owlsbooks Chapter 94 The King's Finger
Chapter 94 The King's Finger
The two strolled to the bustling People's Square; more than half an hour had passed since they left the hotel.
It wasn't until she heard someone playing a birthday song in the square that Cheng Ning remembered she was there to celebrate her grandfather's birthday.
She had been stealing glances at Lu Ran the whole way, her mind completely focused on him, and she had forgotten everything else.
"Maybe I should go back; Grandpa's birthday isn't over yet!"
"With your muddle-headed grandfather, he only needs to show up briefly as a formality, that's enough, he doesn't care."
Cheng Ning tugged at his sleeve.
Lu Ran stopped and saw her expectant look: "What?"
"Could you please not talk about Grandpa like that? It's not that Grandpa doesn't care about me and Mom; he just often forgets things."
"Forget about Mom getting married, forget about having me as your granddaughter. When Mom was little, Grandpa doted on her. In those days, it was very difficult for Mom, a girl, to go to high school and even attend university for two years."
Lu Ran instantly realized something was wrong, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart.
"You mean, your grandfather has Alzheimer's disease?"
Cheng Ning nodded: "He had it before I was born, but it wasn't very serious back then. As he got older, my grandfather forgot more and more things. I thought he had forgotten me, but I didn't expect him to still remember me."
"My maternal grandfather often went to the mountain to collect firewood because my mother was afraid of the cold when she was a child. So every winter before he came, my maternal grandfather would go to the mountain to collect dry branches in order to prepare a stove for my mother who was going to school."
A sense of guilt instantly filled Lu Ran's heart.
He raised his hand and activated the King's Finger, pointing it at Cheng Ning: "Hey, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Cheng Ning shrank back in fear.
"You, you didn't ask, and I saw how polite you were to your grandfather before, and you even prepared such a lavish birthday meal for him. I thought you respected him."
After Cheng Ning finished speaking, she noticed that Lu Ran was ignoring her.
She asked nervously, "Are you angry?"
Lu Ran remained silent, only thinking back to whether he had offended Cheng Ning's maternal grandfather before. He thought it through carefully and thankfully he hadn't. Fortunately, he had thought it through beforehand. Even if Cheng Ning's maternal grandfather was not good, he was still his aunt's father, and he had to give him enough face.
Otherwise, I definitely won't be able to sleep tonight.
"Please, don't be angry."
Cheng Ning was so anxious she was almost in tears.
Lu Ran snapped out of her daze and smiled, "I'm not angry, I was just thinking about what gift to buy for your grandfather."
For such a special elderly person, money certainly has no value to them.
Therefore, Lu Ran had to start by learning about the old man's hobbies.
"Cheng Ning, does your grandfather have any particular favorite things?"
Seeing that Lu Ran wasn't angry with her, Cheng Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He blinked and thought for a moment after hearing this.
"Well, if I had to pick something he particularly likes, my grandfather especially loves watching police dramas and really enjoys listening to and watching the heroic stories of the police officers."
"I was influenced by my grandfather when I was a child, which is why I had the dream of becoming a policeman."
"I see, then let me think about it."
Lu Ran was a little stumped. How should he prepare a surprise? Should he send Cheng Ning's grandfather a few police and gangster movie DVDs? No, no, that wouldn't be special enough.
To make up for her guilt, Lu Ran racked her brains to prepare a very special gift for the old man.
Based on the clues Cheng Ning had given him, he really couldn't figure out how to prepare this gift.
Just as Lu Ran was at his wit's end, Cheng Ning suddenly looked in one direction.
"Shinoken."
"Hmm? Officer Wang is here. Where is he?"
"Over there, Xiaoyan seems to be working."
Lu Ran looked in the direction Cheng Ning pointed and saw a lot of people gathered around a place.
There were many fully armed and incredibly handsome police officers inside. Lu Ran understood that it must be one of those safety awareness campaigns organized by the police to allow ordinary people to get up close to police equipment.
Furthermore, participating in some small events organized by the police can also earn you souvenirs.
Thinking of this, Lu Ran had a flash of inspiration.
Now he knew what gift he could give to Cheng Ning's maternal grandfather.
"Let's go take a look."
Lu Ran led Cheng Ning to the event location. Fortunately, there weren't too many people, and they were able to squeeze in after saying hello.
"Ning, Lu Ran?"
Wang Xiaoyan, who was explaining the souvenir giveaway to the crowd, saw the two people and exclaimed in surprise and joy.
But she quickly regained her composure and got back to work.
Lu Ran discovered that besides Wang Xiaoyan, there was another acquaintance who wasn't really a close friend.
That was the police officer he and Cheng Ning encountered a few months ago when they were called to the police station by a naughty child.
Lu Ran remembered that the other person was Officer Wang's friend, and his name seemed to be Zhang Ziyang.
Lu Ran smiled and nodded at the two officers: "Hello, Officer Zhang. Hello, Officer Wang."
Zhang Ziyang was somewhat surprised: "How did you know my surname is Zhang?"
Lu Ran smiled and said, "I've heard Officer Wang mention you before."
Wang Xiaoyan exclaimed, "Your memory is really good! I had completely forgotten to mention Ziyang to you if you hadn't brought it up."
Wang Xiaoyan's gaze swept back and forth between Lu Ran and Cheng Ning. If she weren't working, she would have loved to tease the two of them.
You promised to celebrate Grandpa's birthday, but you secretly went on a date with a handsome guy instead, huh? You little liar, best friend.
Cheng Ningguang could tell what her sisters were thinking just by looking at their eyes.
But in this situation, she couldn't explain it well.
Fortunately, Lu Ran spoke up at this moment, breaking the awkward situation.
"Officer Zhang, Officer Wang, may I participate in your event?"
Zhang Ziyang laughed and said, "Of course! Tell me, which game would you like to participate in?"
"If you win, you get a souvenir; if you lose, you still get a small gift."
Lu Ran pointed to the wall: "I want that row of figurines."
There was a wall of figurines hanging on the wall, each one in a different pose. It was impossible to take them all; this was no ordinary street stall. Lu Ran thought he could take one row, as long as he could pass the challenge.
Zhang Ziyang laughed: "You're quite greedy."
Then he looked at Wang Xiaoyan beside him: "So, should we give him this chance?"
The two were clearly the event hosts, so they had to make decisions together.
"Officer, since this handsome guy wants a row, let's give him the hellish difficulty challenge."
"That's right, that's right, let him assemble the model guns, we haven't had enough yet!"
Previously, Zhang Ziyang demonstrated the guns to the public using model guns according to the procedure. Some people tried it out, and the grand prize was awarded to anyone who could succeed on the first try.
Although model guns have a simple structure, even if an average person learns a tutorial once, it is almost impossible to succeed on the first try.
This thing seems to be etched into the genes of the Great Xia people; they are naturally interested in it, even if it's fake.
Seeing the strong crowd's support, Zhang Ziyang turned to Lu Ran and asked, "Would you like to give it a try?"
"I'll demonstrate once. If you can succeed on the first try, I can give you this whole row of figurines."
Lu Ran silently changed his title to "Excellent Hand-Eye Coordination" and "Excellent Auditory Memory".
He smiled faintly and said, "Okay."
Although auditory memory relies on hearing to remember the melody of a sound, Lu Ran has already discovered more uses for this title.
That is memory enhancement.
It can improve shorthand skills, making it perfect for this kind of scenario.