rebirth of cataclysm

"Shall we refuel now and go back?" The two cars drove out and went to the nearest gas station to refuel. Hu Jianqiang asked Hu Mingchen while rubbing the body of his car.

"Uncle Third, why are you forgetful? We are not just here to buy a car. If we were just buying a car, we wouldn't call you."

"Oh, haha, then where are we going after refueling?" Hu Jianqiang asked with a self-deprecating smile.

"Go to the city center and find a hotel with a parking lot to stay. Then I will take you to eat jelly rice dumplings." Hu Mingchen said.

"Didn't you say you were looking at investment projects? Why did you eat two portions of glutinous rice balls instead?" Hu Jianqiang was very puzzled.

"Hey, you'll know when the time comes. We'll go ahead in a while. Third uncle, you can drive behind us." Hu Mingchen said in a roundabout way, without giving him the answer to the mystery yet.

Although these two cars are small in size, their fuel tanks are quite large. Hu Jianqiang’s YJ both holds more than 60 liters of gasoline.

After filling up the tank, under Hu Mingchen's guidance, the two Wranglers drove to the city center one after another, and finally stopped in front of a hotel called New Butterfly next to Qingyue Community.

This hotel is not luxurious, it only looks like a three-star hotel from the outside. There is no underground garage, but there is a parking lot at the door that can park about ten cars.

Hearing that Hu Mingchen and the others were guests who wanted to stay, the security guard put their two cars inside.

A standard room costs 250 yuan. After Hu Mingchen and the others checked into the room and took a short rest, the three of them, led by Hu Mingchen, went to the grandma's jelly shop that Song Qian took Hu Mingchen to visit last time.

"You take us around this alley just to eat this jelly?" Hu Mingchen asked with a frown as he looked at the old houses and simple shops around him.

"Uncle Third, don't underestimate it. Authentic delicacies are often not found in splendid places, but on the roadside and in back alleys like this. Haven't you seen that their business is very good?"

It was already evening at this time, and the gorgeous rosy clouds hung above our heads. Logically speaking, the business of this kind of snack bar would slow down during dinner time, and everyone would either go home or find a place to have dinner.

However, the business of Grandma's jelly shop has not dropped significantly. Although there is no queue at the door, several tables inside are full.

Hu Mingchen and the others stood at the door for a short while, watching the four guests at a table finishing their meals and paying their bills. Hu Mingchen hurried in and took the seat.

Hu Mingchen ordered three bowls of jelly, three bowls of glutinous rice balls, one bowl of osmanthus and two bowls of sesame.

"Well, the taste is a bit off, but the taste is really good. It has a taste that I tasted many years ago." After taking a few bites, Hu Jianqiang nodded in approval.

"If it doesn't taste good, I won't bring you here. If it's enough, I'll order more if it's not enough." Hu Mingchen said.

"I'm almost done." Hu Jianqiang said.

"I'm the same, I don't usually like to eat glutinous rice balls." Fang Guoping said.

"If you don't like glutinous rice balls, then eat rolled noodles." After saying that, Hu Mingchen waved towards the door: "Grandma, please give me three more bowls of rolled noodles."

"Young man, I'm sorry, we only have enough rolled rice noodles for two bowls. Can I make two bowls for you?" the old lady replied angrily.

"Okay, just two bowls, I'll excuse you, old man." Hu Mingchen nodded and responded politely.

"It's no trouble. You take care of my family's business, so why bother? Just wait and it will be fine soon." The old lady said with a kind smile.

Two minutes later, the old lady came over with two bowls of roll noodles.

"Grandma, please excuse me." After Hu Mingchen took the initiative to take the two bowls of roll noodles, when the old grandma was about to turn around, Hu Mingchen stopped her and said.

"Huh? What's the matter, young man?" The old woman stared at Hu Mingchen with a puzzled face.

"I want to inquire about someone."

"Who are you asking about? I don't know if I know him or not."

Hu Jianqiang and Fang Guoping stopped eating now. They both stared at Hu Mingchen, wondering who he was asking about. Moreover, they also realized that Hu Mingchen did not come here to eat glutinous rice balls and jelly, but had other more important reasons.

important purpose.

"Haha, you know him from time to time. You call him second brother, and there is a third brother and an old lady named Guihua. They often come to your place to eat, and they also like to play mahjong." Hu Mingchen said with a smile.

Hu Mingchen didn't know what they called her, so she could only describe the scene she heard last time to her.

"Oh, you are asking about Brother Xiong. Who are you...? Do you have anything to do with him?" Although the old lady was enthusiastic, she did not answer Hu Mingchen's questions as completely as he did.

, somewhat cautiously.

"Well, it's like this. We heard someone say that he wanted to sell the house, so we asked him how he planned to sell it. The introducer only said that he lived in this alley, but did not specify which one.

House, so I asked you to inquire about it." Hu Mingchen had already thought of a response, so he responded immediately.

