Chapter 161 Is this the road to hell?
Seeing the reproachful look in Qin Suisui's eyes, Song Yunlai panicked: "Hey, you brat, don't talk nonsense! I didn't teach you any of this!"
Chi Donglin, who had been silent until now, burst out laughing: "If you didn't teach him, who else could have? Just now you were even having a contest with Zan Zan to see who could pee the farthest!"
Seeing Qin Suisui's increasingly hostile gaze, Song Yunlai glared at Chi Donglin, then chuckled awkwardly and said, "Hehe, little sister, I was just... joking, just joking..."
Qin Suisui would certainly not agree to let the child do such a thing; wouldn't that be teaching the child to be bad?
She calmed the restless little guy down with a few pieces of dried apricots, and then played ping-pong with Pei Jiuyan and the others.
When she was little, she learned to play table tennis under her father's influence. She was quite good at it and could play several rounds with them without losing.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai were immediately captivated by her ball skills: "Wow, little sister! Your technique is pretty good! Now, we brothers are going to get serious!"
Pei Jiuyan scoffed, "Even if you were to get serious, you might not be able to beat my wife." He knew Qin Suisui's skill level, of course.
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai were determined to win, and the competition became increasingly intense.
Apart from Pei Jiuyan, no one noticed that Zan Zan, who had been squatting there obediently eating dried apricots, had quietly slipped away for a few minutes.
After fighting for a while, they could hear a woman cursing loudly from the direction they had come from: "Aaaaaah! Which heartless bastard dared to urinate on my door?"
"Even a dog knows where to pee! You little rascal, you're not even as good as a dog!"
"Don't let me find out who it is! I'll skin you alive!"
...
Hearing the increasingly loud shouts and curses, Qin Suisui and the others simultaneously turned their attention to Zan Zan.
Zan Zan immediately felt guilty and nervous, lowered her head, and dared not look them in the eye, her little fingers constantly fidgeting with her clothes.
Qin Suisui suppressed a laugh and walked over, whispering, "Baby, did you do this?"
Zan Zan lowered her head, kicking pebbles, her voice aggrieved and resentful: "Who told her to bully Mom? I'm going to avenge Mom!"
Pei Jiuyan walked over and patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, this is the last time."
Zan Zan quietly looked up and saw his parents smiling at him. Chi's father and Song's father even secretly gave him a thumbs up! They weren't angry at all!
Qin Suisui hugged Zan Zan and kissed him before speaking softly, "Mommy knows that you want to avenge Mommy, but it's uncivilized for a child to pee on someone else's door. Think about it, if someone deliberately came to our door to pee, wouldn't you be very angry?"
"And what if someone finds out, and your parents aren't around? What if they hit you?"
Zan Zan nodded: "Mom! I know! I won't do it again!" Except if someone bullies her mother, Zan Zan silently added this sentence in her mind.
Qin Suisui had no idea that she was holding a little devil in her arms. She ruffled Zanzan's fluffy head and said, "Let's go home and have dinner!"
It was almost lunchtime. They had made plans with Grandpa Pei to go to the black market for gambling on stones that afternoon!
Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai also went back to their respective homes. It was a rare occasion for them to come back, so they were definitely going to have dinner with their families. Moreover, they all lived in the same compound, which was very close, so they could meet up right after dinner.
That's right. Pei Jiuyan told me they're going to the black market for jade today. Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai will definitely be going too, since one of their tasks upon returning to Beijing is to investigate this matter.
For lunch, they naturally had steamed pork ribs. Liu Qianyun bought the best ribs, which were steamed until tender. With a gentle pull of the teeth, the meat would slide off the bone. The base of the steamed meat powder was made with five-spice powder and Sichuan peppercorn powder, which, combined with the rich flavor of rice and meat fat, made the top of your head tremble with fragrance.
Liu Qianyun also placed some steamed buns and sweet potatoes under the ribs. During the steaming process, as the temperature rose, the oil and seasonings slid down with the steam and were absorbed by the steamed buns and sweet potatoes. One bite and it was even more fragrant than the meat!
Qin Suisui ate without looking up: "Mom, your cooking is amazing! I haven't had this in ages! It's delicious!"
Zan Zan nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Mmm! Grandma's food is delicious!"
Liu Qianyun smiled and put another piece on her plate: "If you like it, you two should eat more. Your dad and Ayan don't like meat. If you want some, Mom will go buy some more tomorrow!"
Pei Huoshan and Pei Jiuyan, who don't like eating meat: ...
Between eating pork ribs and eating cabbage, I quietly picked up a large mouthful of cabbage.
No one cares for them, no one loves them; they're just like two little cabbages in the field!
After finishing their meal, the couple went straight out the door and met up with Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai at the entrance of the family compound. They then headed straight to the place they had arranged to meet Grandpa Pei.
Grandpa Pei was even more eager than they were to buy stones. He had been waiting there for a while. When he saw them arrive, he muttered a complaint under his breath: "Why did it take you so long? Honestly, you're so young, but your legs aren't as good as this old man's!"
