In Chinese culture, seating arrangement is very important in an event. Qi Yan, who was sitting to the left of Cen Baihe, received attention from many people. Fortunately, he was used to being judged by others, so it didn’t bother him that much.
The dishes were, but very few people actually ate. On such an important occasion, everyone present had a special identity and no one would risk looking inelegant just for a few bites. Even Qi Yan, who always had a good appetite, restrained himself and remained cold and mysterious.
During dinner, Qi Yan didn’t speak much. He only drank two cups of tea, and no one questioned him. Since even the Cen family was polite to this young man, they would not be foolish enough to offend him.
By the time the dinner was over, it was already around ten o’clock in the evening. Qi Yan looked at Third Master Cen and his wife who sent him all the way to the entrance of the hotel, “Please, stay.”
“Master Qi,” Cao Jingyan smiled very gently, like a loving elder sister, “Thank you so much for coming today.”
“You’re too polite,” Qi Yan smiled and looked at Cen Baihe, “Is it ok if I address you informally?”
“You and our Baihe are friends, so just treat me like your sister.” The smile on Cao Jingyan’s face became even gentler.
Cen Baihe nodded, “Yes.”
Qi Yan smiled and blinked at Cen Baihe, and then said to Cao Jingyan, “Then I’m leaving now. You should all go home early to rest.”
“Okay,” Cao Jingyan handed a box of biscuits and candies to Qi Yan, “Be careful on the road.”
Qi Yan nodded, waved to the three of them, and walked in the direction of the parking lot. He was not at all anxious when talking to the upper class people.
“Master Qi is nice,” Third Master Cen hugged his wife’s waist and made no attempt to hide his admiration. As someone in his position, he could tell immediately who was sincere and who was not just from a few words and gestures.
Baihe’s luck was even better than they had imagined. It would take a lot of luck to meet such a person who regarded him as an ordinary friend and improve his health at the same time.
“Some time ago, you asked someone to pick a car with a lot of safety features and doesn’t cost too much. It’s for Master Qi?” Third Master Cen squinted and watched Qi Yan get into a nice-looking car, “If I knew that he needed a car. We should have given him one. Master Qi has helped us so much, how can we let him pay for this?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll settle it,” Cen Baihe watched Qi Yan’s car slowly drive away from the hotel. His voice was filled with tenderness, “He wouldn’t like it if I were to give him a car.”
Although Qian Qian was usually very interested in money, Cen Baihe knew in his heart that Qian Qian would never accept a car as a gift. Cen Baihe knew that there was a line that he should not cross as that might cost him their friendship.
As soon as Qi Yan parked his car, he received a text message from an unknown number.
Anonymous: “Qi Yan, this is Yang Heshu.”
Qi Yan tugged on his tie, picked up the jacket on the front passenger seat, got out of the car, and slammed the door shut. The light in the underground garage was dim, so Qi Yan locked the car and walked to the elevator.
The elevator door opened, and a neatly dressed young man wearing glasses and a cap walked out. This man was fair-skinned, handsome, and looked like a gentleman. When he walked out of the elevator, he smiled at Qi Yan.
“Please wait.”
The gentleman looked back at Qi Yan, still smiling.
“You dropped your wallet,” Qi Yan pointed to the corner of the elevator, where there really was a black wallet.
The gentleman glanced at Qi Yan, tugged on the brim of his cap, and picked up the wallet on the ground in silence. Just as he turned around to leave, the elevator door suddenly closed and then slowly went up.
The smile on the man’s face was frozen, and he turned to look at Qi Yan with cold eyes.
“What’s the matter with this elevator?” Qi Yan frowned without looking at the gentleman, “I was pressing the open button”
“It might have malfunctioned.” The gentleman’s voice was hoarse, as if he had caught a cold.
“Sorry to let you go up again.” Qi Yan smiled apologetically at the man. Just as the elevator door opened, he walked out of the elevator and smiled at the man, “Goodbye.”
The gentleman pressed the close button expressionlessly, and the elevator descended. When it reached floor 4, it suddenly stopped. Qi Yan looked at the number on the display and smiled.
Soon after, a police car and a fire truck drove into the community. It turned out that there was a problem with the elevator and they found someone trapped inside from the CCTV. So they immediately called someone to save him. However, they couldn’t get it open and the person trapped in the elevator reacted a little strangely, looking a little panicked.
They felt something was wrong and called the police. The firemen came to open the door, and the police came to check on the suspicious person.
When they arrived, the elevator door suddenly opened, and the person trapped inside had his head lowered and was about to run. However, he didn’t see where he was going and slammed onto a wall, so the police easily held him down.
