"Going to my house? Shi Yan, aren't we going to change trains and leave tomorrow?"
"Um, um, Mengyao, I'm sorry, actually I lied to you. We are indeed going to transfer in Xiangcheng, but... not tomorrow."
Zhao Shiyan lowered his head very coyly, not daring to look directly at Li Mengyao. For Ling Zhi, it was a rare thing to see Zhao Shiyan like this.
The air suddenly became quiet. Zhao Shiyan did not dare to speak, and Li Mengyao did not know what to say. The situation became very embarrassing for a time.
Ling Zhi sighed secretly. At this time, he had to appear on his own after all:
"Mengyao, I have a part in this matter, and I have to tell you..."
"I do not want to go home!"
Li Mengyao interrupted Ling Zhi's words in a deep voice, with a hint of grievance in his tone:
"Shi Yan, Ling Zhi, I... I really don't want to go home, I really don't know how to face my parents. Please don't let me go home, please! Please!
"
"If it really doesn't work, I can go back to Huacheng the way I came. Anyway, I can go anywhere. As long as I'm not allowed to go home, as long as I'm not allowed to go home, I will be very, I will be very..."
At the end, Ling Zhi vaguely felt that Li Mengyao was even crying when she spoke, but she was very forbearing, gritted her teeth, and tried hard not to lose her composure in front of her two friends.
"Hey, Mengyao, you misunderstood. It's not what Shi Yan said."
"We don't necessarily want you to go home. What we mean is that we want to take a look at your home and see how your parents are doing now."
"In this case, you don't actually need to take us there in person. Just tell us the address and we'll take a look tomorrow. Just stay in the hotel and we can report to you when we come back in the evening."
?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Shiyan looked at Ling Zhi with an unbelievable expression, as if to say: "Why is it different from what was agreed before?"
It also seems to be saying: "Lingzhi, you are so smart! You can still operate like this?"
It's a pity that Lingzhi failed to see through Zhao Shiyan's inner drama. He was summarizing his words carefully at this time to avoid making Li Mengyao sad again:
"Although you don't say it, Shi Yan and I both know that you have always been thinking about your home."
"As for your parents, you can't say you like them, and certainly you can't say you hate them. We guess it's just a little bit of love for home deep in your heart and a few good memories of your hometown that are driving you, driving you to want to know
, how are they doing?"
"It's a bit inaccurate to say that this feeling is homesickness. Well, how should I put it? I'm not very good at expressing it. It should...should be regarded as a yearning for beauty."
"Every time Shi Yan and I see you in a daze at Xingyu Billiards, we have this illusion, as if something is restraining you. So after thinking about it, we still think that we should go to your house.
It would be better to take a look, we vaguely feel that the answer should be there."
"Oops! No, no, Shi Yan, please say something! I really can't make it up anymore!"
"Ah? Oh. Yes, yes! Everything Ling Zhi said is right! I think the same as him!"
Ling Zhi rolled his eyes at her helplessly, "If you follow me, Miss Zhao will follow me and say 666, right? It's really unreliable at critical moments!"
However, when he saw Li Mengyao suddenly burst into laughter, he knew that Zhao Shiyan's echo just now did not make the situation more embarrassing, but instead slightly livened up the atmosphere.
This might be good.
But Zhao Shiyan seemed unaware of all this. Affected by Ling Zhi's rolling eyes, she was still closing her eyes and thinking hard about how to make Li Mengyao feel relieved.
As a result, when she thought about it at the end, her heart pounded:
"No, no, this kind of job of persuading people is not suitable for me."
After saying that, she stood up and sat next to Li Mengyao, holding her hands:
"Mengyao, I'm not as good at persuading people as Ling Zhi. Let me tell you the whole story of how Ling Zhi and I planned this matter."
So, without waiting for Li Mengyao to nod in agreement, Zhao Shiyan started talking on his own.
In fact, Li Mengyao had already guessed the general story, but her guess made her feel completely different from how Shi Yan took the initiative to tell the story.
But no matter what, she likes this feeling, likes this inexplicable feeling, so that it can make her temporarily forget about the troubles of facing her parents, forget about the embarrassment she just showed in front of her two friends, and even...
Forget the shackles that have been tormenting your heart.
Li Mengyao sighed slightly in her heart, her best friend had done this for her, what else could she hesitate to do?
After a while, Zhao Shiyan almost finished speaking, and she finally added:
"Well, Mengyao, where is your home? If you really don't want us to go and have a look at your home, then we have to give up. After all, we don't know where your home is if you don't tell us."
Zhao Shiyan felt a little uncomfortable. She had obviously secretly photographed Li Mengyao's ID card and knew the exact address of her home, but she insisted on pretending not to know at this time. This inconsistent approach really didn't suit her.
After all, Li Mengyao had only mentioned inadvertently before that her family lived near Xiangcheng, but she did not say where exactly.
Alas, it was a good thing that Ling Zhi was here, otherwise Zhao Shiyan would have been unable to hold on any longer and would have told everything from the very beginning, including the matter of her secretly photographing Li Mengyao's ID card.
Li Mengyao smiled lightly, unaware of Zhao Shiyan's inner drama. Without saying anything, she took out her phone, opened the map, marked a location, and then handed the phone to Zhao Shiyan.
"No. 27, Lijiacun North Street, Yingshan Town, Xiangcheng City."
Zhao Shiyan read it out slowly, and at the same time mentally recalled the address on Li Mengyao's ID card. If he remembered it correctly, it should be the same.
