Chapter Seventy-One: Return to the Capital

  "Hello, Chief!" I walked to the front of the car and thought for a moment, still deciding to call out to the person inside as "Chief". After all, I wasn't familiar with them, and suddenly calling them "Uncle" might make them unhappy.

  "Lou Miao Miao, I know your name, come on up and chat with me!" What made me unexpected was that Hou Shuang's dad was actually very down-to-earth. Upon hearing this, two men dressed in black suits resembling bodyguards immediately blocked my way and then gestured for me to get on the car.

  Don't misunderstand, they're not covering for me. If the car door is opened, only this angle can see inside the car. They stood there, just blocking the line of sight completely. In this way, it can protect the safety of the leader in the car to the greatest extent.

  "Drive!" Not until I and Hou Shuangshuang had both gotten on the car did the leader quietly say to the driver.

  "I know everything that happened this time, thank you for taking care of my daughter's safety over there. This is a father expressing his gratitude to you!" The motorcade drove away from the airport runway, and the airport control was also lifted. In the car, Hou Shuangshuang's dad expressed his gratitude to me. And looking at those envious, admiring, and respectful eyes outside the window, I felt especially pleased in my heart!

  "Secondly, your actions this time were too rash. You know how much passive diplomatic pressure you've put on the country? I'm putting my face on the line this time, and 1 only gave me this respect because of that. After all, it took me over 40 years to have such a precious daughter. But as a result, all those past feelings are now cleared to zero. Young people should think more about the consequences before acting. In this world, relationships between people, including countries, aren't always what you want them to be!" Just after thanking my lifesaver, they turned around and lectured me!

  "Dad, are you done yet? This time it's completely self-defense. Even if we follow the strict legal procedures, at most it would be excessive defense. How could it be as serious as you said? The Koreans really have a point, they will give in? I don't believe that after I entered the country, their agents wouldn't be tailing me. I reckon that once this incident happened, Cheong Wa Dae received reports immediately. It's just that they didn't plan to care about my life or death from the beginning, and now that things have been exposed, they're taking advantage of the situation." Hou Shuangshuang suddenly turned her head from the passenger seat and spoke rapidly to her dad.

  "Hehe, when did my little troublemaker at home have such high political awareness? What you said isn't wrong, but even if you're in the right, this kind of thing can only happen once." Hou Shuangshuang's dad reached out and scratched her nose, saying with a spoiled tone.

  "Alright, you can get off now. I still have to go to work, so I won't keep you young people company anymore. If it's convenient for you, Lou, you're welcome to visit my home as a guest. Enjoy yourself, once you arrive in Beijing, you should play the host and take good care of your friends, play together for a few more days. And remember, don't get into trouble!" As he turned the car onto a quiet little road, Hou Shuangshuang's dad gave us our marching orders. Although I didn't know what position her dad held, judging from his demeanor, it couldn't be anything low-ranking.

  "This old thing, not a bit of human touch, just threw us out on the road like this!" After getting off the bus, Hou Shuangshuang looked at me and Qian Ligou standing by the side of the road, stamped her foot and shouted loudly in the direction the bus team was leaving.

  "I'm not familiar with the place, can you arrange a place for me to stay overnight and I'll head back home tomorrow?" I said to Hou Shuangshuang while pulling out the handle of my luggage and dragging it on the ground.

  "What's the hurry? Didn't Xiaobao's dad say we can stay here and play for a few more days?" Unlike my eagerness to return home, Qian Ligu seemed more interested in playing.

  "How about this, shall I take you guys to Sanlitun tonight? I can tell you, it's a lot of fun there. There are countless handsome guys and beautiful girls, yellow, black, white, brown, all kinds of colors! " Hou Shuangshuang was sent home by someone, but at this moment, she was excitedly introducing us to the fun places.

  "I'm going! I'm going!" Qian Ligou echoed in agreement.

  "You guys go ahead, I'm not in a hurry, my money isn't spent yet and I've come back, I need to find a place to exchange it for RMB or else it'll be such a waste!" I took out several bundles of Korean currency from my bag and said to Hou Shuangshuang with a bitter face. Originally, the plan was to spend all the money in Korea before leaving, but who would have thought that these two girls would cause such trouble?

  "The bank is not the place to go, Korean won and RMB cannot be exchanged directly. If you want to exchange, you have to change it into US dollars first and then change it into RMB. This way, you will lose a lot of money in the process, I'll take you to the black market to exchange instead." Hou Shuangshuang patted my shoulder and took charge of everything.

  "Right, after exchanging money I'll just go buy a Motorcycle Palm Treasure!" The little girl still remembered this matter.

