Honesty and Old Pretender

Cheng Shi looked at the brand-new banknotes on the table and smiled.

"Old man, where did you get the money?"

Old Jia scratched his toes and said disdainfully, "What? You look down on your father? This is all the money I've saved up. I've scrimped and saved my whole life to pay for your schooling. Put it away and buy a ticket."

His defiant demeanor certainly didn't seem like he was lying.

But Cheng Shi knew this wasn't money he had saved, because the money still smelled of fragrance—the fragrance of Aunt Sun's house next door.

However, Cheng Shi didn't reveal the truth; he just accepted the money and nodded.

Then, Cheng Shi took Old Jia to his university. After seeing Cheng Shi off at the school gate, Old Jia left, and Cheng Shi began his wonderful university life on his own.

Perhaps university life was indeed exciting for Cheng Shi, at least a million times more exciting than life in the urban village, but for the Dream-Peeking Ranger, this university life, overflowing with the inexhaustible atmosphere of male hormones, was simply extremely boring.

Although the night in the Sighing Forest was only half over, and there was still plenty of time to observe this dream influenced by [Memory], Jiang Wu Mei couldn't stand the boredom any longer, so he decided to change his perspective.

Instead of observing Cheng Shi focus shifted to observing his father, who seemed rather interesting.

But the protagonist of this dream is Cheng Shi. Following Cheng Shi's perspective requires the Dream-Peeking Ranger to pay no price, because this is a gift from his Lord of Grace to the Dream-Peeking Ranger. However, if he wants to switch to another "channel", he will have to pay something.

For example, taking risks.

When using his talent to explore deeper layers of dreams, Jiang Wu Mei can no longer remain undetected by the dreamers like a ghost. He must possess a physical form to move freely and witness other Memory that Cheng Shi has not seen.

However, physical entities can be discovered. Once the dream's owner is awakened and becomes aware of their existence, the biggest risk they face is how the "Creator" of this dream world will deal with them.

Normally, he wouldn't choose to take risks after glimpsing enough fun, but he was too curious today. He always felt that Cheng Shi's father wasn't as... honest as he seemed.

So after "accompanying" Cheng Shi a semester, Jiang Wu Mei decisively chose to abandon Cheng Shi's perspective, activated his own talent, and turned himself into a passerby in this dream.

He traced his Memory back to the past, back to the time before Xiao Cheng Shi was adopted.

There, outside the orphanage, he saw Cheng Shi running on the playground through the fence, but he also saw someone else, someone he had brought back by activating his talent tracing back to the source.

Old Jia.

This father, who had been reserved his whole life, was standing at the corner of the outer wall, peeking out and happily watching Xiao Cheng Shi inside.

Jiang Wu Mei's interest was finally rekindled. He pretended to be a passerby and brushed past Old Jia, then heard Old Jia praising him repeatedly:

"What a promising talent! He mustn't grow up to be a bad one. Sigh, if only he were my son. It's a pity I've lost all the virtue of my ancestors for eighteen generations. I don't have that blessing."

Jiang Wu Mei raised an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming.

Sure enough, this old man was suspicious.

He started stalking the man.

For a ranger blessed by [Memory], tracking an old man from before the arrival of the Faith Game without leaving a trace couldn't be easier.

He soon discovered that Old Jia was very interested in Xiao Cheng Shi from the orphanage. He had passed by the orphanage more than once while doing odd jobs, and every time he saw Xiao Cheng Shi, he would be happy for a long time. But he knew that he was not qualified to adopt this so-called good seedling.

One day, while chatting with someone on the street, he heard that the director of the orphanage wanted to find someone to send away one of the naughty children in the orphanage. He asked which old bachelor didn't have children, and as long as he paid, he could get it done.

Old Jia initially scoffed at the idea, but upon hearing that the child's Little Ten, he immediately became anxious.

"Damn it, such a good kid, all ruined by these bastards."

He rushed home in a hurry, took out a wad of money from under the shiny black quilt, and rushed to the orphanage. Just before another old bachelor could talk to the director, he intercepted Xiao Cheng Shi.

