Chapter 170: Ordinary Friends, Ordinary Gifts

Master Wei didn’t know who exactly Chen Shulan invited and was shocked to find out that there were still guests who hadn’t arrived. “Who’s Xiao Gu?”

“He’s Ran Ran’s friend.” Chen Shulan smiled and looked towards the door. “Ran Ran, you’d better ask him.”

Qin Ran picked up her chopsticks and glanced at Cheng Juan, and then towards Lu Zhaoying. She whispered, “Grandma, you called him too?”

“Him” evidently referred to Gu Xichi.

Cheng Juan and the rest were around, so she didn’t mention his full name.

“Yup, Xiao Gu is all alone in Yun Cheng.” Chen Shulan smiled.

Qin Ran propped her chin using her hand.

“I’ll go outside to make a call.” She took her cell phone and said softly.

Cheng Juan did not move. He simply turned to her and said, “Go ahead.”

There were two tables in the private room, so there was constant movement.

Lu Zhaoying saw that Qin Ran left, so he poured a glass of alcohol for Chen Shulan and Master Wei for a toast.

He also didn’t leave.

He sat in Qin Ran’s seat and asked Cheng Juan, “Qin Ran has other friends?”

She had more friends than expected.

Cheng Juan scooped some vegetables and casually replied, “I don’t know.”

Lu Zhaoying wasn’t too bothered by his patronizing response. What he wanted to do most was to speak to Qin Ran and ask her how she had suddenly learned to play the violin and was actually worshipping Master Wei as a teacher!

“This friend of hers who hasn’t arrived has the surname Gu. That’s the same surname as Jiang Dongye’s arch-enemy,” Lu Zhaoying suddenly said.

Of course, he was just making a remark. He wasn’t really drawing a connection between the two of them.

Gu Xichi’s movements were odd and unusual. Based on Jiang Dongye’s description, he had a lot of dealings with the Interpol and the Diamond mafia.

He usually hung out at war zones, which was why Lu Zhaoying found it unbelievable that he saw Gu Xichi in Yun Cheng previously.

Master Wei called Uncle Hai over when he realized that Qin Ran still had a friend who hadn’t arrived.

Uncle Hai looked shocked.

Master Wei smiled and then tapped on the table. “Go to the entrance of the hotel and wait there. Ran Ran still has a friend coming, by the surname Gu.”

“Xiao Gu’s a young pretty good-looking chap.” Chen Shulan tried describing him.

Uncle Hai nodded and headed out.

He dared not slow down or slack off, knowing that that was Qin Ran’s friend.

He had thought that Qin Ran’s friends would just be ordinary students.

But Feng Loucheng’s arrival threw him off, and Cheng Juan’s and Lu Zhaoying’s appearance shocked him even further.

While waiting for the elevator, Uncle Hai even thought long and hard about the surname Gu in the capital.

When he was sure that “Gu” wasn’t a rich or powerful household name, he finally heaved a sigh of relief.

**

There weren’t many people along the hallway.

Qin Ran video-called Gu Xichi on WeChat, but it didn’t get through.

Any normal forms of communication wouldn’t get to him.

He had switched off all his social media applications.

Qin Ran kept her cell phone and looked around looking for the washroom sign, and then walked towards it.

She dismantled her cell phone while walking.

There was nobody outside the washroom on the top floor.

By the time she got there, she had dismantled her cell phone completely and turned it into a micro-computer.

She held the computer with one hand and tapped away on the keyboard with the other.

She walked into the last cubicle and saw Gu Xichi’s face on the screen immediately.

He had a baseball cap and a mask on and was dressed in a black and white checkered top. “That dog actually flashed my face on the screen at the square! How did he get a photo of me!”

Although the photo was from a few years back, it had rather significant effects on Gu Xichi’s movements.

Qin Ran never investigated him nor asked around about his matters.

They both understood it well enough.

“What sin did you commit exactly?” Qin Ran put the seat cover down and sat on it. “He’s been looking into it for years?”

