Chapter 23: Classmates Reunion (Part 2)
Poverty can indeed limit a person's imagination. Lu Ren originally thought that a country villa should be a quiet, single-family residential community. But Qi Fan's villa is more like a manor than a villa.
This villa is located in a famous tourist spot in the city. During holidays, there are many tourists coming here during the day, most of whom come for camping or picnics. There is a low hill and a lake as smooth as a mirror, making this a good place for urbanites to escape the stress of reality.
However, a typhoon warning was issued tonight, and all tourists around the scenic area have dispersed. Only Qi Fan's villa, located between the hills and the lake, is left. The Chinese-style building with green tiles and white walls is dotted between the mountains and the water, like a jade inlaid on a Duan inkstone, which is refreshing. From a distance, you can see the magnificent wind and rain corridor at the entrance, and there is no family around. According to Zong Yi, several acres of land nearby belong to the Qi family.
Although the exterior looks antique, the interior decoration of the house is very trendy, with marble floors that are bright enough to reflect a person's face, large Baroque crystal chandeliers, and large floor-to-ceiling windows. It has a strong European style. This combination of Chinese and Western styles really catches people off guard and is a critical aesthetic hit.
As soon as Lu Renfu entered the house, he was warmly welcomed by the housekeeper. It must be said that the existence of this profession itself made Lu Ren feel the gap between the rich and the poor. The housekeeper was a vigorous and well-dressed middle-aged man. He was not dressed in formal clothes as described in many literary works. It was probably because Qi Fan had greeted him. This was just a gathering of friends, mainly for leisure and relaxation, but the decent color matching of his clothes and his solemn attitude still made people feel his professionalism. There was also a maid in the house who was busy arranging dishes in the small garden. She was quick and skillful. She quickly set up the grill and even placed roses on the dining table as decoration. It is said that these two people were brought by Qi Fan from home to help clean up the mountain villa that had been uninhabited for a long time. If it weren't for Zong Yi's words, Lu Ren really couldn't tell that this seemingly magnificent villa was actually cleaned up temporarily.
The layout of the house is quite standard, with three floors with a loft and a basement, and a huge garden. Lu Ren and Zong Yi's rooms were arranged on the second floor, facing each other. The rooms are spacious enough, each with a 1.8-meter bed, a desk and a sofa. The separate bathroom is in a small door on the right hand side of the door. The configuration is comparable to that of a five-star hotel.
When Zong Yi and Lu Ren put their luggage away and went downstairs, people downstairs were already moving around. Sheng Min was helping the housekeeper to prepare barbecued skewers in the kitchen, his fat body moving around in the kitchen as nimble as a fish in water.
Lu Ren heard him say, "Uncle, I also brought a rabbit, how about roasting it together?"
The housekeeper refused him: "No, no, this hasn't been marinated, so it won't taste good. Wait for me to marinate it and put it in the refrigerator overnight, and I'll make it for you tomorrow at noon."
Sheng Min smiled and responded: "Okay, thank you uncle."
Hu Xilin and Qi Fan were chatting at the dining table. Xi He was the only one sitting on the sofa , the TV was on, he rested his elbow on the armrest of the sofa, his head tilted on his clenched fist, the TV was on, playing a cliché idol drama at 8 o'clock, but he looked uninterested.
Zong Yi led Lu Ren to sit down on the sofa and introduced the history of Qi Fan's villa to Lu Ren. He said that it was passed down from Qi's ancestors. Because of its remote location, no one had lived there. Who would have thought that this area had been developed into a tourist area in recent years, and the house was renovated and became Qi's family's summer resort.
Lu Ren was chatting with his clan members, but he couldn't help looking at Xi He. He was very sure that he didn't know Xi He, but everyone said that Xi He had a good relationship with them in high school. Why? He thought about it and felt that something was wrong, so he secretly sent a WeChat message to Si Yuan: "Many people's memories were tampered with at the same time, and a non-existent person appeared. Is it possible?" The signal in the mountains was very poor, and there was no mobile phone signal at all. The small circle in front of the line of words kept spinning and spinning, and finally failed to be sent.
Lu Ren wanted to raise his phone to find a signal, but he saw Xi He looking at him nonchalantly. He had a pair of sharp eyes, which frightened Lu Ren. He quickly turned off the phone screen and pretended to concentrate on talking to Zong Yi.
At this moment, there was a sound of broken glasses at the dining table. When Lu Ren and Zong Yi turned around, Qi Fan had already walked towards the sofa with a normal expression. Hu Xilin was helping the maid clean up the broken glasses.
