False evidence

Chapter 238 The Most Familiar Stranger (9)

My breath stopped instantly.

That accent and that demeanor are clearly Liang Kaiyuan!
Just as I was in shock, Xiao Shen's eyes flickered, becoming familiar, and he withdrew his hand, saying:
"Hehe, we can't let him cause trouble any longer. If we let it go, someone will die."

I started to realize something; it seemed that Xiao Shen San had deliberately allowed himself to be possessed by Liang Kaiyuan. His purpose was to control Liang Kaiyuan's actions and prevent him from acting recklessly.

"Deal? What deal?"

Even with Gao's keen senses, he couldn't have imagined what might be going on with Xiao Shen. He casually asked a question before peering into the copper pot: "Hey, the food's pretty good. Meatballs, tripe... hey, is this lamb spine? I mean, if I'm not mistaken, you two are both from the North, right? How can you eat lamb spine without chili?"

Without any hesitation, he picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a large piece of lamb spine, and began to gnaw on it while blowing on it.

Xiao Shen's eyes changed again. He looked around, got up, walked to the side, opened the dog cage, and took out the French Bulldog that Li Meizhi had left behind.

Even the best dogs will be wary of strangers, but when the French Bulldog was in his arms, it was just like being held by Li Meizhi, as docile as a kitten.

Gao He glanced at it and exclaimed, "Huh? This dog looks kind of familiar."

Before I could speak, he said, "Oh, I remember now. I saw this dog at Li Meizhi's house. Back then, it was only a little bigger than the palm of my hand."

Gao He is a veteran criminal police officer, and his righteous aura is strong enough to scare away evil spirits.

However, Liang Kaiyuan, when possessing Xiao Shen San, was unaffected by the protective energy.

This clearly shows that Xiao Shen is no ordinary person, so I don't need to worry about him anymore.

Xiao Shen suddenly asked Gao He, "Has the driver of that car been caught?"

Gao He's face fell, and he shook his head: "There's only one empty car here, with no driver."

He turned to me and said, "Oh right, I almost forgot about that. You went near that car yesterday, did you see what the driver looked like?"

I shook my head.

Xiao Shen hesitated for a moment, then finally said to me, "Let me continue the story I didn't finish yesterday."

Gao He chuckled: "Kids will be kids. They've only been here a short time and their accents have already changed. Tell me a story? Sure, I love listening to stories."

At this moment, Xiao Shen San, or rather Liang Kaiyuan, also looked quite strange. Imagine a middle-aged man being treated like a child by another middle-aged man, the brigade leader; it was indeed a very odd thing.

Liang Kaiyuan made a quick decision, ignoring Gao He and continuing his narration from the previous day.

Before he could speak, he smiled wistfully: "I couldn't see her face then, but the moment I saw her, I thought she was beautiful, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times more beautiful than any girl I had ever seen. Even when she was angry, she was so captivating."

She questioned me, asking why I had played a trick on her. It took me a while to react; I realized I had done something wrong and apologized… That's when I learned she wasn't being tortured, but was picking water chestnuts. I almost wanted to disappear into the ground right then and there…

Liang Kaiyuan apologized to the girl, and after hearing his explanation, the girl continued to laugh.

Later, the girl said, "It's all your fault, you made me all soaked. I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going back to change my clothes."

Liang Kaiyuan blushed again, but couldn't help asking, "What's your name? When can we meet again?"

The girl thought for a moment and said, "Outsider, when are you leaving?"

Liang Kaiyuan blurted out involuntarily, "I'm not leaving!"

The girl laughed again: "Silly boy. If you don't leave, come back here tomorrow, and I'll teach you how to pick water chestnuts."

In fact, according to the plan, Liang Kaiyuan and the others were supposed to leave that day.

However, in Liang Kaiyuan's own words, he was as if bewitched and actually stayed.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, he went to the place where he had met the girl the day before.

He waited until sunset, but the girl never came.

He seemed to be bewitched, waiting by the lake for five days straight. On the sixth day, he finally gave up.

He figured the girl wouldn't come, so, feeling disappointed, he took his camera and prepared to capture one last moment of this Jiangnan town that had haunted his dreams before leaving.

Walking along the misty, rain-drenched streets, Liang Kaiyuan would occasionally pick up his camera, gesture for a while, and then put it down again.

He walked two-thirds of the way down the street without taking a single photo.

He sighed and muttered to himself, "The best 'scenery' has already been missed, what's the point of taking pictures anymore..."

Just as he was about to leave, feeling lost and disoriented, a figure inadvertently came into view.

Upon seeing this figure, he felt an urge to jump up and down and shout.

It's that girl!

He finally saw the girl again, but at that moment, his stomach started growling.

That's because he hadn't been able to eat or drink for several days. Also, when he saw the girl, he smelled a mouthwatering aroma.

Hearing Liang Kaiyuan say this, I couldn't help but interrupt him: "This doesn't seem logical. You said it was in a dream, how could you smell something in a dream? Or did you mean that while you were dreaming..."

I remember that his first time with Li Meizhi was in a bakery. Smelling sweet aromas there was perfectly normal.

Liang Kaiyuan shook his head and said, "That's why I said it wasn't just a dream. I really smelled it, it was the smell of steamed buns, the smell of xiaolongbao. You should have eaten xiaolongbao in the south, you should know that the taste is different from xiaolongbao in other places."

"Why does it smell like xiaolongbao?" I couldn't help but have an absurd thought: Does he run a bakery and also sell xiaolongbao?
Liang Kaiyuan said, "The next time I saw that girl, she was standing in front of a shop selling xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)."

I sighed and could only say, "You can continue."

Liang Kaiyuan nodded.

When he saw the girl again, she was indeed in a shop selling xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

The girl didn't see him; she simply paid, took the small steamed buns wrapped in lotus leaves, and hurried off in the opposite direction from Liang Kaiyuan.

Liang Kaiyuan didn't call her name, and in fact, he didn't know how to call her name; he didn't even know the girl's name.

Seeing the girl leave, he instinctively followed her.

He followed the girl away from the small street and into a deserted alley.

The girl stopped, looked around, and seemed rather furtive.

At this moment, Liang Kaiyuan could no longer hold back and called out, "Hey..."

His voice wasn't loud, but the girl seemed extremely frightened, letting out a soft cry and dropping what she was holding to the ground.

"Snapped!"

Seeing the girl frightened, Liang Kaiyuan slapped himself in self-reproach.

(He slapped himself hard, because he actually slapped himself when he said that. But in my opinion... it's also true, the one who got slapped was Xiao Shen San.)
The girl turned around cautiously, and clearly recognized him as well.

But the girl's next move was to quickly squat down and pick up the fallen xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

The lotus leaves spread out, scattering the steamed buns all over the ground, covered in wet mud—they were no longer edible.

The girl cried, she cried very sadly.

Liang Kaiyuan was stunned.

Because he saw that the girl's arm, which she revealed when she raised it, was covered with shocking scars...

(End of this chapter)