Jiu Ye died.
When the news spread, the public reaction was explosive. Despite the release of the official explanation, there were still many discussions happening among the people, as well as various different speculations. Some people really doubted that the involved ‘dyed together’ during a fight.
On the Internet, some people dug up Jiu Ye’s past, and some people speculated about the Undercurrent organization. Although they were basically nonsense, they said it seriously, as if they have seen it with their own eyes. There were even some who pointed at Liu Yanbo, after all, there were many people present at Tianshui Bar when he beat Jiu Ye’s subordinate that night.
But there was no evidence to sustain them, they were all baseless rumors.
During Liu Yanbo’s spare time, he would occasionally read the rumors on the gossip sites. Although there weren’t any photos or videos of him from when he beat Xue Long that night nor was his name revealed, he could still guess who the netizens were referring to when they mentioned a taxi driver who had recently become enemies with Jiu Ye.
In this regard, he didn't panic at all. He would just read them casually as if reading a story, and would never take it to heart.
He was confident that even if people all over the world suspected that he did it, as long as he didn’t admit it himself, no one would be able to find the slightest evidence to disrupt his current ordinary life.
It was noon.
Sitting in the taxi, Liu Yanbo looked at the gossip articles on his phone while snacking on the two eggs he had put in his pocket in the morning.
“Hello, could you take me to Huarong neighborhood?” A man with gold frame glasses opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. “I’m really in a hurry, so can you take the quickest route please?”
"Sure." Liu Yanbo put away his mobile phone, ate the last half of his egg in one bite, and reminded him: "Sir, please fasten your seat belt, the traffic police have been very strict lately."
"Oh! Okay." The glasses man hurriedly fastened his seat belt and politely smiled: "I'm really sorry, I tend to easily forget things when I’m in a hurry."
This was the first time since he started working as a driver that Liu Yanbo had encountered such a polite passenger as the man in glasses. He couldn't help but glance at him again.
Refined and elegant, someone with great insight.
This was Liu Yanbo’s evaluation of the man in glasses.
"Sir, you are too nice." Liu Yanbo politely smiled back and then started the car.
The traffic on the road was a bit heavy. Liu Yanbo was afraid that the glasses man would be impatient, so he turned on some music——
~‘A great river, waves over waves~’
~‘The wind spreads the fragrance of the rice flower~’
~‘There lives my family at the riverside~’*
*A song called My Homeland, click if you’re curious
…
As soon as the music started, the man in glasses said with a smile: "Seeing as though you’re still young, I didn't expect that you’d like to listen to this kind of classic old song. It's rare to see."
Liu Yanbo smiled and said, "Sir, If you don't like listening to it, I’ll change it."
"No need to, it’s fine. Old songs are comfortable to listen to." The man in glasses took out his phone and looked at something. He drew a sharp breath, and after a while said while surprised: "I didn’t expect what happened last night to be such a big thing!"
Liu Yanbo drove the car intently and didn't talk to him.
"Have you watched the news?" The glasses man whispered: "Last night, Huang Jiuye was killed."
Jiu Ye’s murder was today’s headline in Haishi, it was constantly brought up on the internet and various news outlets. It was now a thing that everyone knew.
Liu Yanbo nodded, and calmly said, "I was watching this news just now in the car."
‘Huh~’ The man in glasses had probably seen the netizens’ comments. He said in amazement: "The official explanation has already been released, why are there people that don't want to believe it? They even say that Huang Jiuye might have been killed by a taxi driver."
The man in glasses straightforwardly said, as if discussing with a friend, he didn't even care that he was sitting in a taxi at that moment.
After a slight pause, the man in glasses seemed thoughtful. He glanced at Liu Yanbo and continued: "Although there is lots of nonsense circling on the Internet, some of them aren’t necessarily groundless. Maybe someone really does know something about it. Don’t you agree?"
"I don't know." Liu Yanbo shook his head. In his peripheral vision, he noticed a slight change in the man’s eyes. "Sir, you value me too much! This is a big matter. For a common citizen like me, just listening to the gossip stories is enough. What’s the point of expressing my opinions?"
Hearing Liu Yanbo’s answer, the refined man seemed a little disappointed. He lightly sighed: "You don’t have to belittle yourself. There are talented people in every generation, but common people can also have great wisdom. Since ancient times, many outstanding people in China started at first as just ordinary people, but they ended up determining the fate of this country, or even changing the direction of the world.”
During history, there have been many different kinds of people and places from which all sorts of talents and great people have been born.
The words of the man in glasses were true, but they were a bit out of date.
Two people who didn't know each other, talked about an old speech the first time they met. Fortunately, it was Liu Yanbo that he met. If it were someone else, it was very likely that he would be regarded as a neurotic. Liu Yanbo nodded and smiled：“Then, sir, I hope to borrow your blessing words. I hope one day I can show my ambition to the world.”
Judging from Liu Yanbo's actions in the past three years, he was a person with no ambitions.
The reason why he said this was to tell the other party to push aside this topic.
Liu Yanbo didn't say it explicitly, but he knew that the man with glasses would understand.
The destination wasn't far, and after about ten minutes of silence, the car had stopped at Huarong Neighborhood’s gate.
"Thank you." The man in glasses paid in cash and got out of the car. Suddenly, he turned around and said something inexplicable: "Next time we meet, I hope I can become friends with you."
Regardless of whether Liu Yanbo agreed or not, the man in glasses walked into the neighborhood without looking back.
Liu Yanbo smiled and watched the man in glasses leave. Before he could think about anything, the phone rang.
It was Bai Bin.
Liu Yanbo answered the phone and gently asked, "Young sir Bin, what's the matter?"
Bai Bin on the other end of the phone replied with an "um". He didn't speak again for a long time.
Liu Yanbo didn’t urge him. He knew that Bai Bin had a lot to ask. With this brother, he had plenty of patience to wait.
Bai Bin's breathing was a little loud. Liu Yanbo could feel his anxiety over the phone. He seemed to have a thousand words to say, but they were all stuck in his throat and he couldn't speak. In the end, he just said a simple greeting: "Young sir Bo, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine." Liu Yanbo lowered the car window and lightly lit a cigarette. "I’m able to eat and sleep, run and jump, go to work, have wine and meat when I get off work, and there are people waiting for me when I come home. I’m much more at ease than you big soldier."
“Oh, that’s good then.” Bai Bin laughed and said, “I see you’re still as talkative as always.”
Liu Yanbo asked, "is there anything else?"
"No more." Bai Bin said, "I just wanted to talk."
"Then let’s talk!"
And so, the two of them kept talking about random topics for more than ten minutes. At the end of the conversation, they hung up the phone without discussing a single serious matter.
Liu Yanbo put his phone away and turned his head to look at Huarong Neighborhood.
He knew what Bai Bin wanted to ask just now, and he also knew why the man with glasses said that inexplicable sentence when he left.
Liu Yanbo also knew that in the next few days, a lot of people would approach him for the same reason, either openly or discretely.
It was the aftermath of killing Jiu Ye, but he was already mentally prepared.
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