Phone

On Friday, Li Ping did not go on the blind date. He did not return to the old family home at all. After work, he drove through the night toward Zhao Danshi's hometown.

He wanted to see what exactly was going on with Zhao Danshi, so he went over by himself without saying a word to anyone.

After driving until midnight, he found a hotel and rested for the night, planning to visit Zhao Danshi's home early the next day.

Before leaving, Li Ping had specifically asked Wei Borong for Zhao Danshi's address and told Wei Borong not to mention it to Zhao Danshi yet.

Wei Borong was quite worried about the situation between the two of them, but he also hoped they could take this opportunity to grow closer, so he agreed.

Neither Li Ping nor Wei Borong knew that Zhao Danshi had gone to W City for a prenatal checkup and had not returned to the countryside. Only the old man was at his family home.

The next day, Li Ping followed the address Wei Borong had given him and asked for directions all the way there. After much difficulty, he found their little mountain village. But when he stopped people to ask, no one had heard of anyone in the village named Zhao Danshi.

Li Ping patiently described him. "Has someone around twenty-three or twenty-four, about six feet tall, and very handsome returned to your village recently?"

The villager suddenly understood. "Do you mean Yun Yun from Manzigong's family? He's the best-looking person in our village, just like a celebrity."

Li Ping truly had no idea Zhao Danshi had such a cute nickname. He nodded. "Maybe. Where does he live?"

The villager pointed ahead and enthusiastically said in Mandarin tinged with a local accent, "Just drive straight down that little road. At the very end, you'll see a big courtyard. That's his home. If you're not sure, ask again once you get there."

"Okay, thank you."

"Oh, don't mention it. You're his friend?"

Li Ping had originally intended to leave, but that question stopped him in his tracks. He simply parked and chatted with the man instead. "We were university classmates. I'm here on business, so I came by to see him. I heard he has a girlfriend and is almost married?"

The villager looked surprised. "No, I don't think so? He came back alone. I haven't heard that he has a girlfriend. But we don't really know about young people's affairs."

Li Ping immediately relaxed. He smiled. "Thank you. I thought he had a girlfriend, so I came to ask when I could attend his wedding banquet."

After saying goodbye to the villager, Li Ping drove down the narrow road.

Zhao Danshi's home was easy to find. There was only one small courtyard at the end of the road. Li Ping parked and went to knock on the door. A burst of barking came from inside, followed by an elderly voice asking, "Who is it?"

"Hello, I'm Zhao Danshi's friend. Does he live here?"

The old man came out and opened the door. Seeing Li Ping dressed so neatly, he warmly invited him in. "You're Yun Yun's friend? Come in and sit. He's gone away. What do you need him for?"

"It's nothing important. I was passing through on business and came by to see him." Li Ping followed the old man through the courtyard and into the living room, his eyes quietly taking in the surroundings.

The courtyard looked old, but it was kept very clean and had a uniquely tranquil, comfortable air.

"Have some sunflower seeds." The old man pushed over a fruit plate, then found a disposable cup and poured him hot tea. "What bad timing. Yun Yun hasn't been home lately. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Li Ping accepted the tea with both hands. "Didn't Yun Yun say he was coming home to grow vegetables? Why did he go somewhere else?"

Seeing that Li Ping knew about Zhao Danshi's situation, the old man did not become suspicious. He cheerfully said, "His girlfriend is about to have a baby, so he went to look after her."

Li Ping's hand trembled. Most of the water in the cup sloshed out and spilled all over his thigh.

"Ah!" The old man hurriedly brought tissues over to wipe him off. "Are you all right? Did it burn you? Let me find a pair of pants in Yun Yun's room for you to change into."

"No." Li Ping's heart clenched. He drew a deep breath and barely steadied himself. "Grandpa, since he isn't home, I'll come visit you another day. Sorry to trouble you."

As Li Ping spoke, he stood up, his mind filled with Zhao Danshi's concealment and deception.

The old man stood up too and tried to keep him there. "It's already noon. Stay for lunch before you go."

Li Ping had no mood for pleasantries. He waved his hand. "Thank you, but I have something to do. I'll be going."

His long legs carried him away swiftly, almost as though he were fleeing in panic.

