Chapter 104

Chapter 104

◎ Bounty of 1.5 Million!!! ◎

They caught a good haul this time—carp, crucian, and silver carp, a pretty solid mix. After tossing the smaller ones back, they still had over a dozen left. They used a few to whip up a big pot of creamy, fragrant fish soup for the whole school, and the rest were saved for Meng Qi, kept in a big wooden tub by the well, ready to grab and cook whenever.

Meng Qi had donkey-hide gelatin carp soup three days in a row, with Elder Gu doing the cooking and Li Qingjiang giving pointers from the sidelines. The soup they whipped up together was so tasty and rich that Meng Qi was glowing, his face looking noticeably rounder from afar. Nobody who saw him would guess he had a blood deficiency.

Qu Liang was back from the capital, too. The moment he got out of the city, he called Zhao Zheyuan to say he'd hit town around two and get to the school by four or five, asking Zhao to have hot water ready so he could take a proper bath.

"I reek from all that traveling," Qu Liang said.

Meng Qi had been going with the local custom of bathing in well water out in the sun since he got here. When it got colder, he switched to boiling a big pot of water in the kitchen's iron wok for his baths. Since everyone did it that way, he hadn't really thought about it or considered getting a water heater. But hearing Qu Liang call ahead to remind Zhao to get the bathwater ready suddenly made Meng Qi see the point of a water heater. With more people showing up and only one iron wok, if everyone wanted to bathe the same day, they'd burn a hole through it!

Yep, he needed to buy a water heater.

While Meng Qi was mulling that over, Zhao Zheyuan had already told Qu Liang he'd scouted a parking spot. The next moment, Qu Liang was laughing uncontrollably on the phone. "Then I'll be waiting for you guys to pick me up in that badass three-wheeler! Even better, put up a banner that says 'Welcome Back Master Qu'!"

No banner, but a water heater was a must. After Zhao Zheyuan hung up, Meng Qi said, "I'll go to town with you. First, let's find a print shop to print something, then buy a water heater."

Elder Gu, walking by with the kitchen scraps, overheard and got an idea. "Then I'll build a little wooden bathhouse next to the shed. We'll put the water heater in there—it'll be convenient for everyone, and draining it'll be way easier than in a room. Just dig a hole, run a pipe, and route the water to the drainage ditch outside."

Meng Qi grinned and gave Elder Gu a thumbs-up. "Uncle Gu always has a plan and gets it done!"

"Just making the most of my remaining strength while I can still swing an axe," Elder Gu said modestly, then hummed some random tune as he walked off.

Of course, they had to take Li Qingjiang to town. After all, he was the one who'd almost sworn brotherhood with the security guard, not Meng Qi or Zhao Zheyuan. To get free parking, they had to rely on his face. Li Qingjiang was willing to go, even eager—he was bored out of his mind with the quiet ones left behind and couldn't wait to see Qu Liang.

Once in town, Meng Qi first took Zhao Zheyuan and Li Qingjiang to find a print shop. He wanted to make a special newspaper for Yang Miao. He could piece together the other sections, but the missing person notice would say "Help Yang Miao Find Her Mom"—a white lie to make the kid's dream come true without letting the "search" spread beyond the school and cause trouble.

After hearing Meng Qi's plan, Li Qingjiang shot him a look and said he couldn't tell if Meng Qi was smart or just naive, but that he was blowing all his money and effort on the kids.

Meng Qi just smiled, unbothered, taking it as a compliment. He explained, "When I was a kid, I always wished someone would come help me like the Monkey King dropping from the sky—even just once, and I'd be smiling in my sleep. Since nobody was my Monkey King, I'll be one for others. It warms their childhood and makes me feel good—win-win. I'm not losing anything."

Li Qingjiang didn't know the real identity of "Meng Qi" in the book, but Zhao Zheyuan did—he was the eldest son of a big-name rich family in the capital. So what kind of hardships could he have gone through as a kid?

Zhao Zheyuan never could figure it out.

Was it that his parents wouldn't buy him video games, firecrackers, or a Rolls-Royce? Or that they wouldn't let him travel the world? When Meng Qi first mentioned his childhood setbacks, Zhao wanted to ask him. Now, with Meng Qi saying he once hoped for a savior, he wanted to ask even more! But he kept his mouth shut—Li Qingjiang was there, and Zhao was still wary of him. Until Meng Qi came clean to Li about certain things, his professional ethics wouldn't let him speak up.

So he only gave Meng Qi a quick glance and said nothing.

Li Qingjiang, half-joking but genuinely praising, said, "You've been through rain yourself, but you don't tear up others' umbrellas. That's a great quality—you have the makings of an educator."

Meng Qi forced an awkward but polite smile.

There were three print shops in town, each with varying staff skills. Some couldn't edit images, only operate copiers; others could do basic cropping, copying, and pasting. It wasn't until they reached the last shop that they solved their problem.

