Over a meal, Jiang Chen found out that the boy with the fluffy hair sitting next to him was named Martial Saint.
Quite a domineering name.
The most crucial part was,
his surname was actually Wu.
Just like Lan Peizhi’s two surnames.
But Jiang Chen didn’t find it too strange.
Even without knowing the names of Lan Peizhi’s parents, one could easily guess that Lan Peizhi and her brother most likely followed their mother’s and father’s surnames respectively, a pretty common occurrence.
And unsurprisingly, according to rural customs, it was probable that Lan Peizhi took her mother’s surname, while this little guy Martial Saint followed his father’s.
The age gap between these siblings...
Lan Peizhi’s father must be quite vigorous in his old age.
"I’ll go tidy up the room."
Perhaps because it was her daughter’s first time bringing a guest home, Mother Lan acted quite formally and didn’t offer Jiang Chen the chance to speak up.
someone didn’t plan on speaking up at all.
Now that it was dark and he didn’t know his way around, leaving on his own late at night—
The large Western-style house didn’t employ a housekeeper.
The word housekeeper in the context of a rural community that rises at sunrise and rests at sunset feels quite out of place.
Father Lan personally cleared the dinner table.
Lan Peizhi remained calm and showed no intention of helping, but Jiang Chen was tactful and offered his eager assistance.
"No need, Jiang, you don’t have to busy yourself, Martial Saint, go pour some tea, Martial Saint! Eh... where did the kid go?"
The fluffy-haired kid disappeared after the meal without a trace, and it was unknown where he had run off to.
Being firmly rejected by Father Lan, Jiang Chen didn’t insist further. He keenly sensed that this so-called Blood Guanyin had a harmonious relationship with her mother, but with her father, there seemed to be something odd.
The atmosphere was somewhat delicate.
Not knowing the inside story, Jiang Chen did not dare to speak presumptuously, so he made an excuse to go out for a walk and slipped away.
The stars and moon were bright, the Milky Way stretched across the sky.
There were no human sounds, just the whispers among the trees.
The night in the countryside, undoubtedly much quieter and cleaner than the noisy city filled with traffic.
Jiang Chen took a deep breath of the unpolluted clean air, standing in the open space in front of the mansion that certainly qualified as a luxury house here, somewhat lost in thought as he gazed into the distance.
In the distance there was a pond, shimmering with light ripples, under the faint moonlight, one could vaguely see shadows moving, as if people were returning from working in the fields.
No wonder more and more wealthy people are starting to like moving to the countryside to buy houses. After growing accustomed to a life awash with material desires, it certainly is a different taste to occasionally return to a simple natural environment.
All of a sudden, Jiang Chen caught a glimpse of a flickering light by the ditch ahead. He took a few steps forward and a dark shadow appeared within his sight.
It wasn’t that imposing Tibetan Mastiff.
On a closer look, he couldn’t help but find it amusing.
Jiang Chen called out, still finding the name a bit hard to pronounce even now.
People in Shenzhou might not have much religious faith, but in some aspects, they are quite superstitious.
Especially in the countryside.
Just like how people in society have taboos about getting tattoos.
Giving a child such a "grand" name, weren’t they afraid it would be too much to bear?
But thinking of this kid’s sister, Jiang Chen let it go.
Hearing the call, the boy with the extraordinary name visibly jumped, shaking all over, instinctively about to toss away what was in his hand. But then he realized it was Jiang Chen and breathed a sigh of relief, following up with an irritated retort, "Jeez, keep it down!"
Jiang Chen walked over, confirming he hadn’t seen it wrong.
The kid was indeed holding a cigarette in his hand, and it was already half-smoked.
Martial Saint was quite generous, saying this as he pinched the cigarette and took out a pack from his pocket.
Jiang Chen’s eye twitched.
Those were the "Hua" brand cigarettes he had bought!
Although some parts of the countryside still harbor a mindset of valuing males over females, he believed that the Lan family definitely would not indulge this boy so much.
this cigarette was most likely sneaked by the kid when moving stuff.
"How old are you to be smoking already?"
Martial Saint scoffed, looking quite dashing.
"Smoking is what makes a man."
Jiang Chen could only smile wryly.
This kid was indeed just starting junior high school.
Looking at the child before him, pretending to be grown up, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but think back to his own days in junior high.
Fu Zili and Tie Jun learned to smoke around that time, or rather, that’s the age when all boys first come into contact with nicotine—it’s the age of enlightenment.
Of course, back then it wasn’t for any other reason, it was purely to show off. If you couldn’t smoke, how could you call yourself a bad boy? How could you claim to be the big brother at school?
When Jiang Chen hung out with Fu Zili and others, he naturally tried smoking too, only to find it was just too harsh and he did not stick with it.
There was another reason as well.
He was worried Fang Qing would find out.
Fang Qing, that girl, wouldn’t care about others, but if she caught him smoking, she would definitely tattle.
At these words, Martial Saint’s eyes widened, looking at Jiang Chen as if he was seeing a monster.
"Come on, you don’t even smoke? Are you even a man?"
Not smoking, how was that inevitably linked to being a man?
But Jiang Chen didn’t position himself on a high moral ground to criticize the kid.
Looking at the young boy before him, he felt as if he saw the past images of Fu Zili and Tie Jun, as well as his former self.
It’s unfair to judge the past from the future.
You can’t expect a child to understand so many profound truths.
"Smoking is bad for your health."
He merely offered a reminder.
Martial Saint sneered dismissively, "If you don’t smoke, never mind."
He tucked the cigarette pack back into his pocket and casually put the cigarette back in his mouth, puffing away while nonchalantly telling Jiang Chen, "Don’t run your mouth too much, it’s not good for you."