Chapter 12: The Unconscious Mouse

  Tang Xiaosheng felt extremely surprised, Lin Shishi didn't even ask about her fainting last night.

  As a woman, she can't ignore such a sensitive issue; as a detective, she also can't ignore such an important issue.

  However, she didn't mention a word about it, which left Tang Xiaosheng puzzled. Of course, this was also good, as he avoided a lot of trouble.

  At noon, he received some good news. The director of the inpatient department suddenly told him that the discharge procedures had been completed and he and Guo Xiang could be discharged tonight.

  After learning this news, Tang Xiaosheng couldn't help but admire Lin Shishi a little more. It seems that she really has some skills and was able to settle the matter in just half a day.

  The happiest person was Guo Xiang, who had been looking forward to this day for a whole year and couldn't wait any longer.

  Because Guo Yang had sold the house in their home to pay off debts, Guo Xiang could be said to have no home to return to, and she could only live with Tang Xiao Sheng.

  At more than 7 o'clock in the evening, Tang Xiaosheng and Guo Xiang carried the collected gifts and prepared to leave the psychiatric hospital. Guo Xiang's interpersonal relationships were really good, and before leaving, many mentally ill patients came to see her off. After all, Guo Xiang had been in the psychiatric hospital for a year and had feelings for this place, so she was reluctant to leave suddenly.

  But there is no banquet that does not scatter, and after bidding farewell to many mentally ill people one by one, she finally left the mental hospital with Tang Xiaosheng.

  After leaving the hospital gate, they decided to go home immediately. In order to intercept a taxi on the opposite road, they walked into an underground passage together.

  In the underground passageway, there happened to be a street singer performing. The street singer was wearing a down jacket hat that covered her forehead, and she lowered her head slightly, making it almost impossible to see her face. However, from the sound of her singing voice, it could be inferred that this street singer was likely a girl. She held an original wooden guitar in her arms, singing Qi Yu's "Olive Tree" solo: "Don't ask me where I come from, my hometown is far away. Why wander, wandering afar, wandering..."

  Skilled guitar playing accompanied by a clear voice, the female street singer's singing attracted many passersby to watch. Tang Xiaosheng couldn't help but stop in his tracks, and for some reason, he felt that this singer was particularly special.

  The little girl standing beside him pointed at the street singer and asked in a childish voice, "Big brother, why is she singing here?"

  "She is a wandering singer, as long as she has a guitar, wherever they go, they sing wherever, roaming everywhere, the four seas are home."

  "Wandering everywhere?" Guo Xiang's eyes blinked, revealing an envious expression, and said, "Big brother, what kind of person can become a wandering singer?"

  "Uh, anyone can. However, before drifting away, at least learn how to play the guitar."

  Guo Xiang seemed to understand a bit and paused for a moment before saying: "Big brother, if I learn to play the guitar in the future, can I also become a wandering singer?"

  Tang Xiaosheng smiled, perhaps she had been locked up in the mental hospital for too long, and was full of longing for a free life, so she became interested in the life of a wandering singer. She slowed down and said, "Of course, it's possible, but we have to go home first."

  "Uh-huh."

  Then the two of them went through the underground passage together and came to the opposite road, then took a taxi and headed to their residence in the distant suburbs.

  Tang Xiaosheng's residence is located in a civilian house on the west outskirts of Jinghua City. Due to the high housing prices in the urban area, he can't afford to rent one at all, and he has been living here for many years.

  The house was built in the 1980s, with old decorations and simple equipment. The sanitary conditions are also poor. The only advantage is that the rent is cheap - 160 yuan per month, excluding water and electricity fees.

  Upon arriving at the residence, as soon as the door was opened, a strange and pungent smell wafted out.

  The room is not big, less than twenty square meters, with one bedroom and one bathroom. After entering the house, I saw a bowl of unfinished instant noodles on a small, old round table, which had been severely moldy, with a thick layer of white fluff covering the surface of the bowl. There were also several cockroaches crawling around the noodles.

  On the edge of a small round table, there was a long wooden chair with one leg missing, on which were piled more than ten dirty clothes that had not been washed. The most eye-catching thing was a floor fan opposite the chair, whose paint had almost all peeled off, and on which hung two red **Panda** brand belts.

  In the innermost part of the room, there was a simple wooden bed. On the headboard, more than ten books on performance were scattered in disorder. The top one was called "The Actor's Self-Cultivation".

  Next to the wooden bed, there is a worn-out sofa with over ten bags of instant noodles in various flavors piled on it.

  On the floor of the room, all sorts of daily necessities were scattered about: cooking oil, electric stove, pot, bowl, spoon, electric heating rod, thermos flask, plastic bucket, washbasin, rubber shoes, slippers, socks, shampoo, laundry detergent, dumbbells, cola bottles, basketball, second-hand DV machine, second-hand bicycle...

  The cleanest place in the entire room was the wall, which was plastered with posters of Chinese and foreign performing stars: Bruce Lee, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Connery, Tom Cruise, Stephen Chow, Audrey Hepburn...

  Seeing such a messy room, Guo Xiang didn't mind much and didn't complain. Instead, she took the initiative to clean up the room.

  "Xiang Er, don't worry about cleaning up too much, we'll be moving out in a few days," Tang Xiaosheng reminded.

  He has been living here for six years, although the living conditions are a bit poor, he is already used to it. It's just that letting Guo Xiang live in such a place is really too difficult for her, not very suitable. He had already thought about it, and in these few days, he would rent a house with a better environment, the 10,000 yuan that Guo Yang gave him earlier would come in handy.

