He Kao could sense his uncle's dilemma, but he neither wanted nor could he openly clarify anything. He could only tell his uncle that he received a call from Section Chief Hu of the district police department in the afternoon and demanded compensation from him.
His uncle advised, "The door is still good, it's just two locks that got damaged. Don't bother them, I can replace them for you."
He Kao paused for a few seconds, eventually swallowed and said, "Uncle, you don't need to change the locks, it's not that I don't trust you, but I'm afraid someone might report again and suspect you're hiding something in my house... it's better if I fix it myself."
This sentence was clumsily tactful, with such a situation, he didn't want to leave the key with his uncle's family anymore, so he definitely couldn't let his uncle help him change the locks.
As he spoke, He Kao inexplicably felt a bit guilty, cautiously as if he had done something wrong. But his uncle didn't say anything more, only replied, "I'll cover the cost of the lock repair."
After hanging up the phone, He Kao received a transfer of a thousand yuan from his uncle with a note saying it's for the lock repair. He Kao thought for a moment and replied, "I'll send you the invoice."
Is this about the locks? But from the police to his uncle, He Kao could only talk about the locks over and over again.
Just as Huang Xiaopang predicted, no one came to ask He Kao anything the next day, and it seemed as though this storm had passed silently. He Kao also hoped so in his heart, as if he could pretend it never happened.
He Kao knew what he was worried about; there were already a mysterious group of people investigating the Hidden Moth, and now his uncle pulled off something like this, which only attracted more suspicion and drew more attention, didn't it?
He Kao felt conflicted; he was sure he wasn't the Hidden Moth and hoped those people realized their mistake and wouldn't keep an eye on him. But after he guessed that Huang Xiaopang was the Hidden Moth, he didn't want Huang Xiaopang to be exposed, which meant some unknown danger.
Why was it dangerous? That was He Kao's intuition, referencing his father's experiences, it certainly wouldn't be a good thing.
He Kao wanted to pretend nothing happened, but someone didn't want to let him have his way. The next day he walked to work, as usual, planning to have breakfast at the company cafeteria, when he encountered a girl by the greenery downstairs of the company.
The girl was wearing a blue and white floral dress, the hem and her hair gently swaying in the air, frowning and squinting, looking quite unhappy.
"Oh, Xiaoshan, what wind blew you here so early in the morning? You're becoming prettier!"
It wasn't He Kao who said this, but Huang Si who caught up quickly from behind him. Their working hours were about the same, so they often met on the road. The girl was He Shan, He Kao's cousin, and of course, Huang Xiaopang knew her too.
He Shan was a little more than a year younger than He Kao, she wasn't very good at studying since childhood, barely got into a university after high school, and hadn't found a satisfactory job, so she simply helped with the family business at home.
Seeing Huang Si approach, He Shan said coldly, "Fatty Huang, you walk your own path, this is none of your business, I'm here to talk about something private with my brother!" She spoke while waving her hand, gesturing as if to shoo away flies.
Huang Xiaopang pouted and awkwardly walked away, while He Kao did his best to smile without bitterness and whispered, "Why did you come here?"
He Shan: "Brother, be honest with me, where did the stuff go?"
He Kao: "What stuff? You know, I haven't even been back recently."
He Shan: "I heard dad call you yesterday, so don't pretend. You know what I'm talking about, who else would have taken the stuff, if not you?"
He Kao lowered his voice, "Are you trying to tell me that it's true you really hid those undocumented fireworks and firecrackers at my place?"
He Shan didn't confirm nor deny, "I just want to know where the stuff went, it's worth hundreds of thousands, and now it's just gone!"
He Kao: "Are you still worried about the money? If the police really found it, what do you think the result would be? Do you want the stuff to be found, or not?"
He Shan: "I just want to ask—was it you who did it?"
He Kao: "It wasn't me, I haven't been back lately. You should go back, asking me is useless, I don't know anything!"
After speaking, he walked into the office building without looking back, as if escaping, feeling a dull ache in his head. He was really at the end of his rope with this cousin, why chase after matters when the family had already dodged a bullet?
The day passed without knowing how, but what he feared came to be. After work, when Huang Xiaopang asked him to go back together, he waved his hand and said, "You go ahead, I'm going to tidy up a bit more.
When he finally left work sluggishly, and walked a short distance from the company gates, he stopped as a shiver ran down his spine because he saw He Shan again. She had changed clothes, and added a jacket as it was a bit chilly at night.
He Kao: "Why are you here again?"
He Shan: "If you don't say anything, I'll keep coming, you have to tell me what's going on!"
He Kao: "What do you hope to find out from me?"
He Shan: "The truth!"
He Kao: "The truth is—I don't know." He thought for a moment and added, "What you guys did is illegal, wouldn't it be better to lay low since you weren't caught by the police!
I don't know where the stuff went, if someone secretly helped you to avoid police search, that's illegal too! Isn't it good that no one is in trouble now, do you really want to drag everyone into breaking the law together?"
He Shan finally lowered her head and said, "I know you did this to help us, but you don't have to hide it from me, just tell me in private, won't you? Besides, those things aren't safe, you need to clarify so I can rest assured, we're family, aren't we!"
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