Lin Li: "..."
Good, good, good. Lin Li now had a better understanding of his new brother's nature.
His people-reading skills were really accurate.
Of course, Lin Li wouldn't show this on his face, and instead said, "Bro, you're absolutely right. So where should we go for some late-night snacks?"
"You've asked the right person! I know a really good place nearby! Follow me!" The man patted his chest.
"Let's go!"
They didn't walk far before the other person led him to a barbecue restaurant.
For some reason, even though there were seats inside the restaurant, some people still liked to sit outside the barbecue place in summer, shirtless while eating meat and drinking.
This was only because Xiling Town was a small place—if this were a big city, these people would be posted on Xiaohongshu.
Lin Li naturally didn't sit outside, because what he was going to discuss with the other person would definitely not be suitable for children and couldn't be overheard. So they chose a quite secluded corner inside the restaurant.
"Want some Maotai?" The man asked Lin Li while checking items on the menu with his pen.
Lin Li: "..."
Damn old leech, I'd rather drink your brain juice right now.
Even though I'm treating, you want Maotai—isn't that a bit too much?
This guy—Lin Li probably couldn't find information about him on Baidu, but if he switched browsers and used Sogou, it would come up immediately.
"Bro, I'm a student, not a beast. When you're ripping me off, show some restraint. Don't bleed me dry." Lin Li looked at him with an indescribable expression.
He couldn't use his reward money like this.
"Oh oh, sorry, sorry. I saw you mention having connections at the station and thought you were some rich kid." The other person sincerely apologized upon hearing this and immediately crossed out some of the more expensive items he'd just selected.
"Alright, take a look now. I ordered for two people. I don't think you need kidneys, so I only ordered one portion. This comes to about sixty-something. See if you can accept it, or if there's anything else you want to add."
Lin Li breathed a sigh of relief. This was more like a human being.
Though quite unscrupulous, he was still somewhat decent.
Lin Li could accept this price. After briefly looking it over and adding a few skewers he wanted to eat, he handed it to the waiter.
"Here, have a cigarette." Since he knew from last time that Lin Li 'smoked,' the man didn't ask and directly placed a cigarette in front of Lin Li, then lit his own first.
This guy was also something else—his lighter was actually attached to his keychain.
His friends must live in agony—they couldn't even steal lighters anymore.
"Hey, why aren't you smoking?" When he was about to pass the lighter to Lin Li and noticed Lin Li hadn't picked it up, he asked.
Excuses were easy for Lin Li to find. He pointed at his school uniform, "I still have to wear this uniform to school tomorrow. If the teacher smells it, that wouldn't be good. I won't smoke—you go ahead, bro."
"My bad, my bad, my bad."
After hearing this explanation, the man first took a deep breath, then put his mouth to the cigarette filter and took a whale-like inhale. Like a strong wind blowing, the cigarette rapidly shortened until the tobacco was completely burned out.
He contentedly exhaled thick smoke behind him, then threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray.
What speed-smoking version was this? Did smoking one cigarette give ten gold coins? At this smoking rate, a pack a day wouldn't be enough.
"This is Nansang Middle School's uniform. I didn't recognize it outside in the dim light earlier. A key high school—impressive, little brother. I thought you were from some technical college. So even you key high school students go to those kinds of places?" After his satisfying smoke, he examined Lin Li's uniform with some surprised emotion.
"Haha, our school is like that." Lin Li laughed dryly.
He was already apologizing internally.
Sorry Principal Wang, sorry Teacher Xue Jian, sorry to all past, present, and future students of Nansang Middle School.
"Tsk—then I need to advise my nephew to change schools. He's in ninth grade this year and is about to take Nansang's early admission exam." The man shook his head slightly.
"Actually, it has nothing to do with the school—it mainly depends on the person." Lin Li didn't want to dream at midnight of the principal measuring his neck circumference at his bedside, so he thought he should restore Nansang's reputation.
"True."
"Your beer." The waiter came over. A bottle of ice-cold beer arrived before the barbecue.
"Do you drink?"
"I'm driving later, so no."
The man turned to look at the bicycle at the entrance, nodded in agreement. Of course a bicycle counted as a vehicle.
He then said: "Then I'll drink straight from the bottle without pouring it out?"
"Sure."
The man gulped down a third of the beer in one go and let out a long burp.
He was the type whose face flushed very quickly. With a slightly red face, he asked Lin Li: "Call me Brother Ping. Kid, what should I call you?"
"Brother Ping, I'm called Bai Bufan. Just call me Little Bai." Lin Li introduced himself.
"When you're out and about, don't casually give your real information, especially for people like us. Never give your full name in the future. You could even say you're called Little Black, though Little Bai and Little Black both sound like dog names. I'll still call you Little Fan."
Brother Ping frowned as he advised Lin Li, who seemed too naive in his eyes.
Lin Li blinked. You're surprisingly decent.
"Lesson learned, bro." In the future, his stage name would be Zhou Baowei, real name Bai Bufan—double insurance.
"But since we're brothers from the same path, there's really no need to be so careful. You've already opened your heart to me, so it would be meaningless for me to be secretive. I'm called Song Luping. You can still call me Brother Ping." Song Luping took another drink and said.
Bro, is it possible that you're more naive than me?
"Little Fan, let me tell you, something was definitely wrong about last Friday." Song Luping lowered his voice slightly and said seriously:
"There haven't been any anti-prostitution operations in Xiling recently, and Light Earl should have their own information channels—definitely more well-informed than me. When the cops came last Friday, you could tell at a glance it wasn't a situation they'd organized and rehearsed for in advance."
Worthy of being an old leech—he saw through the truth at a glance.
"Makes sense." Lin Li nodded.
"Damn it, I'd bet my life that there was definitely some son-of-a-bitch bastard who reported it that day, which is why the cops came. That damned bastard, harming others without benefiting himself, piece of shit."
The bastard himself placed his left hand over his lips, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Plum blossoms bloom twice.
Getting cursed at face-to-face again.
Damn, he needed to find a chance to give Song Luping the Arabian Goggles treatment too, same as Bai Bufan and Zhou Baowei.
Song Luping, still viciously cursing, noticed Lin Li hadn't been speaking and asked puzzledly:
"Little Fan, curse along with me! Damn it, you need to know it's because of this bastard that you got arrested! Come on, curse him viciously with me! Believe me, as long as we curse enough and harshly enough, that kid will definitely get his comeuppance!
Heaven's justice is clear, retribution never fails! I believe in this the most."
Believing it made him even less dare to curse.
But at this moment Song Luping was looking at him expectantly—not cursing would obviously be inappropriate.
Sorry, me.
"Brother Ping, you're right! Curse! Why wouldn't I curse? I'm absolutely furious! That reporting bastard."
Lin Li was filled with righteous indignation!
"Must be a bastard without a father!"
"I bet he can't even see his mother a few times a year!"
"Even if he has family, he definitely lives like an orphan!"
"I curse his internal yang energy to decrease by 50%!"
"Every morning when he wakes up, he can only be hard for a little while, then immediately goes soft!"
Lin Li cursed viciously.
(End of Chapter)
Xiaohongshu - Chinese social media platform, equivalent to Instagram
Maotai - Premium Chinese liquor brand, very expensive
Baidu vs Sogou - Chinese search engines, joke about finding different results