Chapter 36 The next day at dawn, He Zhao packed up her stall. Qiao Yanyu and He Zhao stood in front of her food cart, ready to...
The next day at dawn, He Zhao packed up her stall. Qiao Yanyu and He Zhao stood in front of her food cart, ready to say goodbye. However, He Zhao made a three-point agreement with Qiao Yanyu: "Unless something unexpected happens, you must send me a message every day to let me know you're safe. Otherwise, I won't know anything, and I'll be very worried."
"……good."
Qiao Yanyu rarely felt cared for like this, and she was a little unaccustomed to being asked to do so by He Zhao. But it wasn't a big deal in her eyes, so she quickly agreed.
Then, He Zhao pressed his advantage, saying, "And you must make sure you get enough sleep every day. You don't get enough sleep. When you're here, you can at least get some sleep, but when you go on business trips, no one is watching you, and I don't know if you're getting any sleep. You'll die from overwork if you keep doing this."
"So you must make sure you get enough sleep every day! At least four to five hours!"
He Zhao kept muttering to herself, actually feeling that four or five hours was a bit too short; such intensity would eventually lead to sudden death. But asking for too much time was probably impossible for Qiao Yanyu. Rather than forcing Qiao Yanyu to agree to something she couldn't possibly do, and then having to figure out how to coax herself afterward, it was better to time it down to a time that Qiao Yanyu could manage and get her to agree.
However, the four to five hours also made Qiao Yanyu a little hesitant. She frowned and thought about it for a while, but finally agreed: "Okay, I'll try my best."
He Zhao didn't force Qiao Yanyu to agree on the spot, but nodded, quite satisfied with the answer.
"In addition, try to eat on time and drink plenty of water every day. Take good care of yourself when you go out. The temperature will drop in the next couple of days. I don't know where you're going, but you should prepare warm clothes. Oh, and hand warmers are good too. Bring a few."
These were all minor matters, so Qiao Yanyu agreed to them one by one.
When they ran out of things to say, they fell silent. He Zhao stepped forward, hugged Qiao Yanyu, and whispered, "Take care, have a safe trip."
“…Okay.” Qiao Yanyu hugged He Zhao back. After a while, the two let go, and He Zhao waved to Qiao Yanyu: “Then I’m going back. See you next time, Sister Qiao.”
Qiao Yanyu waved and said, "See you next time."
After their breakup, the two went their separate ways, but Qiao Yanyu felt a warmth in her heart. She drove directly to the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, greeted them, and went straight into the director's office. Early in the morning, the director was already in his office, working.
Although the number of low-level employees in the Countermeasures Bureau was small, they weren't nonexistent; the bureau chief himself guarded the office every day. He Zhao kept saying that Qiao Yanyu slept too little, and Qiao Yanyu really wanted to refute him, since there was someone else in front of her who slept even less.
"Director, I accept the overseas assignment you mentioned."
Without even looking up, the director took a file folder from his drawer and said, "This is it, take a look."
Qiao Yanyu sat down opposite the bureau chief, looked through the file, returned it to the bureau chief, and then said, "I would like to ask who will take over my protection of He Zhao for the next five days."
The director put down his work and looked directly at Qiao Yanyu: "It's a Level 2 investigator, Wang Yu. She's a very gentle girl, you know her." This answer finally put Qiao Yanyu at ease. Although it was only for five days, she hoped that the investigator who would replace her would be a good one.
Although Wang Yu is young, she's not a bad person, and she's about the same age as He Zhao. She's already a Level 2 Investigator at such a young age; while not as skilled as He Zhao, her professional abilities are still excellent. Her only problem is—she's a bit naive and sometimes unreliable.
This is a minor issue; she's generally reliable when it comes to completing tasks.
After confirming who would replace her, Qiao Yanyu turned and left. She took the plane ticket prepared by the bureau chief, went home to pack her things, and then headed to the airport. Upon landing, she sent He Zhao a message to let her know she had arrived.
Qiao Yanyu felt a little awkward when sending the message. She had never sent a message to let someone know she was safe before, and this was her first time, so the experience was quite novel. She even hesitated while sending the message, unsure of what wording to use.
Is it true that it has arrived?
Wouldn't this sound a bit awkward, stiff, and incomprehensible?
If you send a message like: "I've already gotten off the plane, just arrived, and am about to head to the mission location."
Wouldn't this be too long? And it would seem too formal, since He Zhao's task has nothing to do with it.
After much deliberation, Qiao Yanyu finally posted: "I've gotten off the plane."
After sending the message, she started to hesitate again. Even someone as straightforward as Qiao Yanyu could have such conflicted moments; she herself wouldn't have believed it in the past. After sending the message, Qiao Yanyu put her phone away, picked up her backpack, and went to the airport taxi stand to hail a cab.
Based on Qiao Yanyu's understanding of He Zhao, she assumed he was still catching up on sleep and wouldn't see her message for a while. However, when she got into the taxi and started looking at the mission-related information sent by the bureau chief, she saw He Zhao's reply.
