The person who came in was my landlady, Aunt Wang.
She was holding a bulging plastic bag. When she saw the three men in black suits in the room, she froze for a moment, then smiled broadly: "Oh, Xiao Li, you have friends over? Why didn't you tell me in advance, I would have made a few more dishes."
I stood up quickly: "Aunt Wang, why are you here at this hour? I just paid the rent last week."
"Who's here to collect rent from you." She put the plastic bag on the table and lifted the lid.
The aroma of braised pork instantly filled the entire rental room. The rich sauce aroma mixed with the sweetness of rock sugar forcefully drove away the old musty smell of instant noodles.
"Your mom called me this afternoon and said you've been working overtime again without eating, so she asked me to keep an eye on you. I just stewed this and brought you a bowl."
I was stunned: "My mom? Do you know my mom?"
"We're square dance partners, known each other for five or six years."
Aunt Wang turned to the three stiff bumbling thieves, narrowed her eyes: "You three, are you here to collect protection money?"
The fat man waved his hands quickly: "No, no! Auntie, we are——"
Aunt Wang pulled a shiny kitchen knife out from the bottom of the plastic bag and placed it gently on the table. The tip of the knife was pointing at the three men, and the blade glinted coldly under the light.
"Which one of you is going to cut the meat?"
The three bumbling thieves stepped back in unison.
My back pressed against the chair back: "Aunt Wang! They're my friends!"
"I know." The tip of the kitchen knife lifted slightly, "I watched Xiao Li graduate from university and struggle step by step in this city. If you dare touch a hair on his head——"
"Auntie! We're one of us!" The bald man was about to cry, "We're from the Puru Organization!"
Aunt Wang's movements stopped.
Silence for three seconds.
She suddenly laughed, put away the kitchen knife and placed it on the table: "Oh, you're Sugar Brother's people. You should have said so earlier."
The four of us: "???"
She slowly took a lemon candy out of her pocket, peeled it and put it in her mouth: "I'm an elder of Puru, code name 'Braised Pork'."
The fat man's hands were shaking: "Y-you, you're also in the organization?"
"Joined two years ago. When did you join?"
"L-last year."
"Then call me Senior Sister."
"Hello, Senior Sister!" The three bumbling thieves bowed in unison, the scene was like a pyramid scheme meeting.
My worldview was being forcibly refreshed.
"Wait——my mom is your square dance partner? Puru has elders? How many of you are there?"
Aunt Wang sighed, pulled me to sit down, and picked up a piece of braised pork with fat and lean meat for me: "Xiao Li, you've struggled too hard alone in this city. Our Puru is a small folk mutual aid group. There are more than 3,000 people in the whole city, giving candies to people who work overtime every day and hot meals to elderly people living alone. It's nothing remarkable."
"Then who exactly is Sugar Brother?"
Aunt Wang smiled mysteriously, took a folded note out of her pocket and slapped it into my hand: "Tomorrow night at eight o'clock, at Exit B of the subway station, hand this document to Zhang Xiaoyu. This is your first mission."
Zhang Xiaoyu.
It really was her. The transferred student whose full name I couldn't remember, but who I had remembered for fifteen years.
"She's our core member, code name 'Lemon Candy'. Aunt Wang patted my shoulder, "Finish this mission, and you'll be truly part of the group."
I held the thin note. Suddenly, I felt that this lemon candy was not a candy at all. It was a ticket to enter. And I was already standing at the door.
When Aunt Wang turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of her phone screen lighting up—the contact displayed was "Kangfu Insider · Iron Nail".
Kangfu?
Isn't that the biggest client of our company?