Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

When Baisha opened the door of her detective agency, the girl who stood up looked about 30 years old at first glance, but she was in good shape. I believe she could still fit into her wedding dress and even her school graduation dress. .Only when Baisha's sharp eyes penetrated the veil in front of the brim of the hat and saw through the powdered, eyelined and rouged face, could she see the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Bu Aixi basically estimated that she was in her early 40s , is not wrong. "You're Mrs. Ke, aren't you?" "yes." "I can see that. The way you opened the door, and the way you've been told to me, fits perfectly."

Bai Sha nodded, asked her to cast a glance at Bu Aiqian, and Bu Aiqian nodded her head slightly. "Please follow me." Baisha let the visitor pass her private office. Baisha asked casually, "Did you tell my secretary your name?" "No." "However, this is the procedure we stipulate here." "I know." "So--" "My name and address will come to you later. The first thing to find out is whether you still have restrictions on taking my case?" "Which kind of restriction?" "You're working for Mr. Bei, aren't you?"

"His case is closed," said Betha. "Is there anything unfinished about this work?" Bai Sha frowned and said, "I don't think so. Do you want to hire me to do a job that is not good for Mr. Bei?" "No, on the contrary, it is a very advantageous job for him." "Then why are you asking these questions?" "Mrs. North may not like it." "Mrs. Bei cares about me—no matter what happens to me." "Mrs. Ke, I think you are just the kind of person who can do the work I want you to do for me." Bai Sha just sat there waiting for her to speak.

"Of course, Mr. Bei told you before, his family background - Mrs. Gu, and Jialu." Bai Sha didn't want to waste time, but nodded vigorously. "Have you seen them?" "Just a quick meeting, that's all." The woman's black eyeballs fixed on Baisha's eyes, even though most of the daytime sunlight was blocked by the blinds in the room, Baisha still looked at her eyes as if they were passing through the darkness. "Go on," Baisha said. "I'm Jialu's mother." "Whoa whoa!" "Now you understand why I had to stay behind the scenes until I was absolutely sure you could work for me."

"What do you want me to do?" "Before I tell you what I want you to do, I must first tell you where I stand." "Before you waste any more of my time," Baisha said seriously, "I should tell you my position." "Please speak first." "I work for money. If we are an industry that looks at money and strives for sympathy, it is best to come to me during off-duty hours. Someone told me an unlucky thing, and I can't use it as a meal. I can't fill my stomach." "I fully understand that." "If you're here to complain, I'm not interested. I don't want you to misunderstand."

"There is no misunderstanding, Mrs. Ke." "Okay, then please go on." "I want you to fully understand my background and the reasons for it." "You said that." "I just want to emphasize that." "You emphasized that too." "Mrs. Ke, you're really serious. I'm a little embarrassed. It's—in fact, your office here is too serious. It's not very suitable to talk about a very romantic thing." Baisha said: "Romantic matters are going to be brought into the private detective agency. It's already tasteless. The wives who come here want evidence, the women want compensation, and the men want to let go."

"I understand too." "In that case," Baisha said, "you don't need to describe his personality in detail, just tell me how Jialu's father seduced you." A smile appeared on the visitor's lips.Laughing like a mockery, she said, "I seduced him." "interesting." "Before I came here, I had already decided not to keep everything." "I have no opinion." "I was wild when I was young. As far back as I can remember, I was restless and distrustful of rituals. I was against school, I was against elders. Whenever my mother mentioned Santa Claus, I called her a liar. So my mother never Teach me something, but I grew up and taught her a lot of things she doesn't understand. But she has already given up on me."

Baisha was noncommittal. "This has a lot to do with the development of my life." The woman continued: "I tell you so that you can understand what happened later." "I heard." "That's not necessarily true, Mrs. Ke. You must know that I am not a woman who loves a man when she sees it, nor am I a woman who is poorly educated and nympho. I am just a young man who doesn't like the older generation to control me with etiquette. I object to them being too self-disciplined and being hypocrites. I like excitement, and opposing these elderly people is a great irritation in itself. I am opposed to etiquette and do things that others dare not do, which makes me satisfied. So there is Jialu.”

"When I found out about it, I wasn't afraid, and I wasn't embarrassed. I was curious and stunned why this happened to me. I left home to find a job in another state to make a living independently. Before Jialu was born, I found an agency to ask for assistance, but I refused to sign a waiver of rights that would not allow them to give the baby up for adoption. My child is mine and I know it is impossible for me to keep it, but I have a strong desire to keep it .I want my child to be with me for the rest of my life. You know, Mrs. Ko, it was so hard to find a job in those days. Even I was hungry from time to time."

