"Damn it!"
When the guy with dead fish eyes learned that he had been tricked, he rushed out of the restroom in a fit of rage. Just as he was about to attack Di Zhen, Di Zhen tapped the table lightly with his finger.
The guy with dead fish eyes was startled. He jumped back suddenly and took a defensive stance. He vaguely remembered that after Di Zhen tapped the table just now, he inexplicably drank urine. He was convinced that this guy knew sorcery. He was like a frightened bird.
"So arrogant? Are you the boss here?"
Di Zhen asked slowly.
"This here's my turf! I'm the boss's dad..." The guy with dead fish eyes stepped on the table with one foot and said arrogantly.
"Big Guy, what on earth are you talking about?" An old man with white hair in a cheap suit carried a bag of cold bean jelly noodles and pushed the door open.
"Boss Mu..." Big Guy felt extremely ashamed.
"Come on, a grown man like you! Can't behave when I'm gone, always causing a ruckus. Why did you quarrel? And who is this..." Boss Mu sized up Di Zhen.
Geng Hao introduced Di Zhen to him, and Di Zhen stood up and bowed.
The big guy said, "Boss, he's really good. He can do hypnosis. We all saw it just now."
"Oh? You said your surname is Di?"
"Yes."
Boss Mu walked to the table and sat down. "Then start working first. Anyway, we're short - handed here. But being a private detective is not what you think. Most of the time, it's about investigating infidelity and hotel check - in records. It's pretty dull. Can you manage it?"
"Sure. I'd like to ask about the salary."
"Six thousand a month, with commissions."
"I have nowhere to live."
"Live here. It'll be great if you can help me watch the store. But the first month is a probation period."
"No problem!"
"Good, good. You look like a good young man. Work hard!" Boss Mu smiled and opened the cold bean jelly noodles to eat.
Big Guy stepped forward, reaching out his hand and saying, "No discord, no concord."
Di Zhen shook hands with him. Sure enough, this guy had a bad intention and secretly exerted force. Di Zhen used even more force. Soon, Big Guy grimaced and gave in.
"Hey, newbie! Here are our work guidelines. Have a read." Gangzi took out a file and gave it to him.
Di Zhen settled in at the detective agency. Most of the time, Boss Mu was not around, so Big Guy acted like a tyrant. He often played tricks on Geng Hao or dumped tiring jobs on him.
Di Zhen couldn't stand this kind of bullying. After standing up for Geng Hao twice, Big Guy started to behave himself.
According to Geng Hao, Big Guy used to serve as a mercenary in Southeast Asia. After retiring, he was cheated out of his money in business with his brother. With no way out, he was later taken in by Boss Mu.
The big guy was called Gangzi, whose real name was Meng Gang. He was a fitness fanatic and always boasted that he "had worked as a policeman".
But what Geng Hao said didn't mean what Di Zhen thought.
Gangzi used to be a small hooligan. He was both cowardly and lazy. When the boss told him to go and stab someone, he feigned a stomachache. When he was asked to cause trouble at a construction site, he was beaten to tears by the workers.
After years of getting nowhere, he felt it was very embarrassing to mention it in front of his family and friends, so he simply claimed to be a police undercover agent. Anyway, it couldn't be verified.
As a result, his boasting reached the boss's ears. The boss tricked him to the riverside in the middle of the night and was going to kill him. A very close friend saved his life. It turned out that this friend was the real undercover agent.
Saving Gangzi led to the exposure of his identity, making it impossible for him to continue as an undercover. So he recruited Gangzi as an informant, and Gangzi readily agreed.
It turned out that he was really a coward. On his first undercover mission assigned by the police, which was to infiltrate a drug deal, Gangzi got extremely scared halfway. The radio equipment that the police had painstakingly installed only received one message from him: "I'm too scared. I can't do it. Sorry!"
After that, he just muddled along. Taking advantage of his good figure, he hooked up with a rich woman. But when the woman's husband found out, he almost got sued for fraud. Later, he ended up working as a private detective here.
Rumor has it that Boss Mu used to be a big boss. He opened this company to uncover some shady business within it. After the company went bankrupt, he simply kept running this detective agency.
One day, a middle - aged woman came to visit. Gangzi was huffing and puffing as he played with dumbbells in the corner, pretending not to notice. Big Guy was slouching on the sofa with his feet propped up on the coffee table, playing with his phone. He said lazily, "What's up, ma'am?"
Seeing these two looking like hooligans, the middle - aged woman's hard - won determination vanished in an instant. She quickly said, "It's nothing. I made a wrong turn!"
"Remember to close the door. And please take out the trash at the door on your way out," Big Guy said without even lifting his eyes.
Just then, Di Zhen and Geng Hao came back from outside. Di Zhen's tall figure blocked the narrow passage, which gave the middle - aged woman a start. Di Zhen politely said, "We work at this agency. Can we help you?"
"Oh, it's... it's not a big deal!" the middle - aged woman stammered.
Geng Hao pushed the door open and said with a smile, "Come in and have a seat. It's so hot outside. Come in and cool off with the air - conditioning."
Seeing the middle - aged woman being brought back, Big Guy disdainfully snorted. He thought to himself that these two newbies really loved to show off. He put down his phone, squatted on the sofa and lit up a cigarette. While smoking, he said, "We can do anything here, like investigating mistresses, checking hotel records, looking into real - estate details, and finding people!"
"How much do you charge?"
"It depends on the specific case," Big Guy said while happily picking his nose. "But generally, the service fee starts at a thousand."
The middle - aged woman stood up and said, "I think I'll pass. Anyway, it's not that important..."
Di Zhen said, "Tell us what it is first. We'll see if we can take the case, and the price can be negotiated."
After much hesitation, the middle - aged woman asked, "Can you keep it a secret?"
"Yes!"
"Well... my husband has been acting strange lately. He usually comes home early from work, but these days he often comes back late and locks himself in the study as soon as he gets home. Sometimes, there are strange noises coming from inside, and I even thought I heard him crying. I'm really worried about him. I asked him if he was having trouble at work, and he just said he hadn't been resting well.
"Once, he suddenly rushed out of the study without even taking off his clothes and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. The study door was open, and I took a quick look. I saw some bottles and jars, and there was a pungent smell. He suddenly rushed over and told me not to look. He even got really angry with me. You know, he's never raised his voice at me in all these years of marriage.
"Two days ago, he came home at eight, covering his face. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn't let me look. I was so worried that I pulled his hand away, and it looked like he'd been beaten up!"
The middle-aged woman covered her face and cried for a while, then said, "We've been married for twenty years, and our relationship has always been harmonious with no secrets between us. But I feel he's becoming weirder and more distant from me. So I want to find out what he's been up to lately."
"Hey, he must be having an affair!" Big Guy asserted. "Nine out of ten middle-aged men who are sneaky are having affairs."
Di Zhen thought Big Guy was speaking without thinking. He said to the middle-aged woman, "We'll get to the bottom of it."
"Thank you so much!" the middle-aged woman said gratefully.