"How's Old Liu doing?"
Wang Yan drove as he asked Zheng Qiudong, who sat in the passenger seat.
"Same as ever. No major changes." Zheng Qiudong smiled. "What he said was pretty much the same as what you said—that I was playing petty tricks, that I wasn't upright and honest, and that it wouldn't last. He even gave me a couplet. The first line was, 'Foolish little cleverness, blindly self-abasing.' The second was, 'Diligent great wisdom, sincerely striving.' The horizontal inscription was, 'Self-encouragement.'"
"Old Liu has quite the leisure. You can tell that after you helped arrange for his parents to be buried together, he fulfilled his last wish. Now he's in a state where he could die without regrets, a little detached from the world."
"He's forty this year and in great health. Even without a reduced sentence, twenty years wouldn't be a problem for him. Besides, he's pretty proactive. He could get out in a little over ten years and still have good days ahead. He taught me so much, and he gave me three hundred thousand before. I can't forget that kindness. When he gets out, if I've got the means, I'll make sure he lives comfortably."
"You know how to repay kindness." Wang Yan nodded with a smile and pulled over to the roadside. "Get out. Let's grab a quick bite first. You've been around this area before, so you must know Old Friend Rice Noodles. This place makes them really well."
"Then let's give it a try." Zheng Qiudong had traveled far and wide, so he knew his food and drink.
Since Wang Yan had picked the place, the noodle shop near the job market was naturally good. Simple rice noodles prepared to an LV4 standard were already quite impressive. Business was booming, and people