chapter Five

Hearing what Qi Ji said, the head teacher instead softened his tone and turned his head to comfort him: "Don't be too nervous, there is still time, the payment channel will be closed in a week, and you can hand in it before then."

"Then the registration fee is...?"

The head teacher reported a number, which was four digits after conversion at the exchange rate. It was not too high, and it was still within Qi Ji's tolerance.

But Qi Ji also knew that the cost of going abroad for a competition must be more than that.

Sure enough, the head teacher continued: "In addition, there is a fee for leading the team. Because this game is at its own expense and Argentina is in the southern hemisphere, the national team decided to organize the players to go there after the training camp, round-trip air tickets, hotel room and board. All-inclusive like that.”

He reported the amount of the tour fee again.

Qi Ji was silent.

S City No. 1 Middle School is the best middle school in the city, and it is also a "super middle school" with a very high reputation in China. If you want to enter such a school with a graduation rate of nearly 100%, in a sense, the high school entrance examination is more difficult than the college entrance examination. This amount of money is not difficult for the families of students who can be admitted to this school.

But the Qi family is different.

For the two brothers now, this number has completely exceeded the upper limit they can bear.

In retrospect, Qi Zhi realized that although he was busy, it was not that he did not go home, but Qi Mingyu never mentioned to him a word about the competition.

Qi Ji hasn't responded yet, but the head teacher over there has already continued: "And this time, if they want, parents can also go with the group, and the group fee is the same as the child. Like the other three team members in our city, they have already confirmed that there are parents. accompanied."

The thin soft paper shrank into a ball, and the edges and corners became extraordinarily distinct, piercing clear pain in the palm of his hand.

Qi Ji squeezed the paper ball and made excuses dryly: "It may be inconvenient for parents, I'll pay Mingyu's money first, is this also within a week?"

"It's about ten days, but it can't be too late, because air tickets and hotels need to be booked." The head teacher asked, "Then Mingyu is sure to participate, right?"

"Yes."

With this answer alone, Qi Ji's words were shallow, but he didn't hesitate.

"That's good," the head teacher was also relieved, "I'll just say, how can I miss such a rare opportunity!"

"By the way, this competition agreement still needs to be signed by the parents. Did Mingyu show you the agreement?"

Qi Ji whispered, "Not yet."

The head teacher snorted: "You said this child, really..."

Qi Ji thought for a while and asked, "Mr. Yang, do you still have an agreement? Can I sign it today?"

Since Qi Mingyu refused to talk about the game, it would be more convenient for him to go to the school to sign.

"Okay, come here." The head teacher agreed happily, and told Qi Ji the office address.

Qi Ji rushed to No. 1 Middle School after work. There was an evening self-study in high school. When he arrived, the school was quiet. Looking inward from the iron fence at the main entrance, he could not see a single student, only the rows of teaching buildings were lit up. lamp.

The school is very strict in checking the entry and exit of outsiders. Qi Ji first registered in the security room at the entrance, then called the head teacher, and was released after Teacher Yang personally confirmed it on the phone.

Walking on the avenue of the school, there is no one around, but it is not dark. The light of the street lamps is like a layer of white gauze, which makes the bustling campus more and more silent on weekdays.

Qi Ji followed the direction of the security guard and walked towards the third floor of the high-rise. Before he could find the building, he was roared by a voice blasting from the front.

"That one over there! Stop, what class are you in? No. What are you running around in class?"

As soon as he looked up, he saw a flat-headed man in his forties approaching, with a sign of the Political and Religious Office on his chest, and a small book in his hand. His tone was very bad.

"Come here!"

Qi Ji walked over, but before he could speak, he was taught a lesson by covering his face.

"Running around in the evening self-study, ah, don't wear school uniform, say, who is your head teacher? Let him come over and lead people!"

This is to treat him as a school student.

Qi Ji opened his mouth: "I'm sorry..."

"Okay, okay, don't make excuses, write your class name and student number."

The flat-headed man handed over the small book directly.

Qi Ji didn't answer: "I'm sorry, I'm the student's parent and I came to see the teacher."

He thought it would be good to explain it clearly, but he saw the flat-headed man snorted: "Are you still playing with me?"

