“Why didn’t you order until you saw me?”
Fang Qiu was speechless.
Soon.
The noodles were served.
He Gaoming said nothing but took his chopsticks and began to eat. While eating, he ordered another bowl of noodles.
He ate contentedly.
Thus, Fang Qiu felt it inappropriate to interrupt his activity.
Unexpectedly, He Gaoming ate three more bowls of noodles in a row.
After he had drunk every drop of the soup, he covered his stomach and said happily, “Great!”
“Have you had enough?”
Fang Qiu asked.
“Yes, I have.”
He Gaoming nodded.
“Then, let’s get down to business.”
Fang Qiu pursed up his lips.
“This…”
He Gaoming gently sighed with emotion, “I don’t know what to say about the man you asked me to look into.”
“Why?”
Fang Qiu asked.
“He committed all manners of crimes for the first half of his life and was a villain both at ordinary times and in prison! He only got out of prison three years ago. But since then, this guy changed a lot. Instead of continuing to do evil, he only did good things.”
Speaking of this, He Gaoming frowned and shook his head.
Then, he took out a stack of literal data and some photos from the briefcase he had been keeping at his feet and handed them to Fang Qiu.
“These are the records of what he did as a child and the testimonies of some people, as well as what happened in prison.”
Fang Qiu took it and looked at it.
He was struck dumb instantly.
“This guy even got a record of Wei Dong’s performance in prison. He sure has some connections!”
Then he looked at it carefully.
On this side.
While Fang Qiu was checking out the materials, He Gaoming took some other materials out from his briefcase and put them on the table.
“These are the proof of Wei Dong’s support for the five students in the poor mountainous areas.”
Fang Qiu read through the data of Wei Dong.
He then continued to pick up the profiles of the poor students.
He read them all carefully.
He felt the same strong shock in his heart again.
From these data, Wei Dong’s real situation was even more incredible than what he himself had said.
“It’s hard to believe that a person who was so wicked can become such a good person.”
When Fang Qiu finished reading, He Gaoming sighed and said, “The situation is very simple. My investigation didn’t take long. But there’s one thing you may not know.”
“What is it?”
Fang Qiu put down the data in his hand.
“It was learned that when he went to you for treatment, half of his injuries were caused by hard work and half by a foreman, his immediate superior.”
He Gaoming said.
In the data, Fang Qiu saw that He Gaoming investigated where and when Wei Dong went very clearly, so naturally, he also knew that Fang Qiu was a doctor.
He felt surprised about that.
“Is there such a thing?
Fang Qiu frowned and asked.
Wei Dong was badly hurt. Fang Qiu was well aware of that when he was treating him. He did not expect that there were other reasons besides Wei Dong’s own reason.
Why should a foreman beat Wei Dong when the latter was seriously ill?
He was confused.
Moreover, he was angry inwardly.
Although Wei Dong used to be a bad man, he was now a good man. He had been working hard for three years. He didn’t want to spend the money he earned to rent a place to live and gave it all to help the poor students in the mountainous areas. How could the foreman beat such a man?
“I found out everything.”
Speaking of this matter, He Gaoming was also angry. He gnashed his teeth and said, “The foreman owed Wei Dong half a year’s wages. Wei Dong went to him for salary but was hit out. The reason was that the apartment building was unfinished due to a lack of money. Wei Dong now lives under the bridge not far from the half-finished building. He lives there at night and goes out to do odd jobs during the day. There are other foremen who can pay his wages.”
Hearing this, Fang Qiu narrowed his eyes.
A cold light flashed across his eyes.
He had heard a great deal about arrears of wages, but now it sounded even more infuriating.
For Wei Dong, those wages were the money he had paid with his life!
It was the hope of the few students in the poor mountainous areas!
So, even if he knew he was going to be beaten, he had to bite the bullet to ask for it.
The most hateful person was that foreman.
He should beat a man who had done so much work for him and was eaten up with diseases.
This was intolerable!
“Where is the specific address of the half-finished building in the west of the city?”
Fang Qiu asked in a deep voice.
“Right at the end of the data, I’ve written the address of the foreman down at the back.”
He Gaoming said.
“Thank you.”
Fang Qiu nodded, took the document, and got up to leave.
“Wait, I’m going with you.”
He Gaoming made a sound quickly. He shouted to the stall keeper as he held Fang Qiu back. “Check, boss.”
“I’m coming!”
The stall keeper trotted all the way here and said, “Five bowls of noodles, 40 yuan altogether.”
He Gaoming just sat there as if he hadn’t heard it.
Fang Qiu, who was stopped by He Gaoming, also sat there and waited for him to pay the bill.
He waited for quite a while, but He Gaoming did not move at all.
Fang Qiu looked at He Gaoming, wondering what he meant.
Come on, pay the bill!
On that side.
He Gaoming looked straight at Fang Qiu, too.
There was a brief silence for several seconds before he spoke to Fang Qiu, “Why didn’t you pay the bill?”
“I?”
Fang Qiu was lost.
“Or else?”
He Gaoming said naturally, “Then why did I call you?”
“I am strapped for cash now! I donated all the money you gave me to those students in poor mountainous areas. How can I have any more money with me?”
“Really?”
Fang Qiu asked, somewhat surprised.
“Of course, it’s real!”
