Chapter 119 The Singer, Oh, Singer 52

Lin Xiangjun raised an eyebrow.

The Landlady was clearly deliberately hiding the mother-son relationship between her and the Supermarket Owner—otherwise, if your mother went to the convenience store you opened to buy a bag of rice, and not only did you not call her "Mom," but you also made her pay, the Old Lady would have to be incredibly self-restrained not to pull out her umbrella and crack the Supermarket Owner's head open.

"Go inside and talk."

The Old Lady looked around nervously and lowered her voice.

Seeing the Old Lady looking around, the Supermarket Owner followed suit.

Unfortunately, neither of them had sharp eyes; four eyes failed to spot Lin Xiangjun, so looking was purely a waste of time.

The Old Lady went in first, and the Supermarket Owner checked the surroundings again, confirming everything was fine before closing the door.

It was now past midnight, and the Invisibility Cloak's usage had refreshed, but using the once-a-day allowance on this seemed a bit unworthy.

Seeing that the two had entered the room and closed the door, they hadn't even turned on the lights, presumably to avoid drawing attention.

She crawled out from behind the clutter, rubbed her palms together, nimbly climbed up to the second floor of the supermarket using the air conditioning unit, and then quietly pushed open the window and climbed inside.

The room she was in seemed to be a warehouse for storing goods; rice, flour, cooking oil, and snacks were piled high, filling more than half the room.

Through the door, she heard the footsteps of the Old Lady and the Supermarket Owner coming upstairs.

"Mom, what exactly is going on?"

There was a hint of confusion and anxiety in the Supermarket Owner's voice.

The Old Lady was old and had been walking in a rush; now, her steps on the stairs were heavy and slow. As she panted, she said: "Xiao Cheng, Hou Pan might be in trouble."

Hou Pan?

The Supermarket Owner was stunned: "How could Hou Pan be in trouble? Hasn't he been hiding perfectly fine? That person didn't even go to Building 39 today, so how could he be in trouble? Mom, are you muddled from sleep and having a nightmare?"

This passage contained a massive amount of information, practically summarizing in one sentence the guesses that Lin Xiangjun had struggled to piece together over the past two days of running around.

"Although your mother is old, I am far from being muddled! That person didn't go to Building 39 today, but she came to our Building 40 and went to my tenant's apartment!"

After recounting what had just happened to the Supermarket Owner, the Old Lady and the Supermarket Owner turned a corner and walked into the room to the right of Lin Xiangjun.

It must have been a bedroom, as she heard the sound of two people sitting on a bed.

Lin Xiangjun pressed her ear against the wall.

After her hearing was enhanced, the voices of the two, though separated by a wall, were still very clear.

The Old Lady told the Supermarket Owner everything that had just happened, ending with a deep sense of lingering fear.

"Xiao Lin, that young girl who rents my place, said very clearly at the time that that person came wearing a red dress! She also said that that person dragged a strange man out from under her bed and beat him up—who else could that person have been looking for besides Hou Pan? Hou Pan must have been hiding somewhere and got discovered!"

"I felt panicked when I heard this news, so of course, I had to come over to check on Hou Pan's situation."

The Supermarket Owner pondered for a moment, still not quite daring to believe it.

"Why do I feel like what that Xiao Lin said sounds like a lie?"

"What?" The Old Lady was stunned.

The Supermarket Owner began to analyze it point by point.

"She said that person was wearing a red dress, but did any of you see it?"

"Well, no..."

"Then did you see the person who was supposedly beaten up, who might have been Hou Pan?"

"Neither did we..."

"We didn't see anything, so how can we be sure that what Xiao Lin said is true?"

The Old Lady seemed stumped by the question and couldn't say anything for a moment.

The Supermarket Owner continued: "Mom, think about it. Hou Pan has been hiding perfectly fine. Even if he sent that substitute out, it was just wandering around the alley. How could he suddenly run under that Xiao Lin's bed? What for? Besides, we didn't see anything, so how do we know that Xiao Lin isn't lying to us?"

The Old Lady seemed stumped.

After about ten seconds, she finally seemed to react and asked with a hint of panic: "Xiao Cheng, you said if what Xiao Lin said was a lie, what was her purpose? Does she know..."

The two voices suddenly stopped.

What was the purpose of telling such a lie that seemed to have no benefit to her at all?

This was aimed at them!

This was testing them!

The Old Lady's heart tightened suddenly.

She reflexively grabbed the Supermarket Owner's hand, her tone even carrying a faint, barely noticeable sob.

"Could she, could she..."

Could she already know?

Know where Hou Pan is hiding?

If she already knew—no, that's not right. Her current behavior clearly shows that she already knows. If she really didn't know anything, she wouldn't use this kind of lie to test them.

Although the situation was not optimistic, the Supermarket Owner still did his best to comfort the Old Lady.

"She's only been here for two days; she can't possibly know that many details. If she really had found everything out, she wouldn't need to tell such lies to test us. She definitely doesn't know where Hou Pan is hiding right now. We just need to be careful and try not to go find him for the next two days..."

Lin Xiangjun listened for a while longer, but found that what followed were just useless words of comfort. Not wanting to waste any more time, she was about to climb out of the window.

The Old Lady suddenly sighed deeply.

"All these grudges, when will the cycle of revenge end? She's been dead for so long, why can't she just let go of these things and be reincarnated into a good life?

"Hou Pan was young at the time; he didn't mean it. Seeing him hiding and cowering like this, my heart feels like it's dying...

"She's dead and gone, why can't she let the living live well? Even if she gets her revenge, it will only cost Hou Pan's life, and she won't be able to move on either..."

If your heart feels like it's dying, then just die.

Lin Xiangjun thought with a heart devoid of ripples.

Hou Pan persecuted Hu Zhengzheng. Now that Hu Zhengzheng has finally become a ghost and has the ability to take revenge, you open your mouth and spout "when will the cycle of revenge end," and expect the victim to let go of the grudge to let that piece of trash live well.

Are you kidding me?

What is Hu Zhengzheng doing, wandering around and singing in the alley every night after becoming a ghost?

Is she doing it because there are fewer people out at night? Or because the acoustics for singing are better at night?

You're an old person with one foot in the grave, yet every time you open your mouth, you're just spouting nonsense; you've lived your whole life in vain.

You usually pretend to be quite the human.

Looking at it now, your ideological awareness isn't even as good as Tiger Wang's.

At least Tiger Wang would drop loot for her before he died.

This dead old hag only knows how to spout nonsense.

Before leaving, Lin Xiangjun didn't forget to quietly push open the door and set up surveillance, listening devices, and explosive packs throughout the entire supermarket.

Don't ask why she had explosive packs.

If you ask, it's because the offerings she burns come in a complete variety.