"Tell you, it's useless to pretend to be anyone. Look at your face, you still want to pretend to be a parent, and I'm blind?"

"..."

Seeing that the other party didn't believe him no matter what, Qi Ji could only take out his mobile phone and called Teacher Yang's number again.

"The students now have more tricks than the other... Hey, how dare you bring a cell phone?!"

Qi Ji directly handed over the phone that he dialed.

It wasn't until the head teacher explained the whole story that the flat-headed man returned the phone dubiously and let Qi Ji leave.

Until he was far away, Qi Ji could still hear the man's doubts saying "the parents are so young now".

He didn't feel anything to himself. Because of this face, he has not encountered this kind of misunderstanding before.

The senior three teaching building is deep in the school, and the surrounding environment is quiet to ensure that students are not disturbed. Qi Ji walked in. The classroom in the building was brightly lit, but it was so quiet that even the echoes of footsteps could be clearly heard.

He went upstairs and knocked on the door of the office. There were quite a few teachers sitting in the room. A young teacher near the door looked up and saw Qi Ji. He was puzzled and asked, "Which class are you from?"

Qi Ji said, "Excuse me, I'm a parent, I'm here to find Teacher Yang."

"Ah?" The young teacher was stunned.

Not far away, a middle-aged man standing at the table raised his eyes when he heard the sound, and his eyes were cast from above the mirror frame.

He was short and stout, but not bulky, a white shirt tucked into his belt, his trousers raised high, and a large string of keys pinned to his belt rattled with his movements.

The middle-aged man adjusted his glasses: "Are you Mingyu's brother?"

Qi Ji nodded: "Yes, Teacher Yang."

The head teacher obviously did not expect the other party to be so young.

To be honest, from the beginning, the head teacher had a bad impression of Qi Mingyu's parents. The third year of high school is a tough battle. Not only students have to fight, but parents are more concerned with each other. It can be said that no matter how concerned they are, it is not too much.

But only Qi Mingyu, the parent of a top student, was so negligent that he didn't even attend the opening ceremony of the senior year, let alone contact the teacher.

However, when this young man who looked even a little younger than Qi Mingyu stood in front of him, the head teacher found that he really had no way to say the blame.

He sighed, and he could only put the blame on Qi Mingyu's parents who never showed up.

"Come on, sit down."

The head teacher gestured for the seat by the table.

"Thank you, Teacher Yang."

Qi Ji took his seat and saw the head teacher rummaging through the materials and asked, "Why did Mingyu want to give up the competition? Did he tell your parents about this?"

"No, I will persuade him when I go back." Qi Ji bit his lip unconsciously and changed the subject, "There is one more thing, is Mingyu's passport going to be applied now?"

"These will be organized in a unified way, and the team will be responsible," the head teacher said. "As long as Mingyu is persuaded, the rest will be easy."

"Then trouble the school and Teacher Yang."

Qi Ji asked politely and quickly signed the competition agreement.

After signing, he was stopped by the head teacher again.

"Mr. Qi, as for Mingyu, he is a good seedling. I have also taught books for 23 years. It is no exaggeration to say that there are very few people as good as him."

The head teacher said.

"Such a child is usually a worry for parents, but no matter how sensible Mingyu is, he is also a child, and there will always be fluctuations. Some time ago, a teacher told me that Mingyu deserted in class, and I also paid attention to it. A few days later, he felt that the child was very worried, and he didn't know what problems he encountered. Is he in this state at home too?"

Qi's message was blocked.

He could only come back in the early hours of the night, Qi Mingyu was already asleep, and he went out early in the morning. Sometimes the two of them couldn't speak a few words a day.

"He's at home... alright?"

"That's right. There was a mock test two days ago. Mingyu fell asleep as soon as he entered the test room. I went to call him, and he deliberately talked to me. If he didn't work, he would call his parents."

The head teacher took a sip of tea and pondered.

"Actually, it's not a big deal, but I think Mingyu may be lacking in caring. He deliberately wanted to attract the parents' attention, so I called the parents as he wanted, but the parents still didn't come."

