While Lei Lei was pushing the shopping cart with Nannan ahead, Zhuang Rui pulled Liu Chuan aside and asked in a low voice.
Liu Chuan smiled so much his eyes narrowed and said, "Hehe, I'm charming, bro. I can't help it. I took her to the pet store for a day. They said I'm kind-hearted and reliable. But I didn't forget you. Isn't that one over there for you?"
Actually, Liu Chuan himself was a little puzzled. Although his brother was tall and strong, he wasn't exactly the kind of person everyone loved or admired. So why did Lei Lei seem to know so much about him?
"You've got your eye on both, but I'm not interested."
Zhuang Rui replied irritably, "That woman is beautiful, but she's too aloof. It's already freezing cold outside, several degrees below zero. If you put her in the house, the temperature inside would probably drop several degrees. It's a pity about her looks and figure. It seems someone once considered using some means..."
When they came out, Liu Chuan paid the bill, but Qin Xuanbing insisted on paying separately for the clothes and toys she bought for Nannan. The group threw the bags into Liu Chuan's car and drove towards Zhuang Rui's house.
As soon as they entered the house, before Liu Chuan could even start shouting, Zhuang Min came out of the kitchen with red eyes, as if she had just been crying. Without even greeting Lei Lei and the others, she said to Zhuang Rui, "Xiao Rui, Mom just fell and hurt her back. She refuses to go to the hospital no matter what. You and Da Chuan go and persuade her."
Chapter 017 The Wonderful Uses of Spiritual Energy
When Mrs. Zhuang received Liu Chuan's call, it was almost 11 a.m. Since Liu Chuan was someone she had watched grow up, and he always called her "godmother," Mrs. Zhuang had long considered him her son. Hearing that he was bringing his girlfriend over for dinner, she naturally took it very seriously and quickly called Zhuang Min to the kitchen to cook. Fortunately, with the New Year approaching, the family had prepared many ingredients they didn't often buy, so they could easily make about ten different dishes, ensuring the guests wouldn't feel impolite.
As the saying goes, haste makes waste. When Mrs. Zhuang was washing vegetables, she was in a hurry and splashed some water on the ground. She accidentally stepped on it, slipped, and fell to the ground. Mrs. Zhuang was nearly 60 years old, and her body was not as strong as that of a young person. When she stood up, she felt unbearable pain in her lower back and could not straighten her body. Even when she called out to Zhuang Min, if she raised her voice even slightly, she would feel the pain in her lower back worsen.
Before retiring, Mrs. Zhuang was a middle school teacher. When she was young, she had to work at her desk for long periods of time due to preparing lessons and grading homework. She had always had some minor and major problems with her lower back and cervical spine. She had been to the hospital for a check-up and was diagnosed with mild chronic lumbar muscle strain and cervical spine disease, as well as cervical and back fasciitis and shoulder rotator tendonitis caused by raising her arms when writing on the blackboard. She would feel soreness in her lower back whenever it rained or was cloudy. However, Mrs. Zhuang was always strong-willed and never told her children about these problems. But today, after falling, her old problems relapsed, and she was in so much pain that she couldn't even walk.
"Lei Lei, Miss Qin, please have a seat. Sister, please attend to the guests. Lei Lei is Da Chuan's girlfriend. I'm going to see my mother."
Upon hearing his sister's words, Zhuang Rui became anxious. He forgot about greeting the guests, shoved Nannan into his older sister's arms, and turned to walk towards his mother's room. Liu Chuan naturally followed. The two of them were thinking that if Zhuang's mother still refused to go to the hospital, they would have to carry her there.
"Da Chuan, I was planning to cook you a nice meal, but your godmother is getting old, sigh, her health isn't what it used to be. Where's your girlfriend? Go out and greet her, don't let her think we're being impolite..."
As Mrs. Zhuang lay on the bed, she only managed to utter a few words before large beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She must have been enduring the pain in her lower back. Anyone with medical knowledge knows that acute lumbar muscle strain can be exacerbated by even coughing or speaking.
Liu Chuan's tears flowed instantly. You see, from childhood to adulthood, whenever he made a mistake and his father wanted to beat him, he would always seek refuge with Zhuang's mother. She treated him no differently than her own son. Liu Chuan rushed to the bedside, even more anxious than Zhuang Rui, the son.
"Godmother, stop talking, let's go to the hospital first."
As Liu Chuan spoke, he grabbed Zhuang's mother's arm and tried to carry her on his back.
