Li Cu furrowed his brows, scratched his hair, looked at Liang Wan, glanced at the business card, and suddenly realized something. He recalled everything that had just happened; although it all occurred very quickly and was almost overwhelming, he still remembered many details. As he thought about it, an idea emerged in his mind. However, this idea gave him a headache; if it was as he suspected, things would be too chaotic.

Damn, how messy must this situation be to drive someone to such a state?

“Stop crying,” Li Cu said. “Although I don’t know what kind of affair you have with him, he certainly isn’t unable to recognize you.”

“Don’t lie to me. If his performance just now was deliberate, then that would make him even more despicable than not recognizing me,” Liang Wan cried even harder.

Li Cu showed her the business card. Liang Wan took a glance and said, “Thanks, at least now I know what this bastard’s name is.”

“That’s not what I meant. Look at the line he wrote on the business card. Why would he secretly write something on it? It indicates that he doesn’t want anyone to discover this information he’s passing along.”

“So what?”

“Think about it. If he’s surrounded by his subordinates, he wouldn’t need to do this,” Li Cu said. “He only has one purpose in doing this—he doesn’t fully trust the people around him.”

“And then?”

“Then, if he doesn’t trust the people around him, maybe he sprays you with chili water or treats you badly for your own good,” Li Cu said.

Liang Wan wiped her tear-stained eyes, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, “You make a good point. So this person is also in a situation that troubles him?”

“This guy’s demeanor is already impressive. If he’s feeling troubled despite being so capable, then this must be a very distressing environment,” Li Cu replied.

“Right! You’re right.” Liang Wan looked at the address on the back of the business card. “Let’s go save him.”

Li Cu snatched the business card back and said, “Wait a minute, calm down first. Tell me what’s going on. It seems you’ve fallen for quite a few people. Personally, I think these people must be involved in some secret plan. How did you end up getting involved with so many of them?”

Liang Wan quickly grabbed the business card back and said, “Saving him is the priority. First, let’s see what this place is like and what might happen there, then I’ll decide whether to tell you.” She looked at the business card again. “This isn’t an address in Hangzhou; it should be a small town near Zhejiang. We should take a taxi now, and we can get there tonight.”

Four hours later, they had arrived in an alley of this small town. It was indeed a very small town; they had driven a long stretch of provincial road after exiting the highway. It was dark, and they couldn’t see much of the landscape, only feeling that it was all flat land; there wasn’t even a dirt mound in sight.

When they reached the town, all the lights were already out. Clearly, there wasn’t much nightlife here; it was very quiet.

“What a strange place. No one is on the streets by nine o’clock,” Liang Wan said. “I thought it was an exaggeration at first, but now it seems to be true.”

The taxi refused to enter the alley when it reached the entrance, seeing that the inside was pitch black. Liang Wan kept persuading, saying that we were just a small one and a delicate one, and there was absolutely no way he could do anything to us, so what was there to be afraid of? The taxi driver said, “Who knows if there are hundreds of big men lying in ambush inside the alley?” So they had no choice but to get out at the entrance.

The two of them stood at the alley entrance for a while. Liang Wan turned on the flashlight app on her phone, and they walked in. This was a typical southern alley, with small villa walls on both sides. At the end, there was an iron gate, behind which stood a farmer’s house. There were couplets posted by the door, the red paper had already faded, clearly indicating that the couplets were not from last year, but at least from the year before.

The iron gate was locked. Li Cu took out a business card and poked it into the keyhole, looking helplessly at Liang Wan. But Liang Wan said, “You’re the man here; shouldn’t you be the one to figure this out at a time like this?”

“This padlock is locked from the inside. Even if I climbed in, I wouldn’t be able to open the door,” Li Cu replied.

“Well, I don’t care. Are you expecting me to come up with a way to get us in?” Liang Wan put her hands on her hips and looked at Li Cu. He glanced at the iron gate, then at this woman, sighed, and knew that even if he was right, he couldn’t explain it clearly.

Climbing walls was nothing for him; he had managed to escape his father’s pursuit multiple times, relying mainly on his wall-climbing skills. How many times had Li Cu climbed walls? He couldn’t even keep track. From the beginning, when he often got stuck on the wall or tore his pants, to later when others came to ask him about the sixty-three spots to climb out of school, he was confident about all the elements involved in climbing anywhere.

Li Cu looked around the environment. This was a typical structure of southern Zhejiang farmer’s houses, with high walls and large courtyards. He could see branches of trees growing inside the walls from the top, and the absence of barking dogs indicated that neither this courtyard nor the surrounding neighbors had dogs. This made him feel a bit relieved, but for him, climbing over such a high wall would require something to give him a boost.

The alley was unusually clean, with no piles of junk he could use for leverage. The only thing nearby was a motorcycle locked to a pillar at another household’s entrance, which he couldn’t move. The only thing he could step on was clearly Liang Wan, and she was obviously not going to be a stepping stone.

Li Cu walked around the entrance three or four times, realizing that climbing up the wall was completely impossible. Liang Wan scolded, “Are you going to climb or not? What does acting indifferent mean?”

Li Cu replied, “You need to help me find a place to climb! I’m not a gecko; I can’t just step up a wall.”

As he spoke, Li Cu noticed the iron gate in front of them, which had many gaps from welding. This seemed to be the only place he could find a foothold. However, there was still more than a meter of courtyard wall above the gate. Even if he climbed to the top of the iron gate, there was nowhere to step on above that meter. He took a few steps back, used Liang Wan’s phone to shine a light, and began to feel a bit frustrated, thinking: Is my entire life going to be ruined in this place?

Aside from climbing the wall, was there any other way? As Li Cu pondered, he also found it strange: why was the defense of such a courtyard so tight? This did not resemble the typical state of southern Zhejiang farmer’s houses.

How to do? How to do? Li Zu turned his gaze to the gap in the iron gate, wondering if his hand could fit through, as he had some knowledge about picking locks. This made him feel quite embarrassed; he suddenly realized that all his skills were related to thievery. His father never intended for him to become a thief, so why had he ended up in this situation? But there was no time to think too much now. He tried to reach his hand through the gap near the lock, only to find it was impossible. The gap was extremely narrow, and it was clear that the door was of very good quality.

Everything, although seemingly rustic and simple, had hardly any common sense mistakes.

Li Zu sighed, and Liang Wan said, “Well, it seems you and I are thinking completely differently. You’ve really disappointed me. Should we go to town to buy some things and stay the night?”

Li Zu replied, “Not necessarily; there are actually many ways. For example, we could climb from the next door. There’s a motorcycle parked in front of the neighboring shop; it’s the only thing we can use to gain some leverage in this clean alley. We should be able to climb up using it.”

Liang Wan asked, “Are you sure about that?”

Li Zu said, “I’m not sure. If I get caught, just don’t worry about me. Remember to pretend to be my sister and come to the police station to pick me up tomorrow.”

With that, Li Zu adjusted his clothes, stepped onto the motorcycle, and jumped with all his might, his feet hitting the wall a few times before he managed to climb to the top of the wall.