Chapter 630
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Chapter 630? (Part 5) (Bonus chapter for the generous donation to the incompetent leader Zhuge!)
When Qin Huai followed the little beggar all the way from the Northeast along the railway tracks to Beiping, the moment he saw the city, he felt it was unreal.
Even if the little beggar is a spirit, this is still absurd.
My buddy is in such good physical condition and has such supermodel abilities. He doesn't necessarily aspire to be a beggar, but he has persisted in begging for so many years, and he's not even that good, not even having a penny left in his pocket.
It can only be said that Qin Huai truly doesn't understand the world of philosophers.
When the little beggar arrived in Beiping, it was summer, and he already looked every bit the part of a true refugee. His clothes—calling them clothes is an understatement; they were more like strips of cloth tied around his body. His hair was long and tangled, a messier mess than a chicken coop; you wouldn't be surprised if two small birds crawled out of it. His face was beyond dirty; the mud on his body was more like a protective shell. It was impossible to tell if the little beggar was male or female, and even from a distance or with close-up vision, it was difficult to tell if he was human at all.
The first thing the little beggar did upon arriving in Beiping was to find a not-so-clean river in the suburbs and wash himself clean. His hair was too dirty and messy to wash properly, so he picked up a thin stone, sharpened it, and cut off his hair. During his years of begging, the little beggar had not learned to read or write, but he had learned many survival skills in the wilderness.
The transformed little beggar went into the city to continue begging.
Unlike the areas outside the Great Wall, the beggars in Beiping (Beijing) had much clearer territories. The young beggar fought for four or five days after arriving in the city before finally securing his own spot to beg. It was through these fights that Qin Huai was able to assess the young beggar's fighting prowess.
She's a bit stronger than Chen Huihong, and about the same as An Youyou. She's roughly at the level of one against four, which is definitely considered very strong among beggars.
After establishing a foothold, the little beggar began wandering around Beiping. He first found Taifenglou, which had just opened and was already famous, then Qinji Pastry Shop, which had just opened but was not yet well-known, and finally found the small house where the Jiang family lived.
The little beggar started loitering around the house, continuing to act as a camera, not getting close or making contact, just observing.
Qin Huai: ...
Dude, you've traveled thousands of miles, enduring wind and rain, braving all kinds of hardships, practically a survival challenge, all the way from the Northeast to Beiping, just to continue working as a cameraman?
I don't understand, I really don't understand.
After moving to Beiping, Qin Wan's life trajectory was similar to that in Northeast China. She spent most of her time at home taking care of her children, and would go out to buy groceries every few days. Occasionally, she would carry a food box to Taifenglou to deliver snacks to Jiang Chengde. Her life was simple and warm.
Perhaps because her life had become more affluent after moving to Beiping, Qin Wan would sometimes make some dark-colored steamed buns to share with the beggars in the neighborhood, even in the summer. Just like when she was outside the Great Wall, Qin Wan would put the steamed buns in a basket and place the basket at her doorstep for the beggars to take as they pleased.
Her kindness attracted some ill-intentioned people.
There might have been such people outside the Great Wall, but given the Jiang family's power and Boss Lu's protection, ordinary scoundrels wouldn't target Qin Wan for a few steamed buns. However, in Beiping, the Jiang family was unknown, merely cooks at the newly opened Taifeng Restaurant, and Boss Lu wasn't that powerful either, just a wealthy hotel owner.
Not to mention that the Jiang family lived in an ordinary house, surrounded by ordinary people who looked easy to bully.
The little beggar started fighting every day.
He fought with the beggar who had his eye on the Jiang family, with petty thieves who tried to steal from them, and with thugs who were short of money and wanted to extort protection money. As he fought, the little beggar made a name for himself in the neighborhood. Many beggars and thugs knew that this area was his territory and should not be messed with easily. There was a madman there who fought without regard for his life.
Over time, the security in that area improved significantly, and petty thieves no longer dared to approach.
Qin Wan knew nothing about any of this.
Whenever Qin Wan went out, the little beggar would always follow behind her, keeping a safe distance. He followed Qin Wan wherever she went. If Qin Wan went to Qin's Pastry Shop, he would squat near the shop. If Qin Wan went to Taifeng Restaurant, he would squat at the entrance of Taifeng Restaurant.
The little beggar followed her from summer to autumn, until one autumn morning when Qin Wan wore a rather tight-fitting dress that revealed her slightly protruding belly. Only then did Qin Huai belatedly realize that Qin Wan seemed to be pregnant again.
