"Undoubtedly, the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetic topic in the world. —Ellen Poe

I sat by the window. It was a Friday evening, and the bustling crowds were supposed to be bursting across the streets like fireworks, but a sudden rainstorm made the otherwise spacious coffee shop look crowded. Most of the people who were stumped by the rain hid under the eaves of their houses, and some of them walked into the streetside shops as if they were clever, their hair dripping down and merging into a tiny river on the marble floor.

The excessive viscosity of the space is oppressive, as if breathing has become a difficult task. I fiddled with the few coffee cups I had left, when suddenly a damp wind hit my face, instantly sobering me up.

I watched her walk in, just like everybody would notice her walk in, some people are born with an easy focus on others. She wore a slim-fitting black sweater that had just covered her hips, revealing her long, fair legs, and a caramel-colored mink vest over the sweater, and the surging water light as she walked indicated the color of the fur and signaled that it was valuable. Her hair was chestnut-colored, and her roots were not unevenly dyed under her careful care, as if to prove that her owner was indeed of European descent. Her makeup was excessively delicate, her double eyelids were deep, her apple muscles were full, and only the mountain roots that rose from the ground were the only discordant element, which she covered with gauze.

The door to the café closed behind her, and the people standing next to her secretly looked at her, or exchanged ears in twos and threes. She didn't seem to care about her strikingness, just carefully scannounced the customers at each table until she met my gaze and a look of surprise flashed for a moment. Then she walked over to me.

"You are what they call the Heavenly Master... Or is it a psychic?" When she said the last three words, she deliberately lowered her voice, "I'm Guan Linlin." I really didn't think you would be a woman, if it weren't for the black cap. Psychic, can you?"

"It depends on how you evaluate the level of our business", I had to smirk at her profession, "It doesn't matter what my profession is, I just want to help others solve some difficult problems." Helpful excellent citizens. ”

"That's interesting. Qiqi introduced you to me, and she said that you helped her find the cat she had four years ago, and she really likes cats very much, and if it were me, she wouldn't have any pets. ”

"Finding cats depends on a little more luck. I interrupted her, and her softness made me feel uncomfortable. "I wonder if you came to me in the hope that I could help?"

"Oh yes, it's like looking for a cat. Cao Ke, one of my sisters, I haven't been able to contact her for a long time. She reached into her bag and pulled out a box of cigarettes, her nails neatly trimmed, a sparkling ring on her right index finger, and a jeweled silver setting. "Can you do a spell like you did with a cat, and help me ask where she is? Do you mind if I smoke a cigarette?"

I shook my head. She then tucked the cigarette between her lips, reached out and reached for a small, delicate full-diamond lighter, and put it down abruptly before the flame touched the cigarette paper. "I forgot, the doctor said I couldn't smoke during this time. She shrugged helplessly and touched the gauze on the bridge of her nose with the fingers she had put down her cigarette. "There is always a price to be paid for being beautiful. ”

"If you're looking for someone, wouldn't it be more efficient to call the police?"

"Well, I don't want the police to solve the problem. She and I are both sisters in the clubhouse, and you should be able to understand that kind of clubhouse. We can't deal with the police. ”

I nodded in understanding.

"You're in the same clubhouse...... Well...... Work?" I wrote Cao Ke's name in the notebook I carried, and then wrote the name Guan Linlin.

"We were together half a year ago, but not now. We used to have the same boss, a man named Brother Leopard, who was in charge of our girls, and I stayed with Brother Leopard, but Cao Ke, she left later, I don't know where she went, and we don't ask these questions between us. ”

"You've lost contact since?"

"No, after she left Brother Leopard, we kept in touch a lot. Sometimes she would call me and ask me out to get my hair done and my nails done. I don't know if you can understand that in our business, we rely on men to earn money, we rely on men to eat, everyone competes with each other for resources, how many sisters can we really get along with? Cao Ke is different from us, sometimes her ideas are very naïve, it is said that she is from the countryside. ”

"Why do you say she's naïve?" I wrote down this funny adjective under Cao Ke and put it on a black coil.

"She told me before that she was not from a good family and had to do it. Guan Linlin fiddled with the cigarette case with her hand, and I noticed that she had cream-pink nail polish on each of her nails, as well as glittering shell fragments. She put the cigarette case up, put it down, and put it up again. "Who is not a man of misery? But as a woman in our industry, she never talks about her life and background to others, but Cao Ke mentioned it, which is probably the reason why I regard her as a friend...... I remember that she seemed to have told me that she wanted to go back to her hometown to get married when she had earned enough money, and it was ridiculous that people in their twenties still had this kind of thought, how could people who were chained by the city escape. ”

"When did you start losing contact with her?"

"About half a month ago...... We made an appointment to go shopping during the day on Saturday, but she didn't go, and I couldn't get through to her phone, so I went shopping by myself. As she spoke, she reached out to me and showed me the ring on her index finger, "I am not willing to spend money on such a valuable thing." ”

"Do you know where Cao Ke lives?"

"I don't know, after she left Brother Leopard's field, she moved out. Actually, I only have one mobile phone number for her, but her mobile phone has not been able to get through. ”

"Do you have any of her personal items, like earrings, or clothes, or whatever, and it would be nice to have her hair. ”

"How can I have these things of a woman," she shook her head with a little disgust, "you are also a woman, and you should also understand same-sex rejection, I am different from those women who have special fetishes...... Anyway, I still hope that you can help me find her, after all, I only have one friend. ”

I nodded, tore off a slip of paper with my contact information and put it in front of Guan Linlin, then put away the scribbled notebook and pulled the strap of my sweatshirt upward. "Send me your address where you work. Then you need to pay me a deposit of 1,000 yuan first, and if I help you find it, pay the final payment of 2,000 yuan, and there is no need to negotiate the price. ”

The rain outside the window had no intention of abating, and the light from the street lamps seemed distorted by the refraction of the rain curtain, tearing the world apart. The coffee shop was still crowded, and no one seemed to notice that the location had ever talked about a girl's life, and no one cared about a girl's disappearance. I could smell the perfume emanating from Guan Linlin's body, tentative, seductive, the sweetness of the floral and fruity notes matched her outfit just right, but unfortunately, she didn't meet some tough guy man, but me.

I said goodbye to her and disappeared into the depths of the crowd. No rain can get me wet.