Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 662: Epilogue 22: The people destined to meet will always meet (First Update)

Chapter 662: Epilogue 22: The people destined to meet will always meet (First Update)

In the small shop where Tang Yanqing bought sanitary pads, an elderly man appeared a few days later. The old man headed straight for the shelf with the pads, raising an eyebrow from the shopkeeper.

In such a small village, people’s views are not as open-minded as in large cities, hence men rarely buy these feminine products. Last time it was a young boy which wasn’t odd, but this time it’s an old man... this is becoming increasingly strange.

Needless to say, the elderly man walking into the shop was Shi Haoran.

He stood in front of the shelf, while his eye’s corner glanced at the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper’s expression made him squint slightly.

Then he picked up a box of cigarettes and came over to pay, explaining somewhat awkwardly: "It’s my daughter, who wanted to buy that thing, insisted that I bring it back for her. Raising a daughter isn’t easy, you have to take care of everything for her."

Only then did the shopkeeper laugh: "Who says it ain’t, raising a daughter isn’t easy, they’re raised painstakingly just to be taken away by someone else."

Shi Haoran cleverly gained the shopkeeper’s sympathy using this method, feeling even more sure that coming here was the right choice.

He lit a cigarette, borrowed a light from the shopkeeper, and leisurely said: "As fathers, we hope that when our daughters find someone special, they’ll have someone like us, brave enough to buy this kind of thing for them without fearing ridicule."

The shopkeeper also nodded: "Yeah, raising daughters is financially draining, but since they’ve been cherished since childhood, we hope the person they find will be as considerate as we are."

Enduring the sadness of missing his daughter, Shi Haoran exhaled smoke and smiled: "Like you, boss, have you ever seen young men buy this stuff for their partner?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Actually, yes. Just a few days ago, a young boy, very good-looking and tall; he clearly wasn’t from an ordinary family. He came to buy this thing for his partner and seriously asked me if the brand is good, without any embarrassment."

Shi Haoran’s heart boomed instantly.

Exhausted, he could barely stand, wobbling a few times, almost shedding tears.

Nian Nian, Dad has finally found you.

.

Shi Haoran wasn’t lying; as a loving father, even though he hadn’t bought this thing for his daughter before, he knew her menstrual cycle. Therefore, while searching the village stores over the past few days, he added sanitary pads as a search criterion.

Because, based on eyewitness testimony from the scene and the subsequent suspect profile, it could be determined the suspect was male. And men generally have a fear-like sentiment towards women’s menstrual periods, so even if they were unwilling, they would certainly come out to buy sanitary pads for her.

But the information provided by the shopkeeper surprised Shi Haoran greatly.

A very handsome young boy, judging by his appearance and demeanor, comes from an extraordinary family background, even speaking with a slight foreign accent... This completely contradicts the initial suspect profile!

Shi Haoran left the small shop, crouched against a dark wall, letting the cold wind cool him so he could think calmly again.

Thinking this way, he finally broke through the bottleneck he encountered in his previous reasoning due to this suddenly appearing clue.

For instance, why the undercover points pursued according to the original suspect profile have all failed is because someone with entirely different traits popped into the suspect pool. Hence, this person’s way of thinking would deviate entirely from his original inference, causing continuous misses in the police investigation.

Shi Haoran crouched in the night, smoking hard, recalling the young man described by the shopkeeper: saying he was composed, unruffled when he walked in to buy sanitary pads, showing no nervousness. Given that the young man had freedom of movement, he must be the suspect’s accomplice.

In October in this northern city, it is already late autumn, entering early winter, and the cold night wind penetrated Shi Haoran’s lungs.

He had an intuition: The one who toyed with the police and completely changed the suspect’s behavior was probably this young man. In a sense, the mastermind was this young man.

Shi Haoran couldn’t help but feel sadder: Such a promising young individual, being from a decent background, why engage in criminal acts like this?

.

In such a small village, villagers sleep early after the night falls. Very few windows emitted light, thus the entire village was almost pitch dark. Amidst this darkness, a pair of blue eyes were silently observing Shi Haoran.

Shi Haoran threw away the cigarette butt burning his hand and suddenly turned to face it, coldly asking: "Who is it?!"

