flstandardbreds Chapter 141 Unlock new characters
Chapter 141 Unlock new characters
Time flies, and the year is drawing to a close.
On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the entire film crew was given a day off.
Xue Ni was going back to her hometown to pay respects to her deceased parents. Li Xi had no family left, so he accompanied Xue Ni to her hometown first and helped her pay respects to her deceased uncle and aunt.
After spending one night at Xue Ni's hometown, the two took the high-speed train to Li Xi's hometown the next day.
The "Eighteen Cities of Dongzhou" refers to an economic alliance zone comprised of 14 near-first-tier cities and 4 first-tier bustling cities along the eastern coast.
Kaizhou City ranks last among the 18 cities. Li Xi's hometown is a small town called Changshou Town in Deyi County of Kaizhou City.
The high-speed rail only goes to Deyi County. After arriving in the county seat, it takes another hour and a half by car to get home.
The old house of Li Xi's family is a two-story villa. Although no one has lived there for many years, they have been taking care of it with the help of their neighbor, Aunt Zhou's family.
The old house is frequently ventilated and is still habitable.
On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Xi called Aunt Zhou and her husband, asking them to find someone to help clean the house so she could bring her friends back for the New Year.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhou assumed that Li Xi was bringing her boyfriend home. After hanging up the phone, she couldn't stop smiling and went to clean the old house.
The two sisters arrived at the county's high-speed rail station at 3 p.m.
Li Xi rented a car and took Xue Ni to the supermarket for a big shopping spree, and also prepared gifts for the neighbors.
Xue Ni lives in the city and has a rather distant relationship with her neighbors, so she naturally doesn't need to prepare these things when she goes home.
She was very surprised to see that Li Xi had bought so many New Year's gifts. "You went to so much trouble to come home this time. You even had to prepare gifts for the neighbors?"
“Our town is small, and almost everyone knows each other. I now live in Dongzhou City, and my old home is taken care of by my neighbors. It’s rare for me to come back, so of course I have to bring gifts.”
"besides."
Li Xi told Xue Ni, "You know I was an abandoned baby. When my dad found me, I was still a newborn."
“At that time, my neighbor Aunt Zhou had just given birth to a son, and I grew up drinking Aunt Zhou’s milk. When I was little, my father would go out to run errands, and my grandmother and I would stay at home with the help of the neighbors.”
"To put it simply, I was practically watched grow up by my neighbors in town."
Hearing this, Xue Ni was also deeply moved, "Then you should bring a gift."
When Li Xi drove back to Changshou Town, it was almost dark. His neighbor, Aunt Zhou, had already prepared a sumptuous dinner.
As soon as Li Xi parked her car downstairs, she heard a smiling young man's voice call her name: "Is that Li Xi?"
Li Xi and Xue Ni turned around at the same time to look at Aunt Zhou's house next door, and saw a handsome young man in a black down jacket striding towards them.
Xue Ni gently pinched Li Xi's arm and whispered in her ear, "Handsome guy!"
Li Xi smiled inexplicably, "Handsome as he is, it's a pity he has such a dog's mouth..."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the handsome young man in black said, "Li Xi, have you not grown at all these years? How come you're only this short?"
Zhou Qi reached out and gestured above Li Xi's head, then pouted and said, "We drink the same milk, and I'm already 183cm tall, while you're only a little above my chin."
What's wrong with you?
Upon hearing this, Xue Ni, who is only 158 cm tall, instinctively hid behind Li Xi.
Li Xi rolled her eyes. "Zhou Qi, after all these years, you still can't say anything nice."
Li Xi grew up on Zhou Qi's mother's milk. The two of them grew up playing and fighting together until Li's father took Li Xi to Dongzhou City, at which point they were separated.
After that, Li Xi and Zhou Qi stopped seeing each other.
Until a few years ago, Li Xi brought her father's urn back to the small town for burial. At that time, Zhou Qi was still in high school in the county.
Upon receiving the news, he took leave to pick up Li Xi from the high-speed rail station and bring her home, where he helped the townspeople bury her father.
