Chapter 157

Chapter 157

◎ When Someone Picks Out Fish Bones for You... ◎

Yang Yiming sat down next to Meng Qi. As soon as he sat down, he leaned in and quietly asked how things had been recently. He also mentioned that he had been keeping an eye on the posts in the game group, but the person who had previously posted a bounty for a missing person notice in the group hadn't shown up for a long time now, and he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

Meng Qi figured it probably wasn't a bad thing. Although he had told Ren Suiyi not to reveal his whereabouts here to anyone, in order to appease the Meng family, the Ren family, and perhaps the Jiang family as well, Ren Suiyi had most likely already spread the news that he had found him, just without saying where.

"I'm fine, thank you Brother Yang. That person probably won't post looking for me anymore. You don't need to keep an eye on him." Meng Qi picked a piece of pork trotter with plenty of meat and put it into Yang Yiming's bowl, then pointed at Ren Suiwu across the table and said, "He braised these trotters this time. Try them first and see if they're good. Next time Uncle Gu braises some, I'll call you in advance."

Once, Qu Liang and Zhao Zheyuan went to the print shop to hang out and raved about the pork trotters that Elder Gu had braised that day, praising them as heavenly. They made Yang Yiming drool so much on the spot that it could fill a bucket. This time, when Li Qingjiang went to pick up something from his place, he mentioned that they had bought a lot of pork trotters today. Yang Yiming was so desperate for the trotters that he eventually just closed up his shop and followed Li Qingjiang back.

Unfortunately, these trotters weren't braised by Elder Gu, and Meng Qi hadn't tried them yet, so he didn't know how they tasted. They smelled good, so they probably wouldn't be bad, but they weren't cooked by Elder Gu, so he had to make that clear to Yang Yiming in advance.

Yang Yiming was crazy about pork trotters. Before Meng Qi could finish, he eagerly lowered his head and took a bite of the shiny, meaty trotter. When he looked up again, his face was full of delighted surprise. "Delicious, so satisfying! This is exactly what I was craving!"

"If you like them, eat up. We made a lot, so there's plenty!" Meng Qi happily picked another plump piece of trotter for Yang Yiming and placed it in his bowl.

Ever since he found out that Yang Yiming had also been forced to change his name and hide here, their similar situations had made Meng Qi feel a bond of shared hardship. From then on, he had been especially considerate of this unlucky guy, who was a little less than two years older than him but much better at handling things.

But Yang Yiming was stronger than him. Unlike Meng Qi, who had help and money with him when he fled, and though he faced dangers along the way, he hadn't really suffered much. It was said that when Yang Yiming escaped here, he was penniless. He had built that print shop entirely through his own efforts, along with the two high-end gaming consoles in the shop. If it had been Meng Qi in his place, penniless, he probably wouldn't have had the nerve to escape. So he truly admired Yang Yiming from the bottom of his heart and had once regarded him as a role model for braving difficulties.

Thinking this, Meng Qi handed one of his favorite meat rolls to Yang Yiming.

Yang Yiming sat on Meng Qi's right, and Ren Suiyi sat on his left.

Meng Qi suddenly felt that the hotter it got on his right, the colder it became on his left, to the point where he felt like he was sitting in a pit of fire and ice, utterly uncomfortable...

Before the temperature on his left dropped below freezing, he reached out to grab a meat roll for himself, shoved it into his mouth, quickly tasted it, then immediately turned to the left, a smile on his lips and a hint of trying to please in his tone as he said to Ren Suiyi, "It's really good, bro. Your cooking skills are amazing."

Because of his words, the tension on Ren Suiyi's face cracked, and beams of warm, bright sunlight slipped in through the cracks, softening and brightening his expression, making him feel like a spring breeze. The chill around him seemed to dissipate instantly. He then raised his left eyebrow, lifted his chin, and couldn't hide his smugness. "If you like it, eat up. I steamed a lot, so there's plenty—"

The last word he dragged out into a long, lingering note, like ripples spreading across a lake, circling outward into the distance until the trembling voice was so soft that it was barely audible unless you leaned in close. It then continued to tickle Meng Qi's ears like a gentle feather.

So childish...

But also so adorable!

How could there be such a fun person in the world?

Meng Qi struggled hard to keep the corners of his mouth from curling up wildly, trying to keep his tone calm so that Ren Suiyi wouldn't notice his emotional shift through his voice.

He cleared his throat and nodded at Ren Suiyi, as if nothing was wrong. "Oh, okay. Thanks."

Before Wang Boyuan could win a Grammy, Meng Qi felt he might win an Oscar first.

Just then, Yang Yiming on his right leaned in again to talk to him. "From what Editor-in-Chief Han said, he probably wants to arrange a feature interview with someone from the newspaper for you. Whether it's your funding to rebuild the school or helping students print lost-and-found notices to fulfill their dreams, either one alone is a great story. Combined, it's a bombshell. If he does this interview well, he might not just be the editor-in-chief of a small newspaper—he could get promoted to the Ministry of Education."

"Am I that impressive?" Meng Qi was stunned.

Yang Yiming patted Meng Qi on the shoulder and said with absolute certainty, "Of course! You're a shoo-in for this year's Outstanding Youth Representative."