  "Big brother, I think it's okay to stay here and collect ourselves, no need to move." Guo Xiang looked up at him and said seriously.

  Tang Xiaosheng smiled slightly, guessing that the little girl knew he didn't have much money and wanted to help him save some. He patted her head and said, "Never mind, let's just tidy up the bed for now."

  "Uh-huh."

  Then, the two of them started to thoroughly clean the room.

  Guo Xiang first tidied up the bed and sofa, then carried a plastic bucket to the bathroom to fetch water. After fetching the water, she rolled up her sleeves and started wiping the table, chairs, and sofa with a hemp cloth.

  Tang Xiaosheng then picked up the moldy instant noodles on the table, threw them into the trash can, and rearranged the items in the room again. After finishing, he carried a dozen dirty clothes to the laundry sink on the balcony for washing.

  Chirp! Chirp!

  Just as he was washing clothes, he suddenly heard two sharp cries from the bathroom, followed by a chaotic noise, as if something had happened. Tang Xiaosheng quickly put down his work and rushed to the house, came to the bathroom, and asked: "Xiang Er, what's wrong?"

  All I saw was Guo Xiang standing at the edge of the bathroom, her face slightly surprised, pointing to the floor and saying in a childish voice: "Big brother, there's a mouse!"

  Tang Xiaosheng swept the floor with his eyes and indeed saw a mouse lying motionless on the ground, seemingly dead. He furrowed his brow, somewhat perplexed, and said, "How did a dead mouse end up in the bathroom?"

  "Big brother, this isn't a dead mouse, but a mouse that's just fainted. I only hit its acupuncture point." Guo Xiang's nose twitched as she explained in a childish voice, "Just now when I went to the bathroom to fetch water, a mouse suddenly darted out. I got nervous and used the 'Orchid Brushing Hand' technique on it, and ended up sealing its acupoint."

  Tang Xiaosheng suddenly enlightened, squatted down, gently touched the mouse on the ground, and found that it still had signs of life. He turned his head to praise Guo Xiang, "Xiang'er, it seems that your 'Lan Hua Fu Xue Shou' has improved a lot."

  Guo Xiang smiled proudly and said: "I've been practicing hard for the past two days!"

  Tang Xiaosheng was a little curious: "The acupoints of mice and humans are different, how did you identify the points?"

  Guo Xiang shook her head: "I was just casually pointing, didn't expect it to actually work. Big brother, how do we deal with this mouse?"

  "Let's just find a place to bury it."

  "Big brother, it's not dead yet! After three hours, the acupoints will automatically unlock and it can move again. Why not let it go?"

  For mice, Tang Xiaosheng really didn't have much good feeling, because the instant noodles in his house were often stolen by mice. But since Guo Xiang asked him to do so, he decided to show some mercy: "Okay, let's give the mouse a chance to reform."

  He then turned to the unconscious mouse on the ground and said, "Mouse, listen up. Since Xiang'er has pleaded for you, I'll spare your life this time. Hope you can turn over a new leaf and behave yourself from now on, and stop stealing my instant noodles."

  He said this and thoroughly amused Guo Xiang beside him.

  Then Tang Xiaosheng picked up the unconscious mouse from the bathroom and casually threw it into the trash can outside the door.

  At this time, the room had been cleaned up, and after this toss, Guo Xiang also sweated a lot. She said: "Big brother, I want to take a bath."

  "There is hot water in the thermos."

  "But...," Guo Xiang paused and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid there are still rats in the bathroom."

  Tang Xiaosheng's place of residence, due to the age of the house, has many leaks, and there is a garbage dump nearby, so some small animals often sneak in and roam around the room, with mice and cockroaches being frequent visitors.

  "This is easy, big brother will go help you chase the mouse away."

  "Uh, thank you big brother."

  Tang Xiaosheng then went to the bathroom, carefully checked every corner of the room, and blocked all possible holes where mice could escape. He closed all windows, took out insecticide and sprayed it vigorously in every corner of the room, and incidentally eliminated the cockroaches as well.

  "Xiang Er, the bathroom has been cleaned."

  Guo Xiang stood at the bathroom door, poked her head in, took a glance inside, and raised an eyebrow, asking for reassurance: "Big brother, are you sure no more mice will come in?"

  Seeing that she still seemed uneasy, Tang Xiaosheng comforted her: "Alright then, big brother will stand guard at the bathroom door. If any rat tries to sneak in and peek at little beauty taking a bath, big brother will chop it into pieces at the door, how's that?"

  Guo Xiang smiled and nodded: "Mm, then I'll go take a bath."

  After finishing, she carried the selected clothes into the bathroom and gently closed the door. A moment later, the sound of rushing water came from inside.

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  Friendly reminder: This book is not a typical feel-good novel, with few scenes of pretentiousness and face-slapping, and fewer exciting moments. Moreover, the plot becomes less intense as it progresses, and there isn't even a real villain throughout the entire book.

  The plot is very complicated and gets more confusing towards the end. It's a bit of a brain twister to read, and ordinary readers may find it hard to adapt.

  The plot is simple and becomes less as it goes on. There will be no depiction of the process of pushing girls.

  The plot is full of puzzles and requires a lot of logical analysis.

  ……

  Not fond of this type of book, be cautious, lest you waste your time.

  ;