Me! A high-ranking official!

Xu Qingqing was helped up from the ground. She was still trembling and mumbling something indistinctly. It was hard to hear clearly, but you could tell from her terrified eyes that she was completely scared.

Qi Xiongwen was in the worst condition. His face was swollen like a pig's head, and his eyes were only slits. He was being dragged out by his arms, groaning and moaning. It was hard to tell if he was crying out in pain or cursing.

Liu Guobin walked up to Zhao Jianguo, looked at him silently for a few seconds, and then extended his hand.

He paused for a moment, then quickly reached out and shook hands with him. Liu Guobin then said in a deep voice:

"Comrade Zhao Jianguo, thank you for your report. The organization will thoroughly investigate this matter and give you an explanation. However, we may need you to come over later to cooperate with our investigation!"

Zhao Jianguo nodded and said emphatically, "Thank you. I will fully cooperate with the work, and I also hope that the county discipline inspection commission will not engage in favoritism or malpractice, and will severely punish Cao Wenting, this kind of parasite on the organization!"

Liu Guobin patted him on the shoulder, turned around and walked out the door.

It was already noon when I came out of Cao Wenting's house.

The May sun blazed down relentlessly, making my scalp tingle. Standing at the entrance of the residential area, my stomach rumbled once, followed by another rumble like thunder.

He then realized that he hadn't eaten anything since last night. He had spent the night drinking at the bar, and this morning he ran away from the hotel. He was terrified by the medical report, and when he got home he ran into that despicable couple. Then it was a fight, evidence collection, and waiting for the disciplinary committee to arrive. It's been going on until now.

He felt in his pocket, took out his phone and wallet. The phone screen was cracked, from when he was fighting with Qi Xiongwen. He opened his WeChat wallet and glanced at his balance: 126.3 yuan.

He rummaged through his wallet again, and inside lay two fifty-yuan bills, one twenty-yuan bill, and a few crumpled coins.

It adds up to less than three hundred yuan.

Today is May 12th, mid-month. His salary card is in Xu Qingqing's hands. Every month when he gets his salary, Xu Qingqing only leaves him 500 yuan for pocket money and transfers the rest. He has to live on this 500 yuan for a month. Smoking, breakfast, and occasionally eating out for lunch all have to come from this money.

He had a little over two hundred yuan left. He stood by the roadside, gave a bitter smile, and walked towards a Lanzhou beef noodle restaurant.

"Boss, one bowl of beef noodles, to go."

"Okay, six dollars."

He scanned the code, paid, and stood at the door waiting.

The noodles were ready, and he carried the plastic bag back home. He had nowhere else to go.

The cheapest hotel is 81 yuan a night. He doesn't have enough money for two days. He can't go to his friends' houses either. He's been married to Xu Qingqing for the past two years and has basically lost contact with his old friends. If he suddenly goes to their houses now, what will he say if they ask? He'll say that he caught his wife cheating on him, that he was suspended from his job, and that he has AIDS. He asked if he could stay at their houses for two days.

He couldn't bear the embarrassment, so he had to go back!

He absolutely did not want to go back to that house. There were filthy things left by that adulterous couple on the sofa, and he didn't want to touch the bed in the bedroom even more. Heaven knows how many times Xu Qingqing and Qi Xiongwen had rolled around on it.

I carried the noodles upstairs, opened the door, put the noodles on the coffee table, and went to the bathroom to wash my face.

I picked up the noodles, turned around, and went into the dining room. The dining room was connected to the living room, but at least there was a display shelf separating them, so I couldn't see the sofa.

I was so hungry that I wolfed down the noodles and soup. With something in my stomach, my mind cleared up a lot.

He started thinking about the day's events, took out his phone, opened his browser, and searched for early symptoms of AIDS.

Fever, sore throat, night sweats, swollen lymph nodes, rash...

He read through them one by one, and the more he read, the colder he felt inside.

He seemed to have all of these symptoms, yet he also seemed not to have any. He thought he had a low-grade fever last month, but he didn't take it seriously and just took two fever reducers and felt better. As for the swollen lymph nodes, he touched his neck but couldn't figure out what was wrong.

He then searched for early symptoms of syphilis.

Chancre, syphilitic rash...

He felt a chill run down his spine and quickly closed the page.

Regardless of whether there are symptoms or not, the medical examination report does not lie. The county hospital will carefully verify the report for this disease.

What he needs to do now is not scare himself, but to get treatment as soon as possible. He also searched for AIDS treatment options.

Antiviral treatment requires lifelong medication and regular check-ups. As for the cost, the government has a free medication policy, but the free medications have significant side effects. Many people experience dizziness, nausea, and liver damage after taking them. Better imported medications require out-of-pocket payment, ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan per month.

Syphilis can be cured with penicillin, but the key is early detection and treatment; delaying treatment can lead to serious consequences.

In the end, it all comes down to money.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

His current situation is that his job has been suspended, and he has definitely lost his salary. He only has a little over a hundred yuan on him, and no money in his bank account. He has given all his salary for the past two years to Xu Qingqing. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't even know how he got through the past two years.

