Re-engraving the Spring - Chapter 56

The next day, Chi Qiu watched as Lu Ming put the tickets for the exhibition into his suit pocket and then got into the car.

“I’m going to work.” Lu Ming looked at Chi Qiu who was standing at the door to see him off. Thinking that tonight was the day Chi Qiu and Luo Yun had agreed to have dinner, he promised: “I’ll pick you up tonight.”

“No, mom said she’ll send me back.” Chi Qiu reassured him, “Just do your work at ease.”

Chi Qiu sent Lu Ming away and returned to his bedroom alone. After locking the door, he took out the laptop he kept in the drawer. Before he could type a few lines, a message came on his phone.

Chi Qiu opened it, and it was sent by Ji Yanchen: [Hey, is the handsome guy at home alone?]

Chi Qiu replied: [Well, what’s up?]

Soon, Ji Yanchen made a video call.

On the screen, Ji Yanchen was wearing a dark suit, shaking a glass of champagne he held in his hand. The opening was out of tune: “What are you doing, miss me?”

“I’m preparing the outline of my next story.” Chi Qiu looked at the champagne in his hand, “Still drinking at work, aren’t you afraid that Ning ge will say something to you?”

“Who’s afraid of him, ah?” Ji Yanchen said the empty words1口是心非 (lit. affirm with one’s lips but deny in one’s heart) basically means not saying what one means. My mind can’t think of any English idiom that has the same meaning as this. He took a sip and said, “Today is probably the last day I will suffer here.”

“Ning ge has gone soft on you so quickly?”

“Bullshit, he’s been so hard-hearted lately that he’s just about thrown me into the sea to feed the fish.”

It was reasonable to say that Ji Feining’s training for Ji Yanchen should not be over in such a short time. Chi Qiu always felt Ji Yanchen had something to say, so he patiently waited for him to finish nagging before asking.

On the screen, the excited Ji Yanchen kept talking, wishing that he could fly back to Xingxi City immediately today and lie down on his luxurious big bed.

After drinking a glass of champagne, he cleared his throat: “Let me tell you some good news, ba.”

“Okay.”

“My youngest uncle passed away, that’s why my brother asked me to come back.”

Ji Yanchen’s face did not have a trace of sadness. He muttered heartlessly, as if talking about someone else’s family. “I heard that it was because he was drunk every day, and an inadvertent vomit blocked the trachea. Anyway, I don’t know him well and I hate him, but my father insisted that my brother and I go to a funeral. It’s really troublesome. But it’s okay, I want to go back to Xingxi City so badly, you don’t even know how boring City C is!”

Chi Qiu fell silent; his heart suddenly had mixed feelings. Back then, if it wasn’t for the trouble caused by this young uncle of the Ji family, he wouldn’t have hurt his eyes, and the relationship within their Ji family wouldn’t have turned out to be what it was today.

Now, the culprit was dead, but Chi Qiu still did not feel much relief.

The death of this man, after all, did not improve anything.

Seeing that Chi Qiu did not say anything, Ji Yanchen put down his glass and waved his hand in front of the screen, “Chi Qiu?”

“…En?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Ji Yanchen thought he had said the wrong thing again, so he sat down awkwardly and scratched his head, “Isn’t this…good news?”

Chi Qiu quickly denied: “I’m just thinking about other things, do you have anything else to say to me?” He and Ji Yanchen grew up together and know each other too well. Ji Yanchen usually didn’t just make a video call to him, unless he had something to ask for.

As expected——

Ji Yanchen lowered his head and said awkwardly: “I do have something I want to ask you for help.” He said in distress. “When I’m done with my little uncle’s funeral, can you accompany me and go talk to my brother about this…so he doesn’t kick me out to the City C.”

Chi Qiu wondered, thinking that he should not interfere in Ji Feining’s education for Ji Yanchen.

He was trying to find an excuse to refuse, when he saw Ji Yanchen’s bitter face: “You know, my brother’s temper can’t be shaken. He will give face only if you intercede.”

“No, Ning ge doesn’t like people meddling in his affairs.”

Chi Qiu differentiated very clearly that Ji Feining’s education for Ji Yanchen, who was ignorant, belonged to the Ji family’s private business. If he helped to indulge Ji Yanchen, it was easy to annoy Ji Feining.

And Ji Feining’s anger was definitely not shown on his face.

“Ning ge is doing this for your own good.” Chi Qiu persuaded: “When he was your age, he took over the company long ago, and he did so step by step.”

