BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 177 Uncle

“A monk? So either a Buddhist monk or a Taoist priest…”

Sun Desheng smiled and glanced at Che Qianzi beside him. Then he refilled the old woman’s glass with Shaoxing wine, took out the black jade button from his pocket, and placed it on the table.

“My friend bought a coat here a while ago and lost a button. You can’t find this style locally. Could you help me see if there’s anywhere around here that matches it?”

“I don’t sell clothes—how would I know that?” the woman said, glancing at the button.

But then her expression changed slightly. She tapped her head and muttered, “This does look kind of familiar… like I’ve seen a button like this before… but I can’t remember…”

“Take your time,” Sun Desheng said with a smile. “When you remember, call this number.”

He wrote his phone number on the table using chopsticks dipped in dish soup.

“Here’s the deal—if you can remember where this button came from, I’ll give you 1,000 yuan. That’s just a deposit.”

He then placed a 100-yuan bill into her hand.

“I won’t be in Hangzhou for long, so think quickly. We’ll settle the bill.”

Leaving the small restaurant, Che Qianzi immediately questioned him.

“Fatty, that old lady mentioned a Taoist or monk—why are you looking at me? Don’t tell me it’s my master. He said he never left our village his whole life. The furthest he’s been is the city baths—there’s no way he’s been to Hangzhou.”

Sun Desheng laughed. “I never said it was Kong Dalong. There are plenty of monk-like Taoists in this world. Didn’t we have that Taoist Monk Xiao in the Investigation Bureau? People called him a monk, but he was still a Taoist. Maybe it’s Master Xiao who came—he curses pretty fiercely too.”

He smoothly brushed the topic aside, then continued:

“Old Huang is eating with Jiao Dalang, and it’ll take time to retrieve twenty-year-old surveillance footage. We should find something to do too… how about we take a walk around West Lake? Maybe we’ll even find you a Bai Suzhen.”

“Bai Suzhen? That giant white snake? Forget it, I don’t like that kind of thing.”

Che Qianzi shook his head.

“If you really care, first solve where we’re sleeping. I’m telling you now—I’d rather die than stay in that upstairs room. Compared to that, even my master’s pigsty is a luxury suite.”

Hearing that Che Qianzi refused to stay upstairs, Sun Desheng looked troubled.

Then he pulled out a bank card.

“Or you can go find a hotel yourself. Take this card. Password is xxxxxx. I’ll stay here. Maybe that old lady downstairs will suddenly remember something about the button.”

Che Qianzi didn’t take it.

“That’s not right. I can’t do that to you. You stay here and suffer while I go live in a hotel? No way—we either go together or not at all.”

“What are you being polite for?” Sun Desheng said, patting his head.

“Go book two rooms first. If she still hasn’t remembered by night, I’ll come find you. Then we’ll head to West Lake State Guesthouse together.”

Just then, Sun Desheng’s phone rang again—another bank transfer notification.

His face darkened slightly.

After a deep breath, he made a call.

“Hey, Old Ma, it’s me… yeah, I’ve got something to discuss. A friend needs some hospitality from you. Consider him an old acquaintance—he’s been eating your place for over ten years. Do things properly… otherwise you might get a dream visit from Old Gao tonight.”

Che Qianzi wandered aimlessly with the bank card.

He wasn’t experienced with booking hotels—everything these past months had been arranged for him. After thinking for a while, he decided to hail a taxi and ask the driver for recommendations.

Just as he stood by the road, an elderly man—so frail his age was impossible to tell—shuffled up to him.

He suddenly grabbed Che Qianzi tightly and began shouting in Hangzhou dialect.

What the hell? Am I being scammed?

That was Che Qianzi’s first reaction—some old guy trying to extort him.

But the passersby didn’t react like that at all—they were even smiling.

More importantly, the old man looked like he might fall apart any second. A single poke could probably kill him. If Che Qianzi slapped him, he probably couldn’t even land it…

Che Qianzi pulled him off and said, “Speak properly. You want money, right? Fine—max 500.”

“I don’t want money!” the old man cried. “Uncle, don’t you recognize me? I’m your nephew, A-Liang!”

He clung to Che Qianzi, tears and snot streaming down his face.

“It’s been so many years… you really don’t recognize me, Jiang A-Liang? When I was a baby, you even held me! A few days ago I dreamed of Grandpa—he told you to take care of us… I’m sorry…”

His speech was a mix of Hangzhou dialect and Mandarin, but Che Qianzi managed to understand the gist.

Turns out the old man had mistaken him for someone else.

Che Qianzi, despite being fearless, had no idea how to deal with this kind of situation. He could only keep explaining:

“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not your uncle. Look at our ages—you’re older than my master. How could I be your uncle? Stop crying… my clothes are expensive…”

“Fine, fine, I’ll be your uncle, okay? Let go! I’m your grand-uncle now, alright?”

But the old man wouldn’t let go, crying even harder.

Just as Che Qianzi was getting annoyed, a Wuling van pulled up.

Three middle-aged men jumped out and rushed over.

“Dad, why did you come here again?”

“Father, that’s not your uncle—stop it, let’s go home!”

No matter how they tried to persuade him, the old man refused to let go of Che Qianzi.

Che Qianzi glanced at them sideways.

“What is this, a whole family doing a scam? You send the old man to cling to me, call me uncle, then accuse me of abuse?”

Even he realized how unlikely that sounded.

He snorted. “Whatever—you’re still scammers. I don’t dare hit the old man, but I can handle you guys.”

At that moment, the eldest son quickly said:

“You’ve misunderstood, young man. My father has a mental condition—he often confuses relatives. We’re helpless. Could you just pretend to be his uncle and let him come home with us?”

He then pulled out ID cards, the old man’s ID, family photos, and medical records proving dementia.

After seeing how sincere they were—and still being tightly grabbed—Che Qianzi finally relented.

“Fine. Uncle got recognized, okay? I’ll go with you. Your sons came to pick you up. Let’s go together.”

The old man cried even harder.

“Uncle, come home with me… I’ll take good care of you… stay a few days… we’ll go home together…”