Not long after, Shanquan arrived at his residence. When he arrived at the front gate of his house, Shanquan heard someone greeting him.

"Good evening Mr. Duanmu."

Shanquan looked back. It turned out that someone was standing in front of the gate of the next house. He was the one who lived in that house. Shanquan didn't know how long that person had been standing there. He had just passed the house but did not realize that someone was standing right in front of the house's fence. It meant Shanquan was walking dreamily. Something he did almost every day.

"Good evening Mr. Xuande," replied Shanquan.

Xuande Zhanji is a neighbor who lives in the house located to the left of their house. He had not been there long, only about five months. He was a man in his sixties.

"Just got home, Sir?" Mr. Xuande asked.

"Yes, Sir," replied Shanquan curtly.

The man raised his right hand. He looked at the watch he was wearing. He seemed to wait for someone to arrive.

"Is anyone going to visit you, Sir?" Shanquan asked.

"Yes. But not to visit me. Those people are going to deliver goods that I just purchased. So, this afternoon I went to an electronics store near here. I saw an interesting television. After I thought about it, finally I bought the television. They promised to send it here at three o'clock in the afternoon. I've been waiting here for over three hours. They haven't come yet."

"Just be patient, Sir! I think it's the rush hour now. It's time for people to come home from work," said Shanquan.

"I know. Life in a big city is indeed different. We have other things to consider. It might take them a long time to get here. But three hours?"

"Have you called them?"

"Yes. They said the car carrying the goods had already left."

"Perhaps they also deliver some goods to other places. You happen to be the last one on their schedule. You'll just have to wait. Maybe they'll show up soon."

"You are right. Then I'll just wait inside the house."

Shanquan smiled. "I'll go inside first, sir! Maybe my friends are already waiting inside."

Xuande Zhanji nodded. He smiled brightly.

Shanquan then opened the gate and stepped into his front yard. He walked at a fast pace. He really wanted to go into the house. After entering the house, he realized that the other four residents were already in the house.

How can I tell them I didn’t make any progress today? This is just great!

Shanquan took off the shoes he was wearing. He put the footwear in the shoe rack attached to one of the walls in the living room. In addition to the rows of shoes and sandals, on the shelves there were also slippers that were usually worn inside the building. The custom that prevails in their hometown was barefoot inside the house. Therefore, after taking off his loafer, Shanquan chose not to wear slippers. He even took off his socks. He rolled up the socks and tucked them into the shoes he had just put down.

"Dahge, How is it today?"

When Yixiong, one of the occupants, saw Shanquan coming, he at once asked while putting cookies into his mouth. The other occupants had always called Shanquan Dahge because Yixiong and all other people living there were younger than Shanquan. They considered Shanquan as their leader. Not because he was wiser or more experienced, but simply because he was the oldest. Shanquan himself sometimes felt that he was often acting so immature that he seemed like the youngest of them all.

Moreover, Shanquan's appearance was much younger than his proper age, so it was not uncommon for people to think that Shanquan was the youngest of the five or six of them. Yixiong was the second oldest. At first glance, he resembled Shanquan. His stature was not much different. Their height and weight were roughly the same so that Shanquan and Yixiong could easily borrow clothes from each other. In terms of appearance, Yixiong was the second youngest.

At that time, Yixiong was sitting on the sofa in their living room. There were three plates on the table in front of the couch. Anyone could clearly see those three plates filled with cookies. Just like Shanquan, Yixiong actually didn't really like eating cookies. Maybe he was too hungry by this time, and dinner was not ready yet.

"What do you mean?" Shanquan asked back. Without waiting for Yixiong's reply, he continued his own words. "There has been no progress today. Neither a matter of residence nor work. Hahaha .... " Shanquan laughed so loudly.

Yixiong was silent for a moment. Then he laughed too.

Another occupant came out from one of the three bedrooms. Looking at Shanquan, he said, "Yiren got us good news."

"What good news?" Shanquan asked curiously.

"Let him explain it. Now he's taking a shower," That other occupant replied with a big laugh. He was Zhengyi, a very cheerful person. Zhengyi was the tallest person among them. He was not very tall, but because Shanquan and Yixiong were relatively short, Zhengyi looked very tall.

Zhengyi then also caught up with Yixiong and Shanquan sitting on the couch in the living room. As usual, Zhengyi showed a gleaming face. That is one of Zhengyi's strengths and weaknesses. People are a little difficult to guess his mood. In difficult situations where people were expected to show a concerned face, for example, when visiting someone grieving, Zhengyi often appears with such a bright face. This often led to misunderstanding because some people thought Zhengyi was insensitive in reading the situation.

While waiting for Yiren to finish taking a shower, the three of them watched television in the living room. They chose to watch the evening news program because it was only to pass the time. A well-known business owner who had been missing for about two months had been found inside a rickety hut in the forest at the city's northern border. The news anchor, a lovely young lady, did not clearly inform the entrepreneur's condition, except only to state that the person concerned was in good health.

"Lately, many people went missing, then a month or two later they were found. Is this just my feeling, or do you think like that too?" Shanquan asked his two friends.

