Chapter 0362: Meeting as if for the first time
Ning Cheng took Xu Liyi’s phone but felt absent-minded, at this moment he honestly thought that he was genuinely unfair to his sister. Ruolan, like him, was a person without a phone. Three years ago, even middle schoolers had a phone, so why did he not bestow one upon Ruolan who was in the senior graduating year?
He did not care about having a cell phone; in any case, the dormitory he lived in had a telephone. However, he indeed did not think that Ruolan would need a cell phone after graduation. If he wanted to make a call to look for Ruolan, then all he had to do was to just call the dormitory, or call up Ruolan’s roommate, Dai Xin. Ruolan never ran around, so he did not have to look all over the place if he wanted to find her. However, at this moment, he sincerely wished that he should have bought a cell phone for his younger sister.
Ning Cheng pulled at his hair, as an elder brother, he was too negligent in his duties.
Li Yuling was tightly staring at Ning Cheng; she was even prepared. As long as Ning Cheng ran, she would immediately call in a phone s.n.a.t.c.hing. The sky gradually turned sunny, but the rain did not fall, causing many people to start walking up and down the street once again. Daring to rob a phone and run in this kind of place, she did not believe that there would be no one who would be able to catch him.
Unfortunately, Ning Cheng was only in a daze, from the beginning to the end he did not show any indications of running.
“Did you forget the phone number, Elder Brother?” Xu Liyi on seeing the somewhat vacant look in Ning Cheng’s eyes quickly asked.
Ning Cheng quickly recovered and spoke, “Yes, I just remembered the number. I’m sorry for the delay; please wait a minute more.”
“It doesn’t matter; you can use the phone freely.” Xu Liyi showed a faint smile, as she patiently replied.
Ning Cheng then directly dialled Dai Xin’s phone number, but a response from inside the phone came, ‘The number you have dialled has been shut down……’ This response caused Ning Cheng to feel some disappointment.
He was aware that this kind of thing is very reasonable, many students upon graduating university would change cities, and most of the people who switched cities would also choose to change their phone number.
“Thank you.” Ning Cheng returned the phone back to Xu Liyi. He was at a loss at this moment. Maybe after restoring his Spiritual Consciousness, Ning Cheng would then be able to do a local search. After all, he had to find his younger sister.
“You’re welcome.” Xu Liyi smiled and took back the phone, but did not leave and continued to stare at Ning Cheng.
Li Yuling also relaxed, before pulling onto Xu Liyi, “Liyi, let’s hurry back to school.”
“Wait a minute; nothing is going on today anyway.” Xu Liyi casually gave an answer, then looked at Ning Cheng and spoke, “Can you tell me your name? It anyways happens to be lunchtime. So do you want to go grab a meal together?”
This time it was not only Li Yuling; even Ning Cheng was also looking at Xu Liyi with surprise.
Li Yuling was, of course, surprised, although Xu Liyi had a ubiquitous appearance; she unquestionably possessed a unique n.o.ble temperament to her. With her character coupled with her unusual family background, it attracted the pursuit of many boys. However, Xu Liyi never dated anyone, let alone taking the initiative to invite male students to a meal. Was Xu Liyi possessed today? Alternatively, did Xu Liyi suddenly turned infatuated?
Ning Cheng gave a slight frown; he had initially thought that Xu Liyi was the kind of girl who liked helping others. However, at this moment he could perceive that it is not as he had initially thought about. Even if one loved helping others, they would probably not invite a dirty looking renovation worker for a meal without any reason.
Did Xu Liyi see him falling from the air? It was also unlikely that there were any Spiritual Power Fluctuations when he was falling. Moreover, his speed was also quite rapid, combined with the already low visibility, how could people without any cultivation even see him?
