Moonshine & Valentine: His Excellency’s First Love (Love Knot) - Chapter 7

Pippi has a single dormitory in a compound not far from the newspaper. It is very small, only the kitchen and the bedroom, and the toilet is shared. Pippi usually goes home on weekends and usually stays in a dormitory. Therefore, she did not return overnight, and no one asked.

I changed my clothes and was about to go to work when my phone rang.

“Pippi, I will buy you a gift for Jialin’s mother. The best bird’s nest, the market price is 1300, and I got it from Aunt Xu, and it will cost 880. That’s all it’s done, listen. Mom’s, that’s right.”

Eight hundred and eight! So expensive?

Pipi secretly took a breath.

For Jialin’s mother’s 50th birthday, the Pippi family spent half a month together. In fact, it was just that Jialin casually said that he would bring Pippi to dinner, and Pippi’s family was nervous. After some careful analysis, everyone agreed that this is a signal that Jialin intends to officially disclose their relationship to his family. So, the meaning of Pippi’s visit this time is different: you can’t be too casual, you have to mention something valuable. Besides, in families like Jialin, there are more people giving gifts during the New Year’s and holidays, and ordinary gifts are not to be looked down upon, so don’t let people think it is neglect.

There are several gift schemes, including famous tea, famous wine, ginseng, cosmetics, hand decorations, purses, silk fabrics…and five bottles of bean paste made by Grandma Pipi. The bean paste was ready immediately, and Grandma Pipi specially spent money to go to the market to buy imported glass bottles to pack. The rest is quite mind-blowing. It was the first time that the family took out such a large sum of money just to buy a gift. Everyone thinks that we must be cautious. After discussing it for two weeks, it was not settled. It’s cheaper, sorry. It’s too expensive to give it away. Pippi was so annoyed that he just wanted to pay for it. However, she has already handed over two-thirds of her monthly salary to the family. All that is left is the meal money and the pitiful pocket money. She intends to buy two cans of good tea and send it to her family. I promised that it was Jane slow, and I had to send something special.

Pippi felt a little discouraged when he thought of Jialin’s mother, Aunt Meng. After graduating from high school, she never went to Jialin’s house again except to go to pay a new year as usual. Firstly, I am too old and embarrassed to get old; secondly, Pippi quietly felt that Aunt Meng was kind to her, but not very enthusiastic. At least not as enthusiastic as she was in kindergarten: I would hold her to buy popsicles, knit a sweater for her, tell Jialin, who is only two months older than her, to take care of her, and constantly tell Pippi’s mother that the boy is too naughty, and she Just want a girl.

Maybe it’s too sensitive.

Aunt Meng is very strict with Jialin, almost harsh. Jialin took eighty points in the math test, and when he returned home, he would have to wear his mother’s ruler. Jialin went to Pippi’s house when he was beaten. Grandma felt distressed and went to persuade Aunt Meng. Aunt Meng disapproved, saying that a girl with poor grades could marry a good man. Boys who have poor grades are not saved.

As a result, Jialin’s growth became a 100-meter hurdle race. All the obstacles inside were set by his mother. The second-year college entrance examination grade six. Graduation exam for graduate students. TOEFL for first-year graduate students. TOEFL passed the GRE test. One level after another, there is no end. Jia Lin said bitterly, she won’t be able to control me when I leave the country.

Pippi quietly panicked in her heart.

She didn’t know what to do. What can you do if you go abroad with Jialin? Reading and studying are not her strengths. Do you work? Be a waitress? Does the family have children?

She can’t live without Jialin.

Three months ago, after intense thinking, Pippi signed up in a TOEFL crash course not far from the dormitory. The teacher is from New Oriental. After paying the tuition, he got a lot of teaching materials. In all subjects, Pippi’s English is still inferior to Chinese, which is a strong point. His grades fluctuate and are not stable. However, in the college entrance examination, he scored a staggering 95 points, second in grade, higher than Jialin. It became a legend in the college entrance examination that year. Later, when I went to university, English was not important, so my grades naturally dropped again. Pippi decided to take the TOEFL quietly and got a good score, which scared Jialin.

At the other end of the phone, Pippi’s mother was still talking enthusiastically about how she would bargain with Aunt Xu.

Pippi looked at his watch and cut the mess quickly: “Okay, mom. Anyway, I will submit a bonus to the society next month. I bought it.”

“What kind of money my family tells you, my money is yours. As long as Jialin’s mother is happy.”

After hanging up the phone, Pippi suddenly felt sour. Mom always coughs this month and her throat is hoarse. The doctor said that Chuanbei loquat ointment worked, but she was reluctant to buy it. It was too expensive, so she steamed pears and drank it every day. Pippi still couldn’t see it and bought her four bottles. Now one shot is eight hundred and eight, which is generous enough. Eight hundred and eight, how many things do I need to sell my father to make money back?

Tuesday is the routine filing time of the Editor-in-Chief Office. Pippi was busy from morning to night, and the day passed quickly. When she got off work, Wei Qingtan sent her an intern press card. Pippi was surprised and quickly reported to her the situation of yesterday’s interview. She only said that she finally succeeded in making a conversation with Helan Jingting, and discussed the issue of ancient jade for ten minutes. As for the weird things that happened last night, they are all silent. After all, after spending a year in the news unit, Pippi knew the speed of the rumors, and she would definitely lose her reputation when she said it.