He Gaoming added with a sigh, “You don’t know that after I went there, I was moved to tears. They’re living a hard life! As a human being, as a man, as a responsible emotional man, how can I fold my hands and see them suffer. So I gave away all my money, leaving only the money for my journey back.”
While saying, he glanced at the stall owner.
He seemed to want another bowl of noodles.
Fang Qiu was stunned.
He did not expect the young detective to be so righteous!
Judging from his indignant manner when he talked about the fact that Wei Dong was beaten, what he said could not be false.
“I’ll pay the bill for you.”
With a smile, Fang Qiu took out a hundred yuan and handed it to the stall owner.
The stall owner went to get the change.
They sat there and waited.
“To tell you the truth.”
He Gaoming grinned, patting Fang Qiu on the shoulder. “The task was easy, but I charged a little too much. However, I’ve given all my money away now, and I don’t have any left for you.”
Fang Qiu said nothing.
It was okay so long as the money was used in the right way.
Anyway, even if the money came back to him, it would be donated by him.
“I am, however, a stickler for principle!”
He Gaoming continued, “I won’t refund you the money, so I’ll give you a free deal. If you ever need anything in the future, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
“Fine!”
Fang Qiu readily agreed.
“By the way, if someone bullies you, you can also contact me.”
As he said this, He Gaoming swung his hair rather sharply to show that he was powerful.
He waited a long time but failed to get any response from Fang Qiu. Therefore, he said to Fang Qiu mysteriously, looking around and lowering his voice, “I’ll tell you a secret. I’m no ordinary person. I’m an expert!”
“Do you know what an expert is?”
“It’s someone who’s able to wander around the world wantonly and surpass all the true heroes of Greenwood!”
Fang Qiu couldn’t help shaking his head and smiling at his words.
“Isn’t it a warrior?”
“How can a warrior wander around the world wantonly and surpass all the true heroes of Greenwood?”
“What? You don’t believe me?”
Seeing that Fang Qiu didn’t believe him, He Gaoming grinned, reached out, and pulled a chopstick from the chopsticks container on the table.
“I can break a chopstick with ease.”
He Gaoming made a slight effort.
“Snap!”
A soft sound was heard.
The chopstick broke.
Then he looked at Fang Qiu with a mysterious smile on his face and grabbed ten pairs of chopsticks out from the container.
“That’s ten pairs of chopsticks. They’re a unity. But…”
“Snap!”
He Gaoming exerted force, and the ten pairs of chopsticks in his hand suddenly broke like the previous one.
He succeeded in breaking chopsticks.
He Gaoming was more pleased with himself. He directly lifted his head up as though he were looking at Fang Qiu with his chin. He was waiting for a look of shock and admiration from Fang Qiu.
Unexpectedly, seeing this scene, Fang Qiu curled his lips helplessly. He turned to the returning stall owner and said, “Boss, count the cost of the chopsticks.”
The owner who had just gone for change turned and went for it again.
Hearing this and seeing this, He Gaoming was speechless.
“Where’s your worship?”
“Where’s your look of shock?” he thought.
He still didn’t give up even after Fang Qiu paid the bill.
Seeing that Fang Qiu was going to leave, he instantly rose and put his arm around Fang Qiu’s shoulders, saying, “Believe it or not. When I’m free, I’ll take you to a world that belongs to me to have a look and let you know what an expert is!”
Fang Qiu smiled faintly.
He said, pulling another 100 yuan from his trouser pocket and handing it to He Gaoming, “Since you have no money, it’s at your disposal now.”
After that, he turned around and left.
“This…”
Looking at Fang Qiu’s back and the money in his hand, He Gaoming immediately rolled up the cuffs and shouted angrily at Fang Qiu’s back, “Are you giving alms to a beggar? Give me 200 yuan if you can!”
Hearing the shout, Fang Qiu shook his head and smiled. Without looking back, he raised his right hand and shook it.
He left the alley.
And he went straight back to the school dormitory.
Then, he put down the information he had brought back from He Gaoming.
After all these, he was idly reading in bed.
Soon.
Night fell.
When his roommates were all asleep, he left the dormitory quietly and made a beeline for the location of the half-finished building at a fast pace.
Ten minutes later.
He came to the location recorded on the data.
Sure enough, he saw a half-finished building which was exposed in the wilderness.
From afar.
Fang Qiu could see the light flickering in the opening under the bridge not far from the building.
He moved closer to take a look at the person there.
It turned out to be Wei Dong.
At this time, Wei Dong was at the dry opening under the bridge. A ragged piece of cloth lay on the floor, and that was where he slept.
A small fire was built a meter from the rag.
On the fire stood a blackened pot.
There was hot gas rising from the pot. It looked like Wei Dong was boiling water.
Fang Qiu then took a look at Wei Dong.
Wei Dong was sitting on a rag and carefully taking out the remaining noodles from a nearby plastic bag. He went to the fire, put the noodles into the pot, and cooked them.
Against the firelight.
Fang Qiu could clearly see that Wei Dong’s face was bruised.
He must have been beaten up.
Looking at the scene from a distance, Fang Qiu took a deep breath and frowned unconsciously. He felt a strange, uncomfortable feeling in his heart.
At that very moment.
First, there came the sounds of brakes, and then footsteps.
Fang Qiu looked up.
He saw a group of more than ten people with ferocious looks run toward the opening where Wei Dong was at.