The head teacher said bitterly: "You are Mingyu's brother, and you have seen Mingyu's current state. Go back and tell your parents that no matter how busy you are, you can't neglect your child, right, he is still such an excellent child."

Qi Ji pinched his wrist, and the tiger's mouth was scarred by the bracelet.

"Ah good."

After thanking the head teacher several times, Qi Ji got up to say goodbye.

He walked down the stairs and walked halfway, when the bell rang, like a thunder explosion.

Qi Ji suddenly connected the entire timeline.

Although he never told Qi Mingyu about his boxing to earn bonuses, the day when Qi Mingyu said he wanted to meet his parents during the mock exam happened to be the day he was going to the boxing ring to participate in the finals.

The bell rang, and there was a sound of tables and chairs moving from all directions, followed by a noisy frolic.

get out of class has ended.

Qi Ji didn't notice for a while, and was one step behind.

The crowded crowd directly engulfed him, and the laughing noise invaded the silent space in an instant. The physical contact surrounding him was not intentional, but inevitable.

Qi Ji still has injuries from the previous finals. His blood clotting is slow and his self-healing ability is also poor. After so many days, he still needs to be bandaged. The pain of the wound had been deliberately forgotten by him, but now it was torn open and exposed to the sun.

He was like a drowning person who fell into a waterfall, his heart paralyzed by the shock of electric shock from his limbs.

When he finally managed to get out of the crowd and found an open space outside the teaching building, Qi Ji was already in a cold sweat.

He staggered, found a step in the clearing away from the crowd and sat down.

His stomach twitched and twitched as if it was being gripped by someone's hands, his temples throbbing, Qi Ji rested for a while with his forehead down, panting and resting for a while, the nausea and nausea still lingered.

His oversensitivity seems to be getting worse.

The autumn wind in the night was cool and blew away the half-dry cold sweat. Qi Ji took a few deep breaths slowly and gradually calmed down from his heart palpitations.

Before he moved his palms, he noticed the warmth around his legs and a faint voice.

"Meow..."

Qi Ji opened his eyes, and a warm orange cat just walked around in front of him, looking up at him with round eyes.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Qi Ji coughed twice, and when he calmed down, he rubbed the top of the orange cat's head with the back of his fingers.

His voice was hoarse: "Good evening."

The orange cat rubbed his fingers, took a few steps forward next to Qi Ji's ankle, and dragged out some finger-long strips from the side.

"Mi woo!"

The orange cat held the bar in front of Qi Ji, and arched his little leg again.

Roadside lights cast down, illuminating the steps.

It was only then that Qi Ji discovered that the orange cat took out a few small dried fish.

He looked at Xiao Yugan, and then at the orange cat who was staring at him with round eyes.

The orange cat does not wear a collar, it is probably a school cat kept in the school, and is usually fed by students, so the life of these school pets is not difficult.

However, the dried fish that the orange cat drank also had a salty smell, which was a deadly temptation for cats. At first glance, it was not a student snack that was fed casually, but it was specially bought for cats. tasty.

"Give it to me?" Qi Zhi pointed to himself.

"Meow~" The orange cat pushed Xiao Yugan towards him again.

Qi Ji coughed low, and finally a faint smile appeared on his pale face.

He has been fond of small animals since he was a child, and the cat in front of him seems to regard him as a kind, and generously shares his treasures.

Qi Ji did not expect that he would be comforted by a kitten.

"Thank you."

Qi Ji stretched out his hand and scratched the cat's chin, the orange cat narrowed his eyes and made a purring sound in his throat.

He scratched a few more times.

When the cat felt comfortable, Qi Ji closed his hands and turned over his pockets.

Since the symptoms of hypoglycemia worsened in his freshman year, Qi Ji has developed the habit of bringing candy in his pocket for emergencies every day. But the candy couldn't be eaten by the kitten, so he searched and found a piece of beef.

This beef steak was distributed by a colleague during the day. Qi Ji opened the package and took a look. It was original flavor and not high in salt.

He peeled off the wrapping paper and put a thumb-sized piece of beef in front of the cat to tell him that he wasn't short of food.

The orange cat sniffed the peeled beef, and raised his head to look at him again.

"Eat it." Qi Ji imitated the cat just now and pushed the beef grain forward again.

