“We'd definitely get him. But, before that, let's go to the ghost market. Since it's a mission a.s.signed by Young Master Tang, things shouldn't be this simple.” Helian Wei Wei said while she mounted her BMW Tomahawk. As she fastened her helmet with her long and slender fingers, she gazed at the woman and asked, “You lost your son at the school gate, right?”
The woman wiped away her tears. “That's what the school teacher said.”
“Understood. You should return home for now. I will update you when we make any progress.” After she cleared all her doubts, Helian Wei Wei tightened her grip around the handles. She started the engine of her charismatic BMW Tomahawk and swooshed out of the alley, heading for the ghost market.
The ghost market made its earliest appearance in the old Beijing City, in the form of an antique trading market that operated from dusk till dawn. Goods sold there were usually forbidden items such as the heirloom of a fallen n.o.ble family, artifacts stolen by the eunuchs from the palace and funerary objects brought by the tomb raiders.
Sellers often set up their own stalls in the open air of the barren plains where interested buyers would negotiate with the sellers obscurely under their sleeves. Words were rarely spoken, so the entire market was hushed. The dim environment of the market was another reason behind the ghost market's name.
Following the establishment of modern China, the country underwent a cultural revolution. Consequently, there was an increasing number of antiques being found amongst common folks. This subsequently encouraged the blossoming of ghost markets. The Pan Garden of Beijing and the Badang Lane in Tianjin were two of the very well-known examples.
However, the opening hours of the ghost market had changed from midnight to Sat.u.r.day dawn. Sellers would begin to prepare their stalls right after the sunrise.
That was how these antique markets were formed. There were merely a handful of youngsters who knew of such a place that existed in Beijing.
Only old city dwellers in Beijing knew about this.
Out of them all, however, Helian Wei Wei was probably the only one who would go to an antique market on a Tomahawk.
Everyone else presented themselves as though they were experts. They were either waving their hand fan or toying with the walnuts in their hands.
It was already late afternoon and the sun was soon going to set. Besides, it was Monday. Therefore, there were only a few idling people in the Pan Garden. Otherwise, the crowd would all be gaping at Helian Wei Wei.
Being in the ghost market, one would definitely have to follow its rules.
A piece of joss money was to be used as door money.
Soon, a shabby and ordinary wooden door in the old alley swung open. A teenage boy exited the room with a tortoise in his hand. Upon seeing Helian Wei Wei, he arched his eyebrow. “Who are you?”
“When the King of h.e.l.l summons a man in the middle of the night, the man shall not be left until dawn.” Helian Wei Wei stepped in as she uttered the pa.s.sword. “I'm here for investigation.”
The teenage boy heard the pa.s.sword and saw the joss paper in her hand. Then, he held his tortoise forward, allowing the tortoise to bite on the joss paper.
Each profession had its own regulations. The cooperation was only official after the tortoise accepted the joss money.
It had been very long since the teenage boy last heard the pa.s.sword. Initially, he thought that his master was fooling around with him, and it was inevitable for him to eye Helian Wei Wei warily.
All the while, Helian Wei Wei kept a smile on her face. Once she entered the house, she saw the man who was sitting at the center of the hall and landed a friendly blow on the back of the man's head. “Stop acting, Monkey. Take off those shades! Unless you are starting to believe that you're truly blind.”
Recognizing the voice, Monkey yelped, “Boss! Oh, good Lord! What brings you here?”
“I'm here for investigation, obviously.” Helian Wei Wei took his sungla.s.ses and studied it. “These shades are of expensive brand. You sure are earning a good living.”
Monkey chuckled. “Everyone believes a blind fortune-teller. So, I am just acting along!”
The teenage boy had never seen his master behave in such a manner before. He was glued to the ground, shocked and dumbfounded.
Monkey called the boy, “Why are you standing there? Go get us some drinks! Open the bottle of Lafite I collected. Boss loves red wine!”
“It's fine, I will not be drinking today.” Helian Wei Wei put down the pair of sungla.s.ses. “Little Qing Chen just started school recently. Do you know that?”
Monkey said with a sombre face. “Of course I'm always aware of our Little Boss' welfare! Boss, I'm telling you, I was going to send Little Boss to school, but Old A and the rest disallowed me to do so. They're so wicked! They said that if I was to drop Little Boss off at school, the kids at school will surely see him as a swindler too! But, do I look like a swindler?”
“You don't look like one. You are one.” Helian Wei Wei gave a sarcastic smile as she made the remark.
Monkey was rendered speechless. After a while, he replied, “Even if I am a swindler, I'm a superior one! Hmph!”
“If I remember correctly, you share a closer relationship with the princ.i.p.al of the kindergarten which Little Qingchen is attending,” Helian Wei Wei curled her thin lips.
Upon hearing this, Monkey's eyes lit up. “Boss! Has Little Boss encountered any trouble at school? I'll get someone to deal with it right away! I'll go and get him!”
What can I say about this gang of buddies… They even speak with a similar tone. Helian Wei Wei thought to herself.
Receiving no reply from Helian Wei Wei, Monkey muttered under his breath, “What did I say? This is why I'm the best candidate to send Little Boss to school! Their princ.i.p.al treats me as if I'm Guanyin. If so, Little Boss wouldn't have been bullied in school.”
“It was Little Qingchen's idea for you to not give a heads up to the princ.i.p.al.” Helian Wei Wei raised her eyebrow. “However, I wouldn't stop you if you insisted on going with him.”
This time, Monkey became completely silent. “I will just stay here if that's the Little Boss' idea.” He would not do anything that would displease Little Boss. He was determined to visit the Little Boss more frequently to gain his favor!
“Good boy.” Helian Wei Wei tried to suppress her laughter as she patted his head. “Since you are a good friend of their princ.i.p.al, things can be done in a much easier way. The kindergarten has been rather eventful recently. Do me a favor by hacking into their system. I need to take a look at the footage of the security camera at the school gate.”
“Eventful?” Monkey furrowed his brows. Then, he pulled open the bookshelves nearby. There were four computers connected to the back of the shelves. They were all Alienware, a high-end computer brand.
Not only were the four computers connected to a virtual IP address, but there were also multiple routers in the room that were used to shake off the trackers.
The more skillful the hacker was, the more swiftly he worked. Meanwhile, he did not require much cover-up as he would have erased all his trails during the hacking processes. This was also how Young Master Tang did his job.
Monkey was once a member of the Tang Sect, and he was specifically placed in charge of jobs like this. Once the main computer was turned on, all four computers began to run simultaneously.
He sat before the computers as his fingers flew speedily over the keyboard. No one knew what he was doing. However, all of a sudden, the screen turned black as various English codes flashed by. Eventually, the screen settled on the picture of a teacher who was working.
“I found it!” Monkey's eyes were fixed on the screen. “This should be more efficient. I hacked into a chatroom before I trespa.s.sed into the school's portal, and voila!”
