register your SIM card. Zhou Zheng doesn't need to do that. He is in a hurry and says, "No need. I'll just buy it directly."

"Then just pay one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine." The waiter pointed to the QR code payment next to it.

Zhou Zheng pulled out his original mobile phone from his pocket. The screen was shattered and covered with cracks like spider webs. He licked his lips and negotiated, "Can you put my SIM card in first? My phone is broken and I don't have cash, so I can't pay."

The waiter looked the alpha up and down. He looked decent, but unfamiliar. It was obvious from his demeanor that he was not a local. He also looked a bit shabby, like a refugee.

He's still an alpha. This kind of person is dangerous. The waiter immediately took the phone off the table and refused: "No, the phone cannot be returned if it's turned on. What if you don't want it anymore? What should I do?"

"No," Zhou Zheng said, "or lend me your phone and insert the card to log into WeChat, and I will transfer the money to you immediately."

Seeing that the waiter was still reluctant, Zhou Zheng immediately added: "I'll transfer 2,500 to you."

When the waiter heard that he could get an extra 501 yuan, his expression relaxed and he asked in disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Really?" Zhou Zheng nodded, looking anxious. "I'm in a hurry. Please hurry up."

The waiter handed the phone in his hand to the alpha in front of him with a little hesitation. He quickly removed the original SIM card and inserted it into his own phone, logged into WeChat, and scanned the QR code to pay.

"Two thousand five hundred yuan has been deposited into my account via WeChat." As the announcement sounded, the waiter's slightly anxious heart finally settled down.

Zhou Zheng quickly quit WeChat, unplugged the SIM card, and returned the phone to the attendant. He raised his hand and said to the attendant, "Is this all right?"

Paying money means you are the boss. The waiter changed his previous careless attitude and smiled, "Then I will pack it for you?"

"No need." Zhou Zheng refused, reached out to take the mobile phone on the table, secretly covered it with a layer of film on the spot, and inserted the SIM card into the card slot.

The waiter rubbed his hands and said in a flattering manner, "Do you want a tempered film? There are also phone cases. There is a discount if you buy them together. It will be fifty-eight yuan. Good luck."

Zhou Zheng didn't have time to deal with all this right now. "No need." He pressed the card slot and waited for the phone to turn on.

The waiter was still pushing the sales pitch tirelessly, "Boss, buy one. It's a good deal. And your new phone will break easily if you don't protect it, right?"

This phone is of no brand at all and has very poor performance. The screen kept turning on and off for a long time but it didn't work. Zhou Zheng was a little annoyed. The waiter in front of him was muttering like a fly, buzzing and disturbing.

He walked out without saying a word, and met two middle-aged women who were walking into the mobile phone store.

Zhou Zheng was standing at the door of the mobile phone store, waiting for his phone to turn on.

The middle-aged woman had a loud, shrill voice, and was discussing the latest gossip at a high volume, "Did you know that the woman on the street died?"

This lady might have married from outside of town, so her accent wasn't that strong, so Zhou Zheng was able to understand her. But when the word "death" came out, his fingers that were tapping the back of his phone stopped.

Another person chimed in, "I know. She's not very old, is she? Over 50? What a pity."

"What a pity! I think he deserved it."

"What do you mean?"

"When she was here, she dressed up ostentatiously, painted her face as white as a ghost, and walked around in a thigh-length cheongsam on the street, having affairs with some fake masters. If you ask me, men are blind to love such sluts."

"Later she went to the city and became much quieter. This time she brought it back. You know she..."

Maybe it was the truth, maybe it was an exaggeration. Zhou Zheng couldn't listen any longer and walked away without hearing the more unpleasant words.

Zhou Zheng walked to a small fork and turned in, leaning against the wall. The mobile phone in his hand had been successfully turned on. The screen was stuck as he downloaded a WeChat message and logged in.

The top circle was loading, and it paused for five or six minutes before the messages were loaded. Red dots jumped up, which were basically real-time work messages.

When he clicked on the pinned Lu Baobao, there was nothing. Zhou Zheng guessed that the message must have been received by the original phone, so it was not visible now.

After calculating the time, I realized that I hadn't shown up for more than 30 hours. Would Lu Fangchi think too much? What excuse should I make?

Zhou Zheng frowned, stared at Lu Baobao's page, raised his hand and started biting his nails.

When Zhou Zheng bit the hangnail on his index finger, the phone screen lit up with the caller ID. He recognized the number; it was from Liu Zuo.

After pressing the answer button, Zhou Zheng raised his hand and put the phone to his ear.

"Grandpa, you finally answered the phone!" Assistant Liu breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately asked, "What's wrong with you? Why did you suddenly lose contact?"

"I had a conflict with them and my phone fell," Zhou Zheng explained.

"Ah," Assistant Liu groaned, then asked, "Do you want me to go over there?"

"It's okay, just take care of the company. My job here may not end so soon, please come to my house and help me pack two sets of clothes and toiletries and send them to me." The incident happened suddenly, and Zhou Zheng left in a hurry and didn't take anything with him. There are some for sale on the street, but the quality is worrying. Zhou Zheng wore it for a day and was thorny all over, and a small red rash appeared on his body.

"Okay, I'll go pack it for you now. Send me your address and I'll send it by express." Assistant Liu agreed immediately.

"Well, is the company doing well these two days?" Zhou Zheng asked.

"That's great," Assistant Liu said jokingly, "At first, you didn't come back to work for three months and the company couldn't go bankrupt, don't worry."

Zhou Zheng chuckled and paused. He couldn't help but ask, "Well, did Lu Fangchi come to you to ask me recently?"

"..." Assistant Liu was silent for a few seconds, and then he seemed to have just reacted and raised his voice, "Didn't you not tell him about such a big thing?"

Zhou Zheng swallowed and rubbed his face, "It's not glorious again..."

"It has nothing to do with you. What's so shameful about it? Sigh, I don't know what to say to you..." Assistant Liu sighed and asked, "So you haven't contacted him in the past two days?"

"Um."

“He really never asked me.”

【Author’s words】

6 more, hehe...