Yesterday, Xu An entrusted all matters related to picking up goods and opening the shop to Uncle Guosheng's friend, Master Wang Datou. Today was the first time he slept until eight o'clock. When he opened his eyes, the room was no longer filled with the pitch-black night sky. Instead, he saw a bright, almost blinding white light, and a ray of sunlight shone through the window onto the blanket.
Turning my head to look to the side, I saw that Xu Kang and Xu Le's spot was empty. I could hear them talking in the yard. They must have gotten up and didn't want to disturb me, so they quietly went out to play in the yard.
I sat up in bed, stretched, slowly got out of bed, and walked into the yard. I saw that my grandmother had also gotten up and was sitting in the yard, leaning on her cane.
"Good morning, Grandma! Good morning, Kang Kang and Le Le!" Xu An couldn't help but yawn again as he greeted everyone. Strangely, he usually didn't feel sleepy even when he got up at five o'clock, but today he felt like he hadn't slept enough even at eight o'clock.
However, after washing his face with cold water, he felt completely refreshed. After washing up, Xu An went into the kitchen to clean the stove and cook breakfast. Xu An was going to make vegetable and shredded pork noodles, which would have meat, vegetables, and soup, making it a nutritionally balanced and comprehensive meal.
Take a piece of pork shoulder from the refrigerator, wash it, and cut it into strips. Add salt, cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking oil, and cornstarch, mix well, and set aside. Then take out a head of lettuce and a bunch of scallions that I picked from the garden last night, wash off the dirt, and put them in a basket for later use.
Heat the pan with oil, stir-fry the shredded pork until cooked, and set aside. Add water and bring to a boil, then add noodles. Once the noodles boil again, add the stir-fried pork and the prepared lettuce. Finally, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and the delicious and appetizing shredded pork and vegetable noodles are ready to serve.
Xu Kang and Xu Le still loved eating meat, but they didn't resist vegetables either. They ate whatever was in their bowls, and even finished the noodle soup. Only then did they put down their bowls with satisfaction and look at Xu An expectantly: "Brother, will there be noodles with meat tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'll make you guys meat sauce noodles tomorrow, do you want some?"
"Okay, I love you the most, brother!" The two little ones were overjoyed when they heard that there would be more tomorrow, and they pouted their greasy little mouths and kissed Xu An on the cheek.
After kissing Xu An, the two perhaps felt they shouldn't show favoritism, so they moved closer to Grandma Xu, intending to give her a greasy kiss as well. Grandma Xu quickly stopped them, refusing their kiss.
After washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen, it was almost nine o'clock.
Xu An closed the courtyard gate, got on his tricycle, and slowly drove towards Xu's Fast Food Restaurant with Grandma Xu, Xu Kang, and Xu Le on board.
Although Xu An, the store manager and owner, didn't arrive at the store until almost 10 a.m. today, all the employees were doing their jobs and everything was as orderly as usual. There was no chaos because Xu An arrived so late.
After inspecting the three stores, Xu An felt something was amiss. He wandered around the three stores again and finally realized what was wrong: his old classmate, Li Xindong, wasn't busy in the stores as usual; he couldn't find him in any of the three stores.
Is he feeling unwell?
Xu An walked briskly up to the second floor of store number three. The second floor was spotless, with no bedding or people in sight. He took out his phone and dialed Li Xindong's number three or four times, but there was no answer. He also sent him several messages, but still received no reply.
That's really strange. How could such a big, living person just disappear like that?
The last time I saw him was around 2 PM yesterday, so I'll wait and see. If there's still no news by 2 PM today, I'll call the police. Xu An then turned and went back to the No. 1 store to busy himself with various tasks.
Time passed second by second, and at 10:23, a very disheveled figure appeared outside Xu's Fast Food Restaurant.
His face was covered in bruises and bloodstains, his eyes were somewhat unfocused, his clothes were tattered, his hair was messy, and the skin on his hands and feet exposed outside his clothes clearly showed scratches and swollen whip marks left by whipping.
This figure was none other than Li Xindong, who had disappeared all morning!
Not to mention Xu An, all the other employees in the store were startled when they saw Li Xindong's appearance and quickly welcomed him into the store. Some found clothes for him, some wiped his face, and some applied medicine. With everyone's help, Li Xindong finally returned to normal and his spirits returned.
"Xindong, what's wrong with you?" Seeing that Li Xindong had finally responded to the outside world, Xu An immediately asked, "Should I call the police for you?"
Li Xindong looked up, staring blankly at Xu An. It took him a while to react. His eyes flickered a few times before he finally shook his head slowly but firmly and said casually, "No need. It's nothing. I just ran into two petty thieves who stole everything. The things they stole weren't worth much, so there's no need to call the police."
His words were full of errors, and even Xu Kang and Xu Le could tell something was wrong. But Li Xindong didn't want to talk about it or call the police, so Xu An didn't force him. He just told him to rest well today and not to rush to work.
Li Xindong reacted strongly to this, directly refusing Xu An's arrangement and insisting on continuing to deliver food as usual. However, he couldn't fight city hall; Xu An was the boss, and he made the decisions. In the end, Li Xindong was semi-forced by Xu An to rest in the warehouse of Store No. 2.
Yesterday he said he was going to register at school, then he disappeared all day, and then came back looking like this. Anyone with a brain can guess what happened. After all, what petty thief would steal a phone worth a few hundred yuan and a beat-up bicycle that wouldn't even sell for a hundred yuan secondhand?
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