Xie Xiaolou woke up, full of energy, and his mother was dragging her weak body to cook.

"Awake? Just right, come and eat. The mother smiled and poured a few simple but fragrant dishes into a bowl.

"How can my mother cook by herself and don't ask me to get up to help," Xie Xiaolou complained when he was worried about his mother's health.

"I see that you only come back in the middle of the day these days, and when you are tired, you will rest more, but I rest in bed every day, and I am in good spirits." Mother Xie had already put the dishes on the table and was ready to serve the meal.

Xie Xiaolou was about to say something, when he suddenly saw the dishes on the table, his eyes lit up, all of which he loved to eat.

Stir-fried eggs with glutamate, stir-fried sour pork with garlic leaves, braised local chicken with dry and spicy seeds, cold toon, and a few plates of homemade pickles brought by Uncle Wu last time.

Seeing things and thinking about people, Xie Xiaolou's heart sank, and his eyes Xie Mu came over with food, and immediately regained his smile.

"Mom, why did you cook so many good dishes today?" As he spoke, he didn't wait for Xie Mu to bring the dishes and chopsticks, and chewed a piece of spicy chicken with her hand.

"You forgot what day it was today, Xiaoyu is going home today." Mother Xie handed the rice bowl to Xie Xiaolou.

"Oh! I've been busy these days, and I've forgotten about it. Xie Xiaolou's sister Xie Xiaoyu goes to school in the city's No. 1 Middle School, because it is a boarding system, she only comes back once at the end of each month, and she spends her weekends at school because of the cost of saving fares.

"It turns out that such a good treatment is for Xiaoyu, Mom, you are partial." Xie Xiaolou joked while eating.

"Look at what you said, the palms and backs of your hands are full of meat, and besides, this is not the kimchi and local chicken that your Uncle Wu brought two days ago." Mother Xie was also happy when she thought of her daughter coming home.

After lunch, Xie Xiaolou casually found a reason to go out and go down the mountain, wanting to go to Fengxiang Company to see the situation.

Halfway through, the phone rang.

"Hey, detective, do you still have time to answer the phone yourself?" On the other end of the phone was Xie Xiaolou's sworn friend, Long Yan.

"Of course, now I answer the phone by the hour, 100 yuan an hour, and I will call my account later." Xie Xiaolou said lightly.

"Relying on you who have no conscience, the bonus I introduced you to can support you." Long Yan retorted.

Xie Xiaolou had something to do, and he didn't want to entangle with him more, so he said impatiently: "If you have a fart, let it go!" ”

"It's not, today is the day when my sister goes home, I invite you out to eat in the evening, I haven't seen my sister for a long time." Long Yan laughed.

"Are you shameless and still worried about my little sister? So miss me as your brother-in-law? Xie Xiaolou scolded with a smile.

"Ahem~ We are just a pure brother and sister relationship, don't think about it." Long Yan said seriously.

The two played together in high school, Xie Xiaolou would also take his sister out to play from time to time, Xie Xiaoyu was well-behaved and lovely, and Long Yan would tease her for a while every time he saw her.

"Okay, I won't mess with you, my mother made a table of good dishes today, waiting for Xiaoyu to go back to eat." Although they are all very ordinary local home-cooked dishes, they are already very rich for the Xie family.

"Oh, that's it, then forget it, spend more time with Auntie." Long Yan said disappointedly.

"Finally said a human word, okay, I'll hang up if there's nothing to do."

Hearing that Xie Xiaolou was about to hang up the phone, Long Yan hurriedly said, "Wait, I'll tell you good news, I've been transferred to the criminal police team." ”

The county public security bureau originally had four police officers and one captain in the criminal police team, but three of them had been sacrificed last time, and they couldn't recruit people for a while and a half, so they first issued internal transfer documents and adopted the principle of voluntariness, after all, other idle departments were overstaffed.