Okay, Sister Qiao, remember to eat lunch! I'm going to take a nap now.
Qiao Yanyu herself didn't realize that a smile had appeared on her lips, and she typed back: Okay.
A warm feeling welled up inside her; Qiao Yanyu finally understood what it felt like to be cared for. Just then, the driver in front of her said, "Miss, it's lunchtime now. Is this your first time here? Let me tell you, our potstickers are absolutely amazing..."
He spoke eloquently, listing a whole host of local specialties. But Qiao Yanyu's mind was only occupied with the potstickers he mentioned. She thought to herself, He Zhao is also a food lover; if she has the chance in the future, she should bring him here to try them.
If you enjoy delicious food alone, it just doesn't feel quite the same.
He Zhao, having replied to Qiao Yanyu's message, yawned, put down her slightly hot phone, and fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already six in the afternoon. After washing up, she went downstairs to find something to eat, her stomach growling loudly.
She checked her phone several times, wondering why Qiao Yanyu hadn't messaged her yet. Then she thought, Qiao Yanyu probably felt that she had already let her know she was safe in the morning and that she had finished her task for the day, so she hadn't sent another message.
Qiao Yanyu really wanted to travel with her frog, never knowing when it would send a message to the frog that was home alone.
He Zhao grumbled as he ate the flatbread. Surprisingly, the flatbread was quite delicious, especially when broken into pieces and added to the mutton noodle soup. It was just that the shopkeeper was stingy; there were only a few slices of mutton.
Everyone says mutton has a strong gamey smell, but there were so few slices of mutton that He Zhao couldn't smell it at all. If the owner hadn't had so much mutton and the gamey smell hadn't been so obvious when he bought it, He Zhao would have even suspected that the owner had secretly substituted some other kind of meat.
After finishing dinner and paying, He Zhao returned to his rented room.
When it was time, she finally got up slowly, changed her clothes, went downstairs, and hopped on her electric tricycle to set up her stall. There was one thing He Zhao was telling the system for sure: she was only able to set up her stall on time every day because of Qiao Yanyu.
Without Qiao Yanyu, she's not even enthusiastic about setting up her stall anymore; she hasn't even arrived at her spot by 10 o'clock.
When she arrived at the park entrance, she saw a girl standing there wearing a red coat and a matching red hat. Upon seeing He Zhao, the girl ran over. The weather was growing increasingly cold, and the girl's breath created white puffs of smoke as she spoke: "You must be He Zhao?"
"Hello, my name is Wang Yu. I'm the investigator who will be taking over from Senior Qiao to protect you for the next five days. Don't worry, I'll definitely protect you well!"
He Zhao nodded without saying anything, and casually blocked Wang Yu's hand, saying, "I can do it myself."
She's not a very good-natured person; she's been pampered since childhood. Even though her hometown is a place where boys are favored over girls, her parents only had her as their child, making her a very rare only child in the area.
Even though her grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other relatives said whatever they wanted to her parents, they insisted they wouldn't have any more children and doted on her, afraid she would suffer any hardship. When she was little, she thought her parents were just being unconventional, but as she got older, she accidentally discovered that it was actually her father who had become infertile and couldn't have any more children.
He Zhao sighed a little, but no matter what, she was a spoiled rich girl who grew up constantly competing with her relatives' children and never admitting defeat, making her a little tyrant. If she hadn't fallen in love with Qiao Yanyu at first sight, and given that she was shorter than him, her relationship with Qiao Yanyu wouldn't have been so harmonious.
In addition, Wang Yu was taking over Qiao Yanyu's job, so even though He Zhao knew he couldn't blame Wang Yu, he still couldn't give her a friendly look.
She wasn't too unreasonable, but she couldn't possibly consider Wang Yu's needs in everything. She didn't even share the small blanket with Wang Yu; that was Qiao Yanyu's blanket, and she couldn't let someone else use it. She didn't even tilt the small sun lamp towards the center, but kept it firmly facing herself.
Fortunately, Wang Yu didn't mind these things and even had a smile on her face, looking a bit silly.
Wang Yu had heard from the bureau chief about the eerie aspects of this stall when she accepted the mission, and she was actually very excited when she arrived. Just from the description, things like a stall that attracts ghosts and sells food made from the dead sounded like something out of a novel.
So when she sat down, she was really looking forward to it, wondering when the ghost would come to buy food, what kind of ghost would come, and what kind of clashes would occur. She also wondered how she would protect the owner if someone caused trouble for her.
But... the plot seems to be a little different from what she expected.
He Zhao, the owner, had been sitting next to her ever since he set up his stall, and soon pulled out his phone to play a mobile game. As a young person, she knew a bit about mobile games, especially since the one her boss was playing was a nationally renowned one.
When those familiar sounds of "first blood" and "double kill" rang out, she felt even more bewildered.
After sitting for a while, Wang Yu felt her legs getting stiff, and then asked He Zhao in a daze, "Boss, when are the guests coming?"
He Zhao was playing a game and didn't even look up: "It usually takes until after 12 o'clock, let's wait for now."
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