Chapter 2 May's Fresh Flowers (Part 2)

  "Is that you, Xiaocai?! No wonder I felt like I'd seen you before! What are you doing here?!" Team leader Zhou Ju was also surprised and delighted, her eyes wide with laughter as she asked.

  "It's hard to put into words!" The young man in a Changshan suit, known as a scholar, shook his head and made a painful expression. "Never mind the nonsense, do you have any silver dollars? Exchange some for me to save my life!"

  "Ocean, I still have some!" Zhou Ju had already heard enough of Xiao Huzi and Zhongshan's conversation earlier, nodded her head, smiled and responded, "But not to exchange with you, just borrow from you for now!"

  As he spoke, he turned around and smiled to introduce: "Dafang, this is Peng Xuewen, the Northern University genius we've mentioned before. Peng Xiucun, my middle school classmate. He's Fang Guoqiang, my university classmate."

  "Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!" Peng Xuewen, dressed in a Sun Yat-sen suit, took a half step forward and extended his hand to Fang Guoqiang.

  Fang Guoqiang was very disgusted with this person's sudden appearance and hasty borrowing of money from Zhou Ju, quickly shook hands with the other party and then quickly let go: "Nice to meet you! Zhou Ju told me two days ago that he wanted to entrust everyone's luggage to your dormitory. Fortunately, everyone didn't really do that!"

  This remark was quite sharp, making Peng Xuewen feel uncomfortable. However, he had a favor to ask of someone and couldn't afford to get angry. Just as he was feeling annoyed, Zhou Jue slapped Fang Guoqiang's shoulder and added with a smile: "Fang, you go give him 40 yuan first, I'll reimburse you later from my luggage. This is my personal expense, I'm paying out of my own pocket, not using public funds!"

  "Oh!" Fang Guoqiang was unwilling, but Zhou Ju had already declared that he would not move the donated funds, so he couldn't intervene too much. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to find Han Qiu for silver dollars.

  Afraid that the accommodation would lead to more trouble, Zhou Ju quickly turned his head back to Xiao Hu Zi's shopkeeper, "Book five double rooms for us, and one... wait a minute, scholar, didn't you book a single room just now?!"

  The second half of the sentence was said by Peng Xuewen. He guessed Zhou Ju's meaning and quickly shook his head with a smile, "We have five girls and six boys..."

  Zhou Ju suddenly turned his face back to Xiaohuzi shopkeeper, "Then five double rooms, plus one extra bed, all booked for one night! The deposit will be given to you immediately!"

  "Either a single room or a double room, our store has rules and doesn't allow sharing rooms!" The mustachioed shopkeeper responded coldly, looking down on Zhou Ju's stinginess.

  "Then five double rooms and one single room will do. Are there enough rooms available? We are paying cash this time!" Zhou Ju had no choice but to go along with the arrangement, thinking "the guest follows the host's convenience".

  "There's definitely some today, but tomorrow is uncertain if you don't book in advance. Don't blame me for not warning you when the time comes!" Little Beard shrugged and reminded him lightly.

  It's not worth arguing with this kind of person, Zhou Ju thought. He picked up the pen and signed his name in the guest book, then turned to arrange for everyone to check-in. After walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered that there were still three coachmen in the group, so he stopped and turned back to Little Hu Zi, saying, "Change it to seven double rooms, please. We also have three coachmen. Also, prepare space for six horses in the stable and add some premium feed!"

  "You're crazy, giving the coachmen such an expensive room. They can't afford a night's stay anywhere!" Before Little Hu could respond, Peng Xuewen quickly intervened and rushed to the counter to add: "Shopkeeper, do you have rooms for servants? Your hotel is so big, surely you don't treat the masters and servants the same, making them live together?"

  "There are eight people in the yard behind the building, five cents per bed. You can share a room, no matter what you eat!" Little Hu Zi dragged his voice and responded very unhappily.

  "Never mind, just arrange for seven single rooms!" Zhou Ju's face suddenly changed color, his eyebrows raised, and he emphasized loudly.

  "Alright, you have money, what's it to me?!" Peng Xuewen's good intentions were misunderstood, and he blushed with anger. Zhou Ju ignored him and insisted that the innkeeper arrange for the drivers and the others to stay in rooms of the same standard. The three drivers, who were helping the students carry their luggage, overheard the conversation between Zhou Ju and Peng Xuewen. They looked at each other and bowed slightly towards Zhou Ju: "The three of us can make do with a simple place. Young Master Zhou, you don't need to specially arrange for high-class rooms for us."