Now Meng Qi was not only shocked but also anxious. He just wanted to quietly take care of things he wanted to do; he didn't want to become famous. It goes without saying that if he accepted this interview, his whereabouts would be exposed in no time. That wouldn't do!

"I can't take the interview. I have to find a way to turn down Editor-in-Chief Han," Meng Qi said firmly to Yang Yiming.

Yang Yiming seemed to have anticipated this reaction from Meng Qi, so his expression didn't change when he heard this, but the worry in his tone was still evident. "I told you this so you'd be prepared in advance. After all, neither of us is in a position to be in the public eye. It's better to keep a low profile."

"You're right." Meng Qi nodded and began to plan how to decline Editor-in-Chief Han.

Since the two fish Ren Suiyi had caught were quite large, Elder Gu only used one for soup and made the other into braised carp, placing both the soup and the fish closest to Meng Qi.

While Meng Qi and Yang Yiming were whispering to each other, Ren Suiyi first ladled a bowl of fish soup for Meng Qi to cool, then picked a piece of fish, carefully removed all the bones, and placed it into the bowl in front of Meng Qi, signaling him to eat it while it was hot.

But Meng Qi's mind was occupied, and his appetite was gone. He glanced at the white fish meat; his appetite not only didn't return but also made him feel a bit sick. He didn't want to waste Ren Suiyi's kindness, so he halfheartedly picked it up, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly. Only then did he realize that the carp meat, usually full of bones that gave him a headache and made his mouth hurt, had not a single bone in it. Strange.

He hadn't seen Ren Suiyi removing the bones, so he mistakenly thought he was lucky today and the fish had been born without bones. Since such an obliging fish was rare, of course he had to eat more! So after finishing the piece Ren Suiyi had given him, he reached for the plate of braised carp with his chopsticks again.

But his chopsticks were intercepted by Ren Suiyi on the way back. Ren Suiyi took hold of his right hand and put the piece of fish Meng Qi had picked into his own plate.

Meng Qi frowned in confusion. "If you want to eat, just take it yourself. Why did you steal mine?"

Ren Suiyi lowered his head and carefully removed the bones. "I'm not eating it. I'm just removing the bones for you."

Meng Qi's face flushed red. After a long silence, he mumbled, "You... you don't have to do that. I can do it myself."

Ren Suiyi looked up at Meng Qi and smiled. "I didn't know you liked fish before, and I never thought to remove the bones for you. Now that I know, I'll remove the bones for you from now on. You just focus on eating."

Ah, this...

Meng Qi's heart raced again. He froze in place for a long time, not knowing what to say or do.

On his right, Yang Yiming suddenly nudged Meng Qi in the shoulder. Looking at Ren Suiyi, he said to Meng Qi with a smile, "This buddy of yours is really something. He even removes the bones for you."

Meng Qi's face turned completely red. He quickly glanced at Ren Suiyi, who was focused on removing the bones, then immediately turned to Yang Yiming, stammering back, "My brother... he... he's a good guy. He knows I don't have the patience to deal with fish bones."

"Oh." Yang Yiming nodded and said nothing more.

Meng Qi quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the bowl and took a sip of the fish soup, hoping to steady his uneven breathing. But before he could swallow the soup, the sound of Kuang Hui and Ren Suiwu bickering grew louder and closer.

It was still about "Distracted."

Ren Suiwu was determined to find a high-end band to help with the composition. Mind you, he didn't want to throw away the existing tune and start over; he wanted to enhance it further. He felt that just using a single guitar wasn't enough to capture the beauty of the piece. He wanted to bring in an established band to turn "Distracted" into what he considered a high-end musical work.

Kuang Hui, on the other hand, felt that "Distracted" was the result of their joint effort. They had polished the song beautifully and perfectly captured its pure essence. There was really no need to add so many fancy embellishments.

Once a disagreement arises, everyone is king in their own world.

Kuang Hui was huffing and puffing, complaining that Ren Suiwu was too stubborn. Why did he have to overturn everyone's collective decision? He just couldn't understand.

Li Qingjiang hadn't yet heard Wang Boyuan sing "Distracted." Seeing Kuang Hui's face red with anger, he suggested that Wang Boyuan sing it again so he and Yang Yiming could listen.

Hearing his name, Yang Yiming immediately sat up straight and waved his hand, preemptively speaking to Qu Liang, "Let me be clear first—I don't have a good ear for music. I might not be able to give good advice after listening."

Qu Liang said to Yang Yiming with a knowing tone, "That's fine. Sometimes no advice is the best advice."

Meng Qi: ...

These people were all looking for trouble, weren't they? One after another, they were trying to step on Ren Suiwu's landmine.

Meng Qi shot a glance at Ren Suiwu. He noticed that Ren Suiwu's expression hadn't changed because of Kuang Hui and Qu Liang's defiance. As the brother of the chosen one, he truly has a big heart.

But why was he so obsessed with a single piece of music? Meng Qi couldn't understand it either.

"Author's Note"

I saw that some of my precious readers have shared my story with their friends. Whether it's for past or future shares, I want to say thank you here [heart gesture]. I haven't really paid attention to the number of moonstones until yesterday when I noticed I had more [poor]. Sorry about that, love you [heart eyes].