Chapter 32: 032 I’ll Buy It For You
Wang Heng and Pei Ningle came out of the police station when it was already evening with the sun setting low. The two stood roadside and began considering a very realistic problem—next, how should they go.
“I’m going back to school,” Wang Heng said. “What about you?”
Pei Ningle looked bewildered: “When we came, Brother Song said board and lodging were included, but now…”
Wang Heng: “Yeah, now Brother Song has gone to enjoy free board and lodging himself. You probably can only go home, right?”
Pei Ningle: “I don’t want to go home.”
Wang Heng: “Don’t joke. Your pocket is empty. What to do if not go home?”
The young girl’s shoulders slumped, her face full of frustration: “Going home now feels like admitting defeat… No, it’s not just a feeling; it’s a fact that I’m admitting defeat. I haven’t accomplished anything, and I’ve spent all the New Year’s money and pocket money I saved up! If I go home now, I still have to ask my parents for money first. I won’t have any face left.”
Wang Heng had his hands in his pockets, looking completely uninvolved: “You’re still too young, kid. After experiencing a few more beatings from society, you’ll know that face is like integrity—better to lose it early and feel relieved sooner.”
“But I…”
Pei Ningle hung her head low, unable to speak.
Looking at her frustrated appearance, Wang Heng’s hand remained in his pocket, but his gaze showed a hint of hesitation.
Then he said: “How about this? I still have some change here. I can lend it to you to buy tickets to go home.”
Pei Ningle turned her head to stare at him, the gratitude in her big eyes condensing into strands of tears.
“We only met yesterday, and you’re so nice to me…”
It’s not that I’m nice to you; I just hope you leave quickly—Wang Heng really wanted to say that, but facing the young girl’s gaze full of gratitude, he chose a more euphemistic way instead, giving himself a good guy card.
Wang Heng: “Because I’m a good person.”
Pei Ningle’s eyes suddenly lit up, as if an old lottery player had won the lottery. This reaction puzzled Wang Heng a bit, after all, what he just said should have been very normal.
But then the young girl explained: “A melody suddenly came to my mind just now! Right then, a really nice melody!”
So that’s how it is.
Wang Heng remembered that during the time he spent with her back then, this girl’s thinking was indeed very unpredictable. Besides being muddled, she would occasionally suddenly get music inspiration.
Right now was the same. Pei Ningle hurriedly took off her backpack, threw it on the ground, took out paper and pen from inside, squatted roadside, and started writing simple notation. While writing, she also hummed softly…
Wang Heng stared at the fully focused young girl until a familiar voice sounded from not far away:
“Wang Heng?”
He looked up and saw Lu Qi, and couldn’t help but be startled.
“Sister Lu! How did you come?”
Lu Qi walked up to him and smiled: “I asked the police. They said you had finished the record. Conveniently, I was off work too, so I took the subway over. It was very convenient.”
But the problem wasn’t about transportation convenience or not. The problem was why did you come!
The corner of Wang Heng’s mouth twitched slightly: “Sister Lu is so thoughtful… Thank you, thank you.”
Lu Qi lightly brushed the short hair by her ear: “Being so polite, aren’t we friends?”
“Uh, of course we are,” Wang Heng immediately shifted the direction to guide: “Friends who can discuss code together must be brothers.”
“Haha, becoming brothers with me means after you graduate, you won’t need to worry at all about finding work.”
“Sister Lu, I still hope to find work in the market based on my own abilities…”
“That’s a matter four years from now; we’ll talk about it then. By the way, this female classmate is the friend who adventured with you?”
Lu Qi finally shifted the focus of the topic to Pei Ningle, but Pei Ningle showed no reaction at all, still squatting on the ground, writing and drawing.
Wang Heng: “Yes, her name is Pei Ningle.”
Hearing her own name, the young girl finally snapped back to reality and noticed Lu Qi who was only three steps away.
“Pei Ningle, this is Sister Lu Qi, the one who helped us call the police.”
The young girl quickly stood up, holding her pen and notebook, and bowed: “You’re Sister Lu Qi? Thank you, I really thank you very much!”
“No need to thank me,” Lu Qi narrowed her eyes slightly. “Let me ask, are you Wang Heng’s university classmate?”
Pei Ningle scratched the back of her head, looking a bit embarrassed: “I haven’t gone to university, and I only met him yesterday…”
Lu Qi nodded, already having a judgment in her mind.
She knew that Wang Heng’s programming level didn’t seem like a first year university student at all. The code he wrote even had some surprises in details that she herself had never seen, but upon careful thought, she would find that the code was actually very reasonable and efficient. A boy like that would definitely have quite high standards for the cognition level of ‘friends’, just like Lu Qi herself.
Because she was accustomed to high-speed thinking when writing code, she really couldn’t muster interest in most people who were slow to react and couldn’t keep up with her logic. So, that chance encounter and chat with Wang Heng a few days ago became one of the few refreshing conversations for Lu Qi since last year.
Thus, Lu Qi could confirm that Wang Heng definitely couldn’t chat with a girl like Pei Ningle. At most, they could be friends for two or three days, and there couldn’t be a deeper relationship.
But right after, she reacted—why was she subconsciously analyzing the relationship between Wang Heng and Pei Ningle? Bored?
Even though Wang Heng knew Lu Qi so well, he didn’t expect that in just two seconds, this sister’s mind had already turned several times. He could only observe the expressions of the two girls and found that their emotions seemed very calm, completely different from the first playthrough when they first met.
He still remembered that at the time, Lu Qi had suddenly gone to the rent a house where he lived and saw Pei Ningle inside, with that face full of killing intent…
And now, there was no anomaly at all in Lu Qi and Pei Ningle’s expressions, which finally let Wang Heng breathe a sigh of relief completely. It seemed that the so-called ‘dream’ that Han Yixuan encountered probably hadn’t happened to the two of them, at least not yet.
Lu Qi suddenly said: “Oh right, Wang Heng, you really should change your mobile phone. Let me tell you, if you were using a smartphone, calling the police would be much simpler. If you could directly send GPS positioning to the police, you would have been safe last night.”
Wang Heng: “Is that so…”
Lu Qi continued to persuade: “Moreover, university students don’t have much expenses, and your income isn’t low. What’s the use of keeping that money in the bank? Spend it, buy a new mobile phone.”
Wang Heng thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth: “That money is no longer in the bank. I bought Bitcoin.”
Lu Qi was immediately stunned and looked Wang Heng up and down, as if meeting him anew.
Then she exclaimed: “I never would have thought you have such a strong gambler’s mentality!”
Wang Heng touched the tip of his nose: “Not really…”
Lu Qi: “No problem, I’ll buy you one. Consider it as advance payment for the next mission.”
Wang Heng: “?”
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