After saying that, he looked at Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai, who were following behind Pei Jiuyan with a grin, and glared at them: "Why are these two brats here too?"
Song Yunlai smiled and went up to greet him: "Grandpa, please teach us! You've been buying stones your whole life, you must be an expert. We want to learn from you! Maybe we can become rich overnight by following you!"
These few flattering words successfully pleased Grandpa Pei.
He chuckled and patted Song Yunlai on the shoulder: "Good lad, you have good taste! Well, it's the same whether I bring one or a whole group, so today Grandpa will take you little ones to broaden your horizons!"
He spoke with such arrogance, completely forgetting how he had humbly begged Pei Jiuyan for twenty yuan yesterday.
None of them exposed him; it was just a matter of exchanging a few words, and getting the job done was the most important thing.
Beijing has many old hutongs. Grandpa Pei led a few people to leave the city center by bus, and then wandered through an old hutong for more than half an hour before turning into a courtyard house.
Before entering the courtyard house, Grandpa Pei suddenly stopped, turned to them and said sternly, "Once we're inside, don't say a word, don't ask any questions! Just pretend you're mute!"
Chi Donglin quickly agreed, "Don't worry, Grandpa, we definitely won't cause you any trouble!"
Grandpa Pei frowned and said sternly, "Especially you! Little Linzi, you're the most talkative one. Even the hens I raise in the countryside can't cluck as much as you!"
"Hahahaha!" Song Yunlai couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The old man turned his face and frowned at him again: "And you, Xiao Laizi! Not only are you a chatterbox, but you also have very clumsy hands. When you go in, don't touch anything! Be a mute! Be a cripple! Do you hear me!"
Song Yunlai immediately pursed his lips, swallowing the "hahaha" that he hadn't yet managed to utter.
Qin Suisui gave them both a somewhat complicated look. How mischievous they were as children! The old man still remembers it to this day.
After giving instructions to the group, the old man led them inside.
This courtyard house has been converted into a tenement, with people living in every room. At midday, it's noisy and chaotic inside.
Qin Suisui was also curious: was the black market for jade gambling located here? Was this some kind of scheme to hide in plain sight? But with so many people around, surely someone would discover it and report it?
Before she could finish wondering, Grandpa Pei led them straight through the hanging flower gate, past the noisy crowd, through the covered corridor, and finally to the west wing.
Just when they thought the transaction would take place here, they saw Grandpa Pei go up and say something to one of the old men who was lying in a rocking chair smoking a pipe and whose legs seemed to be somewhat disabled.
Upon hearing this, the old man glanced at them. He nodded, then touched something on the rocking chair. The next second, a "click" sound was heard, as if some mechanism had been activated.
Qin Suisui looked around but couldn't see anything that had changed.
But then she saw Grandpa Pei happily run to a large vat full of pickled cabbage, grit his teeth, and move the vat away, his face turning red with effort. Only then did Qin Suisui notice that there was a wooden plank underneath!
Grandpa Pei gritted his teeth, supported his waist, squatted down, and moved the extremely heavy solid wooden plank aside, revealing a hole just wide enough for one person to pass through!
Qin Suisui took a closer look, oh, she was mistaken, it wasn't a cave entrance, it was a secret passage leading downwards!
This really does resemble the secret passage at Wanfu Temple. Perhaps Pei Jiuyan's investigation was correct; there really is a mastermind behind the sacrificial ceremony and arson at Wanfu Temple that day.
After the group entered the secret passage, they had only taken a few steps when they suddenly heard a "click" sound from above. They turned around and found that the wooden plank that Grandpa Pei had moved earlier had been tightly locked back in place, plunging the secret passage into complete darkness.
The terrain was also descending, and Chi Donglin felt it was too quiet, so he muttered under his breath, "Is this the road to hell?"
Grandpa Pei turned around angrily and kicked him: "You brat! If you can't speak properly, then don't speak! What do you mean by going to hell! You go to hell, but I won't go to hell!"
"I haven't even unearthed those stones yet! I'm still waiting to get rich overnight! You can go to hell yourself!"
This morning, after listening to Pei Jiuyan recount what happened last night, everyone fell silent. Song Yunlai opened his mouth and then closed it again. He really wanted to tell the old man that his jadeite had all been bought by his good grandson for twenty yuan! He was left with only a pile of broken stones!
The old man cursed for a long time, and the others behind him fell silent, which was unusual for them. He then began to complain again: "You bunch of brats, none of you have any sense of propriety. You saw how hard I was moving the big vat, and you didn't even offer to lend a hand! Now you're all like you're mute. What? You're not happy just because I scolded you a few times?"
Song Yunlai could no longer contain himself: "Didn't you want us to be mute and disabled?"
The old man glared angrily: "I told you not to speak when you shouldn't, and not to touch when you shouldn't! Did I say you weren't going to help?!"
Still furious, he turned around to hit him, but the secret passage was only wide enough for one person to pass through. Behind him was Chi Donglin, so Chi Donglin was kicked for no reason.
Chi Donglin turned around and kicked Song Yunlai in the butt behind him, saying smugly, "Hey! Old man, I passed your kick to little Laizi's butt!"
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