"Ah, cousin, ah, cousin, sigh..."
Walking down the hospital corridor, Mo Yiqing hung up the phone with Ansheng's dad, showing a helpless expression, and let out a long sigh in his heart.
"I've always said that riding a motorcycle will ultimately lead to sitting in a wheelchair. If you can't ride it, don't ride it, but he went for a sports bike known as a widow-maker."
"When I go back for the National Day holiday, I should meet up with He Peng... oh no, now it should be He Yueyue, and ask her to give Ansheng a proper education about the hazards of motorcycles."
He Peng, Mo Yiqing's middle school classmate, once broke his leg playing with high-performance off-road motorcycles in middle school and still has steel pins in his collarbone. Later, in high school, while riding a Ducati, he had to take a leave from school due to prostate issues.
However, there were no more incidents after the third year of high school.
Because He Peng changed his name to He Yueyue.
Her dad deliberately changed it for her because the pain of raising children suffocated the entire family, and since He Peng's life was also not going smoothly, he changed her name to He Yueyue.
Mo Yiqing, although she liked motorcycles a lot, cut off the idea of owning one from the root. Especially knowing that the coolest sports bikes are hemorrhoid generators due to their riding posture made her even more cautious.
Compared to momentary coolness,
she cherishes her butt more; she doesn't want any surprise when she's at the gym someday, seeing a big bulge in her pants.
"Let's go! A-Qing is still at the entrance." Mo Yiqing said to Lingren and Hong Ming in greeting.
Upon seeing Mo Yiqing leaving, Hong Ming slightly restrained the smile on his face, stood up with a smile, and said to Mo Yiqing, "Let's go! It's just about mealtime now, I'll treat you to something delicious."
"By the way, I heard from Xiao Ling that you and the girl just now are both from the south, so about the spice level..."
"Standard Rong City spicy, since we're here, we naturally have to eat authentic stuff," Mo Yiqing confidently said.
Authentic ≈ Local specialty cuisine standards.
The food must be authentic, otherwise what's the difference from those regional prefabricated dishes?
"Alright!" Hong Ming said with a big smile, "It's not difficult to be authentic, if it's not authentic, it wouldn't last!"
When talking about local specialties, Hong Ming exudes a confident impression.
Rong City cuisine is renowned worldwide, with a wild and rough representation of Jianghu dishes, extremely fresh and spicy stimulation, and at the same time also exquisite official dishes, with a clear and subtle taste.
Mo Yiqing smiled in agreement with Hong Ming while she caught Lingren with a slight scrutiny out of the corner of her eye.
Hong Ming's looks appear amiable, and his demeanor and behavior fit the image of a businessman that Mo Yiqing has in mind.
Is he a friend or a sworn brother of Lingren's father?
Mo Yiqing couldn't tell for the moment.
But Mo Yiqing could vaguely discern that Hong Ming's gaze at Lingren was doting, like looking at his own daughter, which felt a bit incongruous, but Mo Yiqing, having observed countless people, trusted her judgment.
...
They came out of the hospital, got in the car, and picked up A-Qing and the little fox clinging to her waist at a supermarket based on the shared location A-Qing sent.
"What's up with the little fox?" Mo Yiqing saw that the little fox was almost making his tail into a loop, clinging to A-Qing, and looked at A-Qing in wonder.
"I don't know..."
A-Qing sat in the back seat, put the little fox on her lap, and said, "Maybe it's because the weather is too hot?"
"Or maybe it's because he didn't get to have a McFlurry, so he's a bit upset?"
"Joy..." Mo Yiqing was speechless upon hearing this. A-Qing really almost turned the fox into a spirit.
If this continues, by next year, at the end of the fifth year, the little fox might be able to sit in the back seat himself.
"It's decided!"
"Tonight, I'll bring back a fish maw for A-Qing!" After rolling around for a while, Ansheng suddenly sat up, raised his paw, and slapped it on the car armrest.
"A-Qing has ice cream and doesn't forget about me, and yet I've forgotten A-Qing in my eating and playing!"
"Hm?"
The previously sickly little fox suddenly stood up straight, slapping the armrest, leaving both Mo Yiqing and A-Qing stunned. Mo Yiqing looked at A-Qing, and without having to say anything, A-Qing very tacitly translated.
A-Qing widened her eyes, gasped, and pinched the little fox's muzzle:
"Little An said..."
"He's preparing to repay the kindness..."
"Going out tonight, he wants to bring us back some supper, asking if we prefer mice or spicy strips."
Mo Yiqing: "..."
No need, really, there's no need for such repayment.
...
Once the thought of repaying the kindness arose, it was as if the world suddenly opened up, and Ansheng regained his manner of the blessed Lord Fox, sprawled arrogantly on A-Qing.
The drastic change in the little fox left everyone in the car dumbfounded.
Especially when they saw the little fox's tail naturally flick the air vent, directing the wind to blow at his collar bell, it left A-Qing embarrassed, hurriedly closing the little fox's spread-out legs with her hand.
The district where Huaxi Hospital is located is not far from Liuli Road, where Hong Ming planned to treat them, just one area over.
With Hong Ming leading the way, a pet-not-allowed reservation-only restaurant even opened an extra room, inviting everyone politely into the private dining room.
"You all sit first, I'll have a word with their owner and chefs to ask the master chef to come and whip up some dishes."
Hong Ming, without ordering dishes in the room, greeted everyone and then directly went to the restaurant owner, requesting the real official cuisine master to cook the dishes.
"His enthusiasm scares me," Mo Yiqing said to Lingren jokingly, "It's like those matchmaking meetings."
"Hahaha..." Lingren chuckled awkwardly and said, "Uncle Hong might be particularly happy to see me, he's not usually like this."
"In a certain sense..."
"Forget it, I shouldn't say more, look at this." Lingren thought for a moment, then took out his phone, found an almost ten-year-old wedding photo in the family chat group.
In the wedding photo, the man is handsome, and the woman beautiful.
Lingren raised a hand, pointing at the woman in the white wedding dress smiling gently in the photo, and said:
"This isn't a wedding photo, it's an art photo. The one in the wedding dress is my dad."
"The man next to him is my mom."
Mo Yiqing's pupils shook, and A-Qing's eyes widened in surprise.
Ansheng slowly typed out three question marks.
"Dad used to sing opera, and because his singing was light, he often played the joking dan, which is a role characterized by a light and humorous persona..."
"Well... due to some stereotypes, it seems Uncle Hong misunderstood something, joined the opera troupe, and when he learned that the teahouse had no daughter but only a young master, he almost wrecked the courtyard wall."
Lingren maintained a difficult-to-break expression while recounting the elders' past.
"My dad, mom, and Uncle Hong all met as playmates in the opera troupe. Though there seemed to be some misunderstandings initially, they weren't too big of issues later on."
"Besides, Uncle Hong is quite pitiful."
"After being deceived by two women into having a child, they kicked Uncle Hong out and ran off with his son. Originally, Uncle Hong had visitation rights, but those two are nowhere to be found now!"
"Uncle Hong hasn't seen his kid in almost eight years."
Lingren lowered his head in embarrassment, whispering, "That's why Uncle Hong is particularly nice to me..."
Although Lingren was reluctant to admit it, she initially felt furious learning Uncle Hong was deceived by some women and considered finding those two vile women and tearing them apart.
But once inside,
those women were soft and sweet, in bikinis, acting coyly towards her, making the petite Lingren feel a sudden sense of grandeur, which confused her a bit.
But she could swear to the heavens, she was not in any sense inclined toward those women.
She has never forgotten her initial intention, which was to help Uncle Hong tear those two despicable women to shreds.