chapter 30

The job of a security guard is, more often than not, just for show.

Even in a commercial building, there are usually only one or two security guards on the night shift.

Even in upscale residential complexes, there’s typically just one guard on duty at night.

In a villa district like this, of course there wouldn’t be just one or two guards on shift, but there wouldn’t be too many either.

Three or four is probably the limit.

“How do you plan to get in?” Meng Yifan was a bit curious about my plan.

Seventh Master, who had been sulking, also came over.

Before I could answer Meng Yifan’s question, a van pulled up and stopped by the roadside.

The door slid open, and five or six young punks with a streetwise air got out.

Each of these punks looked very young, some probably only sixteen or seventeen.

“Who’s Boss Chen?”

The leader of the group walked over.

I waved him over and handed him the one thousand yuan in cash I’d prepared: “Thanks for your trouble tonight. I explained everything clearly in the text message earlier. I hope you’ll get the job done after taking the money.”

A thousand yuan isn’t much, really.

But for these guys, who have to pool money just to buy cigarettes, it’s a fortune.

The leader’s eyes lit up as he took the money, grinning, “Don’t worry, boss. It’s no big deal, we’ll take care of it for you.”

With that, he grabbed a bottle of Erguotou from the van, took a swig, and then led his crew toward the entrance of the complex.

Meng Yifan stared in disbelief and asked me worriedly, “What are you trying to do, go in by force?”

I explained to him, “These guys are going to pretend to be drunk and start a fight at the entrance. The security guards here are probably pretty dedicated. To avoid disturbing the residents, they’ll definitely gather at the gate to keep an eye on things. The ones watching the monitors and the patrols will all come over.”

“That’s when we go in.”

We’d climb over the wall-just blatantly climb over.

Meng Yifan punched me lightly: “Impressive. You’d be a real asset in prison.”

Even Seventh Master couldn’t help but glance at me: “So young, yet you’re a natural at this sneaky stuff. Let’s go, what are you waiting for? The fight will be over soon.”

We quickly avoided the direction of the main gate and ran toward the back entrance.

The punks were already fighting at the entrance. I saw the security guards rush out of their booth, grabbing their walkie-talkies-probably calling for backup.

We didn’t stick around to watch the show. We circled around to the back and climbed over the wall.

When we were kids, Meng Yifan and I loved playing in the countryside. Climbing walls and trees was nothing to us.

But what I didn’t expect was that even Seventh Master climbed the wall like a seasoned pro.

At his age, to be so nimble-impressive.

After we got over the wall, even though the patrolling guards had been drawn to the front, we didn’t dare be too conspicuous. We tried to avoid the cameras and headed straight for Villa No. 24.

Du Ruhai’s address was easy to find; you didn’t even have to look hard-it’s all over the internet.

We quickly arrived at Villa No. 24.

Before climbing over the wall again, I took three masks and hats out of my backpack.

Seventh Master saw how prepared I was and looked as if he’d just eaten something foul: “Once we go in, it’s a whole different story. This is breaking and entering-punishable by up to three years in prison…”

I immediately invoked the four most magical words in our culture: “We’re already here…”

No more words needed. The arrow was already nocked; there was no turning back.

It was obviously too late to back out now, so we climbed over the wall and entered Du Ruhai’s villa.
To be honest, even though I work in real estate, this is the first time I’ve ever seen such a luxurious villa.

This is the difference between people-having money is really damn good.

But this was not the time to sigh. We were trying to figure out our bearings, because this villa was truly enormous, and we had no idea how to get inside.

Although Seventh Master was very reluctant to come in with us, he actually seemed even more professional than we were.

He led us straight around to the window of a room.

We took a peek and realized it was the bathroom on the first floor.

“Seventh Master, you’re really experienced,” Meng Yifan teased.

Seventh Master shot us a glare and said, “Du Ruhai may not be home, but we can’t be sure if anyone else is. Remember, right now we’re thieves, so we need to have the professionalism of thieves. If we make any noise and someone inside hears us, there’s no way we’ll get away. Got it?”

Both of us nodded repeatedly.

Even though I was the one who talked them into coming, I was actually really nervous too.

I was really afraid of getting caught.

We took another look around. The villa was a three-story building, with an attic on top. Not a single light was on in the whole place.

If there was anyone inside, they were probably already asleep.

We figured that if Du Yuwei’s body was being kept at home, it was very unlikely to be on the first floor-most likely it would be on the third floor or in the attic.

Under Seventh Master’s direction, we each climbed in through the bathroom window, planning to head up to the second floor first.

Seventh Master went in first, then Meng Yifan, and I was the last one in.

Just as I got in, before I could steady myself after landing, I froze, every hair on my body standing on end.

The bathroom window faced the entrance to the bathroom, and right next to it was the sink, above which hung a mirror.

Through the reflection in the mirror, I saw behind me… a pair of red eyes staring at me.

I was so scared I didn’t dare move, just kept staring at that mirror.

Seventh Master and Meng Yifan froze beside me-they saw the red eyes too.

For a moment, none of us dared to move. We strained to see what those red eyes really were in the mirror.

But the light was too dim, and we couldn’t make out the full shape of those red eyes. They stayed perfectly still, and the fact that they didn’t move made us even more terrified.

Seventh Master was braver than us. With a swift motion, he turned and pressed himself against the wall, instantly taking up a fighting stance.

But he quickly let out a sigh of relief.

“Damn, scared the hell out of me!”

Hearing Seventh Master cursing, we relaxed too, knowing there was no real danger.

Sure enough, those so-called red eyes were actually just two big red candles, burned down to less than a tenth of their original size. Since there was no light in the bathroom, only a faint moonlight coming in, we’d been fooled into thinking they were eyes.

Still, we couldn’t shake a sense of unease.

Who in their right mind would light red candles at home?

In traditional culture, white usually represents mourning, while red stands for celebration.

This was the Du Family, and Du Yuwei had just died. No matter what, you shouldn’t be lighting red candles.

Someone’s dead-what’s there to celebrate…

“This is really strange.”

Seventh Master lowered his voice and frowned. “These are only used in ancient wedding ceremonies.”

Meng Yifan and I exchanged a bewildered look.

A wedding?

Du Yuwei just died not long ago, and now someone’s getting married?

Who could be so carefree, so utterly unbothered by taboos?