It turned out that this was the thief who robbed a few houses recently. No one had suspected that a person who looked like a gentleman would be a thief, so he was at large for a long time.
“No one can escape God’s eyes,” A male police officer looked at the surveillance video in the elevator. “He was about to leave, but he went back to pick up his wallet. The person who went up with him was fine, he was stuck in the elevator. That’s why people shouldn’t do bad things, as they will be caught sooner or later.”
“It seemed so strange,” The female police officer who made the report said in a low voice, “I heard that they couldn’t open the elevator door after more than ten minutes and called the police when they thought the thief looked suspicious from the surveillance video. As soon as we arrived, the elevator opened on its own. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”
“What nonsense,” The instructor came over and rebuked her, “You are public servants who serve the people. Don’t spread rumors.”
“Sir, weren’t you there just now?” The female police officer thought that he didn’t sound too serious, so she asked boldly, “Is it true?”
“There are a lot of coincidences in the world, don’t think too much about it.” The instructor walked behind the male police officer and said suddenly, “Play the surveillance video from the beginning again.”
Seeing that the instructor suddenly became serious, the male police officer quickly replayed the video and let the instructor take his seat. The instructor did not hesitate to take it and glued his eyes to the screen.
Everything seemed normal up until the thief came out of the elevator. He was very good at pretending and even interacted with the person waiting outside.
In today’s society, everyone seems to be closer to each other because of the Internet, but at the same time, people tend to be cautious of others. Sometimes those who live on the same floor never even got to know each other despite being neighbors for years.
The young man who came in later was one of the residents. It was he who found the wallet and informed the thief.
After watching the whole video, the instructor shook his head. If the young man hadn’t informed the thief, or the thief didn’t pick up the wallet, maybe he wouldn’t have been caught.
No one can escape God’s eyes.
But this young man… seemed a little familiar.
The next morning, when Qi Yan returned from grocery shopping, he heard the old ladies in the community chatting excitedly about a thief who got caught and how he managed to remain at large for so long being caught inside their community..
Hearing the pride in their voices, Qi Yan couldn’t help but laugh.
The phone rang, and it was the same unknown number from last night. He waited for a while before pressing the answer button.
“Hello.”
“Oh, it’s you. I’m sorry. I went to bed immediately after taking a shower. I didn’t notice the text message.”
“This afternoon?” Qi Yan’s face became serious, “Okay.”
Old Lin Rong Alley was a street famous for its snack stalls. There were a lot of choices and the prices were affordable too, so many young people liked to come here. The only downside was that the alley was a bit narrow, so everyone had to avoid bumping into each other.
Yang Heshu was sitting by a window in a shop, and he hadn’t touched the coffee in front of him. When he saw Qi Yan, he got up from his seat excitedly.
“I’m sorry, there was a bit of traffic.” Qi Yan sat down opposite Yang Heshu, glanced at the drink in front of him, and frowned, “Why did you just order a cup of coffee?” Before he could respond, Qi Yan called the waiter and said, “Give us two glasses of the most expensive drinks, and some nice snacks.” After that, he took out a hundred dollars and gave it to the waiter, “This is a tip for you. “
“Thank you.” In a small place like this, the waiter rarely received a tip from the customers. He glanced at Qi Yan who was wearing branded clothes, and then at the young man sitting opposite Qi Yan resentfully.
Yang Heshu felt a little uncomfortable after receiving such a look from the waiter. After the waiter left, he smiled a little embarrassedly, “It seems that you are really doing well now.”
“I’m just lucky to know the Cen family,” Qi Yan crossed his legs and shook his head, “Your grades were better than mine, why did you become a service staff in a hotel?”
“We are poor, so I didn’t even go to high school. Instead, I went to a vocational school,” Yang Heshu said with a bitter face, “After I finally graduated, I spent a lot of time searching before getting a job at the hotel.”
“Oh,” Qi Yan sighed, “Life is so unpredictable”
“Yes indeed.” Yang Heshu broke into a smile, “If I were rich, I wouldn’t have worked there.”
“Sir, your drinks and snacks.” The waiter came over with some juice and snacks. He heard Yang Heshu’s words and gave him a strange look.
“Thank you.” Qi Yan took out a few banknotes from his bag, “I’ll pay now, keep the change.”
“Thank you, thank you.” The waiter thanked him twice before leaving with a smile.
Yang Heshu looked at the waiter, and his expression changed. Finally, he let out a sigh, “Actually, when I first saw you, I hesitated to approach you.”
“Why?” Qi Yan took a sip of juice and asked casually.
