The two pushed Grandpa Meng back into the shop. When Meng's father saw that Meng Ziqiu had returned, he paused for a moment because his attention was on Xu Qian next to Meng Ziqiu. While looking at Xu Qian, he touched his arm, where there was a mark that was slightly warm.
Xu Qian watched his movements and thought of Meng Liangchen. Meng Liangchen seemed to have some kind of inscription on his arm. It seemed that his father also had such an inscription. However... Meng Ziqiu did not seem to have this thing?
Xu Qian didn't have time to think further, because at that moment Meng Shiyu, Meng's father, spoke to him. His voice was low and not very pleasant to listen to, sounding somewhat unbelievable, "...I didn't expect that this was actually true."
Really? What do you mean by "really"?
A flood of questions rushed through Xu Qian's mind: Is it my existence? Or what?
Meng Shiyu wiped his hands, pointed to the coffee table and sofa behind him, and said, "Please come inside and sit down, sir." Then he turned to Meng Ziqiu and said, "Take Grandpa to his room to rest and keep him company."
The implication was that Meng Ziqiu should not participate in their conversation.
Xu Qian glanced at Meng Ziqiu and saw that he was also taken aback, but in the end Meng Ziqiu did not refute anything, just nodded and pushed the person inside.
Upon entering, Meng Shiyu didn't immediately get to the point. Instead, he first boiled water and prepared tea. His tea was green tea, and the aroma it emitted was somewhat similar to Longjing tea.
The atmosphere was somewhat quiet. He didn't speak, and Xu Qian didn't speak either. The two of them just waited quietly for the water to boil, and then brewed a pot of tea.
Meng Shiyu poured Xu Qian a cup of tea. The tea was light in color, with a ring of white foam rising around the edge.
"Thank you." Xu Qian accepted the teacup.
Meng Shiyu looked calmly at the tea in front of him, his eyes like a stagnant pool, without any ripples.
After finishing his tea, Xu Qian put the cup down, making a crisp clinking sound.
Meng Shiyu seemed to snap out of her daze, poured him another cup of tea, and while pouring, she brought up today's topic. He had been organizing his thoughts, "Mr. Jingwei—"
Xu Qian raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the other party to know this title. So, it seemed that his thirteenth senior brother had foreseen that he would wake up from the ice coffin? And had even specially arranged for his descendants to 'entertain' him?
"...Where did you wake up, sir?" Meng Shiyu continued to ask.
“Chang’ai Mountain.” Xu Qian nodded.
Meng Shiyu remained silent for a long while, as if confirming something, before turning to Xu Qian—
"Meng Shiyu, the 147th generation disciple of the Qi San branch, greets you, sir. I apologize for any offense I may have caused you before."
Xu Qian was slightly taken aback, and before he could react, he received a deep bow from the other party. Having lived in modern society for so long, he was not used to the old customs. He quickly helped the other person up, saying, "Please don't stand on ceremony. I've come here with an important matter to ask for your help."
Meng Shiyu nodded and replied, "I will speak frankly and without reservation."
Xu Qian immediately became serious, "Did Senior Brother leave any message?"
Meng Shiyu thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The Qi San branch has always taken it upon themselves to guard the mountain. However, the sect leader once gave an order for Yue Jiutang to go to four places to find a woman named 'Wei'."
“…Wei?” Xu Qian found it strange. Searching for a woman named “Wei”, and for generations to come? What was going on? Could she be his thirteenth senior brother’s lover?
Meng Shiyu continued to nod, but unfortunately, they had been searching for so many years without finding the right person.
"Is that all?" What Xu Qian wanted to know most was whether his senior brother had left any information about him. Could it be a woman?
“This…” Meng Shiyu hesitated. After all, it was passed down orally from generation to generation, and it was inevitable that some parts would be missing. But as far as he knew, that was all. “I have never heard of anything else.”
“…Thank you.” Xu Qian had anticipated that they wouldn’t know much, but now they not only didn’t give him an answer, but also added another question.
Seeing his worried expression, Meng Shiyu thought of something and said, "If you have any questions, sir, you might as well go and find the people at Yuejiutang. Perhaps they will know something."
"Do you have Yue Jiutang's contact number?" Xu Qian asked, then realized something was off. The combination of 'sarcasm' and modern 'telephone' was quite peculiar.
"Telephone..." Meng Shiyu seemed to realize the problem as well. Considering that this person was brought by his eldest son, and judging from their interaction, they should have known each other for some time, although he was somewhat surprised by the other party's acceptance of modern life, it would naturally be better if he could speak Cantonese.
"Yes, the phone." This is modern society, everyone has a cell phone, why run around when a phone call can solve everything!
"Please wait a moment, sir, I'll go look for it." Meng Shiyu turned and went to Grandpa Meng's room. Grandpa Meng had a wooden box with a phone book inside. Occasionally when he was lucid, he would call his old friends to keep in touch. There might be Yue Jiutang's contact number in there.
About two minutes later, Meng Shiyu came over with a small notebook, wrapped in leather, about the size of a palm.
