Chapter 15

Chapter 15

◎You Have No Idea◎

"Qi Yun, Qi Yun, wait a moment," Meng Qi shot out his hand to grab Qi Yun's arm, then quickly moved in front of him to block his path, telling him very seriously, "I said I don't care what others say about me. You don't have to go."

For Meng Qi, not only did he not care about others' gossip, but also, Qi Yun wasn't just Qi Yun—he was Wang Boyuan, his tether to the real world. He couldn't possibly let Qi Yun go.

Qi Yun, stopped by Meng Qi, had eyes red and brimming with tears. Trying to wrench his arm away from Meng Qi's grasp, he shouted, "If you had heard even once what they say, you wouldn't be saying this! Wake up!"

He probably didn't truly want to leave either. After freeing his arm from Meng Qi's grip, instead of running out recklessly as he had initially, he stayed put.

Meng Qi really wanted to say he had heard it from Kuang Hui's mouth more than once and was still in his right mind now, but saying that would definitely hurt Qi Yun, so he couldn't.

Lowering his gaze, he thought quietly for a moment. When he looked up at Qi Yun again, Meng Qi's expression had shifted from anxiety to his usual laid-back demeanor, as if to say the "Meng Qi" from the book had returned, and "he" agreed to let Qi Yun go.

Qi Yun was frozen in place by Meng Qi's change, the blood draining from his face.

Soon, Meng Qi jerked his head toward the crowd and asked Qi Yun, offhand, "Really?"

Upon hearing this question, Qi Yun's face turned completely pale, the corners of his mouth turned down hard. Yet, stubbornly, he repeatedly forced them back into a straight line, pursed his lips tightly.

Meng Qi, however, acted as if he didn't see Qi Yun's reaction. He turned and hailed the group not far away, then his voice rang out, instantly filling the cafeteria, "Hey, classmates, were you just bad-mouthing me and Qi Yun? I'm really curious what you were saying. Can you tell me?"

Including Qi Yun, everyone in the cafeteria was caught off guard by Meng Qi's directness. For a moment, they were all stunned. The few classmates Meng Qi had pointed to nearby were so flustered they were quick to shake their heads and deny it, promising over and over that they hadn't been speaking ill of Young Master Meng.

Qi Yun, meanwhile, watched Meng Qi's back, his expression complicated and distant.

Meng Qi seemed to believe their explanations, even nodding and smiling at them. "In that case, I'll assume I was being overly sensitive. But please, don't talk behind my back or my friend's back in the future, okay? Be careful, I could sue you for slander."

"Of course not," "How could we," "Don't worry, Young Master Meng"...

A flurry of replies came from the cafeteria. Meng Qi, marveling at the power of wealth—no wonder people said money makes the world go round—jerked his chin at Qi Yun, a smug look on his face. "See? They said they weren't gossiping about us behind our backs, and they promised they won't in the future. Feel better now? Still gonna leave?"

Qi Yun, perhaps rendered speechless by Meng Qi's absurd antics or perhaps moved by them, first stood there exchanging looks of mutual 'what just happened?' with the other similarly stunned classmates. When Meng Qi asked again, "Still leaving?" he suddenly stepped forward and hugged Meng Qi. His arms tightened around Meng Qi's neck, his face buried deep in the crook of his neck. After a long moment, he pulled back. Once he did, he started smiling at Meng Qi, the smile growing wider and wider until he was grinning from ear to ear. "You win. I'm not leaving."

The way Qi Yun smiled made him look even more like Wang Boyuan. Meng Qi was overjoyed, even more convinced he had done the right thing. Then he pulled Qi Yun back to sit at the dining table, pressed the chopsticks back into Qi Yun's hand, and pointed at the table full of barely touched dishes and rice. "Then let's keep eating. It'll get cold if we don't."

"Yeah!" Qi Yun responded loudly while shoveling a huge mouthful of rice into his mouth.

Tomorrow's troubles are for tomorrow.