With a monthly salary of over 5,000 yuan and a performance bonus at the end of the year, the total over two years would amount to at least 130,000 to 140,000 yuan, all of which was in Xu Qingqing's hands. Xu Qingqing also had a job at the county cultural center, working under her mother's name, holding a nominal position but not actually working, but still receiving a full salary of over 4,000 yuan a month. Together, the two of them earned nearly 10,000 yuan a month. In this county town, while not exactly wealthy, they were certainly living a comfortable life.

But what's the reality? He only has 500 yuan for pocket money each month, while Xu Qingqing never hesitates to buy bags and clothes. A single bag can cost several thousand yuan, and a coat can cost several thousand yuan. If he says anything, Xu Qingqing will retort, "What can you do with that little money? I spend my own money, what's it to you?"

At the time, he thought Xu Qingqing made sense; other people's money is theirs to spend however they want. But now that he thinks about it, damn it, other people's money is their own, but what about his money? It all went into filling the family's hole, and in the end, he didn't even have money for medical treatment.

He must get a share of this house.

But this house belongs to Cao Wenting and is registered under her name. I don't know if I can claim a share of it. And if Cao Wenting goes to jail, these assets might be seized. What if even the house is taken away and he has nowhere to live?

He dared not think any further.

A public official who has AIDS is fired from his job. Who would dare hire him? Which company doesn't conduct pre-employment medical examinations? If you test positive for HIV, they'll immediately find an excuse to dismiss you.

Forget it, let's take a step by step.

He temporarily suppressed these worries, but another thought popped into his mind.

That small bowl.

In Cao Wenting's dark room, the small brass bowl slipped into his palm.

The situation was too urgent at the time, and he didn't have time to think it through. Now that he's calmed down, he can't help but feel a sense of suspicion!

How did a metal antique end up inside a person's body?

He looked down at his right hand.

The cut on my finger from the metal box was still there, scabbed over, dark red, about two centimeters long. My palm was clean, with nothing there, no wound, no trace, just like before.

He turned his hands over and over and looked at them several times, then touched his arms and body, but found nothing.

Did you really go inside? Or were you just hallucinating because you were too nervous?

wrong.

If it was a hallucination, how could he explain his sudden increase in strength?

Qi Xiongwen was trained; he was over 1.8 meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with arms thicker than his thighs. Although he was also 1.8 meters tall, he only weighed a little over 140 kilograms. In front of Qi Xiongwen, he was like a monkey compared to a gorilla. Qi Xiongwen could easily beat him. But just now, he kicked Qi Xiongwen over with one foot, straddled Qi Xiongwen, and slapped him so hard that he didn't even have the strength to fight back.

He also pushed Cao Wenting and Xu Qingqing away, sending them flying three or four meters away – something he was never capable of doing before.

Furthermore, he could see Qi Xiongwen's punches clearly; every movement seemed to be slowed down by half a beat. He could not only see them clearly but also predict them and react in advance—a feeling he had never experienced before.

Could it really be that small bowl that brought about the change?

But where did that thing go? As he was pondering this, his hand suddenly felt heavy.

He looked down and froze.

He held the small brass bowl neatly in his hand.

The small bowl is a dark brass color all over, with a slightly flared rim, a rounded belly, and a low ring foot at the bottom. Some blurry patterns can be faintly seen on the outer wall.

He couldn't help but widen his eyes, staring at the small bowl in his hand. How did this thing come about?

He had nothing in his hands just now, how did it suddenly appear out of thin air?

He tried to touch it; his fingers touched the bowl's surface. It was cold, hard, and had a real, tangible metallic feel—it wasn't an illusion.

He turned the small bowl over and over to examine it. Apart from its simple and antique shape, he couldn't see anything special about it. But this very thing had just entered his body and was now inexplicably popping out again.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He was a government employee who received decades of atheistic education and never believed in anything supernatural or ghostly, but what is happening to him now is something that cannot be explained by any science.

Unless... he suddenly realized a possibility: this thing could obey his commands.

He had been wondering where the little bowl had gone, whether it had really crawled into his body and then it had come out on its own.

He stared at the small bowl and tentatively whispered a single word.

"receive."

My palm suddenly felt empty; the small bowl had vanished into thin air, without me even noticing.

Upon seeing this, his heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly said again, "Come out."

My palm suddenly felt heavy, and the small bowl reappeared.

He tried it four or five times, taking it in and taking it out, taking it in and taking it out, and it worked every time, it was incredibly effective!

He sat in the chair, holding the small bowl, his mind in turmoil.

This thing can really obey his commands; it's hidden inside his body and can be summoned at any time.

Although he couldn't understand the underlying principle, the facts were right in front of him, leaving him no choice but to believe it.

He then thought about how his strength had increased; could it also be related to this small bowl?

He held the small bowl, vaguely sensing that this thing was not so simple. An antique that could penetrate into the human body and increase a person's strength and improve their eyesight was definitely not an ordinary thing.

He held the small bowl, turning it over and over, examining it carefully.