"Little girl, what's wrong? Don't you recognize me?"
Listening to the voice next to his ear, Li Siqing rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Wen Liang was standing not far away, alive and well, just like he had appeared in his dreams every time, warm, clean, and bright!
“Brother Wenliang!” Chen Jiayi was the first to shout, pulling Li Siqing over and saying jokingly, “Speak of the devil, and he’ll appear. We were just mentioning you.”
Wen Liang smiled at Li Siqing, looked at Chen Jiayi and said, "Jiayi, you've grown taller again."
"Really? Yes, my mom said it's better for girls to be taller so they won't be bullied by boys." Chen Jiayi is considered tall among girls, but she is still half a head shorter than Li Siqing.
"Ha, is anyone bullying you?"
"Yes!" But thinking that the person who bullied her was writing a love letter, it was not easy to tell Wen Liang. Chen Jiayi blushed, poked Li Siqing quietly, and complained in a low voice: "Siqing, why don't you speak for me? Why are you like a mute when you see Brother Wen Liang?"
Li Siqing finally came back to his senses from his trance. Seeing Wen Liang's gentle eyes, which showed his concern for him, he felt warm in his heart and bowed his head and said, "Brother Wen... Good morning."
"Good morning!" Wen Liang responded with a smile, but he was thinking in his heart that the little girl had grown up. If it were in the past, Nuannuan would have jumped into his arms long ago.
However, everyone has to grow up!
Seeing that Li Siqing suddenly became a different person, he just lowered his head and didn't say anything. Seeing that he was unreliable, Chen Jiayi had to say shyly: "Brother Wenliang, there is a boy in our school who is so annoying. He, he... Siqing, are you going to help me or not?"
Chen Jiayi couldn't open her mouth and stamped her feet in anger. Li Siqing burst out laughing, held her in his arms to comfort her, raised his head and looked at Wen Liang, and said, "It's like this, there's a boy in Jiayi's class who always writes love letters to her and even blocks her outside the school gate to prevent her from going home..."
"Is that so?" Wen Liang looked at Chen Jiayi. This cousin who did not leave a deep impression in his mind had now grown into a graceful young lady. At this time of love, it was reasonable for her to be infatuated with by a little boy. He said, "I will talk to this discerning male classmate. Don't worry."
Liu Zhihe graduated from Minghua Junior High School and is very famous here. If he were to find someone to talk to the boy who chased the girl to the school gate, that should be enough to stop him from having the idea.
"Brother Wenliang, even you are laughing at me!" Chen Jiayi pouted and refused, but she was very happy in her heart when she thought that she could finally solve this problem.
Li Siqing's clear eyes never left Wen Liang's face, and he asked softly, "Brother Wen, why are you here? Is there something wrong?"
Wen Liang smiled and asked, "Is there an exam today?"
Li Siqing shook his head and said, "It's summer vacation now, so there are usually no exams."
"That's good. Ask the teacher for a day off and I'll take you out to play."
"Wow, really?" Chen Jiayi was so happy that she almost jumped up. Although her grades were good, she was very active and hated the idea of summer tutoring.
Li Siqing hesitated. It was not that she didn't want to be with Wen Liang, but when everyone was taking extra classes and studying hard, she felt uneasy to be the special one. Especially since the competition in Minghua Junior High School was very fierce and her talent was not the best, she would feel sorry for Wen Liang's kindness in helping her enter Minghua Junior High School if she spent such a tight time playing.
But the thought of being with Wen Liang finally outweighed everything else, and she smiled happily and said, "Okay, where shall we go?"
After a day of playing in Century Park, Chen Jiayi's true nature was completely exposed. She was crazy and unrestrained, which was completely different from her usual well-behaved behavior in front of Ding Lan. Wen Liang looked at her with new eyes. Li Siqing was still as quiet as ever. Most of the time, she just looked at Wen Liang's back, and occasionally a sweet smile flashed across her lips. For her, being able to be like this was a rare happiness. However, Tutu was a little kid, cunning and smart. Although he got along very well with his two sisters, he would always tease Wen Liang from time to time, which made everyone laugh.
As the sky gradually darkened, the loud speaker in the park began to announce the closure of the park. Wen Liang sent Tutu home first, then Chen Jiayi, and finally Li Siqing. It was only then that he learned that Li Siqing no longer lived in the original small courtyard. In order to facilitate work and Li Siqing's schooling, Li Shengli bought a three-bedroom house in the middle of Qinghe Headquarters and Minghua Junior High School. In fact, with Li Shengli's current salary, he could afford a two-story duplex, but in his own words, there were only two people in the family, and they were often not at home. Buying such a big house would be lonely and not as comfortable as living in a small house.
Wen Liang had actually advised Li Shengli to remarry. After all, he was only in his thirties and life was long. Living alone would never be as comfortable as living with two people. However, judging from Li Shengli's thoughts, he still couldn't forget Zhao Yaqing, and he didn't want to find a stepmother for Nuan Nuan. Wen Liang persuaded him several times but it didn't work, so he gave up.
"We're here. This is the first time for Brother Wen to come here."