In such a peaceful and prosperous world, everyone's life is precious, and how many people are willing to take risks in the front-line criminal police team, so when Long Yan took the initiative to be transferred, Director Wang was very happy, and even praised "young people have a future, great future", plus Long Yan's parents are also section-level cadres in the local unit, and they were immediately appointed as the deputy captain of the criminal police team.

"What? Or the vice-captain? Xie Xiaolou is not happy for his friend, after the investigation of the case in the past few days, he knows that this peaceful and prosperous era is not as peaceful as it seems on the surface, even a small county town has a series of life cases, and some of them are not at all ordinary police can solve, going to the criminal police team undoubtedly greatly improves the probability of death.

"In this way, see you in the old place, right away." couldn't tell on the phone, Xie Xiaolou put aside the matter of Fengxiang Company at the moment, and was ready to persuade this fool.

Their old place is on a slope in the east of Nanhua Mountain, on which a gazebo was built, and when they were in high school, the two often came to catch small insects after school.

Xie Xiaolou lives in the west of Nanhua Mountain, which is relatively close to here, and when he arrived at the pavilion early, he saw Long Yan running up the mountain panting, and he rushed over with a punch.

"You kid don't want to die."

"Ouch, it's so heavy." Long Yan didn't react for a moment, and took a solid punch, rubbing his chest.

"Go to the criminal police team, what's the fuss, at first my family didn't agree, but the above documents have come down, so there is no way." Long Yan smiled inexplicably.

"Hey, I can't explain some things clearly, your criminal police team will kill three people at once, aren't you afraid?" Xie Xiaolou asked.

"What's there to be afraid of, to be honest, I sit there every day and keep filling out the form, I'm scared to death." Long Yan didn't care, "Besides, isn't it dangerous for you to follow the people in the province to investigate the case now?" ”

Xie Xiaolou thought of what had happened in the past few days, and he was really palpitating, and he was silent for a while before he said, "Long Yan, you are different from me. ”

Long Yan heard what Xie Xiaolou meant, Xie Xiaolou's family background is not good, this bounty is his hope to heal his mother and provide for his sister to go to college, and his family does not have to worry about food and clothing, his parents are healthy, his job is stable, and he doesn't have to risk his life at all.

"Well, I know you're doing it for my good," Long Yan put away his hippie smile and said, "But there must always be a pursuit in life, I didn't plan to come back and work hard in a big city, you know." ”

Xie Xiaolou nodded, the two have been friends for a long time, of course he understands that Long Yan is a hot-blooded young man who always wants to make a career, instead of leaning on his parents' wings for the rest of his life.

"But ......"

"You're afraid I won't be able to handle those 'things', right? Rest assured, you look at this. As he spoke, Long Yan took out a golden statue of a boy from a cloth pocket he carried, and the carving was lifelike.

Xie Xiaolou looked at it, although he didn't understand what this thing was for, but he intuitively sensed that this boy was extraordinary and quite spiritual.

"It's called 'Kuman Thong', and when I traveled to Thailand during my police academy, a master of Taoism gave it to me. It is said that there is a child's soul inside, and after being blessed by a high monk, it can keep the owner safe for a lifetime. Long Yan explained.

"Isn't this the art of raising ghosts?" Xie Xiaolou's eyes widened, "You actually keep raising little ghosts?" ”

Long Yan smiled: "Witchcraft, Gu magic and even alchemy, these things that are crooked and evil in the eyes of others, there is no malice in themselves, the key is whether the person who casts the spell is good or evil, just like a gun can commit a crime and kill people, and it can also eliminate violence and peace, depending on whose hands it is used in." Your ancestors learned the Tao, and you should know better than I do. ”

The dead friend in front of him suddenly became like a stranger, and Xie Xiaolou realized at this moment that Long Yan was eager to come to him to help investigate the case, not simply to provide him with a bonus, but to have his own purpose.

"So, your real purpose in joining the criminal police team is not just to be a deputy captain, right?" Xie Xiaolou said tentatively.

Long Yan did not shy away from it, nodded, and said, "I want to join the M group." ”