Chapter 26
Chu Xiao walked in front, opened the door quietly, and looked at the situation inside the room with vigilance. Lin Sheng followed closely behind.
Suddenly, a cat called out in a bad tone from behind.
"Meow!"
The two of them turned around suddenly and saw an orange cat flying towards them. Lin Sheng quickly pushed Chu Xiao away, leaned forward, and squatted down immediately, thus avoiding the cat's pounce.
The orange cat landed steadily on the back of the sofa, its hair standing on end, its eyes wide open, staring at the two of them, its back arched, and its aura fierce, as if it was very unwelcome to the two outsiders.
Seeing that the situation was not right, Chu Xiao immediately stood in front of Lin Sheng, staring at the orange cat, afraid that it would make the next move, and suggested in a worried tone,
"It's not the right time to come today. Why don't you go back first?"
After he finished speaking, Chu Xiao didn't hear Lin Sheng's reply for a long time. He turned around and looked at her tentatively in confusion.
At the same time, the orange cat saw him looking away, and his aura became even stronger. He raised his limbs, prepared to jump, and was about to pounce.
Lin Sheng's eyes were slightly cold as he looked at the orange cat. Seeing that it was about to move, his eyes narrowed slightly, his aura suddenly became low, and his face looked very unhappy.
At the moment the cat jumped, Lin Sheng suddenly threw out a ball of yarn, which directly brushed over the orange cat's head. In an instant, the orange cat's attention was completely attracted by the ball of yarn, and it fell to the ground unexpectedly. The orange cat turned around and chased the ball of yarn.
Chu Xiao looked at Lin Sheng with eyes that suddenly lit up, a look of surprise on his face, and asked curiously,
"When did you take the ball of yarn? How come I didn't notice it?"
The crisis was resolved, Lin Sheng raised his eyebrows frivolously, revealing a profound expression, raised his hand and patted Chu Xiao's shoulder,
"Young man, be more careful. I found it on the shelf at the entrance."
The orange cat was busy "fighting" with the ball of yarn, so naturally he had no time to pay attention to the two of them.
Chu Xiao had never raised a cat, so he thought it was simply the ball of yarn's work, and he never expected the mystery behind it.
Lin Sheng looked around the room. The house was not big, with one bedroom, one living room and a small bathroom. The towel on the clothes hanger showed obvious signs of wear and tear. The toothbrush bristles had been brushed out of shape and the bristles around the edge had fallen off.
Walking into the bedroom, there is no special wardrobe. All the owner's clothes are hung on a small clothes rack. All of them have turned white, and it is not difficult to see that they have been washed many times. Only one bright-colored dress is hung separately from other clothes.
Lin Sheng walked forward, picked up the dress, and took a look at the collar and cuffs. The white label behind the collar was still as new as ever. Perhaps it was not worn often, or perhaps the owner kept it very carefully, as if it was specially made for someone or a day worth celebrating.
There won't be just one abnormal place.
After hanging the dress back in its place, Lin Sheng looked around the bedroom again and immediately caught sight of the only photo on the bedside table.
There is not a speck of dust on the photo frame. It is probably wiped every day. The photo is of a little girl, about five or six years old. The corners of the photo are a little yellow, and it has been quite some time.
Chu Xiao came up from behind and said to himself,
"There's no clues in the living room. Zhou Yan probably hasn't come back yet. What did you find? Photos? I don't see any children's things in the house."
Lin Sheng nodded, agreed with his statement, and made a guess.
"The photo is a bit old. The child must have grown up and moved out to work. I'm sure I can't find him."
"Yan'er, are you back?"
Suddenly, a strange voice was heard in the living room.
The two of them became alert instantly. Chu Xiao walked out of the bedroom first to check the situation. A white-haired old lady groped her way into the room and glanced at Lin Sheng in the bedroom.
"Yan'er, have you fed Xiaohua? Do you still want me to feed you?"
The old lady seemed not to see Chu Xiao standing in front of her, and did not hear any response, and continued to call Zhou Yan's name.
When Lin Sheng heard the voice, he felt confused and suspicious. He walked out of the bedroom slowly, slowing down his steps, and appeared in front of the old lady. The old lady was holding the wall with one hand and groping forward. When she came in front of Lin Sheng, she suddenly stopped.
Chu Xiao stood aside, feeling inexplicably nervous.
The next second, the old lady held onto the wall, turned around and walked back to the cabinet at the door. Her other hand fumbled for the cabinet door handle, and she asked naturally,
"Yan'er, the cat food is in the cabinet at the door, right? My memory is getting worse and worse. Why haven't you said anything? What went wrong today?"
Seeing that the old lady in front of him didn't seem to be pretending at all, Lin Sheng slowly let down his guard and signaled Chu Xiao with his eyes.
Chu Xiao understood Lin Sheng's intention and decisively started chatting with the old lady.
"Auntie, I'm not Zhou Yan, I'm her colleague. I came back to help her get some things and then I'll leave."
Hearing the sound, the old lady paused in her search for cat food, turned to face Chu Xiao, and raised her head. Even though she couldn't see, it didn't prevent her from accurately casting her lifeless eyes in the direction of Chu Xiao. Somehow, the old lady suddenly revealed a relieved smile.
"It's a male colleague. He has a really nice voice, but I don't know what he looks like. But I think he's a very nice person. Are you interested in Yan'er? Yan'er is really something. She has lived alone for so long, she really could use some companionship."
Chu Xiao was suddenly confused. Why did they suddenly talk about love?
Just as he was about to deny it, Chu Xiao caught a glimpse of Lin Sheng's gloating eyes, which seemed to be signaling him not to expose the truth.