"Ouch...it hurts..."
"Da Chuan, don't move, let my mom lie down..."
Just as Liu Chuan grabbed Zhuang's mother's arm and lifted her up, a sharp pain shot through her waist, and Zhuang's mother's face contorted in pain. Zhuang Rui, who was watching from the side, saw this clearly and quickly stopped Liu Chuan's reckless behavior.
Now even Zhuang Rui didn't know what to do. Every movement was painful, and he couldn't carry his mother to the car at all. Zhuang Rui knew that his mother had always been a very strong-willed person. She had suffered so much with her two siblings since they were young, but she had never complained. Now, she was trembling all over in pain, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. Zhuang Rui couldn't help but shed tears.
"Wood, you watch over Mom, I'm going to go get a doctor."
Liu Chuan didn't wipe away his tears, turned around and walked out. I heard him say something to Lei Lei, and a while later I heard the sound of a car starting up downstairs.
“Son, don’t worry, it’s okay. Call Dachuan and ask him to come back. Where can we find a doctor during the Spring Festival? This is an old problem for me. There’s a bottle of safflower oil on the table. You can bring it over and rub it on me and it will be fine.”
Seeing her son standing by the bedside with tears in his eyes, Mrs. Zhuang said softly, her voice weak.
"Grandma, here's some candy for you, it'll make the pain go away..."
The little girl had somehow sneaked into the house, holding a handful of candy. With a sob in her voice, she said that her uncle and grandmother's appearance had terrified her.
"Safflower oil, for pain relief..."
Zhuang Rui seemed to have thought of something.
"By the way, when I looked at my arm on the train, the soreness and numbness from being pressed down seemed to disappear immediately. I wonder if that could help relieve my mom's pain?"
Zhuang Rui's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly said to his mother, "Mom, I almost forgot. When I came back from Zhonghai, Uncle De brought me some special medicine for sprains and bruises. He said it was made by an old Chinese medicine doctor and it has a miraculous effect on sprains and bruises. Wait a minute, I'll go get it."
Zhuang Rui hurriedly walked back to his room, wandered around for a while, and then returned to his mother's room. The reason he said that earlier was because he was afraid that if the spiritual energy worked, he wouldn't know how to answer his mother's questions. Could he say that he had special abilities?
"Mom, turn over and lie face down on the bed..."
Zhuang Rui helped his mother turn over, pushed her clothes up to expose her waist. You could see with the naked eye a red, swollen lump on her spine. Zhuang Rui took the safflower oil from the table, poured a little into his palm, rubbed his palms together vigorously, and felt a heat. He quickly pressed it onto his mother's waist, and the heat penetrated through her skin into her body.
At the same time, Zhuang Rui mobilized all the spiritual energy in his eyes. After a flash of orange light in his eyes, the spiritual energy followed his gaze to his mother's swollen waist. At this moment, Zhuang Rui didn't care about the consumption of spiritual energy. Even if the spiritual energy in his eyes completely disappeared, it was not as important as his mother's health. When the spiritual energy touched the skin of his mother's lower back, it was like a basin of water being poured on barren land. The spiritual energy quickly penetrated into it.
"Xiao Rui, it's so hot, huh? Why is it getting cooler now..."
Mrs. Zhuang felt a warm breath touch her waist, followed immediately by a cool breath entering her skin. The pain in her waist gradually subsided as the cool breath moved. After only a few dozen seconds, Mrs. Zhuang felt that the pain seemed to have completely disappeared.
The cool air that entered her body lingered at her waist for a moment before continuing to travel up her spine. Wherever it went, it seemed as if the blood flowed much faster. If Zhuang's mother hadn't read any martial arts novels, she would have felt that her current physical condition was somewhat similar to the opening of acupoints in martial arts novels.
The spiritual energy flowed to her head, and Zhuang's mother suddenly shivered. She felt as if her hair was being electrocuted, and it was as if she had eaten an immortal ginseng fruit. All 108,000 pores on her body opened up, her mind became clear, and the pain in her waist had long since disappeared. An indescribable feeling of comfort welled up in Zhuang's mother's heart.
On the other hand, Zhuang Rui was in tears, not because he was in pain, but because he had almost depleted two-thirds of the spiritual energy in his eyes. He hadn't felt that feeling of being punched in the nose for a long time, but now it was back, and his eyes were stinging. Fortunately, probably because his spiritual energy had upgraded to yellow, even though he only had one-third of the spiritual energy left in his eyes, it was still higher in quantity and far superior in quality than when it was still cyan.
