Chapter 70: Someone Is Actually Afraid to Repay Kindness

On the other end of the line, Liu Wei sounded quite surprised. “Yes, this is Liu Wei. Wait, how did you know this number was mine? I don’t think I ever gave it to you.”

Li Sicheng replied, “I recognized your voice. I remember what you sound like.”

“Oh, that’s how it is.” Liu Wei suddenly understood, then laughed. “Your phone number was really hard to get! At first, I asked Mo Ke, but she said she didn’t have it. I had no choice but to ask a few friends from the year above us. In the end, I got your number from a chubby guy named Zeng Yi. For that, one of my girlfriends had to sacrifice herself and buy him a meal…”

Li Sicheng had been wondering how Liu Wei managed to get his number. Now, hearing her explanation, he understood perfectly. So it was Zeng Yi, that fellow, who gave away his number for a meal!

That glutton really lived up to his reputation.

Li Sicheng shook his head with a wry smile, then asked, “Senior Liu Wei, is there something you needed from me?”

Liu Wei didn’t beat around the bush and stated her purpose right away. “Yes, actually, there is something… Are you free at noon today? My parents have come to Yong City and would like to treat you to lunch to thank you for saving my life.”

Li Sicheng politely declined. “There’s really no need for a meal. Please pass on my thanks to your parents, but I truly don’t want to trouble them.”

Li Sicheng had never done good deeds for the sake of a reward. Doing good was a virtue in itself. If one only did good for the sake of a reward, the nature of the act changed entirely—instead of earning virtue, one might even lose some.

Besides, there was another reason he didn’t want to accept the invitation. His fate had been recently reshaped and was still unstable, so he couldn’t indulge himself. Since Liu Wei’s parents wanted to thank him for saving her life, the meal would surely be extravagant, which would only cause him further trouble.

Of course, Liu Wei couldn’t possibly know all this. She just kept urging Li Sicheng to accept the invitation. But Li Sicheng remained firm in his refusal.

“All right, Senior Liu Wei, I really appreciate your kindness. There’s no need for a meal. If you live well and happily, that’s the greatest and best reward you could give me…” With those words, Li Sicheng prepared to end the call.

But at that moment, a middle-aged man’s voice came through the phone. “Hello, Li, this is Liu Wei’s father.”

“Hello, sir.” Left with no choice, Li Sicheng paused before hanging up.

He didn’t want anyone to think he was disrespectful to his elders.

After a few formalities, Liu Wei’s father began to persuade him. “Li, we’re inviting you to lunch for no other reason than to thank you for saving our daughter’s life. You must understand, my wife and I have only this one daughter. If anything had happened to her, our family would be ruined. By saving her, you saved our whole family. So I hope you’ll do me the honor and let us thank you with a meal. I know one meal isn’t enough to repay such a debt, but it’s a way for us to express our gratitude. In the future, we’ll find other ways to repay your kindness…”

Hearing these words, Li Sicheng’s expression changed dramatically, and he nearly burst into tears. He hurriedly said, “Please… please don’t try to repay me! All right, I’ll accept your invitation for lunch, but please, don’t try to repay me in any other way after this. I truly can’t bear it!”

He was genuinely afraid.

If Liu Wei’s parents, like in those TV dramas, tried to repay him with endless gifts and money, once or twice might not be a big problem since he had saved her life. But if it kept happening, if the gifts or money grew too great, his fate would be unable to withstand the burden, and misfortune would surely follow!

If that happened, a good deed would turn into a disaster. It was better to accept the invitation and settle the matter face-to-face.

After he hung up, Liu Wei and her mother, Zhou Rong, both looked nervously at Liu Wei’s father, Liu Chengjiang.

Liu Chengjiang, however, was frowning, confusion written across his face.

After a moment, seeing him still lost in thought, Zhou Rong grew impatient and urged him, “Well, how did it go? Did Li agree to our invitation? Stop spacing out and say something.”

“He agreed,” Liu Chengjiang finally replied.

Zhou Rong let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad he did. Li saved our Weiwei’s life. If we couldn’t even treat him to a meal to express our gratitude, it would be terribly rude of us!” She couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “But why do you look so serious, Chengjiang? What’s that expression about?”

Liu Chengjiang said, “I’m puzzled about something.”

“What is it?” Zhou Rong asked, and Liu Wei also looked at him curiously.

In Liu Wei’s mind, there were few things that could baffle her father. What could possibly have left him in such a state today?

Liu Chengjiang said, “Li agreed to our invitation, but he made one request—that we never try to repay him again…”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when Zhou Rong interrupted, “Not repay him? How could that be! He saved our Weiwei’s life—he saved our whole family! Such a debt is greater than the sky. If we didn’t repay him, what kind of people would we be?”

“Let me finish!” Liu Chengjiang shot his wife a look, then continued, “I don’t know why Li refuses to accept our gratitude, but from his tone, I could tell that he seemed… he seemed genuinely afraid that we would try to repay him!”

“What?” Zhou Rong was stunned.

“Chengjiang, you can’t be serious. Is there really someone in this world who’s afraid of being repaid?”

In today’s materialistic world, there may be people who do good without expecting anything in return, but she had never heard of anyone who was actually afraid of being repaid.

What on earth could be going on?

“Could someone be threatening him behind the scenes? Forbidding him from accepting our gratitude?” Zhou Rong guessed.

Her suspicion was unlikely, but at least it gave them a direction.

“I’ll have someone look into it,” Liu Chengjiang said, narrowing his eyes. “If anyone dares threaten the benefactor of the Liu family, I will never let them get away with it!”