"I've been through Russia too." Bai Sha replied simply. "Mrs. Ke, today, I have a different view on etiquette and customs. Etiquette is the product of civilization and the norm of life. If you live according to etiquette, there will be people who share weal and woe with you. Once you break away from etiquette, you will be alone. If you don’t follow the right path, no one will applaud you if you succeed or fail, and no one will sympathize with you.” Bai Sha said impatiently: "If you want to preach in front of me and ask me to sympathize with you, then don't talk about it. Don't waste your energy. As long as you have money, I have time and I can do whatever you want. If you If I don’t have money, I don’t have time, don’t forget that I also have my own difficulties, and I have to eat myself.”

"It's not like that," the woman said, "I'm here to give you the background you need to know." "Okay, you refuse to accept the document of giving up rights. Then how did Mrs. Gu adopt your daughter?" "That's what I want to explain to you." "Then explain quickly, don't torture me!" "Mrs. Nagu, even 20 years ago, was already a scheming and stubborn character." "I understand that." "She went to the agency where I left the child and asked for adoption. There were far more people who asked for adoption. Mrs. Gu already had a child—the woman who is now Mrs. Bei. She couldn't get the child. She The reason is to find a younger sister for the child, which will take a long time. At this time, she saw Jialu. She became interested in Jialu. The organizer told her that Jialu’s board and lodging expenses have been paid by me on a monthly basis. I did, but lost touch recently, but I never took the waiver. They're having a hard time with it." "Go ahead." Bai Sha said, "What about Mrs. Gu?" "Mrs. Gu may have persuaded them to violate the regulations set by their organization. Or, it is more likely that she gained their trust and took the opportunity to steal all the records about Jialu." "It seems that she will do such a thing." Baisha said. "So she came to me and forced me to sign a document giving up my rights!" "Forced?" "yes." "What kind of coercion?" The black eyes stared at Baisha provocatively, and she said: "I told you, once a person violates the etiquette, there is no way to stop it. You—" "Stop doing that again. Just tell me why you signed." "Besides," the woman continued, ignoring Baisha's interruption, "it's impossible for one person to challenge the whole world. It has nothing to do with whether public opinion is right or wrong. No one can stand up and fight against public opinion." , and in the end it’s not disgraceful, Mrs. Ke, have you ever fought with a man who is bigger than you?” Bai Sha really scratched her head and thought about it seriously. "No," she said, "even if there was, I can't remember it for a while." "I've had it," said the woman who visited. "Fighting public opinion is like fighting a man who is much heavier and fatter than you. He doesn't make a move. Just hold you down and you will be breathless." "Okay." Bai Sha was impatient again."Even if you can't fight public opinion, you've said it four or five times," she said. The woman said: "Let me tell you why Mrs. Gu once got the document signed by me, and I was serving my sentence in prison at that time." "Whoa whoa!" "Do you understand now? She was very kind to me, and it was a peaceful blackmail. I was short of money in prison. I couldn't send money to support my daughter. Mrs. Gu can make my daughter enjoy everything she deserves. Even a home. My only hope is that my daughter grows up enough and she is sensible. Tell her that I am her mother and live together again, or that before she is sensible, I will have a way to have a decent home. She took it back and let her forget everything that was unpleasant. It was like a dream. I was sentenced to 5 years. I didn't have to serve 5 years, but I didn't know it at the time." Bai Sha asked, "Why did you go in?" She straightened her lips.She said, "Mrs. Ke, it's not your business to say something impolitely." "Don't be too polite, my dear. I'm not a polite person myself," said Betha. "This is the best, it will help our business." "Okay." Baisha said, "What do you want me to do?" The woman smiled. "It's not that I forgot, I'm a little tied up. Mrs. Gu has something to do with me." "What's the handle?" "She knows everything about my past, so there is a thread that leads me to act. If Jialu knew that her biological mother had been in prison, she would be too surprised. Otherwise, I would have come forward to explain the matter. At present, I The situation is much, much better than what Mrs. Gu can provide Jialu. Mrs. Gu has almost spent the insurance premium left by her husband when he died. I have money now." Baisha asked curiously: "How could you come out of prison and become—" "Mrs. Ke, I'm afraid I'm going to be impolite again." "Oh, that's unreasonable," said Betha; "I know it's none of my business, but I'm getting more and more interested in you, so..." "Of course," said the visitor, "I can see, too, that it is money that interests you more and more than romance." Baisha seriously examined herself, "I think you are right." She said. The woman went on to say: "At present, the only chance for Mrs. Gu to compete with me financially is when her daughter—Ms. Bei—dead, and her daughter has a will to leave all her property Give it to her mother. As far as I know, there is