Chapter 404: That Old Lady Did Not Look Like A Good Person
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the other hand, Liu Ronghua and Chang Jingqiu met on a regular basis to chat or take a stroll. Chang Jingqiu listened to Liu Ronghua’s lamentations, and their relationship thus began improving.
It was Sunday, and Qi Chenglin brought Jiang Yuan to Jinshi City because of some urgent, last-minute matters. Something happened there and it was an pressing issue, but before he left, he told Ruan Danchen that he would be rushing home on the same day itself.
Ruan Danchen, worried that it would tire him out too much if he insisted on rushing back, told him not to be hasty. “If its already very late, don’t rush back. As long as its dark, don’t come back. You can come back tomorrow. Don’t drive so late at night.”
Previously in Chengshi, she had gone on a night journey to Jinshi City for a business trip. At that time, Director Zhao did not want his employees to request leave and be absent from work, so he was adamant that they leave for the destination at night and come back home the night after. That way, their working period for the day would be left untouched.
Sitting in the car at that time, she looked at the dark highway, lit only by some inferior lights. Even their driver was unable to keep his eyes open, keeping her on her toes. She knew exactly how dangerous it was to drive so late into the night.
“Okay,” Qi Chenglin answered. “I’ll go there early and I expect to be back at about four or five in the evening. It’s an urgent matter, but not something that’s tricky to handle. The other party is just insisting that I show up.”
Ruan Danchen nodded and sent Qi Chenglin off.
Then, she brought Qi Youxuan to the mall. His height was increasing rapidly by the day, and his clothes were no longer wearable, forcing them to get new ones.
She had no idea why the boy had was predisposed to going shopping in the mall. The minute she mentioned buying him new clothes, his spirits went up and he was incredibly excited. He followed Ruan Danchen out buoyantly, and although it was cold, the temperature did not dampen his energy. His little face was constantly red and she did not feel cold at all.
Since Xiao Yang was driving Qi Chenglin for the latter’s business trip, Ruan Danchen was fine and capable of making do all by herself. She would never let her son suffer, so she ordered a cab through an e-hailing app and made sure that they did not need to wait in the cold.
Ruan Danchen brought Qi Youxuan to Wei Ziqi’s luxury mall. It was filled with internationally-renowned high-end brands as well as domestic luxury goods, all of which were equally expensive.
When Qi Youxuan was in kindergarten, he was given normal clothes to wear. However, going to school at Jixia Elementary was a different thing altogether. All the kids there were from strong backgrounds and were brought up differently from normal kids. Comparing them with the Qi Youxuan of kindergarten was a futile exercise. Kindergarten kids were naïve, and Qi Youxuan’s good behavior were equal parts due to family teachings and the kindergarten environment.
At Jixia Elementary however, dressing mediocrely would make him the butt of jokes, leading to an outcast scenario. Ruan Danchen decided to discuss with Grandmother Qi and Guan Liya about it, with the elder ladies feeling that Qi Youxuan would need to wear something that befitted his family’s status, since he was attending Jixia Elementary School.
Ruan Danchen had the utmost confidence in her son, knowing that he would not be used by anyone.
Qi Youxuan did not think too about anything at all. He knew nothing of those brands and never looked at the price when buying clothes—if it looked good, he tried it, and he particularly enjoyed various suave-looking clothes.
Ruan Danchen was not keen on buying too many clothes for him and only bought a few seasonal ones, since he would grow out of them really soon anyway.
In the blink of an eye, she was carrying many bags for Qi Youxuan. Upon deciding that it was all enough, she led him out. Just before one of the escalators, they saw an eye-catching advertisement promoting the new indoor amusement arcade. It was a famous Japanese one, with replications of various anime scenes.
Amongst all the ads was the AE86 that Fujiwara Takumi drove in Initial D. He got incredibly excited, pointing to the drawing with his tubby fingers and saying, “Mom! It’s the AE86, it’s the AE86! Let’s go and play!”
Ruan Danchen looked at it for a moment before lowering her gaze, saying plainly, “Are you legs long enough to press the accelerator?”
“…” Qi Youxuan was speechless. Mom spent too much time with Dad, and it showed in the similarity of their speech.
“You drive, I’ll sit beside. There’re also many other things that I can play, right? Let’s go! Let’s go!” Qi Youxuan swung Ruan Danchen’s arm. Her hands were full with various bags, and she shook it to the point where Ruan Danchen struggled to hold everything.
“Okay, okay, okay. We’ll go,” Ruan Danchen agreed immediately. She thought to herself and decided to spend the entire day having fun with the little one.
