Thirteen Wonders (ShíSānYāo) : Chapter 6 - Blank Profit Board
Chapter 6: Blank Profit Board
Over the two-day break, without anyone to hang out with, not only did Chen Xuze stay in, but everyone else seemed to have their own plans. Jiang Jiashu spent the days at home, so bored he felt like he was growing moss.
On the afternoon of the last day, he grabbed his basketball, intending to find the older brother from the neighbor’s house for a game.
“Where are you going?” His father stopped him before he could head out. “Your brother Zhang Jian is busy. He’ll be heading to the precinct later. Don’t go bothering him, you little rascal!”
Jiang Jiashu asked curiously, “What’s going on? Isn’t Zhang Jian on break today? Why does he have to go back? Is there a case?”
His father replied, “You’re always asking so many questions. Can’t you go to your room and do your homework? Learn from your cousin and give me some peace!”
“Come on, Dad, just tell me!”
Helpless, his father glared at him. “What else? The precinct caught a gang of punks stealing motorcycles and electric bikes. They’re working on contacting the owners to return the stolen property.”
Hearing this, Jiang Jiashu remarked, “That’s not such a big deal.” Without waiting for more, he bolted out the door with his basketball and headed next door to find Zhang Jian.
Zhang Jian was just about to leave. “Oh, you’re here?”
“Bro, what’s so urgent? Is it about the stolen bikes?” Jiang Jiashu asked.
“You already know?” Zhang Jian chuckled. “Yeah, we caught a group of bike thieves this afternoon. The precinct is dealing with it now.”
Jiang Jiashu asked, “My dad mentioned it, but it didn’t sound like a big deal. Is it serious?”
Zhang Jian replied, “One or two stolen bikes isn’t a big deal, but this group is made up of repeat offenders. They’ve been at it for over half a year, even using an abandoned factory as a hideout. You have no idea—when our team raided the place, the factory was packed with bikes, new and old. Every so often, they’d sneak the stolen bikes to neighboring counties at night to sell.”
“Half a year? How did you catch them?” Jiang Jiashu was curious.
“There were a lot of theft reports, but they always struck at night near places like internet cafes, making it hard to catch them. This time, someone anonymously tipped us off about their hideout, and we caught them red-handed.”
Scratching his head, Jiang Jiashu said, “I was hoping to play basketball with you, but I guess not now.”
“Maybe next time.” Zhang Jian patted him on the shoulder. “Right now, all those bikes have been transported back to the precinct. We’re contacting the owners for identification. Some of the bikes have already been claimed by people who filed reports, and for others, the plates are intact, so we can track the owners. It’ll take two or three days to sort everything out.”
“Are they all motorcycles and electric bikes?”
“Yeah. Most of them have been claimed, but there are still five or six without reports or plates. Those might be older bikes the owners don’t care about anymore. But there’s one bike that’s different.”
“Different how?” Jiang Jiashu became interested.
Zhang Jian raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of the Thunderbolt X6 classic model, right?”
“The Thunderbolt X6?!”
“Yeah, and it’s painted silver-gray. When it was brought in, all the younger officers in the precinct went to check it out. Man, that bike is seriously cool.” Zhang Jian sighed. “No one’s claimed it yet. I wonder whose it is.”
“Those thieves really went all out. What’ll happen to them now that they’ve been caught?” Jiang Jiasu shook his head.
“They’ll get whatever sentence they deserve. Between the dozens of bikes they stole and the ones they sold, they’re in big trouble.”
Before Jiang Jiashu could respond, Zhang Jian added, “Oh, by the way, that guy Liu Hao seems to hang around a lot with high schoolers. Stay away from those types, or your dad will break your legs.”
Jiang Jiashu was stunned. “Liu Hao?!”
“What, you know him?”
“I know him, but we’re enemies. He’s one of the ones who got caught?”
“Yeah. He and his gang are always up to no good—fighting, stealing, causing trouble. It’s about time they got what they deserve.” Zhang Jian said.
Hearing this ‘shocking’ news, Jiang Jiashu chatted with Zhang Jian for a while longer until Zhang Jian said, “Alright, I’ve got to go back to the precinct. Be good, and don’t hang out with shady people, or your dad will have your head.”
“Got it, got it!” Jiang Jiashu called after him, “Next time you’re free, let’s play basketball, bro! I’ll stop bothering you now.”
Back home, Jiang Jiashu dashed into his room and grabbed his phone to call Chen Xuze. He tried twice, but couldn’t get through. Sometimes Chen Xuze left his phone on silent or tossed it somewhere random, and Jiang Jiashu was used to it by now.
After some thought, he called another friend.
“—— Liu Hao got caught!”
His opening line left the person on the other end speechless. “What? What?! What happened?”
“He was arrested for stealing bikes! Someone tipped off the police about their hideout, and they caught him red-handed with dozens of bikes he hadn’t even sold yet!”
“Holy crap! That’s wild. We were just thinking about getting revenge for Chen Xuze, and now this happens. It’s fate, man, fate…”
……
Meanwhile, Mother Zhou had made a pot of chicken soup. As usual, Zhou Yao was tasked with delivering it to Chen Xuze.
Chen Xuze sat quietly at the table, sipping the soup. His house was always silent, as he lived alone most of the time. Zhou Yao kept herself busy, helping him clean up. This wasn’t the first or second time; she was so familiar with the routine that it had become almost second nature.
Zhou Yao suddenly said, “So that Thunderbolt X6 is just going to be abandoned?”