“I’ve done way too many terrible things. Back then in the Middle East, that batch of…” Gu Xichi suddenly paused. “You’re just a kid, why do you care?”

He and Qin Ran knew each other online. Qin Ran had accepted his request.

Back then, he hadn’t believed that Qin Ran was underage. He only trusted her when he went to Ninghai Town.

“Fine, up to you,” Qin Ran said casually.

“I’m here. En Yu Hotel, right?” Gu Xichi took his mask off. “The old man at the entrance is someone with you?”

He took two steps forward and waved at Uncle Hai.

“You must be Mr. Gu.” Uncle Hai paused when he looked at Gu Xichi’s terrible dressing. “Come with me.”

Before Gu Xichi started following him, Qin Ran’s voice came from his earphones saying, “I advise you not to come.”

“Why?” Gu Xichi was stunned.

“There are a lot of people here. Grandma practically invited everyone she knew from Yun Cheng. Do you know Cheng Juan? Or is the name Lu Zhaoying familiar? How about Qian Dui? You should know Jiang Hui?” Qin Ran casually said a few names to remind him.

He obviously knew Cheng Juan and Lu Zhaoying. In fact, it was Lu Zhaoying who called Jiang Dongye.

Qian Dui was part of the police force and was currently being harassed by Jiang Dongye.

Jiang Hui was Jiang Dongye’s uncle. All Jiang Dongye’s resources had been lent to him by Jiang Hui.

Qin Ran was afraid that Gu Xichi might cry if he really came up.

Gu Xichi was speechless.

He whispered, “How do you know them?”

“I’m sorry, I have something to attend to now. I won’t be going up.” Gu Xichi hung up and handed Uncle Hai a plastic bag from his pocket. “I’ve to trouble you to pass this to her.”

With that, he didn’t even wait for Uncle Hai to respond.

He tipped his cap downwards and fled the scene as if he was being chased.

He didn’t even have the time to stand there in shock at how Qin Ran knew these people!

Uncle Hai looked at Gu Xichi with a confused expression and then mechanically looked down at the plastic bag in his hand.

**

In the top floor washroom, Qin Ran disconnected her call with Gu Xichi.

She didn’t leave immediately, but rather carefully set her computer to the coding screen.

A ton of 0’s and 1’s appeared all over the screen, moving as Qin Ran typed away.

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The photo that Jiang Dongye screened wasn’t hard to find.

Almost three minutes later, Qin Ran deleted the photo screened on the building at the square right away. She even deleted Jiang Dongye’s original files.

She then kept her cell phone and walked out.

At the same time.

Jiang Dongye was sitting on the couch, resting his legs on the table, and making a call. “Qian Dui isn’t back yet? When will he be?”

The other party said something in response and Jiang Dongye did not say anything anymore. He disconnected the call. “How unlucky, everyone’s having a socializing meeting at this time?”

Beside him was the technical personnel that Jiang Hui lent him. He was seated in front of the computer.

On the computer screen was Gu Xichi’s image. He was trying to screen and publicize it using various channels.

All of a sudden—

The screen went completely blue, then it came back on again a few seconds later.

Everything was normal, but Gu Xichi’s photo was gone.

At the same time, the computer screen began to darken slowly. Just as the personnel thought it was going to become a blank, dark screen, a word suddenly flashed right in the middle in bold white font—

“Arrogance!”

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Dongye looked at the word, stunned.

He then clenched his teeth.

Besides Gu Xichi, he had to nab this person backing him up too!

The personnel had no idea what happened. “I don’t know, Young Master Jiang. Do you have other photographs of Gu Xichi?”

**

When Qin Ran got back to the private room, Uncle Hai had returned too.

“Mr. Gu had something to attend to, so he left first,” he explained to Master Wei and Chen Shulan.

Chen Shulan looked towards the door a little sadly. “This child is always rushing about…”

“Grandma, have something to eat.” Qin Ran sat down and began scooping food into her bowl.