She brought the boy to store their all their bags. With her hands free, she brought Qi Youxuan to the amusement arcade, which was located on the fifth floor.
Due to being newly opened, the arcade was filled with people. Each section had a long line, but the boy shrugged it off and happily stood in line.
By noontime, he had only managed to play in two sections. Ruan Danchen brought him to have lunch first, promising to bring him back after they had their meal.
“What do you want to eat for lunch?” Ruan Danchen asked.
“How about McDonalds?” Qi Youxuan looked up and suggested. On the one hand, he wanted to have some fried chicken, on the other he felt that fast food would speed things up and enable him to quickly get back in line. Any other restaurant would have needed a long time for dishes to be served.
“Okay, I’ll let you have it today,” Ruan Danchen nodded and said.
Qi Youxuan had few chances to eat such fast food, since the school lunches were all incredibly nutritious and it was Ruan Danchen who often cooked at home. If they went out, Qi Chenglin would usually bring him to Dynasty.
Fast food like McDonalds was something he probably ate only once a year.
Ruan Danchen seated him down on the chair and made sure he did not run around. Having chosen his Happy Meal, Ruan Danchen went and stood in line.
A grey-haired old lady stood in front of Ruan Danchen and seemed to be incredibly old of age. Ruan Danchen figured that the old lady brought her grandchildren with her and they wanted to eat McDonalds too.
The old lady’s eyesight was not good. She was shortsighted and had unclear vision, making her unable to see the menu on the wall.
When it was her turn, she narrowed her eyes but still did not place her order. Both the servers and customers behind her were getting impatient.
“May I know if you’ve already decided on your order? If you haven’t decided yet, you can stand at one side and look slowly. Let those behind you order, is that okay?” a young, chubby, bespectacled server asked.
“That’s no good. I waited for so long and its finally my turn. If I go to one side and wait, wouldn’t I have to stand back in line again if I made my choice? Look at my old arms and legs, I can’t stand long!” the old lady said unhappily and remained rooted to the ground.
The server did not say anything further, as that old lady did not look like a good person. If the server voiced out her opinion, she might just be labeled disrespectful to elders.
In the end, the old lady stood there for a further ten minutes without deciding what to order.
Qi Youxuan sat on his seat and stretched his neck, noticing that Ruan Danchen was already second in line.
They were in the middle of a peak hour, and being a Sunday, parents with children were aplenty. Kids usually prefer fast food, so there was a large number of people there.
Some of those who were at the tail end of the line decided to switch to another line out of sheer frustration.
Ruan Danchen was also wondering if she should change to another line.
She looked at the old lady and suggested, “Auntie, are you here with you grandson?”
“I am,” the old lady replied with a nod.
“Don’t let the kids wait. You have time to look at the menu, but the kids are waiting to have lunch. How about you take a McShare Chicken Box? The packaging style is a minion now, which kids nowadays love. The portion is enough for the both of you too.” Ruan Danchen pointed at the advertisement on the counter.
Though the old lady was unable to see things from afar, she could see the poster advertisement very clearly. The box really did look appealing to kids, and she usually saw her grandson acting like a minion, so she nodded and said, “Alright then, I’ll take that one.”
The server breathed a sigh of relief, quickly assembled the set meal, and gave it to the old lady.
Ruan Danchen usually did not pay much attention to all those other things, but when she saw the minion, she felt that Qi Youxuan would like it a lot. Other than the Happy Meal that Qi Youxuan wanted, she took the box set with the minion too. Realizing that minion toys were available for sale, she asked the price before buying two.
Since the minion design was at random, so she bought two with full awareness that they might turn out to the be same. If that were the case, she could give them to Little Muche and Little Youjin.
Ruan Danchen held the minions and carried the tray back to their seat. Once Qi Youxuan laid eyes on the box set and the minion, he exclaimed in surprise, “Mom! You bought these?!”
When he was stretching his neck to see the counter earlier, he saw a photo of the minion box hanging on the wall. He wanted it immediately, instead of the happy meal.
He thought of going over to tell Ruan Danchen about it, but he was afraid to leave his seat because there were too many people. Someone would definitely take his seat if he left, as there were already plenty of people asking him if there was anyone seating beside him.
It therefore came as a surprise that Ruan Danchen bought it for him.
“I saw this and I thought you’d like it, so I bought it for you,” Ruan Danchen smiled and said. She looked on as the little boy opened the box like a present, with his black, grape-like eyes glistening with joy.
“Mom, you’re the best!” Qi Youxuan exclaimed gleefully and rejoiced at how good it was to have a mother!
If he went out with his father, the man would not even bring him to McDonalds, let alone buy the toy for him.
Going out with his grandma would be the same, as the lady knew nothing about those things.
