Chapter 42 Section 4

The next morning, when I opened my eyes, I saw Xuezi opening my pocket and shaking the contents on the table, as if counting how much money we had left. "How much more?" I asked. "Probably more than three hundred dollars left." "Well, this money is enough, let's take it to the bank and exchange it." "Hey, what's this?" she said, handing me a small round metal plate. "I don't know either. Where did you find it?" "Just mixed in with these coins." "Well..." I vaguely remembered where I saw this thing, but couldn't remember it for a while, "It seems to be some kind of part, I can't remember."

"I'll always remember." Xuezi also put the metal plate into her wallet. After we had the cheapest breakfast in the restaurant of the hotel, we came to the guest service center of the hotel, and the young woman in charge had heard about our experience. "I have a friend who is a police officer and that's what he told me," she said. "We've never had anything like this happen here before." "Although everyone says so, we can't believe it anymore," I said.She nodded understandingly. After this incident, our schedule was completely disrupted.After completing the relevant procedures, we walked out of the passenger service center.I'm afraid I will never meet those two rare birds, I thought, but as long as I can return to Japan safely, it's better than anything else.

Later, I estimated that the fax should arrive, so I went to the service desk in the lobby to inquire, but was told that there was no fax for me. "Grace really forgot." I clicked my tongue in dissatisfaction. "Then what do we do now?" Xuezi asked. "No way, let's go to the Japanese consulate first, and say that the passport copy machine will be delivered later. That fat woman, it's okay to have a bad head, and she's just playing around all day. She really doesn't think about others. Guy!" I muttered without listening, and walked out of the hotel with Xuezi.

We went to the bank to exchange the money and took a taxi to the consulate.This place is the same as the police station, dilapidated, not much better than a private house. As soon as we entered the consulate, we were immediately warmly received.The worker was plump, with a round face and a protruding lower lip, like a Canada jay.Before we could open our mouths, he said sympathetically, "You two are suffering!" Presumably, the police department had already contacted the consulate. "We will reapply passports for both of them immediately," he said. "Y-but our passport copier hasn't arrived yet..."

I stammered.He blinked and handed over a piece of paper: "Is this it?" It was undoubtedly the copy of Xuezi's and my passport. "Where did you get this thing?" I asked in surprise. "It was faxed directly from your company this morning, saying that they hoped that we would go through the relevant procedures as soon as possible. Only then did we learn what happened. It is really enviable that you have such excellent subordinates." After hearing this, Xuezi burst out laughing and looked at my face. "You're right," I said. "She is thoughtful and has taken care of a lot of chores for me. She is also a beauty full of wisdom."

"I'm so envious." He sighed again. After hearing about our experience, he sighed: "There are quite a few petty thefts here, and this is the first time I've heard of robbery or something." "The possibility of catching the prisoner is almost zero." I asked. "I can't say that well. There is one thing that I find strange," he folded his arms across his chest, "Why would the prisoner want the cat to be in that place?" "Isn't it just to rob tourists?" "But few people pass by that kind of remote place, do you think the prisoner will wait there?"

"That's true." Xuezi and I looked at each other in blank dismay. "Even if the prisoner is ready for a protracted war," he continued, "how do they know that you two are the only ones passing there alone? If your companion suddenly appears during the attack, it will be a bad thing. Robber I'm not a fool, I'll take this into consideration." "You mean to say that the robbers have already set their sights on both of us?" "Although I can't say for sure, it's very possible... Did you find that you were being followed on the way?"

"No." "Really." The staff member tilted his head.Viewed from the side, his fat head and neck seem to be retracted into the body, more and more similar to the Canada Jay. "It turns out that we have been targeted by bandits a long time ago. It's really scary." After walking out of the consulate, Xuezi said.I also feel the same way. "How did they choose both of us?" "Probably because we are Japanese." "So they think we're rich?" "Ok." "Really, not every Japanese is a rich man." The government should really publicize this point to the outside world, otherwise we may have to suffer, I thought.

In order to take passport photos, we walked towards a photo studio as directed by the staff of the consulate.On the way, I passed a deep house compound, which was much more grand than the consulate.There is an iron fence around the outside of the house. Looking inside, I saw two men wearing sunglasses idling around in the spacious courtyard. "Are they bodyguards?" "It seems so." Several houses in this area have installed iron fences on the windows, which shows that the shadow of crime is gradually covering this peaceful small country. When we came to the photo studio that looked like a small grocery store, we saw several old models of cameras lined up side by side, and we didn't know whether they were for taking pictures or the products in the store.

A middle-aged woman wrapped in a long cloth received us in broken English.The way she pressed the shutter was very rough, and the quality of the photo might not be guaranteed, I thought, but so far there is nothing I can do. While she was taking pictures of Xuezi, I held the camera in the store and looked at it.I always feel bad when I finally come to Costa Rica and fail to take a few photos of the birds.But at the moment, I can't even afford to buy a camera. I looked at the camera reluctantly, and suddenly yelled "ah", and took out my wallet. "What's wrong?" Xuezi asked after taking the photo.

"So it's the button battery cover for the camera." I removed the round metal plate she had found this morning from my purse. "Really." She also showed an expression of sudden realization, "Is it on Nick's camera?" "It should be. I probably put it in my wallet when it fell." I said, but I felt strange in my heart, because I didn't remember that I had ever acted like that. The photo will not be available until tomorrow, so it is not immediately available. In the evening, I called Nick in Canada from my hotel.As soon as he heard my voice, he said, "You seem to be having a good time." He seemed to have heard what happened to us from Grace, and he was deliberately joking with me. "Thanks to you, I'm safe and sound." I replied. "That would be great. Is Ann all right?" "That's it." An is Xuezi's English name. "I'm so sorry, the camera you lent us was also taken away." "Oh—it was taken away. If I knew this, I shouldn't have lent it to you. This camera has a lot of history. I think it was used by my great-grandfather when he took a photo with Uncle Tom. But if you want to buy it It’s a priceless treasure that can’t be bought. Even if you want to pay me back, I don’t know how much I should ask you, so I’ll let you go this time.” He said like a machine gun. String, I responded with a wry smile. "That's not okay, I must find a similar camera and return it to you. " "Don't worry about it. I was teasing you just now. That thing has long been out of date. Sometimes I can't even press the shutter, and the button battery cover keeps falling off." "Sure enough, the lid really survived, and I'll just return it to you." "Please return it to me. I was not telling the truth just now. In fact, the most valuable part of this camera is the cover." "Then you can put it in the vault." I laughed and hung up the phone.