"Hey, it doesn't hurt at all anymore, Xiao Rui. What medicine did your Uncle De give you? It works so well. It seems like all the ailments I had from when I was working are gone. Oh, by the way, Da Chuan's mother has a bad back too. Why don't you take her some medicine sometime? Hey, you silly child, I'm all better now, why are you still crying..."
When Zhuang's mother turned around, she saw Zhuang Rui sitting on the edge of the bed with tears streaming down his face.
"Delivering medicine? If this happens again, I'm afraid I'll lose my life..."
This time, Zhuang Rui's tears were not due to eye pain.
Chapter 018 The Gathering (Part 1)
"Mom, that medicine is very precious. Uncle De only gave me a little bit, and I've applied it all to you. I'll ask Uncle De for some more for Godmother after I get back to Zhonghai."
Zhuang Rui didn't know if his mother had become suspicious. He had never heard of such an effective medicine before, so he could only make up a few things on the spot.
He stood up, went to the bathroom to wash his face, and when Zhuang Rui returned to the living room, his mother had already come out of the room. It seemed that his waist injury was completely healed, and she was now smiling and talking to her granddaughter, Lei Lei, and Qin Xuanbing.
To Zhuang Rui's surprise, Qin Xuanbing, who had been cold and indifferent to him just moments before, was now behaving very politely, with a faint smile on her face. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking how unpredictable women truly were.
"Xiao Rui, go call Da Chuan. Don't bother looking for a doctor. It's so cold, and the New Year is coming soon. Where are we going to find a doctor? Go call him and tell him to come back for dinner."
Upon seeing Zhuang Rui, Zhuang's mother immediately spoke, but before she could finish speaking, a series of knocks sounded on the door.
As soon as Zhuang Rui opened the door, Liu Chuan rushed in. He was stunned when he saw Zhuang's mother chatting and laughing with his girlfriend. He couldn't understand why Zhuang's mother, who had been in so much pain that she couldn't speak just now, was acting like nothing was wrong. Zhuang Rui noticed that there was someone behind him and quickly ushered the person into the house.
Liu Chuan also came to his senses. He first offered a seat to the person he had brought, and asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Godmother, didn't you twist your back? How come it's all better now? Ugh...ugh, look at my jinx. It's only natural that it's better now. By the way, Godmother, this is Brother Wang, my dad's colleague. Let Brother Wang take another look at your back injury."
"It's nothing, Da Chuan. I just twisted my ankle. Xiao Rui brought some special medicine from Shanghai. It'll be fine after applying it. Why are you bothering Xiao Wang during the New Year? Xiao Wang, I'm sorry, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Have a simple meal here."
Mrs. Zhuang put down her granddaughter and called Zhuang Min to serve the dishes. However, Liu Chuan's father's colleague refused to stay, saying that he had things to do at home. He also refused to let Liu Chuan drive him. Zhuang Rui quickly took two packs of cigarettes he had just bought from the supermarket and gave them to Brother Wang before seeing him downstairs.
"Hey kid, is Brother Wang a forensic doctor? The kind who spends all day looking at corpses?"
As soon as they got upstairs, Zhuang Rui pulled Liu Chuan, who was clinging to Lei Lei, into his room and asked her in an annoyed tone.
"So what if he's a forensic doctor? Brother Wang graduated from medical school too. His skills are no worse than those of doctors in big hospitals. I'm going to go and thank him another day, and you don't even appreciate it. By the way, what kind of medicine do you have? It's so effective! My mom keeps complaining about back pain. Could you get me some when you get home so I can use it on her?"
It turns out that Liu Chuan also had his eye on the special medicine that Zhuang's mother had mentioned. Although he was impulsive, he was very filial. When Zhuang Rui was away, if Zhuang's mother needed anything and his brother-in-law couldn't get away, it was always Liu Chuan who would help.
"I've used up all the medicine. It was made by an old Chinese medicine doctor, and the process was very complicated. Uncle De gave me some when I came here, and I just used it all up. But it's okay. I'll go back to Zhonghai in a couple of months and ask for some more. I'll bring it to my godmother then."
Zhuang Rui said helplessly that he still had to keep making up lies. Firstly, what happened to him was too bizarre, and secondly, Liu Chuan was too outspoken. If he told Liu Chuan about this, the whole world would probably know in a few days.
