NOVEL WEB
Chapter 25
"Damn, I forgot to have Li Xiaoya take some blankets and clothes back with her," Sheng Yuxiao frowned as he sat in the hospital room.
This chapter is by "Never mind, I'll just bring them to her when I go back."
After Li Xiaoya returned to Li Family Village, Sheng Yuxiao grew restless in the hospital room, partly worried that Qin Sui might win her over.
He scrolled through his phone, not even slightly tempted to open any of the game icons.
With nothing else to do, the young master made a call: "Hey, Brother Yang, give me the number for the investment office over there."
The audience was still speculating: [Is the young master about to invest?]
[So wealthy, investing is like eating and drinking for him, I'm envious]
[I wish they'd come film in my hometown, it's poor too]
While the comments were still buzzing, the screen suddenly went black.
Sheng Yuxiao had temporarily removed the camera and microphone.
Soon, the small hospital room became lively as Sheng Yuxiao met with some people.
These visitors were quite surprised; usually, investment deals were made over drinks, but today it was happening in a hospital room. And they'd never seen such a big investor take the initiative like this!
"Sit down, everyone, make yourselves comfortable," Sheng Yuxiao said, toning down his usual arrogant demeanor, which made the visitors feel even more honored.
"Is this Mr. Sheng's idea?" someone asked cautiously.
Sheng Yuxiao shook his head: "To be honest, my father wouldn't be interested in this kind of project. No matter how hard you try, it won't work."
The people across from him grew anxious: "Then..."
Sheng Yuxiao said, "I can invest in you."
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"I'll invest the money I was going to use to buy a sports car next year. It's about six million yuan."
The eyes of the people across from him immediately lit up with excitement. One of them urged his assistant: "Come on, give the project proposal to this..."
Sheng Yuxiao interrupted: "No, I don't want to see that first." He paused and said, "You have a place called Stone Ox Town, right? In Stone Ox Town, there's a person I don't know exactly where he works, but I know his name is Li Song, and he's the son of the Li Family Village chief. Oh, you know I've been filming a show in Li Family Village recently, right?"
"Yes, yes, we know. This Li Song..." The person opposite him paused, then asked tactfully, "Did he offend you?"
Sheng Yuxiao opened his phone and played a recorded conversation.
"Listen to this. What nerve, trying to scheme against me," Sheng Yuxiao said with a cold smile.
Half an hour later, the group left the hospital room.
As soon as they were out, their first words were: "This Li Song, he's got no integrity. He's really damaging our reputation! How will people judge us in the future? Will they say 'poor mountains and vicious waters breed wicked people'? How can we attract investment like that?"
"We absolutely can't keep this kind of black sheep around."
Back in the hospital room, Sheng Yuxiao reattached the camera but didn't rush to upload the recording online.
That recording would still be useful later.
Soon after, Sheng Jun came to visit him again and asked in surprise, "You're in a good mood?"
Sheng Yuxiao nodded.
He was looking forward to seeing how Li Xiaoya would thank him later. Would the little girl cry with gratitude? Just imagining the scene made Sheng Yuxiao feel very satisfied.
Time passed, and it was suddenly 6:30 in the evening.
Qin Sui came out with a grim face and told the production team, "Li Xiaoya hasn't come back yet."
The production team also felt it was getting late, so they went to ask Grandpa Li for the phone number of the great-aunt's house.
Grandpa Li didn't know anything about it.
The production team's brows furrowed: "Grandpa Li says he doesn't know the great-aunt's number."
Qin Sui felt something was off: "Then how was the message passed? How did Grandpa Li know that Li Xiaoya's great-aunt wanted her to visit?"
The production team realized he had a point and quickly went back to ask again.
[Qin Sui is so sharp!]
[If you ask me, the production team shouldn't have let Li Xiaoya go alone. Such a young child, it's dangerous on the roads]
[Li Xiaoya has lived here since birth, doesn't she know better than you? She's probably used to visiting relatives, what could go wrong?]
After a while, a staff member came out and relayed: "Grandpa Li says the great-aunt always calls the village store, and then someone from the store comes to pass the message to him."
"Let's go to the store," Qin Sui immediately ordered.
