Chapter 109: Accompanying the Bride Back Home

  I was shocked and hastily returned the wallet to Zhong Ping: "Auntie, I can't accept this, it's too much..."

  Zhong Ping smiled and said, "What's the big deal about more or less? This is your own money, I just gave you this year's dividend in advance. When are you planning to leave? I think they won't be able to come out for a while..."

  I knew she was talking about Li Huanhuan and Dongfang Yu, so I said: "If their task is over, tell them that Chen Jing and I have gone to my hometown."

  Zhong Ping smiled and said: "Alright, I'll remember to tell them as soon as possible. You guys be careful on the road, it's not safe now, safety first."

  I nodded: "I know. Auntie, thank you for your help. You go busy, we won't disturb you."

  "Alright. Be careful on your way home and give me a call when you arrive, so we don't worry here."

  "I will."

  Zhong Ping then turned around and entered the base. She was not a researcher at the base, nor was she one of those service personnel, but rather half the owner of the base, so she could still come and go as she pleased from the base. And it was precisely because of this that we were fortunate enough to borrow some money and be able to return home. Otherwise, without any money on us, wanting to return home would have presented many difficulties for us.

  Chen Jing was very calm, and after Zhong Ping left, she said: "It seems that your mother-in-law is really good to you..."

  I immediately blushed and said: "She is not my mother-in-law... don't talk nonsense..."

  Chen Jing let out a "heh" and laughed, then said: "What's your hurry? I didn't say anything!"

  I smiled wryly: "So you can joke around too, scared me for a moment..."

  Chen Jing immediately gave me a white eye and said, "I'm not kidding. If you're still with those people, I... might really get angry."

  I smiled wryly and said, "What's being together? We're just friends, very good friends, that's all."

  Chen Jing pouted and said: "If I prove that you're not just friends, will you admit that you're more than just friends, but very good ones?"

  I couldn't help but smile wryly and said to Chen Jing: "Are you jealous? Why keep asking this question?"

  Chen Jing nodded and said seriously, "I'm just jealous! You know that I'm basically living alone now, and it's not easy to find someone like you who can take care of me. But then you have someone else in your heart, don't you think I should be careful? What if one day you suddenly disappear, what would I do?"

  I couldn't help but exclaim "ah", and laughed: "You're joking a bit too much, if I misunderstood, don't blame me!"

  Chen Jing looked at me with a calm face: "Who was joking with you?! If you don't want to listen to what I said, I can take back what I just said!"

  I was suddenly confused and couldn't help but say: "You really... what you said is true? How is this possible? I'm so happy..."

  Chen Jing frowned and glared at me fiercely: "How could you be like this?!"

  I saw her seemingly about to get angry, so I quickly laughed and said: "I knew you were joking, fortunately I didn't take it seriously, otherwise by now I would only be left crying. You...you won't easily...how did you end up crying......sigh, what's wrong with you? I...I didn't say anything..."

  Chen Jing suddenly burst into tears, which left me at a loss for what to do.

  I was at a loss, not knowing what to do. Chen Jing cried very sadly, covering her face and sobbing. I wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how, feeling like an ant on a hot skillet, sweating all over. I hastily said: "Don't...don't cry, what's wrong with you? I..."

  I was at a loss for what to do when Chen Jing suddenly burst out laughing: "What's wrong with you? You can't even coax a girl properly?"

  I was speechless, looking at Chen Jing's smiling face, and I really wanted to say "How can you do this", but when the words reached my lips, I said: "So you were just joking, I thought you..."

  Chen Jing suddenly turned serious and said, "Alright, let's stop joking around. Let's talk about something serious. You know that we've been sent back home, which means there must be some problem. I'm worried that my grandfather will get implicated because of us. Do you think we can do anything about it?"

  I shook my head: "Military affairs, can we really intervene? Old Chen said so, let's listen to him. Then we'll honestly go home and wait for a while, maybe there will be good news."

  Chen Jing shook her head slightly: "What if they lay hands on my grandfather? What are we going to do then? Just stand by and watch?"

