Chapter 12 Just teasing you After saying this, Liu Yonglu felt that it was a bit hasty and a rare awkward smile appeared on his face. "Dou Nivar?" Aunt Lucy looked confused. It was the first time she heard such a strange name. "Yes, almost. I'm from another place, so my accent is a bit heavy." "Oh, then Mr. Bean, I wonder how much it would cost to solve this particular case?" Sister Lucy could more or less guess that these uninvited investigators were often not registered with the headquarters and were taking private jobs, which required corresponding remuneration. "Sister, how much can you give?" "...20 pounds." It's not that Aunt Lucy is stingy. Excell is located in a remote area, and the church's funding is not much. The monastery also has to support several children in the small orphanage. In order to survive, the nuns had to convert the two small buildings into a hotel for temporary guests. They would also sell sweet and delicious egg tarts to the public on the porch connected to the kitchen every afternoon. These two sources of income were enough to barely make ends meet. To be honest, 20 pounds is already the limit of the monastery.
That’s all? Liu Yonglu's heart sank. He had heard Marquette talk about such a huge amount before, and he thought he could earn a lot. But 20 pounds was less than half a month's salary, it was too little. "Do you have anything else valuable?" Liu Yonglu asked as he looked around. "There are a few antiques of unknown age. We are a small monastery in the countryside. We usually have to rely on small hotels and selling egg tarts to subsidize the children's expenses." Aunt Lucy walked with him, using her body to block Liu Yonglu's wanton gaze from time to time. "Antique...egg tarts!? Let me try them." Liu Yonglu loves sweets, and he immediately became interested when he heard about egg tarts. Aunt Lucy took out the remaining egg tarts from yesterday's sale from the cupboard and put them on a plate for him. Liu Yonglu didn't hesitate and took a bite, stuffing the egg tart, which was as big as a baby's fist, into his mouth. "Not bad, moderately sweet, the crust is crispy, and the milky flavor is strong. What else do you add to the egg tarts? Why does it have a special aroma?" “Cinnamon, we added homemade cinnamon.” "Okay, this is it!" Liu Yonglu showed off three in one breath before wiping his mouth and saying. "This? You want egg tarts as payment?" "It's not egg tarts. I want the recipe. Give me the recipe and any antique. I'll do it for you." Liu Yonglu has no other hobbies except eating. His cooking skills are also pretty good. He thought that this recipe might be useful in the future. At the very least, he could go back and bake some egg tarts for himself. "no problem." Sister Lucy smiled brightly. In her eyes, the recipe was worthless, and the antiques in the monastery basement did not seem to be valuable. On the contrary, saving the precious 20 pounds was very important to her. Nothing happened that night. The next day, Liu Yonglu finished his breakfast and went to the chapel. In his eyes, this commission was not a difficult task. How difficult could a child be to deal with? Liu Yonglu is considered the king of the children in their residential building. When he comes back from the folk art troupe, he often plays football with the children and plays with Ultraman cards. "Joshua is inside, Mr. Bean, let's go in. I wonder if your management department can contact other orphanages or people.
Although...Joshua is a little strange, we still hope that he can grow up well. " Sister Lucy hid behind Liu Yonglu and added tremblingly that although the child was strange, she was also afraid that the gentleman from the Special Events Management Department would use extreme measures. The two pushed open the wooden door and saw Joshua, dressed in black, still sitting on the small chair, flipping through a scripture of the Saint's Church. Hearing someone coming in, he turned around and looked at Liu Yonglu with emotionless and calm eyes. "Wow, are you reading? What a cute kid! He has a really big forehead, with a round nose and a round back (describing the shape of the head)." Liu Yonglu walked over and rubbed Joshua's head with his hands, making his half-long black hair messy. "Don't stay indoors reading all the time, go out and play some football and get some fresh air." After saying that, he held Joshua's shoulders and carried him down from the chair, and at the same time gave Sister Lucy a look that meant, leave it to me, you go do your own thing. But what neither Liu Yonglu nor the nun noticed was that the moment Joshua was picked up, he stretched out his left hand with six fingers and picked up a few strands of his hair from Liu Yonglu's shoulder. This movement can no longer be described as fast; it is impossible for the human eye to capture it. Sister Lucy put her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. Joshua used to have a strange and unapproachable temperament, and since he became the "Son of the Devil", no one in the monastery dared to touch him. And this Mr. Bean was truly extraordinary. He didn't care at all about the strange things happening to Joshua. "Joshua... this name always feels a bit weird..." Joshua didn't say anything, but just looked up at Liu Yonglu quietly. The look in his eyes was hollow, as if they had no focus, and Sister Lucy had noticed that before. Although Joshua could communicate, his eyes would not look at anyone. He didn't lower his head to avoid sight. On the contrary, his face was always facing the person speaking, and he didn't blink. It's just that the look in his eyes... had a strange sense of inclusion, and everyone in his field of vision was worthy of attention. The reflection in his pupils was pitch black, as if the all-encompassing world had sunk in and nothing could escape. Liu Yonglu didn't think much about it, his conclusion was... The child is introverted! Nowadays, children have few entertainment activities. They stay at home and have no love from their parents. They gradually become introverted. "Don't worry about what they call you. I will call you Little Tiger. When I call you, you agree." "Little Tiger." The boy in front of him looked quietly at Liu Yonglu who was squatting on the ground. "Promise me, I'll call you Xiaohu." "Hey." The boy's voice was flat and dry, and it didn't seem like the sound that could be produced by human vocal cords. "That's right, you call me... My last name is Dou, and my name is Dou Ni Wan." Liu Yonglu looked at the nun behind him warily. Since he had given a false name in the monastery, he had no choice but to use it to the end.