"Then Mengyao, we will go here to take a look tomorrow, and you can stay in the hotel, okay?"
After Li Mengyao hesitated for a while, she nodded slightly, which was considered to be her approval of Zhao Shiyan's arrangement.
The night passed quickly, and before 7 o'clock the next morning, Ling Zhi knocked on the door of Zhao Shiyan and Li Mengyao, and Zhao Shiyan had just woken up at this time.
The moment he opened his eyes, Zhao Shiyan was surprised to find that Li Mengyao had gotten up earlier than him!
Moreover, she was already dressed and packed her backpack, and it seemed that she had no intention of staying in the hotel.
"Um, Mengyao, what are you..."
Zhao Shiyan had just gotten up, but he was still a little confused and couldn't figure out the situation.
Li Mengyao turned around and smiled faintly:
"Shi Yan, I thought about it for a long time last night, and I decided to go with you two!"
...
7:40 am, Xiangcheng City Bus Station.
The three of them left their suitcases at the hotel, but put on their backpacks and souvenirs.
According to Li Mengyao, she had been to Xiangcheng before, and she remembered taking a long-distance bus there. Although their village was not big, there was still a place to take the bus.
So, the three of them first rushed to the Xiangcheng City Bus Station to see if they could find a shuttle bus to Lijiacun.
However, they searched for a long time but could not find the words "Lijiacun", but there was a place name that caught their attention:
"Yingshan Village, Mengyao, in addition to Yingshan Town, is there also a Yingshan Village here?"
Zhao Shiyan asked, looking at the train information on the big screen in the station hall.
Li Mengyao shook her head:
"I have never heard of Yingshan Village near my home. Could it be that..."
"Don't tell me, it's just a name change. Yingshan Village is the former Lijia Village. By the way, have you not been home for a few years or something? You don't even know that your family's name has been changed?"
Hearing the uninvited reply, the three of them turned around and saw that it was none other than Qin Fei who they met in front of the Xiangcheng City Sports Center last night!
"Oh, what a coincidence, why are you here?"
"You still need to ask? Of course I want to go home! My home is in Yingshan Town!"
"Ah? Then you are queuing up here, is it possible..."
"Yes, the terminal of this bus is Yingshan Village, but it will pass through Yingshan Town on the way."
...
Ten minutes later, the four of them checked in and got on the bus. Li Mengyao and Zhao Shiyan sat together, while Qin Fei chatted with Ling Zhi.
"Hey, you haven't answered my question yet. What's going on with you? It doesn't look like you live in Yingshan Village. Don't say you are traveling to Yingshan Village!"
"Uh, yes, that's right, I'm going on a trip."
Ling Zhi just happened to borrow Po Xia Donkey, and he really didn't want to talk to Qin Fei about this matter, because he didn't want Qin Fei to know about Li Mengyao, otherwise, he felt that sooner or later, this kid would cause trouble in the city!
"Here, who are you fooling? Although the name change of Yingshan Village does have the intention of developing red tourism, the tourist routes have not been developed yet! Don't everyone go to lively places when traveling during the Chinese New Year these days? Who goes to remote places?
Chinese New Year in a small mountain village? Unless your family is from Yingshan Village!"
Ling Zhi was a little helpless. He couldn't stand up to the locals! So he simply looked at the scenery outside the window and pretended to be deaf. No matter how smart he was, he couldn't think of a suitable reason to deal with Qin Fei.
You said you were going hiking? Why did the three of you hiking bring so many specialties?
You said you were visiting relatives? Don’t you visit relatives during the Spring Festival? It’s not even New Year’s Eve yet. Why are you visiting relatives?
So if there are too many mistakes, it would be better not to say anything.
When Qin Fei saw Ling Zhi pretending to be deaf, he suddenly became furious:
"Are you saying that you don't care? Is there anything shameful that you can't say? Okay, since you don't want to say it, let me change the topic. Have you ever won the Huacheng City Chinese Billiards Citizen Cup?"
Ling Zhi originally planned to continue pretending to be dead, but when he heard Qin Fei mention billiards, he thought about it, turned his head and asked Qin Fei:
"I gave you a ball-solving lesson yesterday. Do you feel unconvinced?"
Qin Fei did not hesitate:
"Of course! I usually claim to be the number one shot in Xiangcheng, so of course I won't accept the fact that you are better at hitting the ball than me!"
Ling Zhi knew he was bragging as soon as he heard it, but now he didn't care about it with Qin Fei, and instead suggested:
"So, don't you live in Yingshan Town? It shouldn't be very far from Yingshan Village, right? I want to ask you to do me a favor. If everything goes well, find a time and I can play a few games with you. You
Aren't you not convinced? How about I give you a chance for revenge?"
"Oh! Okay! Okay! That's great! Tell me, what can you do for me?"
Qin Fei is not stupid. After listening to what Ling Zhi said just now, he realized that the help Ling Zhi mentioned was probably related to Yingshan Village. His curiosity was also aroused at this moment. If he chose to help, he might even know about them.
What is the purpose of the three of them going to Yingshan Village? It is really a matter of killing two birds with one stone.
"Well, come closer and I'll tell you in detail."
...
Half an hour later, there were very few passengers left in the car. Except for Lexus and the others, the other passengers were all carrying large bags. They looked like villagers returning home from other places.
As the roar of the cars gradually subsided, the villagers arrived at their final stop, but Lingzhi and his group's journey to Yingshan Village had just begun.