Qi Fan greeted Lu Ren first: "Ah Ren, I haven't seen you for a long time. What have you been doing since you graduated from high school?"
Lu Ren said: "I didn't do anything, I was just busy working and didn't contact you in time."
Qi Fan was not satisfied with his bland answer: "If you have anything to say, you can tell us. We will probably help you if we can. Don't keep everything in your heart. If you need our help, just ask."
Soichi also echoed from the side.
Lu Ren knew that they were just being polite to each other as adults, but he still felt a little warm in his heart. After all, they were high school classmates whom he hadn't seen for many years. They represented their youth, and it couldn't be said that there wasn't some sincerity between them.
After talking to Lu Ren, Qi Fan talked to Zong Yi for a few more words. Zong Yi asked Qi Fan, "Why didn't you see Zhen Zhen?"
Zhenzhen is the class beauty that Zong Yi mentioned not long ago who had a happy ending with Qi Fan.
Qi Fan said, "She is feeling carsick and is resting in the room upstairs. She won't be eating with us for a while, so there's no need to wait for her."
So Zong Yi jokingly asked Qi Fan about the secret of pursuing the class beauty, and the two began to joke around. Lu Ren couldn't get a word in, so he just listened to the lecture and secretly observed Xi He. Xi He was quite well behaved, sitting quietly in the same position, but his expression was not very friendly.
Qi Fan said to Xi He: "You've been doing this for so many years and you still can't change your bad habit of not being able to make a sound even after three blows." Xi He glanced at him and didn't seem to be planning to give any reply. The look was quite impolite, but Qi Fan seemed to be used to it and didn't complain. He turned around and started talking to Zong Yi again.
When the atmosphere was harmonious, a "hiss" sound was heard from the dining table. The maid seemed to have accidentally pricked her hand. She said "I'm so careless" and hurried to find the medicine box.
The incident did not affect the banquet. Soon Qi Fan invited a few people to sit in the small garden.
The housekeeper was in charge of the barbecue, the maid was in charge of serving the food, and Lu Ren also experienced the life of rich people who had everything provided for them.
At the dinner table, we chatted about the daily life of the past few years, and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual. As we chatted, I couldn't remember who started it, but suddenly the story turned to the strange stories we encountered in recent years.
Fatty Sheng Min began to talk about the strange things he encountered in the past few years of running a restaurant:
“At that time, I opened a restaurant and the business was pretty good.
Who would have thought that within half a year, a restaurant specializing in rabbit meat opened across from my store. There was an endless stream of people lining up every day. The crowd blocked my store, causing my business to plummet. What's even more strange is that although the store only supplies a limited amount of rabbit meat, those people would not come to my store to eat even if they couldn't buy rabbit meat. Isn't that strange?
I caught a person in line that day and asked: [Is the food in this restaurant good? ]
The man said to me with a straight look in his eyes: [It tastes really bad.]
Every time I asked someone, they would say the food in this restaurant was terrible, as if they had agreed on it. But the next day, I still saw that person queuing up.
Later, a waiter in our store couldn't control his curiosity and went to buy rabbit meat to eat. When he came back that day, his eyes were dull. I asked him the same question as those people, and he also answered that it was very unpalatable. I was very puzzled. But after that day, he also started to line up in front of the store every day. He even went during working hours and I often caught him. After a long time, I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to fire him. "
At this point, Sheng Min paused and swallowed:
"So I found him who was still in the queue and told him that he didn't need to come starting tomorrow. But I saw... I saw..."
His breathing quickened, as if he remembered something terrible:
"I saw his eyes turned red and some fine hair grew on his face. His mouth seemed to be split open. He looked like a big rabbit!"
Sheng Min's lips trembled, as if he was frightened.
"He just queued up and walked into that store, but he never came out again!"
After Sheng Min finished speaking, the scene was quiet for a moment. Although it was summer , Lu Ren still felt a chill in his heart.
At this time, Xi He, who usually didn't talk much, spoke. He only said one word: "Blackmail."
Lu Ren knew that he was talking about a monster. It was said to look like a rabbit and was delicious, but after eating it, one would never be able to tell the truth again.
Lu Ren silently shifted his gaze to the kitchen, where there was a "rabbit" brought by Sheng Min.
At this moment, Sheng Min suddenly burst into laughter: " You cowards are really scared. How could such a thing happen? Those people are hired by that store. You should see your expressions, hahahahahahaha."
Lu Ren then breathed a sigh of relief, but the moment he turned his head, he didn't know if it was because he was dazzled, but he clearly saw a flash of red light in Sheng Min's eyes.
