Bai Liu was silent for a moment and changed the subject: "Can I bring someone over to make hot pot?"

Lu Yizhang was startled, and soon sighed helplessly: "...You really are trying to fleece me. Okay, buy more when you buy vegetables, buy enough food, and buy some Coke, Sprite, etc..."

"Buy some more fruit." Lu Yizhan's voice was filled with a subtle smile. "The supermarket downstairs has a discount on oranges today. You can buy two kilograms."

After hanging up the phone, Bai Liu sent a message in the group asking if anyone wanted to have dinner together in the evening, and soon received a response.

【music】: Wow, this is a once-in-a-century opportunity, Baibapi actually treats us.

[Mu Ke]: Do you need my help locating it? I know some private restaurants that are pretty good.

【Tang Erda】: Do you want to drink? I brought some wine @白柳.

[Bai Liu]: It's not my treat. I'm taking you to my friend's house for a meal and hotpot. We'll also need to buy some veggies later. Tell me what you like to eat and I'll buy it for you.

[Bai Liu]: @Tang Erda, take it with you.

As soon as Bai Liu replied, the group suddenly became lively:

【music】：Shit, you're just trying to get a free meal! Bai Liu, you're so shameless!

[Bai Liu]: Then you don’t want to eat?

【music】：No way! I want to eat! I want to eat shrimp paste! Tripe! Brain! Duck intestines! Lung slices!

[Mu Ke]: Then I'll bring some common ingredients for hotpot together. Is anyone allergic to seafood?

[Tang Erda]: Bai Liu in the photo of the wine cabinet, is there any wine that suits your taste?

Bai Liu lowered his eyes and watched the messages that these people kept scrolling down. His fingers paused on the broken phone screen for a moment before he continued typing:

【Bai Liu】: Do you eat oranges?

【music】? Eat, why not?

[Mu Ke]: I like it very much.

[Tang Erda]: Eat, @Bai Liu, I have two bottles of orange liqueur, the alcohol content is not high, can I bring you one?

Bai Liu replied a few more sentences and called Liu Jiayi, saying that she would pick her up later. However, Liu Jiayi ruthlessly refused and warned Bai Liu that people were not allowed to ride on the back seat of a Hellobike. She then asked Bai Liu to send her the address so that she could find the way there herself.

Finally, Bai Liu and Du Sanying strolled through the streets again. On the way, Bai Liu bought half a pound of mushrooms, a pound of lettuce and a pound of enoki mushrooms, cut half a pound of beef slices, and picked up a two-liter bottle of promotional cola and two pounds of discounted oranges from the supermarket downstairs.

Bai Liu bought the shrimp slips, tripe and duck intestines that Mu Sicheng wanted to eat, but they were all frozen goods. There were no fresh ones at this time. Bai Liu personally didn't mind eating frozen goods, and he was not picky. Maybe it was just Mu Sicheng who would make trouble.

But there was no point in making a fuss, as Bai Liu spent a total of 167 yuan on this pile of stuff.

But in the end Bai Liu still bought it.

He also bought some crispy sausages and meatballs, foods that children would like to eat, but he couldn't find brains and lung slices because the supermarket didn't have them and the vegetable market was closed.

I bought them bit by bit, and the total cost was 218.2.

Du Sanying nervously followed Bai Liu, who was carrying a plastic bag from the supermarket, into an old residential area.

This community is located in a residential building complex. There are one or two large supermarkets and two convenience stores nearby. The community gatekeeper is an elderly man who wears a faded military coat and sits on a rusty bench, guarding the door with his legs crossed and eyes squinting.

When Bai Liu came over, the old man glanced at them.

The old man's narrowed eyes suddenly opened when he saw Bai Liu. He stared at Bai Liu for a long while and asked, "Are you Fang Dian's high school classmate?"

Bai Liu politely replied, "It's me. Long time no see, Uncle Li."

Uncle Li smiled. He stood up and patted Bai Liu on the shoulder as if to say hello. He sighed and said, "I haven't seen you for two or three years. I didn't recognize you at first."

"Luckily, your hair hasn't grown this long since high school, so I can recognize it after taking a closer look."

Uncle Li asked, "Have you and that kid from Lu Yizhan often come here to play since high school? In the past two years, that kid from Lu Yizhan has moved in, but you, why haven't you been here?"

Bai Liu paused, then spoke again with an insincere and polite smile on his face: "I'm working, so I'm a little busy."

"You young people always say you are busy with work." Uncle Li shook his head in disapproval. "You have been friends with Fang Dian for many years. How can you just not come?"

"In high school, you three had such a hard time, but you supported each other and made it through. How precious is that relationship? If you don't cherish it now, and when the connection fades, you'll hurt their hearts. Where can you find two more friends who have been with you all the way through high school?"

Uncle Li pushed Bai Liu inside and waved his hand to signal him to go in quickly: "I won't keep you any longer. It's a rare opportunity to come here, so you should get in touch with them."

"Thank you, Uncle Li."

Bai Liu walked deeper into the community carrying a bag full of food.

The residential buildings in the community look very old, with the tallest one having no more than seven floors, so there are no elevators. The electronic locks in front of the doors of the residential buildings are also very old, and the display screen flickers, and it feels like it is broken.

Bai Liu ignored it and didn't even enter the password. He just pushed the door open and walked in with ease.

Du Sanying asked Bai Liu: "Which floor is it on?"

Bai Liu said, "The third floor."

As the two of them walked up the stairs, Du Sanying hesitated for a while before finally asking, "Mr. Bai Liu, did you come here often when you were in high school?"

As soon as the security guard came over to chat with Bai Liu, Du Sanying quickly distanced himself from him. He only vaguely heard some of the content of the two people's conversation, but he could see that the security guard was very familiar with Bai Liu.

