Chapter 197 Dark Forest

Chapter 197 Dark Forest

Chapter 197 Dark Forest
Wang Zixu, who was a little angry at first, calmed down instantly after hearing this suggestion. He even began to think that being treated as a "power dog" was nothing.

"Go find Shi Tonghe." Wang Zixu repeated, "I thought you were very brave, but I didn't expect you to be so brave."

Chen Qingluo stared at him, her eyes seemed to blame him for not standing on the same front with her.

"In the face of tyrannical power and arrogant hegemony, each of us should bravely stand up and resist."

Wang Zixu gestured with his hands and feet and said, "No, I admire your sincerity and courage very much, but this is a grudge between me and Shi Shuqiu. It's a bit too much to go to the level of finding the parents, right?"

He also wanted to say that it was just like when Xiaoxu was beaten in kindergarten and Chen Qingluo's mother took him to the other parent to argue. Of course, he was too embarrassed to say it.

"I should have talked to him last time," Chen Qingluo said. "He is a successful and famous senior in the literary world. He is willing to destroy the environment for a literary award. It is really shameful to embarrass a junior like this."

Chen Qingluo added, "If you let it go this time, he might come up with another dirty trick next time. When he crosses your bottom line, it will be too late. You can't pretend not to see it. You have to talk to him."

Wang Zixu realized that Chen Qingluo was more rational than he thought. She didn't go to argue with the other parent, she said she was going to "talk".

Wang Zixu thought of the spicy hot pot. Chen Qingluo said he wanted to "talk", and Xiao Mengyin also asked him to talk to Shi Tonghe last time.

We should definitely talk about it.

If he doesn't go and talk to him, but instead they become suspicious of each other, the same history will only continue to repeat itself; if the tug of war goes on like this, it will definitely become more and more tense and the situation will never end.

The only way to illuminate the dark forest is sound communication.

Wang Zixu lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "But what right do I have to talk to him? He and I are not related, nor are we familiar with each other. We have no connection at all, so how could he listen to me?"

Chen Qingluo said: "As the leader of the Literary Association, it is his duty to support the younger generation and develop literature. Why must he have connections to discuss this?"

Wang Zixu knew she was right. He had all the reasons, purposes, and necessity to meet Shi Tonghe. He just lacked a little courage.

"Besides, in my heart, he was also a respected senior before," Chen Qingluo said, "He did something so ugly this time, I also want to ask him in person what he thinks."

"You want to go with me?" The prince raised his head in fear.

"I'll go with you." Chen Qingluo nodded.

Okay, now I have the courage.

……

Wang Zixu called Xiao Mengyin and wanted to ask her to act as a middleman to help mediate and see if she could allow him to meet Shi Tonghe.

Xiao Mengyin was very happy at first. She thought Wang Zixu finally accepted her suggestion and went to Shi Tonghe to surrender. We will not fight for this Feishi Literature Award. Let's shake hands and make peace and create a new friendship.

Wang Zixu asked her why she was happy. She said that when new writers fight with old masters, it is always earth-shattering, but the endings are usually the same. She also doesn't want to see a promising young writer fail in such a thing, which is also a kind of grief for the fox.

Wang Zixu didn't want to cheat her, so he confessed his intentions.

He told her that he didn't really want to give up the Fei Shi Literature Prize, and he hinted that, depending on the situation, the conversation might end up turning into a accusation.

After Xiao Mengyin heard this, the voice on the other end of the phone changed: "Are you crazy?"

"If I were crazy, I would just block the Shitong River."

"It would be fine if you went directly to Shi Tonghe. After all, you won't implicate others," Xiao Mengyin said. "This kind of thing will bring bad luck to anyone who gets involved. You actually want me to be the messenger?"

Wang Zixu said: "In fact, we may not necessarily quarrel. Maybe Shi Tonghe is very magnanimous, and we can hit it off right away, resolve the misunderstanding, work together, and write a beautiful chapter?"

"Go to bed early. You can dream about anything. I'm hanging up now."

"OK, bye."

"Would you please beg a little more?"

"It's an unreasonable request in the first place. It's normal that you don't want to help. I'll think of other ways."

Xiao Mengyin said seriously on the other end of the phone: "Let me ask you, will you go find him no matter what?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Xiao Mengyin sighed, "Then I'll think of a way. Who made me owe you a spicy hot pot?"

After a while, Xiao Mengyin sent a message to tell him: Shi Tonghe said that he was at Yunchi Villa and he was welcome to come over at any time. The old man was actually quite kind. He didn't know that Wang Zixu was going to call for punishment, so he should be polite when they met and it would be best not to make things too awkward. It would be best to surrender directly.