As for helping Liu's mother cure her back pain, Zhuang Rui had already made up his mind. Once the spiritual energy in his eyes was replenished, he would "deliver the medicine" to Liu's mother. However, those rare ancient books and manuscripts with spiritual energy were extremely rare and hard to come by. Zhuang Rui was lucky to have obtained this couplet and manuscript. He didn't know if he would have such a good opportunity again. That's why Zhuang Rui said he would wait until he returned to Zhonghai to seek the medicine. According to his idea, he should get to know some collectors and enthusiasts through Uncle De, and he should have the opportunity to absorb spiritual energy from the collections of those people.
"Zhuang Rui, Da Chuan, come out for dinner. What are you two rascals whispering about inside? Hurry up."
Zhuang Min pushed open the door to Zhuang Rui's room and called her two younger brothers to come out for dinner. In the past, when these two boys hid in their rooms, they could always come up with some naughty ideas that made people both laugh and cry. Zhuang Min naturally knew the true nature of her seemingly honest younger brother very well.
Usually, it's just Zhuang Rui and his mother at home, so it's rather quiet. But now that so many people have come, it's got a bit of a New Year's atmosphere. However, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan are a little puzzled by Zhuang's mother's behavior today. The usually kind and gentle Zhuang's mother is showing a side of herself that they've never seen before at the dinner table. Although she's dressed the same as usual, she exudes an air of nobility in her every move. Lei Lei and Qin Xuanbing are also acting with a touch of reserve, like socialites from a wealthy family. This makes Liu Chuan and Zhuang Rui feel quite awkward during the meal.
Zhuang Rui's head injury hadn't fully healed, and he'd only had some red wine. Liu Chuan liked baijiu, but since he had to drive, he didn't dare let him drink. Under Zhuang Rui's deliberate questioning, the whereabouts of the girl with glasses over the years were finally clarified, and there were some things that even Liu Chuan had never heard of before.
It turns out that Lei Lei's maternal grandfather smuggled himself to Hong Kong during that turbulent era. After more than 20 years of hard work, he built a considerable business in Hong Kong and remarried. However, deep in his heart, Lei Lei's maternal grandfather always missed his wife and daughter who were left behind on the mainland. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, his wife in Hong Kong passed away, which gave him the idea of returning to the mainland to find his relatives.
Lei Lei's mother later married a policeman who happened to be Liu Chuan's father's colleague. Of course, they didn't know about these relationships when they were in junior high school. Later, Lei Lei's maternal grandfather found Lei Lei's mother and learned that his wife in mainland China had also passed away. He wanted to bring his daughter and granddaughter to Hong Kong. Lei Lei's mother refused, but in order to give her daughter a better education, she sent Lei Lei to Hong Kong. This is also the reason why the girl with glasses went missing after transferring schools.
Lei Lei has returned to Pengcheng once a year for the past few years, but her visits are always brief. She usually just visits her parents and then returns to Hong Kong. After graduating from the University of Hong Kong last year, Lei Lei interned at her maternal grandfather's jewelry company for a period of time. This time, however, she returned to investigate the jewelry industry in the mainland market and will stay there for a longer period of time. That's why she made a special trip back to Pengcheng to spend the Lunar New Year with her parents.
Qin Xuanbing was the first friend Lei Lei made at school after arriving in Hong Kong, and also Lei Lei's best confidante. This time, she came to the mainland at Lei Lei's invitation to experience the New Year atmosphere. It seems that she and Lei Lei have some business cooperation, but neither of them said much. Naturally, neither of them would mention to outsiders that Qin Xuanbing came to the mainland with Lei Lei to avoid trouble.
Lei Lei's mother, who was very concerned about her daughter's marriage, took every opportunity to arrange several blind dates for Lei Lei, even though she had only been back for a few days. However, Lei Lei did not feel anything for any of them.
Just as Lei Lei was getting impatient, her father introduced her to a colleague's son. Upon meeting, Lei Lei recognized Liu Chuan. She still had a strong impression of this mischievous classmate from junior high and readily agreed to meet him. Unexpectedly, after spending a few days together, they found they got along quite well. In particular, the occasional gentleness and thoughtfulness that Liu Chuan, a grown man, revealed actually won over Miss Lei. Even Liu Chuan himself was somewhat incredulous that he had so easily captured the heart of this beautiful woman. ...
