You are my wife, don't doubt it!

Xiao Yao sang this song when he was performing a cultural program during the military training at the beginning of his freshman year in high school. Later, for a period of time, some people in his class called him "Hua'er" until he was isolated by the whole class, and this well-intentioned nickname was gradually forgotten.

Most of Pu Shu's songs have a magical power that can make people fall into a sad mood without realizing it.

Xiao Yao leaned on the passenger seat and had a dream.

In his dream, he was standing on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, with the towering Oriental Pearl TV Tower in the distance.

Everything around seemed to be distorted by time and space, and the only clear sight were two figures.

Shen Jie and Yu Luying, who had grown up, walked from two directions and passed each other. They both had long flowing hair again. Shen Jie wore a green top with a smile on her face, while Yu Luying held a scripture in her hand with a hint of...melancholy? Disdain?

Xiao Yao felt that they were all shrouded in an inexplicable sadness.

When passing by each other, the two girls - no, two young women looked in the direction where Xiao Yao was standing at the same time, but walked past him lightly as if no one knew him.

"Wait!" Xiao Yao wanted to stop them and shout out their names, but his vocal cords could only make a "hissing" sound.

The boy watched them disappear into the vast crowd separately, as if the three of them had never met each other.

Xiao Yao woke up and found that the seat belt was indeed pressing on his heart.

The car was speeding on the road so fast that even the cross hanging under the rearview mirror was swinging wildly.

The BGM in the car has transitioned from "Those Flowers" to "NEW BOY".

Yu Bo sang along as he drove: "Yes, I see sunshine everywhere, and happiness is floating over the city..."

"All those who were crazy are dead, all those who were awesome are decadent," Xiao Yao sang with the same melody.

Yu Bo glanced at Xiao Yao and continued to sing along with the music: "The new century came like a dream, and it makes me feel warm."

Xiao Yao sang in unison with Yu Bo using the same melody: "All those who are ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth have become silent."

Yu Bo: "Is your old pocket watch still working? Are your old leather shoes still wearable? Here is a Future brand cigarette, don't you want to try it?"

Xiao Yao: "Everything you own is outdated, everything you love is old. All those you once laughed at, you have become them."

Yu Bo: "Oh, tomorrow morning, I guess the sun will be bright, I will clean myself up and sell all the old things..."

Xiao Yao: "Oh, time is no longer here. This is no longer our world. Everything has changed and it makes people feel depressed and disappointed..."

Yu Bo: "Oh, how great this is. Come on, Pentium computers. Let them do the thinking for me."

Xiao Yao: "Oh, sometimes you are afraid, you don't know where the future is. This world is getting crazier and crazier, and it will bury us all sooner or later."

Yu Bo reached out and cut off the song, looked at Xiao Yao deeply, and said half-jokingly: "I finally know why you are isolated in the class."

"Uncle!" Yu Luying said dissatisfiedly.

"Father Yu, you don't know," Xiao Yao explained, "This song 'Forever Young' is from Pu Shu's new album 'Orion Constellation' in 2018. The lyrics were rewritten using the tune of 'New Boy'."

“Just rewrite the lyrics and sell it as a new song. This is a good deal,” Yu Bo commented.

"It seems that Pu Shu's depression has worsened in 2018." Yu Luying said in the back seat of the car.

"Don't you think it's interesting?" Xiao Yao said, "20 years apart, the same melody, two lyrics, every word corresponds to each other, from an innocent boy to a melancholy and steady middle-aged man, losing his dream and becoming a salted fish..."

"I am a middle-aged man, but I still have dreams." Yu Bo said with great enthusiasm.

"My uncle can only be considered an older young man."

"Father Yu, are you in a good mood today?" Xiao Yao said.

"Yeah, it's rare to see my uncle so happy." Yu Luying in the back seat pulled the back of Yu Bo's chair.

"What? Can't an old man like me be happy? - We are almost there, get ready to get off."

As they were talking, the hospital came into view. The three of them got out of the car, closed the door, and Yu Bo led the way toward the inpatient department.

Xiao Yao sent MMS messages to Shen Jie as he walked.

Don Quixote: I suddenly thought of the days when we were in the hospital together. I miss them so much.

Oh my god, has she not replied to my message in several hours again?

Yu Bo led Xiao Yao and Yu Luying through the door of the inpatient department, and was greeted by the smell of disinfectant. They took the elevator to the fifth floor, walked through the winding corridor, and arrived at the door of Zhou Qi's ward.

A nurse was standing at the door, looking in.

She saw Xiao Yao and the other two walking towards the ward, so she came up to them and asked if they were Zhou Qi's family members.

After receiving a negative answer, she looked a little confused, and explained that comrades from the criminal police team were questioning Zhou Qi, and asked Xiao Yao and others to wait outside the door first.