After that, they added each other on WeChat and slowly rekindled their childhood friendship.
Zhou Qi noticed Xue Ni's presence and asked Li Xi, "Didn't you say you were bringing your boyfriend home for the New Year? Why is he such a pretty girl?"
"Who said I was bringing my boyfriend home for the New Year?" Li Xi, the person involved, was more confused than anyone else.
Xue Ni also looked surprised.
Zhou Qi gestured towards the street and said, "Look, all the neighbors on this street know you're bringing your boyfriend home for the New Year, they're all hiding in front of their houses watching the excitement."
Li Xi turned her head to look behind her and sure enough, she found people standing in front of the houses on both sides of the street watching the excitement.
she:"..."
That's the downside of small towns; everyone knows each other, and even the slightest gossip can spread throughout the entire town.
"It's a misunderstanding. I meant bringing friends back for the Chinese New Year, not my boyfriend."
Li Xi thought of something and couldn't help but tease Zhou Qi: "I heard from your aunt that you used to be the assistant lobby manager of a four-star hotel in Dongzhou City, but you were sexually harassed in the workplace by the company's boss's daughter, and you were so scared that you resigned and ran away?"
Li Xi clicked her tongue twice and sighed, "Our Qi-ge is so handsome, it's no wonder he's so popular with rich young ladies. I say, why don't you just go and be with that rich young lady?"
Zhou Qi's face darkened when this was mentioned. "What sexual harassment? That's a heartless and insane psychopath."
Zhou Qi didn't want to talk about these things, so he quickly changed the subject: "My mom has already prepared dinner and is just waiting for you to bring your friends back for dinner."
"Come on, let's have dinner at my house."
"it is good."
Li Xi opened the trunk, picked up the gifts, and went with Xue Ni to Aunt Zhou's house for dinner.
Xue Ni secretly inquired about gossip with Li Xi: "Zhou Qi got the eye of a rich princess in Dongzhou City? Handsome guys are indeed charming. You two are no wonder you grew up on the same aunt's milk, your looks are impeccable."
"It wasn't sexual harassment, I was drugged and almost raped."
"Holy crap!" Xue Ni was extremely shocked. "It seems that these days, boys also need to protect themselves."
Aunt Zhou's real name is Zhou Ting. She is a strong and healthy middle-aged woman.
Her family was the first in town to open a supermarket selling electrical appliances, and they were considered the best off in town.
Zhou Ting was an only child, so she found a son-in-law named Huang Xing'an to live with her family.
Mr. Huang was once the most handsome young man in the surrounding area, as can be seen from Zhou Qi's appearance.
Zhou Ting and her husband are a harmonious couple with a good relationship. Zhou Qi also grew up in a loving family.
Upon arriving at the Zhou family home, Li Xi had not yet seen Zhou Qi's father, Uncle Huang, so he asked, "Where is Uncle Huang?"
Zhou Qi said, "I went to the city to buy New Year's goods."
Although there are supermarkets in the town, they are not as well-stocked as those in the city. During the Spring Festival, the townspeople would take time to go to the city to buy New Year's goods.
Zhou Qi has an outgoing personality; she can banter with Li Xi and chat about fashion with Xue Ni.
After the meal, Xue Ni and Zhou Qi became like-minded friends.
After dinner, Zhou Qi suggested going to the riverbank at the edge of town to set off fireworks. Xue Ni's coat was a bit thin, so she went back to Li Xi's house to change her clothes first.
Zhou Qi went to the supermarket in town to buy fireworks, and Li Xi rolled up her sleeves to help Aunt Zhou clear the dishes.
In the kitchen, Aunt Zhou was in charge of washing the dishes the first time, and Li Xi helped to clean the dishes and chopsticks.
Aunt Zhou chatted casually with Li Xi.
"Xixi, how have you been these past years?"
Li Xi only reported the good news and not the bad: "It's great, I've made some money drawing comics, Auntie, don't worry about me."
Aunt Zhou looked at Li Xi with pity and sighed, "We've all seen what happened to the Xie family online. That Xie family is full of scoundrels. How could you have had a good time living there all these years?"
