66: Chapter 66 Pang Xietang Follows Bai Jingqing

That evening,

Pang Xietang's eyes never wavered from the shop across the street.

Finally, around 5:00 PM,

he saw Bai Jingqing let several employees in the shop off work,

then pull down the rolling shutter door and lock it,

clearly preparing to go out.

Only then did Pang Xietang realize

that he hadn't noticed before that this kid would actually go out after work.

Logically speaking, with the kid carrying so much debt

and currently having only this one mobile phone shop left,

he should have nowhere else to go.

Moreover, his bedroom was right behind the shop,

so he shouldn't have been going out after closing up;

he should have stayed inside to rest.

Pang Xietang really hadn't paid attention to this before.

Thinking about it now,

the kid going out after closing

must be, as Chairman Xue said,

because he was going out to restock.

Pang Xietang didn't dally either;

he quickly changed into a suit of black clothes,

put on a black mask and a hat to cover most of his face,

and closed his own shop door.

Bai Jingqing hadn't gone far yet,

so he followed him from a short distance away.

After walking a little way,

he saw Bai Jingqing arrive at a bus stop and wait,

apparently preparing to take a bus.

Pang Xietang also stopped,

standing not far from the bus stop,

leaning behind a large tree to wait along with him.

During this time, he kept pretending to play on his phone,

but his eyes would still steal glances at Bai Jingqing waiting there from time to time.

"He's actually taking a bus?

Where on earth is he going?"

Seeing that Bai Jingqing didn't even have a bag on him,

Pang Xietang felt again that he probably wasn't going to restock.

Then what exactly was he doing?

While Pang Xietang was wondering,

before he could figure it out,

he saw the bus arrive

and pull up to the stop,

and Bai Jingqing boarded directly.

Pang Xietang hesitated for a few seconds

and did not follow him onto the bus.

If they were on the same bus,

the risk of being exposed would be too high.

Before figuring out exactly what Bai Jingqing was up to,

Pang Xietang didn't want him to know he was being followed.

He noted down the bus's license plate number on his phone

and then watched as the bus drove away into the distance.

After Bai Jingqing boarded,

he sat in a seat near the front,

which happened to give him a view of the bus's rearview mirror.

He looked into the rearview mirror,

where he could clearly see a person dressed all in black

hiding sneakily behind a large tree,

peeking at the bus.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Bai Jingqing's mouth;

this guy wasn't too stupid,

at least he didn't follow directly onto the bus.

Having lost him on the first day,

Pang Xietang wasn't discouraged.

After all, he hadn't exposed his identity,

and there would be plenty of opportunities later.

For Pang Xietang, who had zero experience in tailing someone,

he actually felt it was quite normal for his first attempt to fail.

On the second day, he made thorough preparations,

even closing his shop early,

and drove his own car to the same spot as yesterday,

parking not far from the bus stop to wait for Bai Jingqing's arrival.

Sure enough,

at around 6:00 PM,

catching the last bus,

Bai Jingqing appeared.

Once he boarded and the bus started moving,

Pang Xietang drove his car a short distance behind the bus,

following it as it departed from the city,

traveling through streets and alleys,

finally leaving the city

and arriving at the surrounding suburban counties.

Bai Jingqing had, of course, long since noticed Pang Xietang's black Santana,

but he remained unperturbed,

still wearing a sly smile,

as if he had everything under control.

After leaving the urban area,

there were far fewer vehicles in the suburban counties.

Pang Xietang was a bit worried about whether he would be discovered if he kept following the bus like this,

so he appropriately increased the distance between himself and the bus.

He even felt delighted with his own cleverness,

thinking he had the potential to be a secret agent.

Little did he know,

Bai Jingqing had discovered him long ago.

Finally, the bus arrived at Ding County,

which was the location of the old factory site of Sanlu Group,

and Bai Jingqing got off the bus there.

Pang Xietang followed from a distance.

As soon as the bus stopped,

he also immediately stopped to observe the situation.

Although it was quite late

and visibility was low,

based on Pang Xietang's familiarity with Bai Jingqing,

he recognized at a glance that the person getting off was indeed Bai Jingqing.

He then turned his car around,

found an open space to park,

and continued to follow on foot.

Because he was wearing black clothes

along with a black mask and hat,

he seemed to blend into the night.

Unless one looked closely,

it was truly hard to see him.

However, Bai Jingqing didn't need to see clearly;

he knew Pang Xietang was definitely still following him.

He wasn't in a hurry to shake him off;

instead, he walked unhurriedly and leisurely,

as if afraid Pang Xietang wouldn't be able to keep up.

Then, Bai Jingqing arrived at the main gate of the Sanlu Group factory.

Pang Xietang watched from a distance.

"Strange, since when did this place start operating again?

There are even security guards at the gate."

Pang Xietang muttered to himself in confusion.

As a native of Shi City,

he naturally knew that this used to be the main factory of the Sanlu Group.

What he couldn't figure out was

what Bai Jingqing was doing here.

After Bai Jingqing verified his identity with the security guard at the factory gate,

he entered the factory.

Pang Xietang crouched outside for a while longer,

making sure Bai Jingqing wasn't coming back out anytime soon,

and then walked up to the factory gate, wanting to go inside.

But he was stopped by the security guard.

"Please show your identification."

The guard spoke to him meticulously.

Pang Xietang frowned,

but instead of showing his ID,

he asked the guard, "Let me ask you,

what is this place used for now?"

Upon hearing this,

the guard's expression immediately turned wary,

and he instantly placed his hand on the baton at his waist. "What are you trying to do?"

Pang Xietang was startled

and quickly said, "It's nothing,

I was just asking."

The guard shook his head,

his voice rising unconsciously, "Go away!

If you're not from our factory,

you're not welcome here!

Get out of here right now!

Otherwise, we'll consider calling the police!"

Pang Xietang watched as even a lowly security guard dared to boss him around,

but there was nothing he could do.

He asked a few more questions,

but no matter what he asked,

the guard remained as skittish as a bird startled by a bow,

and he couldn't get any information out of him,

so he could only leave for now.

The next day, he did the same as before,

still following Bai Jingqing,

and found that Bai Jingqing had actually come to this place again

and entered the factory.

Naturally, he still had no way of getting inside,

and could only stand at the gate muttering, "Coming here two days in a row...

could it be that he's getting his stock from in there?"