CH 23

“Old man, it’s a happy new year for you!” Grandpa Luo escorted Luo Xiao and Ye Lan to the office of the town hall after eating lunch.

Still holding onto a newspaper with a laid-back attitude, the old man who was Grandpa Luo talking to, lifted his head when he heard his voice, “It turns out to be you, Old Man Luo. It looked like you’re so carefree that you have time to knock on my door to see me. That’s not good, right?”

Grandpa Luo put his hand inside the pocket of his coat and pulled out an earthen cigarette before throwing it in his direction. He laughed and scolded, “You old man, you really can’t stop your dog mouth from spitting out some bad words. Say, why can’t I visit you on new year to greet you?”

“Go, go, don’t visit me. Yo, who are these two well-behaved little kids?” Old Man Tong questioned as he looked at the two children standing behind him.

“This one is my grandson.” Grandpa Luo pointed his finger to Luo Xiao, “And this child is my grandson’s good friend, and he is from another city. He lost contact with his family.”

“Oh, so it’s like your second grandson. He’s very well-behaved.” Old Man Tong reached out his hands and rubbed Luo Xiao’s hair fondly and sighed with emotion, “so why is this child here?”

“To borrow a telephone from you so he can call his family and report his safety .” Grandpa Luo waved his hand and replied lightly.

A crease appeared on Old Man Tang’s forehead when he heard his words. There was only one public telephone for the whole town hall, and the above entrusted him with the task of managing the telephone on account of his good work for the past few years. He was the one in charge of the usage of the telephone. Additionally, even the people in the town hall had to ask for the leader’s permission to use the telephone.

“Oh, you Old Man Tong, why don’t you just lend me the telephone for a while? You’re here to keep an eye on us, what’s there to be scared of?” Grandpa Luo approached him and persuaded him, “Moreover, I looked around carefully before I entered the door, and found that there were just a few people outside. Only a few of us here will know about this. Others will simply not learn it unless we deliberately reveal it.”

“But…” Old Man Tong was still having second thoughts.

“Oh, you old man, what are you still worrying about!” Grandpa Luo slapped his back using his hand, moved closer to him, and said in a low voice, “Think carefully, just tell me who has the ability to use a phone at this time? The answer is either a person with influence or wealth. You are now blocking a person with an unknown background from calling, in case you accidentally offend someone…”

“If that’s the case, just do it quick.” Old Man Tong thought for a few seconds before nodding his head as his agreement.

“Alright, Xiao Ye, you can use the telephone to make a call. Grandpa Tong and I will just go out for a while to have a nice talk.” After saying that, Grandpa Luo threw a look at Old Man Tong, and then moved his legs to get out of the room. It was a good thing that a small glass window was installed on the door, so Old Man Tong can monitor the events inside without worrying every minute.

Seeing the door being closed, Ye Lan hurriedly went straight to the telephone, touched it and started calling. It didn’t take long before someone answered the call, “Hello, this is the Ye family. May I ask who you are looking for?”

“Uncle Fang, it’s me. Is grandpa there?”

“Young master? Is it really you?” Uncle Fang questioned emotionally, “Are you alright?”

“This, Uncle Fang, don’t worry. I’m alright. Right, is grandma at the house?” Warmth filled Ye Lan’s eyes as he heard the voice laced with worry on the other side of the telephone.

“Old Mr. Ye? Yes, yes. What for a while, young master. Old Mr. Ye, Old Mr. Ye.”

Ye Lan focused his attention on the voice that was slowly disappearing, and a scene over there played in his mind involuntarily. Speaking of which, this was the first time he heard Uncle Fang speak emotionally.

“What’s wrong, Old Fang?” Old Mr. Ye furrowed his brows as his voice filled with excitement entered his ear.

“Old Mr. Ye, young master, he, he called.” Uncle Fang shared happily.

“What?” Old Mr. Ye stood up in surprise, “Is what you said true? Did Lan’er really call?”

“Of course, of course, you can see downstairs.” With a resolute attitude, Uncle Fang nodded.

“Go, go, go!” Old Mr. Ye moved out behind the desk, and quickly moved his legs to walk downstairs.

“Hello? Lan’er? Lan’er, is it really you?” Old Mr. Ye touched the telephone and fired questions one after another excitedly, “Are you okay? Where do you live now? Are you hurt? You…”

Ye Lan listened to his grandpa’s constant questioning with patience, and replied after he stopped talking, “Grandpa, don’t be anxious. I’m alright. I’m currently at…” Ye Lan glanced at Luo Xiao who was beside him.

“In Town C, located below the City S of Province Z. As of now, I’m staying at a friend’s house. His address is No. 305, Group 43, Wuling Village. Right, grandpa, this is the number of the telephone in their town hall. If possible, don’t contact this number any more since it will be inconvenient.”

“Alright, grandpa will keep it in mind. Don’t worry, I’ll send someone to fetch you there immediately.”

“Grandpa, that’s not needed for now. If I choose to return, there is a possibility that it would ruin their future plans. I’m aware of how long you have been waiting for this opportunity. This time, your plan cannot fail because of me. So, I’ll return after the things there have been settled.”

