Chapter 111 Though She Was Lazy, Her Mind Was Always Clear

If that’s how you see it, then forget I said anything.

Lin Jingyue swallowed the words back down. If the man really thought his life was worth so little, then she would be caught in an impossible position.

“…It’s worth it.” Li Chengxi’s mouth twitched violently. “But I didn’t bring that much money. See if you can…”

“No.”

“……”

“Then I’ll write you an IOU? But I don’t know your name.”

“Lin Jingyue.”

“Comrade Lin, my name is Li Chengxi.”

The plum tree bears no blossoms, yet a path forms beneath it. Lin Jingyue glanced at him and thought he hardly looked like someone from a scholarly family.

Li Chengxi was not an ungrateful man. On the contrary, he had never stopped thinking about this lifesaving benefactor. After all, if it had not been for Lin Jingyue, he would have been dead.

After his injuries healed, he had taken a mission to Hong Kong, and only now had he returned.

He had never had the time to go back to Bai County, and this meeting was pure chance. Of all places, he had run into Lin Jingyue here.

He had recognized her the moment he saw her at the station, and only after watching her board this train did he finally let out a breath.

He had originally planned to put down his things and go looking for her, never expecting them to be in the same carriage.

Li Chengxi quickly wrote her an IOU. “Don’t worry. The next time we meet, I’ll definitely hand over the thirty thousand yuan.”

“There’s no need to wait until next time. Let’s do it this time.” Lin Jingyue raised an eyebrow. “Where is your destination?”

She had a letter of introduction and could get off midway.

Since she was going to need it anyway, she did not want to miss out on that thirty thousand yuan. Who knew whether they would ever meet again?

Li Chengxi looked at her with a laugh that was half frustration, half amusement. “Shanghai.”

He was heading to Shanghai this time to bring his grandfather home.

“Can you get the money?”

“Yes. Just go and withdraw it.”

Lin Jingyue raised her eyebrows and suddenly felt that asking for thirty thousand was a little too little.

If Li Chengxi knew what she was thinking, he would probably be speechless beyond words.

He did think his own life was precious, but thirty thousand… How many people in this day and age could casually pull out thirty thousand?

After they reached an agreement, Lin Jingyue waved him off and went to eat. She was already starving.

At the dining car, she ran into Cui Yuyao and her mother again, but Lin Jingyue simply ignored them.

Cui Yuyao’s eyes widened. Being so thoroughly disregarded was not pleasant at all.

The food on the train was decent, though nothing special. Lin Jingyue ordered a serving of stir-fried cabbage with pork and rice, along with a plate of scrambled eggs, and that was enough.

As long as it was hot, that was fine. In this weather, she could not stand cold food.

The rest of the journey remained peaceful, and there was no sign of any human-trafficking scheme. Or perhaps there had been one, and she simply had not known about it from the sleeper car.

By the time the train arrived at Shanghai Station, she got off together with Li Chengxi.

Over these two days, the two of them had become somewhat familiar with each other, at least in Li Chengxi’s one-sided opinion.

Lin Jingyue did not take it seriously. In her mind, once she took the money and left, the debt of gratitude would be completely settled.

“Grandpa.” At the station, Li Chengxi was surprised to see his grandfather come to meet him.

The old man stood in an open space with a bodyguard at his side.

When Old Master Li saw that his eldest grandson had returned safely, the worry he had been carrying finally eased.

Then he saw the slender young woman beside him, and his face broke into a beaming smile.

“You rascal, you brought a girl home and didn’t even say a word. Girl, don’t take offense, this brat didn’t explain things clearly, I didn’t—”

“Grandpa!” Li Chengxi said helplessly, taking hold of his grandfather. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my lifesaver…”

After a brief explanation, Old Master Li understood.

He knew that this past summer his grandson had been on the brink of death.

Someone had saved him, but they had never managed to find the person.

He had never expected that rescuer to be such a fresh, lively young girl.