Meng Qi temporarily set aside all those unsolvable problems—whether he could go back, whether he would still die, how to be a competent head of the External Relations Department, where to find sponsorship money, etc.—and also stuffed a big mouthful of rice into his mouth, concentrated on his meal.

He ate his fill and was satisfied.

This was the first full meal Meng Qi had eaten since arriving in this book, shattering his prejudice against university cafeterias.

He had always heard from his classmates that university cafeteria food wasn't much better than high school cafeteria food—both were bland and watery—so he shouldn't get his hopes up. They suggested he bring more spending money to school so he could often eat out off-campus.

Honestly, Meng Qi thought the dishes he just ate were delicious, much better than the red and white banquet dishes cooked in his village. Meng Qi really liked them, even wanting to say he hadn't had enough this time and would come often to eat in the future. Therefore, he didn't understand why the "Meng Qi" in the book never ate here.

Qi Yun gave him the answer. "Your dad bought you an apartment near the school and hired a live-in housekeeper to cook for you every day."

That seemed to ring a bell.

After Qi Yun mentioned it, Meng Qi suddenly remembered that part of the plot seemed to be written in the novel. Not stopping to think, he quickly asked Qi Yun if he knew the specific address of that apartment; he wanted to go check it out.

This time, however, Qi Yun shook his head. "I don't know. I've never been there. But Kuang Hui and the others probably know. I heard you often take them to your place to play games."

Oh, Kuang Hui? That's good.

After half a day of interaction, Meng Qi felt Kuang Hui was the type of straightforward, uncomplicated guy. Asking him for the address shouldn't be a problem.

With a strange sense of anticipation for that apartment, Meng Qi couldn't wait. Right in front of Qi Yun, he took out his phone, found Kuang Hui, and imitating the "Meng Qi" from the book's chatting style, sent him a WeChat message. He said he wanted to go to the apartment near the school to get something but couldn't remember the exact address, asking Kuang Hui to send it over.

Kuang Hui didn't suspect a thing. In less than two minutes, he sent the address. He even helpfully included the password for the apartment's digital lock and, along with it, the name of the live-in housekeeper.

Meng Qi expressed his gratitude for Kuang Hui's thoughtfulness. Who knew the next second Kuang Hui would say: It wasn't my idea; Dong Jiaming reminded me to send it to you. [laughing emoji]

Speaking of this Dong Jiaming, Meng Qi always felt that person must be the deeply scheming, highly deceptive type. He admitted to himself he wasn't clever enough to outplay someone like that, so he should try to stay away from this Dong Jiaming in the future too.

Great, another addition to the blacklist. Meng Qi felt quite reassured.

After finishing the meal, Meng Qi asked Qi Yun if he wanted to go with him. Qi Yun shook his head. "No, I need to go back to the dorm to catch up on sleep. I have to work tonight."

So, Meng Qi didn't insist and chose to go alone.

The apartment wasn't far from the school; it only took fifteen minutes to walk there. When Meng Qi arrived, the live-in housekeeper was hand-washing bedsheets and duvet covers in the bathroom. Seeing Meng Qi return, she wasn't particularly surprised, just smiled and asked Meng Qi what he wanted to eat today.

She was a kindly, cheerful older woman, around fifty or sixty years old, looking much younger than Meng Qi's grandmother. But perhaps because her smile felt a little like his grandmother's smile, the moment he saw her, Meng Qi felt a brief daze. The thought of firing her to avoid exposure, which had risen in his mind, immediately faded.

After all, there were plenty of places where he could easily slip up; one more wouldn't make much difference.

Standing in the entryway changing his shoes, Meng Qi replied to the live-in housekeeper, "I already ate at the school cafeteria before coming over. No need to cook for me today."

"Was the cafeteria food good?" the live-in housekeeper suddenly asked cautiously.

Meng Qi thought for a moment and chose to answer truthfully. "I thought it was pretty good. I might go to the school cafeteria often in the future."

