Chapter 113

Chapter 113

◎ Searching for Mengmengqi of Jinliu Village ◎

Worried the students might step on Meng Lingzhi while playing after class, Li Qingjiang set up a little fence around the area where Meng Lingzhi was hibernating. He also transplanted some climbing wildflowers from the hills and planted them around the spot. From a distance, it looked colorful and super cute and playful, which instead attracted a large group of children who gathered around him, asking questions. When they learned that the creature buried underground was Meng Lingzhi, who needed to hibernate, they all started tiptoeing around, even lowering their voices, scared they'd wake their good friend, the hibernating softshell turtle.

So Ren Baizhi got lonely.

Worried it might get depressed and sick from suddenly losing its playmate, except at night when they slept, Meng Qi and the others took turns carrying Ren Baizhi around, feeding it a bite of whatever good food they found. In just two days, Ren Baizhi got even fatter, looking even cuter and goofier.

That day, Meng Qi posted a video of the lonely, dazed Ren Baizhi on a video app to let the netizens who liked them know: The softshell turtle's in hibernation now. See you next spring, don't worry.

—: Hey? How'd the side-necked turtle get fatter after Big Guy left? Shouldn't it be "under the cool night, my longing for you turns into a river"? [confused]

—: Upstairs, watch your mouth. Don't let longing turn into a river, or Big Guy might really "turn into spring mud to protect you" [forgive me]

—: Ain't it said "a thousand-year-old king, a ten-thousand-year-old turtle"? Don't underestimate Big Guy; he can live a long time, easily outlive a few generations of your family [proud]

—: If you're ugly, go read a book, bro upstairs. A softshell turtle only lives up to a hundred years. Do your family's several generations only add up to a hundred years? [rolls eyes]

—: Upstairs, quit arguing! Didn't you see a pair of size 43 feet walking around in the bottom left corner of the video?

—: Holy crap! That's the latest LOTAA model! It just came out not long ago. I couldn't even get it with connections, and this dude's already worn it out. Holy crap! [angry]

—: Upstairs has eagle eyes! It's really the LOTAA and International Basketball Federation collab, my dream shoes!

—: Even worn out, they're so charming... Hey blogger, are you selling them? I can buy them at the original price, or even add ten or twenty percent [begging]

Did Qu Liang get new shoes? And they seem like a hard-to-get pair?

Seeing this, Meng Qi turned to look at Qu Liang's feet, and noticed Qu Liang had indeed changed his shoes; they were different from the ones he wore before going back to the capital.

With so much going on lately, Meng Qi hadn't noticed. So, were these shoes really that great? But he couldn't see what was so special about them. Not knowing shoes, Meng Qi couldn't help but glance a few more times at Qu Liang's shoes, trying to see what made them so valuable that so many people were willing to pay a high price for a worn pair.

"What's up? Did my shoes break?" Qu Liang followed Meng Qi's gaze down to his shoes, checking them twice and finding nothing wrong.

Meng Qi quickly shook his head. "No, someone said your shoes are hard to get, so I was just curious."

"Who said that?" Qu Liang immediately asked Meng Qi, looking guarded. "Does anyone around here even know about this stuff?"

Meng Qi was surprised by Qu Liang's alertness. To avoid more confusion, he just handed his phone to Qu Liang and let him see for himself. "Netizens said it."

Qu Liang not only watched Meng Qi's latest video but also scrolled through all of Meng Qi's previous videos, probably checking if any of them showed their location. Finding nothing suspicious, he gave the phone back to Meng Qi and explained the origin of his shoes.

"I've always liked this brand's shoes—lightweight, durable, trendy, cool... basically, they're my thing. I've bought almost every new model they've put out in recent years. The ones on my feet are the latest limited-edition collab model released globally on the tenth of last month, and it's even a collaboration with my favorite men's basketball team. I've wanted them for a long time, but since I've been running around outside lately, I never had the chance to get them. I thought I'd miss out this time, but when I went back last time, a buddy from my company actually managed to buy them for me. He said Brother Yuan had called him ahead of time and asked him to help."

When mentioning Zhao Zheyuan, Qu Liang's mood visibly dropped a few notches. After noticing a few mud spots on the side of his shoe, he even crouched down to rub them with his fingertip.

As Qu Liang slowly crouched down, his voice grew softer and softer, eventually becoming so muffled that Meng Qi could barely hear him. "Brother Yuan rarely asks for favors. For these shoes, he actually took the initiative to ask someone for help... Isn't that silly? I don't even know what to say to him..."

"You didn't actually scold him, did you?" Meng Qi asked.

"Of course not! I'm grateful to him!" Qu Liang was almost amused by Meng Qi's serious question. He glanced sideways at Meng Qi and asked back, "Young master, have you ever received a surprise gift that someone put their heart into preparing for you?"

Although he didn't understand why Qu Liang was asking, Meng Qi thought about it seriously.

As for gifts, he had received them. His grandparents would give him gifts on his birthday, but those were things he had specified in advance—like a pretty pencil case when he was little, bright-colored markers, and later, clean white shirts and well-fitting basketball shoes.

His grandparents weren't romantic; they never secretly prepared gifts for him. Every time they wanted to buy something, they would ask in advance to avoid mistakes. So, back then, the feeling of receiving a gift probably wasn't surprise; "anticipation" would have been a more fitting word to describe his feelings at the time.

As for after coming here—extravagant high-end suits? Unnecessary fancy tableware? A forcibly given turtle with a tilted head? None of those could really count as surprise gifts. In his opinion, the word "shock" was more appropriate.

