Chapter 109: The Clock Shop on Dead-End Street

The car pulled to a stop at the entrance of the unfinished street. Chen Xiao stepped out, looked back at Phoenix inside, and after a moment of hesitation, asked in a low voice, "Aren't you coming in with me?"

Phoenix smiled and shook her head. "No."

"Then... when will we see each other again?" Chen Xiao looked into her eyes.

Phoenix’s smile remained as bright and radiant as the morning sun. "It won't be long."

With that, she finally stepped out of the car. Still pressing close to Chen Xiao, she stood on her tiptoes, brushed a light kiss against his lips, and whispered in his ear, "I will miss you. I hope you will miss me, too."

The car slowly pulled away. Chen Xiao stood on the street corner, watching until it vanished from sight. He let out a sigh of loss, then turned and walked toward the unfinished street.

Inside the coffee shop, Champagne was listlessly flipping through a month-old issue of *Rayli* magazine when the doorbell chimed. Seeing Chen Xiao push the door open, she let out a cry of surprise. She darted from behind the counter and rushed toward him, her eyes fixed on him with a fervor that bordered on the devout.

Chen Xiao, stunned by Champagne throwing herself at him like a long-lost lover, stood frozen as she buried her face in his chest... Huh?

Fortunately...

Champagne’s hands gripped the tattered jacket on his back tightly, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she shrieked, "Wow! It's a genuine Burberry! This year's latest casual model! It was just featured in last month's magazine!"

Her fingers trembled slightly as she stroked the fabric of his jacket with the devotion of a religious fanatic.

Chen Xiao was speechless, staring blankly at her.

Suddenly, Champagne looked up, her beautiful eyes flashing with anger. "You! What on earth are you doing? What is going on?!"

Chen Xiao rubbed his nose. "Well... a friend took me away, so I couldn't come home..."

"Pah! Who's asking about that!" Champagne cut him off immediately, firing questions at him. "Do you even know this is a genuine Burberry? The latest design from this year, released only last month! It's a global limited edition! Such a work of art! And you've ruined it! Good heavens! You even smell like a sewer! Did you crawl through a drain wearing such a magnificent piece of art?! This is Burberry!"

Chen Xiao felt a pang of depression: *This fashion fanatic...*

He had been missing for so long, and when he finally returned in such a state, she didn't care about him at all, only the clothes...

At that moment, Old Tian slowly emerged from the shop door. He held a cigarette between his fingers—unlit—and made a show of sniffing it near his nose. He coughed twice, looked at Chen Xiao with a calm smile, and said, "Back, are you?"

"Yeah, I'm back," Chen Xiao nodded, glancing curiously at the unlit cigarette in Old Tian's hand.

Old Tian looked a bit embarrassed and laughed. "I'm trying to quit smoking, so I don't dare light it. I just take it out to smell it."

He tucked the cigarette away.

Quit smoking... yeah, right. Ever since Chen Xiao met this guy, he had tried to quit twice a week, but never lasted more than two days.

Old Tian walked up to Chen Xiao, looked him up and down, and said with a leisurely smile, "You look alright. What happened to you? Got into a fight again?"

"Yeah," Chen Xiao smiled. "Sorry for making you worry."

"Not at all," Old Tian waved his hand. "You're not my son or my grandson, why would I worry? Besides, you're not a girl. Running off and not coming home all night, you might even have been taken advantage of..." As he said this, his eyes darted toward the shop, and he lowered his voice. "Keep it down. Zhurong is in there drilling that poor cook. That woman has a terrible temper. She's been very irritable since you went missing; you'll be in trouble if she comes out."

With that, he pulled Champagne away and beckoned Chen Xiao to leave. "Let's go, quickly. Don't want to be around if that fire-lady comes out and starts throwing flames."

Champagne looked at Chen Xiao with longing eyes. "Burberry..."

Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then simply took off the jacket and smiled. "If you like it, it's yours."

Despite the holes, Champagne accepted it with joy and skipped away. Before leaving, she smiled at Old Tian. "Don't worry, I won't tell Zhurong!"

Old Tian led Chen Xiao away from the shop, walking along the unfinished street toward the other end. Once they were out of the shop, Old Tian stopped rushing. They walked side by side, leisurely strolling down the street. Old Tian even stretched his arms, squinting his eyes to enjoy the warm sunshine.

After a while, Old Tian looked up at the sky and asked softly, "Is she... doing alright?"

"You mean..." Chen Xiao hesitated.

"The girl who took you, Phoenix," Old Tian smiled, his expression calm. "Is she doing well?"

"...She's fine," Chen Xiao nodded. He paused, then asked, "You knew she was the one who took me?"

"I guessed as much," Old Tian smiled. He walked with his hands clasped behind his head, saying leisurely, "That night when she took you to the suburban prison, I followed you the whole way. Sigh... you and her..."