"If your father were here..."
Mentioning Li Chang'an makes Aunt Zhou feel sad. "Chang'an and I grew up together. We're closer than siblings."
“When I think about how Chang’an is gone and how the Xie family bullied you, it makes me feel terrible.”
After Li Chang'an passed away, Li Xi was sent to an orphanage in Deyi County by the Xie family.
Therefore, Aunt Zhou and the others had no idea about Li Chang'an's death, and naturally, they were unaware of Li Xi's fate.
It wasn't until Li Xi was 17 years old and brought Li Chang'an's ashes back to town for burial that they learned about Li Xi's ordeal.
When they learned that Li Xi had been adopted by a wealthy family in Dongzhou City, Aunt Zhou and the others were genuinely happy for Li Xi.
But little did they know that the Xie family was full of scoundrels.
"Auntie, it's all in the past. Besides, I'm doing quite well."
Seeing that Li Xi was indeed in good spirits, Aunt Zhou finally felt relieved. "Oh, I thought you were bringing your boyfriend home for the Spring Festival."
"It was your aunt who made a mistake, causing the whole town to think you have a boyfriend. This afternoon, they even gathered at my house to chat, wondering what kind of boyfriend you found."
"I've even prepared a red envelope for our first meeting."
Little did they know it was all a misunderstanding.
Hearing this, Li Xi couldn't help but laugh, "Auntie, I just graduated from university, I'm not in a hurry."
Do you have a boyfriend?
Thinking of Gu Huaizhou, who had been relegated to the sidelines and had not yet successfully regained his status as her boyfriend, Li Xi fell silent.
Aunt Zhou, being an experienced woman, immediately understood the situation from Li Xi's reaction. "That means they've talked."
"How's the young man?"
After asking, Aunt Zhou stared at Li Xi for a few seconds before cautiously asking, "...Is it a boy?"
These days, young people's sexual orientations are all sorts of strange, and Aunt Zhou couldn't figure out what Li Xi's sexual orientation was either.
Li Xi was surprised, "Auntie, I don't like boys, so do I like girls?"
Aunt Zhou looked embarrassed. "You young people don't like getting married and having children these days. You've seen too many strange things online. I was just thinking about something else."
Li Xi was both amused and exasperated.
"I like a boy."
After thinking for a moment, Li Xi took the initiative to share her sweetheart with Aunt Zhou, "His surname is Gu, he is 5 years older than me, his family is well-off, and he is the only son in his family."
"My parents are gone, but I have a kind grandfather."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhou said, "The parents are gone, that's really pitiful. What's the child's personality like?"
character...
It's just terrible.
Li Xi answered irrelevantly: "He's been very good to me."
Gu Huaizhou has a terrible personality and a lot of flaws, but he is immune to all of his flaws from Li Xi.
"That's good."
Seeing that Aunt Zhou seemed preoccupied, Li Xi asked with concern, "Aunt Zhou, is something on your mind?"
Aunt Zhou glanced towards the living room subconsciously, and seeing that Zhou Qi hadn't returned yet, she asked Li Xi, "Xi Xi, do you know any good lawyers?"
Why would you need a lawyer?
In that instant, countless possibilities flashed through Li Xi's mind.
Aunt Zhou is going to file for divorce from Uncle Huang?
Did Zhou Qi get into trouble outside?
"It's Zhou Qi."
Aunt Zhou suddenly burst into tears.
Li Xi was startled and quickly washed her hands, then found some tissues to wipe away Aunt Zhou's tears.
Aunt Zhou took the tissue and quickly wiped away her tears before taking Li Xi's hand and saying, "Do you remember when Zhou Qi was sexually harassed at the hotel?"
Li Xi nodded, "I remember."
Is there perhaps more to this story?
Li Xi frowned. "Could it be that the girl is turning the tables and going to sue Zhou Qi?"
"No," Aunt Zhou said through gritted teeth, "the one who sexually harassed Zhou Qi wasn't some rich young lady, it was their boss's youngest son!"