"Every day, there are people who disappear. That's not a new thing. It happened since I don't know when. It's always like that!" Zhengyi took a cookie from one plate right in front of Yixiong.

"It's not the same," said Yixiong. "Lately, a lot of public figures were reported missing. They are not ordinary people. And after they were found, they usually become quiet. Not willing to give any comments. Do you remember what happened last month? At that time, a member of the city council who was previously very vocal was found after three months disappeared. After that, he was silent, did not issue any statement. Whereas before, when something terrible happened, he always boasted on television about how to fix it. Don't you think such an attitude seemed unnatural?"

Zhengyi scratched his head. He didn't answer Shanquan's rhetorical question. Instead, he took more cookies. He did not stop chewing cookies. He really liked to eat sweet things. Shanquan had reminded him many times not to overeat sweet food. But Zhengyi always just laughed at Shanquan's words.

"That's what I mean," said Shanquan. "Such incidents are not just one or two times. Previously there were also several times. After they had been found, they refused to comment on anything. It was only three or four months later that they began to tell stories. Right after they were found, they did not feel willing to talk about what happened. Don't get me wrong, I understand. Maybe they experienced some kind of trauma. But after hearing their stories, I felt something strange. "

"What kind of weird thing?" Zhengyi asked.

"I can't explain it accurately. All I can say is that I got the impression that those people weren't telling something they had been through. Instead, they were telling something they had memorized."

Zhengyi fell silent after hearing Shanquan's words. Shanquan patted Zhengyi on the shoulder. Before leaving his hometown, Shanquan was a teacher. The way those people told stories was similar to the style of students when they said things they only memorized. For someone who had been teaching for almost thirty years, it was not difficult to distinguish students who really understood the lessons from students who only memorized the text without understanding the contents.

There was the sound of the bathroom door opening. The sound was not loud. It actually sounded muffled, but Shanquan could still hear it. Shanquan turned towards the bathroom door. Yiren finished showering. Wearing a dark yellow shirt, he came out of the bathroom. Shanquan had never seen Yiren wearing that shirt before. It must be new. His face was so bright. From the look on Yiren's face, Shanquan guessed that Yiren already knew that the others were waiting for the excellent news he brought.

Yiren walked towards the living room. He sat next to Yixiong. Then he said to Shanquan, "Do you still remember Caihong?"

Shanquan raised his eyebrows, "Do you mean a kid who we helped six months ago?"

"Yes," Yiren nodded while firmly answering.

"I met him today. He offered to help us. So, it turns out his family is the owner of Xindongchang."

Everyone knew Xindongchang was a large company that operated in various fields. One of the Xindongchang business fields was warehousing. Their warehouses and lockers were scattered all over this city.

Yiren stopped talking for a moment, then continued his words again.

"Although he cannot help us financially, he can lend us several small warehouses to store our belongings. We have to consider the possibility of that next week we haven't got a new place to live yet."

"We don't need a large warehouse because we don't have a lot of stuff." This time Yixiong joined the conversation.

Yiren nodded. Then he said, "He can't possibly lend us an enormous warehouse. He was not an executive or anything in his family's company. So, all he can do is lending us small warehouses. Of course, we still have to pay."

As far as Shanquan knew, the Xindongchang warehousing business comprises large warehouses in particular locations. In addition, their lockers were scattered in various places, such as train stations, shopping malls, and other spots.

"We can store items in the Xindongchang small warehouse, which is more like a locker. We can choose the Xindongchang locker, which is at a nearby station or another station. In contrast to lockers managed by the station, which are usually only for storage of goods, because the maximum is only two weeks, this Xindongchang locker is exactly like their warehouses; we can rent it monthly or annually. Caihong said we can use it for up to three years," Yiren said. He seemed overjoyed.

"So, how much do we have to pay?" Shanquan asked. His face was serious.

"We get a ninety-nine percent discount," Yiren answered quickly. "This payment is just a formality because they can't provide this service for free, so we have to rent it."

"Wow...," Shanquan nodded. He was smiling. Hearing that, Shanquan thought they just got a jackpot.

We have solved one problem. So now we just need to find a place to live that doesn't need to be big. The most important thing is we can sleep and take a shower there.

"Eh, wait a minute," Zhengyi suddenly interrupted their conversation. "How big the locker we just get?"

"Two-by-two-by-two meters," Yiren explained. That's the most enormous locker size in the station."

"Is it enough to hold all of our stuff?" Zhengyi uttered in a slightly worried tone. Among them, Zhengyi's items were the most.

"Of course, that's enough. We will rent six units. Qiuzhen must be agree. So each of us gets one." Yiren explained clearly.

"It's awesome then," Zhengyi laughed. Instantaneously, he got up from the couch and started dancing excitedly. Shanquan, Yixiong, and Yiren laughed at Zhengyi's childlike behavior.

Suddenly Xinxiu, the fifth occupant, appeared from the kitchen. It turned out he had not taken part in the conversation because he was cooking. A big smile appeared on his face. Then he said to all the people who were there. "Dinner is ready. Let's eat now."

And the five of them rushed to eat the dish Xinxiu had prepared. That night, Shanquan could sleep soundly because there was one less thing to think about.