indeed such a will, and I also know that Mrs. Bei is missing." Baisha tugged at her earlobe.This is absolutely unmistakable, a symptom of intense concentration. "What do you mean Mrs. Bei is missing?" "Murder a man, get away. Gotta catch it sooner or later. What's the point, just get through a bit of a tingling cancer—like that." The woman cracked her thumb and middle finger to show Mrs. Bei disappeared quickly. Ke Baisha didn't say anything, and continued to pull her earlobe with two fingers. "You can imagine my situation in this situation." The woman said, "Mrs. Gu only wants to get Mrs. Bei's inheritance so that Jialu will not leave her." "You mean that Jialu's feelings can be bought with money?" Baisha asked teasingly. "Don't be stupid, Mrs. Ke, Jia Lu is not that kind of person, and she is not a fool. Let's look at it in another way. I am her biological mother. My background has black spots, a lot of black spots. So if I Basically, she will try her best to refuse to impress her with the innate relationship of her biological mother. I think you will understand this, right?" Bai Sha nodded. "Now, Mrs. Gu has used up all the money in her own name. Unless she remarries a rich man, it will not be easy for her to maintain the same lifestyle as before. Jia Lu is at her age, and now is the right time to marry a rich man. How wonderful is the husband. To achieve this, the woman must be in and out of the place where the right man will appear. Mrs. Gu does not have enough money to maintain this investment for 30 days. She is about to go bankrupt. It's like there's nothing left." "It was a big shock for Jia Lu to suddenly understand this fact. It is impossible for Jia Lu to bear to change her lifestyle completely, from a frequent high-level social circle to abject poverty. Jia Lu has no idea How did the money come from, and don't know the true value of the money." "Do you really know that Mrs. Gu's financial situation is so poor?" "I know. Keeping an eye on her is now a part of my life. You know, Mrs. Cole. This time Mrs. Gu came here from San Francisco specifically to see if she could divorce her daughter, Mabel, from Northford." , In this way; mother, daughter and Jialu can live together, of course I hope that Meibao will support them financially and pay for all expenses for them.” "Jia Lu won't go to work by herself?" "If things go on like this, of course she has to go to work. In the environment where she grew up, the people she saw were only interested in golf, tennis, and horseback riding. These people are not born to work. She also tried Take a job or two and leave after a while." "If you ask me," Baisha said, "it will be good for Jialu to suffer once and let them go bankrupt once." "I know this too." The visitor said, "This is what I've been waiting for. I'm not from a wealthy family either. Do you think I would like to see my daughter being raised in such an environment? I pay at least 50% attention to them." Years. There is no hope for her. But I have been waiting, waiting for them to have problems, and then the real biological mother can come forward and prepare her a warm home. Enough money, a sense of security, and a chance to the right man—” "Let her play golf, tennis, and horseback riding?" Baisha said.He hurriedly asked again: "Are you capable of giving your daughter so many benefits?" "OK." "Including meeting the right man?" "yes." "Will the right men know your background?" "Don't be fake, how could it be?" "Mrs. Gu knows it." "yes." "If you take Jialu away, won't Mrs. Gu tell these people about your past?" "possible." "But you don't seem to care." "I'll take precautions." "What kind of prevention method?" Baisha's visitor said with a smile: "Mrs. Ke, I came here to hire you to do things for me, not to ask you to interrogate my private life." "Okay, tell your story." Baisha said, "I asked too many questions that are not my business. I will charge for the time of the conversation, so the way of speaking is up to you. You want Tell me what, say it yourself." "In many respects," the woman continued, "Mrs. Gu is not a bad woman. But in some respects she is very childish. She is conceited. She successfully fished her first husband, and since her husband After death, she still wants to use the original method to fish, of course it is childish." "Mrs. Ke, I am a sophisticated person. Maybe you are too. If a woman reaches 40, 50 or even 60, if she wants to get married again, there is nothing wrong with pretending to be young, acting like a girl, or being coquettish on purpose." However, it has side effects. Older and rich widowers may fall in love with young women with elastic skin, but they may also fall in love with well-mannered, mature, understanding and sympathetic middle-aged mistresses. Only these two typical talents There is a chance. In other words, any woman who emphasizes a weapon she has lost is a fool. There is no hope if you go down this path." Baisha said: "Good philosophy. Does it have anything to do with this case?" "I bring this up to let you know that Mrs. Valley is a fool—a hopeless fool. She spends the insurance money left by her husband's death in the hope that she can get another husband before she spends it all. She spends it on clothes, on hairdos, on nice apartments, on fancy parties. If you're interested, I can even tell you the sleazy facts." "I've always been very interested in sleazy realities," Baisha said. "Let me tell you, her