Chapter 112: The Idle Mr. Qing
“Dad, I’m home!”
“What are you doing back here?”
“I came back... I... I...”
The moment Qin Hao stepped into the house, his dad blocked his way, forcing him to slink into the kitchen in search of food.
“There are dumplings in the pot—pork and cabbage. Still warm,” Qin Maocai informed him.
“Got it!”
This was just what Qin Hao loved. Lifting the pot lid, he found a steaming pile of dumplings. He grabbed them, poured some vinegar on the side, and began devouring them.
“What did you eat yesterday?” Qin Maocai asked.
“Same thing, but it wasn’t this tasty. Tough and dry.”“Be grateful you had food at all.”
Watching his son wolf down dumplings, Qin Maocai smirked. “By the way, Xiao Qingzi brought his girlfriend over just now...”
“Mm-hmm, I bumped into them. Qingzi was all dressed up, flashy as anything. Speaking of, last night I saw someone who looked like him—gaudy clothes, shaking his leg all smug. Just one look and you could tell—”
“Stop trying to change the subject!”
“...”
“Forget it, just eat your food.” Qin Maocai turned and headed to the balcony to play with the dog.
Qin Hao glanced at his father’s retreating figure, stuffed another dumpling in his mouth, and focused on eating.
The dumplings from work were always takeout—not as bad as frozen ones but still far inferior to the homemade variety. Nothing compared to the big, juicy dumplings at home.
“Xiongba, you’ve got to show some ambition. You’re grown now, and I haven’t even spayed you. When are you going to find a nice lady dog...”
“Dad, Xiongba is a girl.”
“Eat your food. Did I ask for your input?”
“Fine, fine, I won’t say anything.”
Qin Hao fell silent and focused on his meal. After finishing, he checked the time, yawned, and washed his bowl. Instead of heading back to his room, he remembered what day it was and grabbed his coat. “I’m off to visit Uncle Xu for the New Year.” ṛάꞐO͍ꞖĚš
“Go on.”
Their homes were only a building apart, and it took Qin Hao just a few minutes to get there. Xu Wenbin and his wife had just seen off some relatives when they saw Qin Hao huffing his way up the stairs.
“Happy New Year!”
“Happy New Year!”
Bundled in his coat, Qin Hao walked in and grabbed a frozen pear to munch on. Meanwhile, Zhou Suzhi started chatting away.
“We were just talking about you—being a police officer must be so tough. Working even during the New Year...”
As she spoke, Zhou Suzhi peeked down the staircase, seeing no one. She shut the door and returned to look at Qin Hao’s tanned face, which somehow made him look festive.
This burly guy as a police officer—it’s a perfect fit.
“Auntie, don’t flatter me—it’s just a job.”
“No, it’s not the same. Really. Your work is dangerous. If you ever run into someone with a knife or something, don’t be a fool and charge in. Let others go first, and you wait for an opportunity to—”
“What kind of advice is that? Have you ever been a cop?” Xu Wenbin cut in sharply.
“What do you mean, ‘what kind of advice’? It’s called self-preservation!”
“Preserve, my foot! Someone has to be on the front line. If I preserve, you preserve, everyone preserves, then who’s going to catch the criminal? By the time you wait, they’ll be long gone!”
Qin Hao chuckled as he listened to their banter, swallowing his pear before chiming in with a sigh about his recent work.
“Auntie, you don’t have to worry—it’s not as dangerous as you think. I barely ever see anyone with a knife or even unarmed troublemakers. Most of my time is spent finding things or mediating disputes.”
“Really?”
“Really. And even if there is someone with a knife, it’s not up to us; that’s for the SWAT team.”
Whether this was meant to reassure or was just the truth, it seemed to work. Zhou Suzhi nodded along, while Xu Wenbin raised an eyebrow.
After a while, Zhou Suzhi went into the room and came back with a red envelope. Dramatically sighing, she handed it to Qin Hao.
“This was supposed to be for when you brought your girlfriend over. But since you’re always busy, we’ll make an exception. Take it.”
“No, no! I’m way too old to be taking red envelopes...”
“Just take it. If you were still single, I wouldn’t give you one. But now that you’re dating, bring her over next time to sit with us.”
After a bit of back-and-forth, Qin Hao sheepishly accepted the envelope. “I promise, next time for sure.”
“Why does that sound familiar?” Xu Wenbin squinted at him.
“Heh heh...”
Before he even found a girlfriend, they nagged him to date. Now that he had one, they nagged him to bring her over. If he brought her over, they’d probably start nagging about marriage next.
Realizing this endless cycle, Qin Hao felt life was truly hard.
“By the way, do you know what Xiao Qingzi does for a living?”
Just as Qin Hao was about to leave, Xu Wenbin hesitated for a moment before asking.
“Isn’t he an uploader?”
“An uploader? What’s that? I see people on their phones swiping through clips of singing and dancing—is that it?”
“Something like that. Here, Uncle, let me see your phone.”
Qin Hao took Xu Wenbin’s phone, downloaded the Bilibili app, and searched for Xu Qing’s account to show him.
“Lazy Lord Qing.”
“Good grief!” Xu Wenbin frowned at the username. “What kind of lousy name is that?”
“Well, he can’t just use his real name, right? I think it suits him,” Qin Hao laughed.
“And these are all his videos?”
“Yep, this is his homepage. You can click on any of them to watch.”
“Where? Let me see!” Zhou Suzhi, munching on sunflower seeds, leaned in to look at the phone.
Although they’d known Xu Qing was up to something, he’d never explained it in detail—only occasionally sending them money from his account.
“What’s this? Click it!”
While Xu Wenbin was still reading the profile, Zhou Suzhi, impatient, tapped on a video. Xu Qing’s voice came through:
“Today, we’ll continue from last time, looking at unfinished...”
The video started playing, quickly cutting through scenes of couples kissing—standing, embracing, flying through the air, even with knives in hand.
“...”
“...”
The room fell into an awkward silence. Xu Qing’s voice only introduced the first part; after that, there were just movie clips and some background music he’d added.
“Uh... he actually does a lot of other interesting stuff, not just this.” Qin Hao, noticing Xu Wenbin’s face growing darker, awkwardly explained.
Xu Wenbin abruptly closed the video. “This brat spends all day making stuff like this?!”
“Well... if you scroll down, there are all kinds of titles. Lots of variety...”
“Does this even make money?” Zhou Suzhi asked, backing away after a quick glance.
“It does! Look here—this one has over 60,000 views. That’s around 200 yuan.”
“What?!” Xu Wenbin’s voice rose several octaves.
“Just... just for showing people kissing in movies, and he makes this much?!”
“Happy New Year!”
“Happy New Year!”
At Aunt Cheng’s house, Xu Qing greeted Cheng Yulan with a cheerful grin.
This time, there was no red envelope, much to Jiang He’s relief. She accepted the offered peanuts and sunflower seeds with a polite thank you.
“Auntie, isn’t my girlfriend beautiful?”
Xu Qing beamed. “Uncle, don’t tire yourself—take a break... ah-choo!”
He suddenly sneezed, rubbing his nose with a frown.
Is someone plotting against me?!
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