Meng Shiyu flipped directly to the last page, which had a landline number and the number 'nine' written on it. This should be the Yuejiutang they needed.
Xu Qian took out his phone and, under Meng Shiyu's gaze, expertly entered a phone number, dialed it, and then—
“...It’s a disconnected number,” Xu Qian said.
"The number is not in service..." Meng Shiyu was stunned for two seconds. He really hadn't expected this. It was probably because of the long time that had passed, and since it was a landline, moving it wasn't impossible.
"...Do you know the address?" Xu Qian thought to himself that he still had to go there himself.
“Address…” Meng Shiyu’s gaze fell on Grandpa Meng’s room, an address only Grandpa Meng knew.
Xu Qian knew the inside story, but he didn't insist on knowing it. He left his phone number with Meng Shiyu and asked Meng Shiyu to inquire and contact him if there was any news. Meng Shiyu readily agreed.
Since it was getting late, Meng Shiyu invited the two to stay for dinner at his home. He also prepared a clean room for Meng Ziqiu, who had his own room that had been cleaned when he last came back. This room was prepared for Xu Qian.
Xu Qian thought that Meng Ziqiu hadn't seen his family for quite a while, so he agreed.
However, during the meal, Meng Ziqiu changed his usual unrestrained style and ate very "reservedly" and cautiously, which made Xu Qian feel uncomfortable for a while, but he did not say anything to his face.
It wasn't until after dinner, when the two went back to their bedroom to rest, that Xu Qian messaged Meng Ziqiu on WeChat alone, asking him why he seemed so distant from his family.
Meng Ziqiu:
No, I don't think so...
Xu Qian:
/rolling eyes
Meng Ziqiu:
Well, it's nothing really. My relationship with my dad has always been like this since I was little, and he's even more distant from my brother.
Xu Qian:
? ? ?
Meng Ziqiu:
It's probably because of my mother; she passed away when she gave birth to my brother.
Xu Qian:
...Excuse me, let's change the subject.
Meng Ziqiu:
Although he doesn't pay much attention to us, we both have everything we need, and Grandpa is very good to us. Maybe it's just that we can't get over that hurdle in our hearts.
Xu Qian felt that Meng Ziqiu's tone was a bit too calm, like that of an observer, but he couldn't say what was wrong with it. After all, it was a private matter, and he shouldn't ask too many questions.
At this point, Xu Qian thought of Meng Liangchen from school. If Meng Ziqiu hadn't mentioned it, he probably wouldn't have known that such a thing had happened between the two brothers. Fortunately, the two brothers had a good relationship and neither of them went astray. In Meng Ziqiu's words, both of them grew up well under their grandfather's expectations, which is a good thing.
Thinking of this, Xu Qian switched his perspective back to the puppets at school. The dormitory was still quite lively at this time. It was only nine o'clock at night, and there was still a while before lights out. Apart from Qin You, the other six people in their dormitory were playing games or talking on the phone with their partners.
"Qin You, you're awake?" It was Fang Zhe who spoke.
Qin You hummed in agreement and got off the bed. After taking a shower back in the dorm, he lay down for a while, not even eating dinner because it was too hot in the afternoon and he had no appetite. Now he was a little hungry.
"I'm going to the cafeteria to get something to eat. Is there anything you need me to bring?" Qin You took a wet wipe from his desk and wiped his face.
Fang Zhe immediately raised his hand, "Cola, Cola!"
Qin You nodded, then looked at the others, "Do any of you want to bring anything?"
Ren Wei, from the next major, hesitated for a moment before raising his hand, "Then could you get me a bottle of water, something cold, please?"
Qin You noted down what they wanted, put on a pair of slippers, and left the dormitory.
He was wearing a wrinkled T-shirt (as a sleeper), casual shorts, and slippers, creating an extremely realistic image of a 'male college student' without a trace of pretense.
Qin You leisurely walked to the nearest cafeteria. There were more people in the cafeteria than he had expected. Most of them were students who had just come out of the school library. The library closed at nine o'clock, so they could have a late-night snack after studying.
Qin You ordered a bowl of rice noodles and asked the aunt to add two pieces of char siu pork, making it a rather sumptuous late-night snack, or rather, dinner.
While waiting, Qin You sent Meng Liangchen a WeChat message, asking where he was. He quickly replied that he was in his dorm playing casual games with his roommates. His roommates didn't mind that he was bad at the game, but they wouldn't consider playing ranked games.
Seeing this, Qin You chuckled. Meng Liangchen was quite quick to empathize with the daily life of a male college student; he was even playing games with his roommates now, just like he used to be…
Qin You suddenly paused, stunned.
Wasn't he himself once living for others...?
Thinking of this, Qin You looked at Meng Liangchen's account again. His profile picture was an anime character, but Meng Liangchen had no idea who the anime character was. He just used it because others were using it, without any particular reason.
Thinking about it now...
Qin You just hoped that he was overthinking things.
Author's Note: 100 chapters reached! Random lucky draw for small red envelopes!
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