CH 74

Chapter 74: Ring Finger

Ye Houan came to thank Cheng Xuze. He didn’t get to interview Ran Xue and Cheng Xuze yesterday, and in the end, he sent out a lot of news about Cheng Hong. He wasn’t the only one posting news in the beginning, as others had also been watching Cheng Hong, but when it came to the news that broke out in the evening, he was the only one who reported that.

The editor in chief trusted him and gave him the right to send out news, but after knowing that he actually posted such a report, he didn’t hesitate to scold him, thinking that he must be insane to do such a thing.

So what if Cheng Hong had a bad relationship with his son? Cheng Ran was just an illegitimate son who didn’t even have radiant energy, but Cheng Hong was Cheng Xuze’s own son. He was a level-5 rad-warrior! Now that this matter was causing such a huge stir, who would Cheng Xuze help?

After listening to editor-in-chief’s analysis, Ye Houan also knew that he was reckless. He was indeed a little famous, but if Cheng Hong wanted to target him, he could lose his job. Because he couldn’t hold himself back from the news of Cheng Hong trying to cause injury to his own son, he might finally bring bad luck into himself and drag his wife and daughter down with him…

However, Ye Houan was very lucky, because this time, the Cheng family didn’t help Cheng Hong clean up behind him as before. Cheng Xuze also directly scolded Cheng Hong, so Ye Houan, naturally, was safe.

Ye Houan was very talkative. As a reporter, he was also good at speaking. When he came over, Cheng Xuze was watching Shi Qingyang’s match. Ye Houan gave Shi Qingyang a heft amount of praise, and in the end, not only did Cheng Ran like him, but even Cheng Xuze appreciated him.

At this time, Shi Qingyang returned.

Ye Houan knew that many people were jealous of Shi Qingyang and thought that Shi Qingyang was a person who was climbing on the coattails of the Cheng family to get benefits, but he didn’t think so. He read Shi Qingyang’s information before casting his evaluation.

According to the information, Shi Qingyang’s parents died, and then he met Cheng Ran… Shi Qingyang followed Cheng Ran, and all he received was some money, which was nothing to the Cheng family. He also took good care of Cheng Ran for more than a year. In fact, the relationship between him and the Cheng family was nothing less than a mutually beneficial one.

Cheng Xuze had Shi Qingyang call him “Grandpa”. Did those other people still think that their eyes were better than Cheng Xuze’s?

Ye Houan believed that Shi Qingyang was a capable person. Now, judging from Cheng Xuze’s attitude towards Shi Qingyang, he was more certain of this.

“Shi Qingyang, right? Hello, my name is Ye Houan.” Ye Houan stood up and shook hands with Shi Qingyang.

“Hello.” Shi Qingyang smiled. Ye Houan left a good impression on him. Many people were respectful to Cheng Xuze, but they wouldn’t reach out to him or Cheng Ran, just treating them as children, but Ye Houan made it clear that they would be treated equally.

“Qingyang, you’re really good. Others haven’t finished a single match, but you’ve won three!” Cheng Ran was full of excitement. Shi Qingyang didn’t even take half an hour from the beginning to the end!

“I’ll make persistent efforts next time, and strive to be even more powerful.” Shi Qingyang laughed.

“I believe in you! Qingyang, now that your match is over, let’s go to bed,” Cheng Ran said, yawning again. At first, he’d wanted to gp laugh at those people online who thought Shi Qingyang couldn’t do it, but now after seeing that Shi Qingyang had won so fast, he felt it was unnecessary.

Cheng Ran said these words cheerfully. Ye Houan, who was next to him, was surprised when he heard the words “go to bed”, but he quickly reacted and knew that he was thinking too much.

It was really inappropriate for him to skew the innocence of these children with his own tainted thoughts.

The teachers’ lounge provided by the dean of Anhang Academy was very good, and it was also very clean. The room seemed to have been decorated. The bed was specially placed under the window. When one looked into the window from outside, all they saw was darkness, but on looking out from within, one could see the whole combat training ground from the very clear window.

Cheng Ran was not interested in others fighting, and soon laid down. Seeing this, Shi Qingyang sat next to him and began to watch the competition.

After a while, the sleeping Cheng Ran turned around and hugged his leg.

Once Cheng Ran finished his afternoon nap, he became full of energy. Shi Qingyang had nothing else to do, so he simply found some stuff to paint over both their faces, changing their skin tone and appearance, and then took Cheng Ran to the commercial streets of Anhang City.

Compared with Spark City, Anhang City was several times larger, and there were far more things here than in Spark City. There are all kinds of products. Shi Qingyang thought about it, and directly took Cheng Ran to a jewelry store.

“What would the two of you like to see?” The sweet looking shopping guide asked with a smile.

“We want a pair of rings. Is Mr Feng free?” Shi Qingyang said with a laugh. The last time Cheng Ran talked about getting married at the age of 18, he thought about buying a pair of rings. Now was just the right time.

He remembered that in this jewelry store in Anhang City, there was a very capable old man. Although the old man was an ordinary person, the rings he made were very beautiful. In the past life, Liang Liang came here specially to buy them a pair, which cost him a lot of money.

