631 · Haining Cat Island (41)
Dozens of minutes later, the group moved to the open-air night market on Haining Island.
The night market of Haining Island is right on the beach. It is dinner time now. People are coming and going in the night market, and shouts and greetings are everywhere. The radio host is running around in various stalls, and finally leads everyone to stand in front of a barbecue restaurant.
"Hey, here you are again," the middle-aged woman who was busy at the barbecue stall said hello after she looked up and saw the radio host. "Please feel free to sit inside. You brought so many people with you."
"I'm here with my friends for dinner," the radio host poked his head in and looked inside. "Are there any seats near the side for more than ten of us?"
The two men seemed to be acquaintances.
“Yes, yes, yes,” the middle-aged woman wiped her hands on her apron and turned to take a look. “The two tables in the corner can be put together to accommodate us, Boss… Boss!”
There seemed to be no response.
The stall owner turned his head nervously and looked around the stall. His eyes fixed on a certain spot, and he shouted out a name in a clear and loud voice as if he was relieved: "Wuda!"
"Hey... Hey," a little boy in school uniform ran out of the barbecue stall. He must be the one the stall owner called Wu Da. "Here I am. What's wrong, mom?"
Bai Jinshu looked down at the child who was running towards him.
The little boy looked like he was in the second or third grade of elementary school. His face had not fully grown yet and he was only about the height of their elbows.
"Why didn't you respond when I called you?" The middle-aged woman glared at the child and ordered in dialect, "Put the tables together for them. Put the two tables on the side together."
"Oh," the little boy replied, lowered his head and explained in a low voice, "I'm doing my homework..."
"What do you mean by homework? I think you're just playing with your phone," the stall owner rolled his eyes at him. "Didn't I tell you to spend less time alone at your age? I think you're going to get moldy if you stay alone. Take out your homework and put it on the table outside and do it openly."
"Oh..." The little boy was much more dejected this time, and his voice was much lower, "I'll go move the table."
"After moving the table and finishing your homework, don't play with your phone," the middle-aged woman nags. "If you have time, go to the kitchen and cook something to feed the cats nearby. Be careful of myopia if you keep looking at your phone. Also, look at the green plants outside more often... Okay, go set the table. I don't think you want to listen."
Before he could even move, several members of the exploration team felt a little embarrassed.
Just now the parents were educating the child that it was not appropriate to interrupt, but to really ask this child who looked only seven or eight years old to move the table for a group of adults, that was a bit too unreasonable.
"Let's do it, let's do it," Lu Changfeng hurriedly took a few steps forward, "Let him do his homework."
"Yes, yes, let's do it," Fang Xiang took a step forward, "We can move it ourselves."
"Uh... No, no need!" The child seemed to be frightened by the scar on Lu Changfeng's face, and his voice was distorted for a moment, "I'll go!"
After saying this, he turned around and ran away quickly, leaving the adults looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Don't worry about him, just let him come," the barbecue stall owner waved his hand without looking back, "This kid has been introverted since he was young. I brought him to the stall so that he can be less alone and get more exercise. Don't worry about him, just order first."
"Let me think, let's do it the same way first..." The radio host seemed to be familiar with the stall owner's son's personality. He took out a piece of paper from the side and began to write while introducing, "The grilled oysters are the signature dish of this shop, the pork belly is also delicious, the toasted bread with chicken rack is a must, and as for the lamb and beef..."
She lowered her voice and said, "I think the meat on this island is not very good. Let's eat seafood."
"All right," Ran Ran nodded casually and looked at everyone, "How about we order some for ten people first, and see if you guys want to add anything or avoid certain foods?"
"Coriander," Guan Hongyan added, "I don't want cilantro skewers, nothing else."
"I don't eat spicy food," Tong Yao whispered, "Can you bake me a separate portion without chili?"
"One more skewer without cilantro, no spicy..." The radio host looked up, "Anything else?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"That's all," she put the list on the table next to the grill, "Come on, let's go sit down first."
"You seem... very familiar with this store?" Yun Guang tilted his head.
Since entering here, the radio host has shown extraordinary familiarity with this place.
"Not very familiar..." the radio host answered casually, "Didn't I just say that I came here because I received a submission saying that a sea monster was seen at the beach at night, so... here."
She stood beside the table that had been moved and raised her chin forward.
Everyone followed her line of sight and were surprised to find that from this angle, they could see a large stretch of coastline. It was already dark, and there were no lighting facilities along the coastline. From here, apart from the faint light of the mobile phones in the hands of passers-by, there was only darkness.
"This is the cheapest and most suitable place I can find to observe the coastline," the radio host shrugged. "Other places are either uninhabited and unsafe, or the terrain is too dangerous to go there in the middle of the night, or... they are too expensive."
