Xu Mo was deeply engrossed in reading the last forty chapters of *Dream of the Red Chamber*. Before he knew it, a long time had passed.
By the time he finished and snapped back to reality, the sky had already begun to lighten with the first hints of dawn.
Glancing at the time, he realized it was already 5:30 AM.
Fortunately, Xu Mo had the Turtle Breathing Technique, a reward from his system, which allowed him to function on just two hours of sleep a day.
Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn’t yet time to head to work, Xu Mo went back to bed for a short nap.
At 8:00 AM, Xu Mo arrived at his privately-owned museum. He placed the original manuscript of the last forty chapters of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, a reward from his system, into a display case at the center of the museum. After that, he drove straight to the police station.
**Police Station.**
Small groups of officers were gathered together, discussing their strategies for buying lottery tickets.
“Your numbers are no good, they’ll never win. I’ve researched—no, I mean, my friend has researched lottery numbers for a long time, and he recommended this set to me. Take a look.”
“Yours are even worse! What kind of numbers are these? 01-03-05-07… The first four numbers look like they were picked at random. If this wins, I’ll eat a ton of *!”
“What’s wrong with my numbers? You don’t know what you’re talking about! Forget it, I’m not even going to argue with you. It’s like talking to a brick wall!”
“Captain Xu is here!” Wang Dachuan noticed the man with the best luck in the station walking through the door. He immediately gave up on arguing with his colleague and greeted Xu Mo with a smile.
“Morning,” Xu Mo replied with a smile. “What are you all doing, gathered around so early in the morning?”
“We’re discussing whether the lottery ticket I bought will win. Captain Xu, could you take a look and tell me what you think? How do these numbers look?” Wang Dachuan handed Xu Mo the lottery ticket he had bought on his way to work.
Xu Mo glanced at the numbers—01-03-05-07-09-02-04—and couldn’t help but think to himself, *What on earth is this?*
This is worse than randomly generated numbers!
Still, he didn’t want to crush Wang Dachuan’s hopes, so after pretending to study the ticket for a moment, he casually said, “These numbers look good. I think you’ll at least win second prize.”
Hearing this, Wang Dachuan immediately lit up with excitement.
“Really, Captain Xu? You think this ticket will win?!”
“Absolutely,” Xu Mo patted Wang Dachuan on the shoulder and then headed straight for his office.
After Xu Mo left, Wang Dachuan returned to the group of officers, holding his lottery ticket with a proud expression.
“Did you all hear that? Captain Xu said my ticket will at least win second prize. If I’m lucky, I might even hit the jackpot!”
The other officers just shook their heads in disbelief.
“Captain Xu was obviously just humoring you. Can’t you tell? There’s no way those numbers will win.”
“Yeah, I’d sooner believe a pig could climb a tree than believe that ticket will win.”
“Dachuan, Captain Xu was just trying to spare your feelings. It’s called a white lie, understand?”
“Honestly, I could let my dog randomly press numbers on my phone, and it would still be more reliable than your ticket… Hey, hey, Wang Dachuan, what are you doing? Are you trying to start a fight? Let go of my neck!”
Wang Dachuan could tolerate them saying his ticket wouldn’t win, but when his colleague claimed his luck was worse than a dog’s, he couldn’t hold back. Without a word, he lunged at his colleague to teach him a lesson.
The two of them started wrestling in the office area.
Of course, it was just playful roughhousing between friends, not a serious fight, and it was over as quickly as it started.
Just then, Han Fei walked into the station.
Seeing the scene before him, Han Fei simply coughed.
Hearing the familiar cough, the two men immediately stopped, scratched their heads, and awkwardly smiled at Han Fei.
“Morning, Captain Han!”
“Enough messing around. Get back to work. It’s early in the morning—this doesn’t look professional.”
“Got it!”
After returning to his desk, Wang Dachuan carefully tucked his lottery ticket into a notebook to prevent it from getting crumpled and potentially affecting his chances of claiming the prize.
As for the other officers, they quickly forgot about the whole incident.
They forgot that Xu Mo had said Wang Dachuan’s ticket would win.
After all, in their eyes, there was no way Wang Dachuan’s ticket could win. The numbers were just too bizarre, with no chance of success.
Han Fei had just walked into his office and hadn’t even put down his bag when Xu Mo knocked on the door.
“Captain Han, I sent you a file. Make sure to take a look.”
“What file?”
Xu Mo kept it vague. “You’ll see when you open it.” With that, he left Han Fei’s office.
Han Fei had intended to open the file right away, but after setting down his bag and having breakfast, he completely forgot about it.
The rest of the day at the station was relatively uneventful, though they did receive a few calls that were more amusing than serious.
The first call: A man from Jiawan New Village reported that his “son” (a pet cat) had gone missing and asked the police to help search for it.
The second: A caller claimed he wanted to end his life. After some comforting and questioning, the caller revealed that he had “lost his heart” to a woman he saw while shopping. He had fallen in love at first sight and couldn’t get her out of his mind.
The third: A caller reported seeing an alien, about one meter tall, at a chicken farm in the southeast corner of Sunzhuang Village. He urged the police to come and capture the extraterrestrial being.
The fourth: A couple got into a physical fight over naming their child and called the police.
The fifth: A caller reported animal abuse, claiming that someone had glued two dogs’ rear ends together with 502 glue, leaving them unable to move.
The sixth: A man called the police from a public restroom after realizing he had no toilet paper. He thought it was a clever solution.
The seventh: A private museum’s exhibition of the original manuscript of the last forty chapters of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, written by Cao Xueqin, caused a major stir. The road in front of the museum was completely blocked, causing traffic chaos and angering passersby, who called the police.
The eighth: The traffic jam outside the private museum led to more complaints from pedestrians, who called the police again.
The ninth: Residents in the area were furious about the traffic situation, as they had to take long detours to get home. They also called the police.
The tenth…
…
“What? The last forty chapters of *Dream of the Red Chamber*? And it’s Cao Xueqin’s original manuscript? That’s got to be a joke…” Han Fei frowned when he heard about it. “Where is this private museum? This is clearly spreading false information. I need to check it out.”
Han Fei was 99% sure that the museum was lying.
His father-in-law was a renowned scholar of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, and through his influence, Han Fei knew just how precious the lost last forty chapters were.
In his opinion, this was almost certainly a scam by the museum to attract visitors and sell tickets for profit.
This was a crime, and it couldn’t be ignored!
Especially since it had caused such a major traffic disruption and sparked so many complaints. The station had been flooded with calls about it, so they needed to act quickly.
“It’s at 387 Hexi Road,” an officer replied.
“387 Hexi Road? Why does that sound familiar?” Han Fei felt like he had heard the address before, but he couldn’t quite place it.