The old bachelor had brought 2,000 yuan, but he was unwilling to give up after being outmaneuvered. He said he would give him another 500 yuan, and Old Jia gritted his teeth and gave him 3,000 yuan.

This was all his savings; really, not a penny more.

And that's how Xiao Cheng Shi was photographed, and he became Old Jia's son.

As for the 3,000 yuan that Old Jia gave him, the dean stuffed it into the cleavage of a hostess that very night.

No one knows whether the dean or the hostess was happier, but at least Old Jia was happy.

He happily took Xiao Cheng Shi home. The shirt and trousers he was wearing were borrowed from the woman surnamed Sun. When he returned them, she gave him a disapproving look and refused to take them back.

But Jiang Wu Mei that the clothes hadn't been thrown away; they had been given to him by a wealthy the woman surnamed Sun.

On his first day back home, Xiao Cheng Shi pretended to be asleep. Old Jia didn't expose him and walked out the door on his own. He didn't go far and just squatted on the curb by the door to smoke.

The wealthy the woman surnamed Sun from next door stood behind him and asked, "Why do you suddenly want a son?"

He smacked his lips and said, "This is a good seed, just like me."

He then put out his cigarette.

"I can't smoke anymore now that I have a son. This is the last one. Sigh, I have to save money for my child's schooling."

The woman surnamed Sun stared at him blankly for a long time, then chuckled and said, "I've been advising you to quit smoking your whole life, and in the end, you're better off bringing home a little kid."

It was only then that Jiang Wu Mei realized that the two people knew each other and had known each other all along.

But when he looked at this dream from Cheng Shi's perspective, he never noticed anything amiss. Even someone as perceptive as him never saw a flaw in any exchange of glances.

Who exactly are these two people?

Old Jia pursed his lips, ignored her, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a few coins.

"Lend me 50, I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"What?"

"Buy some meat for the child."

"..." The woman surnamed Sun sneered, glared at Old Jia fiercely, threw down 100 yuan in a fit of anger, and left.

Old Jia picked up the money, slowly walked to the entrance of the urban village, and then squatted down again.

He glanced at the clock in the supermarket every now and then, as if it were keeping time.

Jiang Wu Mei was puzzled. What was the point of keeping track of time?

But he soon realized that just as Xiao Cheng Shi was about to reach the village entrance and leave the urban village, Old Jia had gone into the supermarket ahead of him and bought the ham.

Then, every word he said to the shop assistant reached Xiao Cheng Shi's Ear.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Cheng Shi turned around. Old Jia glanced at him from the village entrance, then cheerfully followed him back, saying as they walked:

"He's got some brains, but he's still a bit green."

Jiang Wu Mei stood at the village entrance pretending to be a passerby. When Old Jia passed by him, he trembled with nervousness and almost tore the newspaper in his hand.

Hiss--

This person seems to be an expert.

Should I be more careful?

He was a cautious man, and from that day on, he began to use the power of [Memory] to track Old Jia.

It's funny, really. A wandering knight started using the blessings of the gods against an ordinary person.

Then came the Cheng Shi used a bottle cap to deceive people. Jiang Wu Mei stayed with Old Jia for a few days before discovering that the bottle cap in front of the door was actually thrown there by Old Jia.

He seemed to have known all along that Cheng Shi liked to drink cola, so in order to teach Cheng Shi a lesson and stop him from lying, he threw a bottle cap at the door in advance and smoothed out the broom handle so that it would be easier to hit him.

Sure enough, Xiao Cheng Shi and got a hard slap.

The next day, Old Jia left home early to take a stroll in the park. He played chess with an old man in the park and won 50 yuan. Then, he took the 50 yuan to the supermarket, bought a case of Coke, two bottles of ice water, and a meal, and leisurely went home.

When I got to the door, I gulped down two bottles of ice water outside the door and splashed some water on myself to pretend I was sweating. As soon as I entered the house, I calmed Cheng Shi down, and then my stomach started growling.

After running out clutching his stomach under Xiao Cheng Shi's blank stare, he turned around and went to play chess in the park.

This whole Cheng Shi of events left Jiang Wu Mei completely bewildered, while Xiao Cheng, oblivious to everything, was still at home, eating and losing her pearls.