The store had an old-fashioned landline phone. The owner sat next to it, spitting out melon seed shells as he spoke: "Who remembers phone numbers these days? It's not like they're my relatives."
Qin Sui gave him a dark look.
Though Qin Sui wasn't even half the store owner's age, that one look was enough to scare him. The melon seeds scattered all over the ground.
The production team members glanced at Qin Sui's expression, knowing this situation wouldn't end well. They sprang into action: "Let's ask around, go door to door, find out if anyone knows where Li Xiaoya's great-aunt lives, or if they know her number..."
Qin Sui cut in: "Offer a cash reward."
When the store owner heard this, his chest tightened with regret. Why hadn't he remembered that number!
This was the busiest day in Li Family Village since Li Qingqing left, when the village chief set off countless firecrackers.
But the village's electricity wasn't very reliable. As time passed and night fell, the lights went out one by one until only a few households still had lights on. Everywhere else was pitch black.
"Should we wait until early tomorrow morning to look? It's late now, the roads are all dirt, we can't drive, and even with flashlights on foot, it's easy to fall into a ditch," the chief director suggested.
Qin Sui responded with a simple "Mm."
This response left the audience on edge.
Only a few people were still skeptical: [It's obviously just a script from the production team, right? Maybe they're using this chance to improve Li Xiaoya's image]
When the village chief learned that the production team was searching everywhere, he couldn't help feeling guilty.
"These people have nothing better to do, why are they so concerned about this?" the village chief grumbled.
In his view, a village child not returning for a night while visiting relatives should be a trivial matter. Why were these city folks getting so worked up?
The village chief quickly reassured himself. It's fine, it's fine. After all, Grandpa Li himself had arranged this. Don't elders have the right to make decisions for children? What right did these outsiders have to interfere?
By this time, Li Xiaoya had already been taken to the city by her uncle.
Her uncle smiled and said, "Don't think about it anymore. No one's going to come looking for you."
He carried Li Xiaoya into a residential complex: "You've never seen such a beautiful place, have you? Uncle lives here. Uncle will take you to live with him. It's a blessing you couldn't earn in eight lifetimes, understand?"
This was a high-end residential area in the county.
Although it couldn't compare to big cities, it was indeed very famous locally.
Li Xiaoya said in a hoarse voice, "I don't want good fortune."
Uncle Li's face changed with anger, but he quickly calmed down and said with a smile, "You just haven't experienced the good life yet. Once you do, you won't want to leave."
As they were talking, a down-and-out middle-aged man carrying a briefcase walked towards them.
The man spotted Li Xiaoya at once.
It couldn't be helped; the child was too beautiful, eye-catching.
The man's eyes lit up.
Isn't this the little girl who was selling mushrooms with the Maybach the other day? So she lives here? I wonder if that young Master Qin is around!
The man was actually the small business owner who had bought all the expensive mushrooms in one go that day.
He had wanted to strike up a conversation with them then but didn't get the chance.
Now the opportunity had come knocking!
"Brother!" the man approached, about to offer a cigarette to Uncle Li.
Uncle Li didn't want any complications, so he pretended not to see and walked straight ahead.
Li Xiaoya, with her good memory, also recognized the small business owner.
She opened her mouth to shout, "Uncle, help—"
In a flash, Uncle Li realized she knew the man, so he covered Li Xiaoya's mouth and whispered threateningly in her ear, "If you dare to speak out of turn, uncle will hang you up and spank you."
With that, Uncle Li hurriedly carried Li Xiaoya away.
The man's hand, holding the cigarette, froze in mid-air, stunned.
At this moment, Li Uncle's Wife smiled and said, "The child is very tired from the journey, please don't disturb her sleep, or it'll be hard to comfort her later."
Then she hurriedly followed.
A boy of about fourteen or fifteen was following the woman, walking with a limp and keeping silent.
The man watched the family walk away, feeling an intense sense of incongruity.
Thinking about his impending bankruptcy, the man decided to follow them, planning to find out where they lived so he could visit tomorrow with some cigarettes and alcohol as gifts.
Uncle Li was very strong. When Li Xiaoya was put down, there were clear finger marks around her mouth.
Uncle Li shook his head at her and said, "You're not being very obedient. I need to discipline you properly." He turned to his wife and said, "Lock her up, don't give her any blankets or water."