Uncle Hai remembered something and then handed the item to Qin Ran. “Miss Qin, Mr. Gu got me to pass this to you before he left.”

There was some rustling sound.

He handed the plastic bag to Qin Ran.

The words “Hua Mei Supermarket” was printed clearly on the plastic bag.

It was a rather big plastic bag, but the item inside was only the size of an egg.

Everyone at the table was well-exposed.

Upon seeing the plastic bag, they heaved a sigh of relief.

This was more like a friend Qin Ran would have.

Lin Siran took the opportunity to take out the bottle of grass in her pocket.

“Ran Ran, this is for you.” It was a small glass bottle.

There was a blade of jade-colored grass inside. The difference between this one and the previous one was that this one had a little red tint at the edges.

Lin Siran walked towards Qin Ran and said quietly.

Qin Ran held the bottle up and looked at it. She then turned to Lin Siran and said, “Thank you.”

All of them saw what Lin Siran had done, but they weren’t too interested in these girly gifts.

Only Chen Shulan smiled and talked about how beautiful the grass was.

“Why would Miss Qin’s friend give her an imitation good at such a setting?” Cheng Mu mumbled to Lu Zhaoying.

Lu Zhaoying was looking at Pan Mingyue sitting quietly.

He then leaned back and smiled. “Girls are like this.”

Only Cheng Juan narrowed his eyes at the bottle Qin Ran was holding.

He swept a glance past Lin Siran as he tapped his fingers on the table while thinking deeply about something.

**

There were a lot of procedures to the apprenticeship banquet.

Master Wei planned to hold another one back in the capital, but he couldn’t make the one in Yun Cheng slipshod at all.

Uncle Hai closed the door to the private room.

Qin Ran’s friend with the surname Gu did not come, and Chen Shulan did not mention any other friend.

Uncle Hai took a headcount of the people present. Everyone else was here.

He stood beside Master Wei, watching all that was happening around the two tables but being careful not to let his gaze cause anyone discomfort.

The meal in the private room had only just started a while ago and everyone was still getting on with it.

By the time it was all over, it was past eight at night.

Chen Shulan was beginning to look fatigued. Not wanting to affect the atmosphere, she got Master Wei’s chauffeur to send her back to the hospital first.

As there were still Year Three students around, Master Wei was ready to end the event by a little past nine o’clock. He got the chauffeur to send these youngsters back to the school.

Qin Ran, Cheng Juan, Qiao Sheng, and the other young people went down first.

Master Wei and Jiang Hui stayed behind.

When they had left, Master Wei sat back in his chair.

Jiang Hui finally took out a cigarette and glanced at Feng Loucheng with a smile. “I didn’t expect Mayor Feng and Qian Dui to be so close to Miss Qin.”

Qian Dui simply nodded coldly without saying anything.

Feng Loucheng responded in courtesy. “We have worked on a case before back in Ninghai Town.”

“Mayor Feng is about to be offered a promotion?” Jiang Hui looked at Feng Loucheng deeply.

It wasn’t that rare to be promoted, but it was indeed uncommon to be promoted as quickly as Feng Loucheng was.

Feng Loucheng simply replied, “I’m not too sure about what happens up there.”

Jiang Hui smiled and turned to Qian Dui instead. “I have a nephew, and he needs your help with something…”

**

There were three cars downstairs.

Qiao Sheng’s family car was there for him.

Qin Ran and Pan Mingyue waited for Master Wei’s car, so Cheng Juan and Lu Zhaoying hung around too.

It was finally the right opportunity, so Lu Zhaoying asked, “Qin Ran, how on earth do you know Master Wei? And he actually took you in as his disciple? Are you that good at the violin…”

Right then, a van stopped right before them.

A young man in a black jacket got out from the back, pulled his mask down, and smiled. “There was training with the team today, but fortunately I could make it for the last part…”