Suppressing the helplessness in his heart, Chu Xiao pretended to be happy, forced a smile, and spoke reluctantly.
"You're right. Before I came here, did you see Zhou Yan come back?"
"I only come to her house at this time every day to help her feed the cat. Why didn't she come back with you?"
Instead of getting any information out of him, Chu Xiao was stumped by the question. He fumbled and made excuses.
"The boss assigned her some last-minute work, and she hasn't finished it yet. She needs something urgently, so she asked me to come alone."
As soon as the words fell, Chu Xiao saw a gratified smile on the old lady's face, which lasted for a long time.
"Yan'er has found a good man. He's very considerate. You must treat Yan'er well in the future. Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore. The cat must be hungry. Take the food and send it over quickly. Don't delay anything."
Chu Xiao sensed a hint of the intention to drive him away, and then uttered,
"Auntie, where do you live? Let me help you go back. Your eyesight is not in good condition."
“I live right next to…”
Before the old lady could finish her words, the door opposite happened to open and an old man walked out with a bag of garbage in his hand. After putting it at the door, he glanced at the old lady with a suspicious look on his face and closed the door.
"It's upstairs across the street. It's okay. I've lived here for over 20 years and I'm very familiar with it. It'll be fine. Go back quickly and don't let Yan'er wait anxiously."
Before Chu Xiao could respond, the old lady walked towards the orange cat with a bag of cat food in her hand, not giving Chu Xiao any chance to stay any longer.
Chu Xiao didn't get anything out of him, and his face looked a little dejected.
Lin Sheng tiptoed to his side and pulled him out directly. He didn't dare to speak until he entered the corridor.
"Forget it, let's go first. Maybe Captain Xu has found a clue."
When they left the apartment building, they caught a glimpse of the old man who had been sleeping under a big tree. He had woken up and was waving a small fan with a leisurely look on his face, humming a little tune. He looked so comfortable.
Lin Sheng couldn't help but glance at the old man, but she happened to see that the old man seemed to be lying with his eyes closed, but in fact he was secretly looking at her and Chu Xiao.
Lin Sheng caught the old man's sneak glance and he quickly closed his eyes, pretending nothing had happened.
Lin Sheng's lips curled slightly, he just found it interesting, grabbed Chu Xiao's sleeve and gestured him to look at the old man.
Chu Xiao also met the old man's gaze and immediately understood Lin Sheng's intention. He followed Lin Sheng and walked towards the old man.
Lin Sheng stopped beside the recliner, snatched the palm-leaf fan from the old man's hand, fanned himself, and said lazily,
"The weather is really nice today. It's really suitable for sleeping under the shade of a big tree."
The old man opened his eyes instantly, frowned and looked at Lin Sheng, complaining in a senior manner.
"Hey, little girl, you're bullying an old man in broad daylight. You're showing disrespect for your youth."
Lin Sheng raised his eyebrows, bent down, and asked shamelessly,
"Master, do I look good?"
After saying that, Lin Sheng showed a half-smile on his face, and his eyes revealed a hint of innocence.
Chu Xiao felt inexplicably ashamed of her sudden narcissism and simply couldn't bear to watch it!
Unexpectedly, the old man admitted defeat, but his tone was still unconvinced.
"You look good! I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you. So what's wrong with me looking at you a few more times? I don't have many years left to live, so why would I let anyone look at me?"
Lin Sheng did have some tricks to deal with this kind of people. He stretched out his hand, placed it in front of the old man, and spoke without any hesitation.
"If you don't live, I must live too. So, just compensate me with some money and I'll let bygones be bygones."
When the money was mentioned, the old man immediately became anxious, with disbelief written all over his face.
"Little girl, are you obsessed with money? You're spending money just to look at something? You're even more ruthless than the scammers selling health supplements!"
"You don't have to pay me, but you have to give me something in exchange. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of your time?"
The old man was afraid that she would mention the word "money" again. He really didn't expect that he could be blackmailed after just a few glances! He threw out a sentence in an unhappy tone,
"Then tell me, what do you want? Even if you want to dig out my liver, spleen, and lungs, that's not allowed."
A smile appeared on Lin Sheng's face, and he turned to fan the old man.
"I don't ask for much. I just want to ask you about someone. Do you know Zhou Yan, who lives in Unit 3, Room 532?"
The old man finally realized that Lin Sheng actually wanted something from him, so he laughed out loud and pointed at Lin Sheng and said,
"You little girl, are you teasing me on purpose? As for Yan'er, everyone in Xiqiao Community knows her. She's usually very hardworking. She helps clean the community from time to time and helps the elderly go up and down the stairs. The community doesn't really care about this old community, and the usual maintenance of the facilities is not frequent. It's Yan'er who takes the initiative to help."
"So she has children?"
"I'm not sure about that, but it seems like every once in a while, she'll dress up and go out to meet someone. Why don't you just ask her directly? I saw she came back."
Lin Sheng and Chu Xiao immediately became alert, but they didn't see Zhou Yan when they went downstairs just now. Lin Sheng immediately had an outrageous guess in his mind.
"Uncle, what does Zhou Yan look like?"
"She has white hair and looks a bit older. She's a bit overworked and looks a bit older."
Chu Xiao seemed to have grasped Lin Sheng's intention and asked impatiently,
"Does she usually ask someone to help feed the cat?"
"I haven't heard of it. She never bothers us neighbors."
"It's over! That blind old lady is Zhou Yan!"
Lin Sheng suddenly said something, dodged in an instant, and rushed upstairs.
"Hey! Give me back the fan! This little girl is so irritable."
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