Chapter 1196: Ajiu’s Journey
The old man saw that she was wearing a small monk’s robe and thought that she was a child being made use of by a swindler. But she was a little too obedient to be a swindler.
The old man had a good heart. After thinking for a moment, he took out $10 from his pocket and handed it to little Ajiu. “I don’t know the place you mentioned, but take this money. If you’re thirsty, you can buy something to drink.”
Little Ajiu looked at the money in her small palm and was a little confused. She tilted her head and her eyes were full of question marks.
Why did the old man give her money when she asked for directions?
“I don’t want the money. Ajiu has money,” the little girl said and returned the money. Then, she put her palms together and chanted, “Amitabha.”
Since this old man didn’t know the way, she was going to another place to ask.
But even at a different intersection, someone would give her money.
Little Ajiu reached out and patted her little forehead. “Xiao Bai, the old man must think that I want money.”
“Meow.” The white cat sat obediently in her arms, as if it was echoing her words.
Little Ajiu hugged her pet and sat on the curb next to her.
“I need to eat another steamed bun to calm down.”
The white cat nearly rolled its eyes at her. This was just an excuse to eat a steamed bun, right?!
However, what made little Ajiu feel strange was that even when she sat down to eat a steamed bun, someone would still throw a coin in front of her.
Little Ajiu scratched her big head, completely unaware that she was being watched.
“I found a little monk on my way to work this morning. She’s really cute!”
This was how the passersby posted on their social media. There was also a photo of little Ajiu eating a steamed bun with her head lowered. Her little fingers were stretched out and she did look very cute.
Little Ajiu felt that it was not a good idea to stay here for too long. She patted her little kasaya and stood up. She watched as a bus went from the east and followed the crowd onto the bus.
The child had really brought money. There was a large pile of money in her turtle-shell schoolbag.
She saw that some people swiped their cards and some people put in coins. She also took out two coins, but she had to stand on tiptoe to throw them into the collection machine. Once again, she felt that her height was her greatest disadvantage.
There were not many people on the bus at this hour.
Little Ajiu found a seat and shook her lotus-root calves. Her big eyes looked out of the window.
What should she do? She wanted to eat steamed buns again.
The little girl lowered her head and touched her small belly. In the end, she decided to bear with it.
It wasn’t surprising that the child did not know how to take a bus. Usually, a Bai family driver would send her out. It was her first time for everything today. Little Ajiu felt that the bus was going on the right route at the beginning, but later on, something didn’t seem quite right.
Therefore, little Ajiu stood up very cleverly. When she was at the last stop, she asked the ticket inspector, “Auntie, I want to go to the mountain. How do I get there?”
The conductor had no idea which mountain she wanted to go to and assumed she was headed for Xiangshan, the mountain near to the city. She immediately said, “Little girl, you’ve taken the wrong bus. Get off at the next stop and change…”
Little Ajiu listened carefully to the conductor’s route and got off at the correct stop.
However, the conductor had no idea that the mountain that little Ajiu was talking about was not Xiangshan of the capital city. She just kept thinking to herself, how could this little girl’s family trust such a small child to go out on her own?
Along the way, she kept instructing little Ajiu to be careful at all times.
By now, the roads were all congested. At eight o’clock in the morning, the traffic jam was basically everywhere.
Many office workers were busy squeezing into the subway to squeeze onto public transport. A different atmosphere soon took over Beijing and put its opulence on display.
The smell of fried dough sticks and tofu pudding mixed in the air. The smells in the air really made the city come alive.
Bai Zhun woke up clutching his head in Li Hailou’s bedroom within the Li family’s luxurious home. He could even smell the strong smell of alcohol all over his body.
Bai Zhun shook his head and moved one of the other guys’ leg away from his body before standing up and walking into the bathroom.
He casually pulled his white t-shirt off his body, revealing his straight back. His movements were very handsome.
He sobered up a little after the water came down from above.
Xiao Lin woke up from the noise in the bathroom. When he looked at his watch, it was almost eight o’clock. He hurriedly kicked Li Hailou, who was lying horizontally, awake. “Hurry up and get up. You’re going to be late for school.”
Li Hailou grabbed his hair that looked like a chicken’s nest. His gaze met with Bai Zhun who had just walked out of the bathroom. “Damn it, Bai Zhun, you’re finally sober. Do you know what you did yesterday? You betrayed me!”
“Is that true?” Bai Zhun asked Xiao Lin, who was beside him, while drying his hair.
Xiao Lin smiled slightly. “No.”
“You two bastards!” Li Hailou shouted as he began to put on his clothes. “Bai Zhun, even if you don’t remember that you betrayed me, you still remember that you scrolled through Weibo crazily and said that you were going to wait for little Ajiu, right?”
Bai Zhun’s hand that was wiping his hair paused. It was obvious that he did not remember anything. He did not reply to Li Hailou’s words. Instead, he took his school uniform and put it on.
Xiao Lin could tell that Bai Zhun was a little distracted.
But in reality, Bai Zhun was not just distracted. His chest felt very uncomfortable. It was as if something was pressing down on him.
The moment he thought of little Ajiu’s attitude towards Baili Shangxie, Bai Zhun would feel as if a basin of cold water had been poured over his body, from head to toe, making him unable to sleep soundly.
If it were not for the bottle of red wine from the night before, time would definitely have been extremely difficult to endure.
When it rained yesterday, he looked out of the window for a long time. It was so long that he had even torn through the English test paper he had written before finally resisting the urge to pick little Ajiu up.
In the end, after arriving at the Li house, he felt even more unhappy.
Xiao Lin understood Bai Zhun quite well. He could tell that Bai Zhun was down just by looking at his expression. He patted Bai Zhun’s shoulder and said, “Alright, we’ll talk later if there’s anything. We’re almost late. Let’s go down and eat something. We’ll leave immediately.”
Li Hailou also began to pack his school bag in a flurry.
The three youths walked downstairs. They had just sat down to eat a bun and finish their porridge when Auntie Wang came running in. She looked very anxious. Even her forehead was covered in sweat. “Young Master Li, did Young Mistress come here?”
“Little Ajiu?” Li Hailou had a bun in his mouth. He did not forget to drink a mouthful of soy milk before speaking. “I didn’t see her come over.”
Upon hearing this answer, half of Auntie Wang’s body went limp and her voice immediately sounded like she was crying. “What should we do? I’ve looked in the canteen, but I didn’t see her anywhere. There’s nothing in her room either. She didn’t even come down for breakfast today. Where could this child have gone?!”
When he heard this, Bai Zhun suddenly stood up!
That usually handsome and smiling face had lost all its smile. It was as if the blood in his body had suddenly been frozen by something. He had never lost his composure like this before…