Qin Zhan was still not satisfied and insisted that everyone accompany him to sing karaoke.

Before leaving, Qin Lie kicked him and said, “Clean up the table.”

Qin Zhan obediently cleared the table, with Liu Boyang helping him.

Chen Xi stood up and put Qin Lie’s sketchbook, which had been set aside, into her handbag.

When she looked up, she saw Qin Lie already standing by the roadside, waving at a taxi.

“Qin Lie.”

She called out to him from behind, “I want half of the VR arcade.”

Qin Lie turned around, stunned for a moment, then smiled nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.

Just as he was about to turn back, he heard Chen Xi’s voice carried over casually by the night breeze.

“Ten characters, stunning—I can give you that.”

“The excitement you want isn’t difficult either. Everything you lack, I can give you. What I want, only you can give me.”

Qin Lie stared at that upright figure under the streetlight, silent for a moment, as the taxi had already stopped beside him.

Qin Lie said nothing, opened the car door, and got in.

That evening, Chen Xi went to the night market to pick up Fan Mingsu and Sensen and bring them home.

Arriving at the night market street, Ma Lao Liu had already helped move several large bags of goods into his flatbread shop.

“Uncle Liu, was business good today?”

Chen Xi walked into the shop and placed a large bag of imported mangoes she’d bought at the supermarket on the counter.

Ma Lao Liu’s little granddaughter loved eating mangoes, so Chen Xi would buy some from time to time.

Ma Lao Liu scolded her, “Why buy these things?”

Chen Xi smiled, “To eat, of course.”

On the way home, Fan Mingsu pedaled the tricycle while Chen Xi rode the motorcycle slowly alongside, carrying Sensen.

Walking along, Chen Xi suddenly asked thoughtfully, “Grandma, did you ever seek excitement when you were young?”

Fan Mingsu smiled and glanced at her sideways, “What’s this about? You’ve quit your job—don’t you find that exciting enough?”

Chen Xi shook her head. “I was just asking casually.”

Fan Mingsu smiled, the wrinkles on her face seeming like stories under the streetlights.

“Me, when I was young…”

Thinking of the past, a glimmer of brightness flashed through Fan Mingsu’s cloudy old eyes.

She didn’t mention her youthful days, only saying, “Back then, just staying alive was difficult—who had time to seek death by looking for excitement?”

“You young people now, with nothing to do after eating your fill, that’s when you go looking for excitement.”

Chen Xi smiled, “Yes, nothing better to do after eating too much.”

Sensen suddenly poked his head out from the back seat of the motorcycle, looking serious, “Sister, you should play Tunnel—this game is really fun and exciting.”

Fan Mingsu raised her eyebrows at Sensen, “Who let you play games?”

Sensen put his hands on his hips, looking completely unafraid.

“My grandpa will be back soon. I play games on his phone, and he doesn’t care—I can play as long as I want.”

Fan Mingsu threw cold water on him, “Your grandpa still has to stay in Lanzhou for another half a month. You’d better study properly.”

Sensen’s face instantly turned sour like a bitter melon.

Chen Xi asked, “Why isn’t Grandpa Guan coming back yet?”

Fan Mingsu gave Chen Xi a meaningful look, and Chen Xi immediately understood, not mentioning the matter again.

The old man had gone to Lanzhou and hadn’t come out since being admitted to the hospital.

Fan Mingsu was philosophical about it—people all have this day sooner or later—but the child didn’t understand.

Chen Xi, afraid Sensen would overthink, asked with feigned surprise, “Elementary school students know about the Tunnel game too?”

Sensen replied, “Of course we do—all my classmates play it.”

Chen Xi, feeling sorry for Sensen, said to him, “When we get home, use Grandma’s phone—I’ll play a round with you.”

“Great!”

Sensen immediately nodded with joy, his face lighting up.

Fan Mingsu glanced at them but, for once, said nothing.

That evening, it was almost half past ten.

After Chen Xi finished her shower, she noticed the light was still on in the main room and walked over while drying her hair.

Fan Mingsu sat on the sofa wearing reading glasses, with an account book spread across her lap, carefully writing down the day’s income and expenses line by line.