"Yes." Bai Liu walked around the stairs and went up step by step, her voice calm, "This is Fang Dian's home."

"When I couldn't live in the dormitory or go back to the orphanage, she would give me the key and let me live here."

Du Sanying was at a loss for words. He asked stupidly, "Ah? Why is there a time when we can't live in the dormitory or go back to the welfare home?"

"I'm going to be expelled because someone wants to sue me for tricking my classmates into gambling and fighting with them," Bai Liu said calmly. "The school is trying every way to distance itself from me, a future criminal. The welfare home is also examining my eligibility for financial aid and considering whether to transfer me to a juvenile detention center."

"I stayed in the internet cafe for a week, and Fang Dian found me and gave me the key to her house."

Bai Liu walked up to the third floor one step at a time. Holding a cold plastic bag, he stood beside the old and rotten stairs. When he looked up, he could see the red stainless steel security door opposite him. He only needed to take two more steps to get closer.

In the middle of the door was pasted an inverted golden word "Fu", with Spring Festival couplets that had not been torn off completely pasted on both sides. On the top of the door hung an eight-diagram mirror, with a bunch of dried mugwort next to it.

He hadn't been here in over two years, but everything seemed the same as it had been when he first came.

In the dim and chaotic Internet cafe, with the thick fumes of smoke all around, Fang Dian grabbed Bai Liu from the crude camp bed made of two swivel chairs and tried to drag her out.

Bai Liu didn't let her drag him. He restrained Fang Dian's wrist and half leaned on the back of the chair, his head drooping to one side. Because of sleeping, there were three wrinkles on his eyelids. When he half opened his eyelids and looked at people, his expression was tired and cold: "...I haven't woken up yet, what are you doing?"

"Go back to school." Fang Dian turned around and looked at Bai Liu, his tone very matter-of-fact, "You haven't been to class for a week. Lu Yizhan was almost going crazy looking for you. I didn't expect you to hide in this small Internet cafe."

"He doesn't have to look for me." Bai Liu's eyes were about to close again as he spoke. He slid down along the curve of the chair back, "We are not from the same world."

"Now that you've found me, can you let me sleep?"

Fang Dian squatted down: "Internet cafe is not a place to sleep."

"Do what you should do in the right place. In the Internet cafe, play games, but when you're done, you have to go back to school." Fang Dian took the key from her chest and put it in Bai Liu's hand. She said softly, "Go home and sleep."

"Come home, Bai Liu. Lu Yizhan and I are waiting for you."

Bai Liu turned sideways, wrapped himself up with his school uniform jacket with his hands, buried his face in the sofa, breathed evenly, his eyelids didn't tremble, as if he had fallen asleep and couldn't hear anything from the outside world.

This means that you don't want to spend extra time dealing with Fang Dian and want to hurry up and leave.

Fang Dian couldn't help laughing at Bai Liu's expression. She reached out and rubbed Bai Liu's head vigorously: "Then you can play here until you're done and then come back. I won't tell Lu Yizhan where you went."

"We have an agreement. I will help you hide it from Lao Lu when you do something bad."

"But Bai Liu, I can help you hide the time when you do something bad." Fang Dian stood up and she said, "I can't help you hide the time when you do something wrong."

"You don't feel guilty when you do bad things, but you feel so bad now, is it really because you did something bad?"

Fang Dian looked at Bai Liu, who was curled up slightly on the chair. She suddenly laughed: "When a person feels bad because he has done something bad, it means that he feels that he has done something wrong."

"From this point of view, Bai Liu, you and Lu Yizhan are from the same world."

Fang Dian did what she said. She left the key to Bai Liu and turned away.

Bai Liu couldn't quite remember what happened afterwards. It seemed like he had run out of money staying at the Internet cafe. He only remembered that he finally came to Fang Dian's door with the key, and the moment he opened the door -

Lu Yizhan and Fang Dian were lying in a ball on the sofa opposite the door. Both of them looked tired and were sleeping so soundly that they didn't even notice the door was opened.

The coffee table in front of them was a mess, with all kinds of paperwork placed on it, including transfer, management, school regulations, lawyers', and several sets of unfinished mock test papers, all covered with notes. Next to them were many photocopied documents and various letters that had not yet been sent out, with the recipient addresses being various welfare and government agencies, as well as some reputable schools.

At the bottom are two neatly written guarantees.

One guarantee was made to the welfare home, and the content of the guarantee was Bai Liu's future moral education and that the current incident was not his fault. It was more than 10,000 words long, and at the end it said that he would bear all of Bai Liu's future expenses. It was almost like asking the welfare home to protect Bai Liu, and the guarantor was Lu Yizhan.

One guarantee was made to the school and contained no guarantee content. It simply stated that if Bai Liu was expelled, she would go with him. The guarantor was Fang Dian.

Perhaps it was the sound of Bai Liu flipping through documents that woke Fang Dian and the others up. The two of them woke up sleepily and vaguely confirmed that the person in front of them was Bai Liu.

No angry accusations, no annoyed insults, no disappointed cries.

Fang Dian lazily supported the Lu Yi Station under him, leaned out from the sofa, walked over the coffee table, and patted Bai Liu on the head like a good brother: "Finally, we are home."

"Don't be afraid to go home just because you did something wrong." Fang Dian smiled, "Just like a child."

Bai Liu, holding the plastic bag, was silent for a while. He walked forward and was about to knock on the door, but the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Fang Dian, who was holding the garbage bag, raised his head and looked at Bai Liu at the door. He was startled for a moment, then quickly smiled. He stretched out his hand and patted Bai Liu on the head with great skill:

"I'm finally willing to go home."

She smiled and said to Bai Liu: "Don't be afraid to go home just because you did something wrong. You are so old, but you are still like a child."