"Then... then..." Upon hearing this, the live-in housekeeper immediately became so nervous she kept rubbing her hands on her apron, probably worried Meng Qi would fire her because of it. Seeing Meng Qi walk toward the living room, she even ran over faster to pour him a glass of warm water, then stood to the side watching him anxiously.

Meng Qi thought to himself, fortunately he had money now, so whether he fired this auntie or not didn't affect him much. Therefore, after taking the glass of water, he reassured her, "You can keep working here. No matter how good the cafeteria food is, one can get tired of it. If you weren't here when I occasionally come back, wouldn't I go hungry?"

Upon receiving Meng Qi's assurance, the live-in housekeeper immediately put her smile back on her face, responding with several "Yes, yes, yes," then, after greeting Meng Qi, ran back to the bathroom to continue scrubbing the bedsheets.

The truth was, even without a live-in housekeeper, Meng Qi wouldn't go hungry because his cooking skills were excellent, so good that his grandparents often praised him.

Holding the water glass, he surveyed the apartment. The four-bedroom, two-living-room layout seemed quite spacious to Meng Qi, easily more than twice the size of the courtyard he lived in with his grandparents.

Meng Qi and his grandparents lived in an old brick-and-tile house. On a small plot of land, only two rooms were built, each about five or six square meters. The rest of the space was used to store scrap.

Before finding Meng Qi, one room was the elderly Meng couple's bedroom, and the other was used as a storage room specifically for scrap that couldn't be exposed to sun or rain. After finding Meng Qi, the elderly couple cleared out that storage room for him to live in. They not only repainted the walls but also specially hired a craftsman to install a white ceiling and had a sturdy elm bed made. The storage room transformed into a proper room. Meng Qi had loved it since childhood; his childhood and teenage years were spent in that room, every brick and tile holding his little secrets.

As for "Meng Qi's" home in the book, Meng Qi remembered how it was written.

According to the book, "Meng Qi's" stepmother, afraid he wouldn't be used to cafeteria food or the simple wooden beds in the dorm, proactively suggested his father buy it for him. Afterwards, not only did they hire a top-tier renovation team to decorate it inside and out, furnishing it with all household appliances, but they also set up one of the rooms as a luxurious game room. The LCD monitor alone was as big as half a wall.

Meng Qi recalled this part of the plot was mentioned when the "Meng Qi" in the book bragged to Ren Suiyi about how good his stepmother was to him. Ren Suiyi's comment at the time was probably "Your aunt is really good to you," and Meng Qi proudly replied, "Of course, my mom is the mom who understands me best in the world."

Subsequently, the author summarized in one sentence the reason Li Jintong did this: she wanted to send Meng Qi far away to weaken his presence in the Meng family, then seize the opportunity to let her son Meng Kaize show off his presence in the Meng family, thereby gradually achieving the goal of having her son Meng Kaize replace Meng Qi.

Touching the cold surface of the LCD monitor, Meng Qi thought, from his own standpoint, he should be grateful for Li Jintong's initial move to send the "Meng Qi" from the book away. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to face that whole big Meng family now.

But he still felt sorry for the "Meng Qi" in the book. The mother he considered his favorite had been secretly and meticulously plotting against him all along, while he remained completely unaware until his death... Who knew if such an ending was fortunate or tragic for the "Meng Qi" in the book.

The bedroom wasn't particularly special—just the minimalist style most boys liked, all black, white, and gray. However, Meng Qi also liked this kind of decor. Especially the bed in the middle, soft and smelling of sunshine, was incredibly appealing to him. He really wanted to lie down and sleep immediately. But just then, a room diagonally across from the bedroom, locked with an electronic password lock, caught his attention. He couldn't help but move closer to look, first seeing the sign on the door that read "No Admittance."

Probably inside were secrets belonging solely to the "Meng Qi" from the book. As if possessed, Meng Qi reached out and tried entering the "Meng Qi" from the book's phone password. With a *ding*, the door opened.

Behind the door was truly a world that dazzled the eyes and bewildered the mind.

"Author's Note"

Revised 2024.7.4.

Revising so many chapters in one day, so sleepy...