I exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you always appearing and disappearing like a ghost?" I looked towards the parking lot and sure enough, there was his beat-up Hongqi parked there, with that plastic bomb disguised as a small stone lion still hanging on the windshield...
Fei Sankou laughed and said, "It's a professional habit—I must say, you've made quite a commotion."
I followed his gaze and glanced into the parking lot. It was completely filled with all sorts of cars, and more were constantly arriving. Besides the servants from our Xiao Mansion, Xiao Liu's gang of thugs had also come out to help. I pointed at Xiao Liu, who was squatting there smoking: "Aren't you going to hurry up and cook? With so many guests at lunchtime, are you going to let them eat grass?"
Xiao Liu shrugged innocently: "They kicked me out."
Who is it?
"...I don't know. I heard that person was once a royal chef or something. Anyway, he wouldn't let me do anything."
Fei Sankou scratched his head and said, "Which God of Cookery did you bring here this time? Yi Ya? Stephen Chow?"
I said with distress, "I don't know either. To paraphrase Comrade Ying, quite a few people who shouldn't have come today have shown up."
Fei Sankou reminded him, "You have to be careful about the impact of such a large gathering."
As we talked, we kept exchanging glances, and Fei Sankou clearly understood the background of my group of guests today. I said, "How about you steal a couple of unimportant ones and put them in the Forbidden City?"
Fei Sankou smiled and said, "Has Comrade Ying arrived? I still have some questions about the preservation of cultural relics that I need to ask him."
I said unhappily, "You came here on official business?"
Fei Sankou quickly said, "Don't be unreasonable. Besides official business, it's also to celebrate my nephew's one-month birthday. After all, we're friends, right?"
I was finally satisfied and said, "That's more like it."
Fei Sankou started rummaging through his pockets, saying, "Since you're already Fan Li, you wouldn't care about money, so let me give you something new as a congratulatory gift—"
I immediately perked up and reached into his shirt pocket: "Do you have a mechanical pencil?"
That Fei San Kou guy is just fooling me. The lighter he gave me last time was completely useless. I thought this time he'd at least give me something that looked like a lighter but was actually a camera, but instead he gave me something that looked like a camera but was actually still a lighter...
After dropping the three Feis inside, before we could even move, an old Lincoln silently yet arrogantly pulled out of the traffic, followed by a sedan that looked like a bodyguard. The car in front stopped, and the driver jogged around to the back door, respectfully opening it. An old man in a gray button-down shirt leisurely stepped out, waving and calling out to me from afar, "Xiao Qiang, congratulations!"
At first, I didn't recognize this person at all. It wasn't until three more people popped out of the car behind him that I noticed something. These three were dressed in suits and leather shoes, all from high-end brands. Their hands were on the intercoms in their ears like professional bodyguards. The only difference was their brightly colored hair: red, yellow, and green. From a distance, they looked like traffic lights that had been turned upside down.
When that old guy hadn't taken two steps before he subconsciously picked up a soda can from the ground, I finally realized—Liu Xiazhi! Also known as Wang the Trash.
"Boss Wang!" The old man was, after all, the top dog in the underworld, so I gave him plenty of face and pretended to shake his hand from afar. Liu Xiaozhi picked up a mineral water bottle a few steps away from me, then casually walked up to me with his hands behind his back and said, "My hands are dirty, so I won't shake your hand."
I chuckled and said, "With a net worth of over a hundred million, how come you still haven't changed your old habits?"
Liu Xiazhi said, "Frugality is always good, and besides, it's become a habit." As he spoke, he handed the aluminum can and mineral water bottle, which had been stepped on, to Hongmao, who had caught up later. Hongmao, unfazed, took a brightly colored nylon mesh bag from the pocket of his Baoxiniao suit and carefully put them away...
I coughed twice and said, "Please come inside, Mr. Wang."
Liu Xiazhi nodded, patted me on the shoulder and said, "Let's have a good drink at noon." Then he led the traffic lights inside.
I saw that his new clothes had a muddy handprint on them, and as I wiped them clean with a pained expression, I muttered, "Well, now both the righteous and the villainous are here."
Chapter 212 Full Moon Celebration (Part 2)
We stood at the door for less than ten minutes, and several times we tried to go in but were interrupted by enthusiastic guests. In the end, I simply stood there and greeted the guests.
Sun Sixin said, "Brother Qiang, this really won't do. This is a school after all. It's not good to have so many people come to celebrate the baby's one-month birthday."
I tapped Bu Gai's nose and said, "It's all your fault. You think you're more important than your father?" Bu Gai laughed silently.
I asked Sun Sixin, "So what do you suggest we do?"
Sun Sixin said, "Let's just pick any excuse, how about we say we're holding a cultural festival?"
I laughed and said, "You're smart enough, kid. How did you come up with that?"
Sun Sixin laughed, "What haven't we done to deal with inspections from above?"
"Quickly find someone to write the slogan!" I said.
Baozi, with her sharp eyes, pointed into the distance and said, "Why look for anyone? There's a whole bunch right there!" I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a group of old men under the Yucai school flag, pointing at the little flag and commenting on it. I laughed too. Among them were Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Wu Daozi, Yan Liben, and Zhang Zeduan. I raised my hand high and said, "All you great masters, you've all arrived?"
A group of old men smiled and chattered, "They're here, they're here!"
I ran over and said, "We've been looking for you."
Yan Zhenqing laughed and said, "Xiao Qiang, are you asking for a calligraphy or a painting?"
I exclaimed excitedly, "Please, please!" This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we're talking about organizing a cultural festival, any one of these gentlemen could easily produce a piece of calligraphy that would be more than enough. I explained my idea, and these old men, who had indeed written "Study hard and make progress every day," immediately understood. Wang Xizhi said, "I'll write 'The First Yucai Cultural Festival' for you to hang at the entrance." Yan Zhenqing said, "Then you write two pieces. I'll add 'Congratulations' at the beginning and 'Perfect Success' at the end, and hang one in the auditorium. We can use it when the meeting ends too." He certainly knew how to save trouble.
Yan Liben asked, "Then do we need a theme?"
"theme?"
"Yeah, didn't you see the TV show mobilizing all of humanity to pick up trash, and they even called it Global Environment Day?"
Liu Gongquan said, "I think we should call it 'Hope.' Since it's for my nephew's one-month celebration, this name is quite fitting." Everyone cheered.
I said, "That slogan..."
Wu Daozi said, "Don't worry about that, we'll help you think of something. Old Yan, Old Zhang, and I will paint some murals for you with the theme of newborn babies, so that we can tell outsiders that it signifies the resurgence of our national culture."
I was speechless. He's a scholar after all; he's a natural at metaphysical stuff. Liu Gongquan asked me, "Since the theme is related to 'shouldn't,' should we include 'One child is best' in the slogan?"
"No!" It's better not to have only one child. I'd rather just have a proper full-month celebration and that would be more peaceful!
The experts went about their business, and I stopped Wu Daozi, who was about to leave, and asked, "Hey, where's Li Bai?" He was able to return to Yucai School thanks to Li Bai, but I haven't seen the old man all day. After so many days, I really miss the old drunkard.