  "How can that be? We agreed to provide food and accommodation!" Zhou Ju smiled kindly at the three of them, returning their greetings with a bow. "Besides, we owe it to you three for this trip."

  "It's not a matter of being grateful or not. Taking people's money and running errands for them is just the norm in our line of work!" The oldest car owner chuckled and shook his head, "You really don't have to be so polite, the high-rise upstairs, we three can't even get used to it. If you're really willing, just give us the store's savings directly as a discount, we'll need to save up some more for emergencies since war is about to break out again!"

  This remark not only acknowledged Zhou Ju's kindness but also benefited his own family, truly a win-win situation. Seeing the old master insist on not living together with himself, Zhou Ju could only smile and agree, "Alright, when we arrive in Beiping, I'll add three more silver dollars to each of your fares."

  "Thank you, young master!" The three carters happily bowed and then gave Peng Xuewen a white-eyed glance before putting down their luggage and leaving with a swagger.

  After all the commotion, the Blood Flower Society members who were waiting outside also came in with their luggage. They stood at the hotel counter, waiting for Xiao Huzi to arrange their rooms. Peng Xuewen walked out the door and called his companions inside as well. Grabbing one of them by the hand, he quickly returned to Zhou Ju's side, "Shitou, take a look at who this is?!"

  Zhou Ju, who was taking silver coins with Fang Guoqiang and others, was startled again, then beamed with surprise, "Weiwei, you're here too?! Haha, it's been years since we last met, and you've grown so tall!"

  "Brother Shi, I didn't expect it to be you! I thought my brother was fooling me!" The little girl called Weiwei had big eyes, long eyebrows, and a sweet red mouth. "It's been many years since I last saw you. That year, you took me to the suburbs with my brother to catch birds, and we were chased by wild dogs. My brother ran away himself, but you spread your arms to protect me. Now that I think about it, it feels like it happened yesterday!"

  "Ah, ah, in the blink of an eye, my dear Weiwei has grown up into a big girl!" Zhou Ju patted Peng Weiwei's hair lovingly, just like an older brother. "It's really fast, just a flash. How did you end up with your brother? And how are your parents doing? Are they in good health?"

  "Thank you, Shi Tou Ge. My dad and mom are very well. They were just praising you the other day!" Peng Weiwei's eyes sparkled like a movie doll, and her speech was also like that. "I had no place to play during the summer vacation, so I went to Beiping to find my brother. Who would have thought, who would have thought that war was about to break out there? Then my brother and his classmates said they would send me back home. I didn't want to go, so they said they would take me with them to Nanjing instead. As a result, the train suddenly stopped again, and cars weren't running either..."

  In a few words, she had already exposed all of Peng Xuewen's secrets, leaving her own brother unable to even raise an eyebrow in time. Zhou Ju heard this and found it strange, his eyebrows slightly rising as he turned to look at Peng Xuewen, seeing that the latter didn't seem to want to explain. He smiled and continued to ask: "You haven't eaten yet today, right? Later on, let's eat together! I bought some oil swirls from the provincial city, I'll take them out for you later!"

  "Great, great! I haven't had fried dough fritters for years!" Peng Weiwei was so hungry that her eyes were dim, and as soon as she heard there was something delicious, she clapped her hands with a smile.

  "Vivian, how old are you? You're really something!" Peng Xuewen was so angry that he couldn't help but laugh and cry as his own sister walked up to him, gently tugging on the corner of his clothes.

  "Brother Shi is not an outsider!" Peng Weiwei turned her head and rolled her eyes at him.

  Peng Xuewen had been helpless against his eccentric little sister since childhood, and he let out a sigh. Then, he helplessly spread his hands to Zhou Ju and smiled as he suggested, "You guys haven't eaten yet either, right? Let's just all eat together then. This meal, I'll treat you!"

  "Alright, do you have money? They only accept cash!" Zhou Ju teased with a smile. The unpleasantness from earlier due to the arrangement of the driver's accommodation with Peng Xuewen had already dissipated.