“Good, grandpa know your worries.” Old Mrs. Ye said yes, “So, it happens that a good friend of grandpa who visited our house last New Year, do you still remember? He happens to be living in City S now. How about you stay there for a while? Grandpa will fetch you once the problems here have been solved.”

“Okay, grandpa. By the way, grandpa, it looks like there’s a mole there since this kind of thing happened to me. Grandpa, you and Uncle Fang both must watch over your own safety over there!” Ye Lan’s mood turned anxious again.

“Don’t worry, grandpa and your Uncle Fang will be okay. We still want to see you grow up, get married and have children! Well, that’s it, I’ll end the call now, lest those people discover it. After all, being extra cautious is best for now.” Old Mr. Ye replied with a hint of unwillingness in his tone.

“Then okay, grandpa. You must take care of your body!”

“I know, don’t worry. Lan’er, see you later.”

“Bye, grandpa.” Ye Lan finally ended up hanging up the call first, since he knew that if he didn’t hang up on his side, his grandpa wouldn’t hang up the call either.

Luo Xiao remained standing at the side and was feeling remorseful inwardly. Actually, just why did he choose to follow his grandpa just now? Right, it was because of Ye Lan since he pulled the corner of his clothes with him. But after hearing the content of the conversation of the other party, to be honest, he had a feeling that he got access to some news that shouldn’t be known to others. And from the looks of it, the next step would be silencing him, isn’t it?

But in fact, in the not-too-distant future, Luo Xiao was indeed ‘silenced’, but of course, it’s a different way of being silenced…

“Grandpa Luo, Grandpa Tong, I’m done using the telephone.” Ye Lan approached the door, pulled it open, and said to the two old men outside the door.

“It’s good that you’re done.” Grandpa Luo rubbed his hair, “What happened? Were you able to contact your family and talk about the matter of going back?”

“Yes, my grandfather responded that I should go to City S first and stay there for the time being.” Ye Lan nodded his head and replied.

“City S?” Grandpa Luo pondered for a few seconds and his eyes brightened, “Just in time, Luo Xiao’s little uncle will be back to City S to work for a few days after the Chinese New Year. When the time comes, you can go with him. With him by your side, we are at ease that you will be safe.”

“En, thanks a lot grandpa!” It seemed that luck had come to his side, Ye Lan thought. After all, he was unfamiliar with Province Z and having someone to take him to City S was a good thing. Besides, it was too dangerous for a ten-year-old kid like him to travel from one place to another, adding to the fact that those bad guys were still trying to catch him.

Luo Xiao stood aside and watched as Ye Lan pretended to be a well-behaved child in front of his grandfather there, and looked away with his lips curved disdainfully.

He thought inside: What the hell, how much time has it taken you to get familiar with his family? It’s so quick. Come on, you are not at all related to grandpa and uncle, okay?

“What’s wrong, kid? Are you envious?” When he saw Luo Xiao’s awkward face, Old Man Tong rubbed his head and asked with his mouth lifted.

“No, I’m not.” A tinge of red appeared on Luo Xiao’s face. Being enviously doesn’t exist in his dictionary at all, understand? Also, what are you looking at? Don’t think that I didn’t notice the smile in your eyes.

Ye Lan observed the way Luo Xiao stared at him, and concluded that he looked like a puppy who couldn’t get the comfort of its owner. For some reason, the more he looked at him, the more his urge to laugh increased. But in order not to blow the other party’s hair, he still withdrew his eyes after struggling hard.

“Okay, that’s it. Kids, let’s go.” Grandpa Luo bid goodbye to Old Man To g and took the children out of the town hall.

Old Man Tong looked at the departing figure of the three, and his mouth couldn’t help but twitch. He said under his breath, “What the hell, this is simply blatant bullying. Couldn’t he be more obvious of running away after getting what he needs?”

After the three of them got back home, Grandpa Luo told Luo Yong about the matter. Luo Yong patted his chest and spoke, “Ye Lan, it’s okay. Uncle will make sure to send you there safely. Right, where is the place you’re going to live in?”

Ye Lan touched his nose and replied awkwardly, “Uncle, I don’t know the exact address is. I only know that the owner of the house is my grandfather’s good friend. When he visited our house last Chinese New Year, he happens to say that he has opened a shop in City S.”

“A shop?” Luo Yong’s interest was piqued and he inquired, “What kind of shop?”

“It seems to be a grocery store,” Ye Lan replied with an unsure tone.

A grocery store? The moment these three words entered Luo Xi’s mind, he was unsure of the reason, but a picture subconsciously appeared in his mind. However, it shouldn’t be what he was thinking, right?

Meanwhile, inside a small building that has two floors in Town C, several people holding different cleaning materials were running back and forth to clean the building. The reason was because the owner was about to move in here…

The author has something to say:

When Thorn was writing this chapter, he suddenly realized that he really made a bad name! (⁠╯⁠°⁠□⁠°⁠）⁠╯⁠︵⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

Luo Xiao’s nickname already sounds like a girl, and it turned out! Our protagonist Gong, who finally appears on the stage, also has the same problem. Lan’er, Xiaolan, Lanlan, Xiaoye, and so on. Why do all of them sound girly!

This is the last day of 2014, Thorn is here to wish all my friends all the best in New Year. Hope that it will come true~ See you next year. Right, it’s actually see you tomorrow~