After seeing Lao Fei off, I didn't think much of it. Some things can't be investigated simply because there's a plastic bomb in your car. Hua Rong's awakening, to put it another way, is something only heaven and earth know—be a master archer, let others investigate the vegetative state!
Qin Hui called me twice more that evening, sounding very distressed. I just don't understand what he's unhappy about. My little villa is fully equipped; it's a completely modern lifestyle. Things that used to require servants are now handled entirely by technology. I think that's much more considerate and reliable than a clumsy servant. As for the food being bad, didn't I leave him some money? — Actually, I don't dare to completely offend this guy. My dad always taught me that it's better to offend ten gentlemen than one petty person, so I think I've been pretty good to this old bastard.
The next morning I drove to the villa. The one next to mine seemed to have been sold as well; the doors and windows had been replaced, and there were signs that the lawn had been tended. It seemed that Chen Kejiao's family was on the verge of prosperity.
When I opened the door, I saw Qin Hui had packed all the things he had used over the past few days into a small bag and placed it beside him. He was standing with his arms crossed, staring expectantly at the door, as if he had been waiting for me to arrive.
I asked in a harsh voice, "What's wrong with you?"
Qin Hui said bitterly, "Don't ask anymore, let's go."
That's when I noticed the air conditioner was hissing and blowing cold air out of the room. I couldn't help but shiver and said, "Why did you make the house so cold so early in the morning?"
Qin Hui, arms crossed and sniffling, said, "You're only just realizing? I've been in this freezing weather for days."
Just then, I heard a sound on the stairs. I looked and was delighted to see Su Wu, wrapped in his thick cotton-padded coat, calmly descending the stairs, his hand tightly gripping his stick.
Qin Hui pointed at Su Wu and said angrily, "It's all his doing. He said that only this temperature can make him feel the same as he did back then. Every time I adjust it down by one degree, he beats me with a stick."
I chuckled and said, "Then you should wear more clothes too."
Qin Hui said, "Where would I get winter clothes? I can't just stay in bed all the time, can I?"
Next, Qin Hui made a tearful accusation against Su Wu: "I could tolerate that, but he wouldn't even let people eat their fill. He stipulated that they could only eat one pack of instant noodles a day!"
I looked at Su Wu, puzzled. Su Wu said calmly, "This is our shared property, and I didn't eat much of it. Who knows how long we'll have to live on it?"
I laughed and said, "Lord Su, it's true that you're mindful of potential dangers even in times of peace. But I'm not exiling you to this place, so why would I abandon you? Besides—didn't I leave you some money?"
Qin Hui wiped his nose and said, "Don't even mention it. The money he gave me couldn't even buy a steamed bun." As he spoke, Qin Hui threw a few crumpled bills on the ground. "This is what he gave me."
That's where Su Wu was wrong. Regardless of whether he was loyal or treacherous, since the two of them had been together, it wasn't right for him to eat alone.
To everyone's surprise, Su Wu calmly replied, "This money belongs to both of us. My idea was to divide it into two parts and keep them separately, but he said it wasn't necessary."
I immediately looked at Qin Hui with newfound respect: "When did you become so enlightened?"
Qin Hui remained silent, his face dark.
I asked in surprise, "What exactly happened?"
Su Wu took out all the money I gave him, flipping through the hundred-dollar bills one by one, saying, "He said that the larger the bill, the less valuable it is; only the smaller ones are precious. He said I needed money since I had just arrived, so I should keep all the smaller ones and only give him the larger ones. How could I do that! So I gave him all the smaller ones—"
I paused, then stomped my foot and burst into laughter, pointing at Qin Hui and saying, "Serves him right!"
This is what they call judging a gentleman by the standards of a petty person. Now it's finally clear: it was Qin Hui who wanted to monopolize everything. He took advantage of Su Wu's inability to read banknote denominations and tried to trick him into handing over a large sum of money, but his plan backfired spectacularly.
But then something even more unexpected happened. Su Wu said slowly, "Although I've spent 19 years with sheep, I'm not stupid."
So Lord Su was quite shrewd! This reminds me of what Bao Longxing's father said: "To fight against treacherous officials, you have to be even more treacherous than them!"
Qin Hui was stunned for a moment, then finally jumped up and said, "I can't stand here for another day!" Qin Hui pointed at Su Wu's nose and cursed, "I can't say anything about not letting you turn off the air conditioner or not feeding you properly, but you don't flush after using the toilet, and you even squat on the toilet seat..."
Su Wu looked at Qin Hui expressionlessly, taking it all in stride.
I smiled and said to Qin Hui, "I'll introduce you to Liu Bang sometime. You can give him some slanderous advice and you'll have everything you need."
Su Wu immediately bowed respectfully and asked, "Have you met our Han Dynasty's founding emperor?"
"Bangzi? I see him every day. He even bestowed upon me the title of Prince of the Same Rank."
"really?"
Why would I lie to you?
Su Wu exclaimed "Oh dear!" and looked like he was about to bow to me. I stopped him immediately: "No, no, no, the sheep under your command are all my ancestors, you're too kind to ask for that."
Seeing that we had established a connection, Qin Hui cautiously tugged at my sleeve and said, "Xiao Qiang, are we still going?"
I glared at him: "Where are you going?"
"As long as I leave Su the Shepherd, I'll go anywhere!"
"Would you even be willing to be sent to Yue Fei's army?"
Qin Hui's expression changed drastically.
Speaking of Yue Fei's army, I've come up with a solution. Only Xu Delong remains in the 300th Regiment. Old Xu lives a monotonous life, going between his dormitory, the canteen, and the playground, never venturing anywhere else. The dormitories in the new campus are barely habitable now, so throwing Qin Hui there shouldn't be any problems.
I made up my mind and said to the two people in front of me, "Let's go have breakfast first, and then neither of you will have to see the other."
I drove the two of them out of the villa area and to a small street where we ordered fried dough sticks and soy milk from a stall. Qin Hui had been starving these past few days, and he grabbed the fried dough sticks and wolfed them down, repeatedly saying, "Mmm, delicious! What's this called?"
I said, "It's just fried dough sticks, what else can you call it—"
As Qin Hui stuffed food into his mouth, he said, "How come I've never eaten this before? When did this thing start appearing?"
At this moment, an old man eating breakfast at the same table as us said, "This thing only came about after the Song Dynasty, and it was named after Qin Hui."
Qin Hui asked in surprise, "What does this have to do with 'Qin Hui'?" Then, he said to me in a smug whisper, "It seems that someone still has their eyes on me."
The old man said, "Youtiao (fried dough sticks) were originally called 'fried sticks,' which sounded like 'fried Qin Hui,' meaning Qin Hui was thrown into a pot of oil and fried." He then tore a youtiao in half, pointed to one half, and said, "This is Qin Hui!" Then he pointed to the other half, "This is his wife!"
Qin Hui stared in disbelief, clutching half of himself in his hand, unsure whether to eat it or spit it out. Finally, with a sob in his voice, he said, "Are you trying to kill me? Chicken heads and fried dough sticks, have I really committed such a terrible crime?"
I chuckled and said, "It's alright, there are two people in history who were even more hated than you."
Qin Hui perked up: "Who is it?"