After working in the shop until five o'clock, Xu An rode his tricycle home with his younger brother and sister.
After dinner, I wiped Grandma's body, gave my younger brother and sister a bath, and washed their clothes. It was already eight o'clock in the evening.
With an hour to spare before bedtime, Xu An moved a rocking chair out and lay down under the longan tree. Looking up, he realized that the longans were ripe, something he hadn't noticed despite coming and going these past few days.
I need to find some time tomorrow to pick all the longans, otherwise they'll all be ruined if it rains.
Tonight, I'll play on my phone and experience the long-lost feeling of surfing the internet.
Just as I took out my phone, I heard the rumbling sound of a motorcycle engine approaching from afar, finally stopping in front of my house, followed by a knock on the gate.
It's already eight o'clock, who else would come looking for me?
Xu An got up with some curiosity and opened the courtyard gate. The person who came in was Lin Xuyang.
"I just wanted to chat with you for a bit." Lin Xuyang held up a transparent plastic bag containing several cans of beer when he saw Xu An.
Xu An nodded and welcomed the man in, bringing him a chair.
With a 'click,' the two cans of beer were opened by the two people.
He took a small sip, the sweet wheat aroma filling his mouth, the cool liquid flowing down his throat to his stomach, and Xu An couldn't help but shiver.
Comfortable!
Lin Xuyang gulped down a can of beer before speaking.
"The food poisoning case at the Bauhinia Garden construction site has been adjudicated. The main perpetrators are basically sentenced to more than three years, while the rest range from a few months to a year. There are also a few who were acquitted without knowing anything about the incident."
Xu An didn't know why Lin Xuyang came back to talk to him about these things so late at night, but he could clearly sense that Lin Xuyang was in a bad mood and probably just wanted to talk to someone. Since he was the right person, he told him.
Xu An let him talk on and on without responding, occasionally taking a sip of beer, nodding, and uttering some meaningless syllables.
Lin Xuyang rambled on and on about all sorts of random things, perhaps thinking that Xu An was just a street vendor and it didn't matter if he knew some things; or perhaps because he was drunk, as he talked, the conversation gradually veered towards the details of the food poisoning case.
"But we still haven't been able to find the real source of this batch of food. We only found one hideout, but we don't dare to take action so as not to alert them. The hideout is also keeping a low profile; there hasn't been any activity for a long time."
Xu An suddenly tightened his grip on the beer can, spilling some of the still full beer onto his trouser leg.
He frantically shook off the beer residue from his pants, but the wet and sticky feeling was unpleasant, so Xu An went back inside to change his pants.
He seemed to have understood what Lin Xuyang was saying; the den he was referring to must be Anxin Food Processing Company.
These days, it's always packed with people when I go to Bald Chen's place to pick up goods. In the past, there wouldn't be a soul in sight around two or three in the afternoon.
If Bald Chen hadn't specifically reserved some good cuts for himself, he would have only been able to buy scraps.
Xu An also asked Bald Chen why his business had suddenly become so good recently. Bald Chen explained that in addition to Anxin Food Processing Company, there were some smaller shops that were less daring and specialized in selling food nearing its expiration date.
Near-expiry food refers to food that is still within its shelf life but has less than half a month or a few days left before its expiration date.
Because of the food poisoning incident at Zijin Garden, food monitoring and inspection have become more stringent. These small business owners are also afraid of something going wrong, so they are now buying their ingredients from the wholesale market.
In addition, I saw the owner of Anxin Food Processing Company contacting employees of Qiansheng Group when I was in Beitun Town last time, and Qiansheng Group will have food problems again next year.
If Lin Xuyang's so-called hideout is Anxin Food Processing Company, then the source of these foods should be Qiansheng Group.
When Xu An returned to the courtyard, he found that Lin Xuyang had drunk all the beer he had brought and was lying drunk on his side in the rocking chair.
Lin Xuyang came by motorcycle, and now that he's drunk like this, there's no way we'd let him ride back.
But there's nowhere in our house for him to sleep, so we can't just let him sleep in this rocking chair.
Just as Xu An was feeling a headache, he suddenly thought of Xu Heping.
When Zhou Qi hesitated before because of the distance, he told himself that he could free up a room in his house.
Since Zhou Qi can do it, then Lin Xuyang can too.
Xu An took out his phone and called Xu Heping. The two of them carried the completely drunk Lin Xuyang to Xu Heping's house.
This guy is really bad at drinking and loves to drink; he gets drunk after just two or three cans of beer. If he can only drink so little, he should just drink at home, and then lie down in bed and take a nap.
After finally settling him in, Xu An turned off the lights and was about to leave when, just before closing the door, he said to Lin Xuyang as if possessed, "If Anxin Food Processing Company is a hideout, you might as well investigate Qiansheng Group. You might find something."
After Xu An finished speaking, he stood at the door for a while, but Lin Xuyang made no move. He then closed the door, said goodbye to Xu Heping, and left.
Lin Xuyang was genuinely drunk; there was no instance of him suddenly opening his eyes as soon as Xu An left.
However, he was still affected by Xu An's words and dreamed that he discovered the secret of Qiansheng Group and was then hunted down by the group.
They even kidnapped his sister and threatened him, saying that if he didn't join the Qiansheng Group, they would make his sister wish she were dead.
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