She's showing her pregnancy.
Qin Huai then understood why the little beggar had been following Qin Wan so closely lately. A pregnant woman with no one watching her, and with the world in such a state, going out alone meant danger. Qin Wan's life after moving to Beiping was essentially no different from that outside the Great Wall; she hadn't realized that her environment had changed. If the little beggar hadn't been following her closely, it would have been difficult to guarantee Qin Wan's safety.
At that moment, Qin Huai realized that the little beggar was not a fanatical obsessive fan who followed his idol every day, but a motherly fan who was worried and busy for her idol.
On a peaceful afternoon, the little beggar met Chen Huihong.
Qin Huai was very familiar with the place where they met, and he even remembered the scene from Chen Huihong's memory—the entrance of Qin's Pastry Shop.
Last time, Qin Huai saw the little beggar through Chen Huihong's perspective, but this time, Qin Huai saw Chen Huihong through the little beggar's perspective.
Different perspectives, completely different experiences.
Upon seeing Chen Huihong, Qin Huai was momentarily stunned before belatedly realizing that the little beggar who had been hostile towards Chen Huihong and glared at her fiercely at the entrance of Qin's Pastry Shop was actually the protagonist of this memory. At that moment, Qin Huai felt that he might have been watching too many documentaries and had made his brain dull; how come it took him so long to realize this?
The little beggar had been following Qin Wan the whole time. Wasn't he the one who had the conflict with Chen Huihong at the entrance of Qin's Pastry Shop? How come he hadn't thought of it before, or even remembered it at all, even though the timeline had already reached that point?
Sure enough, spending too much time with philosophers, and occasionally contemplating life's philosophies with them, makes one seem foolish.
From Chen Huihong's perspective, the little beggar seems crazy, but from the little beggar's perspective, Chen Huihong seems crazy and malicious.
The little beggar immediately recognized Chen Huihong as a spirit.
At this point, Chen Huihong was not good at hiding her true intentions. A normal person could tell at a glance that she had a problem with her brain, and even a spirit could tell at a glance that she had not yet learned the laws of the human world.
Ignorance is a dangerous thing.
The little beggar had followed Qin Wan for months but had never shown his face in front of Qin's Pastry Shop. But then Chen Huihong stopped in front of Qin's Pastry Shop, and brazenly stood there, staring at the pastries inside, which made the little beggar feel a strong sense of crisis.
The usually cautious little beggar chose to take the initiative and get himself into the fray, allowing the shop assistant to spot him and chase after him with a stick.
The chase didn't stop until Qin Wan and Qin Yanxing came downstairs. The little beggar took the opportunity to hide under the table, crouching down, looking up, his gaze shifting from low to high, secretly watching Qin Wan like a spy. His face was expressionless, but Qin Huai could see what he was thinking from his eyes.
The little beggar looked at Qin Wan, his eyes conveying only one thought: Miss Qin, will you despise me?
You've done so many good deeds over the years, made so many steamed buns for beggars, yet you've never truly interacted with them. Now that a beggar is right in front of you, would you look down on them?
Everything unfolded exactly as Qin Huai had seen in Chen Huihong's memory.
Qin Wan ignored the shop assistant and Qin Yanxing's words, walked straight downstairs, and approached the little beggar hiding under the table. She bent down gently, her smile kind, and without hesitation, took the little beggar's hand, pulling him out from under the table. She said softly, "He's probably just hungry and came in to beg for food because of the aroma." Then, Qin Wan looked at the little beggar, smiling gently, as if speaking to her own child: "But sneaking into someone else's shop is wrong. Shopkeepers open their doors to do business and welcome customers; your coming in will affect their business."
The little beggar didn't say anything.
Qin Huai knew he was shocked.
He was shocked by Qin Wan's attitude towards him, and confused as well. To this day, he still didn't understand why Qin Wan would give steamed buns to beggars, why she would give him that cotton coat back then, and why she would speak to him so softly today, teach him principles, and pull him out from under the table.
How could anyone say such things to a beggar? The most common thing people say to beggars is "Get out."
No one noticed the little beggar's stunned expression.
Qin Wan didn't notice that she was talking to Qin Yanxing: "In my opinion, he's just young and doesn't know any better. Just kick him out. There are a lot of disaster victims in the city recently. He probably fled here with his parents. He's already very pitiful."