“Because you are now in the upper class while I am still a waiter who serves others,” Yang Heshu said with even more bitterness on his face, “I am embarrassed.”
“We were classmates for many years, you shouldn’t think like that,” Qi Yan patted the table, “By the way, I haven’t been back in town for a long time, how are your parents?”
“They’re… pretty good.” Yang Heshu thought that they would reminisce about the past, he didn’t expect Qi Yan to ask about his parents. He was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, “They are fine, just old, so their legs are not working well.”
“You’re kidding, I met an old primary school mate a while ago and he said that your dad is still working at the construction site. He seemed stronger than a middle-aged man,” Qi Yan took a piece of dessert and put it into his mouth. A few crumbs fell on the table, “You’re an adult now, you shouldn’t let him work so hard.”
Yang Heshu looked at the crumbs on the table, and his brows almost furrowed, but he controlled his expression, “He… he wants to save some money for me and my brother to get married.”
When he saw Qi Yan yesterday, he was very polite and elegant. But now, he found out that he was only pretending to be refined in front of the Cen family. The truth was, he was a crude person who liked showing off when he had a bit of money. He wondered why Fifth Master Cen was friends with someone like that.
After all, such vulgar and disgusting people were rare.
The two stayed for some drinks. Then, Qi Yan said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you for a ride. The new car I just bought cost me 600,000 to 700,000 yuan.”
Yang Heshu looked at Qi Yan’s conceited look, and wished he could spit on his face. However, he just gave him a look of admiration.
In order to be on good terms with this person, he must endure it!
Parking was not allowed in the alley, and the two walked for several minutes before reaching the parking spot. Qi Yan knocked on the roof of the car, turned to Yang Heshu and said, “How is it, not bad huh?”
“Ah.” Yang Heshu nodded and thought he was a fool. The price of this car was clearly 300,000 to 400,000 yuan.
“Get in the car,” Qi Yan got into the car in high spirits, and after Yang Heshu got into the passenger seat, he fastened his seat belt and started the engine.
A noisy pop song with extremely vulgar lyrics was playing on the radio. Yang Heshu thought it was unbearable. He looked at Qi Yan who was driving and humming along, and nearly collapsed.
Qi Yan’s voice was nice, but he was not humming in tune. Yang Heshu, who wanted to get close to Qi Yan, could hardly say a word.
In the end, when Qi Yan sent him back, he was in a daze.
He couldn’t believe that the Cen family would treat this vulgar person like a VIP.
Is there something wrong with the Cen family?
“Goodbye, I’ll see you again soon.” Qi Yan didn’t seem to see Yang Heshu’s dazed appearance, so he whistled and drove away.
Yang Heshu stared at the direction the car was leaving and he finally yelled what was in his mind the whole time, “Idiot!”
“Hahahahaha!” Qi Yan stopped the car on the side of the road, and couldn’t help laughing out loud. When he was done, he called Cen Baihe to brag about his acting skills.
“This number is too low, this month…” Cen Baihe stopped talking, glanced at his phone, and said to Liang Feng, “Sorry, I’ll answer a call first.”
Liang Feng made a gesture of acknowledgement, took the document and sat down on the sofa next to him, but he was a little curious, which charming witch was able to lure the boss away before he could even finish his sentence?
“Hey Qian Qian.”
Oh, so it’s not a witch but Master Qi. Liang Feng felt that he might be punished for wronging a powerful master, so he folded his hands and prayed devoutly.
Listening to Qian Qian telling him that he pretended to be a fool who liked showing off his money, Cen Baihe laughed a little, “You are so…”
“Life is boring, we have to find something interesting to do, otherwise how are we going to spend our time.”
“I have to go now. A traffic officer came over and said that I can’t park here for too long. Bye.”
There was some noise on the other end of the phone. After Cen Baihe put down the phone, he was a little distracted. Before that, he always felt that Qian Qian was optimistic and cheerful. However, he forgot that the master who raised Qian Qian had passed away. Qian Qian has no family now. How does he cope with living alone?
Qian Qian had friends, but they had their own family, so what else did Qian Qian have?
“Boss?” Liang Feng didn’t say anything after seeing the boss hung up the phone, “The report.”
“Take it away first, I’m a bit distracted right now,” Cen Baihe put his hands on the table, showing emotions that Liang Feng couldn’t understand, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Liang Feng closed the document, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Boss, don’t bottle it up, and take a rest.”
“I know, thank you.” Cen Baihe rubbed his forehead. After Liang Feng left, he got up and looked at the street under the building and his heart ached.
When Qian Qian’s friends get married and have children in the future, and have no time for him, how bored would he be then?
When he thought about this, he felt like he couldn’t breathe.
