RIACMET chapter 96

 

The day after Cheng Jing left on his mission, Jiang Nian opened the shop as usual. Coincidentally, Li Liang was on the morning shift.

As the commercial street grew busier, Li Liang routinely stepped out of the guard post to patrol the nearby roads.

When he wasn’t busy, he chatted with Jiang Nian, and time passed quickly. He also invited many of his colleagues to the shop to buy supplies. Jiang Nian generously gave his acquaintances a discount.

After all, the goal of doing business was to make money—it was just a matter of how much.

Earning a bit less and befriending a group of security personnel who managed the commercial street was a good deal, no matter how you looked at it.

When Li Liang got off duty at noon, he bought two lunches at the canteen and came to the shop to eat with Jiang Nian. After adding a few extra ingredients, the simple meal instantly became much more sumptuous.

To enjoy his meal in peace, Jiang Nian temporarily closed the glass door of the grocery store at midday.

It was his habit. He did it even when he was eating alone, mainly because he felt it was inelegant to sell things while eating.

Especially since there was always plenty of meat in his bowl at every meal.

In the kitchen at the back of the shop, Li Liang sipped iced tea and looked outside.

“Brother Nian, I don’t have any duties this afternoon, so I’ll write my report here and hand it in after work. I can watch the shop while you go out.”

Jiang Nian thought for a moment.

“Perfect timing. Li Sheng asked me to check out the dormitory where Jiang Wenwen lived. After that, I’m going back to the farm. You can keep an eye on the shop. You don’t need me to explain the inventory to you. You can eat whatever you want and take whatever you need back home.”

Today was the first day of construction on the farm. Although he trusted the construction foreman, he felt it would be better to see things for himself.

He genuinely felt at ease leaving the shop in Li Liang’s care.

Some of Li’s family members had a lot of credits in their accounts. They said they were grateful to him and always thought of him whenever they did something good.

That included Li Sheng. As long as it wasn’t a secret that couldn’t be shared, they would tell him any insider information as soon as possible. It was great.

These were friends he’d personally chosen.

“Got it, Brother Nian. I won’t be polite with you, haha…”

Li Liang had long since gotten used to everyone speaking so directly. They said whatever was on their minds without needing to guess at each other’s thoughts.

“…”

As they ate and chatted, Li Liang suddenly remembered something and said with a bright smile,

“Oh, right! Brother Nian, Liang Xiaoyan was there, so we didn’t mention it. Yesterday afternoon, after she came home from work, Xiaohui bought a wall-breaking tool and an automatic juicer and left them at the entrance.”

“Since I’m on the afternoon shift tomorrow, I’ll have someone adjust the wiring so it can connect to the generator. Then, I’ll move it this morning. Later on, if we get more vegetables and fruit, we can make juice.”

Jiang Nian’s eyes lit up when he heard that.

“That’s great. When Sister Qian gets back, have her bring some fruit. We can drink juice. If we have too much, we can add ice and sell it.”

After all, he had stored up a lot of seeds. As long as he purified the soil, making vegetable and fruit juice would be easy with Sister Qian’s superpowers nearby.

It didn’t matter if the juice wasn’t sweet enough because he also had sugar, honey, milk, and xylitol. He could make all sorts of sweet drinks.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Li Liang chuckled. Working here meant he definitely wouldn’t miss out on any of the good food in the shop.

After lunch, Li Sheng called Jiang Nian to arrange a meeting at the management office. After Jiang Nian left the grocery shop, Li Liang became the temporary manager.

…

Dormitory No. 1120 is in the outer area. The registered occupant, Jiang Wenwen, did not proactively check out. According to the regulations, the management office automatically reclaims the room after ten days in cases like this, cleans it out, and releases it to the next occupant.

This is the information that Jiang Nian and Li Sheng learned at the resettlement dormitory management office.

The office also informed them that Xia Weiwei had come by two days ago to inquire about her sister’s whereabouts. She had even suspected, quite unreasonably, that the office was hiding her sister.

Li Sheng then used his authority to check the entry and exit logs at the base gates.

He didn’t find any record of Jiang Wenwen leaving the base. Previously, Xia Weiwei had inquired about Jiang Wenwen as her relative.

In other words, even if Jiang Wenwen hadn’t left the dormitory voluntarily and disappeared on her own, it didn’t seem like Xia Weiwei was involved—she was searching for Jiang Wenwen, too.

However, based on his understanding of and intuition about Xia Weiwei, Jiang Nian didn’t fully believe that she was truly not involved.

Leaving the registration office by the base gates, Jiang Nian and Li Sheng headed for Room 1120.

As the moment drew closer, Jiang Nian couldn’t help but feel uneasy, remembering the awkward scene he’d witnessed yesterday.

Fortunately, when they arrived, the door to Room 1121 was wide open.

A woman wearing a low-cut, champagne-colored, silk slip dress was flirting with a burly, bearded, tattooed man at the doorway.

The man wore a gray jumpsuit over a white undershirt, and fresh scratch marks were visible on his muscular arms and neck.

The woman’s smile bloomed like a flower. A trace of lingering desire still lingered on her face, and ambiguous marks covered her neck and collarbone.

Any adult would know what had happened at a glance.

Sensing someone approaching, the tattooed man casually squeezed the woman’s waist twice, then turned to leave. He crossed paths with Jiang Nian and Li Sheng just in time.

He didn’t stop, only casting a glance at the half-open door of room 1120.

When the woman saw Jiang Nian, she froze for a moment. She looked like she wanted to roll her eyes but, when she noticed Li Sheng standing beside Jiang Nian in uniform, she let out a disappointed sigh and closed the door.

Li Sheng, who already had his hand on the doorknob of Room 1120, spoke first:

“Hold on. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

Seeing his serious expression, the woman smoothed her tousled hair and darted her eyes left and right. Before he could ask anything, she blurted out nervously,

“If you’re here about the girl next door, I don’t know anything. All I know is that she left in the middle of the night four days ago. Before she left, she had an argument with someone on the phone, and she threw some things.”

Li Sheng nodded.

“You saw her. Did you see her follow anyone, or…?”

“I didn’t see…”

The woman waved her hand in denial.

“It was that man who saw her. We’d just finished, and he heard things being thrown next door, so he went out.”

Li Sheng looked at the tall man walking away.

“Call your man back and ask him.”

“That wasn’t him—it was someone else…”

The woman denied it again, but then she realized something was off and corrected herself.

“That was my ex-boyfriend. We’ve broken up now.”

After saying that, she pretended to be embarrassed and lowered her head.

Standing to the side, Jiang Nian silently admired her:

Men were like clothes—they changed quickly.

“…”

Li Sheng remained silent for a moment, but he didn’t call her out on it. Instead, he waved his hand to show he understood, then walked toward Room 1120 with Jiang Nian.

The woman slammed her door shut.

A moment later, she came out again, holding a lit, slim women’s cigarette between her fingers. She no longer looked flustered, and she had sprayed on more perfume.

Leaning against the doorframe of Room 1120 in an alluring pose, she said to them,

“Oh, by the way, after she left, several people came looking for her— Men and women both. Among them was a rather pretty woman who claimed to be her sister, but those people haven’t come today. I don’t know if they’ve found her yet. You could try asking them.”

“… ”