Chapter 93: Vacation

Qi Yuan asked with certainty, “The seller is a girl?”

Qi Jin nodded. “Pretty good-looking girl, just her hair was a total mess, blinding.”

Qi Yuan frowned. “You looked at her photos?”

“The package came with free show tickets, like seven or eight performances, all free, so of course I had to add her as a friend!”

Qi Yuan was speechless. “What exactly did they teach you at the police academy? Don’t you know to be cautious when buying secondhand?”

Qi Jin looked innocent. “I was cautious! I asked her if she was reliable.”

“She told you she was very reliable, and then you bought it?”

Qi Jin nodded. “Yeah! She looked so young, no way she’d scam me.”

......

Forget it, forget it. He’s my own brother, can’t hit him.

Qi Yuan looked down at Xiao Zuo and Xiao You. “Who hired you? What else did they say?”

Xiao Zuo was still hesitating, but Xiao You immediately spilled the beans. “That’s the local gangster around here, goes by Brother Hu. He’s also from China, out here hustling. Brother Hu said the boss from Mianbei placed the order, to grab two girls and take them to Mianbei for... business...”

Qi Yuan frowned. “Why would this boss want to grab those two girls?”

Xiao You shook his head with a sycophantic grin. “That we really don’t know. Brother Hu didn’t tell us.”

Qi Yuan sat down on the bed, frowning deeply in thought.

The people they were supposed to grab were probably Qi Jin’s seller. For some reason, she’d canceled her trip and sold the package to them, dodging the danger.

Is that it?

Or is this all a lie?

He looked up at Qi Jin. “Did the girl say why she was selling the package?”

“She said she won it in a raffle, and when she was about to buy the tickets, she realized the two of them didn’t have passports.”

......

What a flimsy excuse.

Qi Yuan reached out. “Let me see her moments.”

“Okay.”

The phone was quickly handed to him. What caught his eye was a blinding pineapple yellow and a flashy neon pink.

And two radiant smiles.

The caption: As long as your mindset is good enough, anywhere can be Bali!

Two purely happy faces, filled with transparent foolishness.

Bali is in Indonesia, a good three thousand kilometers away from Sawa.

He tapped the keyboard and commented below: Bali is in Indonesia, not Sawa.

Thirty seconds later, that post was gone.

Another thirty seconds later, the girl posted a new one. Same two radiant smiles, same two wild heads of hair.

Just the caption changed to: As long as your mindset is good enough, anywhere can be Phuket!

The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn up. Clearly, these two girls didn’t have enough brains between them to scheme all this up.

He handed the phone back to Qi Jin. “Go stuff your stinky socks back in.”

If they didn’t sleep soon, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy tomorrow.

“Fine.”

The stinky socks were shoved back into both mouths, and Xiao You was sobbing. He needed to go to the hospital, the hospital!

He had no idea that those two stab wounds weren’t even enough to be classified as minor injuries.

Even if you stabbed him a hundred and ten times, as long as Qi Yuan didn’t want it, he wouldn’t suffer serious harm.

Back home in China at that moment, He Huanhuan was lying face down on the big hotel bed, seriously asking AI: What other attractions does Thailand have? Tell me all of them.

She had to post again tomorrow, and she couldn’t pull another Bali mistake.

Qi Meili was rolling around blissfully on the hotel bed. “I think Second Brother’s hotel is more comfortable than Bali!”

“Phuket!”

“Oh right, Phuket!”

The two dragged two beach chairs into the room, turned on the TV, and cast a travel promo video for Sawa.

Lively music quickly filled the room: ~~Curry, bak kut teh, Indonesian lemongrass~~

Living the hotel life, setting the vibe—no different from actually going to Sawa, right?

Qi Meili swayed her body and asked He Huanhuan, “How much did you sell that package for?”

He Huanhuan Pinched her three fingers together, her face brimming with barely contained pride.

“Seventy thousand! That much?”

Qi Meili sat up excitedly. “So you’ve got one hundred and eighty-seven thousand now?”

Adding the fifty-some thousand in her phone, they had one hundred and ninety-two thousand?

The money had come way too easily!

She couldn’t help but remember when He Huanhuan had been hit with a bottle and hospitalized, and she didn’t have the money to pay for He Huanhuan’s stay.

A three-thousand-yuan hospital fee had nearly crushed her.

In the end, she had to throw a fit at her dad’s house just to beg for the money.

Her grip tightened on her phone. “Huanhuan, we’re going to stay here forever, right?”

She didn’t want to go back. Back home, she’d work herself to the bone for a month and only make five thousand.

Working every single day, without even time to spend the money.

He Huanhuan nodded seriously. “Yes, we will.”

Click. The door swung open, and Gu Jinghan stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. “Why do you two look so unhappy?”

Qi Meili vanished instantly and appeared next to him. “Are you going to comfort me?”

Gu Jinghan gave her a speechless look. Her head was pressed firmly against his arm. “Do you even need comforting?”

Qi Meili nodded happily. “Of course I do. There’s still some space here on my head, and it might need a handsome, big hand...”

“Aren’t you greedy!”

Gu Jinghan grudgingly pulled her head close, then reached out to He Huanhuan. “You come too.”

Since he was already getting one, might as well do both. More efficient that way.

Pulling He Huanhuan into the embrace as well, he said in a low voice, “Passports are easy to get. Once I’m done with my work in the next couple of days, I’ll take you both to get them. As soon as they’re ready, I’m taking you to Sawa, and the whole trip’s on me.”

He never imagined they didn’t even have passports.

Which meant they’d never left the country their whole lives?

Then how did they spend every summer and winter break growing up?

Gotta say, this guy was overthinking it.

What “going abroad”? These two had never even left their small county.

How else would two small-town party girls spend their breaks? In summer, they’d walk from one end of the county to the other, then back again. One day gone just like that.

Winter was harder to kill time. It was too cold outside to walk, and their niche talent couldn’t shine.

So they’d just wander up and down the stairs of the county’s single shopping mall.

After enough wandering, the mall employees got to know them, and sometimes even gave them food.

The takoyaki lady on the second floor was especially kind. When she had leftover balls at night that she couldn’t sell, she’d give them away for free.

After eating the balls, they’d help the lady clean up, then head home.

Thinking about that lady, He Huanhuan couldn’t help smacking her lips. “Sister You’s takoyaki was truly terrible. No idea how she kept the shop open.”

Qi Meili added, “She finally shut down last month. Went to work at the same factory as me now.”

......

Gu Jinghan had no idea what to say. What kind of life had these two been living before?

All he could do was pull out his phone. “Takoyaki, right? Your big brother here is ordering you ten portions! Eat as much as you want!”