There was a sign on the door that said "Do Not Disturb".

Yu Bo and Xiao Yao also looked inside through the glass window on the door.

The ward was empty, with only two beds and a pot of flowers.

Zhou Qi's thin body lay on the bed, the curtains were drawn, and faint sunlight came in through the window, illuminating the girl's pale face.

A policewoman was sitting beside the bed. She had very short hair, but judging by the style of her hat, she was a female policewoman. She held a small notebook in her right hand and was writing something down in the notebook while asking questions.

Zhou Qi glanced in the direction where Xiao Yao and others were standing.

Chapter 198 Old Lover II

2023-05-20

The ward was so quiet that it felt empty and deserted. There was nothing else except two beds and a pot of flowers.

One bed was placed against the wall, with a thin girl lying on it; the other bed was near the window, empty, as if waiting for the next patient to arrive.

The curtains were drawn, and only a faint sunlight came in through the window, illuminating the girl's pale face. The atmosphere in the ward was a bit dull, as if it was stained with a layer of gray by the atmosphere here.

The color of the entire ward seemed a bit monotonous, almost all white and gray. There were ventilators, infusion bottles and various medical equipment hanging on the bedside, and it looked deserted.

Next to the bed, a woman in police uniform was sitting, looking very focused as she asked questions and took notes. She was holding a small notebook in her hand, turning the pages from time to time.

The nurse said she was here to visit Zhou Qi and perhaps to interrogate her. In this light-colored ward, her navy blue police uniform stood out.

Xiao Yao remembered that Zhou Qi was a well-proportioned girl, not too tall or too short, about 1.65 meters tall. She used to be a cute girl, but at this moment, she was so thin that even her chin became a little pointy.

Zhou Qi's face was pale, with a sickly glow, her eyes were a little sunken, but her gaze was still clear and bright, her eyebrows were thick and slightly arched, making her look very energetic.

At this moment, she was wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown, looking very frail. There was a needle inserted into her wrist, and she was being injected with some unknown fluid.

The female police officer noticed someone coming and glanced back at the door. Xiao Yao and Yu Bo tried to avoid them, but obviously failed. The female police officer closed her notebook, stood up, leaned over and whispered something in Zhou Qi's ear, walked to the door, and opened it.

She was wearing a pair of sunglasses commonly worn by traffic police, so her face could not be seen clearly. She was also wearing a pair of thin white silk gloves - this outfit looked a little strange indoors.

The female police officer said goodbye to the nurse, then ignored Xiao Yao and the other two, brushed past them and left the ward.

When her figure disappeared around the corner of the corridor, Yu Bo turned around and looked.

My brother Bo is not a pervert like me who would look back at the beauties passing by, Xiao Yao thought to himself.

Isn't it true that Bogo's spring is coming?

Unfortunately, priests cannot get married.

"Xiao Yao..." After Zhou Qi recognized the person, his eyes flashed with unusual excitement and he struggled to sit up.

"Zhou Qi, lie down." Yu Luying, who was treated as air, stepped forward quickly and held Zhou Qi's arm.

"Xiao Yao." A voice came from behind the boy: "Come with me."

Xiao Yao turned around in confusion and looked at Yu Bo.

"Yingying, go talk to your classmates. We'll be back soon." Yu Bo gave the concise instructions, picked up Xiao Yao's arm and walked towards the ward door.

Yamedie Yamedie, what are you doing, let me go...

Xiao Yao followed the livid Yu Bo closely, walking through the quiet corridor of the inpatient department. The boy asked Yu Bo what he was doing, but the latter ignored him, and then the corridor was filled with the sound of two people's messy footsteps.

The two men chased out of the first floor lobby of the inpatient department, but the female police officer was nowhere to be seen.

While looking around, I suddenly heard the sound of a motorcycle engine.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a person with very short hair starting a motorcycle - she had taken off her hat and police uniform jacket, revealing a light blue long-sleeved shirt underneath.

If she wasn't wearing those conspicuous sunglasses and the inappropriate white gloves, Xiao Yao would almost mistake her for an unrelated man.

That motorcycle was called a motorcycle, but it was not a big one used by the police. It was just a small 50cc scooter. Squad leader Chen Lu had a similar motorcycle and rode it to and from school every day.

The policewoman's light motorcycle slowly drove out of the hospital gate, while Yu Bo ran all the way to his car and opened the driver's door.

"Hurry up." Yu Bo urged, and Xiao Yao got on the passenger seat panting.

"Are you attracted to her? You don't have to be like this, right?" Xiao Yao said, then suddenly leaned back and leaned against the back of the chair.