The orange cat looked at him a few times and found that Qi Ji was really not starving, then rubbed Qi Ji's ankle, lowered his head and bit off the beef.

Qi Ji rested his chin on his knee and looked down at the cat eating. But before the cat had finished eating, he heard a shout from a distance.

"The one on the steps!"

The fur on the back of the orange cat's neck exploded instantly, grabbed his precious dried fish and ran away.

Qi Ji looked up and saw the flat-headed man with the sign of the Political and Religious Office turned around again.

"This... parent, what are you doing here?" Although his tone was still not good, it was still much stronger than the previous questioning.

Qi Ji got up and patted the dust on his body: "I'll leave right away, sorry."

He turned to leave, and took a step to hear the other side's voice.

"No... I think you look pretty bad, are you okay?"

Qi Ji was stunned: "I'm fine, thank you."

The man coughed: "It's fine... By the way, next time you enter the school, ask the security guard for a temporary entry card, so as not to be mistaken again."

"it is good."

When Qi Ji was far away, he could still hear the man shouting "The one on the playground! Why don't you go back to class!" in the distance.

After walking out of No. 1 Middle School, Qi Ji found a secluded place, took out his mobile phone, and was silent for a while in front of the black screen.

Before long, he opened the address book and dialed a number.

"Hey, Brother Qian, it's me, Z011."

Qi Ji's hoarse voice was blown away by the cold night wind.

"Is the Huating Club still accepting short-term workers? It's the one that ended every week last time."

The background sound of the phone was noisy, and Brother Qian's voice was still as hoarse as a rough stone. Before speaking, he sneered: "Yo, why, our champion wants to work again? Didn't we say "no go, no go" two days ago?"

Qi Ji lowered his eyes, ignoring the yin and yang of the other party, and said in a low voice, "Brother Hard Money."

The spitting sound on the other end of the phone was particularly loud. After spitting, he asked, "Okay, when do you want to go to Huating?"

"I have time in two weeks."

Qi Ji urgently needed money, so the sooner the better.

There seemed to be someone called Brother Qian on the other end of the phone. Brother Qian cursed and hung up the phone after saying "wait for the letter".

The phone screen went black, and the last faint light disappeared.

Qi Ji took a deep breath, the thick darkness entered his nose with the cold air and took root in his body.

Huating Club is extravagant. People who go there to spend are either rich or expensive. Ordinary people work in it as if they are walking in a quagmire. This is definitely not a good choice, but Qi Ji has no choice.

The salary for the internship is not enough, and it is impossible to design the settlement process so quickly. Only this part-time function allows him to make up the amount within two weeks.

Qi Ji squeezed his wrist to calculate the account, and just after the account was settled, another call came in.

The caller was also known by Qi Ji at the boxing stadium. When the phone was picked up, there was a sentence: "Why do you still want to go to Huating?!"

Qi Ji pursed her lips and called out, "Brother Wu..."

Hearing his voice, the anger over there was temporarily extinguished for a while, but the tone was still full of puzzlement: "Xiao Qi, last time you were a waiter, you managed to escape safely from there, why do you want to take risks? Enter this place. It’s easy to come out and hard to come out, how many people think it’s okay at first, but they’re not planted in the end…”

This sentence is really unlucky, Zhang Wu didn't finish his sentence.

"Alas," he asked with a heavy sigh, "I know you owe a debt, but didn't you just win a sum of money in the final?"

"The prize money was directly transferred to pay off the debt." Qi Ji whispered, "My brother will go abroad next month and use the money."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and then Zhang Wu's hoarse voice sounded: "Xiao Qi, I can only persuade you to be careful."

"Before you refused to agree to stay and continue to fight, this side is very unhappy. I always remember this. The person in charge of Huating recruiting part-time workers is very familiar with Brother Qian, and it is very likely that he will deliberately make things difficult for you."

Zhang Wu was in charge of watching the events in the museum. He had no real power, so there was no way for him to interfere. To be able to say this is already the most straightforward kind reminder.

"Brother Wu, I understand, thank you." Qi Ji thanked sincerely, "I will leave after I earn enough money for two weeks."