“Little Lin, don’t blame this old man. It was I who was too abrupt.” Old Master Li looked at Lin Jingyue with genuine gratitude in his eyes.

He had only this one grandson, and he had nearly lost him.

“You’re too kind, sir.” Lin Jingyue nodded politely and obediently. She had not expected Li Chengxi’s grandfather to come in person.

For a moment, she felt a little awkward.

But who was she? She had been raised at the foot of the Great Wall. Her skin was as thick as the city wall itself. The awkwardness lasted only an instant, and then she was fine.

Looking at the elder before her, sharp-eyed despite his silver hair, his bearing undiminished by age, she felt a surge of respect.

A man like this carried in his eyes the same spirit and fierce edge as her master, something she would only later come to understand.

It belonged only to those who had been to war, forged out of mountains of corpses and seas of fire.

Old Master Li looked at her. The girl’s gaze was clear and righteous, her eyes bright and transparent, lively to the core.

Every gesture and movement of hers revealed a fine upbringing, and he nodded inwardly all the more.

With a warm laugh, he invited Lin Jingyue to get in the car. He insisted on treating her to a meal to thank her for saving his grandson.

Lin Jingyue turned him down several times, but he would not take no for an answer. In the end, she had no choice but to agree.

Li Chengxi, standing nearby, barely said a word the entire time.

The bodyguard was the one who drove for Old Master Li. Once they were in the car, Lin Jingyue and Old Master Li sat in the back, while Li Chengxi took the front passenger seat.

Seeing that she showed not the slightest curiosity about the automobile, but instead sat with the ease of someone who rode in one all the time, Old Master Li’s gaze deepened slightly.

Exactly what kind of family had raised such a girl? There was certainly no one like her in the capital.

Her Mandarin was also impeccably standard, with no discernible regional accent.

Old Master Li had some thoughts pass through his mind, but nothing showed on his face.

He chatted with Lin Jingyue, and the more they spoke, the more he discovered that this girl was no ordinary person. Her learning could even be called profound.

A belly full of books gives one a natural grace; that was exactly the kind of girl she was.

She made no effort to show herself off, but once she opened her mouth, you immediately knew she had knowledge, cultivation, and deep reserves of character.

If Lin Jingyue knew what Old Master Li was thinking at that moment, she would certainly have snickered. She had not been idling about at random.

In her previous life, though her grandfather had been a businessman, he had been known as a scholar-merchant. Her grandfather had been a doctor of economics, one of the first in the country to study abroad, and her grandmother had been the young lady of a capitalist family.

She had grown up steeped in culture.

Her maternal grandfather came from a scholarly household. In his line there had once been a second-rank high official, three third-rank officials, a palace examination runner-up, and a third-place finisher; the family had been illustrious in its day.

Her maternal grandmother was the daughter of a landowning family and an inheritor of Su embroidery.

Lin Jingyue had been raised by those four elders, and as a child she had never been one to dabble in things one day and abandon them the next.

Though lazy by nature, she had always kept a clear head.

And more than that, she did not want to disappoint those elders. She knew she had always been their hope and support.

The thing she regretted most was not taking the path of literature or economics, but choosing medicine instead.

In truth, no one knew that another reason she had not practiced medicine after graduation was a knot in her heart.

She always felt that she had let down her grandfather’s and maternal grandfather’s expectations.

The car came to a stop, and Lin Jingyue set aside her wandering thoughts.

“This is a private kitchen restaurant. Little Lin, you like Sichuan cuisine, so today we’ll try Sichuan dishes and see whether they’re truly authentic,” Old Master Li said with a cheerful laugh.

Lin Jingyue, however, was a little speechless. Was it really all right to come so casually to a private kitchen restaurant?

Off-topic note: I’m still owing updates. I overestimated myself. The water and electricity work for the house renovation was finished today, but there were still a few places that weren’t done properly, so I spent the whole day at the site and only just started writing. I’ll write first, and tomorrow morning I’ll post six thousand words, probably around eleven o’clock.