Yu Bo stepped on the accelerator and left the hospital. Paying the money took time, and when he reached the main road, the policewoman had disappeared.

The priest followed his intuition and chose a direction, and passed a traffic light - with luck, the slow-moving small pedal motorcycle came into their sight again.

"Drive up and roll down the window on my side, and I'll help you strike up a conversation and ask for her phone number." Xiao Yao suggested.

"What the hell is on your mind?" Yu Bo slowed down his driving and finally had time to explain: "I'm afraid this policeman is an imposter."

"Impersonating? How do you know?" Xiao Yao said disapprovingly, "Just because she took off her police uniform, do all the police have to drive a police car?"

"Criminal police have their own rules for handling cases, you don't know that," Yu Bo stared at the license plate number of the Qingqi. "When the public security organs conduct investigation and evidence collection work such as questioning, identification, inspection, investigation, and implementation of administrative compulsory measures, there must be no less than two people's police officers."

"Oh yeah," Xiao Yao recalled the TV series he had watched, "You need a partner."

"Of course a police car is not necessary," Yu Bo continued, "but I do have some connections in the criminal police team in Beihong District. As far as I know, there are only a few female police officers on field duty in the criminal police team. They are all familiar faces - but not this person."

"Oh?" Xiao Yao also became excited: "This is a bad guy, riding a motorcycle and not showing his true face. Could it be the motorcycle girl who works with Earl Nottingham?"

"It's very likely," Yu Bo said, "It's been a month since Zhou Qi's case, and the official conclusion has been reached. It should have been closed long ago, and the police shouldn't be pursuing the case any further."

"Aren't there often stories in novels where the case is closed, but the police officer with a sense of justice cannot allow the truth to be covered up and conducts an independent investigation?" Xiao Yao retorted.

Yu Bo showed an expression that said "You are not serious?" and was about to speak when the "motorcycle girl" pulled over at the entrance of an alley, got out of the motorcycle, put down her kickstand, turned the key to the left, pulled it out, and put it in her pocket.

The priest parked the car on the side of the road and hurriedly took Xiao Yao into the alley.

There is a stone plaque above the entrance to this Shikumen building complex, with the three large characters "Baohuali" engraved in official script. It looks like it is several decades old.

The wall on the side was painted dark green, and the ground beneath his feet was uneven bluestone. Adjacent to this Shikumen was a supply and marketing service agency, with a rusty iron door at the entrance that looked very old.

Like all the old alleys in Shanghai, "Baohuali" has a public toilet and spittoon area at the entrance, and there is an area on the ground that has been soaked in sewage for thousands of years.

Xiao Yao and the priest pinched their noses and tiptoed through this small "living area" and walked into Baohuali, closely following the back of the woman on the motorcycle.

The motorcycle girl walked into this winding, mixed Shikumen house, and seemed to be very familiar with the residents here.

Skinny old men and fat old ladies wearing big vests sat on small stools or lounge chairs on both sides of the alley and outside their homes, greeting the motorcycle girl in dialect.

Naturally, the woman on the motorcycle also greeted each of them enthusiastically.

Xiao Yao and Yu Bo looked at each other, the tension in their hearts gradually increased, and they continued to follow behind not too far away.

Finally, the woman on the motorbike turned into a less crowded side road.

This branch of the alley looked particularly run-down and messy, with no one to be seen. The doors of the Shikumen houses around it were all closed, and it was unclear whether anyone lived there. The bluestone slabs on the ground had also been worn out, making a creaking sound when walking on them.

Wait, that crunching noise?

The motorcycle girl suddenly stopped.

Xiao Yao's heart skipped a beat—was he discovered?

The two of them quickly took a few steps back and hid back in the corner they had just come from.

After a while, there was no movement. Yu Bo stuck his head out and took a peek, and found that the corridor was empty and the woman on the motorcycle had disappeared.

"Oh no!" Yu Bo was anxious and ran out to look for the woman on the motorcycle.

At this moment, Xiao Yao suddenly had an ominous premonition. He turned back abruptly and looked at the path he came from, but it was still empty.

Just when he was about to turn around to look for Yu Bo, he was suddenly hit hard on the back of his neck by someone.

Before he lost consciousness, he heard Yu Bo shouting his name, and a strange and hoarse voice asked, "Whose men are you working for?"

……

Fortunately, Xiao Yao did not faint for too long. When he woke up, he saw Yu Bo preparing to confront the woman on the motorcycle who had her back to him.

However, judging from the dust on his body and the wounds on his face, the battle situation was not favorable for him.

Xiao Yao realized that the motorcycle girl didn't notice him now.

He didn't say anything. After exchanging glances with Yu Bo, he first looked around and touched a piece of wood.

100% I picked up the weapon when I needed to fight, it was really God’s help!