"Xiao Qi, you..." Zhang Wu hesitated, but in the end he could only say, "Protect yourself."

"Um."

Listening to his promise, Zhang Wu wiped his face and changed his tone.

"By the way, brother has brought a few bags of new flavors of candy. It seems that I brought it back from... than when, and a bag of chocolate. Are you busy at night? Brother will send it to you."

In autumn, the sun is rare, but it can't penetrate Bentley's dark window film.

Inside the smooth-running luxury car, the handsome man is like a perfect human statue, and it is enough to be pleasing to the eyes just by sitting.

However, contrary to the rumored dude, the man was still looking through the piles of reports and project books even when he was on the road.

The interior of the car is spacious enough to set up a table for critiques. The man flips through the pages very quickly, signing one copy through one copy, the signed ones are piled up in a pile, the unsigned ones...

"Shuh", the man flicked his wrists and threw the snow-white project book into the arms of the assistant in the front seat without raising his head.

"This one doesn't pass, call back."

The deep and magnetic voice was enough to make people blush, but the owner of the voice was obviously not in a good mood at the moment.

The assistant straightened the crooked gold-rimmed glasses without any hesitation, and opened the project book, which contained no comments.

He turned his head and asked, "Mr. Pei, what is the reason for the rejection?"

"What's the use of just writing a good plan, the direction is wrong. The spaceship has already run all over the sky, and the space shuttle is still being studied here."

Pei Yusheng looked unhappy, and he didn't even bother to lift his eyelids.

"In the future, plans in this direction will be blocked and not approved."

"Yes."

In the blink of an eye, after reviewing a few more copies, Pei Yusheng's cell phone rang.

He answered the phone, his eyes still on the snow-white paper.

"Hey."

"Second brother!" A clear voice came, "Are you still busy?"

The one who called was Pei Yusheng's small, Lianqing. Pei Yusheng came to S City for the first time, and they made an appointment to meet tonight.

"On the way, what?"

"I made arrangements for those people at night! Including..."

The Lian family has been rooted in S City for a long time, and this time Pei Yusheng came over, and Lian found someone early in the morning, ready to help him introduce him.

Pei Yusheng listened to the phone while reading the report, but he threw his hand to the front seat before he finished reading the report.

"I haven't changed the typo, just type it back and rewrite it."

Lian Qing, who was introducing over there, didn't hear Pei Yusheng's words: "Ah? Second brother, what did you say?"

"It's okay," Pei Yusheng closed the cap, "you continue."

Lian Qing heard that Pei Yusheng was in a bad mood, so he didn't say anything more: "Well, second brother, didn't you join the company, so I found a few more people who can deal with Yuntu, about seven or eight. When can you come over tonight? I'll make arrangements in advance."

There are two video conferences in the afternoon, and have to rush to the east of the city... Pei Yusheng glanced at his watch and frowned.

His clothes are specially matched every day, and today's Brioni high-definition match is a limited edition skeleton watch of the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier series, which is a sapphire set with 84 trapezoidal diamonds. The men's watch is low-key and elegant. Luxurious, but also because of the strong sense of mechanical design, it is difficult for the user to see where the hour hand is at first glance.

Not as practical as a mechanical watch issued by the military.

Sweeping his eyes to see the time, Pei Yu said, "After eight o'clock."

"Okay," Lian Qing happily agreed, "Where do you want to go, second brother, or I will decide?"

It was expected that Ershao Pei was not familiar with S City, so Lian Qing wanted to introduce his various clubs, but heard Pei Yusheng make a direct decision: "Go to Huating."

"……what?"

Huating Club is the top luxury club in S City, but even Qing couldn't hide his surprise, and his tone was a little wrong.

"There are so many places in our house, why do you remember going to Huating? And..." Lian Qing paused before saying, "Huating is backed by the Fang family. Second brother, don't you know, Fang Laosan's Hunqiu just returned to China recently, you didn't always deal with him before..."

Pei Yusheng turned the pen between his fingers, and the platinum Mont Blanc spun a dazzling light.

But it is less than one ten thousandth of the master's light-colored pupils.

"Go to Huating, I have something to do."

Pei Yu's voice was slightly lowered.

He is looking for someone.