Yet in the end, Shi Qingyang didn’t even see the rings. Obviously Liang Liang spent his money, but didn’t buy them for him.

“Do you want them made by Mr Feng?” The shopping guide was a little surprised. The rings made by Mr Feng were really well-made. Each pair was unique, but the price was very expensive.

“Yes, is Mr Feng here?” Shi Qingyang said. “Our requirements aren’t high, just a set of rings to exchange.”

“I’ll let Mr Feng come out right away.” The shopping guide laughed and soon brought out an old man in his sixties or seventies.

Feng Lao’s face was kind. He didn’t have strict rules, such as dictating how many rings he’d make every day. As long as he was free, he was willing to help people make them. After hearing Shi Qingyang’s request, he began to make the rings by hand, and said that it would take two hours to receive them, so they could come back later.

“Qingyang, let’s go and have a look around. I haven’t given you a birthday present yet.” Cheng Ran watched Shi Qingyang ask someone to measure their finger circumference, and his face blushed red.

“I’ll take you,” Shi Qingyang laughed and said. The difference between the current Anhang City and the future city was not too big. Here, he didn’t have to worry about getting lost at all.

There were all kinds of stores; food, snacks, clothing stores, restaurants, supermarkets… In these stores, the mutant beast jewelry store was very conspicuous, and there were even several treated beast heads hanging at the door.

Shi Qingyang also remembered this place. All kinds of jewelry sold in this shop were polished from the shells of beasts. People could buy jewelry here, or bring the hard chitin of the beasts they hunted to be polished.

“Do you want to go in and have a look?” Seeing this familiar place, Shi Qingyang looked at Cheng Ran with a smile.

Cheng Ran expressed his willingness with action, and as soon as he entered, he was immediately dazzled by all kinds of things.

Beautiful beads, polished combs, bracelets, and all kinds of carved ornaments… He and Shi Qingyang didn’t need ornaments. Cheng Ran thought about it, and finally chose a set of medicine bottles made from the shell of a scarab. These medicine bottles were very beautiful and solid, and the price was even within his affordable range.

However, when he had to pay, he was suddenly struck stupid again. Last night, he had signed a notarized agreement with people online and used all his money to place a bet on Shi Qingyang…

Nowadays, there was no such thing as online gambling, but a lawyer could help write an agreement to temporarily freeze an account, so now, there was no money in his account…

Shi Qingyang helped Cheng Ran pay the money and bought the birthday gift that Cheng Ran wanted to give him. He felt like he couldn’t pick between laughing or crying; he’d never guessed that Cheng Ran would gamble, let alone that it was for his sake that Cheng Ran stayed up late last night.

“Qingyang, I know gambling is not a good thing. I won’t do it again next time,” Cheng Ran confessed. Gu Changjin had always told him that gambling was bad, but he had forgotten after being provoked

“Will you really remember?”

“I’ll really remember!” Cheng Ran affirmed.

Shi Qingyang still frowned, but relaxed a lot: “In fact, it’s not a big deal to gamble. The key point is that you can’t stay up late. Ranran, your body is the most important. If you have a chance to sleep, you must sleep well. You can’t do that again next time.”

“I’ll make sure not to stay up late next time,” Cheng Ran said.

Shi Qingyang got this guarantee, then took Cheng Ran back to the jewelry store for their rings. Along the way, he controlled the smile on his face to keep stern and make sure Cheng Ran wouldn’t stay up late in the future, but he was already very happy. At the same time, he made up his mind to find out all the words Cheng Ran had written for him online and save them.

When they arrived, Mr Feng had finished making the pair of rings. The patterns on the two rings were slightly different, but people could recognize at a glance that they were a pair. When they were combined, new patterns could appear. More importantly, words were engraved on the inside. The small ring was engraved with a “Yang”, while the large ring was engraved with a “Ran”.

Shi Qingyang had made his purchase boldly, but all of a sudden, he realized, he didn’t know what to do with this ring. He and Cheng Ran weren’t even engaged right now, so they couldn’t just put them on… Should he find some flowers, get a candlelight dinner, and then find someone to play the violin to propose? Shi Qingyang was still hesitating, but Cheng Ran was extremely happy right then. He took the rings and quickly helped place one onto Shi Qingyang’s finger. After having Shi Qingyang wear the ring, he kept holding Shi Qingyang’s hand, looking back and forth between his hand and the ring.

He couldn’t even compare to Cheng Ran… Shi Qingyang gritted his teeth and helped slide the ring onto Cheng Ran’s finger. As soon as he set the ring, Cheng Ran rushed towards him: “Qingyang, I wanted to touch your hand more…”

“……”

“When will we get married?”

Sometimes, Cheng Ran really didn’t know how to be shy… Shi Qingyang suddenly discovered that he seemed to be the one being proposed to again…

These two rings were seen by Cheng Xuze as soon as he came home. At first, Cheng Xuze nearly bristled in anger as he stared, but then he relaxed: “Shi Qingyang, have a good match. When you win first place, I will immediately transfer the mobile fortress I bought to your name. If you don’t win first place… Hmph!” Cheng Xuze didn’t go on, because even if Shi Qingyang didn’t win first place, the mobile fortress would still be given to him.

