As soon as Liu Wang rushed to the grocery store and saw the snacks placed on the shabby iron shelf with rust spots, his eyes immediately lit up. He grabbed a pack of potato chips and rushed to the store owner, who was sitting on a small wooden chair and drinking tea and was probably in his sixties or seventies. He asked,
"Boss! How much is this pack of potato chips?"
"Three yuan." The store owner, whose hair was already half white, was surprised by Liu Wang's anxious appearance, but he still told the price as usual.
"Three yuan?" Liu Wang was taken aback when he heard the price, not because he thought it was too expensive, but because it was too cheap.
The pack of potato chips in his hand was about the size of two palms. It was in a simple semi-transparent plastic bag and had nothing but the ingredient list and the logo of the manufacturing company. But most importantly, compared to the half-pack of air in the potato chips of common brands, this pack of potato chips was at least two-thirds full! And compared to those potato chips that were as thin as paper, these potato chips were much thicker, at least two to three millimeters thick.
In this way, this not-so-big pack of potato chips could not only be described as "substantial", but also felt a bit heavy when held in the hand.
And the price of this potato chip with such a generous portion was even more reasonable. How could Liu Wang not be surprised?
After the brief shock, Liu Wang said calmly, "Ten packs! No, twenty packs!"
Just because of this price and portion, even if it didn't taste good, he would still accept it.
At the same time, Lei Ting and Qicheng finally trotted to the grocery store and just heard Liu Wang's last sentence.
"Twenty packs? What twenty packs?" Lei Ting walked to Liu Wang's side and asked.
Liu Wang didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stuffed the potato chips in his hand into Lei Ting's hand and said briefly, "This pack, three yuan."
Lei Ting was also taken aback when he heard this. Then, after feeling the considerable weight in his hand, he held it up to his ear and shook it twice.
"Boss, I also want twenty packs." Lei Ting said decisively.
"Do you really want twenty packs each? A total of forty packs?" The store owner seemed a bit incredulous and began to suspect that these two young men were here to purchase goods.
However, this thought of his passed by quickly. Even if the other party was here to purchase goods, so what? Weren't they his big customers?
Since there weren't that many potato chips on the shelf, the store owner grabbed two big black plastic bags and went into the warehouse. Lei Ting and Liu Wang walked around the two or three shelves and exclaimed from time to time.
Soon, the store owner came out of the warehouse carrying two big plastic bags of potato chips. The two of them rushed forward and asked the boss for several other brands of snacks that were also very reasonably priced. But this time, they were more restrained in terms of quantity, at most asking for ten bags.
So after giving the potato chips to the two of them, the store owner tore off two more big bags and went into the warehouse again.
After getting the potato chips, Lei Ting and Liu Wang didn't care about anything else. They each tore open a bag and grabbed a few pieces and stuffed them into their mouths.
After chewing twice, the two of them simultaneously frowned and realized that it was not ordinary.
What filled their mouths was not the strong taste of ordinary potato chips, but a relatively light fried smell. When they looked down, although the potato chips in the bag were much thicker than ordinary potato chips, they were also a lot smaller, and they were white and clean without any seasoning powder.
At this moment, the two of them understood why these potato chips were so cheap.
Because this wasn't potato chips at all, but fried dough with a different taste.
Looking at the ingredient list again, sure enough, there was no potato. However, despite this, at least it tasted good. Both of them liked it. At least they wouldn't feel too salty while eating, and the flour was more filling.
Soon, after finishing a bag of potato chips, their hunger was alleviated, but it was far from being satisfied. So they quickly tore open the second bag.
During this time, Lei Ting didn't forget to throw a bag to Qicheng and let him have a taste too.
Qicheng, who had lunch and had a late dinner, didn't have any special thoughts about the potato chips in his hand. He wanted to put it in his pocket, but there was no pocket big enough to hold it, so he had to keep holding it in his hand.
When the grocery store owner came out of the warehouse again carrying two big black bags, Lei Ting and Liu Wang had already torn open the third bag of potato chips.
The two of them made eye contact with the store owner and felt a bit embarrassed for a moment.
"Sorry, we ate it without paying. Boss, how much is it in total?" Lei Ting took the lead in relieving the embarrassment and took out his phone.
After the store owner reported the price and Lei Ting scanned the code to pay, Liu Wang also paid for Qicheng because his phone was still in Qicheng's hand.
After paying, he suddenly had an idea and asked, "Boss, did you see a man passing by around noon? He's a bit bald, has a square face, is a little taller than you, but not by much. He's wearing black denim long pants and a dark blue shirt, and he's probably in his thirties."
Seeing that Lei Ting was actually asking a passerby if they had seen the target, Liu Wang's expression changed and he wanted to open his mouth to stop him, but it was too late. Then they heard the store owner reply, "Do you mean Wang Yue?"
"Do you know him, boss?" Lei Ting hadn't expected the other party to have seen the "rat". As a result, not only had the other party seen him, but they were even familiar with the "rat". He immediately became excited.
"Yeah, I know him." The store owner nodded. "He lives nearby. We've been old friends for a long time. I did see him at noon. He even had a cup of tea in my small store. What happened to him? Are you looking for him?"
"Nothing much. A cat we keep is missing today. We checked the surveillance and found that it was following this person." Lei Ting said "truthfully".
"Is that cat yours?" The store owner's words were astonishing again. This time, not only Lei Ting, but also Liu Wang and Qicheng were shocked. Especially Qicheng, who rushed directly in front of the boss and said,
"Boss! Have you seen that cat? Where is it? Is it still around here? Can you take me to find it?"
Seeing Qicheng so excited, Lei Ting quickly pulled him behind him and said apologetically, "Sorry, boss. That cat belongs to him. He has deep feelings for that cat. He's the most anxious one since the cat got lost. Now that he heard you've seen that cat, he's a bit too excited. Sorry about that."
"It's okay, I can understand." The store owner shook his head and said it didn't matter. He continued, "I don't know where that cat is now. The reason I remember it is that after Wang Yue finished drinking tea in my store and left at noon, I just saw that cat passing by in front of my store. It even turned its head and looked at me.
"I've lived around here for more than twenty years. I know all the stray cats in this area and I occasionally feed them. But I'm sure I've never seen that cat before. Plus, the color of its fur on its face is like the Yin-Yang fish, so I remember it very clearly. I wanted to take a closer look at it at that time. After all, I've never seen a cat that looks so strange. But by the time I walked out, the cat was already gone."
"I see... Thank you, boss. I understand. Then we'll continue looking for the cat." After thanking the boss, Lei Ting pulled Qicheng, who looked a bit disappointed but also excited, out of the grocery store.