When Jin San woke up, he saw four people: Tian Qizi, Wang Xiazi, Song Zhu, and Bai Donggua. So he shouted in the highest pitch, "Ghosts!"

  "We're not ghosts; why are you shouting like that?"

  "How strange! Why do you think of us, your four old friends, as ghosts?"

  "We came to see you out of kindness; why do you say such things about us?"

  "It seems his illness is getting worse and worse."

  Jin San rubbed his ears vigorously and said, "You're really not ghosts?"

  "Seriously, cursing us, and we're still friends!" Wang Xiazi said unhappily.

  "But yesterday morning, I... indeed saw the four of you dead, and so did the whole city," Jin San said.

  "They say you're crazy, and you really are. How could we be dead when we're perfectly fine? This is just bad luck," Bai Donggua spat twice on the ground.

  "I think you're really sick. Where did you run off to st night? We saw you lying on the street this morning, thought you were dead, and scared the whole city," Tian Qizi said.

  "I... I saw my mother," Jin San recalled what happened st night.

  The four of them burst into ughter at the same time.

  "Bao Mu, are you out of your mind? Your mother died a long time ago," Song Zhu couldn't help but mock.

  "But she doesn't seem like my mother..." Jin San frowned and said.

  "It seems to be getting worse," Bai Donggua mocked.

  "Maybe I'm really going crazy, but I think I remember something about drums." Jin San was still sorting through his thoughts from yesterday.

  "Drum! What did you remember?" Wang Xiazi immediately asked.

  "Why are you so excited?" Jin San found Wang Xiazi's reaction amusing.

  "Nothing... nothing at all. I just didn't understand what you were saying, so I was curious," Wang Xiazi expined, but Jin San felt that he seemed to be hiding something.

  "Alright, now that you're awake, we can rest easy. We should be leaving too," Bai Donggua interjected, and the four of them hurriedly left.

  Jin San bowed his head in silence, always feeling like he could sense something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The drum, the drum, everything is reted to this drum, it must be!

  Tian Qizi returned to his room and saw a small object on the table. He approached and discovered it was a tiny yellow note. He unfolded it and saw it read: `Boss Mo's Restaurant.′

  The yellow paper was pressed under Wang Xiazi's wine jug. When Wang Xiazi opened it, there were six words written on it: Boss Mo's Restaurant. Wang Xiazi casually picked up two peanuts and stuffed them into his mouth, then turned and walked out of the room.

  Song Zhu stood at the door, gazing at the pitch-bck night sky. He was holding the yellow paper with the words "Boss Mo's Restaurant" written on it. After a moment of daze, he walked out.

  Bai Donggua was still hesitating. He would step out of the house and then retreat back in, repeating this ten times before finally walking out.

  Tian Qizi slightly revealed a faint smile, changed into a clean set of clothes, and stepped out of the house again.

  "Xiao Er, Xiao Er!" Tian Qizi shouted a few times towards the restaurant, but there was no response. Tian Qizi frowned slightly and stepped into the restaurant. The door was open, but there was no one around. Where did Xiao Er go? Tian Qizi casually found a table and sat down, waiting.

  "Eh, you're here too?" Wang Xiazi said, looking at the already seated Tian Qizi.

  "Yeah, I received the yellow paper." Wang Xiazi replied with a slight smile.

  "Then that means Song Zhu and Bai Donggua must have received it too."

  "Of course," Tian Qizi said just as Song Zhu and Bai Donggua stepped into the restaurant.

  "I wonder if there are any others," Song Zhu murmured as he looked outside.

  "Maybe not," Bai Donggua replied.

  "Then we can only wait."

  An hour ter.

  "Strange, this person who wrote on yellow paper invited me, but why haven't they shown up yet?" Wang Xiazi finally couldn't wait any longer and muttered softly.

  "Yeah, and they chose Boss Mo's restaurant this time. It's really strange. The waiter isn't here either; I wonder where he went. The door is even left open." Tian Qizi also felt something was off.

  "It's been an hour already, and he still hasn't shown up. Is something wrong?" Wang Xiazi continued to shout.

  "Could something really have happened?" Bai Donggua leaned out to look outside the shop. There wasn't a single person on the street, not even a flicker of light. They were already used to this, but now... all four of them were feeling a bit restless.

  "Xiao Er should be here at this time. Where did he go? We should go look for him," Song Zhu said.

  The vegetables were still haphazardly piled in the washing basin, a few broken bowls and cracked ptes were messily submerged in the basin, a half-cut cucumber was lonely on the cutting board, and the cleaver was missing.

  The four of them simultaneously felt a strange sensation and exchanged gnces.

  "Xiao Er wouldn't just disappear without finishing his work."

  "Xiao Er usually stays in the shop."

  "Xiao Er wouldn't run around aimlessly."

  "We should go look for him."

  The first pce to check is the waiter′s room, on the 2nd floor of the restaurant. The quilt is neatly folded at the head of the bed, and there isn't a single hair on the pillow, so clean it looks like no one has ever slept there. The four of them are sure the waiter hasn't returned to his room.

  The second pce to check is the trine, a pce of cycles and the most frequented spot, so the four of them braved the terrible stench and rushed in. Apart from those golden-like things, there was nothing else.

  "This guy, does he ever clean this pce?" Bai Donggua couldn't help but compin. He really couldn't stand the foul smell, so he was the first to run out.

  The third pce to look for was the bathroom, where a wooden tub stood upright in the middle of the room, partially hidden by a screen. There was no water inside, meaning no one had bathed here. So where had the waiter gone?

  The four of them had to return to the kitchen because they had nowhere else to search. They had already scoured the upstairs and downstairs but still couldn't find the waiter. They felt the situation was getting serious. Just then, they finally found the waiter.

  He was lying face down on the ground behind the kang.

  "Waiter! Waiter!" Bai Donggua lifted the waiter's head and patted it hard.

  The waiter did not respond.

  "Is he... dead?" Wang Xiazi said, trembling.

  "No," Bai Donggua said, checking the waiter's breath and answering affirmatively, "He seems to have fainted."

  "How could he have fainted out of nowhere?" Song Zhu found it strange and said so.

  "Something must have happened!" Tian Qizi said with certainty.

  "Who wrote the yellow note?" Bai Donggua suddenly thought of something.

  "Yeah, what does the person who wrote this yellow note mean?" Song Zhu said.

  "Who could have sent it?" Wang Xiazi said nervously, having a bad premonition.

  "It was me!"