  "If not, I'll just keep borrowing from you, Mr. Zhou! Peng Xuewen put on a dead pig's expression, grinning from ear to ear. "Anyway, I have fiat currency here, they don't want it, so I'll exchange it with you. If you're not willing to exchange either, tomorrow I'll go out and find a pawnshop, sell it to them at a discount! I just don't believe it, in this Republic's territory, the national legal tender is still being treated as scrap paper!"

  The national legal tender, no one dares to treat it as waste paper. However, since the fiat currency was issued, its price has been fluctuating. The central government, apart from repeatedly ordering local institutions not to use the old silver and copper coins, had no solution. Ordinary people, due to their lack of trust in the central government's creditworthiness, were also unwilling to exchange their hard cash for a pile of colorful paper notes.

  Seeing Peng Xuewen's shameless appearance, Zhou Ju guessed that he was forced to have no way out, smiled and nodded in agreement. "Forget it, I'll exchange with you instead! Consider it as me owing you from my previous life! However, we can't exchange too much!"

  He doesn't think the French currency is that despicable. This trip is to lead a team to join the student army, once on the battlefield, it's equivalent to putting one's life in the hands of heaven. The cash carried with him, it's uncertain whether he'll have the chance to spend it all in this lifetime! Moreover, although the French currency may not be popular among civilians, government departments and the military will definitely not refuse it. Carrying a stack of it in his wallet is more convenient than carrying silver dollars for emergency needs.

  "You originally owed me!" Peng Xuewen continued to smile and put his arm around Zhou Ju's shoulder, laughing as he led him towards his companions. "Come on, come on, everyone has met our noble guest! If it weren't for him, we would have really had to sleep on the streets tonight! Zhou Ju, Zhou Yu's Zhou, Double Jade Orb... from Guan County, nicknamed Half City Zhou..."

  "Thank you, Brother Zhou!" The students from Beiping came forward and greeted Zhou Ju together. Zhou Ju quickly bowed his hands to return the courtesy, while introducing his companions one by one to the others, "They are all my classmates from Shandong University, younger brothers. Fang Guoqiang, Lu Ming, Tian Qingyu, Liu Jing, Han Qiu, Zhang Xiaoru, Li Di......" When he introduced Zhang Songling, he paused for a moment and added with a smile, "His name is Zhang Songling, a top student from Shandong Provincial No. 1 Middle School this year, who got first place in all four subjects, and is planning to take the entrance exam for your Beida!"

  "Really?!" The crowd of Beiping students who had just lost face because they couldn't find the accommodation for Da Yangzi, now all regained their composure and turned their eyes to Zhang Songling, asking in surprise.

  "I, I, my teacher suggested that I take the entrance exam for Peking University, it's just, just don't know if I can get in!" Zhang Songling was stared at by everyone, his hands and feet had nowhere to put, his face red, stuttering and answering.

  "Of course you can get in, of course you can get in. Being the first in grade at Provincial No. 1 Middle School is that easy to obtain?" Peng Xuewen understood Zhang Songling's embarrassment at this moment, and walked up with a smile, patted his shoulder, "We believe in you! And welcome you! Weiwei, find all the previous years' questions I collected for you later, and copy a set for Little Zhang! Let him have some mental preparation first!"

  "Ah!" Hearing her brother introduce himself and offer to lend his belongings to a stranger, Peng Weiwei responded reluctantly. Turning around, she saw Zhang Songling's rosy face and thought this person was quite interesting. Smiling, she said straightforwardly: "After you settle down later, come find me yourself to get it. My name is Peng Weiwei, from Handan Girls' Middle School, graduated this year, nice to meet you!"

  "My name is Zhang Songling, Shandong, graduated from National No.1 Middle School of Shandong Province, very, very happy....." Seeing the hand stretched out towards him, Zhang Songling's face turned even redder with embarrassment. His hands instinctively moved behind his back, but fearing to lose face in front of his companions, he took a deep breath and quickly turned them around, grasping the other person's four fingers.

  Soft, extremely soft, like the four sisters in the neighbor's house who just celebrated their full moon, warm and gentle, with a slightly numb feeling.

  "Hmph......" Peng Weiwei couldn't help but purse her lips and smile as she took in Zhang Songling's big boy-like appearance.

  In that instant, it was as if tens of millions of suns exploded before Zhang Songling's eyes, causing all things in the world to lose their color.

  Note 1: Youxun'er. A Jinan specialty snack.