False evidence

Chapter 469 Painted Skin (19)

Seeing Tong Xiangnan suddenly act strangely, I felt a chill run down my spine. But I quickly recovered and patted the dashboard, "Stop messing around and drive properly."

Tong Xiangnan grinned, but as he turned his face forward, he sighed and muttered to himself:

"Still not right, just a little bit more, just a little bit more..."

"Uncle, are you really upset?"

I'm genuinely a little worried. My uncle, just as he himself said, is a bit narrow-minded.

Old K's incident happened a long time ago, but he's now terminally ill, and it's hard to say he won't have all sorts of wild thoughts. What if he gets stuck in a rut because of reminiscing about the past…

I think I heard him say something like this before:

For ordinary people, there is a certain probability of recovery from mental problems, depending on the degree; but once someone who studies psychology gets a mental illness, there is almost no chance of recovery!

Tong Xiangnan didn't answer me; he was just like a madman, muttering to himself as he drove.

At first, he just kept repeating "almost," but later his voice became lower and lower, more and more indistinct, and I couldn't hear what he was saying anymore.

After driving for about ten more minutes, Tong Xiangnan suddenly asked me:
"What did those two drunkards look like?"

The car had barely finished speaking when it stopped on the side of the road.

Even without him saying it, I understand why he suddenly asked that question.

Next to where the car was parked, on a small road, two men were staggering towards this side.

Neither of them was using an umbrella, so I could easily see their faces. They were both short, one fat and one thin, and both had bulbous noses.

These are the two drunkards who got on the bus halfway through last night!

"It's those two," I said definitively.

The lights were on inside the bus when the two of them boarded to buy tickets. That's why I remember what they looked like, along with the ticket seller in the Zhongshan suit.

Tong Xiangnan gestured for me to roll down the car window.

The two approached, and before they could speak, they smelled a strong odor of alcohol.

The fat one asked, "Sir, is your car going to Sanhe?"

Tong Xiangnan said yes.

The fat man said in a gruff voice, "Can you give us a ride? My brother has a family emergency, and there are no other cars available at this hour."

Tong Xiangnan and I exchanged a glance, then I turned and let the two of them get into the car.

The fat man thanked him, opened the middle door, and gestured for the thin man to get into the car.

The fat man offered us cigarettes, but Tong Xiangnan didn't take them. I took one and looked at it; the brand was Hongmei.

I exchanged a few more polite words with him, and then asked him what he did for a living and what he was doing in Sanhe so late at night.

The fat guy was probably always talkative, and after drinking, he started rambling on and on as soon as I asked him that one question. He and the skinny guy were both from the same village and worked as security guards at a factory in Sanhe County. They usually lived in the dormitory and only went home on their days off.

Since they had a couple of days off, the two brothers decided to get together for a drink. They'd only been drinking for a short while when the skinny guy received a call from a relative in the county, saying an elder was in the hospital and dying, and they wanted him to come see him one last time. So, the fat guy accompanied him, and they rushed off to the county town.

The skinny guy hadn't said a word until now, and he suddenly started sobbing softly.

I could tell; those two had really drunk quite a bit.

The fat guy talks a lot when he drinks, while the skinny guy is the kind who is 'emotionally rich' when he's drunk.

The fat guy comforted the skinny guy for a few words, calling him "brother" this and "brother" that, and then asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Sanhe.
I made up a story, saying that something happened to a relative's family in Sanhe, and we rushed over to help take care of it.

The fat guy said this was too much of a coincidence. He asked me what my relative's surname and given name were. Maybe the skinny guy and I are distant relatives and we're meeting the same family?
I decided to go all the way and make up a lie, saying that my relative's surname was Sun and that he ran a small inn in Lai's shop.

The fat man suddenly stopped talking.

Although I found it a bit strange, I had no interest in talking to him anymore.

These two are just ordinary people, roughnecks, and heavy drinkers. I'm convinced I was tricked last night, but I don't believe the two drunkards were actually involved in the scam.

Tong Xiangnan sped up again, and they were almost at Sanhe County when the fat man suddenly asked in a gruff voice:
"Dude, you guys aren't really going to leave my brother and me at Lai's shop, are you?"

Having been reeking of alcohol from him and the skinny guy the whole way, and hearing his aggressive tone, I also got a little annoyed and said in a lukewarm tone:
"As I just said, we're going to Lai's shop to help out some relatives. Once we get there, you can take another ride."

The fat man yelled, "Young man, if you don't want to help, just say so. There's no point in making up these lies. I didn't say I wouldn't pay you for the ride. Besides, don't you feel bad about saying that?"

My ears were ringing from his words, and I was about to retort when Tong Xiangnan patted me and asked the fat man in a friendly manner:

"You work in Sanhe, so you should be very familiar with Sanhe, right?"

"I'd get angry even if we weren't familiar with each other!"

The fat man, reeking of alcohol, said to Tong Xiangnan, "Young man, you're still young. I won't stoop to his level. Brother, just by looking at you, I can tell you're an educated man."

I'm telling you, thank you for giving us a ride. Let's not talk about the fare; let's be friends. I'll treat you to drinks later!

But kid, what you're saying is so irrelevant! Yes, you might really be in a hurry, but it wouldn't be right to make us get off at Lai's shop, would it?

"What place is that? A cemetery! You want me to get out of the car at a cemetery? It's so late at night, where are there any cars?"

"A graveyard?" Tong Xiangnan glanced at me sideways.

“That’s right!” The fat man glared at me and said sullenly, “I’ve been holding back all this way, saying we don’t know each other, but I’m older than you. I wouldn’t dare call you elder, but you should at least call me big brother, right? Young man, don’t talk so recklessly. You said your relatives run a hotel in Lai’s shop? Would you run a hotel next to a cemetery?”

While he was speaking, I had already opened my phone and started searching for Laijiapuzi.

The fat guy leaned against the back of the seat in front of him, glanced at my phone a couple of times, and chuckled, "Don't bother looking it up, I'm telling you, you won't find it! I could tell from your accent that you're not a local, are you? You don't know this place at all."

Let me tell you this: back in the 1980s, Lai Family Shop was quite prosperous for a while. That was because an overseas Chinese surnamed Lai came back to acknowledge his ancestors and said he wanted to return to his roots, so he settled there. If you told me that your family ran a hotel in Lai Family Shop back then, I'd believe you!

But later, the Lai family shop caught fire!
Sigh, to be honest, according to my elders, the Lai family are all really good people..."

(End of this chapter)