Chapter 84: Actually Got Reported as a Spy

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Actually Got Reported as a Spy

Chen Jingle turned to a bewildered Alexander. "This is our village chief. He came over to see what’s going on and whether you need any help."

Alexander was flattered. "Thank you, but I don’t really need anything at the moment... Oh, I wouldn’t say absolutely nothing. Do you have any local specialties here? Preferably food. I’d like to buy some."

He had a habit of trying the local delicacies wherever he went. This country simply had too much delicious food. He had already tried dozens of tasty street snacks alone, along with a wide variety of fruits. Back in his hometown, fresh fruit was far from cheap, and the texture was always bizarre. The watermelons were as tough as rubber, and a peeled banana could stretch without snapping. It was absurd! But here, especially in Lingnan, the fruit was both cheap and delicious. He could eat as much as he wanted!

"Local specialties?" Now it was Chen Jingle’s turn to be stunned. It seemed there was really nothing in their village that could be considered a specialty. He looked at the village chief. "Uncle Xian, do we have any local specialties? He says he wants to buy some. Preferably something edible."

"Specialties?" Uncle Xian scratched his head. The village was too small and lacked any unique industries, so he really couldn’t think of anything decent. "How about jackfruit? And guava?"

Jackfruit couldn’t exactly be called a village specialty since it was grown all over Lingnan, and the same went for guava. But other than those, the village had no other seasonal cash crops. Longans and lychees were already out of season. It wasn’t like they could chop down a couple of eucalyptus or money trees for him to take away, right? The problem was that neither of those was edible either.

"They count! They definitely count!" Chen Jingle nodded hastily. Jackfruit was one of his absolute favorite fruits, even if it was a bit of a hassle to peel.

Uncle Xian chuckled. "Then I’ll give Uncle Zhenming a call and let him know. I’ll take this foreigner to the orchard to pick some later. But as for the money..."

Chen Jingle smiled. "He already said he wants to buy them, so let’s just go with the market price. We won’t rip him off, but we shouldn’t shortchange ourselves either. At most, we can just give him a little extra for free."

"Alright, we’ll do as you say!"

Jackfruit was actually incredibly cheap. Even the massive ones only cost twenty or thirty yuan apiece. It was only the pre-peeled flesh sold in supermarkets that was expensive. The real trouble with this fruit lay in the peeling process. If you weren’t careful and got the sap on your hands, it was notoriously difficult to wash off.

"An orchard? Jackfruit? That’s great!" Alexander’s eyes lit up upon hearing Chen Jingle’s translation. He had been worried that he wouldn’t have enough footage for this trip. Now, with the orchard included, he would definitely have enough—maybe even for two videos.

It was also Uncle Xian’s first time seeing a foreigner. He examined him closely and realized that, apart from the different hair, eye, and skin colors, there really wasn’t much difference. The internet always claimed foreigners were towering giants, but standing face-to-face, they were about the same height—just a tiny bit taller.

At Chen Jingle’s invitation, Uncle Xian sat down for a cup of tea. He didn’t touch the snacks or fruit, but instead curiously asked Alexander quite a few questions. After all, most people’s understanding of foreign countries came entirely from the news and the internet; many didn’t even know where Austria was on a map. Now that there was a real foreigner right in front of him, he naturally wanted to hear his perspective.

With Chen Jingle acting as the translator, their conversation was quite pleasant.

However, to everyone’s surprise, right in the middle of their chat, someone else arrived at the door. And their identities were not ordinary. They were two police officers. Both Chen Jingle and Uncle Xian subconsciously stood up.

"Officers, is there something we can help you with?"

The officer in front looked curiously at the three people present. "Someone called in to report a suspected foreign spy here."

A spy?! Chen Jingle and Uncle Xian immediately turned their gazes to Alexander in unison. The young foreigner looked completely bewildered.

"Damn it, don’t scare me like this!" Chen Jingle thought, feeling a bit dazed.

The officer smiled. "No need to be nervous. We just received a call, so the station sent us over to verify. What were you guys talking about just now?"

"He was passing by shooting a vlog and greeted me. I chatted with him for a bit and invited him in for tea. Our topics were strictly limited to my house, tea leaves, the high level of higher education in our country, and his desire to buy some of our local specialty fruits," Chen Jingle answered very cautiously. It was better to be safe than sorry. He absolutely did not want to be implicated in this kind of trouble.

Uncle Xian chimed in as well. "I am Chen Zhenxian, the village chief here. I heard a foreigner had come to our area, and I was worried about a spy situation myself, so I came over to see what was going on."

The officer smiled without replying and looked at Alexander. "Hello, please show your passport and visa," he said in simple English.

Alexander understood and was very cooperative. After all, it wasn’t his first time in this country, and he occasionally encountered situations where he needed to show his ID. At times like this, he just needed to comply obediently. This was just a routine inspection, not discrimination. It was far better than certain Western countries where the police were always ready to empty their clips in the name of justice.

Then there were the security cameras covering every street. To Europeans and Americans, these might seem like an unbelievable invasion of privacy, but after staying here for a while, he had completely adapted. There was no need to care about it, because its purpose was to prevent crime. It was precisely because of the numerous cameras that this country was so safe. Last time, he had forgotten his bag in the basket of a public shared bike outside, and when he went back to look for it an hour later, it was still there. If that had been in Paris or New York? Even wearing it on his body, he’d have to be careful not to get robbed or pickpocketed!

"It’s a standard entry visa." After the officer checked the relevant information, he returned the passport to Alexander. "Do you mind if we look at your recorded footage?"

