Chapter: 4368

Dian smiled slightly and opened his mouth to speak: "It's fine, just take a little time to get used to it!"

He placed the dishes in front of Leaf Dian and Guest Autumn, then spoke softly to the two of them: "Leaf young master, Guest Miss, an old customer has arrived at the shop, and even Li Ailin, that Chinese detective, is here. You two should not go down for now."

Leaf Dian hastily asked: "Uncle Clock, didn't Li Ailin recognize you?"

"No," Uncle Clock replied. "My appearance on that day was quite different from usual, and we only met briefly, so he might find it hard to remember me. Besides, I was deliberately testing him just now, and he did not recognize me. It should be all right."

"That's good then," Leaf Dian said with a slight sigh of relief, before asking curiously: "Uncle Clock, do you know the middle-aged man who came with Li Ailin?"

"I've known him for a long time," Uncle Clock said. "He's an old customer at our shop, but I'm not entirely clear about his identity. He never tells me anything, and I don't pry into it either."

However, he added: "But I guess his identity must be extremely prominent, probably someone with a very strong background."

Uncle Clock then asked Leaf Dian: "Leaf young master, do you know that person?"

Leaf Dian hesitated briefly before deciding not to tell Uncle Clock, since his great-uncle was downstairs and might be shocked if he found out. So he smiled and said to Uncle Clock: "I don't know him either; I just asked casually. Uncle Clock, why don't you go down and attend to your business? Don't worry about us; we'll have someone bring us food and dishes later."

Uncle Clock waved his hand dismissively: "How could that be? The other dishes will be done soon, and then I'll bring some over to you. You two just enjoy your meal."

At this time, An Conggou and Li Yalin had already started drinking.

Chen Zhaozhong intentionally didn't let Li Yalin remember himself, so he let his partner serve them some snacks first. Li Yalin wasn't in a state to notice anything unusual.

After they exchanged cups and poured wine for each other, An Conggou put down his chopsticks and asked Li Yalin, "How's that case going? Is there any progress?"

Li Yalin shook his head, looked around at the environment, and then glanced at Chen Zhaozhong and his partner who were busy inside the restaurant, making sure they couldn't hear him. After confirming no one was listening, he sighed and said, "To be honest, the Fei family is really declining from generation to generation. When I went to the Fei family, I had already made my intentions clear, but they still chased me out. There's nothing left to say."

An Conggou sighed, "This might just be what people mean by 'the blind leading the blind'."

Li Yalin let out a deep sigh, "Oh! Originally, I was thinking that after the Fei family realized the danger, we could work together with them. But it seems like I'm the only one who didn't get anything out of this. Now, there are only 48 hours left before the kidnapper makes their declaration, and I think this case is probably doomed."

An Conggou said, "People might indeed never come back, but I still think we can crack this case. Although it won't be broken in three or five days, we'll eventually find a breakthrough after three years, five years..."

Li Yalin laughed bitterly, "I'm going to retire soon, and if this case really takes three to five years to crack, then the person who cracks it won't be me. By that time, I'll have retired with nothing but this unsolved case, and my reputation earned over half a lifetime will be gone."

An Conggou smiled, "I thought you were naturally carefree, not caring about this kind of empty fame."

Li Yalin spread his hands out in despair, mocking himself, "You see, I've spent half my life doing nothing but struggling for these empty names. What's left after all that? If even this point of empty fame is gone, then I'll just be left with the meager retirement benefits from the government."

An Conggou spoke sincerely, "Old Li, be optimistic! It's just that you suffered a bit of setback in your own strong domain, but it doesn't matter at all." He pointed to himself with both hands and said impulsively, "Look at me, I've been treated like an honored guest everywhere I go, even if the person facing me is a 90-year-old old gentleman. I'll always stand up voluntarily to give them the best seat, only to have someone push me out of a public auction in front of many people at one point. I was so angry that I wanted to burrow into a hole back then, but now I'm just eager to get it over with!"

"This person is fine no matter how well he's mixed; even if you're a top-notch detective, not every case can be solved." You should learn to accept defeat and maintain a calm heart while doing so. After some time has passed, look back on this incident, and it'll just be someone farting in front of you. The smell might be strong, but it'll eventually dissipate."

"But if you insist on clinging to this matter, by the time you're 70 or 80, you'll still be worrying about that fart, feeling miserable when you think back on how you couldn't find out who did it. Then your second half of life will likely be unhappy, right?" Li Yalin smiled helplessly and said, "You really know what to say."

An Conggou waved his hand, saying, "Don't drink too much, just have a small cup and leave some energy for the big show. Once the big show starts, your pressure will likely ease up." Li Yalin's expression turned tense as he asked him, "Are you talking about that 'public execution' incident?"

"Now, Fei Hao's being kidnapped and abused is still fermenting online, attracting billions of people's attention, and this matter has already reached its peak." JrNovels.com