As for the rings… He couldn’t manage the affairs of these young people anymore.

“Grandpa, don’t worry.” Shi Qingyang couldn’t help but stretch out his hand to tidy up his clothes again, for nothing else than just to show off the ring on his hand.

The next few days passed very calmly for Shi Qingyang, but Cheng Xuze probably didn’t feel the same, for Cheng Hong had gone to look for him several times. But even so, Cheng Xuze was also determined not to help Cheng Hong again. Finally, even Cheng Hong’s son and daughter found him, and he ignored them.

He didn’t know why, every time Cheng Hong came to the door, he always eemed like Cheng Xuze should take pity on him. However, in this world, how could there be a 70-year-old father who still had to raise his 40-year-old son? After Cheng Xuze figured this out, the more Cheng Hong was like this, the more he didn’t want to take care of him.

After losing the support of the Cheng family, Cheng Hong was struggling. It was clear that before the election even started, he had already been suspended because of his previous mistakes. On the contrary, everything was going well for Shi Qingyang.

Before they’d gone to travel to Anhang City, Shi Qingyang had actually been looking forward to this competition, but now he wasn’t too interested.

After he suppressed his strength to level-3, if his opponent was someone who’d reached level-4 and was a fourth year of Anhang Academy, he might still be able to play for a long time, but now… He had been a level-8 master before he was plotted, and he was called the strongest person under level-9, completely above other level-8 masters. Now, the strongest contestant in the competition was only level-3, and didn’t have much experience.

It wasn’t difficult for Shi Qingyang to pass his matches all the way to becoming the champion, and the people who originally thought he was a little pretty boy dared not say anything now.

On the one hand, this was because Shi Qingyang was strong. On the other hand, it was also because Cheng Xuze came to the competition each of these past days with his attention fully on Shi Qingyang.

He could make a level-8 radiant warrior pay so much attention to him… Many players from other academies who were originally hostile to Shi Qingyang now showed goodwill to Shi Qingyang, but they still underestimated Cheng Xuze’s attention to Shi Qingyang.

Just after Shi Qingyang won the championship, Cheng Xuze personally awarded him the prize and patted him on the shoulder: “Qingyang, you did very well. Grandpa promised to give you a gift when you win, and will never renege on his promise. You go to the East Gate with Grandpa, and Grandpa will transfer the ownership of the mobile fortress to you.”

In fact, the transfer of ownership of a mobile fortress could be done privately, but these days, other people had heard all kinds of speculation about Shi Qingyang. Cheng Xuze simply did this to help Shi Qingyang keep his face up..

This mobile fortress was given to him by Shi Qingyang’s master. How good was it that he didn’t have to spend money on it?

Mobile fortress? The dean of Anhang Academy was standing next to him, and he was almost dumbfounded when he heard this for the first time.

Cheng Xuze came to Anhang City this time with two mobile fortresses, which many people knew, but he never thought that Cheng Xuze would give one of them to Shi Qingyang.

No one would be surprised if Cheng Xuze gave this to Cheng Ran, but to Shi Qingyang… What was the origin of this Shi Qingyang?

After the excitement at Anhang Academy, many people followed to the east gate. Then, Cheng Xuze gave Shi Qingyang the operating chip of one of the mobile fortresses in public.

This mobile fortress was larger than Shi Qingyang had thought it would be. It covered an area of about 400 square meters. It was beautifully arranged, and had everything one would need. Taking such a mobile fortress out of the city was basically the same as taking your own home out of the city.

“Dad, you want to give this mobile fortress to Shi Qingyang?” Cheng Hong, who hadn’t appeared for several days, was probably too shocked after receiving the news and came over.

A mobile fortress wasn’t easy to get. For example, shipping companies had no problems obtaining them, but it was difficult for individuals to buy one, so they didn’t.

If Cheng Xuze gave it to Cheng Ran, he could still feel that it was Cheng Xuze’s compensation to Cheng Ran, but why would Cheng Xuze give it to an outsider?

“I’ll give it to whoever I want,” Cheng Xuze said.

Cheng Hong’s spirits were very low, and his eyes were still bloodshot. When he heard Cheng Xuze’s words, it seemed like he was about to explode, and the radiation energy in his body was unstable. Cheng Xuze suddenly pressed his shoulder at this time, and the oppression of radiation energy made him speechless.

“Cheng Hong, you are my son, so while I will take care of you, I don’t owe you anything,” Cheng Xuze whispered.

Cheng Hong’s face changed: “Dad!”

“There are some things you can think about, then go home.” Cheng Xuze saw the dissatisfaction and resentment in Cheng Hong’s eyes and sighed.

Cheng Hong wanted to say something, but suddenly someone rushed over from a distance: “Mr. Cheng, please, can you lend me your mobile fortress? Mr. Cheng, please, my daughter, my daughter, she disappeared outside the city…”

This man was no stranger to Shi Qingyang. It was Ye Houan, who he had felt was familiar to him a few days ago. Now, with Ye Houan’s cry, he finally remembered who this man was.

In Shi Qingyang’s past life, he was Anhang City’s famous madman.