"Of course not." Alexander brought his filming equipment over and displayed the footage he had captured. It was all scenery, pedestrians, and vehicles along the main roads. There was no sign of any rule violations.

After finishing the review, the officer returned the equipment to Alexander. "Just a misunderstanding. Everything is fine."

"I’m glad everything is fine." Chen Jingle breathed a sigh of relief as well. To think that his very first close encounter with the police in his life would be because of something like this.

The officer explained, "We rarely have foreigners come around here. The villagers probably found it unexpected when they saw him, which is why they made the call."

"I understand, completely." Alexander smiled and waved his hand dismissively. He even invited the two officers to say hello to his fans and viewers.

"How about we head to the orchard now?" After such an incident, Uncle Xian just wanted to hurry up and send this young foreigner on his way.

Chen Jingle asked for Alexander’s opinion.

"Sure!" Alexander was full of anticipation for the upcoming orchard trip.

The jackfruit orchard wasn’t far from Chen Jingle’s home; it was located right on the edge of the village. Originally, Chen Jingle had considered just letting Alexander go with Uncle Xian by himself. However, seeing Uncle Xian gesticulating wildly, practically sweating from the effort to communicate—well, he figured he might as well see this good deed through to the end. Thus, he asked the system for a one-period leave of absence and tagged along to the orchard.

When they arrived at the orchard, the contractor, Uncle Ming, was already waiting for them. He was quite surprised to see Alexander.

"Whoa, a real live foreigner!" Uncle Ming thought in amazement.

Alexander happily took the initiative to pull Uncle Ming in for a group photo, asking plenty of questions along the way. To him, everything around him was full of novelty. Those jackfruit trees, heavily laden with massive fruits, were a real eye-opener in particular.

Since Alexander was by himself and just here traveling, Chen Jingle suggested he only pick a small one, while he himself picked a slightly larger one. After all, he had a little glutton back at home who loved to freeload on food and drinks.

Uncle Ming even gave Alexander hands-on instructions on how to peel a jackfruit. They spent over an hour there, allowing the foreigner to fully experience an exotic countryside trip and taste fresh, delicious jackfruit. He even packed up a lot of the uneaten fruit to take with him, and his camera recorded an abundance of footage. It was safe to say he returned fully loaded.

"It was very nice to meet you, my friend. Thank you for your hospitality! Thank you! Goodbye!" Alexander shook hands and exchanged hugs with everyone before finally leaving the village.

He could barely wait. He decided that as soon as he got back to the hotel, he would hurry and edit today’s footage to upload it immediately on YouTube and TikTok. He had a strong premonition that the feedback on this video was going to be spectacular!

"That was a pretty good experience," Chen Jingle concluded about his morning hour. He just hoped that his appearance in Alexander’s video wouldn’t end up embarrassing anyone.

As for his practical class, he dedicated it exclusively to researching how to turn jackfruit into a delicious dessert. He left half of it to be eaten fresh as fruit, and turned the other half into jackfruit ice cream scoops.

"Where did this jackfruit come from?" Chen Qiyun asked curiously when she came back from school and saw it.

Her family actually grew two jackfruit trees as well, and they had borne quite a lot of fruit this year. However, perhaps due to the climate, they still hadn’t ripened even though the Mid-Autumn Festival had already passed. In previous years, they would have been mostly eaten before the festival.

Chen Jingle then told her about running into Alexander that morning.

"A foreigner?!" Chen Qiyun’s eyes widened. "The kind with blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin? Or the kind that’s completely pitch-black everywhere except for bright white teeth?"

"Neither," Chen Jingle explained. "His hair and eyes were chestnut, and while his skin was white, it was a different kind of white from ours."

Chen Qiyun felt very regretful about missing the chance to interact with a foreigner, looking as though she had missed a spectacular circus performance. She then changed the subject to what happened at school. "Let me tell you, Teacher Li even praised me today. She said I was a scatterbrain..."

Chen Jingle rolled his eyes. "’Scatterbrain’ is a derogatory term. It means you’re careless and always losing things."

Chen Qiyun froze. It took her a good moment to process this, and then she stomped her foot in anger. "How could she do that? And here I thought it was a compliment." Now she was going to be laughed at by everyone.

"What did you do to make her call you a scatterbrain?"

"I wrote my desk mate’s name on my homework notebook instead of my own."

Chen Jingle was at a loss for words.

Right as they were eating dinner, Teacher Li had arrived in front of Huang Huanwen’s framing shop on Wenhua Road once again. It had been two days since she had brought the two calligraphy works over.

"Uncle Huang!"

Hearing the voice from inside the shop, Huang Huanwen, with his sparse, graying hair, walked out. "Beixing, you’re here. You came to pick up your items, right? Have you had lunch yet?"

Li Beixing smiled faintly and replied, "I already ate at school. What about you?"

"Not yet. I always eat late. Wait here a moment, I’ll go inside and get them for you."

"Alright, thank you for the trouble!"

"Oh, it’s nothing."

Huang Huanwen’s framing craftsmanship was truly quite excellent. He had used two different framing styles for the pieces, and both looked incredibly high-end and elegant. Li Beixing was very satisfied and happily paid. Huang Huanwen insisted on giving her a twenty percent discount. They went back and forth, politely declining each other’s offers, until Li Beixing simply couldn’t out-stubborn him and had no choice but to accept the favor.

Huang Huanwen was thrilled. He simply loved dealing with calligraphy and paintings; whether he made money or not didn’t really matter to him.

After placing the two works into her car, Li Beixing prepared to deliver them directly to her father.