Of course, she was only responsible for the introduction, and the rest had nothing to do with her. As for the favor, she would keep it in mind for now. If he was not squeezed to death by Shi Tonghe, she would come to him to collect the debt.

Although he said he was not convinced, Wang Zixu actually thought she was a good person.

After hanging up the phone, Wang Zixu looked at Chen Qingluo and said, "Let's go."

She stared at him: "You have a good relationship with her."

"Ok, ok? It's just okay."

"Average." Chen Qingluo moved her lips and repeated it.

Her gaze made Wang Zixu feel very guilty.

"By the way," Chen Qingluo suddenly asked, "What did you want to tell me before?"

"When?"

"Just before being interrupted by those students."

Wang Zixu thought about it, and suddenly felt that he couldn't say anything sentimental anymore, so he said, "Next time. I'll tell you next time when I have a chance."

……

Although Yunchi Villa is called a villa, it is not actually built on a mountain.

Donghai is a flat place. The highest mountain is only a hundred meters high, while the tallest building is six hundred meters high. There are countless buildings that are hundreds of meters high.

The natural terrain pales in comparison to the man-made terrain. However, things are precious because they are rare. Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the world, the isolated villas on the hillside stand out.

It is said that when surveying the land, the developer specially invited a Feng Shui master to predict good and bad luck and calculate cause and effect to find this precious land. He calculated that if a house is built here, it will accumulate wealth, promote official positions, have a large population, and all descendants will be promising.

Originally this was a natural village. After the demolition, the village leaders drove a Mercedes-Benz and other villagers were given several resettlement houses on the east side of the hill. The high-rise buildings of the resettlement houses are sharp and angular, like a knife edge. Feng Shui masters say that this is a "steel knife evil" pattern, which can help Yunchi Villa to overcome the evil spirit from the east, but living in the building may shorten your life.

It is impossible to verify whether the villagers' life span was shortened. The "Steel Knife Building" has 55 floors in total, and the village leader at that time, who later became the general contractor, and his family occupied 20 floors. After he was imprisoned, one of his sons was hit and killed in the street, another son jumped off the building, and only one daughter married overseas and never returned to China. I don't know if it has anything to do with Feng Shui.

Wang Zixu was not from Donghai and knew nothing about these stories. This was all told to him by Chen Qingluo.

She came to Donghai when she was 17, and she knew as much as the locals. She told Wang Zixu these stories, just as if she had told him about writers Wang Zixu had never heard of when she was in high school.

"When I first came to Donghai, the house price here was only 20,000 yuan, but now it's sky-high." Chen Qingluo said. "Why didn't you buy a house here back then?" Wang Zixu asked.

"I don't believe in Feng Shui." Chen Qingluo shrugged.

“But those big shots seem to believe it.”

"I don't believe it. I don't believe in fate. I believe in ability." Chen Qingluo said, "If you think about it carefully, isn't it scary? Those big figures should have been the backbone of the country, but they don't believe in science, but believe in metaphysics."

“Maybe when you get older, you will believe these things.”

"So how did they become big shots when they were young? Metaphysics?"

Wang Zixu didn't know, so he couldn't answer. He hadn't encountered anything metaphysical in his life, but science hadn't helped him become a great man either.

The security guard at the door was 1.8 meters tall and handsome. He must have been carefully selected. When he saw Wang Zixu and Chen Qingluo approaching, he questioned them carefully about their purpose as if they were interrogating criminals. Finally, he made an internal call to Shi Tonghe's family to confirm before letting them in. The nanny answered the phone.

As they walked into the gate of the villa, the greenery became lush, layer upon layer, and the paths were winding. The temperature dropped sharply, and the sunlight was dispersed. The two of them couldn't help but lighten their steps, like hunters with guns.

It's like a dark forest.

Wang Zixu said: "I am getting a little nervous."

Chen Qingluo said: "Don't be nervous."

“I suddenly realized that I was not mentally prepared.”

"It's not like we're getting married, why should we be mentally prepared?"

"What do you think these bushes are for? They block the view a bit. If a thief comes in, wouldn't it be harder to spot him?"

"It may be used to block the view. It is more likely to attract people outside the wall to watch than to thieves to break in. No one wants to be spied on."

"Or maybe they don't want to be disturbed by the scenery outside the wall," Wang Zixu said, "We are all gods, we can't bear to see the suffering of the world."

