'Ada yang tidak beres!'
Baik lelaki tua maupun pria paruh baya tidak punya alasan atau kesempatan untuk membocorkan informasi itu ke perwakilan hotel.
Jadi bagaimana perwakilan dari Hotel Black Swan bisa tahu kalau lelaki tua tertarik dengan tim Liu Daxi?
Segala macam pikiran acak bergegas melintas di benak Xu An...
Melihat ekspresi bingung dan sedikit tak berdaya di wajah Xu An, Liu Daxi akhirnya mengangguk puas.
'Baru ini reaksinya yang benar!'
"Tapi, ya... aku cuma merasa getaran kami tidak cocok dengan Hotel Black Swan, jadi aku tolak."
Setelah bicara, Liu Daxi memasang ekspresi 'seharusnya kamu memujiku sekarang', membuat sudut mulut Xu An bergerak-gerak.
'Pak Liu sudah lewat lima puluh. Kenapa dia bersikap kayak Xu Kang dan Xu Le?'
Mengandalkan pengalaman luasnya mengurus Xu Kang dan Xu Le, Xu An tahu persis cara menenangkan Pak Liu, memujinya sampai ekornya—kalau dia punya—menggigil tingginya tiga kaki.
"Di Pameran Peralatan Mesin Kota Hai, di area penataan booth Xinyang Commercial Kitchen Technology Co., Ltd."
Manajer Han, yang bangun pagi dan datang ke pusat konvensi, menemukan kru pemasangan dan dekorator belum tiba. Dia tidak punya pilihan selain mencari sudut untuk duduk sambil main HP.
Saat dia buka aplikasi pesan, dia melihat pemuda yang ditambahkannya kemarin. Baru lalu dia ingat dia sempat ambil beberapa foto peralatan terpasang untuk dikirim, tapi terlalu sibuk dan lupa.
'Masih tidak terlambat kirim sekarang.'
Manajer Han buka obrolan dengan Xu An dan kirim lima foto yang diambil.
"Ini peralatan yang kami pasang kemarin. Bisa mulai uji coba begitu semuanya siap."
"Restoran Cepat Saji Xu."
Baru saja selesai bicara dengan Liu Daxi soal upaya pencurian karyawan Hotel Black Swan, Xu An kembali ke kasir dan melihat foto dari Paman Han.
Xu An dengan santai mengunduh gambar-gambar itu, lalu memperbesar untuk memeriksa peralatan di foto dengan teliti.
Peralatannya terlihat kurang lebih sama seperti di brosur, meski finishingnya tidak seglossy itu.
"Bagus juga. Kalau fungsinya benar-benar seperti di brosur, ini akan luar biasa."
Saat Xu An geser ke foto ketiga, kilatan merah di sudut gambar menarik perhatiannya...
Itu tangga darurat di belakang pintu kebakaran. Lampu mati, dan jendela sebagian besar tertutup sesuatu, membuat area itu kelihatan gelap dan tidak mencolok.
'Apa ini?'
Didorong rasa penasaran, Xu An memperbesar sudut gambar itu, lalu memperbesar lagi, dan lagi...
Setelah diperbesar sebesar mungkin, dia melihat dua sosok di bayangan. Salah satunya cukup familiar—itu perwakilan Hotel Black Swan, yang baru kemarin dilihatnya duduk di sampingnya di sesi tender!
Sosok di hadapannya orang asing total. Bisa dilihat itu wanita muda dan bisa dibayangkan penampilannya secara umum.
Tapi Xu An yakin dia tidak pernah melihat orang ini di kedua kehidupannya sekalipun, bahkan tidak sebagai orang lewat di jalan.
Akhirnya mata Xu An tertuju pada titik merah di antara dua orang itu. Saat matanya mendarat di situ, ekspresi aneh muncul di wajahnya.
'Cara pegangannya, ukurannya, warnanya... Kelihatannya persis seperti gumpalan uang seratus yuan merah!'
Mengingat apa yang dikatakan Lu Shengnan dan Liu Daxi, Xu An tidak bisa tidak mempertimbangkan kemungkinan tertentu. 'Bisa jadi ini adegan suap?'
Saat ide itu muncul, Xu An terkejut dengan pikirannya sendiri.
Tapi di dalam hati, dia merasakan kilat harapan. 'Kalau benar, bukankah aku punya bukti aktivitas ilegal perwakilan Hotel Black Swan?'