Chen Xi glanced at the tightly closed door of the side room and asked quietly, “Is Sensen asleep?”

Fan Mingsu nodded, her reading glasses sliding down to the tip of her nose, a strand of white hair falling to her temple.

Chen Xi sat down beside her and helped tuck the fallen hair behind her ear.

She looked down at the neat, small handwriting in the account book—the characters were as childish as a primary school student’s writing, yet every stroke was careful.

“You don’t earn much money in one evening. I’ve told you many times not to set up a stall.”

“Grandma, wouldn’t it be nice if you took evening walks by Dang River and did square dancing instead?”

Chen Xi couldn’t help but complain.

Fan Mingsu said, “Even one cent is money—saving enough and you can get things done.”

She remembered picking up five drink bottles that morning and casually wrote it down.

Chen Xi felt annoyed watching this and raised her voice unconsciously, “I could earn enough from fixing one extra car to cover a month of your bottle collecting. Can’t you stop being so money-obsessed?”

Fan Mingsu said unhurriedly, “You are you, I am me. I don’t interfere with you, so don’t try to interfere with me.”

Chen Xi said, “You always have your twisted logic.”

Fan Mingsu replied, “Did I say a word about you quitting your job? I haven’t lectured you yet, and here you are trying to lecture me.”

Chen Xi was left speechless by Fan Mingsu’s retort and simply got up to go back to her room to sleep.

Fan Mingsu called out to her, “Are you free tomorrow morning?”

Chen Xi turned back and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Fan Mingsu said, “Come with me to the bank tomorrow morning to wire some money.”

When going to the bank for business, having a young person along made her feel more secure.

Chen Xi asked, “To whom?”

Fan Mingsu lowered her voice, “Sensen’s father.”

Chen Xi’s expression darkened. “Grandpa Guan’s illness… isn’t there enough money?”

Fan Mingsu nodded.

Chen Xi asked, “How much is still needed?”

Fan Mingsu said, “The surgery still needs about a hundred thousand more, and then there’s chemotherapy afterward. I have thirty thousand on hand—I’ll help as much as I can.”

Chen Xi was silent for a moment. “Can Sensen’s father’s word be trusted?”

Fan Mingsu looked up at her, “What kind of talk is that?”

Chen Xi said, “Do I need to spell it out? How many times over the years has he said he’d bring Sensen to Lanzhou? Has he ever done it?”

“And this year he said he’d come back for Chinese New Year to spend it with grandfather and grandson—did he come back?”

“Keep your voice down.”

Fan Mingsu interrupted Chen Xi, “Sensen’s mother is gone, and he’s started a new family in Lanzhou—”

“He also has elderly parents and young children there—what do you expect him to do?”

Chen Xi closed her mouth.

Fan Mingsu removed her reading glasses, closed the account book, and slowly stood up.

“I watched Sensen’s father grow up—that boy is simple and honest, he wouldn’t do anything dishonest or fraudulent.”

She took a few steps, then stopped and said to Chen Xi again, “We’re all neighbors—if it’s not the east family helping the west family, then it’s the west family helping the east family. This tradition passed down from our ancestors cannot be lost.”

The next day, before going out in the morning.

Chen Xi noticed a small hole in the courtyard wall—it was from when she was in elementary school, and once Grandpa Guan had grilled some loaches until they were fragrant and crispy.

Chen Xi clamored to eat them before they cooled down, so Grandpa Guan stuck the iron skewer in the brick crack, waiting until it wasn’t hot before giving it to her.

At the bank, Chen Xi took fifty thousand from her own savings, making it eighty thousand total to wire to Sensen’s father.

Fan Mingsu hesitantly asked beside her, “Didn’t you want to open a repair shop? How will you open it without money?”

Chen Xi completed the procedures without a word.

Coming out of the bank, she looked at the cars coming and going on the street and sighed softly.

“Money can be earned—let’s save lives first.”

After finishing the money transfer, Chen Xi took Fan Mingsu to the hospital for a follow-up examination.

Bai Yuning had already registered Fan Mingsu and prepared the examination forms.

Chen Xi went to get the forms and took Fan Mingsu directly for the tests.

After the blood draw, they went for an MRI.