“Hehe, progress is good. Sure enough, this Helan is not very alert to you.” Wei Qingtan stuffed a pregnant woman’s vitamin into his mouth, poured his head up and poured a half bottle of mineral water, and then took out a notebook from his bag, “According to The Wire,” Helan Jingting will go to Jingtian Auction House to bid for some ancient jade tomorrow. Among them is a jade tiger from the Warring States Period, which is said to be his biggest goal. He is going to the V City Museum tonight.”

“V City Museum? What are you going to do there?”

“do not know.”

City V is a prefecture-level city subordinate to City C. It is not far from City C. It is an hour and a half drive from the highway.

Pippi picked up the press card, grabbed his own bag and walked out the door: “I’m going to the V City Museum to find him.”

“Do you have his cell phone number?”

“…No.” Throwing Helan Jingting’s business card that day, Pippi really regretted it in his intestines.

Wei Qingtan handed her a piece of paper with a number written on it: “Pippi, this is the difference between an old reporter and a new reporter.”

“He lives at 56 Xianting Street.” Pippi added in time.

Wei Qingtan raised his eyebrows, picked up the notebook and remembered, “You’re really good. I don’t know that.”

Pippi walked to the entrance hall and dialed Helan Jingting’s cell phone.

There was a lazy “Hello”.

“I’m… Guan Pippi.”

“Oh.” Helan Jingting’s voice was a little surprised, “How do you know my phone number?”

“Didn’t you give me a business card?”

“On the business card is the office landline.”

Wear it out.

“The people at the museum told me.”

“No way, unless you recognize the curator.”

“How do you know I don’t recognize the curator?”

Silence over there.

After a while, Helan Jingting asked, “Is something wrong with me?”

“Can I interview you today?”

“No.”

“Yes, I heard that you are going to the V City Museum. Can I go with you?”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go and see what you are doing there.”

“absurd.”

The phone hung up.

Without a word, Pippi got on the bus to V City.

It gets dark early in winter. At the gate of the V City Museum, Pippi found that it was still open. After buying a ticket and asking about it, I found out that the museum is doing a retrospective of 100-year-old photographs and playing old movies at the same time. In order to attract more people to watch, we will extend the opening hours.

After waiting at the door for more than half an hour, he saw Helan Jingting coming in from outside.

Pippi quickly greeted him: “Hi, Mr. Helan!”

Helan Jingting frowned impatiently, looked at the hall, with a somewhat surprised expression, and sighed after a long while: “It hasn’t been here for half a year. The layout here has changed.”

The differences between localities and provinces are still great. The V City Museum looks very shabby, the door has been in disrepair for a long time, the walls are peeling off, and the smell of the toilet fills the whole hall.

Helan Jingting walked straight in. After walking a few steps, he found that Pippi had been following him, and stopped again:

“Why follow me?”

“This is a public place, can you control where I go?”

Helan Jingting looked at her watch, obviously there was no time to talk to her, and moved on.

He followed him into an office, and inside came out a middle-aged woman who looked like a secretary, with a handful of sunflower seeds in her hand: “Mr. Who do you look for?”

“I’m the consultant of City C Museum, Helan Jingting.” He handed over his business card, and shook hands with her very politely, “Hello.”

“Hello.”

“I want to come here to see an ancient jade collection in your museum.” He took out a picture, “This is it. Warring States Jade Tiger.”

Then he handed her two pieces of paper: “This is a letter of introduction and my ID card.”

The secretary looked at the letter of introduction carefully, then looked at Pippi, and asked, “Then, this is—”

Before Helan Jingting could speak, Pippi rushed to answer, “I am Mr. Helan’s work assistant.”

“Wait a minute, I’ll go to the warehouse and ask.”

The office looks messy, with stacks of paper on the desk. In the right corner is an old computer with dust on the screen. At this moment, Pippi’s belly groaned. In order to catch up with the bus, she didn’t bother to eat, and now she was really hungry.

The belly continued to scream, and in this quiet museum, the voice was simply loud. Pippi was embarrassed, lowered his head and glanced at Helan Jingting quietly.

There was no expression on his face, and he sat silently beside him, turning a deaf ear.

After a while, the secretary came back and shook his head as soon as he entered the door: “Sorry, the ancient jade you mentioned is not there.”

She made a gesture of seeing off the guests.

“Aren’t there?” Helan Jingting had no intention of leaving, and snorted coldly, “This is a national cultural relic, you said it’s not there. What do you mean?”

“I’m not here or not, what does that mean?” The secretary’s tone was tough.

“National cultural relic, can it not be there?”

“I mean…that is, at the curator’s, in his office.” The secretary finally confessed.

“Then please ask the curator for instructions.”

The secretary also wanted to evade. Seeing Helan Jingting’s face was ironic, he hesitated for a while and went to the next room to call.

After a while she came back and said, “Please follow me.”