Kursor mouse bergerak di layar. Dia buka browser, cari "Panitia Persiapan Pameran Peralatan Mesin Kota Hai", dan klik link ketiga yang bertanda "Resmi". Dua belas foto wajah muncul di hadapannya.
'Bukan ini, bukan ini, masih bukan ini...'
Sampai dia sampai di foto ketiga dari terakhir, dia akhirnya menemukan kecocokan untuk wajah orang di hadapan perwakilan Hotel Black Swan.
"Gao Baolin, perempuan, 27 tahun..."
'Mungkin tebakan ku benar!'
Dia tutup halaman web dan memindai setiap sudut dari kelima foto dengan cermat. Di sudut kanan atas foto kelima, dia melihat dua sosok itu lagi. Kali ini, kilatan merah ada di tangan Gao Baolin...
Untuk lebih memastikan dugaannya, Xu An menghubungi Paman Han dan meminta waktu pasti dua foto itu diambil.
Foto pria memegang kilatan merah diambil kemarin jam 15:12:21. Foto di mana kilatan merah muncul di tangan wanita diambil kemarin jam 15:14:03.
'Ini bukti mutlak!'
Meski Xu An gembira menemukan celah di lawannya, dia cepat tenang kembali.
'Kesimpulan ini baru tercapai karena aku menyusun semua informasi yang kupunya. Bagi orang lain, ini cuma dua foto biasa.'
'Bagaimana kalau mereka ayah dan anak, dan dia cuma kasih uang saku? Bagaimana kalau mereka sanak famili, dan dia pinjam uang? Bagaimana kalau...'
Semua di atas memungkinkan. Dua foto ini saja tidak akan konklusif.
Lalu, sebuah adegan tiba-tiba melintas di benak Xu An.
Itu dari sesi tender. Setelah dia selesai menjawab pertanyaan petugas, lelaki tua tiba-tiba menunjuk seseorang, bertanya apakah dia masih punya pertanyaan.
Kalau ingatannya benar, lelaki tua memanggil orang itu—Baolin!
Mengingat ekspresi lelaki tua saat memanggil nama itu, kelihatannya ada sedikit godaan, sedikit ejekan, dan sentuhan kecewa yang tak berdaya!
Semua pecahan memori sekarang cocok. Semua petunjuk sudah ditemukan. Semua bukti mengarah ke kemungkinan yang sama!
'Harus aku lapor lewat website resmi, atau komunikasi langsung dengan lelaki tua?'
Xu An merenung sejenak, lalu tiba-tiba buka Photoshop. Dia tarik dua foto itu ke program dan mulai mengedit...
"Kantor Pusat Konvensi dan Pameran Kota Hai."
Lelaki tua dan pria paruh baya duduk berhadapan, minum teh. Ini waktu obrolan santai mereka sebelum kerja.
Pembicaraan mereka selalu berputar pada pameran, dan sesi tender kemarin tentu jadi bagian dari diskusi mereka.
"Hanya tinggal beberapa hari sebelum pameran dimulai. Kita finalisasi hotel katering secepatnya." Lelaki tua dengan pelan mengayunkan cangkir teh cyan di tangannya. Teh merah tua di dalamnya beriak, gelombang menyebar perlahan dari tengah ke luar.
"Benar. Sudah terlalu lama ditunda." Pria itu menghela napas dan menghabiskan tehnya. "Kita harus finalisasi. Hotel butuh waktu persiapan juga. Cuma sayang, setelah sekian lama, kita masih belum nemu titik lemahnya..."
"Pelan-pelan, tidak usah terburu. Akan ada kesempatan." Lelaki tua tersenyum, angkat teko, dan isi cangkir kosong pria itu di meja sampai kira-kira delapan puluh persen.
BEEP BEEP BEEP—
Layar HP di meja tiba-tiba menyala, dan suara notif QQ yang khas berbunyi. Pandangan kedua pria jatuh ke HP—suara itu dari perangkat lelaki tua.
Lelaki tua punya banyak kontak di QQ, tapi kebanyakan kenalan yang tidak akan chat tanpa alasan. 'Siapa ini?'
Dia letakkan teko, ambil HP, dan buka QQ. Dia temukan pemuda yang ditambahkannya kemarin mengirim beberapa gambar dan satu kalimat.
"Sekretaris Feng, ini beberapa foto dari pamer yang ketemu kemarin—boothnya keren banget (jempol)."
