Chapter 62

Wei Ming crouched down and smiled at the little girl.

The little girl also smiled at him, "Hello, Uncle."

Uncle? I'm only 15 years older than you!

"Can you call me Big Brother?" Wei Ming negotiated with her.

The little girl turned her head to look at her parents, who were both smiling.

Wei Ming took out another White Rabbit candy; he carried them with him everywhere now, as they were very effective for coaxing children.

"Thank you, Big Brother!" The little girl was quite sensible.

Afterward, the leader praised Wei Ming a few more times, and only then did he realize that what had happened in the city had already spread back.

Wei Ming: "It was just a coincidence; I couldn't just stand by and watch when I ran into it."

"Well done. I'll tell your uncle later. I won't disturb you anymore; you two go ahead and chat."

As soon as the leader left, the girl's mother's tears fell instantly, and she bent her knees as if to kneel before Wei Ming.

Fortunately, Wei Ming was quick-eyed and fast-handed, stopping her.

"Comrade, don't do this; I can't accept such a thing."

The girl's mother said with teary eyes: "The child's father and her grandfather are in uniform and it's inconvenient, but I'm not. Thanks to you, otherwise, what would have happened to our family!"

They only had this one child, and when she went missing, the mother had fallen gravely ill and had only recently been discharged from the hospital.

After some conversation, the next stage was to express their gratitude.

They had already sent Wei Ming a silk banner before, and now the other party had sent him a huge pile of food, including high-end mooncakes, Maotai, and canned goods—both canned fruit and canned meat—filling a large bag.

After several refusals, Wei Ming finally accepted it, and then the other party insisted on inviting Wei Ming to dinner.

It was getting dark, the post office was about to close, and Wei Ming was in a hurry to collect his royalties, so this time he sincerely declined.

At this moment, the Li family's elder, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

"I'm from Dingzhou; come to think of it, we're fellow countrymen from Hebei."

"Hello, old hero." Wei Ming saluted him.

The elder Li waved his hand with a smile: "There really aren't any decent restaurants around here. I heard you have to rush home early tomorrow. How about this: let's set a time, and when you come back, we'll have a proper gathering at a restaurant in the city. Otherwise, there's no way to express our gratitude to you. What do you think?"

Since the elder had put it that way, it wouldn't be appropriate for Wei Ming not to agree.

The little girl said happily: "Grandpa, can we call Godmother then?"

"Of course."

"Godmother?" Wei Ming was puzzled. Where did this person pop up from?

The girl's father explained: "It's like this. Two days ago, our unit watched a performance by the General Political Department Drama Troupe. I remembered what the public security comrade said, that there was a female comrade from the General Political Department with you at the time, named Gong Xue. So we took the child to visit Comrade Gong Xue. The child had a connection with Comrade Gong Xue, so she became her goddaughter."

Moreover, the girl was carrying a mission from her godmother; before leaving, she stuffed an envelope into Wei Ming's hand.

"Oh my, no, no, I can't accept money. This is a matter of principle!"

The girl's mother smiled: "It's not money. This is a letter written to you by the child's godmother, asking her to pass it on."

"Ah?"

Wei Ming didn't open the letter for the moment; he checked his watch—there was no time left!

After seeing them off, he met Mei Wenhua at the South Gate, handed him the "gratitude gift package" to take back, and then hurriedly rode his bike to the post office.

Only when he reached the window did he start to open the letters; the royalties for the reprints in the three newspapers added up to 55 yuan.

In addition, a letter from "Poetry Journal" notified him that the October issue had reprinted "Ideal," giving him 5 yuan in royalties.

It wasn't much money, but Wei Ming's reputation as a poet would likely spread across the country through "Poetry Journal" very soon, and he would probably attract another wave of fanatical fans.

These days, poetry fans were comparable to future traffic-driving fans; they were particularly combative.

Although he had spent over two hundred today, he had gained sixty, and Wei Ming's cash flow had reached 270+ again!

After collecting the royalties, Wei Ming finally had the chance to open Gong Xue's letter.

The envelope was inscribed "to Wei Ming—by Gong Xue," and Wei Ming couldn't help but smile knowingly.

The content inside surprised Wei Ming; he had thought that Sister Gong Xue was coveting his good looks and had taken the initiative to write to him to take that first step.