Ning Cheng then carefully looked at Xu Liyi and found that she was just an ordinary girl, with a peaceful aura. This kind of calm atmosphere served as a contrast to her unique temperament. However, Ning Cheng soon shifted his gaze towards Xu Liyi’s eyes; he found that there was something different with Xu Liyi’s eyes. Ning Cheng was a cultivator; as such, he was able to sense an indistinct Spiritual Fluctuation from Xu Liyi’s eyes.
In just an instant, Ning Cheng understood what was going on. Xu Liyi’s eyes were different from the eyes of ordinary people, in other words, she was able to perceive Spiritual Qi Fluctuations. She definitely must have seen him fall out from the air; therefore, she approached him with a purpose.
However, Ning Cheng did not care about this, replaced by any other person, what else was he expected to do? Since Xu Liyi saw it, then in the future, once he restores his cultivation, he could then give her some pointers for her benefit. After all, it might even be predestined for her to see him.
Thinking until here, Ning Cheng also did not continue to reject, he nodded and spoke, “My name is Ning Xiaocheng, and of course sharing a meal would not be a problem. However, I have no money so I will have to trouble you for the expense.”
Although Ning Cheng had lost his cultivation, his cultivation loss was only temporary. With Ning Cheng foundation, even if he did not eat for many years, as long as there was a small amount of Spiritual Qi available, he would at least not starve to death.
“Great, Elder Brother Xiaocheng, I am called Xu Liyi. This is my cla.s.smate Li Yuling.” Xu Liyi on seeing Ning Cheng agree became even happier.
Li Yuling couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of spit; she really did not think that matters would take such a turn. Not only did this renovation worker agree to Xu Liyi’s invitation, but had even clearly stated that he did not have any money. This caused her to feel as if the world had turned completely messed up in front of her eyes. Invited by such a beautiful woman for a meal, even if it was a renovation worker, how could he say that he did not have any money? Moreover, how much would even a meal cost anyways? She knew that renovation workers earned very high wages.
“I know a place where the dishes are quite good; it’s not far from this pedestrian street.” Xu Liyi was afraid that Ning Cheng would renege on the promise and quickly spoke up.
Ning Cheng only gave an ‘um’ sound, he really had nothing much to say. He was thinking about ways to borrow money from Xu Liyi. He at least needed to find a place to live first, then buy himself a set of clothes, and take a bath.
The three people, with their own concerns, had just walked out of the pedestrian street, when Ning Cheng suddenly stopped, while simultaneously stared at the coffee shop right across the street. He had actually felt a genuine Spiritual Qi Fluctuation, although he had not yet recovered his cultivation, in this place with spa.r.s.e Spiritual Qi, if there were even a slightly more substantial Spiritual Qi Fluctuation, he would immediately be able to feel it.
“The two students here, please wait a moment, I’ll just go in and wash my hands before coming out again.” Ning Cheng spoke and without waiting for Xu Liyi to reply, quickly walked into the coffee shop.
“Liyi, are you insane? This person is of unknown origins and is a renovations worker. Why did you let him borrow your phone, moreover even invite him to lunch? This is simply not your style at all.” As soon as Ning Cheng left, Li Yuling quickly grabbed Xu Liyi’s arm and spoke.
Xu Liyi nonchalantly picked up a wisp of her long hair near to her face and tucked it behind her ears before she gave a smile and spoke, “Yuling, I feel like meeting him was predestined. Besides, he also looks like a man who has faced many hardships, so inviting him to a meal is nothing much.”
Li Yuling stared at Xu Liyi with wide eyes before speaking, “Liyi, don’t tell me that you fell in love at first sight? You will be a renovation worker…”
“Don’t speak rubbish.” Xu Liyi gave a light slap to Li Yuling, “Did you not feel that this person looked very embarra.s.sed, in fact, his temperament is several folds much n.o.bler than those of our cla.s.smates?”
Li Yuling froze for a moment before replying, “I also felt that was the case, when you helped him a moment ago, I felt that he probably was a very proud person, but he was not even as proud as you, this feels really strange.”