"You're being a little harsh," Chen Qingluo said, "Maybe they haven't thought about it that way at all. Maybe they see the suffering of the world every day. Maybe you think this way because of your inferiority complex."

"Yeah. I am a little mean."

"Maybe Shi Tonghe is not as uncommunicative as you think. Maybe you are more important to him than you think."

"Maybe Shi Shuqiu didn't mean to target me. Maybe this matter can be resolved peacefully."

"Yeah. That's a positive way to think about it."

"No one wants to be negative, they just don't want to be disappointed."

"If disappointment is inevitable, what difference does it make whether it's positive or negative?"

Finally they arrived at Shi Tonghe's house and the nanny opened the door for them.

Wang Zixu wanted to discern Shi Tonghe's attitude from the face of the aunt in front of him, but the aunt's face was as cold as cold water, like a stone Buddha, without any expression. She only told them to put on shoe covers properly and not bring in dirt.

When Wang Zixu walked into the living room, he bumped into Shi Shuqiu head-on.

Shi Shuqiu wore a new Chinese-style shirt made of cotton and linen, with her hair loose. Her medium-length hair gave her a very literary vibe.

He glanced at Wang Zixu and Chen Qingluo who had nothing in their hands, and pointed at the sofa, meaning for people to sit on it.

After they sat down, he said:

"My father is busy writing. No one is allowed to disturb him during this time. Please wait for a moment."

Wang Zixu frowned and turned to look at Chen Qingluo, but Chen Qingluo sat upright and did not exchange glances with him.

As far as he knows, Shi Tonghe has stopped writing for nearly 10 years. Although he has not explicitly stated that he has stopped writing, a writer who has been away from writing for such a long time is usually past his golden age for writing and it is difficult for him to return to his peak state.

It is extremely difficult to get a writer to pick up his pen again. Wang Zixu found it hard to imagine why Shi Tonghe took up writing again.
Or is this just an excuse by Shi Tonghe to leave the two of them here?
Shi Shuqiu did not wait with them. The two of them sat there for more than an hour.

There is a bamboo forest outside the floor-to-ceiling window. The sun cuts the bamboo shadows into the house, and the bamboo tips sweep from one end of the coffee table to the other.

Chen Qingluo sat upright the whole time, not playing with her phone, nor talking. Except when the nanny came over to pour tea for the two of them, she said "thank you".

Shi Tonghe finally came out of confinement. He walked down the stairs slowly, holding a coffee cup in one hand, with his reading glasses still on his face, and his son followed behind him.

"Sorry, sorry, I kept you waiting for so long," Shi Tonghe said with a sincere apology when he saw the two of them. "I knew you were coming, but I suddenly got an inspiration and I have to write it down."

Wang Zixu, who is also a writer, could understand this reason very well. He nodded and said it was okay.

Shi Tonghe ignored him, looked at Chen Qingluo, and said sincerely: "I am sorry for wasting the time of the talented Qingluo."

"It's no delay, it's me who wasted your time." Chen Qingluo said in a flat tone.

"Shuqiu, come here."

Shi Shuqiu came over and sat down next to his father. Shi Tonghe said, "My son was at school today. When he heard that you were coming, I asked him to come back."

"I'm sorry for delaying my son's studies."

"My son was rude first. I've already told him off." Shi Tonghe leaned back on the sofa and turned to Shi Shuqiu and said, "You don't know this talented lady Chen Qingluo, do you?"

"I know. A talented, beautiful and wealthy writer, a nationally renowned figure, how could I not know her?" Shi Shuqiu said sullenly.

"That's nothing," Shi Tonghe said. "This talented woman won the Emerging Talent Award at the age of 17, breaking the record for the youngest winner of the award. Her recent works are generally regarded by the literary world as the most promising works to win the Mao Dun Literature Prize. If she wins, it is estimated that she will break the record for the youngest winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

"Ms. Chen, I heard that your new work will be completed soon?"

"Well, it took about 10 to 20 days." Chen Qingluo said.

Shi Tonghe turned to look at Shi Shuqiu: "This is talent."

Shi Shuqiu extended his hand to Chen Qingluo: "Please give me more advice."

Chen Qingluo did not respond, but just said: "I came here this time mainly to talk about you and Wang Zixu."

Shi Tonghe took off his reading glasses and slowly placed them on the table: "Well, I know what's going on. Young people nowadays are a bit direct, and I'm not used to it yet."

Wang Zixu silently placed the note he unexpectedly received today on the coffee table.

Shi Shuqiu just took it and looked at it, then said, "What is this? A prank? Whatever it is, let me first say that it has nothing to do with me."

(End of this chapter)