Hu Mingchen did not say anything too false to deceive others. This grandma and Brother Xiong are familiar with each other. Otherwise, once people know that Hu Mingchen is talking nonsense and deceiving people, it will be detrimental to future dealings and lose trust.

"Oh, that's it, there is such a thing, there is such a thing, his house lives not far in front, you will go out and turn left in a moment. There is a little stone lion at the door of the fourth house, and there is a door god on the door.

That's Brother Xiong's house." Grandma pointed outside and said.

"Thank you, thank you sir, then we will go and set him up after eating." Hu Mingchen bowed and thanked him.

"Oh, if you want to go, go as soon as possible after eating. After dark, he may not be at home. He likes to play some mahjong. He may go to find others to play mahjong." The old lady warned.

"Okay, okay, we'll go right away, grandma, thank you."

"Xiaochen, so you came to Zhennan just to buy a house?" As soon as the old lady left, Hu Jianqiang came over and asked him.

"Yes, this is more important than buying a car." Hu Mingchen nodded, scooped two glutinous rice balls with a spoon and put them into his mouth.

"But didn't you say you were investing? It turned into buying a house, and the house you bought was an old house that was almost falling apart." Hu Jianqiang still felt confused.

"This is an investment. It's an investment because it's an old house. If it were a new building, I wouldn't be interested. What's the point?" Hu Mingchen said matter-of-factly.

Even though Hu Mingchen said this, Hu Jianqiang and Fang Guoping still couldn't understand how this could be considered an investment. Moreover, their loan was 100 million. Even if they bought a house, the difference would not be that big. With just this investment, they could repay it.

That kind of money? It’s just a joke.

Hu Mingchen snored and finished eating the food in his bowl. After getting up and paying, he walked in the direction of Brother Xiong's house introduced by his old lady.

After walking about ten meters to the left, I saw a stone lion more than a foot tall at the door of a house. There were two mighty door god statues on the black wooden door.

"This is it." After saying that, Hu Mingchen stepped forward and knocked on the door three times.

There was no echo or movement inside. Hu Mingchen couldn't help but knock three times, but it was still quiet.

"I'm afraid you didn't go to play mahjong at home?" Hu Jianqiang said.

"It's not dark yet, why are you going to play mahjong so early?" Hu Mingchen himself also suspected that this was the answer. Just now the old lady said that Brother Xiong might not be at home.

"Who knows, what should we do now? We don't know where he went to play mahjong, otherwise we can still look for him," Hu Jianqiang said.

"Forget it, let's just wander around in this alley and come back later to take a look." After saying that, Hu Mingchen slapped the door again, then turned to leave.

Hu Mingchen's slap was very forceful. Since there was no one at home, his slap was not intended to knock anyone out, it was just a way of venting his anger.

However, Hu Mingchen's slap was a little too forceful. As soon as he turned around, the door opened with a creak.

Hu Mingchen turned around and looked. He thought he was being pulled away from the inside, but he didn't see anyone. It turned out that the door was just pulled over to cover it, not raised. Hu Mingchen's hard slap was equivalent to pushing the door.

It's open.

"Hey, it's okay." Hu Jianqiang said

"If the door is not closed, then there may be someone at home. Let's go in and have a look." Hu Mingchen nodded and pushed the two doors completely open with both hands: "Excuse me, is someone at home? Is anyone there?"

Hu Mingchen asked and entered the small patio, but still no one responded to him.

Hu Jianqiang and Fang Guoping followed them in. They looked around and saw no one.

"There is still no one, what should I do? How about looking around?" Fang Guoping asked.

"That's not okay. We broke into someone's house and ran around without permission. What if we are treated as thieves? Just shout twice and ask. If there is no one, forget it." Hu Jianqiang stopped us.

"Well, indeed, it's not okay to wander around in other people's homes. It can easily cause misunderstandings." Hu Mingchen nodded and raised his voice: "Excuse me, is anyone here? Is there anyone at home?"

Apart from the faint echo of his own voice, there was still no movement.

"Let's go, let's close the door for them. I guess we just left it open when we went out." Hu Mingchen waited for two or three seconds and said after seeing no reaction.

As soon as the three of them exited the door, Hu Mingchen reached for the door to close it when he heard a faint knocking sound coming from upstairs in the house.

Hu Mingchen froze at that time and pricked up his ears to listen again, but the sound disappeared again.

"Xiaochen, let's go, what are you doing?" Hu Jianqiang urged.

"I just heard a noise upstairs."

"What's the noise? I shouted so many times just now, but no one came out."

"No, I obviously heard it. Just wait for me while I go upstairs to take a look." Hu Mingchen said and walked in again.

Fang Guoping glanced at Hu Jianqiang, then hurriedly followed.

They carefully walked up the stairs next to the wing to the attic, pushed open the ajar door, and saw an old man lying on the ground with blood on his forehead.