So Meng Qi hesitated and answered Qu Liang, "Probably... not."

His voice trailed off softly, and he wasn't sure if Qu Liang heard him. Qu Liang then asked him, "Is it because rich people are so wealthy that they can buy whatever they want, so they don't put their hearts into preparing surprise gifts for others, and generally don't receive such gifts either?"

You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Meng Qi muttered silently to himself, then tried to appear nonchalant as he answered Qu Liang, "Oh, something like that."

Qu Liang looked at Meng Qi with sympathy and clicked his tongue. "The troubles of the rich really are out of touch with reality."

"Tell me about it." Meng Qi forced a smile.

Qu Liang also curled his lips into a smile, about to say something to Meng Qi when his phone rang—his own phone. The moment the ringtone blared, he became visibly nervous, probably thinking it was Zhao Zheyuan contacting him. His movements to pull out his phone were quick and frantic, almost dropping it. After steadying it, he glanced at the screen, and disappointment instantly spread across his face.

Meng Qi also felt a wave of disappointment.

The call wasn't from Zhao Zheyuan. It was a colleague from his company's administrative department, saying that the company's top management was in a dispute. Some were dissatisfied with the current method of archiving client data and had proposed changes, requiring all current employees to reorganize all the cases they had handled according to the board of directors' new requirements within a week and submit them on time to the administrative department for unified filing. Anyone who failed to submit on time would receive a major demerit.

The colleague explained all this in detail over the phone so that Qu Liang could start organizing the materials on his way back, given the tight deadline and heavy workload, to avoid getting a major demerit that could affect his future promotion prospects.

After hanging up, Qu Liang packed his things while briefly explaining to Meng Qi, then went to call Li Qingjiang to take him to the town on the tricycle, where he would find transportation back to the capital.

One wave after another.

Thinking of the missing Zhao Zheyuan, Meng Qi asked Qu Liang worriedly, "What about Zhao Zheyuan then? Can he only get a major demerit?"

"The cases Brother Yuan and I handled are the same; we can submit just one copy." Qu Liang sat in the driver's seat, waiting for Li Qingjiang, who had gone to his room to get his jacket. After answering Meng Qi's question, he added a reminder, "Young master, these shoes of mine are a global limited edition of fewer than five thousand pairs. They're pretty hard to get. Delete that video first."

Meng Qi nodded. "Don't worry, I'll delete it right away."

After Qu Liang and Li Qingjiang left, Meng Qi immediately took out his phone, opened the video he had uploaded earlier, and looked for the delete option at the bottom.

In just a short while, there were several hundred more comments. The one with the most likes was at the top of the comment section: Great, it's LOTAA! The e-son is saved! He didn't go bankrupt; he's just experiencing rural life!

If only it were really just experiencing life, Meng Qi sighed and decisively pressed the delete button.

Zhao Zheyuan was gone, and Qu Liang was gone too. Zhao Zheyuan had disappeared. He hoped Qu Liang would have a smooth journey and not run into any more trouble. Meng Qi's thoughts wandered wildly. What kind of crappy novel was this? It really tested a person's endurance. If this kept up, just to survive, he might really turn into a vicious supporting character...

"Teacher, these are fried sugar-coated dough balls my grandma made. She told me to bring them to you." Yang Miao held up the newspaper-wrapped dough balls high, trying to hand them to Meng Qi.

Lost in thought, he hadn't even noticed when the little girl had run over. Meng Qi snapped back to reality, smiled, took the paper package from Yang Miao, and thanked her as he opened it.

Yang Miao happily tilted her head and replied, "You're welcome."

"It's not even New Year's yet. Why did Grandma think to fry sugar-coated dough balls?" After popping a shiny, oily red dough ball into his mouth, Meng Qi felt a burst of fragrance, sweet but not cloying, and delicious. This made him grab a second one, first stuffing it into Yang Miao's mouth before putting another into his own.

Yang Miao covered her mouth, laughing as she chewed. After finishing the large dough ball, she answered, "Today is my grandpa's birthday. Grandma fried a big pot of sugar-coated dough balls and is going to stew fish too! I'll eat it after school!"

Meng Qi asked with surprise, "It's Grandpa's birthday? Did you wish him a happy birthday?"

"I did! Grandpa said he's very happy!"

"Is that so? Then Teacher Ran also wishes Grandpa a happy birthday, to make him even happier, okay? Can you pass Teacher Ran's wishes on to Grandpa?"

"I can!" Yang Miao puffed out her little chest to assure Meng Qi.

With both hands greasy, Meng Qi patted Yang Miao's head with the back of his hand and praised her for being so good.

Although the sugar-coated dough balls were tasty, eating several in a row was a bit cloying. Meng Qi rewrapped the remaining ones, intending to take them back to his room to eat slowly. Just then, a line of text on the newspaper, stained by oil, caught his attention. He quickly spread the newspaper open, trying to make out the words, and then froze as if struck by lightning, tears slowly welling up in his eyes.

The line of text was a very short missing person notice. Its content was: Searching for Mengmengqi of Jinliu Village. The contact person was Brother Boyuan.

Meng Qi was absolutely certain that there was no place called Jinliu Village in this book, because when he first arrived here, he had searched online. There was no Jinliu Village, no Hu'an County, no Meng Tianshan from Jinliu Village, Hu'an County!

And certainly no He Cong or Wang Boyuan calling him Mengmengqi...