Chapter 108

Chapter 108

◎ Teacher Ran is a good teacher. ◎

Three days later, Zhao Zheyuan took a three-wheeler carrying Qu Liang and Li Qingjiang to town to pick up the printed newspapers, after which he would drive a jeep to Huaiwu, while Qu Liang and Li Qingjiang would take the newspapers back to school.

When it was time to part ways, Qu Liang hung onto the car door, whining and reluctant to let Zhao Zheyuan leave. In truth, he was also worried about whether Zhao Zheyuan's arm could hold up—the words he'd used to reassure Meng Qi didn't do a thing for him.

But hey, they were hired muscle—they had to help their boss out. Besides, Meng Qi was the gentlest and most humble employer they had ever served, unlike previous ones who, relying on their noble birth and a bit of money, never treated them like people, always looking down their noses at them.

Both he and Zhao Zheyuan liked Meng Qi. The word "friend" wasn't just something Meng Qi said casually; they took it seriously. What's wrong with going to bat for a friend? Besides, they were getting paid—a few thousand bucks a month in their pockets—so it would be unreasonable not to make this trip.

Zhao Zheyuan cocked his middle finger to flick Qu Liang's forehead, but Qu Liang dodged with a swift move. Seizing the moment, Zhao Zheyuan hit the gas and peeled out, without any sappy goodbye, only waving his left hand out the window a few times.

Quite dashing.

It pissed Qu Liang off so bad he flipped him off, not that he knew if Zhao Zheyuan saw it.

"Huaiwu is closer to here than to the capital. Last time you went back to the capital, you weren't like this—you were like a wild horse, all happy-go-lucky. So why's it different when it's Brother Yuan leaving?" Li Qingjiang put his hand on Qu Liang's shoulder, pulling him toward the print shop, leaning in to sneak a peek at Qu Liang's face, and teasing him with a smile, "Let me see, have you been crying?"

"Cry my ass, I'm not that weak." Qu Liang turned his head away, grumbling. It seemed one middle finger wasn't enough; the anger Zhao Zheyuan had riled up in him hadn't cooled off yet.

"If you're not that weak, then smile. An hour's drive isn't worth sulking over. If you're that worried, just rent a car and go after him." Li Qingjiang comforted and suggested at the same time.

Qu Liang wanted to, but if both he and Zhao Zheyuan left, what about Meng Qi?

Before they knew what was up with Meng Qi, they could run around without a care in the world, not even coming here for a month without feeling bad. But now that they knew the truth, doing that would be heartless—not just unprofessional, but not worthy of being called a friend!

He couldn't do it.

So Qu Liang explained gloomily, "Brother Yuan always bottles things up. If people figure it out, cool; if not, he won't spell it out. This time he swears his hand's fine, but I can tell it's nowhere near healed, and I'm worried... But I'm just not as good as Brother Yuan. To get this job done, he really has to go... I'm not mad at him; I'm mad at myself. Why, with the same training and all, can I never catch up to him?"

"You know why I love this wandering life?" Li Qingjiang didn't continue comforting the downcast Qu Liang but instead asked him a question.

Qu Liang naturally didn't know, so he honestly shook his head.

Li Qingjiang sighed and said, "My teacher is Dong Jiaming's grandpa, Meng Qi's college buddy. You probably already know that. But there's one thing I didn't tell Meng Qi, and you and Brother Yuan probably don't know either: I'm not just Dong Jiaming's senior apprentice, but his cousin too. When we were kids, Jiaming and I studied medicine under my teacher, who was also my great-uncle. But I was way less talented than Jiaming, and over time, I was secretly competing with him. Sometimes I'd hide and cry by myself. Later, as that jealousy kept burning hotter, I didn't speak to Jiaming for two or three years."

Qu Liang looked at Li Qingjiang in surprise, like he couldn't believe this easygoing, brilliant doctor had such a petty childhood.

Seeing Qu Liang stunned, Li Qingjiang ruffled his hair and went on with a grin, "Back then, I was like a guy stuck in a dead end, blaming all my flaws on the talented Jiaming, going against him at every turn, and refusing to change. But Jiaming didn't hold a grudge. In the end, he went to our great-uncle and said he didn't want to study medicine anymore—it was boring—and he wanted to study computers and become a game designer when he grew up."

"Ah?!" Qu Liang blurted out.

Li Qingjiang met Qu Liang's eyes and nodded wistfully, "It's true, no doubt. After that, I continued studying medicine with our great-uncle, while Jiaming obediently went to school. Back then, I was full of myself, thinking that with Jiaming gone, no one could surpass me—I was the best kid at our great-uncle's side. But as I grew older and wiser, the pride I had as a kid turned into regret. I begged Jiaming to forgive me, crying, to come back and study medicine... but it was too late."