'Pemuda ini berani banget, repotkan aku dengan hal sepele begini.'
Lelaki tua menggelengkan kepala pelan, memakai kacamata baca, dan tap untuk memuat foto.
Lingkaran loading cepat selesai putarannya. Foto termuat, memenuhi seluruh layar.
Foto menunjukkan sepotong peralatan kecil tujuan tidak diketahui. Bukan produk high-tech mutakhir, dan tidak ada apa-apa yang istimewa.
Foto kedua adalah alat yang sama, cuma dari sudut sedikit berbeda.
Setelah melihat dua foto, lelaki tua hendak keluar mode tampil. Tapi saat jarinya sentuh layar, dia memperhatikan kilatan merah yang mencolok.
Dia tap buka foto lagi dan menatap dengan tajam ke kilatan merah itu...
"Yuanzhong, mari lihat foto ini. Bilang kalau mataku main-main," panggil lelaki tua dengan lembut.
Pria paruh baya di hadapannya, Meng Yuanzhong, mendengar itu dan meletakkan cangkir teh yang baru diangkat. Dia berjalan berdiri di belakang lelaki tua, condong ke bawah melihat HP di tangannya, dan juga melihat kilatan merah yang mencolok itu...
’Something’s not right!’
Neither the old man nor the middle-aged one had any reason or opportunity to leak that information to a hotel representative.
So how did the representative from the Black Swan Hotel know that the old man was interested in Liu Daxi’s team?
All sorts of jumbled thoughts raced through Xu An’s mind...
Seeing the bewildered and slightly helpless look on Xu An’s face, Liu Daxi finally nodded in satisfaction.
’Now *that’s* the right reaction!’
"But, well, I just felt that our vibes didn’t match with the Black Swan Hotel, so I turned them down."
After he spoke, Liu Daxi put on a "you’d better praise me now" expression, making the corners of Xu An’s mouth twitch.
’Master Liu is over fifty. Why is he acting just like Xu Kang and Xu Le?’
Drawing on his extensive experience dealing with Xu Kang and Xu Le, Xu An knew just how to placate Master Liu, praising him until his tail was wagging three feet high.
If Liu Daxi had a tail, that is.
「At the Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition, inside the Xinyang Commercial Kitchen Technology Co., Ltd. booth setup area.」
Manager Han, who had gotten up early and come to the convention center, found that the installation crew and decorators hadn’t arrived yet. He had no choice but to find a corner to sit in and play on his phone.
When he opened his messaging app, he saw the young man he’d added yesterday. Only then did he remember that he’d taken a few photos of the installed equipment to send him, but he’d gotten too busy and forgotten.
’Well, it’s not too late to send them now.’
Manager Han opened his chat with Xu An and sent the five photos he had taken.
"This is the equipment we installed yesterday. We can start testing once everything is set up."
「Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.」
Having just finished talking with Liu Daxi about the Black Swan Hotel’s poaching attempt, Xu An returned to the cash register and saw the photos from Uncle Han.
Xu An casually downloaded the images, then zoomed in to carefully examine the equipment in the photos.
The equipment looked more or less the same as in the brochure, though its finish wasn’t quite as glossy.
"Not bad at all. If its functions are really as described in the brochure, this will be incredible."
As Xu An swiped to the third photo, a flash of red in the corner of the picture caught his eye...
It was a stairwell behind a fire door. The lights were off, and the window was mostly blocked by something, making the area look dim and inconspicuous.
’What’s this?’
Driven by curiosity, Xu An zoomed in on that corner of the image, then zoomed in again, and again...
After zooming in as far as he could, he saw two figures in the shadows. One of them was quite familiar—it was the representative from the Black Swan Hotel, whom he had just seen yesterday sitting next to him at the bidding session!
The figure opposite him was a complete stranger. He could tell it was a young woman and could make out her general appearance.
But Xu An was certain that he had never seen this person in both of his lifetimes combined, not even as a passing stranger on the street.
Finally, Xu An’s gaze fell on the spot of red between the two people. The moment his eyes landed on it, a strange expression appeared on his face.
’The way it was held, its size, its color... It looked exactly like a wad of red 100-yuan bills!’
Recalling what Lu Shengnan and Liu Daxi had said, Xu An couldn’t help but consider a certain possibility. ’Could this be a bribery scene?’
The moment this idea surfaced, Xu An was startled by his own thought.
