Gift

After hearing his explanation, Gao Qingyun finally stopped pouting.

"It's just a broken car, it doesn't matter if it's a waste or not. Besides, why don't you drive it often?"

Without waiting for Cheng Xu's reply, she continued, "I get it. Do you think gas is too expensive? Here, this is for you. I was planning to give it to you last time, but I forgot."

She took out a 10,000-yuan gas card from her bag and forcefully stuffed it into Cheng Xu's hand.

Cheng Xu was about to refuse, but she immediately put on a fierce posture.

"If you keep treating me like an outsider, I'll treat it as if I don't have a friend like you anymore. Hurry up and keep it. I'm annoyed just looking at this broken car."

On the other side, Cheng Xu was completely dumbfounded. He really just wanted to simply return the car. How did he end up living off a woman?

"Alright, I won't talk to you anymore. I have to attend a party later, so I won't be accompanying you! Be careful on your way back!"

As she said that, she had already run far away.

With no other choice, Cheng Xu could only accept the gift with tears in his eyes.

When Cheng Xu got home, he made some simple food and laid on the bed.

Looking at the calendar, he thought that the birthday of the other young lady was coming.

Just as he was thinking about this, the person in question called.

"Little orange, what are you doing?"

Hearing this melodious voice, Cheng Xu could not help but smile.

"I just came back. I'm lying down after eating some food."

"Where have you been? You didn't even call me."

Li Mengqing's voice sounded a little upset.

"No, I'm just a person that people call when they need someone extra. We're actually not that close," Cheng Xu explained in a hurry.

"Then I'll ask you a question. If you answer correctly, I'll forgive you."

"What question? Go ahead."

"Are there any important festivals in the next two days? Hurry up and answer."

Li Mengqing's tone seemed to be a little excited.

"10..."

"9..."

Cheng Xu's brain was working at full speed. There were no official holidays during this period of time. He quickly looked at the calendar

"8..."

"It's your 210th birthday in two days. Did I get it right?"

"Hmph! What 210th birthday? It's obviously my 21st birthday! At least you still have a conscience. I forgive you."

"How could I forget your birthday? Do you have any plans?"

"Of course. I've arranged for us to have a meal together."

"Got it, got it. From now on, I won't eat. I'm just waiting for you to feed me until you're broke."

"Sure, but don't faint from hunger on the way. I'll take care of you no matter how much you eat."

...

Cheng Xu heaved a sigh of relief after hanging up the phone, but it was not a big deal to consider her birthday a holiday.

In high school, Cheng Xu had always been a loner. He had never celebrated his birthday with his friends or received any gifts.

The first birthday gift he received in his student life was from Li Mengqing. He still remembered that there was a student in his class who had the same birthday as him.

During lunch time, they split the cake, sang the birthday song, and gave out presents in a small circle. However, Cheng Xu sat alone at his desk and flipped through the newspaper over and over again.

However, their noisy voices kept circling in his ears and replaying in his mind. He could not see it and wanted to close his eyes.

At this moment, Li Mengqing appeared. She ran in from outside the classroom, panting heavily, and handed Cheng Xu a brand-new book.

"Phew! I'm so tired. I just got a delivery from outside the school."

Cheng Xu's eyes widened as he stared at her in a daze.

"What is this?"

"This is your birthday present. I heard that you liked this author's books, so I bought it for you."

"You... Thank you so much."

Cheng Xu was a little choked up.

Li Mengqing patted his shoulder and said, "You don't have to be so polite with me. You can continue reading. I'll go eat first."

From then on, even when the two of them were far apart and went to different universities, Cheng Xu never forgot her birthday and would always prepare a gift for her.

It was like this now, and it would be the same ten years later. He hoped that it would be the same when he could move again one day.

Collecting his wandering thoughts, Cheng Xu began to think about what kind of gift he should give her.

As he thought about it, his attention fell on the gold in his system.

It could not be helped. With the little cash he had on him now, it was more or less enough to sustain his life. If he wanted to buy a decent gift, he had to eat instant noodles.

The current environment was not like when they were in school. They could be happy for half a day just by giving each other a gift that cost a few dozen yuan. Now, everything was going to be a test.

In the videos he had seen on the internet, whenever a boy gave a girl a cheap gift, the comments below would be awful.

"It's better to send her away than to give this."

"Am I the only one who thinks he's stingy?"

"What a cheap man!"

Although Cheng Xu had no intention of comparing himself to them, he could not be too shabby.

With this thought, a few small golden liquid droplets floated in front of him.

"I might not be able to give you the best price, but I can give you the craftsmanship."

He looked through the patterns of a few gold crafts and chose the ones he was most satisfied with.

The first golden drop was the smallest, not even the size of a green bean. However, as Cheng Xu carefully carved it with his mind, it formed a small hollow ball the size of a soybean with complicated patterns.

The next step was to repeat the previous operation. It was easy to say, but it was more delicate and difficult to do than any of the previous operations.

He was busy all the way until midnight before the gift was finally completed.

Its overall appearance was a golden hollow ball-shaped pendant, but upon closer inspection, one would find that there was a hollow golden ball inside. There were more balls inside the ball, and they were wrapped in three layers. The patterns on each layer were extremely complicated and exquisite.

Only Cheng Xu could make it layer by layer without any traces of being joined together. In fact, it would take a lot of time to carve the hollow parts on the outside, not to mention wrapping it up layer by layer, which required welding, and was almost impossible to make it so perfect.

The diameter of the ball was about the size of a fifty-cent coin, but the actual cost of gold was less than three grams. The material cost was controlled within 1000 yuan.

It was not that he did not want to spend more gold, but he thought that if it was more expensive, she might not be willing to accept it.

After keeping the gift, Cheng Xu dragged his heavy feet to take a shower and threw his clothes into the bucket. This time, he had really been squeezed dry and wiped the water off his body with a towel. Then, he fell asleep on the bed.

Cheng Xu, who had slept until late in the morning, finally regained his energy.

It was a regular morning when he heard the usual knock on his door. However, this time, a different group of people came.

"Hello, we are from the Sanlin county's Environmental Conservation Bureau. We have received a report that you may be illegally refining gold and doing other activities. Please cooperate with our inspection."