Li Yalin’s expression was surprised. He wanted to ask something, but held back, and busily said, “I’ll have someone pick you up!”
“Okay.”
Soon, An Chongqiu, who was wearing a duck-tongue cap and a black mask on his face. Led by a police officer, he walked up.
He carried two kraft paper shopping bags and came straight to Li Yalin’s office.
As soon as Li Yalin saw him, he asked in surprise, “Chongqiu, what brings you to New York? Didn’t I hear some time ago that you had returned to China?”
“Yes.” An Chongqiu nodded and smiled bitterly, “I went to China, but I ended up in a mess, so I came back in disgrace.”
Li Yalin asked curiously, “What happened? Is there someone else who can give you a hard time?”
“Don’t mention it.” An Chongqiu said helplessly, “This matter …… is really a long story.”
After that, he put two kraft paper bags on the table and asked, “You’re off duty now, right? I’ve brought some food from Chinatown and a bottle of your favorite Xifeng wine, if you can drink it, we’ll have a few drinks.”
Li Yalin laughed, “I’m already f*cking off work. I didn’t dare to go home because I was afraid that those melon goon media would block me.”
As he said that, he hurriedly took out the bottle of Xifeng wine from the bag, exclaiming, “Holy sh*t, this wine must have been stored for decades, right?”
An Chongqiu nodded, “It’s said to be from the early days of the founding of the country.”
Li Yalin sighed, “If my old man were still alive, he would be overjoyed to see this wine!”
Li Yalin’s ancestors were from the northwest of China, and he was already a wealthy and well-known businessman in the northwest during the Republic of China. The family fled the country to the United States after the Second World War, and then put down roots in the United States.
Li Yalin and An Chongqiu are similar in age, both in their fifties, and both are Chinese descendants born and raised in the United States. Although they did not grow up in the Northwest, many of their habits are consistent with those of Northwesterners because of the influence of their fathers.
Li Yalin’s grandfather and father, all of whom had an exclusive love of Xifeng wine, were the same to his generation.
At this time, An Chongqiu took out some packed cold dishes from a kraft paper bag, including marinated pork, pig’s ears and other things, as well as some refreshing cold vegetables, peanuts and other things.
As he opened and arranged the items one by one, he sighed, “Oh dear, but that particularly good Cantonese roast goose in Chinatown is not open today. Otherwise I would have bought an extra roast goose for dinner.”
Li Yalin bristled, “What’s so good about that stuff? It’s sweet and greasy, so I might as well just roast it.”
An Chongqiu laughed: “That is Cantonese style, if you roast it in a high oven and then slice it into meat for you to eat in a roll, won’t it become Yanjing roast duck?”
As he said that, An Chongqiu handed him a pair of chopsticks, and Li Yalin found two disposable water cups. Two gla*ses of wine were poured.
Li Yalin picked up the cups and said impatiently, “Come on, let’s go for one!”
An Chongqiu nodded, and the two paper cups clinked symbolically. Each then took a sip.
Then, An Chongqiu put down his cup and asked, “You and I have been brothers for many years, is there anything I can help you with at the moment? Although the An family’s focus has shifted to the West Coast in the past few years, New York is after all our old stomping grounds. But New York is our old base after all, we still have a lot of manpower here, so we should be able to help you some.”
Li Yalin smiled heartily and spoke, “Thank you for your kind words, but I feel that this matter at hand can’t be solved with a lot of people, the clues are broken too completely all at once, as if they were cut off directly by a knife in the void, it looks like a very large and professional team is behind it, if I can’t find a breakthrough point for this team, then this case may never be solved.”
An Chongqiu nodded and sighed, “I really didn’t expect that someone could kidnap the Fei family in New York and still leave you, a Chinese detective, in the dark, could it be that there is some big shot from New York?”