Old Tian frowned slightly, but then let out a hearty laugh. "Never mind. Young people's business is not for an old guy like me to poke into." But his attitude only made Chen Xiao more insistent.

"Old Tian, do you know Phoenix?" Chen Xiao caught up to him. "Can you tell me what kind of girl she really is?"

"You're asking me?" Old Tian stopped, took out that cigarette again, and sniffed it. His expression seemed evasive. "You and her... don't you know what kind of girl she is yourself?"

"I don't know how to describe it," Chen Xiao shook his head, looking serious. "I find her very mysterious. There are so many things I can't understand or see through. She’s like..." He paused, looking up at the sky. "She’s like this sunlight—it feels so bright, warm, and comfortable, yet I can't touch it. I can't grasp it."

Old Tian looked at Chen Xiao, but seeing the determination in his eyes, he finally relented. He sighed helplessly. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Everything you know," Chen Xiao said, staring back at him without blinking.

Old Tian smiled and winked. "First, rest assured. She is very young, about your age. She is absolutely not like Zhurong—someone who looks young but is actually a hundred-year-old monster."

*Old monster...* Chen Xiao thought, *you're a four-hundred-year-old monster yourself.*

Chen Xiao couldn't help but smile.

Old Tian's expression suddenly turned somber. He reached into his pocket, perhaps looking for a lighter, but found none. He sighed, "Sigh, I wish that woman Zhurong was here right now."

Then, as if casually, he pointed somewhere. "Come on. Let's go find a light."

He seemed to point to a random spot, but as Chen Xiao followed his finger, he froze.

The place Old Tian was pointing to was another shop on the unfinished street!

The one that had never been opened!

The Clock and Watch Shop!

The shops on the unfinished street included Zhurong’s cigar shop, Gonggong’s wine shop, Old Tian’s auto repair shop, and the coffee shop Chen Xiao managed.

But beyond those, there was a clock shop that had always remained locked. When Chen Xiao first arrived, he heard Zhurong mention that the owner had been their friend but had left for some reason.

The shop had always been closed, and the old-timers of the street never mentioned it, as if avoiding an unhappy memory.

But now, Old Tian...

Before Chen Xiao could react, Old Tian had already walked toward the clock shop, waving him over. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

The door was locked with a rusted padlock, and the rolling metal shutter was covered in dust.

Old Tian looked around cautiously, like a thief, then reached into his jacket and pulled out a key!

"Heh, Zhurong and Gonggong don't know this, but I've always had the key," Old Tian said. He inserted the key, gave it a turn, and with a *click*, the lock opened.

"Don't tell them!" Old Tian made a shushing gesture, quickly pulled up the shutter, and slipped inside. Chen Xiao followed, and Old Tian immediately pulled the shutter down, ensuring no one saw them, before letting out a sigh of relief.

The shutter blocked the sunlight, leaving the shop dim and stuffy, though not filthy. Even the glass counters and display cases were relatively clean.

"Actually... I come here alone often, behind Zhurong and Gonggong's backs, just to clean up," Old Tian said with a faint smile. He walked behind the counter and, after fumbling for a bit, found the light switch.

*Click.*

The lights flickered on, illuminating the store.

The shop was about a hundred square meters. The walls were covered in clocks of all shapes—square, round, flat, angular—and two ancient grandfather clocks. However, they had long since stopped, their hands pointing in different directions, creating a chaotic sight.

The display cases were filled with exquisite, delicate timepieces. It looked more like a collector's shop; Chen Xiao spotted several classic, high-end watches from years past.

"A Tissot from the eighties? Huh? Is this a plum-blossom watch? The design is strange. Wow, this looks like the first watch Bulgari ever made! Is it a replica?"

Beyond the modern pieces, the inner display cases held antique pocket watches and pendant watches—true collector's items.

Chen Xiao stared in disbelief. If these were genuine and not replicas, their value would be staggering! It was hard to believe that such treasures were kept behind nothing more than a rusted metal shutter.

Old Tian stood beside him, silently gazing at the display, his expression complex.

Chen Xiao turned to him. "Old Tian, this place..."

Old Tian raised a hand and pointed to the wall on the upper left. "This shop has a history of over a hundred years. The last owner only moved here recently. Look at the wall there; those are photos of all the previous owners."

Chen Xiao followed his finger, and at the first glance, he was stunned!

A row of photos hung on the wall.

The first was an old, yellowing black-and-white photograph. Judging by its clarity and wear, it was very old indeed.

In the photo, an Eastern woman smiled gently. Despite the limitations of early photography, her beauty was clear; she smiled with a reserved grace, her eyes as bright and clear as the moon.

What shocked Chen Xiao most was that she looked ninety percent like Phoenix... if he hadn't looked closely, he would have mistaken her for Phoenix herself!

"This was the first owner of this clock shop," Old Tian whispered, gazing at the woman in the photo with a mixture of obsession and longing. "Her name was Mingyue."