Chapter 189: Chapter 171: Preparing to Leave
Li Qian departed with a casual air, paying no mind to Lu Xiaoli and Xu Yue. Seeing this, both of their expressions soured.
"We should go over, too." Lu Xiaoli glanced at Xu Yue, hesitating for a moment before finally speaking up.
"Tonight’s dinner is quite a spread," Li Qian remarked with a smile as he arrived at the complex and glanced at the meal prepared by the support staff.
"..." Seeing Li Qian acting so calm and composed, as if he were in his own home, some of the support staff gave him odd looks.
"If there’s one thing our Changfeng Cultivation Base prides itself on, it’s our hospitality. We’ve never been outdone in that regard," Gao Yaxin replied, stepping forward slowly after hearing Li Qian’s comment.
"As the saying goes, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It seems Sister Yaxin is well-versed in this principle. No wonder you manage the Changfeng Cultivation Base so meticulously," Li Qian said with a glance at Gao Yaxin, offering a compliment.
That’s just how some things are. Before you have a breakthrough, you tend to overthink and hesitate. But once you figure it out, everything becomes crystal clear.
Li Qian was in that exact state of mind. He had originally planned to say the base was "thriving," but considering the Cultivation Base’s actual situation, he had changed his wording.
At this, Gao Yaxin’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. She had keenly sensed the shift in Li Qian.
Anyone could offer a compliment. Especially when it came from someone you weren’t very familiar with, such words often signaled politeness, which was just another word for distance.
’Sigh...’ Gao Yaxin sighed internally, more or less understanding the reason for the change in Li Qian’s attitude.
Strictly speaking, she couldn’t blame Li Qian for this. After all, they were the ones who had changed their attitude first; he was simply backing out after sensing that shift.
Gao Yaxin actually felt quite uneasy. Her instincts were telling her that she would very likely regret this decision in the future.
But what was done was done. At this point, it was already too late to salvage the situation.
Besides, Li Qian gave her no opportunity to do so. Just as Lu Xiaoli, Xu Yue, Wen Wan, and Wu You all arrived, Li Qian spoke up to announce his decision. "Well, since everyone’s here, I have an announcement to make."
"I’ve already bought my Flying Ship ticket. I’ll be leaving Nandu City tomorrow," he said, not mincing his words.
"What? Li Qian, why are you leaving so suddenly? Don’t we still have our collaboration?" Wen Wan asked, her voice filled with surprise.
It was true that the three of them—Gao Yaxin, Wen Wan, and Lu Xiaoli—had doubts about Li Qian’s research and the direction he proposed. But even if they didn’t quite believe his judgment, they’d never intended to treat him poorly.
After all, his status as a Genius Cultivator was the real deal and couldn’t be faked. For the Changfeng Cultivation Base, befriending such a talent definitely had more pros than cons.
They just weren’t aware of what Lu Xiaoli and Xu Yue had done. If they were, they wouldn’t be thinking this way.
As for Li Qian, his thinking was simple. Since they couldn’t see eye to eye, it was better to part ways sooner rather than later. That way, they might still be able to remain friends if they met again in the future.
Of course, this only applied to Gao Yaxin and Wen Wan. As for Lu Xiaoli and Xu Yue, that was out of the question.
The fact that he could even maintain a veneer of civility with those two was already him being more than generous.
"As for the collaboration, let’s just call it a joke. I got to look through so much of your research data for free without offering any substantive advice in return. You can’t really call that a collaboration," Li Qian said with a smile, bringing it up himself.
"Well..." His words carried a deeper, unspoken meaning: ’You don’t trust me, so what’s the point of me staying?’ Faced with this clear implication, neither Wen Wan nor Gao Yaxin knew how to respond.
At this point, to deny their mistrust and try to persuade him to stay would be utterly disingenuous. They couldn’t bring themselves to say such words.
"We agreed to a collaboration. Even if it was only a verbal agreement, it can’t be nullified so easily. Rest assured, we will find high-Potential Koi Carp in Nandu City for your Cultivation Base," Gao Yaxin said firmly, without a second thought. She already felt she had done Li Qian a disservice.
"In that case... thank you, Sister Yaxin." After a moment’s thought, seeing that Gao Yaxin was insistent, Li Qian didn’t argue further.
’If it comes to it, I can just pay them more. I’ll treat it as a normal commission for helping me buy them. It’s not like my Cultivation Base is short on cash anyway.’
Nearby, Xu Yue listened to the conversation between Li Qian and Gao Yaxin, his expression turning odd.
’So, they were just talking about a collaboration? There was nothing more to it?’
’But even so, that guy showed me absolutely no respect just now.’ Even after understanding the gist of the situation, Xu Yue was still fuming. Here in Nandu, no one had ever dared to be so insolent to his face.
He had just learned from Lu Xiaoli that this brat was nothing more than a country bumpkin from some small-town city.
’He might have a little Talent for breeding, but he probably has no family connections to speak of. Perfect. I’ll find a chance tomorrow to teach him a lesson.’
’That’ll show him not to get arrogant in Nandu City. Otherwise, his end will be a miserable one.’
If Li Qian could have heard Xu Yue’s thoughts, he would have been utterly speechless.
’All I did was ignore an idiot. How does that make me arrogant?’
And so, the dinner concluded in a somewhat strange atmosphere. In the end, Gao Yaxin never asked him to stay.
She knew very well that with Li Qian’s pride, now that he had said it, there was no turning back.
"Oh, right, Sister Yaxin, there’s something I’d like to ask you for help with," Li Qian suddenly said as dinner ended and he was about to leave.
"What is it?" Gao Yaxin asked without hesitation.
"Sell Chicken Hair to me. I’d like to continue my research," Li Qian said after a moment, voicing his thoughts.
He was only mentioning it offhandedly. It would be best if he could buy it—after all, Chicken Hair’s Potential was quite good—but if he couldn’t, it didn’t matter.
Red Feather Chickens weren’t very valuable; they were quite cheap, in fact. Even if he didn’t get Chicken Hair, he could always just buy another one.
The reason he made the request was that the training over the past two days had given Chicken Hair plenty of "unforgettable memories," and Li Qian wanted to give it a real opportunity as a form of compensation.
"Don’t buy it. I’ll just give you the Red Feather Chicken!" Gao Yaxin was stunned for a second by Li Qian’s request, but then immediately made her decision.
’Other things might be complicated, but a Red Feather Chicken—no, a Golden Crowned Red Feather Chicken now—was something she could certainly afford to give away.’
Li Qian tried to insist on paying, but Gao Yaxin refused, claiming that "taking his money would be an insult to her as his ’sister’."
Since Gao Yaxin had put it that way, Li Qian didn’t press the issue. It was a casual request to begin with, and there was no need to make a fuss over such a small matter.
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