The old man watched his retreating figure disappear. He found it a little strange, but did not think much of it.

Watcher said that Zhao Danshi would need to carry the child for five months. After conducting all sorts of examinations and deductions, Ran Yuanyao discovered that based on the child's growth rate, a little over five months really would be enough. It was still early before the due date, with roughly two and a half months left.

These past few days, Zhao Danshi had been thinking about ways to use Watcher to remove the child.

Watcher and Zhao Danshi calculated that if they used Watcher, they would first have to unlock the shop, which required one thousand points. This operation counted as a major surgery, and if Watcher performed it, ten thousand points should be enough.

Zhao Danshi calculated with a notebook in hand. The vegetables he grew provided less than 0.5 bioenergy per kilogram. Other vegetables provided roughly one point of bioenergy for every three kilograms. To ask Watcher to act, he would need at least eleven thousand bioenergy.

Converted into money, if vegetables sold for two yuan per jin, six jin would cost twelve yuan. To gather eleven thousand bioenergy, he would need to buy nearly 130,000 yuan worth of vegetables.

If Zhao Danshi pooled all his assets and borrowed some more, he could barely raise enough money. But if someone noticed him buying so many vegetables, things would become troublesome.

Zhao Danshi regretted it. If he had known, he should not have made that wish.

The child was already conceived, and it was his senior brother's child. No matter what, he could not bear to give it up.

He sighed. He still had to quickly find a way to deliver the child.

Ran Yuanyao lived with him every day and soon noticed that something was wrong with Zhao Danshi's mood.

After reading so much material, he discovered that Zhao Danshi might be showing signs of prenatal depression.

Ran Yuanyao did not dare work overtime anymore. He came home on time every day and did his best to talk with Zhao Danshi about what was on his mind.

That day, Zhao Danshi was eating and staring blankly into space again.

Ran Yuanyao called him several times, but Zhao Danshi did not hear him. Ran Yuanyao became anxious and patiently asked, "What exactly is wrong with you? Why have you been so distracted all day?"

Zhao Danshi lowered his lashes and stared at his chopsticks as he hesitantly asked, "Yuanyao, is it especially risky for you to perform my surgery?"

"Risky, my ass! I've read the materials. Your surgery is incredibly simple. For doctors in our field, if we can't even do a surgery like yours, our fundamentals are so poor that we should change careers as soon as possible."

Zhao Danshi knew he was only making it sound simple. The actual situation was definitely far more complicated than he had said.

Seeing that Zhao Danshi did not look well, Ran Yuanyao softened his voice to comfort him. "Don't think so much. I know what I'm doing. If I really can't handle it, I'll definitely ask my teacher. I won't gamble with your life."

Zhao Danshi felt guilty. "I'm too selfish. Whenever I run into something I can't handle, my first thought is you. And now, I've thrown all the pressure that should have been mine onto you."

Ran Yuanyao rubbed his head. "It's okay. Don't think so much. I'm glad you thought of me instead of shouldering it all alone."

Zhao Danshi sighed. He knew in his heart that he would never be able to repay what he owed Ran Yuanyao in this lifetime.

Once they had talked things through, Zhao Danshi's mood improved somewhat. The due date was still far away, so he planned to return to the countryside first, clean up the mess there, and then come back.

Zhao Danshi gently but firmly refused Ran Yuanyao's request that he stay in W City to rest during his pregnancy. He took the train back to his hometown, and the two agreed that he would return in a little over a month.

Ran Yuanyao looked at his already somewhat cumbersome belly, unable to hide the worry in his eyes.

Zhao Danshi reassured him. "Don't worry. I'm in good health, and Watcher is with me. It's advanced technology beyond Earth, after all. There shouldn't be any problems."

Ran Yuanyao gave a hum. "Call me if anything happens."

"Okay." Zhao Danshi picked up his luggage and got out of the car, his eyes curving at Ran Yuanyao. "I can walk the rest of the way myself. You should head back first."

Ran Yuanyao did not answer. He took Zhao Danshi's luggage, bought a platform ticket, and escorted him onto the train.

It was not peak travel season, so there were not many people on the train. Zhao Danshi's condition made him very conspicuous among the crowd. No matter who looked at him, Zhao Danshi calmly returned their gaze with a smile.