Xu Liyi also nodded in her heart secretly; sure enough, Li Yuling also had such a feeling. This affirmed her notion that this Ning Xiaocheng was definitely not ordinary. Even if she looked through her own eyes, this Ning Xiaocheng was probably not an average person.
……
The waiter at the coffee shop did not stop Ning Cheng, allowing Ning Cheng to rush up to the second floor.
Standing at the staircase of the second floor, Ning Cheng finally stopped. He immediately recognised the person who was in front of him. Even though he was only facing this person’s back, he could still identify this person.
Ning Cheng had never imagined that the first acquaintance that he would meet after coming back would not be his younger sister, but instead Tian Muwan, the one person that he did not want to meet the most. If he knew that it was Tian Muwan, Ning Cheng would never have come here. With his heart already occupied by Shi Qionghua and Ji Luofei, Tian Muwan was getting increasingly distant from him.
Even though he returned to Earth, he had never thought of this name. The Tian Muwan in front of him was still the same, her long hair still draped over her shoulders, although he was only able to see her back, she gave him a homely feeling.
Ning Cheng found that his current emotions were far from the excitement that he had initially imagined; even his breathing had not changed. He sighed a bit at this, while simultaneously understanding in his heart that in any case, he could no longer treat this woman the way he had before.
The only thing that he didn’t understand was that Tian Muwan turned out to be a cultivator at Qi Gathering 4th Level, which made Ning Cheng very puzzled. From the Spiritual Qi overflowing from her body, he could see that she had just advanced to the intermediate stages of the Qi Gathering Realm, but was still unable to control the dissipation of Spiritual Qi.
“Sir, this is a VIP Room, please go downstairs….” The waiter had almost succeeded in pulling away Ning Cheng when Tian Muwan turned her head.
“Is that you?” Tian Muwan had a shocked expression on her face as she looked at Ning Cheng and could not react for a long while.
Ning Cheng looked at Tian Muwan, her face was still beautiful, her slim stature was the same, and even her temperament was still the same. However, there was one thing that had suddenly shattered in his heart, similar to fireworks swept away by the wind. Although the fireworks looked very beautiful initially, after they bloom, their beauty would only remain for a few fleeting moments. These brief flashes of beauty would then stay in the bottom of one’s heart.
Shi Qionghua and Ji Luofei’s shadow appeared in his eyes. Although Tian Muwan was outstanding but compared to Shi Qionghua, she still would not be able to hold even a candle in front of them. No matter the appearance or the temperament, there was no means to make a comparison. Even Yan Ji and Nalan Ruxue were much better than Tian Muwan.
Ning Cheng suddenly thought of something out of nowhere, this kind of comparison was very unfair towards Tian Muwan. He shook his head, why was he even thinking of what was fair, and what was not? Why did he make this comparison? These things were utterly irrelevant.
Ning Cheng slowly turned his head away and started walking down the staircase. He didn’t even greet Tian Muwan; he thought that there was no need to do such a thing. When she had put that pearl hair clip that Ning Cheng had got for her into the hands of another person, moreover a person who had intentionally tossed the pearl hair clip into the sewers, Ning Cheng immediately realised that this kind of scenery no longer belonged to him. Or rather, at that time, that kind of landscape was not what he wanted.
“Ning Xiaocheng….” Tian Muwan struggled to calm down her tone, “You came back.”
Suddenly she felt a kind of tearing pain in her heart, it was as if they were meeting for the first time. If possible, she would rather never see Ning Cheng again. She never thought that she would end up meeting Ning Cheng after a few years, moreover with such a down and out appearance.
The waiter on seeing that Ning Cheng and this beautiful woman knew each other, hurriedly let go of Ning Cheng’s sleeve and spoke, “Sir, please come in.”
Finished saying that, he then quickly turned around to immediately head down the stairs while secretly despising Ning Cheng’s outfit. Since the two of them apparently knew each other, then he should also be knowing that she was the CEO of the Tian Group. Yet he still chose to disguise as a beggar, why didn’t he just pretend to die instead?