The owner of the last shop was a young intellectual who had returned to his hometown to start a business. His shop had two computers: one for gaming—apparently at a professional league level—and one for client image editing. When Meng Qi and the others entered, the owner was still moving his mouse, cutting through levels and cursing nonstop with a string of creative profanity that was so authentic, Meng Qi thought it could be published as a book!

Seeing them come in, the owner jerked his chin toward the plastic chairs behind them and said quickly, "Sit and wait five minutes. I'll finish this round and be right with you."

He said five minutes, but finished in under three. Then, shaking his wrist, he walked over to Meng Qi, grumbling, "If that jerk hadn't used cheats, I'd have wiped him out ages ago."

Meng Qi: ...

Then the owner asked, "Printing or copying?"

Zhao Zheyuan stepped forward and asked for Meng Qi, "Can you print a newspaper?"

"Print a newspaper? Forging something? Let me be clear—I can print a newspaper, but I won't do anything illegal." The owner's gaze swept over Meng Qi, Li Qingjiang, and finally settled on Zhao Zheyuan, his look probing.

Zhao Zheyuan replied calmly, "Nothing illegal. Just find a newspaper template—preferably one with educational articles for first to fifth graders—and insert a missing person notice. We'll write the content."

Hearing "missing person notice," the owner glanced at Meng Qi several times and suddenly asked, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Why was he being asked? Meng Qi's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively glanced at Zhao Zheyuan before answering, "No."

"From the capital?" the owner continued casually.

Casual as he seemed, Zhao Zheyuan wouldn't let it slide. This time, without waiting for Meng Qi to answer, Zhao stepped in front of him and asked in a low voice, "What are you getting at?"

"I'm just a shopkeeper. What could I be getting at? But your friend here," the owner pointed at Meng Qi behind Zhao, "should be more careful when going out. Our gaming groups are flooded with posts looking for him. His little brother is searching like crazy—posted his game ID and mobilized netizens nationwide. The bounty's already up to one-fifty."

"1.5 million?" Li Qingjiang asked.

The owner glanced at him and retorted, "What do you think?"

Only then did Li Qingjiang realize Meng Qi's identity was no ordinary matter, and his gaze toward Meng Qi became more scrutinizing.

Meng Qi denied it outright. "You've mistaken me for someone else. I don't have a brother."

"And you've never played this game? Your ID isn't 'Regret to Discard'?" The owner pointed back at his computer screen, asking Meng Qi.

Meng Qi feigned composure and shook his head. "No, it's not."

"Believe what you want. I'm just warning you. Lucky for you, not many people play this game. Otherwise, even if you're not that guy's brother, plenty would drag you to the capital."

"And you? Don't you want to earn that 1.5 million?" Li Qingjiang spoke again, hitting the nail on the head.

The owner scoffed. "If I wanted that money, I wouldn't be running this dump in this godforsaken place, and I wouldn't bother warning you. Also, I won't tell anyone I've seen you here. Don't you tell anyone you've seen me either. This is our first meeting, but we'll likely deal with each other again, so let's protect each other."

Smart move—pointing out others' weaknesses while handing over his own leverage, balancing each other for stability. Zhao Zheyuan nodded at Meng Qi, signaling that this guy probably wasn't an enemy, and Meng Qi finally relaxed a little.

After saying his piece, the owner had Zhao Zheyuan send him the missing person notice content and asked how many copies of the newspaper they wanted. Since making the template was time-consuming, he said, "If it's a small quantity, a flat rate of 350. For larger quantities, 1.5 per sheet."

The entire school had fewer than a hundred people. Meng Qi thought printing a hundred copies would be enough—one for each student and staff member, and the rest for Yang Miao to give away if she wanted. A hundred was plenty.

After tallying, the owner charged Meng Qi 350 yuan.

But making it took time, so the owner told them to come back in three days.

Having settled everything, Meng Qi and the others turned to leave. But the owner called them back, grabbed a cap from a shelf behind him, and tossed it to Meng Qi. "Cover that handsome face of yours when you go out from now on. It's too recognizable. Don't let them accidentally haul you back."

Meng Qi was stunned, both speechless and amused, unsure what to say. Coming to his senses, he put the cap on his head and sincerely thanked the owner.

The good mood from their trip was ruined by this interruption. With his cap on, Meng Qi walked ahead, head down and listless. The owner's warning hit him like a blow. He had thought hiding in such a remote place was safe, but vulnerabilities were everywhere—he was always at risk of being discovered and sent back to the capital...

1.5 million was no small sum, and that was just the price set by the little brat Meng Kaize. Who knew what his parents, or even Ren Suiyi and Jiang Baixi, might offer—and how much? 1.5 million was already tempting enough. Any higher, and there might really be a "civilian search team for Meng Qi" popping up. Maybe it already existed.

Sighing, Meng Qi thought to himself that he'd better stay put in the deep mountains and forests. Once he got back this time, he wouldn't leave again. Let them try to find him then!