Chapter 1160
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Chapter 1160 Graffiti Wall
Cao Yuan saw that the child was looking at him, with no sign of evasion or fear in his eyes, which slightly eased his heavy mood.
He walked up to the boy, crouched down, and asked as kindly as possible:
“Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Why should I be afraid of you?” the boy calmly replied, “I’ve seen people who look fiercer than you, it’s no big deal.”
Hearing this, Cao Yuan’s mood greatly improved.
“What’s your name? How old are you?”
“Wu Quan, fifteen years old.”
“Fourteen years old… Are you in school?”
“Ninth grade.”
“Ninth grade? Should be preparing for high school entrance exams, right? Don’t you have school today?”
“Today is Sunday, no school.”
“That’s right… Good boy, study hard, you’ll definitely have a bright future.”
Cao Yuan nodded repeatedly in approval.
After chatting for a few sentences, just as Cao Yuan was about to stand up, Wu Quan suddenly spoke:
“Brother Qingzhu… is he really on a secret mission?”
Cao Yuan’s gaze sharpened, then he smiled and said, “Yes, why do you ask?”
Wu Quan’s pitch-black eyes stared at Cao Yuan for a long time:
“…Oh.”
After speaking, Wu Quan turned and walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
“Cao Yuan, come over here for a moment.” Just as Cao Yuan was sighing, An Qingyu poked his head out from another door and beckoned to him.
Cao Yuan walked over, “What is it?”
“Look at this.”
Cao Yuan entered the room and saw four or five children sitting on a rubber mat in the center of the room playing, while An Qingyu stood alone in front of a white wall, one hand supporting his chin, as if deep in thought.
Following An Qingyu’s gaze, Cao Yuan discovered that the wall before them was covered with various crooked colorful doodles.
Each doodle had a different style – there were blue birds flying, black cars, red crosses, little painters holding brushes and palettes…
Next to these diverse doodles were names written in crooked handwriting, seemingly done by children.
“What is this?” Cao Yuan asked.
“It’s the children’s career dream wall,” An Qingyu said, pushing up his glasses.
“They told me that every child living in this orphanage draws what they want to do in the future, or who they want to become.
That girl in the red jacket, named Li Xiaoyan, drew the red cross on the wall. Her dream is to become a nurse.
And that boy playing with the racing car model, named Qian Cheng, dreams of becoming a race car driver…
However, what I really wanted to show you is this.”
An Qingyu pointed to the center of the wall.
Cao Yuan followed his finger and was slightly startled.
In the center of the doodle wall, drawn in the most vibrant red strokes, were three neat characters:
—Shen Qingzhu.
Although the strokes were somewhat childish, the strangest thing was that there were no doodles around this name.
“Where is Big Bro’s dream?” Cao Yuan asked, puzzled.
“Once, he had no dream,” An Qingyu said helplessly. “Or rather, his dream was to become himself…”
“…That’s indeed his character.”
Cao Yuan sighed, his gaze slightly shifting to land beside Shen Qingzhu’s name.
There was a black umbrella, and whether by coincidence or not, the umbrella’s canopy perfectly covered the area above Shen Qingzhu’s name, as if protecting it under its ribs.
And in the corner of this black umbrella were two small characters:
Wu Quan.
The face of that cold boy immediately appeared in Cao Yuan’s mind.
“This child…” he murmured.
“What is it?” An Qingyu asked, noticing Cao Yuan’s strange expression.
“…Nothing.”
Cao Yuan withdrew his gaze, “Shouldn’t we help them deal with the demolition issue?”
“Seven Night and Fatty are already working on it.”
An Qingyu turned his head to look at the two figures conversing outside the window.
…
Dense raindrops fell like curtains from the eaves, gradually engulfing the view in misty vapor.
“What happened?”
Lin Qiye looked at Baili Pangpang, who seemed hesitant to speak, and asked with confusion.
“Seven Night, this Li Group is quite thorny,” Baili Pangpang’s expression was somewhat grave.
“This real estate company isn’t just some local small enterprise. Its scale is very large. Although not as big as our Baili Group, it ranks in the top five in Great Xia, and is a leading presence in the southern market.
Trying to acquire it through business means isn’t impossible… but it definitely won’t be as simple as acquiring a few small companies like before. This would take at least a year of preparation.
I’ve already had our PR team try to negotiate with Li Group, to see if they can let go of this Linjiang plot, but the possibility is slim. After all, in the south, Li Group is the local power.”
“A year…” Lin Qiye let out a long sigh.
A one-year buffer period – this orphanage probably couldn’t hold out that long. Moreover, it wouldn’t be fair to Baili Pangpang and the group behind him to expend such great human and financial resources for this matter.
“Let’s talk about it properly after Director Liu returns.”
“Mm.”
“…But does it take this long just to buy some groceries?”
Lin Qiye looked at the time, somewhat puzzled.
“On a rainy day, it’s normal for an elderly person to walk slowly… Look, isn’t he back now?”
Lin Qiye turned to look and saw Old Liu slowly walking in through the iron gate, carrying fully loaded plastic bags and holding an umbrella. His clothes were soaked through, with some mud stains on the hem, as if he had brushed against something somewhere.
“Grandpa’s back!”
Li Xiaoyan saw this from the window and immediately ran out of the house with the other children, taking the plastic bags and umbrella from him, and ran laughing toward the kitchen.
“Grandpa Liu, what are we having for dinner tonight?”
“Wow! It’s pork belly! I see a big piece of pork belly!”
“And roast chicken? Smells so good…”
“Stupid Qian Cheng! No stealing food! Wait in the kitchen until Grandpa finishes cooking!”
“Run slowly, don’t fall… bunch of little rascals.” Old Liu slowly walked under the eaves, waved his umbrella, and looked at the running children with a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
He patted the mud off his clothes, glanced at Lin Qiye and the others,
“Get yourselves ready, I’ll cook dinner in a bit, and we’ll all eat together. We won’t miss a few more pairs of chopsticks.
This rain today won’t stop anytime soon. After dinner, I’ll prepare a few beds for you, and you can leave tomorrow morning.”
Without waiting for Lin Qiye and the others to refuse, Old Liu hurriedly went into the room to change clothes.
Cao Yuan and the others, who had been unexpectedly arranged for so clearly, exchanged glances and smiled helplessly.
“I’ll go help out.” Cao Yuan stood up and followed Old Liu into the kitchen.
“This old man, though he looks fierce, seems to have quite a good heart,” Baili Pangpang remarked.
He turned around, about to say something else, but saw that Lin Qiye’s brows were tightly furrowed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s not right,” Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes, looking in the direction Old Liu had gone.
“He’s… injured.”