Only this barbecue stall is located in a perfect location. One can enjoy the barbecue while observing the coastline. And because it is a barbecue stall, it is open until very late at night, which just meets her requirements.
After a few interactions, she and the stall owner naturally became familiar with each other.
"So what have you discovered during these days here?" Yu Changlin asked impatiently.
"Do you think I've discovered something?" the radio host twitched his lips. "If I had discovered something, would I be squatting on your wall with Ranran?"
That's true.
Everyone looked at each other, and in tacit understanding, they all held their chins and began to stare at the distant coastline.
"It's so dark...what can we see..." Guan Hongyan complained casually.
black?
Suddenly, Bai Jinshu felt something flash through his mind.
"Guan Hongyan," he looked up, "can you say that again?"
"What can we see in this dark?" Guan Hongyan repeated, not understanding what was going on. "Do you have any new ideas?"
"It's only a little after eight in the evening, and the coastline is already so dark." He lowered his head and looked at the seaside thoughtfully, "Then according to the time mentioned by the contributor, at around midnight, the seaside will be even darker than it is now, so dark that you can't see your hand in front of you. It's so dark that even if you hold up a mobile phone flashlight, you can't illuminate it very far."
"Then what?" Fang Xiang was confused.
"Then this can only mean one thing, that the sea monster was very close to them at the time, very close!" The radio host slammed the table, then lay down in frustration, "I thought of this, I thought of it a long time ago."
Guan Hongyan: "Then why don't you stay here..."
This place is so far from the coastline, what can you see in the middle of the night?
"I'm just collecting some wind. My original intention of coming here was to fish! Fish!" The radio host widened his eyes, "What if it really is a sea monster? I'm not going to be alive..."
She was just doing a show, and had no intention of involving herself.
"Then you and Ranran are still..."
"How can the nature of the incident be the same?" the radio host muttered. "What she saw was in the downtown area. Besides, there are people living in the yard next door. Don't you live next door?"
Between the old city area full of people and the dark and deserted coastline in the middle of the night, even a fool would know which one to choose.
"Hey, the food is here!" Her eyes lit up as she watched the stall owner bring a large plate of grilled skewers over to her, "Eat first, eat first..."
To be fair, the taste of this barbecue is not particularly good, it can only be considered average, but it uses freshly caught seafood as ingredients, so it is much more delicious than the usual seafood barbecue.
Bai Jinshu was eating while observing the coastline. Suddenly, he saw the little boy who was called Wu Da just now walking towards him from the corner of his eye.
"Um..." He looked a bit socially anxious, and his voice was trembling when he spoke. He stopped some distance away from the table, lowered his head and spoke to someone unknown, "I saw you brought a cat..."
"This is... cat food," he quickly pulled out a small bowl from his hand, placed it on the table, and then returned it, "It's free."
Bai Jinshu:?
He took a few seconds to react: "Are you talking to us?"
Is this bowl of rice for Huai Jiamu?
Recipe aside, this kid is pretty kind.
"Yes... yes," Wu Da said in a stammering voice with his head down, "I made cat food. When I saw you brought a cat, I gave you a bowl. If you don't want it, I'll take it back."
"That's not necessary," Guan Hongyan glanced at Bai Jinshu and the leopard cat, and came out to smooth things over, "Thank you, little friend. Go to the back and feed your cat."
"…It's not raised in our family." The child retorted in a low voice and ran away like the wind.
"Hey kid, don't embarrass me," Guan Hongyan explained when she met Bai Jinshu's gaze, and took the cat food to study it, "This should be a mixture of chicken breast and some fish. It looks quite delicious. The cats on this island eat really well... It's a pity that the leader can't eat it."
"After dinner, Changfeng, can you go to the hardware store?" Yun Guang was much more considerate. "Just buy some things and bring them back..." for the leader to eat.
After all, they had dinner, but the leader hadn't yet.
"How much do you want to buy?" Lu Changfeng looked up with the stick in his mouth.
Good question.
Thinking of the terrifying diet of this tentacle cat... Yun Guang pressed his forehead and said, "Sell as many as you can and buy as many as you can."
"Then Fang Xiang and I..." Before he could finish his words, an angry male voice suddenly came from the stall next door.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Then there was a chaotic sound. One could vaguely make out several frightened female voices mixed with a child's frightened cry.
"What's going on!"
“Is this cat crazy?”
"Watch your hands, don't get caught!"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Guan Hongyan stood up and looked in that direction curiously.
The noise coming from next door was so loud that the diners around looked over curiously.
"What's going on?" Yun Guang also turned his head and looked over there.
"It seems like a group of wild cats are fighting next to the fried noodle stall next door," Guan Hongyan observed on tiptoe, "There was a table with children... The children happened to be squatting outside playing, and they were hit by the cats..."
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