  I let out a soft sigh: "To be honest, I really don't have a way right now. Although I'm also worried about Old Chen, but facing something like this, it's not just us, even if it were a high-ranking official, they might not necessarily be able to help at this time. Everything still depends on Old Chen himself, outsiders can't help. You can rest assured, what kind of person is Old Chen, his fate won't easily be controlled by others? He'll be fine."

  Chen Jing nodded slightly, surprisingly agreeing with me: "My grandfather is indeed not someone to be trifled with. Even if Wang Yingzu joined forces with others, it wouldn't be easy for them to deal with my grandfather."

  I smiled: "That's right, so you don't have to worry about anything." Paused for a moment: "Are we going to rush on the road now, or find a hotel to stay overnight and then rush?"

  "Let's hurry up and leave this place, who knows what might happen next, we might not be able to leave then."

  I couldn't help but turn my head to take a glance at the base's gate, and then I was about to start the car to hurry on our way. Chen Jing smiled and said: "Can't bear to part with them? Don't worry, once their mission is complete, they will go to your house. At that time, I'll pretend not to see you two being affectionate, give you enough space, and let you have a good chat."

  I burst out laughing and quickly drove away.

  Chen Jing smiled and said: "Shameless! I'm just more open-minded, why are you still afraid? Don't all men want their women to be more open-minded?"

  I glanced at Chen Jing with a strange smile on her face, just about to speak when I suddenly heard someone calling me: "Jin Cang, wait..."

  I stopped the car and turned around, but it was Zhong Ping who came back again.

  I quickly got off the bus and asked Zhong Ping, "Auntie, is there anything else?"

  Zhong Ping handed me a note and said: "This is from your friends, you take a look yourself. Be careful on the road, and don't forget to call me when you get home!"

  Zhong Ping finished speaking and left, I responded loudly, returned to the car, and under the light, it was a note. The note only had one sentence: Go home, take my photo back to Dad and Mom.

  I was surprised, and upon closer inspection, I found that the signature was actually Li Huanhuan. I felt a sense of wonder, thinking back to the house she bought on our school's side, and quietly thought: this home should be referring to that house, the photos and whatnot, maybe there's something placed there, wanting me to go pick it up and bring it back to my place.

  I said to Chen Jing, "Huan Huan Jie asked me to go to her house and pick up some things. We'll take a detour, and after picking up the things, we can head back to my place. What do you think?"

  Chen Jing laughed and said: "No way! I'm going to your house right now, if you don't want me to go to your house, then take a detour to your girlfriend's house."

  I couldn't help but smile wryly and said in a low voice, "Can we not do this? I really might get the wrong idea... We can just go out and get things, it's only an hour or so, won't take long."

  Chen Jing stopped talking and just smiled faintly when she looked at me, I had no idea what she was thinking.

  I really like her, but she doesn't seem to have any special feelings for me. If I say that our relationship has become closer than before, then we are just good friends now. As for when we can transition from being good friends to boyfriend and girlfriend, I haven't dared to think about it. In the past, I did have such impulses, but now I understand that there is a huge gap between Chen Jing and me - our difference in social status. So, perhaps we can only be good friends for life.

  All the way, we arrived at the city where our school is located. Chen Jing and I rushed to the "home" of Li Huanhuan and me. Then I came directly to Li Huanhuan's room and took down her photos in her room.

  This photo is framed and looks very atmospheric and beautiful. I took the photo and looked at it back and forth for a while, but nothing appeared.

  Chen Jing also helped me look at the photo, but nothing was found. In the end, we had to open the frame, hoping to find something. Unfortunately, we still got nothing.

  I couldn't help but wonder: "Is Happy Sister asking us to bring her photo back to show my parents?"

  Chen Jing shook her head: "Why don't you look again, see if there's an album or something. Maybe the thing Huanhuan Jie wants you to find isn't hidden in this photo."

