# 1159
Chapter 1160: Graffiti Wall
Cao Yuan saw the child looking at him without dodging or showing any fear, which slightly eased the heavy feeling in his heart.
He walked up to the boy, squatted down, and asked as kindly as he could:
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Why would I be afraid of you?" the boy replied calmly. "I've seen people way scarier than you. It's no big deal."
Hearing this, Cao Yuan felt delighted.
"What's your name? How old are you?"
"Wu Quan, fifteen."
"Fourteen years old... Do you go to school?"
"Ninth grade."
"Ninth grade? Time to prepare for the high school entrance exam? Don't you have school today?"
"It's Sunday. No school."
"Right... Good kid, study hard, and you'll definitely have a bright future."
Cao Yuan nodded approvingly.
After chatting for a while, just as Cao Yuan was about to stand up, Wu Quan suddenly asked:
"Is Brother Qingzhu really on a secret mission?"
Cao Yuan's gaze sharpened, then he smiled and said, "Yeah. Why do you ask?"
Wu Quan's pitch-black eyes stared at Cao Yuan for a long moment:
"...Oh."
With that, Wu Quan turned and walked into the room, closing the door behind him with a backhanded push.
"Cao Yuan, come here for a moment." Just as Cao Yuan sighed, An Qingyu poked his head out from another doorway and waved him over.
Cao Yuan walked over. "What's wrong?"
"Look at this."
Cao Yuan entered the room to find four or five children playing on a rubber mat in the center, while An Qingyu stood alone in front of a white wall, one hand propping up his chin as if deep in thought.
Cao Yuan followed An Qingyu's gaze and saw that this wall was covered with various crooked, colorful doodles.
Each doodle had a different style—there were blue birds in flight, black cars, red crosses, little painters with brushes and palettes...
Beside each different doodle, names were written in wobbly script, as if drawn by children.
"What is all this?" Cao Yuan asked.
"It's the children's career dreams wall." An Qingyu pushed up his glasses and explained,
"They told me that every child living in this orphanage draws here what they want to do when they grow up, or who they want to become.
The girl in the red棉袄, named Li Xiaoyan, drew the red cross on the wall. Her dream is to become a nurse.
Then there's the boy playing with the racing car model, named Qian Cheng. His dream is to become a race car driver...
However, what I really wanted to show you is this."
An Qingyu pointed to the center of the wall.
Cao Yuan followed his fingertip and was slightly taken aback.
In the very center of the doodle wall, drawn in the brightest red strokes, were three neat, upright characters:
—Shen Qingzhu.
Though the strokes were childish, what was strangest was that there were no other doodles around this name.
"Where's Zhuai Ge's dream?" Cao Yuan asked, puzzled.
"Once, he had no dream." An Qingyu said helplessly. "Or rather, his dream was to become himself..."
"...That does sound like him."
Cao Yuan sighed, his gaze shifting slightly to beside Shen Qingzhu's name.
There was a black umbrella. Whether by coincidence or not, the umbrella's canopy completely covered the area above Shen Qingzhu's name, as if shielding and protecting it underneath.
In the corner of this black umbrella, two small characters were written:
Wu Quan.
Cao Yuan's mind immediately conjured that cold, expressionless boy's face.
"This kid..." he murmured to himself.
"What's wrong?" An Qingyu noticed Cao Yuan's odd expression and asked.
"...Nothing."
Cao Yuan looked away. "Shouldn't we help them deal with the demolition issue?"
"Qiye and Pangpang are already handling it."
An Qingyu turned his head toward the window, where two figures were conversing outside.
...
Dense raindrops fell like a curtain from the eaves, and a hazy mist gradually obscured the view.
"What's going on?"
Lin Qiye looked at the hesitant Baili Pangpang before him and asked, puzzled.
"Qiye, this Li Group is a bit棘手." Baili Pangpang's expression was grave,
"This real estate company isn't like those small local enterprises. It's massive. Though it doesn't compare to our Baili Group, it's still in the top five in all of Great Xia, and it's the leading force in the southern market.
We could acquire them through business means, sure... but it definitely won't be as simple as acquiring those small companies before. This would require at least a year of preparation.
I've already had the PR team try to negotiate with Li Group to see if they can give up the land in Linjiang, but the odds aren't great. After all, down south, the Li family is the local tyrant."
"A year..." Lin Qiye sighed deeply.
One year of buffer time—this orphanage probably couldn't hold on that long. And asking the Baili Group to expend so much manpower and resources for this matter wasn't fair to Pangpang and the group behind him.
"Let's talk more after Director Liu returns."
"Yeah."
"...But does buying vegetables really take that long?"
Lin Qiye glanced at the time, feeling confused.
"On a rainy day, an old man walks slower too... Look, isn't he back?"
Lin Qiye turned to look. Old Man Liu was walking slowly through the iron gate carrying brimming plastic bags and holding an umbrella. His clothes were already soaked through, and there were traces of mud at his hems, as if he'd stumbled somewhere.
"Grandpa's back!"
Li Xiaoyan saw this from the window and immediately led the other children out of the house. They took the plastic bags and umbrella from him, giggling as they ran toward the kitchen.
"Grandpa Liu, what's for dinner tonight?"
"Wow! Pork belly! I saw a huge piece of pork belly!"
"There's roast chicken? Smells so good..."
"Idiot Qian Cheng! You can't eat it secretly! Go wait in the kitchen until Grandpa finishes cooking!"
"Slow down, don't trip... you little rascals." Old Man Liu walked slowly to the eaves, shook his umbrella, and watched the children run off. A smile crept onto his lips.
He brushed off the mud on his clothes, glanced at Lin Qiye and the others,
"Everyone clean up. In a bit, when I finish cooking, let's eat together. We've got plenty of chopsticks for you all.
Today's rain isn't stopping anytime soon. After dinner, I'll set up a few beds for you. You can leave tomorrow morning."
Without waiting for Lin Qiye and the others to refuse, Old Man Liu hurried into his room to change clothes.
Cao Yuan and the others exchanged helpless glances, having been arranged so haphazardly.
"I'll go help out." Cao Yuan stood up and followed Old Man Liu into the kitchen.
"This old man looks fierce, but he seems pretty kind-hearted." Baili Pangpang remarked.
He turned back, about to say something, but noticed that Lin Qiye's brow was tightly furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
"Something's off." Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes, staring in the direction Old Man Liu had departed,
"There's an injury... on his body."