insurance premium is 20,000 yuan. Mrs. Gu thinks she is very smart. She will spend 4,000 yuan a year within five years. In her imagination, she will definitely find an ideal husband and remarry in five years. She has With this idea in mind, the expenses will naturally not be completely in accordance with the budget. One thing I cannot deny is that she is very generous to Jialu. Of course, her supplying Jialu is tantamount to showing her background to others. Whether she has money or not, she wants She thought she could find a suitable husband until she lasted. "She made a spending plan of 4,000 yuan a year in her heart. She spent 7,000 yuan in the first year. One of the reasons is that she travels too much. She thinks that she can meet suitable men during long-distance travel, and it is easy to cultivate relationships. If she hadn't made the mistakes many women make, maybe she would have succeeded." "How to say?" "She fell in love with a man who didn't want to marry her at all. He wasted 1 year of her time and took a lot of her money." "When Mrs. Gu came to her senses, she spent double the money, hoping to regain her lost youth. Have you ever played golf, Mrs. Ke?" "Not very refined." "Then you'll know what I mean. Too much effort. You're on grass that's been trimmed and unobstructed, and you're trying to hit the ball far. You still have to swing the club with full rhythm. If you want to hit far away, you need too much force, and if you hit too fast, you will lose your speed and become clumsy. Mrs. Gu is clumsy, and she shattered her dream of remarriage." "Ms. Gu's credit can't be maintained for 30 days. In fact, she was completely bankrupt 30 days ago, and she is currently relying on her previous credit to maintain it. But when the bill arrives, everything is over. She came to Los Angeles The purpose is to persuade Mei Bao to betray Bei Fude, divorce him, and go back to live with her and Jialu—the expenses will be covered by Mei Bao, of course." "You seem to know everything." "I want to know everything related to Jialu." "Okay! What do I do? I mean what do you want me to do for you?" The visiting lady smiles. "It's a small thing," she said, "but it's hugely important." "Tell me, what's the matter?" "I want to find out something." "Which one is not coming to me?" The woman smiled again, opened her purse, and took out a flat wallet. She opened the wallet and took out a 50-yuan bill.She casually pushed the banknotes from the table towards Baisha.She said, "How about paying the money first and asking you to do things later?" Baisha glanced at the banknotes greedily, then raised her eyes."What's this for?" she asked. "Check the news." "what news?" "I told you you'd eat—" Baisha interrupted her impatiently. "Listen, I have a lot of work. If I decide to take over the news you want me to check, it will be even more work. Stop playing mushrooms, what the hell are you looking for?" "I want to cut Beifude's hair, the name of the barber shop." Baisha was really surprised. "His barbershop!" "yes." "God, why?" A woman points to a $50 bill with her manicured, nail-polished fingers. "With this, do you still have a reason?" Baisha narrowed her eyes. "I still have a question—whether I can accept your commission in terms of professional ethics. I accepted Mr. Bei's commission before, and I am still working for him. I want to go out and have a look at the original contract with Mr. Bei. Something. I-" The woman laughed. "Forget it, forget it, Mrs. Ke. I thought you wouldn't come that way. Your purpose is to arrange for someone to follow me when I leave. I think we two need to get to know each other. I'll give you money, Find out the name of the barber for me." "But I really don't know what you want the name of Northford Barber's for?" "Because I want him to cut my hair. Of course, Mrs. Ke, you should keep this visit an absolute secret for me. Take this matter as an example, once you charge me the 50 yuan, I will be your client. Regarding my coming to see you, you can't tell anyone, including Bei Fude. My request is not high, as long as this one news, if you leak the news that I came to see you, I will Sue you for unprofessional ethics. Do you understand?" "I found it, how can I notify you?" "Call this number and I'll answer it myself. Goodbye." As the woman stood up, the phone rang. Baisha picked up the phone, but did not touch the 50 yuan. Bu Aiqian said very carefully on the phone. "Bei Fude is outside." Ke Baisha pressed her palm against the receiver and said, "Bei Fude is outside." Even though it was veiled, but the sudden interruption made her frown, she said; "Mrs. Ke, your office really needs a private escape." Bai Sha said angrily: "If you want to make it easier for you, you can rent an office you like, and I will move in. If you don't want to see Mr. Bei, I can ask my secretary to tell him that I am not free now." , throw him out, and tell him to come back in ten minutes—" The woman walked to the door. "Mrs. Ke, it's not bad if you think about it carefully. As for the 50 yuan, whether you will accept it or not, I will take it back." Bai Sha thought for a while, reached out and picked up the 50 yuan bill on the table. "Thanks," said the woman, opening the door. Ke Baisha hurried around the table to see Bei Fude's reaction when the woman went out. Bei Fude just glanced at the woman who came out indifferently, bent to stand up, and immediately walked to Ke Baisha's private office.