InvincibleConnoisseur

Chapter 37 Heroes

Greatly moved by Cheng Renjie's words, Wang Ke stopped running. Although he had spirit energy to keep him warm, he still felt uncomfortable for being all wet. After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Cheng Renjie, who also stopped moving, and said hesitantly, "If I wear your spare clothes, what will you wear?"

Hearing Wang Ke's words, Cheng Renjie said immediately with a happy face, "There are clothes prepared by other fellows in the security booth. I can wear them! The weather is not that cold, but the river water is freezing. If you don't change your clothes soon, you will still feel uncomfortable. So Brother Wang Ke, just come with me!"

Wang Ke thought for a moment. Then he nodded and said, "Thanks a lot then."

"You're welcome. It's the least I could do!" Cheng Renjie had a bright smile on his face as if Wang Ke's agreement to his suggestion had given him the supreme honor.

Soon, Wang Ke followed Cheng Renjie to the security booth a hundred meters away from the bridge, where only a middle-aged security guard was holding a cigarette in his mouth and a newspaper in his hand, reading it leisurely. Seeing Cheng Renjie and Wang Ke walking in, the middle-aged security guard threw the newspaper on the wooden table, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and asked in surprise, "Renjie, what's the matter with you? Did you jump into the river and take a bath in this cold weather? I heard that someone wanted to jump into the river and you went to stop him. What happened? How come you have jumped into the river? And who is this young man?"

Cheng Renjie quickly and concisely told him what had happened with a smile. Then he quickly pulled out a bag from under the wooden table and handed it to Wang Ke before he laughed and said, "Brother Wang Ke, we are about the same size. I'm just a little shorter than you. Try on my clothes and see if they fit."

Wang Ke nodded to the middle-aged security guard before he closed the iron door of the security booth. After taking off his wet clothes, he changed into Cheng Renjie's clean ones.

"Not bad. They fairlyfit." After changing his clothes, Wang Ke grinned and said.

Cheng Renjie at this time had also quickly changed his clothes. Hearing Wang Ke's words, he grabbed the cigarette box on the table, pulled one out, and handed it to Wang Ke. But Wang Ke refused it.

"It's right here. I just saw them run in here. Absolutely no mistake."

Someone was speaking from a distance. And when he finished his words, he was already outside the security booth.

Wang Ke had such excellent hearing that he could vaguely hear countless footsteps rushing from a distance and getting clearer and clearer.

After exchanging looks with Cheng Renjie, Wang Ke turned around and pulled open the small iron door of the security booth.

Hundreds of onlookers who had previously watched Li Hui jump into the river were rushing towards the security booth. Among them were Li Hui who was still soaking wet and his wife and son. While outside the security booth, a young man in his twenties was cheerfully looking at Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie.

"What are they doing?" Cheng Renjie stared blankly at the crowd running over and asked the young man outside the door.

The young man said with a smile, "What else could it be? You two are the big heroes today. They are coming to thank you!"

Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie looked at each other and then bitter smiles appeared on their faces. They did not save people to play the hero nor did they care about being thanked. They felt helpless to see so many people coming around.

Surrounded by the crowd, Li Hui who was all wet quickly ran to the small iron door of the security booth and knelt down in front of Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie. His wife and son were also kneeling straight beside him.

"Thank you both for saving my life! I was being silly before. And it was my fault. I, Li Hui, will keep your great kindness in my mind. I don't have any money. But if you need me to do anything, I'll..." Li Hui said loudly, kneeling in front of Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie with his face full of gratitude and shame.

But before he finished his sentence, he was interrupted by Wang Ke who took a step out of the small door of the security booth, "Please don't, Brother Li. Please don't do that. Stand up quickly, please. We don't need you to do anything. We saved you just because we didn't want to see a good living person lose his life like this. If you really want to thank us, please cherish your life and support your family then. As for finding undervalued antiques and magic weapons, you must act according to your ability in the future. If you are rich, you can just do it for fun. But if you don't have much money, you must live a down-to-earth life!"

Cheng Renjie also quickly came out to help Li Hui's wife and son up and laughed, "Brother Wang Ke is right! The most important thing is to provide for your family. How many people can catch the pennies from heaven? If you want to make money, you have to be down to earth. Brother Li, it doesn't matter to lose your money. You can earn it back anyway. But if you lost your life, it would be a relief for you, but a disaster for your wife and son."

With his face full of shame, Li Hui was helped up by Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie and said bitterly, "I did not think of the consequences before. I just felt that everything was ruined so I came up with the idea of ending my life. Just now the folks have persuaded me and I have also come around to it that tough times don't last but tough people do. I will not think of committing suicide anymore. Thank you very much for giving me a second life."

Cheng Renjie waved his hands and said with a smile, "Don't thank me. Thank Brother Wang Ke! I didn't save you. I wanted to, but I can't swim! I was also saved by Brother Wang Ke. I have really made a big fool of myself today."