"No one blamed me through it all. Our great-uncle was a go-with-the-flow type, believing in letting things happen as they will, so he respected everyone's choices. And Jiaming was even more so than him. I rarely saw him argue with anyone over anything. He was carefree every day, like a little pup who didn't know what trouble meant."

"Being with them, I felt more and more weighed down, more and more rotten and pitiful. So from the age of fifteen, I started running away, not going home for years, hoping to clear my conscience and make up for my mistakes out in this big world. Though in their eyes, I hadn't done anything wrong, I kept fighting myself until I didn't think I was wrong anymore."

"And now? Do you still think you were wrong?" Qu Liang asked, his eyes red—whether from Li Qingjiang's story or still being mad at Zhao Zheyuan, it was hard to tell.

A relieved smile spread across Li Qingjiang's face as he looked up at the white clouds in the sky at a forty-five-degree angle. "Now? I've seen more, experienced more, and gotten a little sense of 'taking things in stride.' Maybe in three to five years, I'll be able to sit and laugh with Jiaming and our great-uncle."

"You definitely can! I believe in you!" Qu Liang patted Li Qingjiang's shoulder firmly.

Li Qingjiang tightened his arm around Qu Liang's shoulder and asked with a smile, "What about you? After hearing my story, will you still be upset about not being as good as Zhao Zheyuan?"

Qu Liang shook his head vigorously, "No way. I couldn't bear to be that far from Brother Yuan, and I wouldn't run off alone for so long."

Li Qingjiang: ...

Well, now he really turned into a cautionary tale.

The next second, he smiled awkwardly, pointed ahead, and reminded Qu Liang, "We're here. This is the shop where the newspapers were printed."

"Yang Yiming's shop? Then I've got to meet him." In the blink of an eye, Qu Liang was lively again, darting into Yang Yiming's shop in one stride, leaving Li Qingjiang no time to stop him.

As he entered, Yang Yiming was still in the middle of a game. He turned his head, saw Qu Liang, scanned him up and down, and immediately frowned.

Qu Liang asked nonchalantly, "What, not welcome?"

Yang Yiming turned back to his game, replying as he played, "Anyone who brings money is welcome."

"Well, what a coincidence—I didn't bring any money today." Qu Liang plopped down on a chair with an air of authority and retorted, "Going to kick me out?"

"I'll reluctantly welcome you, then go, and close the door for me, thanks." Yang Yiming issued a dismissal.

Just then, Li Qingjiang pushed the door open and greeted Yang Yiming.

Yang Yiming turned his head again, and upon seeing Li Qingjiang, he curled his lip and said, "What? Afraid I won't keep my word, so you sent someone else to test me?"

"Misunderstanding, not at all. He came with me today to pick up the newspapers. The last guy is on a business trip and couldn't make it." Li Qingjiang explained to Yang Yiming.

Whether Yang Yiming believed him or not, he just said, "The newspapers are on the table," and dove back into his game.

Though he was a game fanatic, his work was decent. Someone not paying close attention wouldn't notice these were fake newspapers. Li Qingjiang checked them and, finding no issues, directed Qu Liang to load them onto the three-wheeler.

Out of politeness, Li Qingjiang said goodbye to Yang Yiming before leaving, "We're off." Yang Yiming waved a hand in farewell. From that perspective, he was quite polite.

Back at school, the newspapers weren't distributed right away because Meng Qi had a list—the order of students who wanted to post lost-and-found notices in the paper, arranged from first grade upward. There were over thirty people on it, and Yang Miao was in second grade, so she wasn't first; she was thirteenth. That meant twelve students were ahead of her, and they couldn't skip them.

"The newspapers have dates on them. If we delay a few months, they'll look fake at a glance. Just wait—that little girl will definitely make a fuss," Qu Liang said.

It was the weekend, so no students were at school. Meng Qi, Li Qingjiang, and Qu Liang slowly carried the newspapers into Meng Qi's room, then stacked them into his wardrobe.

Qu Liang crouched on the ground, stuffing them in while voicing his doubts.

Meng Qi, handing newspapers to Qu Liang, grinned smugly. "Clever as I am, I calculated the dates in advance. Take a look at the date at the top of the newspaper."

"Hold on, let me see. December 25, 2015, lunar calendar... Wow, Teacher Ran foresaw this! The date is set for December." Qu Liang marveled at the newspaper.

"Of course! I promised the kids to follow the order, so I had to arrange every detail to avoid any suspicion of favoritism. That would ruin everything! So before going to the print shop, I calculated the dates based on the ranking list they submitted." Meng Qi explained proudly.

