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Shi Boren responded promptly, "Yes, sir!"

"Uncle Zhong."

Uncle Zhong immediately stood up, "Here!"

"Take Yizu to inspect the pork stalls between Songhuang Platform and Inspiring Tower. Check their knives. If any have cracks, bring them all back to the police station!"

"No problem." Uncle Zhong set off with Gan Yizu.

"I'll investigate the Kowloon Wholesale Market and meet you there."

Zhou Fengxu slipped on his coat efficiently. He was on the verge of cracking the case, and his exhaustion vanished as his dormant blood stirred with excitement.

Chapter 38

By mid-afternoon, most stalls in the market had covered their goods with transparent plastic covers, and several had already closed for the day. Only a few fresh seafood stalls remained open.

Big Brother Shrimp removed dead fish from his tank and tossed them into the trash. Seeing Uncle Gan take off his greasy apron and eye the empty pork stall, he chuckled. "Uncle Gan, you've sold out again. Will you sell more this afternoon?"

"Sell, of course we sell," Uncle Gan washed his hands in the small bucket, his hair at both sides of the Mediterranean-style haircut already gray. After washing, he rose unsteadily, moving slowly to grab the cloth on the counter to dry his hands.

They had already sold a whole pig that morning.

A smile etched into the lines on Uncle Gan's face, "We'll sell another one this afternoon."

Big Shrimp, waving a fly swatter to chase away insects, asked, "You're already in your seventies, why are you still working so hard?"

"I have no choice!" Uncle Gan sighed.

He was already over seventy, and his wife had passed away early. He didn't know how many more years he had left. His friends of the same age were all retired, enjoying their golden years at home with their grandchildren. Yet, here he was, still working, still striving.

"Understood, it's just circumstances," Big Shrimp thought about Uncle Gan's son and advised, "This can't go on for Ah Si. How can someone live without social interaction? As soon as you leave, he isolates himself even more, making it even harder for him to settle down and start a family."

"There's nothing I can do, how could he settle down or start a family looking like that? Who would ever like him?" Uncle Gan waved his hand dismissively. "If there's truly no other option, I suppose the Hong Kong welfare can help. All I want now is to save more money, otherwise, if I end up bedridden one day, unable to move, I'll truly be calling out to heaven and earth with no response."

"Exactly," Big Shrimp recalled Zhu Si's terrifying scar on half his face and felt a chill. "Even I get scared, let alone other girls. Speaking of which, Uncle Gan, what really happened to Ah Si's injury?"

Upon hearing the mention of the scar, Uncle Gan hesitated visibly before slowly recounting, "Back then, when his mother and I were fighting in the living room, we didn't notice Ah Si going to carry a hot soup."

And then, half of Zhu Si's body was ruined by the scorching broth.

With a loud crash.

Zhu Si threw the cart to the ground, causing the pig on the board to topple off as well.

Uncle Gan was startled.

"Stupid Piglet, what are you doing?!" Seeing the pig almost fall, Uncle Gan anxiously supported it, "Quickly lift the pig back onto the board. How can we sell it if it gets dirty?"

"Money, money, money!" Zhu Si suddenly erupted in anger, his scarred half-face contorting even more horribly as he shoved Uncle Gan to the ground. "Stupid Piglet, that childhood nickname still haunts me! Even the kids outside mock me!"

"All you care about is money! Have you ever tried caring about me?!"

Uncle Gan, also flustered and fueled by anger, was indeed too old to lift the hundred-odd pounds of pork up to the over-a-meter-high board by himself.

Worried the pig might roll onto the ground and get dirty, he hurriedly moved to handle the pork, while the big brother from the prawn stall came forward to lend a hand. Together, they managed to hoist the pig back onto the board.

"You could just scold them when they mock you! You're really foolish, always losing your temper."

"I'm the idiot!" Zhu Si erupted in anger. "If it weren't for you two causing me to end up like this, I wouldn't be afraid to even step out of the door!"

"What does that have to do with me?" Uncle Gan was agitated. Seeing his brother-in-law fall, Big Brother Shrimp rushed to support him. "It was your damn mother who boiled the hot soup; blame her if you want to!"

"Am I working at my age for my own sake? Isn't it all for you?"

Zhu Si had suffered severe burns from head to toe when he was young due to a kitchen accident. The old Gan couple had been in the living room then. Although Zhu Si was immediately sent to the hospital, the doctors said that skin grafting was necessary, or else his skin would be permanently scarred.

The couple was too poor to afford the procedure back then. Assuming that the child would recover since he was young, they didn't expect the severity of the situation.

It wasn't until Zhu Si was in sixth grade that his mother passed away in a car accident, and Uncle Gan received compensation from the driver. Zhu Si mentioned wanting a skin graft as his classmates were afraid of him. Since the surgery required using one's own skin, the larger the scarred area would become as he aged.

But Uncle Gan chose to squander the money on revelry, claiming that Zhu Si didn't have enough surplus skin for the graft anyway.

With his eyes darkened, Zhu Si glared at Uncle Gan, who took a step back from the menacing gaze. He sneered, "If not for the little use you still have, you'd have long been in hell."

"Stop pretending. Don't act like you're working hard for my sake. You know very well that you neglected your responsibilities as a father when you were young. Aren't you afraid that I won't take care of you in your old age, leaving you to die penniless?"

Zhu Si laughed coldly. "You guessed right, so you'd better not get sick easily."

Hardly had her words faded when the attractive vegetable seller rushed into the market, seeking help from some old acquaintances at their stalls if they had seen her daughter.

The elder brother promptly intercepted her, "Why are you searching for your daughter here in the market? Isn't she at home?"

The lady was utterly distraught, "No, she quit her job recently. I haven't seen her since yesterday. I thought she was looking for work. I came out to sell vegetables early this morning, assuming she was still in her room. But when I returned home for lunch, I realized she hadn't come back at all."

"Stay calm," the brother tried to soothe her first, "Girls of her age won't wander off randomly. Maybe she's attending an interview."