After saying that, Qin Wan patted the little beggar. Only Qin Huai and the little beggar knew how gentle and light Qin Wan's patting motion was, as if she was afraid of using too much force, because the little beggar was still a child.
The little beggar left somewhat reluctantly, for leaving meant the end of his first encounter with Qin Wan.
Qin Wan said a lot to him, but the little beggar didn't say a word.
But the little beggar still went out, somewhat reluctantly. As he left, he glared fiercely at Chen Huihong, signaling to his fellow beggar to stay away from Qin Wan.
Chen Huihong gave the little beggar a look that said, "Are you sick?" and continued playing with the rocking horse in her hand.
At this moment, Qin Huai also understood Chen Huihong's speechlessness.
Putting myself in Chen Huihong's shoes is truly baffling; as a plant spirit, she's not the one with the most mental issues.
The plot unfolded as Qin Huai knew. Qin Yanxing wanted to get rid of Chen Huihong. After the shop assistant explained, Qin Yanxing told the shop assistant to give Chen Huihong two black-faced steamed buns to send her away. During this time, the little beggar stood at the shop door, staring at Chen Huihong, waiting for her to leave.
Seeing Chen Huihong get up to leave, he ran to the street corner to continue observing silently.
In that brief moment of distraction, Chen Huihong nearly bumped into the pregnant Qin Wan. The little beggar, who had already run to the side of the street, was so angry that he could only glare at Chen Huihong fiercely, his fists clenched.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Chen Huihong offered Qin Wan the dark-colored steamed buns the waiter had given her as an apology. Qin Wan didn't blame her; she simply smiled, squatted down, opened the food box, and exchanged the white steamed buns inside for Chen Huihong's dark-colored steamed buns.
The little beggar watched this scene from afar, so angry he almost ground his teeth to powder.
This was the first time Qin Huai had ever seen such an obvious outward expression of emotion in him—pure jealousy, without any other feelings mixed in.
Qin Huai could almost hear the roar in the little beggar's heart.
Why? What are you, you damned monster? I've been following Miss Qin for years and have only ever eaten her dark-colored steamed buns. Why can you eat white steamed buns after only seeing her once and almost bumping into her?
Qin Huai felt that the little beggar was a child who wanted to gain his mother's attention but was taciturn and didn't like to talk. He was always doing many things in silence, hoping that his mother would love him the most, but he never said it. Even if his mother didn't know, he still hoped that his mother would love him the most. When his mother turned her attention to other children, even if he was furious, he wouldn't say anything.
Qin Wan looked up and saw the little beggar on the street. She smiled and waved to him.
At that moment, all jealousy vanished.
The little beggar ran forward happily, running very fast. Qin Wan handed him a black steamed bun wrapped in a handkerchief, and at the same time gave him a white steamed bun, and slowly closed the food box.
"Next time you beg for food, remember to beg at the door, don't go inside, or you'll get beaten. Got it?"
The little beggar kept his head down, not daring to look up, because his expression was too obvious, and if he looked up, Qin Wan would see his happy yet shy expression.
The little beggar could only nod and say very softly, "Thank you."
This was the first time he had spoken to Qin Wan.
That was also the first time he said thank you.
This was at least the first time Qin Huai had heard the little beggar say thank you since he entered his memory. He had never said thank you before, whether begging for food or anything else. He always had an attitude of "take it or leave it, I won't starve anyway." When Shi Tou led him to beg for food at a wealthy family's house during the New Year, he only kowtowed but never said thank you. He could kowtow, but he would never say thank you.
This is the philosopher's final insistence.
After saying that, the little beggar ran away, back to his corner, to continue secretly observing.
He ended his first contact and first conversation with Qin Wan, holding the steamed bun Qin Wan had given him tightly in his hand.
At that moment, Qin Huai realized that the little beggar might really just be a child.
He is a superhumanly powerful spirit who can grant wishes. He is a formidable fighter; he can walk all the way from the Great Wall to Beiping on foot. He can carve out his own territory in the beggar circles of Beiping. Because he can't understand why Qin Wan does what she does, he follows her around like a stalker for years.
But he really is a child.
A child whose mental age is very consistent with his appearance of being only eight or nine years old.
He would feel happy, shy, jealous, and joyful; all his emotions changed depending on Qin Wan's attitude towards him.
Most of the time, he is an emotionless and indifferent spirit, but when facing Qin Wan, he is a child trying to learn how to be a person and explore the world.
Every spirit has its own way of entering the world, and perhaps this is how the little beggar did it.
(End of this chapter)