He was handsome, and the people around him showed varying degrees of regret when they saw him like this.

His exposed wrists were thin, his legs long, and his face refined. He did not look as though he had gained weight. Instead, he looked as though he had some illness, such as ascites from liver disease.

Receiving those sympathetic looks, Zhao Danshi became wary.

He decided that after returning, he would disguise himself properly. At the very least, he could not let Grandpa see how much bigger his belly had become, lest the old man worry.

After returning to his hometown, the old man indeed questioned his belly.

"I just gained weight." Zhao Danshi looked miserable. "Grandpa, don't mention it. That girl barely ate the supplements you had me bring her. She said she had no appetite, and since it would have been wasteful, most of them ended up in my stomach."

The old man did not doubt him, though he looked disgusted. "Hey, I told you to take care of her, but you ended up being the one taken care of. Why are you back? Don't you need to stay there and keep looking after the girl?"

"Her pregnancy is still in its early stages, so she doesn't need special care yet. We agreed that I'll go back in another month to take care of her personally. By then, I may have to stay until the child is born."

The old man nodded. "That's how it should be."

The old man had already boiled the water. Zhao Danshi went inside, found clean clothes, took a bath, washed his hair, and carefully dried it before going out to prepare for dinner.

The old man had already finished cooking. Zhao Danshi brought out the dishes, and the two chatted while eating at the table.

"Grandpa, how are the vegetables in our fields growing?"

"Very well." The old man brightened at the mention of it. "We planted our vegetables the same way everyone else did. We watered them when they needed watering, fertilized them when they needed fertilizing, and weeded them when they needed weeding. Yet somehow, they grew better than everyone else's vegetables, and they tasted better too. The greens we stir-fried today were picked from our field. Just try them and you'll know."

Zhao Danshi reached for the greens on the plate with his chopsticks. The moment he tasted them, a look of amazement appeared in his eyes.

The greens they had grown were crisp and tender. One bite filled his mouth with the fresh sweetness of the vegetables, without the slightest fibrous residue.

"How is it? Our vegetables taste good, right?" The old man looked proud. "I've been selling them at the market for over half a month now. No matter how much I bring, it all sells out. People specifically seek out our vegetables. A few days ago, someone from out of town drove in and bought eighty jin from me, saying they needed them for a banquet."

Zhao Danshi nodded vigorously. "Grandpa, you're really good at growing vegetables."

"It might really not be my skill," the old man said with a chuckle. "Other people in the village all say your hands have been blessed. The same vegetables taste especially good when you grow them. They asked whether you bought your seeds somewhere else."

"What did you tell them?"

"Ah, how would I know? When you were growing vegetables, I didn't really go over to help much. So I told them the truth and said I didn't know." The old man chuckled. "Today, several people in the village saw that you were back and said they wanted to visit our home. I told them you'd spent the whole day on the train and needed rest, so they should come tomorrow. Only then did they give up."

Zhao Danshi had not expected this outcome either, and he was quite happy about it.

He now believed eighty percent of what Watcher had said. In a couple of days, he decided he would first buy a batch of vegetables and supply Watcher with bioenergy. A relationship worked best when there was give and take. No matter what, he had to make full use of a treasure like Watcher, though he had no intention of taking advantage of it.

While eating, the old man suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, Yun Yun. A young man came looking for you a couple of days ago. He said he was your friend."

Zhao Danshi's heart skipped a beat. Forgetting about his meal, he hurriedly asked, "Grandpa, what did he look like? Did he say who he was?"

The old man slapped his forehead. "Oh dear, I forgot to ask. I was so happy that day, and we barely exchanged a few words. Later, he said he had something to do and left after only a few minutes, without even eating lunch."

Zhao Danshi was frantic. He hurriedly took out his phone and pulled up a photo of Li Ping. "Grandpa, did he look like this?"

Holding the phone at a distance, the old man squinted at it for a long while before nodding with certainty. "Yes, that's him."

Zhao Danshi could no longer care about eating. He pushed his bowl onto the table. "Grandpa, I'm going to make a call."

For the first time since becoming pregnant, Zhao Danshi ran that fast. He rushed into his room, slammed the door shut, and called Li Ping with trembling hands.