  "This is the Korean version, I won't be able to use it even if I take it back. Oppa, can you help me exchange it too?" Qian Ligu took out her phone and looked at it, except for the clock function, all other functions were unavailable. Then she pulled my arm and coquettishly said

  "Do you think I'm a counterfeit?" I asked indignantly.

  "Then I won't take you to exchange money, you can keep it for yourself to wipe your butt with, humph!" Little Shifu's killer move was unleashed.

  "It's just that, you might as well consider this money gone. If it's not exchanged for RMB, it's just worthless paper and you'll lose tens of thousands. Xiaoshuang will take you to exchange the money, at most you'll only lose 20-30 thousand to buy us phones! What to do next is up to you, Oba!" Qian Ligu was fanning the flames on the side.

  "Swap!" I weighed the pros and cons for a while, then gritted my teeth and said viciously to the two girls.

  That month, it was hard to buy anything good even with money. After wandering around and finding a black market, I exchanged Korean currency for RMB, and under the coercion of two girls, I arrived at the business hall. After spending 24,000 yuan, I got three coffee-colored mobile phones and left amidst the hazy autumn waves of the salesgirl's eyes. Why did I get three coffee-colored ones? Because only this color was available.

  "Look, I'll teach you how to use it! Before making a call or answering the phone, first pull out this antenna. See that green button? After dialing the number, press it and the call will go through. Then when receiving a call, you can set it to flip open to answer or press a key to answer. Isn't it convenient? This way, in the future we'll be able to contact each other easily." As soon as we walked out of the store, Qian Li Gu couldn't wait to teach me and Hou Shuang how to use our new cell phones on the street. And so, I once again enjoyed the envious, jealous, and resentful glances from others, including some admiring gazes from girls.

  This is not nonsense, at that time mobile phones were a luxury in the country. Those who could hang a mobile phone on their waist were considered rich by others. Rich, now when they appear, aren't they just like me back then? Haha!

  "Come on, let's go get a room! Rest in the afternoon and have fun together at night!" Hou Shuangshuang said the word that everyone would say most often 10 years later - "get a room".

  The room opened two rooms, huh of course it's two rooms, what did you think? Hid in the room and took a bath, then changed into a clean set of clothes. I picked up my newly bought mobile phone and made a call home.

  "Who is it!" As soon as the phone was answered, my mother's voice came through!

  "Heh heh heh, guess what?" I mischievously grinned over there.

  "You little stinker is back? When did you get home? I'll go buy some groceries, by the way, has Xiao Ying come back too?" Old mom wouldn't forget her own son's voice, and immediately started firing off questions on the phone.

  "Ah! She's back too, now she's out shopping." Ever since parting with the witch at the airport, I didn't know where she went either. When mom asked me about it, I could only tell a kind-hearted lie. I couldn't say that your son actually went to Korea alone. What I said before about accompanying her was just a deception!

  "Oh! So when she comes back, let her give me a call. It's been several days and I've actually started to miss this girl!" A lie begins with countless lies to end it. Suddenly, I feel that this sentence, which I don't know where I saw it, makes sense. Now, where can I find the demon girl?

  "Alright, she still has some time to hang out anyway. When she gets back, just have her give you a call!" Helpless, I had no choice but to continue the lie for now.

  "Besides, mom, we can only go home in a few days, now we are in Beijing! Just got off the plane!" I was afraid that my mom would think I could arrive home today, so I quickly explained to her.

  "Oh, in Beijing. Almost home, remember to give me a call, I'll go buy some dishes you like to eat!" Mom was clearly somewhat disappointed, but then immediately became happy again, because Beijing is far away, it's still the capital of her own country. On her own turf, she didn't have much to worry about!

  "I know, you and dad should eat something good at home too, don't be so frugal all the time, health is the most important." I advised my thrifty mom. Because I knew that when I was not at home, my parents rarely had meat to eat.

  "Now that you're older, eating vegetarian food is good for your body. Also, don't be wasteful, or how will you afford to marry a wife in the future, silly son? Don't worry about things at home, just remember to come back early after you're done with work." A mother's worries are endless, and my old mom can never put her mind at ease when it comes to me. Even though I'm already an adult and should start taking legal responsibility for my actions, in her heart, I'm still that little kid who used to play in the alleyways and paint pictures of foreigners."

  "After a few busy days, I'll be back. I'll hang up the phone first then. Oh right, mom, don't forget to remind dad to drink in moderation and smoke less!" Before hanging up the phone, I didn't forget to ask my old mom to supervise my old dad.

  "Alright, I know. Long-distance calls are expensive, hurry up and hang up! There's nothing to talk about when you get home!" Mom has never been extravagant in her life. Even making a phone call, she's calculating the cost. As soon as she finishes speaking, she hangs up the phone.