"Haha."

Hearing Cheng Renjie's words, the surrounding crowd, almost all of whom had seen what happened before, were laughing out loud. It could be told from their eyes that they were not laughing at his acting beyond his ability, but showing their respect. Not for anything else, but for his risking his life to jump off and save others when others were in danger. Regardless of his ability, his noble character alone was worthy of respect.

Then Li Hui said some other words of gratitude. And after the majority of the surrounding crowd dispersed, Li Hui said, "Young men, you both saved my life anyway. All I can say is thank you. I hope you can give me a chance to thank you by inviting you to my home for a meal. Although I have lost my money, I can still afford a meal. I just hope you won't mind the poor food."

Wang Ke immediately said, "No. No, we won't. But I have something to do. So just forget about the meal. As for what happened today, just let it go. Even if we hadn't jumped, many other people would also have done the same to save you. It's just that we got ahead of them."

Cheng Renjie also said quickly, "Right! Just forget about the meal. I have to be on duty and I have already missed the lunch, so I'm not going to join you."

Li Hui hastily shook his head and said, "No. You two are the saviors of my life. Unless you look down on me and see me as a loser, I will have to extend my gratitude to you. I'm begging you. Please give me a chance to thank you. Otherwise, I can't get it over!"

"Renjie, just go! Today you have sort of acted bravely for a just cause. I will give you half a day off." The middle-aged man in the security booth laughed as he walked out from inside with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Well..."

Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie looked at each other. And both of them saw the bitter smile and helplessness in each other's eyes.

Nodding lightly, Wang Ke said with a bitter smile, "Alright! We'll go and have a free meal with Brother Li."

Li Hui's face lit up with surprise. He quickly nodded and said, "Great! Then let's go now! My home is not far from the antique market, just walk south for ten minutes outside the East Gate. Xiumei, you hurry up to buy some fine wine and food. We will wait for you at home."

Li Hui's wife nodded quickly. Nothing was better than her man staying alive. She was grateful to Wang Ke from the bottom of her heart. Of course, she was also grateful to Cheng Renjie who had jumped into the river to save her husband.

It was an old-style single-family home that looked a bit old from the outside with a red rusty iron gate. And on either side of the gate, one of the knockers was missing.

Wang Ke and Cheng Renjie followed Li Hui into the courtyard, which was clean with everything neatly arranged. After the black wooden door of the simple tile-roofed house was opened, they got into the hall.

A shabby sofa, an old-fashioned square table for eight people, and all kinds of wooden furniture were arranged regularly.

"Young men, please have a seat. I'll make some tea for you two." Li Hui said politely after entering the house.

"Brother Li, please don't bother." Wang Ke said politely.

Li Hui just gave a smile, then quickly made tea and served it on the table in front of them. After sitting down on the wooden chair opposite the two young men, he said bitterly, "Today I have sort of come through a near-death experience. Now that I have come around, I also regret it very much! If I died, my wife and son would suffer a lot. It's my fault to be greedy. I shouldn't have listened to that lying b*st*rd talk about the magic weapon which he said was genuine but turned out to be nothing but a worthless imitation."

Speaking indignantly, he looked at the bronze Buddha statue on the square table.

When Wang Ke followed Li Hui's line of sight and looked at the bronze Buddha statue, he was immediately moved in his heart. Then he asked with a smile, "Brother Li, if you don't mind, can I have a closer look at that bronze Buddha statue? Although I'm not an expert at antiques and magic weapons, I can still sometimes identify if it's genuine!"

After Li Hui bought the bronze Buddha statue, he had found several masters all of whom identified it as fake. So even if he wanted to sell it, no one wanted to buy it. He was so discouraged that he did not have any hope for it at all.

After standing up and grabbing the bronze Buddha statue, he handed it to Wang Ke and said with a bitter smile, "Several antique store owners said it was a fake. There is an old friend of mine at the antique market, who has spent most of his life on the business of antiques. I asked him to identify it and he also said it was a fake. Alas, I was so unlucky! I can't be so credulous in the future anymore."

Cheng Renjie laughed and said, "Brother Li, although I am not yet twenty years old, I have worked at the antique market for almost two years. During this time, I have seen too many people who went bankrupt for trying to find undervalued treasures. These people are very pathetic, but also very annoying. Antiques are for rich people. And cheating with fake antiques happens every day. So you'd better stop trading in them in the future. It's not reliable."

"Alas, you are right! Never will I think of buying and selling antiques and magic weapons anymore. You guys are right. Life is all about working to earn money and living in a down-to-earth way. If one doesn't have the fate of getting rich, he should not dream of getting rich." Li Hui nodded and sighed.

Wang Ke held the bronze Buddha statue in his hand and observed it closely. The first glance gave him the feeling that it was a fake. But after a few minutes of careful observation, he slowly frowned.