Chapter 146: Mom's Request

Li Dong frowned. "Is there something else?"

Song Jiaojiao took a deep breath and said, "You took the money, so you need to write a receipt for me!"

Li Dong didn't say anything, glanced at her, and then took out paper and a pen from the car to write the receipt.

After finishing, he handed the receipt to her and said flatly, "I'm not going to break my word over a few thousand yuan!"

He added, "The reason I asked for the money was also to warn you not to treat lives lightly!"

Without caring about Song Jiaojiao's sour expression, Li Dong got into his car and drove away.

Once Li Dong had left, Song Jiaojiao fumed, "What kind of person is this! Not only did he scam me, but he also acted all high and mighty. How am I treating lives lightly?"

Zhang Lanyu, who had been silent, took a look at Li Dong's receipt and, upon seeing his name, seemed to ponder for a moment.

Li Dong, the Big Benz owner, security guard from Yuanfang...

Connecting these details, Zhang Lanyu roughly guessed Li Dong's identity. She had thought it was just gossip, but it turned out the Yuanfang boss was indeed this young.

---

Li Dong quickly put the car accident out of his mind. The rest of his day was consumed by the restructuring at Yuanfang, leaving him no room to think about anything else.

One day, as he was reviewing documents, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, Li Dong smiled and answered, "Mom, what's up?"

"Can't I call you if there's nothing going on?" Cao Fang's tone was sharp.

Li Dong wasn't bothered and chuckled, "Mom, if there's something, just tell me. Did Dad cause you trouble again?"

"Brat, what nonsense are you talking about! Am I the one who makes trouble?" Before Cao Fang could respond, Li Chengyuan's voice could be heard, scolding and laughing.

Li Dong was surprised to hear his father's voice and awkwardly replied, "Dad, you're here too."

Li Chengyuan didn't dwell on it and said, "Your mom wants to talk to you about something. But you make your own decision and don't just listen to her nagging…"

"Li Chengyuan, who are you calling nagging!" Cao Fang immediately retorted.

The couple started bickering over the phone, but Li Dong didn't intervene, knowing that his father would eventually give in.

Sure enough, within a minute, only Cao Fang's voice was left on the line.

Cao Fang seemed hesitant and spoke haltingly. It took Li Dong a while to understand her meaning.

When he finally understood, Li Dong was surprised. "Mom, you're saying I have cousins?"

Li Dong's comment provoked Cao Fang's anger. "What's wrong with having cousins! I wasn't born out of nowhere!"

This was the first time Cao Fang had yelled at Li Dong. He quickly tried to calm her down.

His mother's hometown was in Guizhou Province. Due to the distance and some unknown changes in the past, Cao Fang hadn't been back to Guizhou since Li Dong became aware of things.

Li Dong had no memory of relatives from his mother's side and had never thought much about it.

But now, suddenly learning that his cousins wanted to move to Pingchuan to live with him made Li Dong puzzled.

After thinking it over, he asked, "Mom, why do my cousins want to come here all of a sudden?"

This wasn't something that had happened in his previous life; otherwise, Li Dong wouldn't be unaware of his cousins.

Cao Fang was silent for a moment before saying, "Earlier this year, I sent twenty thousand yuan to your grandmother."

Li Dong understood now. So that was the reason.

He had no memory of his grandmother, but he didn't mind sending money. However, if sending the money led to his cousins coming over and causing trouble, that wouldn't be ideal.

But since his mother asked, he figured it was better to help rather than refuse.

After thinking it over, Li Dong decided to agree.

Seeing Li Dong's agreement, Cao Fang sighed in relief and gave final instructions. "If they can be of help, then support them a bit. If they're not up to standard, at least help them find jobs in Pingchuan so they can support themselves. Don't let yourself get dragged into trouble."

Relatives are relatives, but they are not as close as one's own child.

Besides, how much genuine affection there was in this case was hard to say. Cao Fang had only met them a few times when they were children, and now it had been almost twenty years since they last met.

---

The next day, Pingchuan Railway Station.

Li Dong stood at the entrance of the train station, holding a sign and waiting for his cousins whom he had never met before.

Holding the sign was necessary because, in 2005, his cousins didn't have phones, which was a bit frustrating for Li Dong.

The train from Guizhou soon arrived.

Li Dong kept his eyes on the crowd, holding up the sign.

After about ten minutes of holding the sign, Li Dong still hadn't seen anyone come over to identify themselves.

Li Dong felt a bit helpless. Could it be they were on a different train? But without a way to contact them, he couldn't leave, or he might miss them.

As he pondered whether they might be on a later train, his phone rang.

The number was a landline, and Li Dong's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that his cousins had already exited the station?

When he answered, a strong regional accent greeted him.

"Is this Dongzi? This is Cao Feng."

"Yes, it's me. Cousin, where are you now?" Li Dong quickly asked.

"We're at the small shop outside the train station. Dongzi, where are you?"

Li Dong said, "Wait there and don't move. I'll be right over."

He hung up and rushed outside.

After scanning around outside the train station, Li Dong finally saw a man and a woman standing by a small shop, both carrying large burlap sacks and looking around.

Li Dong walked over and called out, "Are you Cao Feng, my cousin?"

The man, about twenty-five or twenty-six, responded immediately, "Yes, that's me. You must be Dongzi from the maternal side?"

Li Dong nodded and said with a wry smile, "I saw you at the train station earlier. Why didn't you come to find me?"

Cao Feng complained, "It's your second cousin. I said you were coming to pick us up, but she insisted otherwise."

The woman, who had been observing Li Dong, retorted, "I said we should ask. You said not to."

Seeing Li Dong's confusion, Cao Feng chuckled and explained, "Dongzi, your name was written incorrectly, so we didn't recognize you."

Li Dong looked at the sign he was holding, which read "Cao Feng" and "Cao Yu," and wondered if there was something wrong.

"I'm Shan Feng, and your second cousin is Cao Yu, the one with the 'Wang' character," Cao Feng clarified.

Li Dong smiled wryly. Even if he had written the names incorrectly, couldn't they have asked or checked?

But there was no use in discussing this now. At least they were finally picked up.

Moreover, the first impression wasn't too bad, as Li Dong felt that they seemed like honest people, which was reassuring.