But deep down, he felt a flicker of anticipation. ’What if it’s true? If so, don’t I have proof of the Black Swan Hotel representative’s illegal activities?’
His mouse cursor moved across the screen. He opened his browser, searched for the "Hai City Machinery Equipment Exhibition Preparatory Committee," and clicked on the third link, which was marked "Official." Twelve headshots appeared before his eyes.
’Not this one, not this one, still not this one...’
When he got to the third-to-last picture, he finally found a match for the face of the person opposite the Black Swan Hotel representative.
"Gao Baolin, female, 27 years old..."
’Maybe my guess really is true!’
He closed the webpage and meticulously scanned every corner of the five photos. In the top-right corner of the fifth photo, he saw the two figures again. This time, the flash of red was in Gao Baolin’s hand...
To further confirm his suspicion, Xu An contacted Uncle Han and asked for the exact time the two photos were taken.
The photo of the man holding the flash of red was taken yesterday at 3:12:21 PM. The one where the flash of red appeared in the woman’s hand was taken yesterday at 3:14:03 PM.
’This is the smoking gun!’
Although Xu An was thrilled to have found a chink in his opponent’s armor, he quickly calmed down.
’I only reached this conclusion by piecing together all the information I have. To anyone else, these are just two ordinary photos.’
’What if they’re father and daughter, and he’s just giving her some spending money? What if they’re relatives, and she’s borrowing money from him? What if...’
All of the above were possibilities. These two pictures alone wouldn’t be decisive.
Then, a scene suddenly flashed through Xu An’s mind.
It was from the bidding session. After he had finished answering the staff member’s questions, the old man had suddenly singled someone out, asking if she had any more questions.
If he remembered correctly, the old man had called that person—Baolin!
Recalling the old man’s expression when he called her name, it seemed to hold a hint of mischief, a bit of teasing, and a touch of exasperated disappointment!
All the fragments of his memory now fit together. All the clues had been found. All the evidence pointed to the same possibility!
’Should I report it through the official website, or communicate directly with the old man?’
Xu An pondered for a moment, then suddenly opened Photoshop. He dragged the two photos into the program and began to edit them...
「Hai City Convention and Exhibition Center Office.」
The old man and the middle-aged man sat facing each other, drinking tea. It was their time for a casual chat before work.
Their conversation always revolved around the exhibition, and yesterday’s bidding session was naturally part of their discussion.
"There are only a few days left before the exhibition begins. Let’s finalize the catering hotel as soon as possible." The old man gently swirled the cyan teacup in his hand. The deep red tea inside rippled, the waves spreading slowly from the center outwards.
"You’re right. It’s already been dragged out for too long." The man sighed and drained his cup. "We really should finalize it. We need to give the hotel time to prepare, too. It’s just a shame that after all this time, we still haven’t found any leverage..."
"Slowly, no need to rush. There will be opportunities." The old man smiled, picked up the teapot, and filled the man’s empty cup on the table until it was about eighty percent full.
BEEP BEEP BEEP—
The screen of the phone on the table suddenly lit up, and the distinct notification sound of QQ rang out. Both men’s gazes fell on the phone—the noise had come from the old man’s device.
The old man had many contacts on his QQ, but most were acquaintances who wouldn’t message him without a reason. ’Who could this be?’
He put down the teapot, reached for his phone, and opened QQ. He found that the young man he’d added yesterday had sent him a few pictures and a sentence.
"Secretary Feng, here are some photos from an exhibitor I met yesterday—the booth looks quite nice (thumbs up)."
’This young man is certainly audacious, bothering me with such a trivial matter.’
The old man shook his head lightly, put on his reading glasses, and tapped to load the photos.
The loading circle quickly completed its loop. The photo finished loading, filling the entire screen.
The photo showed a small piece of equipment of unknown purpose. It wasn’t some high-tech, cutting-edge product, nor was there anything special about it.
The second photo was of the same device, just from a slightly different angle.
After looking at the two photos, the old man was about to exit the viewing mode. But just as his finger touched the screen, he noticed a conspicuous flash of red.
He tapped the photo open again and stared intently at the red flash...
"Yuanzhong, come take a look at this photo. Tell me if my eyes are playing tricks on me," the old man called out softly.
The middle-aged man sitting opposite him, Meng Yuanzhong, heard this and put down the teacup he had just picked up. He walked over to stand behind the old man, leaned down to look at the phone in his hand, and also saw that conspicuous flash of red...
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