“Lei Lei, what projects are you planning to investigate since you’re back? Let Da Chuan accompany you to check them out. Pengcheng has developed quite well in recent years. You can consider starting any business here. Now that you’re a Hong Kong businessman, you should also help boost the economic development of the mainland.”
Zhuang Rui poured Lei Lei and Qin Xuanbing a cup of tea and said jokingly.
After lunch, Zhuang's mother and Zhuang Min went to coax their daughter to take a nap. The young people sat on the sofa chatting. The New Year was coming soon, and this was the busiest time of the year for everyone, but also the most leisurely.
“My maternal grandfather runs a gold and silver jewelry business. He owns several small shops in Hong Kong, but business hasn’t been very good in recent years. So he wanted to expand into jade and other jewelry products. However, in Hong Kong, these products are basically monopolized by a few large jewelry stores. Meanwhile, the mainland economy has developed rapidly in recent years. So my grandfather wanted to adjust the company’s strategy and gradually shift the business focus back to the mainland. I’m just a small fry here to explore the possibilities.”
Lei Lei paused here, brushed a strand of hair from her forehead behind her ear, glanced at Liu Chuan, and continued, "By the way, Zhuang Rui, I heard you're working in Zhonghai now, right? That's the focus of our investigation. When we go to Zhonghai, you'll have to treat us."
Lei Lei's maternal grandfather's company is indeed not doing well right now. In recent years, international gold prices have risen, Hong Kong's economy has suffered setbacks, and citizens' purchasing power has declined sharply. Therefore, developing the mainland market has become a top priority. Lei Lei has a heavy burden on her shoulders this time.
Zhuang Rui wasn't interested in jewelry or anything like that, so he joked, "So Miss Lei is a Hong Kong capitalist. You must look me up when you go to Zhonghai. But if the man accompanying you isn't Da Chuan, I won't entertain you."
"No need to trouble Mr. Zhuang, we have a branch in China Overseas."
Sitting next to Lei Lei, Qin Xuanbing, who had been listening more and saying less, suddenly said something that made Zhuang Rui a little embarrassed: "Why are you looking for someone like me when you have a branch in Zhonghai?" Little did he know that the "we" Qin Xuanbing was referring to had nothing to do with Lei Lei.
Liu Chuan also noticed that Qin Xuanbing seemed to be targeting Zhuang Rui, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "Lei Lei, it's rare for you to come back, how about we organize a junior high school reunion tomorrow?"
"A junior high school reunion?"
Lei Lei and Zhuang Rui were both stunned; they hadn't expected Liu Chuan to make this suggestion.
Chapter 019 The Gathering (Part 2)
It has been seven or eight years since I graduated from junior high school. Back then, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan were quite unconventional in their behavior. Whatever fun things were popular among students, these two would definitely lead the whole class or even the whole grade to do them. However, Zhuang Rui's academic performance was excellent, while Liu Chuan was always the negative example in the eyes of teachers and parents throughout his three years of junior high school.
Students back then were more innocent and their interactions were less driven by self-interest, unlike schools today where, starting from elementary school, class officers are selected based on a comparison of who has the most powerful, wealthiest, and highest-ranking parents. This fosters a serious culture of competition among students.
Compared to the intense study life of high school, junior high school left Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan with many wonderful memories. After graduating from high school, Zhuang Rui went to university in Shanghai and almost lost contact with his former junior high school classmates. When he heard Liu Chuan's suggestion, he really wanted to see his classmates from back then.
Lei Lei transferred to Hong Kong in her third year of junior high school. As everyone knows, in the early 1990s, almost no one in Hong Kong could speak Mandarin. Many Hong Kong people even had difficulty understanding Mandarin. For mainlanders going to Hong Kong, if they could not speak Cantonese, they would definitely find it difficult to get by. When Lei Lei first arrived in Hong Kong, she did not have many friends at school due to the language barrier. Naturally, she missed her life in Pengcheng very much. When she heard Liu Chuan say that, she was immediately tempted.
“Flow…uh, Okawa,”
Zhuang Rui was so used to calling Liu Chuan by his nickname that it was actually quite difficult for him to change.
"Of my junior high classmates, apart from a few who went to the same high school as us, we've basically lost touch with the others. How are we going to organize a reunion? Do you have a plan?"
Zhuang Rui had some doubts. He hadn't seen many of his classmates for seven or eight years. He was afraid they wouldn't recognize each other if they met again.