"No wonder you're our 'Sunflower Elementary School's Honorary Principal.' I can't even catch up to that level of awareness." Qu Liang gave Meng Qi a thumbs-up.

Li Qingjiang chimed in, "When it comes to teaching and nurturing, Teacher Ran is indeed impressive. You, me, and Brother Yuan—all three of us should learn from him."

Meng Qi, who had been feeling smug, suddenly got embarrassed and humbly said, "Not at all, not at all. I'm just average compared to the best, but better than the worst. It's all thanks to you three for setting me off."

Li Qingjiang: ...

Qu Liang: ...

After a moment of silence, Li Qingjiang seriously suggested to Meng Qi, "When I go to seek wisdom from that doctor who specializes in treating hemorrhoids, you should come with me. I think you need to learn how to get a room full of banners too."

"NONONO, Master, I don't need that, really. I think I'm not even a tenth as good as you in that area. You're the one who needs further training." Meng Qi flatly refused.

Elder Gu, who had come to ask what they wanted for lunch, stood at the door with a smile, poking his head in and asking, "What's not a tenth as good as Qingjiang? In my opinion, you're all good—none of you is worse than the other."

Meng Qi looked at Li Qingjiang and said with a smile, "See, Uncle Gu knows how to talk. We should just learn from him instead of going far and wide for no reason."

Elder Gu laughed heartily and waved a hand, "What's an old geezer like me got to teach you, huh? It's the young people's world now. I should be learning from you all."

"I think we should all stop being modest. As the ancients said, 'When three walk together, one can learn from the other two.' Let's just learn from each other." Qu Liang, who wasn't one for modesty, stood up from the ground after stuffing the newspapers and waved his hand decisively, "It's settled."

Elder Gu looked at each of them with a kind expression, feeling a wave of emotion. "When I was young, I also had a few good friends to joke around with. But I was young and reckless, not knowing the weight of things or how to cherish them. Later, they drifted away, one by one, and thirty years ago, I was the only one left. So, I ain't got much to teach you, but I can show you how to spell 'cherish'."

The topic shifted so fast that Meng Qi's smile froze on his face. He then listened hard to Elder Gu's life lessons, keeping a goofy look on his face.

In the past, his grandparents also liked to share their life experiences with him after certain events, teaching him simple truths. Sometimes he understood, sometimes he didn't, but whether he got it or not, he loved listening because the feeling they gave him was like singing ancient ballads—slow, sweet, and heartfelt, making him feel incredibly comfortable.

Now, the sentimental Elder Gu gave him the same feeling as his grandparents. For a moment, Meng Qi was deeply moved, almost wanting to cry, wishing Elder Gu would go on talking for a whole day and night.

Then, as Meng Qi secretly hoped, Elder Gu slowly began, "To achieve 'cherish,' Uncle Gu summed it up in three sentences from a lifetime of experience: First, feel with your heart. Second, give others a chance to speak. Third, always remember to stand in their shoes to understand why they said what they did."

"Different strokes for different folks. It's perfectly normal to have disagreements in communication. When disagreements arise, most people rush to argue about right and wrong. Only a few enjoy the subtlety of disagreement and seek different outcomes. Arguing hurts feelings, but enjoying the talk brings real connection."

That made sense. Meng Qi habitually opened his notes app.

"Uncle Gu isn't saying you should blindly tolerate others, even when they're wrong, and never argue with them. What I'm saying is, when you feel their thoughts deviate from yours, don't rush to dismiss them. At least calm down, feel their sincerity with your heart, let them finish explaining their reasons, and then try to understand their words from their perspective. In that moment, you're them, but you're also still you. Then, whatever you say or do next won't easily hurt them. Life is long—what's the harm in giving them some time, right?"

Meng Qi and Li Qingjiang exchanged a glance and nodded in unison. Qu Liang, on the other hand, looked a bit drowsy, his eyes unfocused. It was hard to tell how much he had absorbed.

Finally, Elder Gu said with deep emotion, "Fate can fall apart in a flash, fast and weird. So, whenever you feel even a hint of reluctance to let go, hold onto that fate tightly and cherish the people around you. Don't wait until you're old to regret it."

To be honest, Meng Qi was completely captivated. It wasn't that Elder Gu's words were exceptionally profound—his grandparents had told him similar things, though not as well-organized, but the gist was the same. It was the feeling of listening to Elder Gu that reminded him so much of his grandparents, and he didn't want it to end.

But in stark contrast, Qu Liang asked Elder Gu groggily, "Uncle Gu, what were those three sentences you just said? Can you say them again? I'll write them down and send them to Brother Yuan."

Meng Qi: ...

Sure enough, it proved Elder Gu's point, "Different strokes for different folks." Right before his eyes was a living example.