Electronic Nezha

Chapter 41 The Way-Blind
Eating at a small restaurant like this has one advantage: people aren't so reserved. Although we didn't drink alcohol, we clinked half-bottles of soda around and talked about everything that needed to be said. Ma Chaoran called us Lao Wang and Lao Liu, and when she found out my real name was Liu Chuanfeng, she gave me a round of "hehehe".

I held up my soda and said earnestly, "Reporter Ma..."

"Just call me Chaoran."

"Okay, Chao Ran, thank you so much for today." I meant it from the bottom of my heart. If it weren't for Ma Chao Ran, Lao Wang would probably have been in jail for a few days. The police obviously believed Ma Chao Ran's testimony that Zhang Biao hit Hao Hao first. But after all, Lao Wang used a durian, such a powerful weapon, and Zhang Biao was injured. In the end, if it weren't for the pressure from public opinion and the efforts of the market and the police station to settle things peacefully, we would have been in big trouble if Zhang Biao had made a scene. We were lucky that Ma Chao Ran had a special identity.

Old Wang said, "Count me in." He also raised his bottle.

The three of us bumped into each other, and Ma Chaoran laughed, "Old Wang, I just want to know how you're going to end this battle without that durian?"

Old Wang scoffed, "I would have crushed him even without durian. That kid was already running out of stamina at that point."

I patted Lao Wang on the shoulder and said to Ma Chaoran, "Your brother Wang used to be involved in sports. If I didn't have that much confidence, I would have been on par with him back then."

Old Wang said, "Even so, I still have to thank that durian. It's not as satisfying to smash it with your fists." He sighed, "It's a good thing that there was one at the door in winter. If it were summer, I would be completely lost."

I said, "Brother Wang, you've been selling fruit for half your life, how come you don't even have this basic common sense? If you don't display durian in the summer, don't you have jackfruit?"

Old Wang, drawing on his own experience, said, "Yes, pineapple will do too."

The three of us looked at each other and burst into laughter: the laughter of the two men was mixed with a "ho ho ho ho" sound.

Ma Chaoran opened her phone, showed a QR code, and said, "Come on, add me on WeChat. If Zhang Biao causes you any trouble in the future, just tell me, and I'll take care of killing and burying him."

"She's also a female knight-errant," Old Wang praised.

Ma Chaoran's image and working style are indeed very different from the reporters I have in mind. When Han Shiya was preparing for the plastic surgery hospital, she had a lot of dealings with reporters. This group gives people the feeling that they are very distant from everyone. They don't even smile when they receive "travel expenses". Of course, it may also be related to our low status.

I pointed to the "self-reflection" message on Ma Chaoran's clothes and said, "Isn't this inappropriate for a press conference? Even if you're not 'blaming others,' it's still inappropriate..."

"There was no press conference. I only stayed here this morning, and it was all outdoors."

Old Wang said, "In the end, it even caused a delay."

I asked, puzzled, "I heard that the vice mayor brought a group of big bosses to attract investment to our city. What are they inspecting at the cold storage facility? Does the cold storage facility need their investment?"

Ma Chaoran said, "I find that strange too."

After finishing their meal and arriving outside the restaurant, Ma Chaoran's expression turned dejected again: "I... I still can't remember where my car is." The girl lowered her head in thought, her eyelashes covering her eyes again, instantly returning to her confused state. Seeing that we weren't leaving, she said, "You two go ahead and do your work; you can't help anyway."

I smiled and said, "We should be able to help with this, think about it—"

Ma Chaoran said, "Stop asking me where I stopped!"

"Think about it, did you see anything unusual when you parked? Even a small shop, a banner, and by the way, did you see any trash cans when you entered the street?" Ma Chaoran thought for a moment and said, "I think there was a trash can."

I then asked, "Is the design a panda holding bamboo or an ice cream torch?"

"It's... a panda holding bamboo!"

I said confidently, "It's either this street or the one behind it; there's no need to look anywhere else."

The three of us started looking from the street corner. After walking only 100 meters, Ma Chaoran exclaimed excitedly, "Found it! It's here!" Her car was only a dozen steps away from where we were eating. If we had walked in the opposite direction, it wouldn't have taken even 100 meters.

"What's the principle behind this? You're amazing, Lao Liu!"

Actually, I had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on when she said she forgot where she parked her car—she was going to accompany her boss to inspect a cold storage facility that morning, so she parked her car on a small street behind the cold storage facility, and to people unfamiliar with the area, the small street behind the cold storage facility looked almost identical.

These small streets are divided according to the residential areas, all running in the same east-west direction. Each street has a similar layout, consisting mainly of small supermarkets, courier points, beauty salons, and lottery stations. There are six such streets, running parallel like the teeth of a comb—this is where the idiom "鳞次栠比" (lín cì zhì bǐ) comes from…

The reason there are two types of trash cans is because our area underwent a city beautification renovation. The Torch Ice Cream bins were the old model, and complaints were made that they were too small and trash would easily fly around in the wind. So the city replaced them with panda-shaped ones, but then the project was abandoned due to insufficient funding. When it came to the cold storage area, two new trash cans were installed.

Ma Chaoran arrived in a Tank 500 off-road vehicle. She put on her aviator sunglasses, and her cool and stylish demeanor returned. However, she complained as she drove, "When technology is more advanced in the future, I'll definitely buy a car that can come to me by itself like a dog when I call it!"

I wanted to laugh. It can't come running like a dog when you call it. Xiao Wu can't do that right now, unless you start a fire first. Then you can find an open space and play football with it.

Ma Chaoran rolled down the car window and waved goodbye to us. After driving a couple of meters, she drove back and pulled her sunglasses up to her nose. She said to me, "Um... I'm too lazy to turn on the navigation. Should I turn left or right when I get off at Shifu Road?"

Old Wang and I both raised our hands and pointed to the right.

"Let's go!" The SUV sped away and disappeared from sight.

As Old Wang watched Ma Chaoran disappear from sight, he concluded, as if summarizing a previous paragraph, "Another one who doesn't understand the Dao."

……

When Lao Wang and I returned to the market, our penalty notice was already posted at the entrance. Our stall was fined 200 yuan, and Zhang Biao's work was crude and simplistic, resulting in a public reprimand.

As Old Wang walked back, vendors greeted him with smiles all along the way: "The Durian God of War is back?"

Old Wang walked with a limp, and instead of responding with his usual joking and laughter, he occasionally nodded aloofly with a solemn expression. I think this scene must have reminded him of his glorious years, those shouts, cheers, and applause.

Aunt Xu later found Hao Hao and immediately returned to the market. Hearing that the matter was over, she bought a box of pastries for Li Ping, me, and Lao Wang.

The pastries were just the most basic steamed cakes from the bakery near the cold storage entrance; they weren't expensive, but she'd have to collect cardboard boxes for at least several days to make them. The three of us looked at those cakes, and we all felt a pang of sadness.

(End of this chapter)