  I quickly searched the room and actually found a thick photo album. Most of the photos in the album were of Li Huanhuan, and some were of Dongfang Yu, Du Yifei, Zhou Hui, and Bai Feng sisters. I took out all these photos at once and looked through them one by one, but still didn't find anything special.

  Chen Jing is more meticulous than me, looking at each photo one by one, not only the front but also the back.

  She finally finished looking at all the photos and shook her head: "Still nothing, did we misunderstand Huanhuan sister? What she said was really just to bring back a few photos?"

  I shook my head: "This is impossible. If it's really about bringing back photos, wouldn't she have them in Wuhan? Why would we need to take a detour here to get the photos? I think we must have missed something, let me look again and see if there's anywhere else the photos might be hidden."

  Chen Jing thought for a moment and suddenly said: "Have you taken a photo with her?"

  I frowned and said, "No, why are you asking this?"

  Chen Jing smiled and said: "If you had taken a photo with her, I think what we're looking for would definitely be on that photo. But since you say there isn't one, then my deduction is useless."

  I finally understood Chen Jing's idea and started searching around to find what Li Huanhuan said might exist.

  Chen Jing and I are different, she looked for places that were not dressing tables or jewelry boxes, but rather Li Huanhuan's bed. After I searched around in vain for a while, she took out a very large key with a complacent expression and said: "It's still better for us girls to understand ourselves a little, look what I found?"

  I looked at the key in her hand and said in confusion: "What's this? This can't be what Huanhuan Jie found, right?"

  "Guess what! There are words on this, and it's under the new photo I hid under my bed. Take a look yourself."

  I took the key and saw that there were indeed a few small words engraved on it: Return, come back. I looked at these words and immediately asked Chen Jing, "Where's the photo?"

  Chen Jing raised her hand and handed me a photo: "Isn't this it?"

  I took the photo and looked at it. To my surprise, the building in the picture was a small house that I was very familiar with - it was Zhou Hui's house where I used to live.

  Look at the photo, right in front of it is a flower pot on the window of the second floor. I immediately understood that the thing was hidden inside the flower pot.

  I didn't say another word and pulled Chen Jing out of the door, rushing hastily to Zhou Hui's house.

  Chen Jing is a very clever person, so she didn't ask anything and just followed me all the way to Zhou Hui's house.

  We didn't have the key to Zhou Hui's house, so we couldn't get in through the front door. So I stretched out my hand and grabbed onto a windowsill, and with a light jump, I was already climbing up. Along the window, I climbed to the edge of the second floor window, and at a glance, I saw the flower pot from the photo.

  I picked up the flower pot and lifted out the flowers and grass inside, revealing a rectangular plastic package underneath.

  I put this plastic bag into my pocket and jumped down lightly, walked to Chen Jing's side and said in a low voice: "Go back to the car and see what it is."

  Chen Jing nodded slightly and got back into the car with me. At this time, there were no pedestrians on the road, and our actions did not attract anyone's attention. Under the dim light, I opened the plastic bag and took a look at what was inside, and couldn't help but say: "What is this? How could Huanhuan have these things?"

  Chen Jing took a glance at the thing in my hand and exclaimed in surprise, "Such a large 'Pigeon Blood' ruby, Huanhuan sister really is very rich!"

  I frowned and said, "Although the pigeon blood rubies are valuable and these few are quite large, do we need to come all the way here just for them? They're placed in a flower pot, isn't that very safe? Who would think of getting such precious gems, yet they're actually put in a flower pot?"

  Chen Jing nodded and suddenly pointed at the plastic paper bag in my hand, saying: "Take a look, are there any marks on this paper? Maybe Huanhuan Jie left her message on it."

  I immediately began to examine the plastic paper, and indeed there were words on it. An ordinary person would not have thought of looking at the plastic paper again after seeing such a precious pigeon blood ruby. But when they met Chen Jing, who didn't have any curiosity about pigeon blood rubies, someone noticed the plastic paper.

  I carefully identified the handwriting on the paper and slowly read it out: "Oriental Bank, 13th row, 13th safe deposit box, password is the letter on the key."

