115: Chapter 115 The Uninvited Guest

Outside the teahouse, the setting sun was like blood.

The crimson light streamed through the dusty glass window, dyeing the dilapidated street a deep red.

A heavy sense of oppression filled the teahouse; it was the lingering shadow of obsession left behind after Old Zhou's departure.

Jiang Feng sat on a folding stool as a crisp electronic chime rang in his mind.

[Ding! Valid fortune-telling count: 1/3.]

"Boss, are we packing up?" Old Chen walked over and helped Jiang Feng take down the cardboard sign at the corner of the table that read "Tea Brewing and Character Divination."

"Packing up. Today's progress is alright." Jiang Feng stood up and gave a long stretch. "Old Zhou really helped us get off to a good start."

Jiang Feng calculated in his mind.

The mission objective was to receive three customers, and one was already completed.

Although the process of peeling back the layers was mentally taxing, he had a firm grasp on the overall situation.

If he hadn't guessed wrong, the wealthy businessman surnamed Wang that Old Zhou mentioned before leaving would come looking for him.

When that happened, the background of the Xiangyanghua Orphanage could be thoroughly uncovered, and the hidden bomb on Lu Cheng's side could be dismantled along with it.

"Old Chen, what do you want for dinner?" Jiang Feng asked while packing the folding stool. "That casserole porridge place in the east of the city is pretty good. Shall we go have a couple of bowls?"

Old Chen had just slung the canvas bag over his shoulder.

Just then, the wooden door of the teahouse was pushed open once again.

An extremely out-of-place person walked in.

It was a woman wearing a cream-colored windbreaker and flat black leather shoes, making no sound at all.

Lu Cheng.

She stood at the teahouse entrance, looking around at the dilapidated environment.

Blackened bricks, greasy wooden tables, and melon seed shells scattered all over the floor.

She didn't even frown. She simply walked straight to the square table in front of Jiang Feng and sat down.

The proprietress behind the counter was stunned.

She had run this teahouse on this rundown street for over a decade and had never seen such an exquisite woman.

The windbreaker on this woman could probably buy her teahouse twice over.

Old Chen's movements were very fast.

He didn't speak, but silently moved his chair forward.

His tall frame happened to block Jiang Feng's side, cutting off Lu Cheng's direct line of attack.

Old Chen's right hand was already resting seemingly casually on the handle of the folding entrenching shovel at his waist, preparing to deal with the person he saw as a "slicing maniac."

Lu Cheng ignored Old Chen's defensiveness and placed her hands flat on the table.

"None of the coffee shops recommended by big data in this vicinity meet basic hygiene standards." Lu Cheng looked at Jiang Feng, her tone calm. "I saw your location was at this teahouse, so I came in."

"Proprietress." Lu Cheng turned to the counter. "A cup of tea. Don't brew it; just give me dry tea leaves and boiling water."

The proprietress froze for a long while before hurriedly fishing out a chipped ceramic cup from under the cabinet, putting in some loose tea leaves, and walking over with a kettle of boiling water.

Lu Cheng pulled a packet of individually wrapped alcohol wipes from her windbreaker pocket.

Tearing open the packaging, she began to carefully wipe the chipped teacup.

The rim, the bottom, and even the crevices of the chip.

Every movement was extremely standard, looking exactly like someone performing sterile operations in a laboratory.

Jiang Feng rolled his eyes at her behavior.

He knew this woman hadn't come for the tea.

"Dr. Lu." Jiang Feng thumped the folding stool onto the ground. "Are you a dog? I set up a stall here for fortune-telling, and you follow me here in the blink of an eye?"

Lu Cheng set down the wiped teacup and poured in purified water from her thermos, not using the proprietress's boiling water at all.

"I am merely conducting an investigation." Lu Cheng looked into Jiang Feng's eyes. "I need to perform follow-up observations on your sample size of information acquisition. This will help me revise my previous model."

Jiang Feng sneered.

"Investigation?" Jiang Feng crossed his arms. "And what have you investigated?"

"I heard the latter half of your conversation with that retired police officer." Lu Cheng picked up the teacup she had brewed with her own water and took a sip. "The logical model you proposed regarding the accumulated water in the basement changing friction is mechanically sound."

She set down the teacup.

"However... your inference lacks any supporting physical evidence."

"You haven't been to the scene, nor have you surveyed the direction of force on the fracture surface of the water pipe."

"You fabricated a killer out of thin air and made that old police officer overturn the existing chain of evidence."

Lu Cheng stared at Jiang Feng. "It's illogical."

Jiang Feng was almost laughing out of anger.

Facing this scientific madwoman who tried to explain everything with formulas, Jiang Feng's strategy was to be a "dead pig unafraid of boiling water."

"Dr. Lu." Jiang Feng leaned forward slightly. "The sign I hung here is for fortune-telling. It relies on heavenly secrets; it's a gift from above."

"You talk about evidence and physical formulas. We are traveling on two completely different paths."

Jiang Feng extended a finger and tapped the tabletop.

"We don't interfere with each other. You drink your tea, I tell fortunes. Now, you can leave." Jiang Feng withdrew his hand, his tone becoming extremely cold and hard. "Of course, if you're truly worried I'll calculate something unfavorable for you, don't blame me for speaking my mind."

Old Chen cooperatively gripped the shovel handle, producing a faint sound of metal friction.

Faced with Jiang Feng's unyielding eviction order and Old Chen's threat of force, Lu Cheng's expression remained unchanged.

She didn't feel offended, nor did she feel afraid.

She simply folded her hands and placed them back on the table.

"Consultant Jiang," Lu Cheng looked at Jiang Feng, "what if I said I also want to have a glyph analyzed?"

Seeing her like this, a hundred thoughts flashed through Jiang Feng's mind.

A potential killer dared to come to this place to seek Character Divination from him?

No, not potential—the probability was already as high as 99%.

Had her brain short-circuited?

Jiang Feng looked at the sky outside, which had completely darkened, and pointed toward the door.

"It's dark, time to get off work." Jiang Feng snatched up the folding stool from the floor. "Even fortune-tellers have to abide by labor laws."

With that, Jiang Feng didn't look back, slipping away with Old Chen and leaving Lu Cheng alone in the dilapidated teahouse.

Running away was the ultimate secret to dealing with lunatics.

Lu Cheng sat in her place, watching Jiang Feng's figure disappear around the street corner.

She didn't chase after him; instead, she took out a small notebook she carried with her and pulled out a fountain pen.

She wrote a line on the paper: The target individual shows an avoidance tendency toward reverse logical stimulation and is highly defensive. Observation methods need to be changed.

She closed the notebook and stood up.

Leaving behind the cup of tea she hadn't touched, she walked out of the teahouse.

The night wind of Xiangyang Street blew by, swirling a few fallen leaves on the ground.

Meanwhile, in a black sedan at the other end of the street, a man was staring in the direction of the "A Cup of Spring" teahouse.

He was nervously muttering something under his breath, clicking the prayer beads in his hand as he rubbed them.