He personally thought that Ji Feining was doing something that was really good for Ji Yanchen’s growth, and he was really not good at interfering, much less qualified to do so.

Ji Yanchen was not happy and pleaded bitterly: “Then my brother, he could have left me in Xingxi City to train, ah! You just help me to talk, please! I’m in charge of this shitty hotel in City C. I have to get up early every day and I don’t have any friends here. I’ve lost several pounds.”

After saying that, Ji Yanchen took out two tickets for the art exhibition from behind and said in one breath. “You see, these two tickets are the tickets to the art exhibition opened by Lu Ming’s uncle. My brother came over a few days ago, I found it in his bag. He doesn’t seem to want to go, so I want to go! If you help me, I will take you to the art exhibition, how about it?”

Chi Qiu just now was still lamenting that he could not go to the art exhibition, and now this opportunity immediately appeared in front of him.

Chi Qiu’s eyes suddenly lit up, but he didn’t say anything.

But who was Ji Yanchen, ah? He was never serious when doing serious things, but the point was he was clever. He suddenly caught Chi Qiu’s mind and shook the ticket in front of him.

Wherever it went, Chi Qiu’s right eye would follow it…

A protracted war kicked off.

Chi Qiu could not argue with him, so swallowed his saliva and was ashamed for going back on his word: “Really take me?”

“I knew you were interested in the art exhibition.” Ji Yanchen was no longer humble. He crossed his legs and hummed: “How could I lie to you? You’ve always wanted to have a good relationship with his relatives, haven’t you? You definitely want to go to Lu Ming uncle’s art exhibition, but then…”

He smiled brightly and shook the tickets in his hand: “They think you can’t see with your eyes and must not invite you to go. But I am different, ah. You and I grow up as a pair of good bro, I will cover you.”

“…How do you cover me?”

“As long as you meet acquaintances and they ask why you appear in the art exhibition, you can completely rely on me ah. Just say that I, the second young master of the Ji family does not know how to behave and is capricious, will not be considerate of people, so you blind man must accompany me. This thing might be outrageous for others, but when it comes to me, it’s not outrageous.”

Once Chi Qiu listened, he found Ji Yanchen’s perception of himself was simply too clear. It was also true that if anyone other than Lu Ming took him to the exhibition it would inevitably make people suspicious.

Only Ji Yanchen was a special case, because he had always been a person who did not play cards according to the rules,so it was not surprising to do anything weird.

Furthermore, Ji Yanchen was one of the two people who knew Chi Qiu’s secret. From the beginning, he knew how to help Chi Qiu to cover, and would often take Chi Qiu out to get some air.

It was the same this time. Ji Yanchen waved his hand, extraordinarily bold: “I help you, you also help me, how about it?”

Like that, Chi Qiu’s insistence ended in failure.

After solving one of the worries of attending the art exhibition, Chi Qiu was in a happy mood, and the words in the word became no longer boring. With a flash of inspiration, he typed a lot of words on the computer, and settled the initial outline of the story.

Chi Qiu was not short of money, nor did he have a strong desire for fame and exposure. He usually wrote stories as a hobby to kill time. Usually he wrote some when he was inspired, so his story serialization was very slow. In order not to make those little readers wait for a long time, he usually wrote a whole book before handing it over to his editor.

His editor was a person arranged by Ji Feining, and Ji Feining had specially instructed some precautions. Usually, this editor would not take the initiative to contact Chi Qiu.

Chi Qiu closed the computer, took a loot at the time, and it was almost time to go out.

Outside the door, Chi Lanyan, who drove to pick him up, had already walked to the living room.

Aunt Zhang was scared when she looked at her and made a cup of tea tremblingly: “Mrs. Chi, I’ll go call for Master. Please wait a moment.”

“En.” Chi Lanyan was in a good mood today and didn’t pick on Aunt Zhang’s fault. Naturally, last time Chi Qiu dragged her and said a lot of good things about Aunt Zhang, which also changed her opinion about Aunt Zhang.

She sat in the living room and waited for a while, before seeing Chi Qiu who had changed his clothes, walking out of the bedroom, holding his guide cane.

Chi Lanyan showed a smile and went up to lead him: “This clothes look good.”

“Lu Ming helped me pick it out this morning before he left home, he has a good eye.” Chi Qiu straightened his collar with one hand and smiled, “Mom, let’s go.”

On the way, Chi Qiu and Chi Lanyan talked and laughed, and neither of them mentioned the messy things at home.

Either Chi Xia or Lin Yuming.

In the car with only the mother and son, there were no worries.