“There’s more where that came from. Give Mom a kiss,” Ruan Danchen smiled and said, before leaning toward the little boy.
With so many people around, Qi Youxuan was feeling rather shy. His face was slightly reddened and he looked around furtively. Everyone seemed to be busy eating and chatting, with their attention placed elsewhere.
Qi Youxuan planted a smack on Ruan Danchen’s cheek.
She then smiled and took out the bunch of little minions, leaving the boy quite looking stumped. “Wow! Mom, you bought so many!”
“Mm, since the design is random and we couldn’t choose, we might end up with the same design, so I bought a few more,” Ruan Danchen explained.
Qi Youxuan did not even care about his food. He was entirely focused on the toys, but Ruan Danchen put them away and said, “Eat your lunch. You can open them after you’re done. Don’t forget, if the fried chicken wings get cold, they won’t be crispy anymore, and they won’t taste good.”
As a foodie, Qi Youxuan’s greatest fear was if his food did not taste good. He stopped opening the toys and grabbed a chicken wing to begin munching. His other hand was occupied too, as he raised his Cola for a drink before grabbing a Chicken McNugget.
Feeling content from eating, he forgot about his toys and focused on his chicken wings.
When he was finally too full to have any more, he took a paper napkin to wipe his hands and mouth. Ruan Danchen took out her antibacterial hand gel and told the boy to rub his hands, before using a wet tissue to wipe it all off.
She pulled the tray toward herself to clear up the space on the table. Then, she brought the toys up. Ruan Danchen finished the chicken wings that Qi Youxuan was unable to and watched as the boy opened his toys happily.
There were a few repeated designs inside, which Qi Youxuan separated, intending to give his future brother-in-law.
Seeing all those minions made him feel overjoyed, and he spontaneously leaned over to kiss Ruan Danchen on the cheek. “Mom, you’re the best!”
The two of them put away everything, and Ruan Danchen brought Qi Youxuan to the toilet in order to wash his hands. After that, they went back to the amusement arcade.
As they were standing in line, a little boy stubbornly jumped queue and stood in front of Qi Youxuan. The boy looked to be about the same height and age as Qi Youxuan.
Faced with that queue jumper, Qi Youxuan was resoundingly unhappy. He poked the boy and waited until the boy looked behind before saying, “You can’t cut in line. Can you please go to the back and line up?”
“Why? Which one of your eyes saw me cut in line? This is my spot, I just went to the toilet for a while, and now I’m at my original spot,” the young boy said confidently.
Ruan Danchen frowned. Both she and Ruan Danchen had been standing there for nearly half an hour, and the particular game was the most popular attraction in the entire amusement arcade—it was the car from Initial D that Qi Youxuan saw from the advertisement.
In front of the car was a large screen, depicting the gameplay with roads winding around the mountains. The car was suspended midair, moving along with the turn of the steering wheel, giving it a sense of realism when playing. Therefore, there were plenty of people standing in line.
When they came, the little boy was not even there yet, and no one goes to the toilet for half an hour. It was obvious that the boy was lying.
Ruan Danchen looked at the boy and shook her head. What kind of family upbringing did that kid have? Lying was second nature to him.
Just as she was about to open her mouth, Qi Youxuan asked, “Alright then, tell me. How long ago did you go to the toilet?”
The other kid paused for a moment and rolled his eyeballs around, saying, “About twenty minutes.”
Qi Youxuan was pleased with that answer. “We stood here for more than half an hour. If you went to the toilet twenty minutes ago, we would’ve seen you. But when we came, we didn’t even see you. We only saw the big sister in front of us.”
The lady was elated to hear a little kid calling her ‘big sister’, so she turned around immediately.
Qi Youxuan looked much cuter than all those other kids who called her ‘auntie’.
Seeing the lady turn around, Qi Youxuan tugged at the clothes of that girl, aged twenty or so years old. “Big Sister, since you’re in front of us, you stood here longer than us, right? How long did you wait in line?”
“I think about forty minutes,” the girl looked at her phone before answering. “The line’s too long, so many people behind me left instead of continuing to stay in line.”
Qi Youxuan nodded and made a show of being earnest. “In that case, did Big Sister ever see him standing in line?”
The girl was amused by Qi Youxuan’s adorable actions. He looked like a cute little ball of dough, but he spoke seriously and with an eye for detail, just like a detective. It was too cute.
“No. He never stood here. Behind me there were some who stood a while and left. A few high school students, some adults, but other than you, there were no children,” the girl answered honestly.
“What do you have to say now?” Qi Youxuan turned to the other kid. “You not only cut in line, you even lied!”
