This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

The sound of sirens grew louder as they approached, then faded into the distance, eventually disappearing completely into the city's hustle and bustle.

The farce has come to an end.

In front of the overturned dessert stall, several kind-hearted stall owners were helping the old lady clean up the mess on the ground.

The crowd, still buzzing with excitement about the dramatic scene that had just unfolded, dispersed in twos and threes, and the food street quickly returned to its former bustling state.

It was as if the chaos just now was merely a harmless interlude.

Lin Qingya's tense nerves finally relaxed, and she turned her head to look at Wang Xiaoer beside her.

The streetlights came on, and the light pierced through the rising smoke from the barbecue stalls, casting flickering shadows on him, making him look somewhat unreal.

Her eyes were filled with barely suppressed curiosity and a hint of admiration that she herself was unaware of.

"Just now...did you do it?"

Lin Qingya lowered her voice, her tone tinged with uncertainty, and leaned closer to ask.

She didn't see the whole thing clearly.

From beginning to end, it seemed as if Wang Xiaoer had only casually stretched out his foot.

But the woman's intuition clearly told her that from the moment the blond-haired man tripped and fell on flat ground to the moment the spicy hot pot fell from the sky, all these coincidences were inextricably linked to the seemingly ordinary boy in front of her.

Wang Xiaoer remained silent.

He simply turned his head to meet Lin Qingya's probing gaze, a faint smile appearing on his face.

He denies it.

Don't deny it.

This perfectly timed silence adds to the mystery more than any explanation.

Lin Qingya looked into his eyes, which seemed particularly deep in the night, and her heart skipped a beat for no reason.

She wisely refrained from asking any further questions.

"Um... to express my gratitude, I... I'd still like to invite you and Master Zhang to dinner."

She extended the invitation sincerely once again, her tone more earnest than ever before.

Thank you so much for today.

This time, Wang Xiaoer did not refuse.

He nodded.

"it is good."

A bright smile instantly bloomed on Lin Qingya's face, like a night-blooming cereus quietly opening in the night.

"Then let's exchange contact information? I'll contact you when Master Zhang has time."

She quickly took her phone out of her small bag.

Wang Xiaoer also took out his phone and entered the QQ number that Lin Qingya had given him.

The other person's avatar popped up on the screen; it was a cat's paw with pink paw pads that looked soft.

The nickname is very simple: "Qingya".

A notification sound indicating that a friend has been successfully added plays.

At this moment, the relationship between the two seemed to have quietly taken a step forward.

"Then I'll head back now."

Wang Xiaoer bent down and naturally scooped up the orange cat that had eaten and drunk its fill and was about to slip away.

Fugui struggled symbolically in his arms for a couple of moments, then settled into a comfortable position and remained still, letting out a satisfied gurgling sound.

Lin Qingya couldn't help but laugh as she watched this scene.

"Okay, goodbye then."

She readily accepted the wealth.

After saying goodbye to Lin Qingya, Wang Xiaoer turned and merged into the crowd at the night market.

He was inexplicably happy, and even his steps became lighter.

As soon as I stepped out of the food street, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

A new message appeared on the screen.

It was sent by Lin Qingya.

"Thank you so much for today, you're amazing."

Looking at the short line of text on the screen, Wang Xiaoer could imagine the girl's serious expression as she typed it.

He stood under the streetlight, his fingers tapping on the keyboard.

I typed a sentence, thought about it, and then felt it was a bit deliberate, so I deleted it all.

In the end, he only replied with a few words.

"Just lucky."

Click to send.

He put away his phone and looked up at the night sky.

The city's night sky was so bright with neon lights that few stars could be seen, but the moon was exceptionally bright tonight.

Wang Xiaoer, with his hands in his pockets, continued walking towards the firm.

……

"Click".

The office door was pushed open.

A familiar smell, a mixture of tea leaves, old books, and dust, wafted towards me.

Wang Xiaoer was somewhat surprised.

The lights in the lobby were on today.

He went inside and closed the door behind him.

Wang Xiaoer's gaze fell on the center of the hall.

Zhang Chen was squatting on the ground.

In front of him was a palm-sized, grayish-brown stone.

The stone was irregularly shaped, its surface covered with weathering marks, pitted and uneven, with nothing unusual about it, as if it were a piece of gravel that had been picked up randomly from some mountain gully.

Zhang Chen was facing the broken stone, his face solemn.

He would occasionally lean closer, wipe away some dust with his sleeve, and carefully examine the patterns on it.

Sometimes he would step back a few steps, squint his eyes, and examine the object repeatedly from different angles.

He even took out a small hammer and tapped here and there on the stone, listening intently as if he were appraising some rare national treasure.

Wang Xiaoer changed his shoes, picked up a book, and walked over.

"You're finally out?"

Zhang Chen seemed not to hear him and continued to study the stone with complete concentration.

He was muttering to himself, his voice filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"strangeness……"

"That's so strange..."

He reached out and rubbed his hand against the rough stone surface, his brow furrowing.

Wang Xiaoer stepped forward and curiously examined the stone.

The stone is an irregular oval shape, with a pitted and craggy surface covered with tiny holes, and its color is the most inconspicuous grayish-brown.

Apart from that, it's really no different from any random stone kicked on the roadside.

"Is there any special significance to this stone?"

Wang Xiaoer looked at Zhang Chen with some confusion.

Zhang Chen looked pained, as if he had cut off his own flesh, and stood up from the ground, patting the dust off his pants.

"Don't even mention it."

He pointed at the stone, his tone full of frustration.

"I dismantled that evil-preserving box. You know, that thing is exquisitely made, with several layers inside and out."

"This broken stone was hidden in the innermost compartment, wrapped in talisman paper, and hidden very well."

Zhang Chen got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and kicked a stone, but he forgot that he was wearing flip-flops, and his big foot went straight into the stone.

"hiss……"

He jumped up and down a couple of times, clutching his feet, and his face immediately turned red.

After a long while, Zhang Chen took a breath and continued to pour out his grievances.

"But what was the result?"

"I got it out, tried every method imaginable, even used my most treasured 'spirit-detecting talismans,' but there was absolutely no reaction!"

"Finally, I had no other choice, so I bit my fingertip and let a drop of blood fall on it. Guess what happened?"

Wang Xiaoer looked at him.

"The blood flowed down the stone without leaving a trace!"

Zhang Chen shrugged, his face clearly showing his despair.

"The conclusion is that this is just an ordinary rock formation, nothing special!"

"All that work for nothing, it would have been better to have earned 500,000."

Zhang Chen was completely deflated. He looked at the stone as if it were an enemy, and then lightly kicked it, making it roll to the corner of the wall.

Out of sight out of mind.

Wang Xiaoer also thought the stone was nothing special.

He was about to say a few words of comfort to Zhang Chen when, as if possessed, his gaze fell on the stone in the corner of the wall.

An inexplicable impulse welled up from the bottom of my heart.

Just like the uncontrollable thought he had when he saw an old lady being bullied in the night market.