Sitting bored in the waiting room, Chen Xi scrolled through her phone and unconsciously opened her WeChat conversation with Qin Lie.

She stared at their brief chat history for a while, then sent him a message.

“What do you think of the second character?”

During drinks last night, she had handed Qin Lie the completed design draft.

Qin Lie had glanced at it once and tossed it aside, giving no feedback until now.

Chen Xi waited after sending the message, but by the time Fan Mingsu came out of the MRI examination room, Qin Lie still hadn’t replied.

After finishing the chest CT, it was already noon, and the abdominal ultrasound could only be done in the afternoon.

Bai Yuning had another half hour before getting off work and had arranged to treat Fan Mingsu to hand-pulled lamb at lunch.

Chen Xi and Fan Mingsu sat in the first-floor outpatient hall waiting for Bai Yuning to finish work.

Fan Mingsu looked down at her phone, playing mahjong.

While waiting, Chen Xi unconsciously checked WeChat several more times, but there was still no reply from Qin Lie.

She leaned back against the chair and suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

“Qin Zhan?”

She called out across the hall.

A tall figure in the crowd turned around at the sound, with a tuft of hair sticking up, looking around with a bewildered expression.

“Over here.”

Chen Xi waved at him.

Qin Zhan’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw Chen Xi, “Sister Xi, wait for me!”

A moment later, Qin Zhan ran over carrying two bottles of saline solution and several boxes of medicine.

He first greeted Fan Mingsu, “Grandma, are you here for a follow-up?”

Fan Mingsu smiled and said yes, then busily looked down to play an East Wind tile.

Chen Xi asked Qin Zhan, “Are you sick? Why do you need an IV?”

Qin Zhan’s face instantly turned sour. “Don’t even mention it—my brother got into an accident.”

Chen Xi was startled and quickly asked, “What happened?”

Qin Zhan sighed, “After we all left yesterday, my brother went to find his classmate again and had another drinking session there. They offered to let him stay the night, but he refused and took another taxi to my building.”

“He called me in the middle of the night, insisting on taking my motorcycle.”

Chen Xi was speechless. “He was that drunk, and you still gave him the bike?”

Qin Zhan looked troubled. “If I didn’t give it to him, he threatened to tell my parents about me borrowing money to buy a used car.”

“So I came up with a plan—I drained the gas tank to almost empty and tricked him into just riding around downstairs for a bit.”

“Who knew he’d gun the throttle full speed and crash straight into the community’s electrical pole?”

Chen Xi: “…”

This guy was dedicated to seeking death.

“How is he?”

Chen Xi asked.

Qin Zhan said, “Just external injuries and a mild concussion. The doctor wants him hospitalized for observation for a day.”

Chen Xi was speechless for a while, then said dryly, “Well, you go take care of your business.”

“Let’s chat later—my motorcycle is practically totaled from the crash. Help me take a look at it when you have time.”

Qin Zhan said as he jogged toward the inpatient department.

During lunch, Bai Yuning suddenly told Chen Xi, “Qin Lie is hospitalized—seems like he crashed his motorcycle into an electrical pole.”

Chen Xi nodded, “I met his brother in the waiting room this morning. He told me about it.”

“Grandma, this piece of lamb is tender.”

Bai Yuning served Fan Mingsu a piece of lamb.

He turned to Chen Xi and said, “After lunch, let’s buy some fruit and visit him this afternoon.”

Chen Xi paused with her chopsticks, looking somewhat confused. “Aren’t you familiar with him?”

Bai Yuning smiled and patted her head, “You don’t have any sense of social etiquette—he’s your client now. It’s good to maintain a good relationship.”

Chen Xi nodded indifferently.

Qin Lie still hadn’t given feedback on the second character, so she might as well ask him in person.

That afternoon, after Chen Xi finished the remaining tests with Fan Mingsu, the old lady rode her tricycle home by herself.

Chen Xi went to find Bai Yuning, but unfortunately, there was a long queue outside his office, so he couldn’t accompany her to visit Qin Lie in the afternoon.

Chen Xi had to take the fruit and box of milk they’d bought at lunch and go to the inpatient department to visit the patient alone.