Chen Xuze’s spoon didn’t stop mid-air. “I don’t really ride it much anyway. Let’s just consider it lost.”
No one else knew—not even Jiang Jiashu and the others—that Chen Xuze had once bought a motorcycle. He rarely used it, leaving it parked in the garage on the first floor of his house.
Chen Xuze loved tinkering with all sorts of things. Ever since his grandparents passed away, he converted one of the rooms into a kind of workshop. It looked like it was filled with random junk, but in his hands, everything found its purpose.
Zhou Yao didn’t press further. While clearing the table, her hand brushed over a receipt lying on it.
On it were the words:
“Special spray paint—silver, price: 126 yuan.”
“That bike... looked pretty good painted in silver,” Zhou Yao said. The paint had been bought on a day they went shopping together. She smiled. “Even though that person is awful, he does have decent taste.”
Liu Hao’s favorite was silver motorcycles. Whether they were bikes he bought or ones he ‘acquired’ from elsewhere, if he planned to ride them himself, they would always end up painted silver. He’d been seen showing off on silver bikes many times, and anyone who knew him at all was aware of his obsession with them.
Last night, Chen Xuze had ridden that freshly painted silver motorcycle to the Shunxing Internet Café. He parked it at the side of the café, in a spot the surveillance cameras didn’t cover. Half bathed in light, half in shadow, the bike gleamed in an interplay of brightness and darkness.
——The Shunxing Internet Café was Liu Hao’s crew’s hangout. Whenever they had free time, they gathered there to play games.
In the pitch-black hours of early morning, when Liu Hao and his gang spotted a bike that caught their eye, they reverted to their old habits. They swiftly broke the simple lock on the tires, tied it with a strap, and towed it away with one of their own bikes.
Everything fell into place as planned.
Zhou Yao looked at the receipt a few seconds longer before tearing it in half, then into smaller pieces, tossing them into the trash.
Chen Xuze wasn’t like other people—he was a genius.
Zhou Yao had known this since she was very young. His way of thinking and acting had always been different. When others were racing toy cars, he was modifying remote-controlled ones. When others were flying kites, he was experimenting with makeshift plastic sticks and engines to create a cross-shaped ‘flying device’ that could hover.
No one had ever discovered where Liu Hao’s gang stashed their stolen bikes. The abandoned rice mill they used as their hideout belonged to one of the boys in their group and had been unused for years. There were rumors about their bike-theft activities, but no one knew where the stolen bikes were hidden. That’s why they’d been able to stay under the radar for so long.
But Chen Xuze’s Thunderbolt X6 was no ordinary bike. He had modified it many times, and during the last round of upgrades, he added a small tracking device to it—something he’d made himself.
Back when Liu Hao and his crew had cornered Chen Xuze and urged Deng Jiayu to kiss him in front of everyone, taunting him and laughing uproariously, Liu Hao probably never imagined that the cold, stone-faced boy in front of him had a mind dark enough to devour them all whole.
……
In Zhou Yao’s room, there was a computer. When she didn’t go out, she liked to sit in front of it, browsing various bits of information.
The door was knocked on twice. She turned around to see Chen Xuze leaning casually against the doorframe, watching her with an air of leisure.
“You’re here?”
“Your mom told me to come for dinner.”
Zhou Yao smiled lightly. “Did you bring back the lunchbox from earlier? I really don’t want to go to your place again to get it.”
“I brought it back.”
Chen Xuze stepped into the room, taking two steps forward. From his angle, Zhou Yao’s figure blocked most of the computer screen, but he could still glimpse the words ‘Education Network Homepage’ in one corner of the interface.
Zhou Yao didn’t try to hide anything. Instead, she shifted slightly to the side, giving him a clearer view.
“Want to check it out?”
“No need.”
Zhou Yao looked up at him, her clear, deer-like eyes sparkling as they met his. She only ever displayed this completely unguarded demeanor and smile before him.
“Make sure to mask your IP and don’t leave any traces when you access internal pages.”
“I know,” Zhou Yao replied. “I’m not as clueless as you think. I’m pretty good at this.”
Chen Xuze let out the faintest smile, his hand gently patting the back of her head before quickly withdrawing. “Don’t forget who taught you. Be humble in front of your master.”
Zhou Yao smiled but said nothing.
At that moment, Mother Zhou's voice called out from downstairs: “Yao Yao, Xuze—time for dinner!”
“Coming, be right there!” Zhou Yao answered loudly.
She methodically closed all her browser tabs, powered off the computer, and got up. Together with Chen Xuze, she headed downstairs for dinner.
Walking ahead, Chen Xuze turned back to caution her after descending one step, “Be careful.”
Zhou Yao paused briefly and smiled softly. “Don’t worry, my foot doesn’t hurt right now. If it does, I’ll let you know.”
……
After the two-day break, school resumed, and the sound of reciting students swept away the lazy holiday vibes.
Early in the morning, Jiang Jiashu was already talking with Chen Xuze about Liu Hao. Meanwhile, another piece of ‘news’ exploded within the school community.
A provincial education inspection team had visited the school, and before the morning classes had ended, Deng Jiayu was summoned to the principal’s office. She didn’t return to class after that.
By the afternoon, the news spread to everyone—Deng Jiayu had been expelled.
The author has something to say:
I hope these two little ‘psychos’ didn’t scare you in this chapter. Please keep loving them! I promise I’ll explain later why they’re so concerned about Yao Yao’s foot—it’s not without reason.
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