He hadn't expected this to be a letter to comfort him. It turned out that over these past few days, Gong Xue had seen several authoritative newspapers publish articles criticizing "The Spring River Water Warms the Duck First," and some of the wording was quite harsh, which made her feel very distressed.

Gong Xue was worried that the young Wei Ming wouldn't be able to withstand these pressures from the social level, so she specifically wrote a letter to comfort him, urging him not to take those words to heart, and even used examples of people around her.

"At the very least, my parents couldn't stop praising your novel after reading it, which shows you are a writer with a bright future. And my father even went out of his way to buy a bottle of medicinal wine. You tell me how impressive you are..."

Looking at Gong Xue's graceful handwriting and the concern and care hidden behind these words, Wei Ming couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.

At the end of the letter, she also left their unit's phone number and address.

"... If you feel stifled in your heart, you can come to me to vent."

What a sympathetic sister. Wei Ming, who hadn't left the post office yet, simply dialed from there.

Soon, someone helped him call Gong Xue over.

"Is this Comrade Wei Ming?" Gong Xue's voice couldn't hide her surprise.

Wei Ming was silent for a moment before saying: "Thank you, Sister Xue."

Afterward, the two had a conversation that was neither long nor short.

!

Gong Xue had also summoned great courage to write this letter, and upon learning that Wei Ming's state of mind was still stable, she felt relieved.

Afterward, Wei Ming teased her about the fact that she had adopted a goddaughter.

"If I had known, I should have let that girl call me Uncle. Now that she calls me Big Brother, I'm a generation lower than you for no reason."

Listening to Wei Ming's complaints, Gong Xue covered her mouth, unable to stop laughing.

"I think she's so cute, and I really do look a bit like her mother."

"Ah, really? I didn't notice."

"I do."

After Mei Wenhua brought Wei Ming's gift package back, he made Zhao Debiao drool with envy: "When will I ever be able to perform a righteous act?"

Immediately after, Northern Qiao Feng returned, bringing the second wave of critical hits.

"Announcing good news! Didn't Xiao Ming go into the city today? I didn't expect him to run into a knife-wielding robbery, and he ended up subduing the criminal again!"

"What!" Zhao Debiao slumped on the bed, "Why can't I ever run into such good things!"

Mei Wenhua curled his lips: "If I remember correctly, Wei Ming asked you to go with him before he left, but you said you wanted to catch up on sleep."

It was true; thinking about how he had turned away the opportunity for a righteous act, Biaozi felt even more annoyed.

"I'm so stupid, really. I only knew to guard this one-acre-three-fen plot of the school, but I didn't know that the city is where the real opportunities are. Next time Brother Ming goes into the city, I'll definitely follow him. He runs into things every single time; it's a bit eerie!"

"Who, who is gossiping about me behind my back!" Wei Ming pushed the door open with his left hand, his sleeves rolled high, prominently displaying the Shanghai-brand all-steel watch on his wrist.

Amidst everyone's envious voices, Wei Ming opened a can of meat and a can of fruit, and the four brothers in the dormitory shared them.

After all, he was able to subdue the criminal, and Brother Feng and Biaozi both deserved credit. As for Mei Wenhua, even if he didn't have credit, he had put in the hard work; after all, he was the one who had polished that bike.

Subsequently, Northern Qiao Feng asked about Wei Ming's transaction with Zhu Lin.

Wei Ming lined up the radios and turned one on.

"The quality is quite good, only 70 yuan, and that sister is also quite nice." Wei Ming touched his back and smiled.

After tuning the channel for a while, he found a storytelling program.

It was Yuan Kuocheng's "Peach Blossom Village," also known as "Beating the Little Tyrant," a story about Lu Zhishen from "Water Margin."

Biaozi clicked his tongue: "Although Teacher Yuan tells it well, the story is too cliché; it's not as good as Brother Ming's martial arts stories."

Wei Ming: "No, no, no, that's Jin Yong's. But if you guys want to listen, then fine, I'll do another segment today."

He was just brewing up what to tell when a guy came down from upstairs.

"Xiao Wei, phone call for you!"

Wei Ming went upstairs, not expecting it to be a call from Zhu Lin.

On the other end of the line, she couldn't hide her excitement: "It's born, it's a girl!"

(End of chapter)