The car slowly stopped at the entrance of a residential area. Looking through the car window, there were seven-story row buildings with yellow and white walls and shaded by green trees. The environment was pretty good. It was far away from the downtown area and the transportation was convenient. Wen Liang praised, "Uncle Li is really good at choosing a place."
Li Siqing jumped out of the car, with a look of eager anticipation, wanting to invite Wen Liang to her home for a short visit. Wen Liang was reluctant, but he had important things to do, and it was a great relief to be able to squeeze out a day to accompany them. He smiled and said, "I won't go up today, I'll come another day. I haven't tasted the food you cooked for a long time, and my stomach is a little reluctant..."
Li Siqing was the most well-behaved and sensible. When he heard Wen Liang say they would do it another day, he was very happy. He nodded vigorously and watched Wen Liang drive away.
There were tears gleaming in her eyes - in fact, Wen Liang had only eaten meals made from the wild vegetables she had dug up, and the taste was far from delicious. But thinking about it now, that meal was so unforgettable!
Wen Liang picked up Chang Cheng at the agreed location, let him sit in the driver's seat, and leaned back in the back seat. He said, "Let's go to Wuzhou. We'll try to arrive early tomorrow morning."
Chang Cheng agreed, turned the roof light to soft light, and with a light tap of his toes, the Audi sped out of Qingzhou City.
There were no problems along the way, except that when they were about to reach Wuzhou, the tire blew for some reason, and there was no spare tire in the car, so Wen Liang called Ye Zhiwei and asked him to send a car to pick them up. At this time, the sky was getting brighter, and there were cars passing by from time to time on the road, but in recent years, car bandits were rampant, and everyone was more careful. It was not as easy for two grown men to hitchhike as it was for two girls.
"Look at how ferocious you look. Others will be scared as if they have seen a ghost. Who will stop and give us a ride?" Wen Liang leaned against the left side of the car and waved at every passing car as if mischievously. However, no car stopped, so he poured all the dirty water on Chang Cheng.
Chang Cheng was very unconvinced and said, "Boss, I was trained in an elite unit after all. I look very righteous and I am definitely a good person."
Wen Liang squinted at him and said, "So what you mean is that I look ugly?"
Thinking that he hadn't received his salary this month, Chang Cheng smiled and said, "How can that be possible? Boss, even if you are not as handsome as Andy Lau, you are at least as handsome as Aaron Kwok..."
Wen Liang smiled and said, "Don't worry, I really don't like Aaron Kwok's hairstyle!"
Chang Cheng immediately touched his own crew cut and said with deep agreement, "Yes, yes, if you ask me, it's better to shave it like mine, with a 4:6 split. I can swing it around every day without worrying about it becoming a crooked tree."
Since they were free anyway, they were chatting when they heard the sound of a car on the road behind them. Wen Liang didn't even turn his head and waved as usual, but his eyes were looking in the direction of Wuzhou. He sighed to Chang Cheng, "Ye Zhiwei, this guy doesn't know how to hurry up. It's been half an hour and there's still no sign of him... Hey, what's wrong with you? Your eyes are about to pop out..."
"Hey, boss, stop, stop!"
"What stopped?" Wen Liang turned his head in confusion and saw a black Mercedes-Benz S50 parked not far from the roadside. The faint morning light illuminated the smooth curves of the car body, contrasting with countless bright spots of light.
Wen Liang narrowed his eyes. A man in a white shirt and black pants got out of the Mercedes-Benz. He had a square face, big eyes and thick eyebrows. He was probably about 1.9 meters tall and was so strong that he could easily kill a cow.
"Gentlemen, are you going to Wuzhou?" The man's attitude was very kind, but his accent was obviously not a local. It had a bit of Hong Kong and Taiwan accent. Wen Liang looked at the license plate of the Mercedes-Benz, and it said Su A, which was really strange.
"Yes, but our tire burst on the road, so we have to stay here." Seeing that Wen Liang didn't speak, Chang Cheng took over the conversation with a smile.
"That's just right for us. If you don't mind my simple car, my little... our boss invites you two to get in the car and ride with us."
Maybe some people don't like Mercedes-Benz, but to say that they dislike this car's simplicity is really pretentious. Chang Cheng looked at Wen Liang's expression and said with a smile: "Thank you for your kindness, Boss. We just called a friend and asked him to send a car to pick us up. It should be here soon, so we won't bother you."
The man hesitated and said, "Please wait a moment." He turned around and walked back to the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz, whispered a few words at the window, and then walked back and said, "Then I won't bother you. Please wait for me, gentlemen."
"No, no, we should be the ones to thank you."
After just two or three sentences, Chang Cheng had a good impression of the big man and the boss in the car. People who can afford to drive a Mercedes-Benz are either rich or noble, but he was so polite to two people who met by chance, which shows his character.
After the Mercedes-Benz left, Chang Cheng laughed and said, "I didn't expect that there are still good people these days who are not afraid that we are blocking their way..."
Wen Liang looked at the Mercedes-Benz disappearing at the end of the road and smiled, saying, "It's mainly because I, your boss, am gentle and honest, and I look too kind."
Chang Cheng pretended to vomit, and was kicked by Wen Liang. He supported the hood of the car with one hand and dodged it by rolling sideways. His laughter could be heard far away in the early morning. (To be continued)