  Chen Jing was overjoyed: "So that's it, the pigeon blood red is just a trick to confuse people, ordinary people see the pigeon blood red and will definitely ignore the faint words on the paper. Huanhuan sister is really clever, thinking of a method that is truly different from others."

  I nodded: "What you said is really true, Huanhuan's method of hiding things is indeed unique. If she hadn't given us a hint, we would have had a hard time finding this clue."

  Chen Jing smiled slightly: "That's it. Let's go to the Oriental Bank now, anyway, it's on the way, won't delay time."

  I glanced at the plastic paper in my hand and smiled: "Then let's go."

  Chen Jing still smiled and said: "I'd like to see what good things Huanhuan sister will leave for you..."

  I glanced at Chen Jing and suddenly wanted to play a joke on her, so I said: "Actually, you don't know that the best gift has been with me all along. So no matter how good the things Huan Huan left for me are, they can't compare to this gift I already have."

  Chen Jing furrowed her brow and said: "What's that? Is this pigeon blood red?"

  I smiled: "No, guess again."

  Chen Jing thought for a moment, suddenly her face turned red, and she said softly: "What you said won't be about me, will it? I'll tell you, I'm not some kind of gift, I..."

  I smiled slightly: "You're still clever! You are the best... uh... partner for me on this trip, hehe..."

  Chen Jing's face turned bright red, and she looked at me with a hint of shyness: "Don't talk nonsense, if Huanhuan sister finds out, she'll definitely get angry."

  I recalled Li Huanhuan's personality and knew that even if she found out, she wouldn't mind: "Sister Huan is very open-minded, I'm very clear about this."

  Chen Jing said with a "tsk": "A woman's magnanimity also has its limits, you'd better not be too confident in what you see, or else Huan Huan Jie will get angry and you'll have no good outcome."

  I remembered someone saying that women often say one thing but mean another, and what they say and think can be quite different. So I nodded: "Then let's not joke around, I don't want to be taken as a punching bag by Huanhuan."

  As soon as I said this, Chen Jing's face changed again. This time her face was a bit different, it seemed to be a bit strange. I couldn't help but ask her: "Are you uncomfortable? Why does your face look so bad?"

  Chen Jing slightly shook her head: "I'm fine, watch the road, we need to hurry up and go to the Eastern Bank, tomorrow morning is still waiting for us to rush to your house!"

  I noticed that Chen Jing had something on her mind, so I smiled and said: "Why don't we go to the Eastern Bank after this? We can find a place to stay for the night. By dawn tomorrow, we'll have enough time to head back home."

  Chen Jing looked at me and said firmly, "No, it's better for us to leave here as soon as possible and go to your hometown. I have a bad premonition, I'm worried that there will be trouble waiting for us."

  My heart skipped a beat, knowing that sometimes people's sixth sense is very accurate. This isn't superstition or some fortune teller's nonsense, but my own personal experience. Many times, especially when I'm about to encounter danger, I'll have a mysterious premonition. Thinking of this, I didn't say another word and quickened my pace, rushing straight to the Eastern Bank.

  Chen Jing didn't say a word at this time either, with a worried face, as if she had really foreseen that something bad would happen.

  Apart from the sound of the car engine, we all fell silent. The atmosphere gradually became oppressive, and I also felt that something was going to happen, my whole person began to feel anxious.

  There were not many cars on the highway at night, and now it was wartime, so there were even fewer vehicles driving on the road in the middle of the night. Our car sped along alone on the road, and in less than twenty minutes, we arrived at the Eastern Bank.

  At that time, the Bank of China was also very quiet, but there were still staff on duty. Our arrival attracted the attention of the security guards and they immediately came over with three people, blocking our car before asking us: "What are you doing here? If it's not something important, please leave this place immediately."

  I smiled and said: "We've come to collect our things, would you please show us the way? Our items are in locker number 13 on row 13."

  A security guard immediately said: "So you're here to pick up something, please follow me."

  I exchanged a glance with Chen Jing, got off the car and followed this security guard.