"Tease...Tease you." "That's right, I'm calling you, Xiaohu. You answer." "Hey." "Call me." "Just to tease you." "What a smart boy! Let's go and play outside." Liu Yonglu walked in front and led the children into the yard. Xiaohu did as the nun said and did not play with the other children. He ran to the big tree and played with the ants. He was playing there, and Liu Yonglu made a cup of tea and squatted beside him, thinking about something. Solve special events... How do I solve this child? Follow me from now on? That's definitely not possible. Even if he can follow me in Excel, what if I have to go on a business trip to another place? I can't always follow him, because the child has to go to school when he is old enough. Otherwise, I will report it to the operator in a couple of days and contact the local rescue department, and then I’ll find my parents and go back to school. Well, let's do it. I have to investigate the cult later. Should I leave the monastery for him? No, it makes me look unprofessional. People will see that I haven't done any work and won't pay when they come back to pay. Then take him with me? Yes, take him with me. It would be too conspicuous for me to investigate the cultists alone. If I take him with me, I can say that he is my nephew and I am his uncle. It can also be a cover for my identity. In Liu Yonglu's eyes, Xiaohu is an introverted autistic child, and investigating cult members is equivalent to dealing with a pyramid scheme den. There was a housewife in Liu Yonglu's community. Her husband worked in another city, and the woman was obsessed with money and was deceived into the den. In the end, it was Liu Yonglu who helped his family find the person. In his opinion, a guy in his 20s like him is not easily recruited by pyramid schemes. First of all, they have too strong a sense of self-awareness. If brainwashing fails, they will easily resist violently and are not as easy to control as older women. Furthermore, undercover journalists are mostly young men, and pyramid schemers are most wary of this type of people, and their identity checks are particularly strict. If I go alone to investigate the cultists, they will definitely become suspicious and may beat me up without even listening to my explanations. It’s different when you bring a child as a cover, it looks like you’re sincere at first glance. While Liu Yonglu was squatting under the tree thinking about something, Xiaohu was playing with ants. At first, hundreds of ants were just carrying food on the ground in a chaotic and disorderly manner. But as Xiaohu's left thumb continued to tap the ground, the ants gradually became orderly, forming all kinds of strange symbols and patterns on the ground. Xiaohu stretched out his left hand and placed a square piece of silk paper on the ground. On the paper was written "Just for fun" in white chalk. On the silk paper was a strand of hair that had just been taken from Liu Yonglu. The ants twisted their bodies wildly, and many of them fell to the ground because they could not endure the intense movement. Other ants then dragged their companions' bodies to the middle of the pattern and piled them up. More and more ants died of exhaustion, and formic acid was secreted under the scorching sun, emitting a unique smell. When the ants' dance reached its climax, the square of silk paper and the hair on it suddenly disappeared. They were not blown away by the wind nor were they torn into pieces or dissolved. Instead, their color became lighter and lighter and they just disappeared out of thin air. The darkness in Xiaohu's eyes grew darker, and the extra thumb on his left hand trembled happily, gradually turning red as if it was about to bleed.
Just when he was about to do something, he saw several streams of dark brown hot tea suddenly appear on the ground! The ants had no way to escape and were swept away by the sudden "flood", being torn all over the place and completely defeated. "Xiao Hu, are you playing with ants? Bye Bye, let me play with you for a while." It turned out that a few minutes ago, Liu Yonglu felt that he had thought of all the details and finally remembered that there was such a child in front of him. When he was a kid, he also loved playing with ants, and his favorite thing was taking off his pants and flooding the army. But now he was in the monastery, and he couldn't pee in public. Hey, luckily he still had half a bowl of tea in his hand, so he didn’t waste any of it (jin means waste in a light voice), as he poured it all on the ants. "How is it? It's fun, right? Do you know where the ant hole is? We'll get some water and flood it later." Xiaohu slowly raised his head, his ink-black eyes trembled slightly, and he met Liu Yonglu's idle and playful smile. "What's wrong? Don't you want to play? The child is so nice and kind-hearted. Why don't you pack up and go for a walk on the street together?" Welcome everyone to comment and read (End of this chapter)