Although he was aged, though sleepless for so many days in bitter search, this elderly gentleman remained alert.

In the night, a tall, slender man, wearing a black cashmere wool coat, slowly walked into the slight light spilling through the shop’s entrance, calmly saying: "Sorry to have startled you. I’m also here to buy something from this shop. It’s too dark ahead, should’ve turned on my phone."

Shi Haoran squinted, examining the man standing before him, under that faint light.

A tall and thin man, around thirty years old. Very young, yet possesses mature elegance and calmness in his demeanor.

Wearing a simple-cut black wool coat without any fancy decorations, yet making one feel an immediate sense of nobility.

Such a man appearing in such a closed-off village was already quite incongruous; let alone he also had a pair of blue eyes.

At that time, Shi Haoran did not yet know that the person before him was named Huangfu Huazhang in Chinese.

Shi Haoran’s eyes filled with vigilance, naturally caught by Huangfu Huazhang.

He smiled: "All because of these eyes, especially at night; uh, they are a bit scary. I still wear glasses during the day to cover them, but at night I thought I wouldn’t run into anyone, didn’t expect to startle you, sir. I do apologize."

He proactively stepped forward and extended his hand to Shi Haoran.

Shi Haoran wiped his hand, slightly dirty from the days of eating out in the open, and shook hands with Huangfu Huazhang: "Young man, are you back from abroad?"

"Yes." Huangfu Huazhang smiled: "Coming to find my roots and to consider investment prospects, checking the local land."

Nowadays, cities rapidly develop, even village committees have investment attraction tasks, thus making this seemingly mismatched person’s presence reasonable.

Shi Haoran nodded and withdrew his hand: "Real estate development, huh?"

In recent years, real estate is most profitable, and many villages sacrifice farmland and forest land despite economic indicators, such news is all too common and unsurprising.

Huangfu Huazhang chuckled: "The tone of a senior expressing disapproval."

Shi Haoran sighed: "Don’t take it to heart. Consider it my old-fashioned rural thoughts. This land and forest are the roots of the villagers here; if we hastily develop them into steel and concrete, though the villagers may live in buildings, their roots are lost. Will they just sit in the buildings staring at the sky all day?"

Huangfu Huazhang solemnly nodded: "Destroying hills and forests and encroaching on farmland indeed leads to widespread resentment. So I think there might be better ways. To be frank, sir, my project here this time is an eco-farm, not altering the local ecological structure, but enlarging and refining it into a boutique, while achieving agricultural intensification and attracting tourism resources."

Shi Haoran couldn’t help raising an eyebrow: "Then I owe you an apology."

Huangfu Huazhang laughed heartily: "May I know where you live, sir? It’s rare to find someone with such affinity; I would love to invite you for a drink."

Shi Haoran was about to decline, but his stomach, audibly growling after a day of hustling and skipping meals, could not have timed better. It was heard clearly in the night of the small village.

Shi Haoran felt somewhat embarrassed, Huangfu Huazhang smiled, stepped forward to support him: "Please allow the younger generation the opportunity, sir."

.

Huangfu Huazhang also rented accommodation in a farmer’s house, offering extra money, so the landlord would also provide meals. Being a considerate person, even though it’s late, the landlord couple cheerfully got up, bustling around to prepare four dishes and a soup for the two to drink together.

The two exchanged pleasantries, and Shi Haoran, due to exhaustion and suddenly finding a lead, after a few drinks, his head felt slightly light.

Huangfu Huazhang clinked a glass with him, softly saying: "You aren’t a native of this village either. Why roughing it here on such a weary road?"

Shi Haoran smiled sadly, raised his head and finished the wine in his glass: "I’m here searching for someone."

Huangfu Huazhang lowered his gaze, smiling gently: "Not to hide from you, sir, I am here searching too."

He followed Shi Haoran the whole day, witnessing the elderly man trudging through the cold autumn wind, moving from village to village, shop to shop, forgetting to eat, carrying only a bottle of mineral water in his arms.

Once reaching this village, Shi Haoran hadn’t even had time to find a place to rest.

Thus he thought, at least let this elder have some warm food and rest on a warm bed tonight.